Letters to the Editor

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

 

Belated opposition

 

As chairs of two committees of the Central Northside Neighborhood Council that have been working for more than a decade (a decade, folks, not just a month or two), to bring back housing and viable commercial development to the derelict and depressed Federal Street and North Avenue corridors, we were extremely disheartened to see that there is opposition to the move of the Allegheny branch of the Carnegie Library to Federal Street.

It's even more upsetting that this opposition never surfaced during the many public meetings between the library and the community over the last year to make sure that the design of the new building incorporated neighborhood interests and responded to neighborhood concerns.

Glenn Walsh of Mt. Lebanon (Mt. Lebanon?!), one of the main opposition petitioners, was also the individual who spearheaded opposition to the re-use of the old, abandoned Buhl Planetarium building by the Children's Museum several years ago, an award-winning make-over that has enlivened and transformed the entire area around the museum. (Northsiders would be interested to know that only residents of Mt. Lebanon can speak at Mt. Lebanon civic meetings.)

We wonder how many of the opposition petitioners have a library card, and when was the last time they visited the Allegheny branch

DAVID DEMKO
North Side
Chair, Federal North Committee

JOAN KIMMEL
North Side
Chair, Federal Hill Committee

* Demko, David and Kimmel, Joan. "Belated opposition," Letters-to-the-Editor
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2008 Jan. 1
(Fifth letter of seven on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette archive web page)
Glenn A. Walsh Reply (to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by electronic mail)
to Personal Attack in "Belated opposition" Letter-to-the-Editor,

Regarding BOTH Carnegie Library and Buhl Planetarium.