Volume 27 No. 7 July 2011
A trip to remember
W. Ohio Bridge plan, park use rile residents By Jeanette Lee
Photo by Cortney Seltman A group of French students from Oliver High School traveled to Guadeloupe to meet their pen-pals. From left to right, Antonio Blackwell, Ammad Allen, Curtis Brown, Andre Williams and Shawn Kenney celebrate at a monument to the end of slavery. See news brief on page 4.
West Penn, Highmark announce affiliation By Jeanette Lee The West Penn Allegheny Health System and Highmark, Inc. are now partners in an effort to provide more affordable and accessible medical care for the community, officials said. The affiliation, announced June 28, means that Highmark will make a $475 million commitment to the WPAHS, of which Allegheny General Hospital on North Avenue is a part. Highmark announced that it would provide $50 million immediately, to strengthen the medical services at several WPAHS
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hospitals. According to Kelly Sorice, the vice president of public relations at WPAHS, some of that money will fund “operational needs at particular hospitals, especially AGH. The partnership is good news for AGH.” Another $75 million will go towards funding scholarships for medical students at Drexel University and other schools affiliated with WPAHS. The Drexel medical school is partnered with Allegheny General Hospital. The recently announced
See West Penn, page 19
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The city’s plans to raise the W. Ohio Street Bridge and more firmly enforce permitting regulations has recently made Allegheny Commons Park a flashpoint for contentious debate. At a public hearing on June 14, the city presented its recommendations to raise the W. Ohio Street Bridge to allow double-stacked trains to run through, but leave other bridges on the same track at a lower height. City officials said that the W. Ohio Street Bridge and the now defunct Ridge Avenue Bridge required immediate action to ensure the safety of pedestrians and motorists. They presented five alternatives for the W. Ohio Street Bridge: • Rehabilitate the bridge in place without raising it; • Lower the railroad tracks and rehabilitate the bridge; • Rehabilitate the bridge offsite at a higher clearance; • Replace the bridge entirely at a higher clearance; • Do nothing. The Ridge Avenue Bridge will be removed completely and will not be replaced. Though the city presented five alternatives for the W. Ohio Bridge, they eliminated three of those options without input from the community because they were not “prudent” or “feasible.” This decision was reflected on the comment forms that the city distributed to members of the audience. On the form, residents were
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given a list of all five alternatives and asked to indicate which one they preferred for the W. Ohio Street Bridge. However, the form also stated that three of these alternatives had been thrown out. Councilwoman Darlene Harris pointed out this discrepancy to the project director, who conceded that residents had the right to choose from all five of the alternatives despite what was stated on the comment forms. City consultants estimate that lowering the tracks would cost between $20 and $29 million and take longer to complete than the other options would. They have $5 million for the project, 80 percent of which is federal funding. City officials said their options were limited by standards set by the Public Utility Commission, which has ordered that the new W. Ohio Street bridge — which currently has a 19 foot clearance — meet a 22 foot clearance to allow Norfolk-Southern Railroad’s double-stacked trains to go through. However, the city is not currently planning to renovate a series of lower bridges along the same set of tracks. Norfolk-Southern owns the railroad tracks that run through the park. No one from the railroad attended the meeting. When members of the audience questioned the practicality of raising one bridge to accommodate taller trains, but leaving the other bridges untouched, Assistant Public Works
See Bridges, page 18
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