B l o g - L e b o

Trib: Mt. Lebanon weighs surplus spending

2013-07-02T22:29:00.003-04:00

Mt. Lebanon commissioners are considering how to spend an $829,000 surplus from last year's budget, just as representatives of sports groups have asked for upgrades to playing fields.

Sports Advisory Board members on Monday outlined for commissioners improvements that the collection of 13 youth and adult sports and recreation groups requested.

Read the full article:

www.triblive.com/neighborhoods/alleghenyneighborhoods/alleghenyneighborhoodsmore/4255881-74/sports-board-fields

KDKA: Mt. Lebanon Soldiers Honored With Monument

2013-05-27T23:32:00.001-04:00

The words “in honor of those who served” say it all at a Mt. Lebanon Veterans Memorial.

Words that, for families with young children, teach them about the sacrifice people in their town and all over the country made. The National Anthem rings out in a community who on Memorial Day starts a tradition with its first official ceremony here.

Watch the video:

pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/05/27/mt-lebanon-soldiers-honored-with-monument (KDKA)

MSA Sports: Mount Lebanon's Odd Streak Continues With Another WPIAL Boys Lacrosse Title

2013-05-24T10:10:00.001-04:00

In a game of Odd or Even, don't be surprised if any member of the Mount Lebanon boys lacrosse team always picked Odds. For the third time in five years, the Blue Devils have won a WPIAL Division I Boys Lacrosse title and kept the string alive of winning it in the odd years of 2009, 2011 and now 2013.

Read the full article:

www.msasports.net/articles/mount-lebanons-odd-streak-continues-with-another-wpial-boys-lacrosse-title

Trib: Ex-Mt. Lebanon man testifies he saw 100 infants killed at Philly abortion clinic

2013-04-07T13:55:00.002-04:00

A former clinic worker who grew up in Mt. Lebanon testified on Thursday that he routinely saw babies born and then killed with scissors in an inner-city Philadelphia clinic that catered to minorities, the poor and women with late-term pregnancies.

Unlicensed doctor Stephen Massof thought clinic owner Dr. Kermit Gosnell was trying to help vulnerable women seeking abortions.

Read the full article:

www.triblive.com/usworld/nation/3783403-74/gosnell-clinic-massof (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon woman provides a look at medicine in the 1800s

2013-04-05T01:19:00.000-04:00

More than a century after his death, Cyrus Schreiner's life as a doctor is being shared, thanks to a Mt. Lebanon resident with an interest in the history of medicine.

Lorelei Stein has thoroughly studied the ledgers, papers and tools of the trade preserved by Dr. Schreiner's descendants after he died in 1900.

She compiled her findings in a paper about the practice of medicine in the 19th century that she is presenting for medical groups and will discuss at the May meeting of the Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/a-newsmaker-you-should-know-mt-lebanon-woman-provides-a-look-at-medicine-in-the-1800s-682104 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Patch: Construction Almost Completed on The Fresh Market in Mt. Lebanon

2013-04-05T01:09:00.001-04:00

Construction crews are making big progress on The Fresh Market grocery store planed for the corner of Washington and Connor roads 19 in Mt. Lebanon.

The building’s structure is up and crews are now working to finishing the exterior.

Read the full article:

chartiersvalley.patch.com/articles/construction-almost-completed-on-the-fresh-market-in-mt-lebanon (Chartiers Valley Patch)

KDKA: Police Looking For Dog, Owner After Attack In Mt. Lebanon

2013-04-04T00:40:00.003-04:00

Authorities are searching for a pit bull and its owner after a man says the dog attacked him, seemingly for no reason, over the weekend along a street in Mount Lebanon.

Paul Kruper’s face is torn up, the gash is difficult to look at. It took more than a dozen stitches to stop the bleeding and he will most likely need plastic surgery.

“At that moment, you get a cut on your face, there was blood pouring down my chin, there was blood everywhere,” said Kruper.

pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/04/03/police-looking-for-dog-owner-after-attack-in-mt-lebanon (KDKA)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon suspends choir director after ex-student claims 'inappropriate communications'

2013-03-07T14:06:00.000-05:00

A Mt. Lebanon High School graduate said the school's choir director made "inappropriate communications of a sexual nature before and after graduation," the Mt. Lebanon School District told parents in a letter today.

Jason Greenawalt has taught at the high school since 2004 and has been musical director for the annual spring musical, which this year is "Seussical." The district suspended Mr. Greenawalt, according to the letter sent to parents.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-suspends-choir-director-after-ex-student-claims-inappropriate-communications-678329 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

WPXI: Armed man robs Mt. Lebanon pizza shop, police say

2013-02-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

Police are looking for an armed man who robbed a pizza shop early Sunday morning in Mt. Lebanon.

Authorities said a female manager was closing the Vocelli Pizza on Washington Road for the night when an armed man walked in and demanded money.

Read the full article:

www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/police-armed-man-robs-mt-lebanon-pizza-shop/nWQRJ/ (WPXI)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon library says partially nude woman in photo exhibit breaks rules

2013-02-07T00:52:00.001-05:00

It was labeled "Innocence." But the photo of a woman with an exposed breast -- from a historic painting hanging in the Mercer County Courthouse -- might be construed otherwise, according to Mt. Lebanon Public Library officials, who asked photographer John Flatz to replace it with something else. He refused, and thus began a tug of war that has, for now, ended in a draw. Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-library-says-partially-nude-woman-in-photo-exhibit-breaks-rules-673689 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Trib: Dems nominate former Lebo commissioner for House vacancy

2012-12-17T00:15:00.000-05:00

Former Mt. Lebanon Commissioner Dan Miller will be the Democratic nominee for the state House seat formerly held by Matt Smith, who was elected earlier this year to the Pennsylvania Senate. Miller, an assistant county solicitor and volunteer firefighter, was the sole Democrat to submit his name for consideration by Democratic Committee members from the 42nd District Sunday night in Mt. Lebanon. Read the full article:

www.triblive.com/news/allegheny/3133394-74/commissioner-lebanon-democratic (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon teen Nathan Zezza invited to White House

2012-12-03T01:41:00.001-05:00

At 17, Nathan Zezza of Mt. Lebanon wasn't even old enough to vote in the presidential election earlier this month.

But that didn't stop him from working more than 500 hours on the campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama, manning phone banks and pounding the pavement.

He thought his big reward for that effort was the president's re-election.

But last weekend, he found out he's getting a more personal reward. Nathan, a senior at Mt. Lebanon High School, received an invitation from the president, Vice President Joe Biden and their wives to a holiday reception Dec. 18 at the White House.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/mt-lebanon-teen-nathan-zezza-invited-to-white-house-664656 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Mt. Lebanon man shot to death through Lawrenceville apartment door

2012-12-01T00:16:00.003-05:00

A man killed Thursday night in the hallway of a Lawrenceville apartment building was shot through the door of a unit used as a recording studio, Pittsburgh police said today.

Homicide detectives are investigating the death of Solomon T. Burton, 25, of Mt. Lebanon.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/one-shot-in-lawrenceville-664242 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Meetings will discuss new math curriculum in Mt. Lebanon schools

2012-11-21T12:38:00.000-05:00

The elementary mathematics curriculum in Mt. Lebanon School District continues to raise concerns among some parents.

Those parents will have the opportunity to discuss the issue during the next few weeks at the elementary buildings.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/meetings-will-discuss-new-math-curriculum-in-mt-lebanon-schools-663114 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Hundreds rally to beat cancer in Mt. Lebanon

2012-11-12T12:09:00.000-05:00

Hundreds of people turned out Sunday night for the second annual "Knock Out Cancer!" event at the Galleria in Mt. Lebanon, including one famous housewife from Orange County, Calif.

"This is very much a big deal for me," said Gretchen Rossi, one of the stars of Bravo TV's reality show "The Real Housewives of Orange County," which recently began filming its eighth season. "This is a cause that's very near and dear to my heart."

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/hundreds-rally-to-beat-cancer-in-mt-lebanon-661729 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Property tax rate expected to drop in Mt. Lebanon

2012-11-08T22:56:00.001-05:00

Mt. Lebanon property owners could pay less in real estate taxes next year if the recommended $29.6 million municipal operating budget is approved this winter.

Manager Stephen Feller said the municipality expects the tax rate will decrease from its current 5.43 mills to between 4.4 and 4.89 mills because of Allegheny County reassessments and state anti-windfall rules, which require governing bodies to lower millage rates to reflect higher overall property values.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/property-tax-rate-expected-to-drop-in-mt-lebanon-661197 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Change of Polling Place: High School Districts

2012-11-06T01:46:00.000-05:00

Just a friendly reminder that the voting districts that normally vote at Mt. Lebanon High School have been moved to First Church of Christ, Scientist at 1100 Washington Road.

P-G: Mt. Lebanon school director cited for public drunkenness

2012-10-31T23:56:00.000-04:00

A Mt. Lebanon school director cited for public drunkenness early Saturday morning said he has no intention of resigning from the school board.

Scott Goldman, 42, said he was in an establishment on Washington Road celebrating with friends when, at the end of the night, he decided to walk to his home about 20 minutes away, a familiar route he said he's taken before with his family.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-school-director-cited-for-public-drunkenness-659964 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Letter: Your Vote Counts ‒ in the 2013 Election

2012-10-31T22:17:00.000-04:00

The following letter to the editors comes to us from Richard Gideon. –Tom

If the past is prelude to the future, approximately 75% of registered Mt. Lebanon voters will go to the polls this coming election day, 6 November 2012. Presidential elections always seem to draw the biggest crowds, as a study of election data freely available on the Allegheny County web site will attest. "Your vote counts," we are told, and that phrase is pounded into us from elementary school and beyond. But in a recent article in REASON magazine entitled "Your Vote Doesn't Count," managing editor Katherine Mangu-Ward writes, "In a 2012 Economic Inquiry article, Columbia University political scientist Andrew Gelman, statistician Nate Silver, and University of California, Berkeley, economist Aaron Edlin use poll results from the 2008 election cycle to calculate that the chance of a randomly selected vote determining the outcome of a presidential election is about one in 60 million." Clearly, the odds of any one person's vote affecting the outcome of this year's presidential race is just north of zero.

But there is an election wherein each individual's vote is more important by several orders of magnitude; the 2013 so-called "off-year" elections. Up for grabs in Mt. Lebanon are the commission seats of Matt Kluck (Ward 2) and David Brumfield (Ward 4), and the Mt. Lebanon School Board "at large" positions currently held by Josephine Posti, Dale Ostergaard, Mary Birks, and Daniel Remely.

In many respects, these local elections are more important to the fiscal well-being of Mt. Lebanon residents than what may happen at the Federal level. Although one should not downplay the effects of Obamacare and other taxes that will begin to hit us in 2013, local property taxes, fees, and intrusions into individual liberty are often more pernicious at the local level because the people who exact such tribute are closer at hand, and sometimes more intimidating. But the history of off-year elections reveals a foolish consistency; that being a low turnout at the polls. In 2011, for example, 36.51% of eligible Mt. Lebanon residents bothered to vote. In 2010 that number increased to 57.4% due to a U.S. Senate race, and in 2009 ‒ another "off-year" ‒ it was 29.2%.

Although there has been no formal effort to discover the reason for this situation as it applies to Mt. Lebanon, it certainly is not an uncommon circumstance across the nation; a quick Internet search for "turnout in off-year elections" shows this to be a common complaint from sea to shining sea. Reasons given nationally vary from "not important" to "no choice" to "what's the use?". Locally in 2011 the "no choice" lament may have had some validity. Despite an eleventh hour bid by a handful of write-in candidates, Mt. Lebanon voters were given almost no choice in the school board election, as the majority of candidates cross-filed on both "major" party labels and ran on "platforms" virtually indistinguishable from one another. (It was suggested to me by a Blog poster that Mt. Lebanon residents who do not vote in off-year elections are satisfied with the candidates who are elected by those residents who do vote, and therefore don't feel that it is necessary to go to the polls! Not only is this totally illogical, but it assumes that the majority of Mt. Lebanon voters trust a small vanguard of people to make their decisions for them ‒ an insult to anyone with a mind.)

Mt. Lebanon residents should not "sit out" off year elections, as those who govern us locally set the fees for residency in "Club Lebo." In 2011 a local family with a median income of $75,000 and owning a house assessed at $225,200 paid 9.43% of its income for property taxes to the Mt. Lebanon School District and the Mt. Lebanon Municipality. This is on top of the 1.3% Earned Income Tax that is unevenly split between the Municipality and the District, and does not count County, State, and Federal taxes.

If local residents do in fact believe that they have little to choose from in the way of candidates then it is time to change that situation. What is wanting are viable, young, candidates for the Commission and the District who are completely independent of the two major political parties. Perhaps once we have a slate of actual choices the voters may come out of their heavily taxed homes to cast an intelligent vote during an "off-year" race. Mt. Lebanon residents deserve "choice" at all levels in their lives. If the same people run again and are reelected then so be it, but it should not be because there were no other options on the ballot.

There is a "perfect storm" of debt coming due in this country. Mt. Lebanon residents should not think that their little six square mile village will not be affected by it, thus leaving the people who comprise the local municipal and school district governments free to spend as they see fit. The Municipality and District are both in debt, and while they may be manageable debts now they aren't the only bills being laid at the feet of the local taxpayer. It would be refreshing to see some local candidates in 2013 who understand this basic premise.

P-G: Mt. Lebanon field hockey player helps African mercy mission

2012-10-31T01:49:00.000-04:00

No coach likes to lose an athlete during the season, but Mt. Lebanon High School field hockey coach Stacey Hart knew she had to make an exception for junior midfielder Meghan Schneck.

"I was confused," Hart admitted when she learned before the season that Schneck, 16, wanted to spend a week in Lusaka, Zambia, helping her father, Dr. Fran Schneck, and other members of a group called International Volunteers in UrologyMED.

Read more:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/high-school-other/mt-lebanon-field-hockey-player-helps-her-father-a-doctor-on-mercy-mission-659910 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

WTAE: Bump-and-grind no more, Mt. Lebanon High School says

2012-10-24T00:02:00.000-04:00

Some students consider school to be a grind, but the Mt. Lebanon High School District says a bigger problem is some student couples "grinding" it out on the dance floor.

Mt. Lebanon High School principal Brian McFeeley tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that school officials are adding chaperones and even changing the kind of music played at school dances to enforce a no-grinding policy.

Read the full article:

www.wtae.com/news/local/Bump-and-grind-no-more-Mt-Lebanon-High-School-says/-/9681086/17111714/-/g54ii3/-/index.html (WTAE)

P-G: Norwin beats Mt. Lebanon in WPIAL girls soccer playoffs

2012-10-22T21:20:00.000-04:00

Norwin faced Mt. Lebanon in the opening round of the WPIAL Class AAA girls soccer playoffs, on Oct. 20 at Norwin High School. The Knights shut out the Blue Devils 4-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Read the full article:

sportstown.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/norwin/35065-photo-journal-norwin-beats-mt-lebanon-in-wpial-girls-soccer-playoffs (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Assessment update: County’s own analysis shows a regressive bias in Mt. Lebanon

2012-10-07T23:36:00.000-04:00

This article is part of a series examining how Mt. Lebanon is likely to be affected by the recent county-wide reassessment. For other articles in the series, see Blog-Lebo’s Reassessment Series. —Tom

Via Chris Briem’s blog, I learned that the county hired an independent team to review the recent assessment process. That team’s report is offered as Exhibit 4 of a recent court filing, part of the ongoing court case at the center of the controversy.

The findings of the independent review support Blog-Lebo’s conclusion from March that the new assessments for Mt. Lebanon are unfairly biased toward overtaxing owners of low-end properties and undertaxing owners of high-end properties. In particular, the report gives the independent reviewers’ estimate of the coefficient of price-related bias for Mt. Lebanon as about −7.5% (see page 19 of the report; look for the PRB-coefficient value for school district 26, Mt. Lebanon).

The PRB coefficient is a crude measure of bias, but it’s telling. What that −7.5% means is that, when you examine residences of increasing value in Mt. Lebanon, as their market value doubles, the corresponding assessed value tends to get a 7.5% discount. For example, if residences worth $150,000 tend to be assessed at a full 100 cents on the dollar with respect to market value, residences worth $300,000 will tend to be assessed at only 92.5 cents on the dollar, and residences worth $600,000 will tend to be assessed at only 85 cents on the dollar.

As a result of this “regressive” bias, owners of low-end properties effectively wind up paying some of the property taxes for high-end properties.

How could this happen? The report suggests some answers.

According to the report (page 9), each residence was valued by (1) selecting similar, recently sold residences as comparables, (2) taking a weighted average of the comparables’ sale prices, and (3) adjusting that average based on how the comparables differed from the residence being valued, with this adjustment being done using a statistical predictive model. I have some concerns about this process, as applied to Mt. Lebanon.

One concern is that the model predicts property values based on their characteristics – bedrooms, bathrooms, fireplaces, living area, and so forth. But these characteristics tend to be underreported because many homeowners fail to fully declare them on property questionnaires for fear that, if they declare them, they’ll get overtaxed because everybody else is failing to declare them, for similar fears. The problem, then, is that if you do declare them, you’ll probably end up being assessed for them more than once – once through the comparables, and once again through the adjustment on top of the comparables, which assumes that the comparables’ sale prices don’t already account for these characteristics.

Another concern is that the predictive model ignores multiplicative effects. From page 7 of the report: “All models are additive, meaning that the contribution of the various terms in the model are added (rather than multiplied or some combination of additive and multiplicative adjustments).” What this means – oversimplifying a bit – is that when the model is trying to predict the value of a residence, if the model learns that the residence has, say, 3 bathrooms instead of 2, it will always add some constant third-bathroom increment to its current prediction, say $15,000 (I’m just making that figure up, by the way).

A better predictive model might add a varying third-bathroom increment based on what else it knows about the residence. It might adjust that increment upward (say, to $30,000) for high-end mansions and downward (say, to $7,500) for low-end ranch houses. Because that adjustment does not occur when the county’s model makes its predictions, however, the model ends up predicting too low for mansions and too high for ranch houses. That’s not a problem if your community is all mansions or all ranch houses, but if your community is like Mt. Lebanon and has properties all over the pricing spectrum, it is.

The report reveals a lot more about the assessments, too, and not just for Mt. Lebanon. I encourage you to read it for yourself, especially if you have an appeal hearing coming up.

Let me know if you find anything else interesting.

P-G: Mt. Lebanon yogurt shop opening a bittersweet journey

2012-09-24T23:01:00.000-04:00

Middle-schooler Sammie Gorecki is a self-described frozen yogurt expert.

At the opening of Yogli Mogli, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop on Washington Road, she dug into a deep cup of yogurt with ample toppings and gave it a thumbs up, saying it offers more flavors and more toppings than other shops she's frequented.

"It's amazing," the 11-year-old said, with a bit of chocolate smeared on her chin. "I love it."

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-yogurt-shop-opening-a-bittersweet-journey-654544 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: A newsmaker you should know: Mt. Lebanon teen's vision hits big screen

2012-09-24T01:00:00.000-04:00

Christopher Kelley may be only 18, but the Mt. Lebanon resident already has written and directed a feature film.

Mr. Kelley started writing "Let Me Down Slowly" the summer after finishing his freshman year at Mt. Lebanon High School. By the time he was done filming the screenplay in January, he had tacked onto his name the titles of editor and director in the film credits, which he hopes may roll on a screen at either the Sundance or Slamdance film festivals.

Read the full article:

www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/a-newsmaker-you-should-know-mt-lebanon-teens-vision-hits-big-screen-654179 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)