Oct 6, 2015 3 min read

CANONSBURG – Frustrated residents will finally see work from a $1.1 million road and park repair contract voted on in May as crews with Russell Standard plan to start repairs on 33 streets, alleys and various park infrastructure on Oct. 19. Canonsburg Council indicated in May work would start in June or July.

“The (contract) was rebid out and there were weather issues, so there were some complications,” said John Shutsa, a spokesman for Russell Standard, the contracting company awarded the work.

Samuel Piazza, of 431 Chartiers Ave., said at Monday’s council meeting he was upset that “his alleyway was still a mess” since the May action, which prompted him to write a letter to the editor published in the Observer-Reporter on Sept. 24.

Pamela Bolger, of 532 Highland Ave., said the 90-day, one-side-only street parking enacted at the Sept. 14 meeting has been a safety hazard for elderly residents.

“I have to walk elderly family members across the street instead of just getting them into my car. It’s simply unsafe for us to be required to do this,” Bolger said.

Council President John Bevec said the temporary order is for safety.

“We said (at our last meeting) that you could only park on one side of the street so emergency vehicles could get through. Most of this is in the East End of the borough, so Highland, Giffin avenues,” Bevec said. Other streets under the order include portions of South Jefferson and Duquesne avenues, and Second and Chartiers streets.

“When all of the alley repairs are done residents will be able to park behind their homes and on both sides of the street,” said borough manager Bob Kipp.

In other business, council discussed the potential for a new senior center.

“We would need to go after the Local Share Account funds (from the casino) to build an entirely new one with matching funds from us, because studies we’ve seen show that throwing thousands into repairing (the present senior center building) would leave us behind in a decade. We need to get out ahead of this,” Kipp said, “so we’ll look to get in line next year.”

“And the LSA board, I think, would look favorably upon us and this project because there’s a need and we haven’t been requesting anything from them,” said Councilman Rich Russo.