Volume 28 No. 6
June 2012
Deutschtown cigar business causes community uproar By Kelsey Shea
Photo by Kelsey Shea
Students from Pressley Ridge placed flags in Highwood Cemetery to commemorate veterans for Memorial day.
Perry and Oliver prepare for next year’s merger By Kelsey Shea By 3 p.m. on June 13, Oliver High School will officially be closed, sending its 300 students to Perry Traditional Academy. At a meeting on May 30, Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators, faculty members and students from both schools attended a community meeting to discuss what has been done to ease the transition and what administrators still need to do. “We believe that when groups like these come together, we get really great results,” said PPS Superintendent Linda Lane. About 60 people attended the meeting, seven of which were parents. The meeting was moderated
by professionals from New York University who Perry hired to help with the transition. The Perry and Oliver student transition team gave a presentation on their work throughout the past few months which included helping organize over 30 visits to Perry for Oliver students, a unity chain, a mural and joint extracurricular activities. After the student presentation, NYU moderators led a brief conversation with community members in attendance, during which the community expressed concern about the school board, parent communication, Oliver faculty and how Oliver students would be incorporated into
See Transition, page 27
Andrew Lee wants a second chance to run his shop, Executive Cigars, in Historic Deutschtown, but after eight months of problematic late-night parties, neighborhood residents aren’t keen to give him another shot. A community meeting on April 30 sparked a month-long conflict this month in the Northside centering on Lee and involving angry neighbors, fire code violations, a December shooting and allegations against Commander 1 Police Commander Rashall Brackney. While Executive Cigars has been in business for three years on Suismon Street, in August of last year late-night parties on the second floor of the building began creating disturbances that had neighbors and the East Allegheny Community Council concerned. “For eight months, our lives were hell from Friday at 2 a.m. to Saturday at 6 a.m.,” said Deutschtown resident Scott Parker. “I don’t even support him having a cigar shop in my neighborhood. Fights and a December 2011 shooting where over 20 bullets were fired with a Mac11 by individuals leaving the building added additional concern for public safety to neighbors’ complaints of noise disturbances and parking problems. Lee said that he was renting the second floor of the shop to a young man who was running an illegal afterhours club, but has since terminated the lease and believes the problems are over. Though he is the owner, Lee said he had no involvement with the afterhours party and that patrons of his shop are professionals all over
the age of 48 and of the “highest caliber.” “Our customers are not your enemies,” said Lee. “I would love to move on from this with this community…We can be good neighbors.” In April, Lee applied to the zoning board to extend his shop hours until 2 a.m. and permit members of his club to bring alcohol onto the premise for parties or events. At his zoning hearing on April 19, 30 Deutschtown residents showed up for the hearing as well as Lee. Residents feared that the extended hours and permitting members and private parties to bring to alcoholic in the shop would recreate the noise and safety problems. Lee plans to extend his shop’s hours to accommodate patrons who finish work late and permit them to bring and drink alcohol on the premise. He also plans to rent out the second floor private parties such as showers, fundraisers and birthday parties that will not be ongoing. He does not anticipate any noise or safety problems. The zoning board hearing was delayed until May 10 in the hopes that the two parties could come to an agreement outside of court, which prompted Lee to arrange the community meeting. Lee and City Council President Darlene Harris hosted the community meeting in Bistro-To-Go’s annex, though little compromise was met between the opposing parties after two hours of discussion moderated by Harris. At the rescheduled zoning hearing on May 10, roughly 50 Deutschtown residents showed up
See Cigars, page 10