News Around the Neighborhood

An Important Film for Our Time

City of Asylum (2017) ReelQ Pittsburgh Presents

Freedom to Marry

Friday, January 20th 7:00 pm

Rainbow Fist The struggle for equality on all fronts is hard fought and its victories hard won. This Friday, get a behind-the-scenes view of the triumphs and struggles of the marriage equality movement. Freedom to Marry (presented by the ReelQ Pittsburgh) is a “war room” style documentary that follows architect of the same-sex marriage movement, Evan Wolfson, civil rights attorney Mary Bonauto and her clients, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse in the days leading up to the final 2015 Supreme Court decision. While you already know the ending, this film conveys every bit of the suspense and stakes of the most successful civil rights movements in recent history. This film demonstrates the value of determination and that triumphs are possible. Don’t miss this one!

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Grand Opening, City of Asylum Books @ Alphabet City

City of Asylum (2017)

Please join us for the Grand Opening of

City of Asylum Bookstore
@ Alphabet City

Saturday, January 14th
11:00 am to 4:00 pm

City of Asylum Books

Specializing in translations, from children’s books and cookbooks to literature from around the world.  Plus unique shelves featuring books by publisher — like New Directions, Archipelago, Dalkey Archive, the New York Review of Books, Copper Canyon, and Ugly Duckling — and the entire collection of the Library of America, thanks to the donation of LOA Patron Lewis Bernard. Mostly new books but also a selection of “pre-owned” with low mileage.  And a selection of first editions, including many Nobel Prize winners dating back 100 years.

Free coffee and treats
10% off on all book purchases
11:30 am:  Children’s Storytelling 

Parking:  http://www.alphabetcity.org/about-us/parking/

Letter from the President – January 2017

So what are you doing on Tuesday night?

There’s a meeting on the Second Tuesday of each month—7:30 P.M. —in the social hall of Calvary Church, corner of Allegheny and Beech Avenues. Your neighbors show up, and they decide the fate of your community. Really.

If there’s something that you like about Allegheny West, or that attracted you to be here in the first place, chances are highly likely that these people and their predecessors have literally called it into being. Really.

And if there’s something that you hate here, or that drives you right up the wall, chances are highly likely that these people and their predecessors have been working their butts off to do something about it. Really.

None of these folks is collecting a paycheck for any of this. Many of them put in dozens of hours a week—week after week, and year after year. Lots of them have been doing this for ten, twenty, thirty, forty years. Really. For more than half a century, your Allegheny West neighbors have been gathering to assure that our community is a place that we are all glad to call home — whether for ourselves, our family, or our business.

The community in which you reside or work wasn’t always a place that you — or those around you — would have chosen. Many hundreds of hard-working individuals across all these years have carefully crafted this neighborhood — very frequently against astonishing odds and obstacles. The results of their hard work have brought you here.

The people of Allegheny West first met to create a community organization on May 24, 1962. As the Allegheny West Civic Council celebrates its 55th birthday this year, my monthly messages in The Gazette will provide an overview of what we’ve done across all that time. As nearly all of us are more recent arrivals, it’s a good time to assure that we all have a clear understanding of just how much we’ve accomplished. It also helps — when we’re struggling with an insurmountable task, contemplating a new initiative, or dreading an unavoidable conflict — to collectively recall that this is the process that has produced Allegheny West . . . determination and hard work.

Quite simply, this neighborhood wouldn’t exist without the struggles that the Allegheny West Civic Council and its members have overcome since 1962. It actually wouldn’t physically even be here. All of this land would be an industrial park, a highway interchange and a college campus. Right where you live or work today. Really.

Over the coming months here in The Gazette, you’ll be learning about all of that. I hope that it helps you to appreciate your neighborhood—and your neighbors, past and present—in a new way. And I hope even more that it inspires you to join us in continuing to protect and grow this remarkable legacy. You will be part of an astonishing and proud story, made possible by extraordinary women and men across 55 years. And there’s still lots more work to do. I hope that you will consider actively joining us and participating in this effort. A good place to begin is at the Calvary Church on the second Tuesday of each month, 7:30 pm. Hope to see you there!

John DeSantis
President, AWCC

AWCC Membership Meeting Agenda – January 10, 2017

Calvary United Methodist Church, 971 Beech Ave
Tuesday, January 10th at 7:30 pm

  • Visitors
    • Councilwoman Harris’s Office
    • Mayor Peduto’s Office
    • Zone One Police
    • Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
  • Presentation: Northside Trails Project
  • New Neighbors & Guests
  • Minutes
  • Treasurer’s Report
    • Finance Committee Volunteers Sought
    • Membership
      • January Events
    • Ways and Means
      • Christmas Tour Final
      • Update on Five Year Plan with Calvary
      • Dates for 2017 Events
    • Friends of Allegheny West
      • Green Space
    • Housing and Planning
      • Trucks Through the Neighborhood
      • Stadium Events: Parking and Traffic
      • Western Avenue Revitalization
      • Light of Life: Ridge Avenue Project
      • Film Guidelines
    • Northside Leadership Conference
    • Other Business

Food Alert: Brunch Challenge

Ten chefs making twenty different appetizers for 200 people to sample while they listen to Irish music, Swiss yodelers and watch Irish dancers all for just $25! All proceeds support the Northside Community Food Pantry. Event will be held on Saturday, January 21 at 11:00 am at the New Hazlett Theater.

For tickets, e-mail jay.poliziani@ncmin.org.

Neighborhood Mixer

Come out to City Books next Friday, January 13 at 6:30 pm to mix and mingle with your neighbors. Arlan is opening up the store to the neighborhood and will provide light snacks. BYOB. If you haven’t had a chance to stop by the bookstore yet, please mark your calendars for this Friday and support another great local business!

Little Neighbor, Big Accomplishment!

Congratulations to neighbor and ballerina Margot Teh, who performed in the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater’s performance of The Nutcracker this past December. Margot has been dancing with the PBT since she was four years old. After many rehearsals, Margot performed as both a toy soldier and a bumblebee in 13 performances. Great job, Margot!

House History + AWCC 50th Projects Update

Submitted by Nick Smerker

The Neighborhood History section of alleghenywest.org has been online for just the last few months and has already garnered a fair bit of traffic. With more expected to come from visitors who learned about the resource during the Christmas Tours, it would be great to keep things growing.

To that end, if you have a researched house history from Carol Peterson and haven’t yet dropped it off at the AWCC office (806 Western Avenue), please do so soon! We’ve heard from a few folks who have these documents and have been meaning to drop them off…for several months running…so it would be great to have them for scanning by Pitt.

In addition, the AWCC 50 Year Timeline project is still moving forward. Doris and Greg have been mining the council office for useful materials and editing has begun on video interviews recorded in the last few months. We’d still love having more voices in the mix, though so if you’d like to participate in an interview, please let us know.

If you have any questions about this or want to get involved just email webmaster@alleghenywest.org or call (814) 777-0097.

Remember to Share Your News

The Allegheny West Gazette accepts appropriate content from neighbors for publication by the first of the month. If you have news of neighborhood events or updates, or if you would simply like to thank or honor a neighbor, please send relevant information (including photos, if applicable) to gazette@alleghenywest.org. Thank you!

Bowling at the Elks Lodge

Polish your bowling ball and get your satin jacket on – Allegheny West Bowling resumes on Wednesday, January 11th, beginning at 7:30 pm. Bowl with your neighbors every Wednesday throughout the winter on the second floor of the Elks Lodge at 400 Cedar Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Then, stick around for Banjo night performances on the first floor.  We hope to see you there!