Join us at Acacia to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Repeal Day, when Prohibition officially ended Dec.5th, 1933.
Acacia is featuring drinks using rum from the first craft rum distillery in Pittsburgh: Maggie’s Farm Rum! There will be a specialty rum punch, a rum old fashioned, and a couple of crafted drinks tailored to Maggie’s Farm Rum.
Acacia has invited friends of the South Side Park and South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association to join us for this event as another fundraiser towards signage for the park. Currently we have raised about $1700 as a result of these events for a park entrance sign.
Latest Updates
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Repeal Day Fundraiser at Acacia
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Brashear Holiday Open House
The public is invited to celebrate the season at Brashear’s annual Holiday Open House on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. at Brashear Center, 2005 Sarah Street. Light refreshments will be served and entertainment will be provided. Donations of toys and food items are welcome and encouraged.
The Holiday Assistance Program serves the communities of Allentown, Arlington, Alrington Heights, Beltzhoover, Bon Air, Carrick, Knoxville, Mount Oliver, South Side Flats, and South Side Slopes.
More Information on the Holiday Assistance program and Brashear’s efforts in our communities here: http://www.sopghreporter.com/story/2013/11/05/news/brashear-begining-holiday-assistance-program/13999.html
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Cheer for the Dirty Dozen Riders
If you haven’t heard of it, the Dirty Dozen is an annual bike race in Pittsburgh that climbs the city’s 12 steepest hills. The event is now in its 30th year and attracts hundreds of bikers. Needless to say, the race passes through the South Side Slopes.
The race occurs on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and features Welsh Way and Eleanor Street. If you’re home, show some support and cheer them on as they struggle up our streets!
More Information: http://wesa.fm/post/going-dirty-dozen-bike-race-rides-again-weekend
Photo: Welsh Way, Dirty Dozen 2012
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Special Thanks to our South Side Slopes Veterans
Did you know there are multiple war memorials on the South Side Slopes?
Along 103-105 Pius Street, you can see the “All Wars Memorial”. This memorial was restored with an Elm Street grant in 2007 with new landscaping, sidewalk, fencing, and a flagstone.
Additionally, there are 2 honor rolls in the South Side Slopes. One is on Mission Street across from St Josephat’s church. Another is at the intersection of 18th St and Quarry St. For a full list of Pittsburgh memorials, click here.
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Monastery Street Steps Demolition Update
There are at least 2 sides to every story.
From our perspective: 10 of the residents of Monastery street received letters on June 27, 2013 that the city had funding to replace the Monastery Street Sidewalk & Steps this year. They were directed to a contact number at the Department of Public Works if they wanted more information.
Throughout the summer, the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association (SSSNA) met with city officials (including the city’s public works director Rob Kaczorowski) to discuss our plans for the 13th annual StepTrek and make requests for step repairs. Many minor repairs were made. The Monastery Street project was never mentioned.
On October 5, StepTrek brought ~800 people onto the Monastery Street Steps – unknown to us that they were considered dangerous and structurally deficient by the city. We just thought they were another set of steps.
A board member who lives on Monastery Street (but did not receive notice) woke up Monday morning to the sound of steps being demolished, and since then the SSSNA has been on full alert to this project.
The original plans call for reducing the number of stairs from 118 to 30. To remove these stairs, requires a very steep grade of 17.5% along the sidewalk. A benefit with this plan is that all of the houses on Monastery Street would have direct access to the roadway. It is also cheaper.
As an association, we want to reach a compromise that will bring the grade into standard architectural guidelines (maximum of 10%) while improving the safety and livability of our neighbors. Furthermore, we demand an opportunity to learn about capital projects in our neighborhood before the backhoe shows up. The city publishes paving schedules for the season ahead of time. The city requires all zoning hearings to be published in the newspaper and open to public discussion. Why isn’t a $177K re-design of our steps and sidewalks given the same requirements for public disclosure? With time, we could potentially have raised private funds to offset the city’s cost and create a win-win situation for everybody as opposed to a last-minute frantic compromise.
Additionally, we want to work with the city to come up with a reasonable set of guidelines that the city will follow for determining which steps need to be replaced. Currently, Mr Kaczorowski says that the city guideline for a maximum sidewalk grade is 20%. For reference, here is a 20% grade hill:
Both KDKA and the Post-Gazette have given some coverage to the sensitive issue of tearing down city steps without adequate public input.
Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2013/11/06/Tearing-down-city-steps-draws-ire-in-Slopes/stories/201311060085
Board members are meeting with the Department of Public Works this morning to try to reach a compromise. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for timely updates as we make any progress in this important safety issue.
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URGENT: Save the Monastery St Steps!
UPDATE (11/5/2013 – 10AM): According to Chuck Half at the Mayor’s office: “The City’s Director of Public Works is Shutting Down the job for now. Did any of you receive notification letters…..From: Kaczorowski, Rob <rob.kaczorowski@pittsburghpa.gov>”?
UPDATE (11/4/2013): The assistant director of DPW is supposed to be calling in AM. We will post an update then.
Today our organization and our neighborhood received a slap in the face from the City of Pittsburgh. We have long worked at being stewards to the stairways that make our neighborhood unique. StepTrek is a prime example of the effort our neighbors put forth to ensure our infrastructure remains in the fabric of our historic hillside. Without public process, today the city’s contractors began demolishing the Monastery St Steps (63 years old) to replace with an “at grade” sidewalk. Have you ever walked this street? If you did StepTrek Gold Route this year, you have and these steps allow you to do so without dealing with the insane grade of the street itself. After contacting our councilman and the mayors office, nobody knew of this project. We are working to halt this demolition! Please share this post and/or contact anyone who may have a say to help us save the Monastery St Steps!
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BOO! Fundraiser for South Side Park!
Let’s celebrate our park Halloween-style! The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association (SSSNA) has another fundraising event coming up Wednesday, October 30th at Acacia cocktail bar in the South Side.First, @ 6pm you are welcome to join Moss Clark for a costumed tour of the park and our brand new Renziehausen Loop Trail (Please email mossonthetrail@yahoo.com to sign up). Following the walk, starting @ 7pm will be the fundraising event.
There will be plenty of Halloween themed cocktails, with a free glass of punch to anyone who wears a costume! We have the bar decked Halloween style, maybe get some Monster Mash and Thriller playing, and have food available to order from either Stagioni next door or a food truck that evening.
Please come join us and support the revitalization effort for South Side Park. Acacia donates a generous portion of the revenue of each of these events to our efforts to improve the park. So far this year the SSSNA has raised over $1400 dollars towards a permanent sign that will be displayed at one of the entrances to the park, which will likely be designed and built before the end of this year. So let’s keep this momentum going, put a costume on, and celebrate Halloween South-Side style!
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Read All About It!
The Fall 2013 South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association newsletter has articles on City Parks Plans, Paper Streets, StepTrek, Trash Eradication, and more! Click here to read the newsletter!
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Christmas Party
This year the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association will be on Tuesday, December 10 at 7PM at St Paul’s Monastery Retreat Center.
Dinner will be provided, but feel free to bring a dessert or appetizer.
Hope to see you there!
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Déjà vu: StepTrek huge success
A message of thanks to our Trekkers, volunteers, and sponsors from the South Side Slopes Association President, Brian Oswald:
The first Saturday of October is fast becoming a favorite of people both near and far as they make their annual pilgrimage to the South Side Slopes. This year we welcomed over 700 people that enjoyed gorgeous 80+ degree weather as they sweated out the their boredom with cookie cutter neighborhoods and suburbs as they climbed the steeps of the slopes. In our most financially successful trek in the 13 years of its existence we expanded our signature event to include an orienteering course thanks to the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club and Alexis Rzewski, as well as having mobile maps for smart phone users. The expanded StepTrek Marketplace welcomed both food trucks and fashion trucks to create a great atmosphere among the music, volunteers, and trekkers. The PPG Zoo and Aquarium even got in the fun this year with a chalk artist and Shark mascot. This event is defying the theme of this year’s event of “what goes up must come down” as we grow to entertain and work out a consistent crowd of enthusiasts falling in love with what our neighborhood has to offer year after year. The successes of the past few years are going to allow us to even further expand this event in the years to come as the financial gains increase our ability to promote the event to an even wider audience.
If you’d like to know the exact revenues and attendance of this year’s event come join us at our general meeting on Tuesday October 15 at the St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Retreat center at 7 PM.
