By now, all of Hazelwood should be abuzz over the closing of the Carnegie Library Hazelwood Branch—and for that matter parts of Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, Hays and Lincoln Place too. People should be incensed over this decision to strip one of Greater Hazelwood’sremaining assets. To quote John Tokarski in a letter to the Post Gazette editor, “…the residents and businesses of Hazelwood have seen a declining investment in their community’s infrastructure, its amenities and economic development.”

How can this happen, when just a few years ago the library moved into a brand new building on Second Avenue? New furniture, state of the art computers, and additional staff accompanied themove. The building is secure and has elevator access. These improvements resulted … Read the rest

Jim is the Executive Director of Hazelwood Initiative.  He has been involved in non-profit management for over 25 years.  As executive director for the Hazelwood Initiative, he is responsible for day-to-day operations, project management, and supporting the Board in governance.  Prior to returning to Pittsburgh, Richter was Chief Advocate for the ARC of Westmoreland.  There he served as agency lobbyist and director of the early intervention program. 

For close to ten years, Jim served as a consultant to non-profit agencies in the human service, arts and educational fields working on board development; executive mentoring; program design and evaluation; fundraising; and mergers.  Jim also worked for four years as senior consultant for the fund raising firm of TCR Group.  Prior to … Read the rest

Through various organizational committees that seek to engage and involve disconnected community stakeholders, HI works to create a diverse, tolerant, and interconnected community based on a comprehensive vision. Among its significant community building services,HI produces a monthly tabloid-style newspaper, the Hazelwood Homepage; maintains a community resource web site, www.hazelwoodhomepage.org; hosts numerous cultural and civic events; provides an open forum for community issues at its monthly General Membership meetings; and initiates and facilitates block club development. HI strives to be democratic in governance, open and accessible to community members, and adept at emphasizing issues of immediate importance while linking them to a larger vision of the common good.

Our Community Vision

We envision Hazelwood as a space for innovation, transportation, creativity, entrepreneurship and jobs creation; a welcoming community that is socially, economically and culturally diverse. … Read the rest

Elected officials and the Regional Asset District Board also launched into action. Coming days after the Regional Asset District allocated $17.6 million to the library’s 2010 budget, the same amount it received this year, the RAD Board voted to conduct an audit of the Carnegie Library. “This is the first time we’ve used our authority in such a broad way,” said David Donohoe, RAD Executive Director. The review is not a “performance audit” of the library’s present financial condition, but a study of the factors it used to predict future deficits. What comes of that audit remains to be seen. Meeting for October 24 in Lawrenceville with Library representatives and residents of the effected neighborhoods where some times they visited … Read the rest