The North Versailles Twp. Parks & Recreation Department has announced a full schedule of events for April:
North Versailles Twp. children can enjoy Art and Apple Juice for free at the North Versailles Community Center from 6 to 8 p.m. April 4. Groups will be sectioned into grades K-3 and 4-6. Students will be instructed by East Allegheny High School art students and teachers on how to paint an age-appropriate painting. Kids can paint pictures to take home while enjoying snacks and juice. Goodwill donations will be accepted for the EAHS Art Scholarship fund.
The North Versailles Twp. Parks & Recreation Department will hold an Easter Egg Hunt at Crestas Park, 2298 Milligan St., from 12 noon to 2 p.m. April 8. Kids will enjoy outdoor games and a magician show, while Bud Bunny will be available for a meet and greet. RSVP to nvtparksandrec@gmail.com or call (412) 823-6602 ext. 104 by April 5.
Photo: Ma’s Pantry volunteers Debbie Griffith (treasurer), Karen Kane, Louise Beswick (secretary), Paula Greenwald, Nikesh Datta, John Hall and Alan Eichler (president) with their certificate from State Senator Jim Brewster’s office. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo for Tube City Almanac)
A local food pantry is celebrating 40 years of helping their neighbors in need.
Ma’s Pantry was created in 1983 by the Ministerial Association of North Versailles and East McKeesport.
The association was made up of five churches including Broadway Alliance, First United Methodist, Linway Presbyterian, Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran and Saint Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church. This multi-denominational effort was unprecedented at the time but the need in the community went beyond religious affiliations.
“They did not think it would last 40 years,” says Karen Kane, who has been volunteering with the pantry since 2004. “They thought it would meet the immediate need of the mills shutting down, but the whole country has been economically challenged.”
New traffic lights installed at the entrance to the former Eastland Mall aren’t configured correctly, residents of Maryland Avenue told North Versailles Twp. commissioners this month.
At the township commission’s March meeting, residents said the signals at the intersection of Maryland Avenue and East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard were installed in anticipation of a new Amazon distribution center opening at the property, but the job isn’t finished.
That said that motorists who turn left from Maryland onto the boulevard are immediately confronted with a red light. This configuration causes confusion about whether you should stop immediately after making the left turn or continue.
Pittsburgh and surrounding neighborhoods continue to be desirable locations to shoot films of all genres and budgets.
The region “has a little bit of everything,” said film producer and writer Mark Cantu. “You can be in a very urban environment one minute and then drive 20 minutes away and be in a very rural farming community.”
Cantu recently completed his upcoming horror-comedy, “Wolf Hollow,” filmed in and around McKeesport and North Versailles Twp.
The movie, which will premiere April 1 at Dormont’s Hollywood Theater, follows a group of filmmakers as they journey to the fictional location of “Wolf Hollow,” searching for an area to shoot a new film only to discover that they are surrounded by a family of werewolves and must fight for their survival.
East Allegheny School Board has approved the public sale and auction of the former Green Valley School, located at 3290 Crestview Drive in North Versailles Twp.
Built in 1951, Green Valley School formerly educated kindergarteners through third graders. When the school closed in 2016, those students were combined with those at Logan Middle School, making Logan a K-6 facility.
The sale was authorized by 9-0 vote at this month’s meeting.
The district is asking for a minimum bid of $499,900 for the school and the successful bidder must get final approval from the board on the intended use of the building.
East Allegheny School Board will add its voices to those of other school districts asking the Pennsylvania General Assembly to reform its charter-school funding formula.
The school board by 9-0 vote this week approved a resolution to be sent to the state legislature. School directors said they regard as unfair the method used to calculate how much districts must pay for charter school tuition.
At a committee meeting earlier this month, school directors said the current formulas require school districts to send more money to charter schools than they need to operate their programs, significantly burdening each district’s resources and taxpayers.
Residents of Kline Avenue in West Wilmerding are asking the North Versailles Twp. commissioners to consider closing a park there following recent gunfire.
At this month’s meeting, neighbors presented the commissioners with a petition signed by 50 homeowners asking the township to convert West Wilmerding Park from basketball courts into something for families with children.
Thursday’s meeting was held one night after shots were reportedly fired during an altercation near the park. No injuries were reported, but residents said they are concerned that neighbors will get caught in the crossfire if violence continues at the park.
East Allegheny School District could benefit if state lawmakers are forced to revise the way Pennsylvania funds public education.
At this month’s school board meeting, Superintendent Alan Johnson said East Allegheny is in the top 2 percent of districts that are most impacted by funding disparities.
The Pennsylvania Fair Funding Formula, which became law in 2016, is designed to distribute state education funding so that all students receive a high-quality education without discriminating against smaller, poorer districts, Johnson said.
A company that promises to help school districts control costs by reducing the amount of energy they consume made its pitch this week to the East Allegheny School Board.
At this month’s committee meeting, representatives of American Building Maintenance said engineering upgrades and other improvements could stretch the school district's budget further.
ABM said that an engineering walkthrough of East Allegheny High School and Logan Elementary School saw aging equipment that the school district could upgrade or replace to provide energy savings that will, in turn, offset the costs of upgrades, replacements and repairs.
For example, their recommendations included connecting time controls to exhaust fans in the school buildings and lighting, especially for lighting in the stadium.
