Newsmaker: Mayor of Millvale is leading town's renaissance

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Newsmaker: Mayor of Millvale is leading town's renaissance

Wednesday, April 11, 2001

By Rick Nowlin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

It's one thing to have a passion for a community, but it's another to have a vision and a plan to move it forward. When it comes to his hometown of Millvale, Jim Burn has both, and the borough, which had fallen on hard times in recent years, is making a comeback.

Younger people and families are moving in. The town is seeing new business ventures. The police department has been strengthened. And ground is about to be broken for a riverfront park.

Burn considers the revitalization of the river town "almost like building a new ballpark."

The 37-year-old mayor, a personal injury lawyer by trade and chairman of the Millvale Democratic Committee, has served as point man of the community's revitalization.

A graduate of North Catholic High School and Duquesne University, where he majored in English and minored in business and political science, Burn earned his law degree from the University of Dayton.

He never really wanted to leave town -- "I'm still on the waiting list at Duquesne Law," he joked -- and returned home after receiving his degree.

Burn, whose family moved to Millvale from Pittsburgh's Garfield neighborhood in 1972, decided to run for mayor at the behest of his brother. "He basically told me what I was thinking -- the town was at a turning point and it was turning for the worse," he said. "It was starting to look like the Garfield my parents moved us out of when I was 9."

Burn found a fiscal mess when he took office in 1994, with the borough $250,000 in debt.

"There were loans to pay the water, which had been consolidated with other debts, and the prior administration was preparing to borrow more money," he said. The experience "was like moving into a dilapidated building at first -- everything needed to be fixed."

Working with borough council, Burn cut back on fees being paid for consultants and legal work, began a program to collect delinquent wage and property taxes and implemented a computer system to handle the information.

Within two years, Millvale had erased much of the debt, and it refinanced the remainder at a lower rate.

"None of that had ever been done [before]," Burn said.

The next target was the condition of borough streets. Burn said the borough had a competent road crew, but it wasn't being used effectively.

It now paves between five and 12 streets per year. "More roads have been paved in the past four years than in the borough's 130-year history," Burn said.

The next step was encouraging younger families to move in while enhancing safety for the senior citizens who lived there. The borough did that by working with outside agencies to build two high-rise apartment buildings for seniors.

"It really helped to create an economic ripple effect, a domino effect," Burn said. "Once [seniors] were able to move into the high-rises, we've been able to market their homes to families with children that would attract business."

As a result, Burn said, "We're seeing a lot of new faces and some businesses come in. You've seen more people working on their homes. Our crime watch got reorganized."

And with the borough's financial problems under control, it eventually hired three full-time police officers. Before, Burn said, the borough generally hired part-time officers, who would leave when better offers came their way.

As mayor, Burn supervises the police department. He can make proposals, but borough council makes the decisions.

Burn gave credit to those who have served with him for the past seven years.

"We have the hardest-working council this borough has ever seen," Burn said. "We work so well together; we complement each other. It's a team thing -- no one person would have done any of this."

The mayor's role is providing political leadership and handling public relations.

"Council's job is to build [the town]," Burn said. "The mayor's job is to help them build it and to sell it."

Burn has willingly played his part, for which he received the "Mayor of the Year" award from the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association in 1997.

Mike Speranzo, who owns Mr. Small's Funhouse, a recording studio on Grant Avenue, is among those who have bought into the program pushed by Burn and council.

Speranzo's establishment, which Burn said is investing $1.5 million in a building project in a former church on Lincoln Avenue, will serve as the new home of the recording studio as well as a showcase -- "picking up where the [defunct Oakland music club] Graffiti left off," Speranzo said. The band Rusted Root, which includes his wife Liz Berlin, has recorded there.

Speranzo said he'd like to see artists move to Millvale, which would demonstrate the community's rebirth. He has nothing but praise for the political leadership in the borough.

"The mayor and council have been outstanding. The organization is top-notch and active," he said, "and it's hard to find that in government."

Speranzo noted that he recently saw council president and retired police Chief Jim Porter painting a property the borough had just bought. "He cares what it looks like," Speranzo said.

Coming soon is the crown jewel of the Millvale renaissance -- recreational development along the waterfront, including a hiking and bicycle trail that would possibly extend into Aspinwall, a marina and a boathouse for the Three Rivers Rowing Association.

In 1999, the borough bought 13 acres underneath the 40th Street Bridge from the county for $1, with the stipulation that it be used for recreation. So far, Millvale has obtained more than $350,000 in state and federal grants for the development project, which is expected to cost about $1 million.

"We've always considered the waterfront a geographical gold mine -- we're near the city, the river and a major highway," Burn said. All that remains for the groundbreaking is for the state Department of Environmental Protection "to give us a go on a couple of things. It could be any day -- the sooner the better."

Burn is not without further political ambition -- he lost a race for County Council, running for the 13th District seat vacated by the death of Tom Foerster.

"But it's better [for Millvale] that I'm still here -- there's some good chemistry here between council and residents, residents and police," Burn said. "There's a lot that needs to be done." He's already decided to run for a third term this year.

For relaxation, Burn spends time with his wife of three years, Lori, and their son James Edward, born last summer. He strives to be out "no more than three nights a week."

His major indulgence? Tae kwon do, which he practices two or three days a week. "It's a way of life, not a hobby," he said. "It helps keep everything in perspective."