Citizens encourage to keep reporting crime on Gallatin Avenue
Janet Bill, president of the Gallatin Avenue Concerned Citizens, encouraged a group of about 60 residents to continue filing complaints about neglected properties and crime so city police and code enforcement officers can take action. The concerned citizens group held a meeting Wednesday at the American Legion Post 47 to update residents about police and code enforcement activities and the city’s efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.
Bill said police regularly patrol the neighborhood and have been making a number of arrests.
Residents should continue reporting crimes as well as suspicious people and vehicles so officers can respond, she said.
She said code enforcement officer Myron Nypaver has been busy citing landlords for not maintaining their rental properties, and asked residents to keep contacting him when they see problems even thought the legal process, which involves filing citations and holding hearings, takes a long time.
The citations Nypaver issues have been making an impact on the community, Bill said.
“You know the neighbor. You know the needs of the neighborhood,” Nypaver said.
He said citing landlords who do not properly keep up their properties has been very effective.
Nypaver said residents taking an active role in the neighborhood could help the city obtain funding for revitalizing the neighborhood.
Uniontown Redevelopment Authority Director Mark Yauger told the group that the URA has filed an application for a $30,000 state grant to help with the Elm Street revitalization program.
The grant money would be used to pay the planning firm, Mullin and Lonergan Associates, for a redevelopment proposal it is preparing that identifies blighted properties.
The Elm Street program targets residential neighborhoods adjacent to downtown areas.
If the state certified that blighted conditions exist, the URA can use eminent domain in it is needed to acquire those properties and seek additional money to prepare a neighborhood redevelopment plan.
Bill said representatives from Mulling and Lonergan will attend the next meeting on Oct. 19 to provide and update on what they have been doing.
Residents also had some questions for city officials that attended the meeting.
Some asked a foul smell in the area recently.
City Councilman Joseph Giachetti said the odor might be coming from the sewer plant.
Councilman Bob Cerjanec said some work related to the recent plant expansion project is not yet complete and the odor should cease when the work is done.
Several residents complained about garbage collection and about people placing garbage bags in alleys without garbage cans.
Nypaver said the city has an ordinance requiring that residents put their garbage in cans and the city health officer will cite violators.
Bill said the city’s sanitation department will not collect certain items, damage garbage cans and sometimes skip houses.
Cerjanec said the workers will return to houses they might have skipped and said they should pick up most items.
He said the city pays $17,000 in landfill tipping fees every three weeks and garbage collection costs are increase due to rising fuel prices.