Add Comment The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will hold primary elections on April 24, 2012. While most Pennsylvania voters are aware of the opportunity to select a presidential candidate for the party in which they are registered to vote, some remain unaware of exactly what else will appear on the ballot. A reapportionment plan as a result of the 2010 United States Census has been put on hold for state House and Senate districts, but new US Congressional districts have been approved. Some polling places have changed, and a new Voter Identification law could cause confusion at the polls. In response to potential confusion, Allegheny County has partnered with the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh to launch a voter education initiative using a county website feature. “We are delighted to partner with the League of Women Voters,” says County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, “We want to make voting as easy as possible, especially with the changes.” “On the primary ballot, in addition to president, there are candidates for senate, attorney general, auditor general and treasurer, half of the state senate, and all the House of Representatives,” says Fitzgerald. “You can access the site, and know who you can vote for.” “If you look at the ballot, you can find out what district you’re in now,” says Fitzgerald. The website, http://www.alleghenycounty.us/elect/index.aspx, has new features including a polling place locator, a sample ballot customized to the voter’s district, and a means of verifying the validity of a voter’s registration status. The site also offers instructions for operating voting machines, important deadlines for registrations, absentee ballot requests and submissions, and contact information and links for answers to further questions. “It’s part of an effort to boost turnout,” says Arlene Levy, Co-chair of the Greater Pittsburgh League of Women Voters. “People sometimes don’t realize there are elections beyond the presidential race.” “This new site is also important because of reapportionment, especially to voters north of the city,” Levy says, referring to the most dramatically redistricted area of the county. “We are also partnering with public, university and high school libraries throughout the county, so we can reach those who don’t have a computer at home, or those who may be voting for the first time,” says Levy. “We have posters and signage provided by the county to show voters where in the library they can access this information.” Librarians have been trained to help patrons access the elections website, and reminders have been posted on library websites. Bookmarks will also be made available through libraries which have details about election deadline dates, and contact information for both the Allegheny County Elections Division and the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh. “This is an important education effort,” says Levy. “We want to assist all citizens in getting the essential information they need so they can vote, and have time to think about the candidates they chose to elect to office.” “Your vote is your voice.” Fitzgerald agrees. “We want voters to get out and be heard, not just in this, but in every election.” Voter turnout is generally low for primary elections, and is expected to be even lower now that each party has proven to have only a single viable presidential candidate on the ballot. The computerized system makes it difficult and inefficient financially to remove those candidates who have recently withdrawn their names, like Rick Santorum, who withdrew on Tuesday, so some others will remain on the roster. Elections Division Manager Mark Wolosik expects about one of every four voters to place their votes. He estimates that “about 2000” new voter registrations have been filed for the primary, “but that should pick up for the general election in November.” The voter registration deadline for this year’s primary has already passed. Applications for absentee ballots must be applied for by Tuesday, April 17 at 5 pm, and absentee ballots must be returned by Friday, April 20. Three district polling places have been determined to be inaccessible to voters with physical restrictions which prohibit them from entering due to architectural barriers. These are in Haysville (Ward 00, District 1) at One Ohio River Boulevard; Pittsburgh (Ward 24, District 01) at Saint Ambrose School, 1011 Haslage Street; and Pittsburgh (Ward 23, District 17), Saint Peter’s United Church of Christ, at 18 Schubert Street. An alternative voting procedure has been established for these inaccessible polling places who meet the following criteria: They must be registered voters in Allegheny County either 65 years of age or older, who have a temporary or permanent physical disability and vote at one of the three identified locations. These voters may obtain an application for an “alternative ballot” in person at the Allegheny County Elections Division in Room 601 of the County Office Building at 542 Forbes Avenue, Downtown, by visiting www.votespa.com, or by calling the Bureau of Elections at 412-350-4520. Applications must be returned no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. After an application is received, the applicant will be sent an absentee ballot that must be completed and returned to the Elections Division no later than 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, when the polls close. For more information about the programs sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, visit http://www.palwv.org/pittsburgh/index.html. By Nancy Hart nancy@urbanmediatoday.com In 2010, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) decided to close Braddock Hospital, which had been purchased by UPMC in 1996. The closure was a devastating blow to the struggling community, as the more-than-100-year-old hospital was the borough’s largest employer, and also the site of the town’s only automated teller machine. The cafeteria was, in fact, Braddock’s only remaining restaurant, and the extremely impoverished residents of Braddock were left without easy access to medical care. Tuesday morning, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced that a health-care facility would return to the vacant site of the now-demolished hospital thanks to an agreement between Highmark and MedExpress. Construction on the facility could be completed as soon as the summer of 2013. Calling the development “exciting news for residents of Braddock and surrounding areas,” Fitzgerald says that, as a result of the partnership and of financial commitments made by the county, “we can assure our residents that care will be there.” Braddock Mayor John Fetterman says “the way this has been rebounding is exciting.” MedExpress will serve as “anchor tenant” of a $20.3 million redevelopment of the site, which runs along Braddock Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets, extending back to Corey Avenue. Also planned are additional office or retail space, 11 single-family homes, 24 rental housing units and a large community park. “We will have a CCAC branch campus for sure,” says Fetterman, “and we’re talking to other prospective retailers.” Another potential tenant for the office space is the Allegheny County Health Department, and, Fetterman hopes, a dentist or dental clinic. Funding for the development, says Fetterman, “is a mix of public and private dollars, and an extraordinary commitment in our community: New development, and a first-rate care facility the same as a wealthier community like Cranberry or Monroeville.” “Highmark is proud to be in partnership with the county,” says Deborah L. Rice, the insurer’s Executive Vice-President of Health Services. “We welcome the prospect of serving Braddock with an urgent care center.” Government funding for the project includes a $3 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A proposal for low-income hosing tax credits will be considered by the state Housing Finance Agency on Thursday, and construction on the units is slated to begin next fall. “The county took our concerns very seriously, and have fought hard to bring this level of care to our community,” says Fetterman. “We are grateful for their support.” Fetterman is proud of the advances Braddock has made during his administration. “We fixed the Braddock High Baseball Stadium, and are rolling out security cameras in the last remaining areas. We converted the abandoned First Presbyterian Church on Library Street into a beautiful community center and just booked our first wedding for there.” “We hope to continue with more housing and other developments along Braddock Avenue,” he says. “Filming is about to begin on ‘Out of this Furnace,’ which will put Braddock out to a national audience and start a conversation about what’s here, and what we’re missing.” “Everything’s back on the table” because of the new development agreement, says Fetterman. “It’s a game changer for us.” By Nancy Hart nancy@urbanmediatoday.com Archival photos courtesy of Heritage Community Initiatives, Inc. http://www.heritagecommunityinitiatives.org/ http://www.allthingsbraddock.org/home.php Filing an extension is easy and fast. You are not getting an extension to pay your taxes only to file. The IRS expects you to estimate what your tax bill will be and to pay it in full when filing the extension form. No documentation or explanation is required on how you determine your estimated tax bill. To extent the filing deadline for an individual income tax return, you file a file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return by April 17, 2012. Filing this form will extend the deadline for filing for 6 months. You will not receive any notification that the you have been approved, since approval is normally automatic. If you have filed a Federal form for an extension, no additional form is needed to receive an extension to file your local taxes. There are special rules if you are:
Here is a listing of types of extensions. These forms are available on line by following their link. Extensions for Corporations, Partnerships, REMICs, and Certain Trusts
written by Mary Jo Lincoln, CPA President MAA & Associates, LLC Cirque Du Soleil is known for its gravity defining performances, elaborate costumes and set designs. Now Cirque is celebrating the life, music and dance of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson the Immortal World Tour is currently touring through North America and next week the show will be in Pittsburgh. UrbanMediaToday’s Allegra Johnson has a sneak peak of the show and more with Maxime Charbonneau, publicist with Cirque du Soleil. Go to UMToday page on YouTube.com Now that the city has committed to demolishing vacant properties that blight the neighborhood in Homewood, community members are committing to new projects to address the issues that remain. One group, the Homewood Agricultural Coalition Network (HACN), is attempting to begin their “first” urban farm on a lot at 7341-7345 Kelly Street left vacant by previous demolition. “We want to bring food sovereignty to Homewood,” says Sonya Boyd, one of the project’s organizers. “Our families are underserved. We don’t have a grocery store, so we don’t have access to fresh produce.” The sizable lot, which reaches back from Kelly Street all the way to Fleury Way, and surrounded by single-family homes and rowhouses with tiny, neatly-tended yards, was previously covered in rubble from the demolitions, construction debris and trash, all of which were hazardous to children who played in the vacant lot for want of a better place to do so. City crews have cleaned up most of the more dangerous debris, and have promised to return within the next two weeks to remove weeds and “trash” trees and otherwise help prepare the site for gardening. Fellow organizer Raqueeb Bey says, “The city put us in the ‘Green Up’ program,” which provides groups who agree to maintain vacant lots with basic resources like water and liability coverage, “but there’s so much more we need.” “It’s hard to connect [to potential funding sources] when you have no resources,” she says. “When you don’t have the collective interest, it’s hard.” Boyd agrees. “Often, politicians and organizations pick capitalism above needs. Redevelopment has its place, but revitalization is more necessary.” “Our people are disadvantaged. They find funding to bring in businesses from outside. We need to start fixing from inside, not outside.” Homewood is one of several city neighborhoods classified as a “food desert” by federal standards: A low income community with median income at or less than 80 percent of the area’s median family income, and a low-access community where one-third of the population resides more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store. “Our people have a history in agriculture,” says Boyd. “We need to get people back to eating healthy: Mothers, babies, teenaged sons.” “We need to grow food and become land stewards again.” Boyd points out that the lack of availability of fresh produce and fruits is a major factor in the debilitation of the population. “Our community suffers from obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes — we know these diseases are all affected by poor nutrition. So we don’t have money to go to the grocery store, and we continue to suffer.” “We want to take these vacant lots, one by one, and turn them into farming areas. We need to see fresh food growing in the community.” Prior to the city’s initial cleanup efforts, “you would come to these lots and see children playing with the rubble,” says Bey. “The piles were high, and they had to be dangerous to their health. Asthma, blood poisoning. . . We’re curious to see how many are affected by this.” “We have gifts and talents in our community, the African-American community,” Boyd says. “We need to come together, to connect again with the earth, with our heritage.” The women’s efforts, which are strictly volunteer, have been consuming their time for months. Their plan is to begin construction and planting of the garden on Saturday, April 21 between 9 am and 2 pm. “We want to teach people how to grow food, how to preserve food. The younger generations have lost the land stewardship, the ‘being connected,’” says Bey, who has taken classes in various aspects of agriculture, including beekeeping. “We would like to see the rebuilding of our community. We want to see it thrive,” Bey says. “But we need help, we are trying to get help, but are getting the runaround wherever we turn. We invited our councilman [Reverend Ricky Burgess] here to see what we’re doing, and he didn’t come.” The women wrote a proposal for council asking for funding, but met with no interest. Burgess says his office is willing and able to help the group apply for grants to fund their farm, but the process takes time. HACN has big plans for their first urban farm. They would like to install raised beds for vegetables, plant a variety of fruit trees, and beautify the area with some flower beds. They would also like to include a few benches and some play equipment, so the entire community, from children to seniors, can enjoy the garden. “We’d also like to include an education component,” says Boyd. “We’ve tried to contact CCAC, Chatham and Penn State, but they can’t help us. We’d like people in the community to learn where the food comes from, and what to do with it,” citing preservation skills like canning, freezing and drying of garden produce as skills becoming lost within the community. They would also like to offer healthy cooking demonstrations using the produce from Homewood’s own farm. “It would be wonderful if we could have the older people in the community share their knowledge with the kids,” says Bey. HACN is in need of “everything” to make the garden a reality, “We need fruit trees, supplies for raised beds, benches, equipment from shovels to tillers,” says Boyd. “We need funding, and we need volunteers.” “In five years, we’d like to be a permanent fixture in the community, maybe even have some small farm animals so the kids can learn to take care of them,” says Boyd. “Everything comes from the earth, and returns to the earth, but we’ve lost that connection.” The group will meet this Saturday, April 7, on the second floor of the Homewood Carnegie Library to continue planning for the garden. All are welcomed to attend. Acting on the advice of New York State urban farmer Karen Washington, the group has established a site for financial donations at https://ww.ioby.org/project/homewood-agricultural-project. As of publication, the group has raised $100 of their projected $2160 budget through ioby.org, which operates mainly to support urban farming in New York. HACN members plan to continue to solicit donations of funding and supplies from local businesses, community members and others interested in their efforts to revitalize their community, but, “even if we have to go out there and scoop up the dirt with our hands,” says Boyd, “we’ll be out there scooping.” HACN will accept donations of any relevant materials, from plants to tools to decorative items or supplies like fertilizer or components for raised garden beds. They also welcome any volunteer helpers. To arrange a donation, to volunteer, or to find out more about the group’s activities, contact them through sonyaboyd7@yahoo.com, or call 412-731-0279. By Nancy Hart nancy@urbanmediatoday.com On Saturday, the Mall at Robinson was the site once again for the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services’ (HDS) annual Sign-a-Thon. The event, which serves as a fund-raiser to benefit HDS’ Non-Profit Interpreting Fund, brought together hundreds of deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing people, their friends and families, and other interested people from throughout the southwestern Pennsylvania area to enjoy four hours of entertainment, visit with service providers and enjoy fellowship with others who share the same experiences. According to HDS President and CEO Amy Hart, the organization “looks at Sign-a-Thon as a ‘celebration of deaf culture and language.’ It’s a chance for people to learn more about the resources and opportunities available to them in their own language.” While many of the exhibitors at the event provided information about health-care concerns such as home nursing, elder care, and overall wellness, other exhibitors provided information about everyday concerns such as saving money on energy, or the importance of insurance. A table from HDS’ Assistive Device Center displayed their wide range of products from sign-language learning books and tools for children to alarm clocks for the deaf to books written by or about those living a deaf life. Some exhibitors provided information specifically for the non-hearing audience about sign-language interpreter services or telephone relay services, while the Community College of Allegheny County provided data on their educational programs and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History brought a few exhibits. Several churches, social clubs like the DeafLions and religious-based organizations invited the deaf community to join with them in programs designed to provide the hearing-impaired with the same experiences available to hearing people everywhere. All of the exhibitors welcomed questions from all comers, including shoppers who stumbled upon the Sign-a-Thon while doing their regular shopping at the Mall. “I never really considered how difficult it could be,” said one. “We hope those people had fun,” says Hart. “We hope they gained some additional knowledge about deaf culture, and enjoyed the show. Maybe they took away something they could use.” Dr. Raymont Anderson, a Maryland college professor and high school teacher who is certified in American Sign Language (ASL) Education, brought his extensive theater and dance experience to his recurring annual role as emcee of the entertainment portion of Sign-a-Thon. Anderson, who is hearing, has spent a majority of his professional theater career both acting and signing the story for audiences. He has been the creator of, and performer with, several different dance troupes for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and also brought his current company, BELIEVE, to Pittsburgh to perform at Sign-a-Thon. Performances by “impressionist” Ang Zeis, ASL singers Erika Fine and Miss Deaf Greater Pittsburgh 2001 Sarah Clark, pop-music performances by IMAGE from Bloomsburg State University and Sign-in from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slovak folk dancing by members of the Pittsburgh Area Slovak Folk Ensemble (PÁS) were bookended by Anderson, whose introductions ranged from comic antics to movingly personal testimony. His proficiency at conveying his message through ASL as well as through his facial expressions and physical movement captured the attention of both hearing and non-hearing audience members. The members of BELIEVE, with Anderson and without, presented beautiful theatrical interpretations of both popular and sacred music. Throughout the day, craft tables were available for children at which sign language interpreter Jessica Mock helped both deaf and hearing children learn through crafting. Children were invited to color alphabet pages bearing both the Arabic alphabet and the letters in ASL. Other activities included the use of cutouts of the children’s own hands to make bunnies, flower baskets, penguins and fish, or activity pages on which children interpreted the pictured ASL signs to decipher messages. Rozie Fero, a youth volunteer at the craft area, said, “It was really cool to see the little kids be so fascinated by it. It was cool to see them realize the different ways they can use their hands, even to speak.” Fero, who is hearing, and at 12, is herself a novice at sign language, says it was very difficult for her to try to communicate with the deaf people she encountered. “It made it easier for me to understand how hard it is for them when people are talking but they can’t understand.” “It really made want to learn more sign, because I really want to be able to communicate with everyone.” At the end of the day, everyone gathered at the stage outside of JCPenney to find out who won the day-long Chinese Auction and 50/50 drawing. Anderson, Hart and HDS Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator Jessica Knoche, who organized the day’s events, expressed their gratitude not only to those who exhibited and performed, but also to those who attended. “Just a reminder,” said Knoche. “We hope to see you again next April.” Hart considers the day a great success. “Everyone had a wonderful time.” For more information about the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services and its programs, visit http://hdscenter.org/. By Nancy Hart nancy@urbanmediatoday.com |
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