Look out over the next few weeks for some changes to East Liberty Post! We are working on reorganizing the link tabs to make things more accessible for you.
Also we are hoping to make updates, add more information, more links and more snazziness! It’s exciting, I know, but please be patient with us!
East Liberty congratulates Emmai Alaquiva of Ya Momz House, LLC on receiving a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for music composition and arrangement for the production of the soundtrack for WQED Multimedia’s documentary Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania’s Tuskegee Airmen.
This is a great accomplishment for Emmai, the entire staff of Ya Momz House, LCC, WQED Multimedia and such performers as Richard Hutchins, Bianca Atterberry and Mt. Ararat’s minister of worship Trini Massie. Fly Boys recounts the journeys of the pioneering men throughout western PA who were among the first African American men to serve as Air Force pilots.
Ya Momz House, LLC was opened in 2001 in the Werner Building in East Liberty, above the Shadow Lounge (where Mr. Alaquiva worked as a doorman for many years.) Emmai was also honored last year as one of Pittsburgh’s 40 under 40. Ya Momz House has also received numerous awards including Telly, Davey and A.I.R Awards.
To read more about the Emmy winner and upcoming events and projects look through their Press Release or
read about them in the City Paper.
“No Pain, No Gain.” is the motto of Jim “Big Weave” Weaver during his high energy, hip-hop aerobics sessions. Big Weave is the owner and instructor of Naka Fitness, located at 124 N. Higland Avenue. He prides himself on bringing in a diverse crowd for his classes and leaving them all exhausted by the end of the hour. Different aerobics classes are available nearly every weekend from 6:30 to 7:30, a schedule is available on their website. Classes are $7 each or $55 for a month pass. Also check out their feature article in the Post Gazette. Those who are very daring should attend one of Big Weave’s boot-camp nights.
Read more about what we are doing to combat cigarette butt litter around the city!
Business owners worried about their fronts turning into ashtrays
By Adam Brandolph
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Light, smoke, flick.
It’s an occurrence some business owners fear could become commonplace now that the statewide smoking ban has taken effect. Many are worried their sidewalks will resemble ashtrays.
“I sweep enough out there as it is,” said Sam Shannon, 36, a managing partner at Olive or Twist, Downtown.
Cities like Philadelphia and Chicago already have seen more cigarette butts at “transition points” — places where people must stop smoking before entering a building — since they banned smoking in public places, according to restaurant associations there.
Sarah Alessio, an environmental program specialist for Pennsylvania Resources Council, cited the increase in cigarette litter outside restaurants that remained smoke free after Allegheny County’s ban was struck down last year as further evidence.
“It’s hard to put a number on it, but you imagine that if a bar used to allow smoking, all those people are now going to be smoking outside and flicking their butts in the street,” Alessio said.
Many businesses said they’ll allow patrons to create a revolving door, of sorts — go outside, smoke and come back — to satisfy their nicotine cravings.
“Part of the problem is that smokers don’t know what to do with their cigarette butts,” said Boris Weinstein, founder of Citizens Against Litter in Shadyside. “They can’t throw them away in the waste bins on the sidewalk, because they’ll start a fire. There’s really no place for them.”
Once someone sees a few butts on the street, they feel it’s OK to add to the pile, said Mary Wilson, executive director of Allegheny CleanWays, a nonprofit organization that deals with illegal dumping and littering in Allegheny County.
“People feel that further abuse is tolerated,” Wilson said.
East Liberty and Dormont are two neighborhoods taking a proactive approach. Each community received a $1,500 grant from Keep America Beautiful this summer to address cigarette butts in their respective business districts. The money will be used to purchase receptacles where smokers can put out their cigarettes.
Shop owners in East Liberty regularly clean cigarette butts and other debris off the sidewalk, said Emily Nordquist, community outreach coordinator for East Liberty Development Inc., a neighborhood revitalization group. She said organizers picked up about 2,000 cigarette butts along the commercial business district during a recent sweep.
Litter “demoralizes the sense of community pride,” she said.
“One cigarette is something small,” Nordquist said, “but when there’s a hundred, it’s like a sea of them.”
Tony Ceoffe, executive director of Lawrenceville United, said members of the community organization already have seen cigarette litter go up “exponentially” after some businesses went smoke free in the past year. He attributed much of the litter along Butler Street to people flicking cigarette butts out of their cars.
“It’s just one of those things you have to continue to keep up with,” Ceoffe said. “It’s a constant battle trying to keep the streets clean.”
The Kelly Strayhorn is shaking things up with new ideas and staff. Janera Soloman has been named the new Executive Director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. Ms. Soloman will bring a fresh and vibrant energy to the theater and her multi-arts background will draw new performers.
She has 10 years of work experience with arts programming and a lifetime of culturally diversity. Janera is a native of Guyana and a member of the Soloman family known for their steel drum expertise.
Prior to taking over at the Kelly Strayhorn, Janera was a curator with Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, a sixteen-day contemporary performance festival, and developed and curated the August Wilson Center’s first international performing arts festival “First Voice.”
East Liberty welcomes Ms. Soloman and looks forward to expanding our Arts & Culture in a positive, progressive way!
Read more about Janera and her new position.
One of East Liberty’s community garden located in on St. Clair Street in East Liberty was noted in an article for the Autumn 2008 issue of Table magazine, a food and culture magazine for Western Pennsylvania.
The project began when Kim Wynnckyj, marketing director of the Whole Foods in East Liberty, suggested a community garden to ELDI. Plans were made to sell the produce and donate the money to charity. Nathan Wildfire of ELDI suggested the Enright Park site at the end of South St. Clair Street.
The main support for the garden comes from the Kentucky Avenue School, but help and donations have come from all over Pittsburgh and the East Liberty community in order to make the garden possible.
The produce from this garden will be used for several things around the neighborhood. Most of it will be sold at East Liberty’s monthly farmers market by students from Kentucky Avenue School and then those funds will be donated to charity. Chef Lon Durbin of Whole Foods will also give cooking classes to the students to create a connection between what they are growing and what they are eating.
Students sorting through debris at the former YMCA on Whitfield St. in East Liberty. Students filled canisters with paper, plastic, throwaway materials and more to go to Construction Junction.
On Wednesday, August 20 was the Second Annual East Liberty/CMU Tepper School Community Day. More than 250 business school graduate students came to the neighborhood to work on projects sites ranging from litter pick ups to clean ups and interior demolition of houses. The day was a total success, giving many fresh-to-Pittsburgh students an opportunity to learn more about our community.
Students on Negley Run cleaned enough litter and debris to fill over 40 industrial sized trash bags, as well as another 24 from East Liberty’s business core. To see more from the day, go to the Photos Gallery!
For the second year in a row, Fifth Third Bank has rolled into town with their 40-foot, state-of-the-art satellite equipped eBus TODAY, Friday, September 5. The Homeownership bus will be parked on Penn Avenue, next to East Liberty Presbyterian Church from 11 am to 4 pm.
The eBus offers a number of services with its twelve computer workstations and internet connectivity. This “mobile classroom” will provide credit reports, homeownership information and opportunities, foreclosure prevention, financial literacy materials and access to a variety of Fifth Third banking products and services. All of these services are free to the community. You may also apply for employment at Fifth Third Bank.
Fifth Third bank in located on the corner of Penn Circle and Highland Avenue in the Stevenson Building. For more information, contact their Financial Center Manager, Maria Acri at 412.365.2800.
Gene Kelly became one of America’s most famous and widely renowned performers, and he got his humble beginnings in East Liberty! The local legend would have been turning 96 on Saturday, August 23rd. To learn more about Genen Kelly and his influence in the Neighborhood, check out the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. Read more in the Tribune Review.
