LTV Site In Hazelwood Nearly Ready For New Identity

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Work to level a former steel mill in Hazelwood is expected to be done by the end of August, clearing the way for contractors to build a 1½-mile road and run utility lines through the 178-acre property, a developer said on Friday.

“Once the infrastructure work is under way, I think it will unlock tremendous interest in the site” from prospective tenants, said Donald F. Smith Jr., president of the Downtown-based Regional Industrial Development Corp.

RIDC is partnering with four foundations under the name Almono to transform the former LTV Steel Co. site. They bought the riverfront property in 2002 and envision more than $1 billion in development happening there during the next two decades, including 1,400 housing units, 1.3 million square feet of office space and nearly 950,000 square feet of industrial space.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6583745-74/million-site-development#ixzz3A6HN2TvF
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Pittsburgh Eagle Watchers Flock Together For A Special Summer

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thunder crashed in the hills above Hays, and rain spilled over each side of the Glenwood Bridge on a recent Saturday, but Dana Nesiti didn’t flinch.

He had been in the area since 7:30 that morning, scanning the skies. For as long as two bald eagles have been nesting in a suburban hillside along the Monongahela River, people like Mr. Nesiti have been watching.

The 52-year-old, camouflage-clad West Mifflin resident first stationed himself along the bike trail below the eagles’ nest in February 2013, when the pair hatched their first eaglet in a nest that would collapse and be rebuilt in a nearby tree over the course of a year. Eventually, it served as home to three baby eagles that have become the focus of many a Pittsburgher’s attention.

All of this year’s newborns had hatched by early April, when traffic on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail along East Carson Street increased considerably.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/outdoors/2014/08/11/Eagle-watchers-flock-together-for-a-special-summer/stories/201408060008#ixzz3A6F1hnrv

Business, Workers Flee Electric City Taxes

A decade ago when real estate up-and-comer Charles Hibble looked for a headquarters for his business, Scranton was a natural choice.

He invested $1.2 million converting an aging building on Penn Avenue into modern offices and apartments. Mr. Hibble accepted real estate tax and parking cost increases and the mercantile tax as costs of doing business. When city leaders began talking about a commuter tax in 2012, the owner of Weichert Realty Hibble & Associates reached his breaking point and moved out.

“I was getting pressure from my employees, who could work from anywhere — their homes or cars,” he said. “They didn’t want to pay another tax.”

Mr. Hibble’s move prefaced an employer exodus from the city. After being kicked around and eventually shot down in court, the commuter tax came back in the proposal of consultant Henry Amoroso, who cited a state law that allows municipalities to impose a commuter tax to bolster distressed pension funds. Scranton City Council swiftly approved the local income tax on commuters, which would cost employees earning $50,000 as much as $375 a year. Combined with a proposed increase in the emergency service tax – yet another withdrawal from the wages of commuters — the cost of having a job in the city has mounted.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/business-workers-flee-electric-city-taxes-1.1733479

Wilkes-Barre Area School District Appealing Property Values

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Faced with a shrinking tax base and the second-highest school tax rate in Luzerne County, the Wilkes-Barre Area School District is trying something new to boost revenue.

The district has hired a consultant to identify properties with under-assessed values and manage appeals to increase property assessments. Hundreds of thousands of tax dollars are at stake.

When litigation over the assessment of the Wyoming Valley Mall concluded in 2012, the Wilkes-Barre Area School District sent the mall owner a refund check of nearly $390,000 for two years of over-taxation, according to assessment records. The Luzerne County-assessed value of the mall property is $76.1 million. It was $89.1 million when mall owner PR Wyoming Valley LP filed a court appeal in 2009.

Last week, the school district filed appeals of tax values on 32 parcels to the Luzerne County Assessment Board of Appeals. Decisions from the county board can be appealed to county Court of Common Pleas.

Read more:  http://citizensvoice.com/news/w-b-area-appealing-property-values-1.1733716

Sky Zone Scranton Brings Jobs And Healthy Activity Into The Wyoming Valley

English: Map of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania highlighting Pittston Township (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PITTSTON TOWNSHIP, PA — Trading in his cubicle for a trampoline, Jeff Bowne is combining business with his love of healthy living by buying into a franchise called Sky Zone Scranton.

Unique to Northeastern Pennsylvania, Sky Zone is an indoor trampoline park franchise established in 2004. In 10 years, the company has expanded to include 65 locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Bowne and his sister, Jennifer Crounse, and her husband, Michael, of Allentown, will be opening a new Sky Zone in late September at CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park East, 525 Keystone Ave., Pittston Township.

The next closest Sky Zone parks are located in Harrisburg and Lancaster.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/business-home_top/50085187/A-new-Pittston-business-give-residents-reasons-to-jump#.U-jeE_RDsxI

Group Forms To Raise Money For Easton Ambassadors Program In Downtown Area

English: Skyline of Easton, PA from Lafayette College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Easton Ambassadors are looking for a little help from their friends to generate needed money to sustain and expand the program.

The red-shirted Ambassadors clean Downtown streets, assist visitors with local tourism questions and provide police with an extra set of eyes to spot potential trouble.

But officials say reduced funding has limited their ability to perform their duties. Their patrol shrank in 2012 to cover primarily Centre Square and nearby Third and Northampton streets.

The group’s budget is about $230,000 this year but if it can raise its revenues by at least $50,000 to previous years’ totals, it may be able to expand its reach to Pine and Fifth streets, as it had done in the past, officials said.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2014/08/group_forms_to_raise_money_for.html

Alleged Wife-Killer: ‘I Just Want This To Go Away’

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CHRISTOPHER Murray said his wife was “a beautiful woman; a loving, caring mother, a fabulous friend.”

No one in Northeast Philadelphia would dispute that. Connie Murray was all those things and more.

But before he clammed up on a Daily News reporter Wednesday night – the day police released autopsy results revealing that his wife had been slain – Murray said something else.

Not that he wanted the public’s help in tracking down her killer. He said he wanted to move on, one day after her body was found in Pennypack Park.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140811_Alleged_wife-killer___I_just_want_this_to_go_away_.html#XGqMX3aqZj8S1BSb.99

BMX Nationals Event Wraps Up In Pottstown