Volume 28 No. 7
July 2012
New park on the Northside opens in Allegheny Center By Kelsey Shea
Photo courtesy the Children’s Museum
Live music at the opening of Buhl Community Park.
YMWAHA Founder Janice Parks retires after 18 years By Emily Riley
Early on Tuesday mornings, those in the office for the Young Men and Women’s African Heritage Association could be sure of two things ¬– its director Janice Parks would be hard at work and her homemade soup would be steaming in the kitchen. Parks, the founder and former executive director of YMWAHA, never missed a Tuesday soup day or the opportunity to tell it like it is said her coworkers. Recently retired, she has passed her responsibilities on to a newer generation that she trusts will keep the YMWAHA alive. The organization began in 1994 when the Northside community expressed a need for culturally specified foster care services for African
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Americans said Park. “We responded to a need for a service that considered the life-long wellness of children in foster care and the questions that race present in the adoption process,” said Parks. Today, though still anchored in child welfare, YMWAHA utilizes arts, education and culture programs in hopes of developing a more productive population in Allegheny County. Eric Asongwed, Parks’ successor, said the programs make a big impact on the kids they serve. “We really look to build up well-rounded individuals,” said Asongwed. “We have individuals who come back 5 years, 10 years, 15 years later telling us how important our programs were to their future and success.”
See YMWAHA, page 7
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Circus performers, politicians, musicians, children and Northsiders gathered on June 23 to celebrate the opening and dedication of the Buhl Community Park at Allegheny Square. The park, at the intersection of Federal and Ohio streets, was transformed into a green, public space this year as a part of the Children’s Museum’s Charm Bracelet Project. To celebrate its opening, the Children’s Museum offered free admission all day on Saturday and had roaming acrobats from Cirquetacular and performances by the River City Brass Quintet thoughout the day. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, City Council President Darlene Harris and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald attended the event. “I’m just so excited,” said Harris, who recalled coming to Allegheny Center as a child to visit the library and the park. “It’s great to see so many people here, like it used to be.” Harris said the city hopes to reconnect Ohio Street and East Ohio Street to make the park even more accessible. The 1.5 acre space between the Children’s Museum and Allegheny Center apartments was a poorly maintained cement park that residents described as somewhat of an eyesore. Despite the size, the park had only 20 trees and was 65 percent concrete. “I believe many of you have been looking at that sunken plaza for the past decade, and I believe it’s taken a turn for the worse,” said Chris Siefert, deputy director of
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the Children’s Museum, when he presented the new plans for the park and moderated the community meeting last July. After 10 months of construction that began in August of 2011, the park is now reverted back to the original “X” shaped pattern that it had in the 1890s and now has over 100 trees, 200 shrubs, 5,000 flowers and is 70 percent grass. Frely Shea and her husband watched the official opening from their Allegheny Center apartment’s balcony after watching and hearing the park’s construction for through the fall and winter. “Clearly it’s fabulous for us because we can see it,” said Shea. “We’ve been here through all the construction, and it’s just fabulous now.” The highlight of the park is a 32-foot-tall art installation by Ned Kahn called “Cloud Arbor.” “Cloud Arbor” is a series of metal poles that creates a cloud 9 feet above the ground that release a cool, fine mist every few minutes to simulate a cloud hovering close to the ground and moving with the wind. At the June 23 opening, children in attendance waited between the poles for the mist to come out. The piece was funded by The Charity Randall Foundation and will operate year-round. In addition to “Cloud Arbor,” the park also has green features like solar lamps, a rain garden. bio swells and meadow grass. Additional tables and chairs as well as blue stone benches were installed for seating. “I think throughout the park,
See Buhl Park, page 5
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