Thursday, October 30, 2003

LINCOLN PLACE: Body identified

The woman whose body was found beaten and possibly sexually assaulted in a Lincoln Place park Tuesday morning has been identified as Noreen Apjok, 37, of Munhall.

The Allegheny County coroner's office said an autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation due to compression of her neck.

City homicide detectives are seeking to determine Apjok's movements prior to her body being discovered in a picnic shelter in McBride Park around 9 a.m. by a man walking his dog.

HILL DISTRICT: Hill house names head

The Hill House Association board of directors has named as its new executive director a vice president at PNC Financial Services Group who is an active volunteer with numerous nonprofit organizations.

Evan S. Frazier will leave his job at PNC next week and take over at the Hill House Dec. 10. He will replace James Henry, who directed the Hill House for a quarter century before his death in July.

Board members voted unanimously for Frazier, who was named a Luce Scholar by the Henry Luce Foundation of New York City in 1998 and was selected two years later to be a McGuinnis Distinguished Lecturer at Point Park College.

A native of Pittsburgh, Frazier received his master's degree from Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy Management. After returning from Asia, where he worked during the Luce scholarship, he served as senior vice president of the Manchester Bidwell Corp.

Among the boards he serves on are those of the Urban League of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Council on Public Education, Forbes Regional Hospital, Mount Ararat Community Activity Center and Carnegie Science Center.

VEHICLE FLEET: Private managers sought

The city issued a 46-page request for proposals for the private management of its vehicle fleet yesterday, which the Murphy administration says could save $3.3 million annually.

It is just one of the moves the city is making to cut $40 million next year, to help bridge an expected $80 million budget shortfall.

The city wants a private firm to take over the repair and oversight of the vehicles -- which will still be owned by the city -- possibly by April 1.

There are 1,030 vehicles in the fleet, from cars to fire engines and garbage trucks.

The administration is hoping it can lower its short-term costs by losing fleet personnel and equipment, and over the long term, cut capital costs by having fewer vehicles in the overall fleet. The request requires the private contractor to offer jobs to qualified personnel currently working for the city.

Proposals to take over fleet management are due back to the city by Dec. 5.

In a related matter, some 25 people from about 10 independent asphalt companies toured the city's asphalt facility in Highland Park yesterday. The administration is studying whether to sell the plant, an initiative that City Council has opposed but fiscal study groups have supported.

STATION SQUARE: 5 honored by magazine

Five people were honored at the Black Opinion Magazine's 29th annual black achievers luncheon at the Sheraton Hotel at Station Square yesterday.

They are Carlos Carter, an employee of Citizens Bank's Parkway West Business Center; Gerard Igyor, assistant professor at Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Basil Martin II, assistant professor at Clarion University of Pennsylvania; Maurita Bryant, city police commander; and Livingston Alexander, president of the Bradford campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

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