Articles written by Tom Smith
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 239
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Mt. Oliver to split building inspection duties
Mt. Oliver Borough Council, at its February meeting, made a change in who will be doing the third-party plan review for building inspections. Borough Manager Rick Hopkinson said a resolution before...
New Zone 3 commander has roots in South Pittsburgh area neighborhoods
The new Zone 3 Police commander, John Fisher, took over command of the zone on Monday, Feb. 8, replacing retiring commander, Karen Dixon. Commander Dixon had led Zone 3 since the summer of 2015. A...
With fundraising down due to COVID, MOFD looks to other revenue sources
In an effort to recoup some of the costs of operating the volunteer fire company, Francis Kestner and Ron Lowrey of the Mt. Oliver Fire Department (MOFD) spoke before the Mt. Oliver Borough Council...
Mt. Oliver Council approves budget with no tax increase
In a first for Mt. Oliver Borough, due to COVID-19 precautions, the Borough Council held its December public meeting with only Mayor Frank Bernadini and Borough Manager Rick Hopkinson physically in at...
Board candidates make their pitches at Zoom meeting
The Carrick Community Council's (CCC) November General Meeting was switched to a Zoom meeting and featured brief presentations by candidates for the organization's Board of Directors. CCC President...
Council hears about market renovations
The Carrick Community Council's (CCC) November virtual meeting featured a presentation from Coen Markets officials concerning the remodeling and refreshing of the former CoGo's on Rt. 51. Donna...
Mt. O. mayor expresses concerns over Arlington Avenue dance club in city
"I've called everybody but the dogcatcher, more than once, more than twice," Mt. Oliver Mayor Frank Bernardini told the Borough Council at the November meeting. Mayor Bernardini was complaining about...
Mt. Oliver Council approves paying the bills
The Mt. Oliver Borough Council quickly took care of business at a short November meeting with a series of motions authorizing payments. The council authorized payments of: $3,938 to State Pipe...
Fence not a black and white issue for Mt. Oliver Council
The old proverb stating "Good fences make good neighbors" was put to the test at the October meeting of the Mt. Oliver Borough Council when Jeff Friday complained about getting a violation letter for...
Mt. Oliver Council takes care of borough business
The October meeting of the Mt. Oliver Borough Council meeting began with a series of approvals to authorize payments. Payments included: $4,248.90 to Michael Facchiano for additional paving work on An...
Boro council approves liquor license transfer for Indian restaurant, store
The Mt. Oliver Borough Council held a public hearing concerning the transfer of a liquor license into the borough, the second in recent months. Attorney Charles Caputo, representing Fat Friday LLC, came before the council with owner Ravi Singh last...
St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church open after renovations
A little over two years ago, in July 2018, the future of St. Paul of the Cross Monastery and Church was cloudy at best. The Passionist community of about a dozen priests heard a presentation at a...
Mt. Oliver Borough updates from council
The Mt. Oliver Borough Council opened its September meeting, in the Mt. Oliver Fire Hall for social distancing requirements, by approving payments to a variety of contractors for work completed in...
St. George Church is recommended to gain city historic status
The City of Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission (HRC), after a 30-day delay to gain more information, voted to recommend historic status to the former St. John Vianney Church building in Allentown....
Mt. Oliver Borough honors police canine Nico with a proclamation
The August meeting of the Mt. Oliver Borough Council began with a short ceremony to present a proclamation to Police Chief Matthew Juzwick honoring police canine Nico for his dedication and service to...
Historic status for church could depend on if it's a church
The City of Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission's (HRC) virtual hearing August 5 on whether to recommend the former St. George Church building to City Council for historic status ended with the...
Mt. Oliver approves liquor license transfer for a new restaurant on Brownsville Road
The July public meeting of the Mt. Oliver Borough Council was moved to the Mt. Oliver Fire Hall so social distancing could be observed. To begin the meeting, the council approved a series of motions...
Hilltop Urban Farm is growing food on the Hilltop
Recently, I had the opportunity to tour the Hilltop Urban Farm (HUF) with staff members John Bixler and Ned Brockmeyer along with members of Hilltop community organizations. Mr. Bixler is the...
Come down, have fun, and be safe in S.S. for St. Paddy Parade Day
"You can come to the South Side and you can enjoy everything the South Side has to offer and you can leave one thing behind and that's your vehicle," was the message District 3 councilman Bruce Kraus...
Carson safety project making improvements to 33 blocks in S. Side
The long-awaited $16.31 million East Carson Street Safety Improvement Project has entered the preparatory work phase and is anticipated to begin construction work in early April. Residents were able to hear the latest plans and ask questions at a mee...
New steering group, area crime reports discussed in Carrick
The Brashear Association is looking for Hilltop residents to become members of a new Hilltop Program Steering Committee to drive future programing needs in the Hilltop. Kelli Murphy, a master’s level University of Pittsburgh intern with Brashear,...
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Over the Christmas holiday, I was going through the files and came across a story from...well let's let the date of the story go until the end. Those taking a look at the accompanying photo will have...
Readers respond to: What The Reporter means to me
Several weeks ago, I wrote a little story explaining what The Reporter has meant to me over the years. I wrote about some of the opportunities and experiences I had because of my life-long association with the weekly newspaper. I also asked you to...
PLI, Judge Ricciardi discuss quality of life issues
Quality of life issues took main focus at the Arlington Civic Council November meeting with guest speakers District Judge Eugene Ricciardi, City of Pittsburgh Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspection’s (PLI) Government and Community Liaison S...
Brashear building on track, driven by programming needs
Two years ago at its 100th Anniversary celebration The Brashear Association announced an ambitious plan to build a 40,000 sq. ft. building on Brownsville Road in Knoxville. Recognizing its clientele was predominately from the Hilltop neighborhoods,...
