Library planning Hazelwood move

Thursday, August 28, 2003

By Bill Toland, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh plans to move its tiny Hazelwood branch from its current spot along Monongahela Street to a safer, more accessible location a few blocks away.

Library director Herb Elish announced the plan at yesterday's Allegheny Regional Asset District hearing, where organizations made their annual pitches for funding next year.

The asset district's board disburses money from its cut of Allegheny County's 1 percent sales tax. Next year, it expects to hand out about $75 million, which will be short of the $81.38 million requested by 107 area groups and organizations, including those that outlined their needs last night.

Elish told the board that employees at the 103-year-old Hazelwood branch are afraid to come to work.

"There is concern about drug activity [in the area]," Elish said. Also, he said, there's little parking at the Monongahela Street building, and because the library is situated on a hill, senior citizens have a difficult time walking there.

So in the spring, the library will likely move to a temporary home in Plaza Sophia, a year-old office building on Second Avenue. On its first floor, the building houses a coin-operated laundry and a delicatessen, but its second floor is empty.

Elish hopes to sign a five-year lease with the plaza's owner, Steve Gombas, following a community meeting next month at which the proposed move will be discussed.

"It's a very, very, very attractive lease," Elish said. "There are not a lot of competing tenants."

Carnegie Library is requesting $16.5 million in asset district funding, up 3 percent from last year.

Yesterday evening, the area's other major library group, the Allegheny County Library Association, requested $7.76 million, a 3.6 percent increase over last year's disbursement.

Marilyn Jenkins, the association's executive director, said the money will go toward improving the library system by reducing redundant services and buoying the bookmobile program.

Barbara Baker, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, put a positive spin on what has been a difficult 12 months for the zoo.

In November, elephant keeper Mike Gatti was killed by an elephant during a morning walk. That came about a month after the death of eight of the zoo's sharks, all of which were acquired in September.

The zoo requested $4.34 million, $70,000 of which will be used to resurface about half of the zoo's walking paths.

Also yesterday, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens requested $2.42 million.

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