P-G: Mt. Lebanon Light rail center to go above, beyond

Plans for a mixed-use building and parking garage near the Mt. Lebanon Light Transit Rail station are still in the early stages, but local leaders already are calling the project the major development opportunity for the municipality.

Municipal planners and representatives from AECOM, an engineering company, presented the plan for the Transit Revitalization Investment District to commissioners Tuesday night after almost a decade of conversations about how to develop the area between Washington Road and Shady Drive East.

Read more:

• www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-light-rail-center-to-go-above-beyond-644286 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Trib: Mt. Lebanon T station development could be 'big'

Developers could create prime real estate in Mt. Lebanon's Uptown business district out of thin air, if engineers' concepts for a deck above the Port Authority light-rail line come to fruition.

Under a contract with the municipality, engineers from Los Angeles-based AECOM have been studying how to utilize air rights Mt. Lebanon owns above the rails, perhaps by building on a deck that would cover the tracks. Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority purchased the air rights from the Port Authority in the 1980s. The rights passed to the municipality when it absorbed the Parking Authority last year.

Read the full article:

• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_780613.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Crane Accident Halts Port Authority 'T' Service In Mt. Lebanon

Service to the Port Authority's light rail "T" line was partially shut down Monday night when a construction crane crashed into a truck inside a tunnel in Mt. Lebanon.

Mt. Lebanon Fire Chief Nick Sohyda said the unattended crane drifted about 2,200 feet on the rails of the tunnel before crashing into a contractor's pickup truck.

Read the full article:

• www.wtae.com/news/28377181/detail.html (WTAE)

Trib: Track to be installed in Mt. Lebanon rail tunnel

The inbound side of the Mt. Lebanon rail tunnel will be closed from Thursday night through Tuesday morning so crews can install new track, the Port Authority of Allegheny County said.

Read the full article:

• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_741147.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

P-G: Transit Tunnel work in Mt. Lebanon will affect boarding

Construction in the Mt. Lebanon Transit Tunnel will start Thursday night and cause a change in boarding procedures for Red Line passengers at Mt. Lebanon and Dormont stations.

Installation of new track in the outbound tunnel will cause single-tracking of trains from 8 p.m. Thursday to 4 a.m. next Tuesday.

Read the full article:

• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11151/1150399-100.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Port Authority pinch is coming to South Hills

The full list of eliminated or reduced service routes can be found on the Port Authority's website, www.portauthority.org. They include reduced service on the T blue lines to Library and South Hills Village, the P7 McKeesport Flyer and the 53 Homestead Park.

Some of the routes that will be eliminated, such as the 42 Mt. Lebanon-Oakland, have buses that are always packed. "People are going to scratch their head and say it doesn't make much sense to cut it, because a lot of people use it and we agree," Mr. Ritchie said.

One of those people is Peggy McNeil, an administrator at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. She has taken the Mt. Lebanon to Oakland bus for 10 years.

Read the full article:

• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11034/1122496-55.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

MLK Mural Comes to Mt. Lebanon

If you've driven on Shady Drive East recently, you've seen people painting the concrete walls of the Port Authority tunnel that goes underneath the road. I've seen the mural starting to take shape, but I didn't see anyone actually working on it until today so I stopped by to talk to the people that were there.

The mural is part of the MLK Community Mural Project, which according to their web site is:

The MLK Community Mural Project is for Pittsburgh the biggest and brightest art venture in the city’s history, with murals scheduled to cover 26 walls throughout the city and already engaging hundreds of Pittsburgh’s biggest and brightest residents.

I had the opportunity to speak to Bonnie, the project manager for the Mt. Lebanon mural and Karen, one of the artists that has helped to design the murals themselves. Bonnie stated that they have designed murals to be placed on multiple walls that are part of the tunnel for the T and that they have students from around Pittsburgh that come to the site to work on it. They have also contracted the work of artists from a Pittsburgh-based firm called KH Design to design the actual murals that the students will paint.

I personally think that this is an awesome project that will bring life and lots of color to otherwise dreary concrete walls that are passed by every day by tons of people traveling through Mt. Lebanon. I've posted pictures of the work in progress below this article. I'm sorry that the pictures aren't that great quality, but I took them with my cellphone camera. As you'll see, there will actually be 3 separate areas of the tunnel area that will have murals placed on them. I can't wait to see the finished work!

A Port Authority Driver Who Serves Customers With Care

From the Post-Gazette's Random Acts of Kindness section:

We were on the 42S light rail, No. 4229, hightailing it out of the South Hills one frosty mid-morning when we halted at a low-lying stop in Mt. Lebanon.

Next thing I knew, the driver -- a gray-haired woman close to grandma age if not already there -- was walking down the trolley steps to the platform, saying, "Here, let me take that. No, this would be better. C'mon honey ..."

And up the steps she brought a toddler, a boy far too small to easily make the climb. Behind him came a young woman carrying in one arm a baby bundled against the cold; with the other hand she had a bulky, folded stroller, with which the driver helped her as well.

"Isn't that driver a sweetheart?" someone said to the young woman after she got seated. She sure was.

Does it matter that the driver was white and the young woman she assisted was black? And that we were in Mt. Lebanon, which gets ripped fairly often for being a haven for white folks?

Maybe not. But it sure was a heartwarming moment on a cold, cold day, and I'll take that anytime.

-- MARGI SHRUM, Post-Gazette copy editor

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07340/839575-294.stm

Onorato Touts Light-Rail Development To House

Mixed-use development along the Port Authority's light-rail system in the South Hills is the future of transit-oriented projects in the region, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said Thursday in testimony before the state House Majority Policy Committee.

"The idea behind these developments is we want to bring residential and commercial (uses) to where transit already is," he said. Onorato cited proposed development near a Castle Shannon park-and-ride as the ideal model: 60 apartment units, 65,000 square feet of retail space and a parking deck for Port Authority commuters.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_535860.html

Rep. Smith To Host Hearing on Transit-Oriented Economic Development

From an email received this morning from Rep. Smith's office:

Please join me and my colleagues on the Majority Policy Committee at a hearing on transit-oriented economic development from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1 at the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building , Commissioner's Room, 710 Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon.

The hearing will focus on the South Hills Transit Investment District, the status of a commissioned study that was made possible by a Transit Revitalization Investment District grant from Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, future plans for areas surrounding our area's light rail transit stations, and economic projections. Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato is scheduled to testify at 1 p.m.

This is meeting is open to the public. If you have questions, please contact me in my constituent service office at (412) 571-2169 .

New Bus Routes Will Feed LRT

The Port Authority has restructured several South Hills bus routes to provide weekday "feeder" service to the Light Rail Transit system for the first time, saying it will make both modes more efficient.

Starting Sept. 4, three new bus routes will debut for the rush hours, all connecting to the Mt. Lebanon T Station: 44D Jefferson, 44E Inglewood and 44F Terrace.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07235/811488-147.stm

Transit Stations' Futures Being Plotted

Despite the lack of glitter and glamour associated with planning transit-oriented development, dozens of people turned out for several meetings on the topic in Mt. Lebanon last Thursday.

The three meetings united a team of planners working on potential development in what is being called the South Hills Transit Investment District. Dormont and Mt. Lebanon are spending $200,000, including state grant money, on a study to investigate what kind of development mix would be desirable and feasible for the 1/2-mile area around each of three important light rail transit stations: Dormont Junction, Mt. Lebanon and Potomac.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07200/802660-55.stm

Officials To Listen To T-Station Area Ideas

Residents of Dormont and Mt. Lebanon will get a chance this week to put themselves on the forefront of what urban planners call a national trend in transportation planning.

Allegheny County and municipal officials will listen Thursday to suggestions for enhancing neighborhoods around Port Authority light-rail T stations. The meeting is the first step in what officials hope will transform the T-station areas into community hubs.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_516335.html

Port Authority Cutting More Bus, Trolley Routes

Less than a month after reducing bus and trolley service by 15 percent, the Port Authority of Allegheny County has announced another 10 percent cut. The Port Authority said that unless the state passes a budget that dedicates more transit funding, bus service would be cut again in September.

The cut list includes 37A Mt. Lebanon-McFarland, 41C Cedar Boulevard, 42M Mt. Lebanon Short, 46H Pleasant Hills, 67E Greensburg Pike, 75D Penn Hills-Monroeville, 77C Shadyside, 78E Penn Hills-East Vue Express, 84B Oakland Loop and many others.

Link: www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/13635577/detail.html

If You Ride Public Transportation....

...and you live in Mt. Lebanon (or take the T from here), you should attend the meeting being held next week by the Port Authority to discuss the proposed cuts to some of their routes. Some of the Mt. Lebanon routes will be affected and/or cut if the changes take effect.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07032/758382-55.stm
Link 2: www.tinyurl.com/2fbboh