Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 27

I Local News INCLUDING REPORTS FROM AROUND THE STATE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2001 C-5 V5n City's longtime steelworkers neighborhood is attracting upscale design merchants- ingside. Most people know it only for its Butler Street traffic congestion, but Lawrenceville has a rich history. It is the birthplace of composer Stephen Foster, whose father, William B. Foster, founded the community in 1814. Lawrenceville was named for Capt.

James Lawrence, who served in the War of 1812 and is best known for his dying words: "Don't give up the ship!" In the first half of the 20th century, Lawrenceville was home to ma By Jan Ackerman Post-Gazette Staff Writer For decades, mothers and grandmothers have relied on the Mary Davis Craft Shoppe in Lawrenceville for ribbons and artificial flowers for weddings and First Communions, for candles and plastic dolls that can be dressed up in handmade clothes and for an endless supply of trinkets for Christmas, Halloween and Valentine's Day. the design center of Pittsburgh." "I wish I was younger," Davis said wistfully. "I would be totally involved with it." Dennis Troy, executive director of the Lawrenceville a nonprofit organization that is leading an effort to rebrand Lawrenceville, said Kelly was one of the first to recognize its potential. Lawrenceville, a community of 10,300, parallels the Allegheny River between the Strip District and Stanton Heights and Morn- Mary Davis, 76, the shop's feisty owner, has expanded her business on Butler Street several times over the years. There's still plenty of neighborhood businesses on Butler, a busy, tired-looking thoroughfare with limited parking.

For years, operators of small restaurants, stores, barbershops, hair salons and shoe repair shops have eked out their livings providing services to their neighbors. But the past decade has brought people from outside the communi ty who took one look at Lawrenceville and decided they wanted to open an art gallery or an antiques shop or maybe buy one of those cheap row houses and fix it up, or maybe open a bed and breakfast or set up a workshop to make furniture. "We have gone from a former steel town to postindustrial chic," said Joe Kelly, whose furniture and cabinetry business is across the street from Mary Davis' store. "We are very boldly declaring ourselves jor industries such as Heppenstall U.S. Steel and Westinghouse Electric Corp.

Now it is home to Carnegie Mellon University's NASA-funded National Robotics Engineering Consortium. Lawrenceville's nickname' was "Cradle of America's Industry" because there were so many mills that got their start there, said Jude Wudarczyk, president of the Lawrenceville Historical Society. SEE REDEVELOP, PAGE C-9 16:62 The Strip and Lawrencevilie Jhe area bounded by the 16th and 62nd street bridges holds more than 70shops, showrooms, manufacturers, studios, galleries and sources for home and office furnishing; accessories, antiques, architecture, interior "design, renovation and construction. The businesses below are included in the Lawrenceville 16:62 brochure. Some are wholesale or I professional and thus are not open to retail shoppers.

For hours of operation and more information, check the brochure or call (412) 681 -6200. w0 Veterans 00" Bridge Sffi 0.5 mites MBMMlmmJ 31sts ffiPH mSMSmfmmmm XXL fr ll Mm It. mS Allegheny n' mm I .,..,.,1 i 4 I i Kf 1 1 I I i it -i. 1 I 1 Bob DonalsonPost-Gazette photos Photos, clockwise from left: Michael Gable shows off Construction Junction's used and surolus buildina materials and fixtures. A World War I douahbov Steve ThomasPost-Gazette graphic 10 1 11 I 1 4:1 5l statue has guarded the entrance to Lawrenceville at Penn Avenue and Butler rr rc' Iff 'i Street since 1919.

Joe Kelly's business, Kelly Custom Furniture Cabinetry, Tl. Street since 1919. Joe Kelly's business, Kelly Custom Furniture Cabinetry, I lifl 1 1 i a is on Butler Street. Marv Davis has been ooeratina Marv Davis Craft ShoDDe I i is on Butler Street. Mary Davis has been operating Mary Davis Craft Shoppe 1 i p.

for 34 years. Construction Junction is under the 62nd Street Bridge. I A. -Ill 111 63. Greater Pittsburgh Neon Inc.

4409 Butler St. 64. Joyce Design Group 441 1 Butler St. 65. Jay Design Soaps 4603 Butler St.

66. Shaelers Office Inc. 5119 Butler St. 67. Park's Upholstery 5202 Butler St.

68. Mary Davis Craft Shoppe 5208 Butler St. 69. Mamaux Supply Co. 5216 Butler St 70.

Mentzer Studio 5229 Butler St. 71. Transformation Treasures 5231 Butler St 72. Kelly Custom Furniture Cabinetry 5239 Butler. St.

73. Wilson McCracken 5255 Butler St. 74. Steel City Glass Inc. 5401 Butler St 75.

T. Brown Facility Services Inc 5501 Butler St. 76. Crescent Supply 6301 Butler St. 77.

Kellner Millwork 6311 Butler St. 78. Construction Junction Inc. 6331 AVRR (under the 62nd Street Bridge) 16. The Purple Pickle 2124 Penn Ave.

17. Roxanne's Dried Flower 2124 Penn Ave. 18. The Butler's Secret 2013 Penn Ave. 19.

Gilts International 2124 Penn Ave. 20. Perrolte Furniture Service 2124 Penn Ave. 21. McCormick Architect Designers 40 24th St.

22. DesignSpace Pittsburgh 2420 Penn Ave. 23. Furniture Emeritus 101 26th St. at Smallman 24.

Artistry 261 3 Smallman St. 25. Wright Contract Interiors 2735 Railroad St. 26. Duron Paints Wallcoverings 27th and Smallman streets.

27. Neilly Canvas Goods 2700 Penn Ave. 28. Franklin Interiors 2740 Smallman Suite 600 29. Penn Fixture Supply Co.

2800 Penn Ave. 30. 1 DesignBruce Berman 2820 Smallman St. 31. Leather Hide Out 2837 Smallman St.

32. Marlorth Ltd. 301 1 Smallman St. 33. The Artificial School 3052 Smallman St.

34. Planetscape Inc. 3101 Liberty Ave. 35. Seymour's Bath Decorative Hardware 3121 Penn Ave.

36. Restaurant Depot 1 00 32nd St. 37. Allied Millwork ol Pittsburgh 3206 Penn Ave. 38.

Lewis Bros. Sons Inc. 3300 Penn Ave. 39. Past Present Design Studio 3356 Spring Way 40.

Kingsland Scott Bauer Associates 3441 Butler St. 41. Desmone Associates Architects One Doughboy Square, 3400 Butler St. 42. KMA Associates Inc.

3501 Butler St. 43. B01 187 36th St. 44. Arsenal Old Lace 361 1 Butler St.

45. McDonough's Antiques 361 7 Butler St. 46. Penn Gallery 3700 Penn Ave. 47.

Accent On Tile 3700 Liberty Ave. 48. Plant Flower Warehouse 3801 Liberty Ave. 49. Spilsbury Drapery Supply 3809 Penn Ave.

50. Brenenborg Brown Group 4018 Penn Ave. 51. Francis J. Nowalk 401 7 Liberty Ave.

52. Sunshine in the City 4069 Liberty Ave. 53. Iron Eden 4071 Liberty Ave. 54.

AHA, Anderson Hartley Antiques 371 1 Butler St. 55. Arsenal Antiques 3803 Butler St. 56. Butler Street Gallery 381 1 Butler St.

57. Cochran Associates Architects Building 3 Arsenal Terminal, 39th Street and AVRR 58. W.T. Leggett Kitchens 190 40th St. 59.

T's Upholstery Studio 4020 Butler St. 60. Ice House Artist Studios 100 43rd St. 61. Reed Woodworks Renovations 169 43rd St.

62. Gallery on 43rd Street 187 43rd St. .1. Techline Studio 1 125 Penn Ave. 2.

Shehady's Carpets Oriental Rugs 1421 Penn Ave. 3. Mania Co. Antiques 1 7th and Smallman streets 4. Wholey's Balcony Cookware 1725 Penn Ave.

5. The Mole Hole ot Pittsburgh 1729 Penn Ave. 6. Nooks Crannies 1900 Penn Ave. ,7.

Jim Yucas, Architect Atelier 1901 Penn 200 8. Penn Avenue Pottery 1 905 Penn Ave. '9. The Butler's Secret 201 3 Penn Ave. 10.

Strip Antiques 2021 Penn Ave. Interiors 2031 Penn Ave. 12. Kool Kitchens 58 21st St. 13.

Society lor Contemporary Craft 2100 Smallman 14. Twice Loved Antiques 56 21st St. ,15. The Textile Studio 2124 Penn Ave. Brian O'Neill Will the other 12 percent please stand up? For burn survivors, beauty lies within 2 re proving that these land assessments make no sense.

City Councilman Bob O'Connor's suggestion of dropping the two-tiered tax the possibility that tens of thousands of assessments could be wTong. I couldn't have heard from all these property owners in recent weeks, though sometimes it seems that way. There are some among the wrongly assessed who are not squawking: Those whose homes aren't even assessed at what they paid for them. My North Side home is among them. It was assessed at about 6 percent less than we paid for it almost four years ago.

Pretty lucky, I thought. Then I went to the county Web site, www2.coun-ty.allogheny.pa.us, and discovered I hadn't seen anything yet. A big, old house on Von Lent Place in Shadvside sold in the summer of 1987 for $660,000. Yet it's valued at only $458,000 today, 30 percent less than its sales price. An isolated incident, you might say.

You'd be wrong. On Hoodridge Drive in Mt. Lebanon, a house that sold for $417,000 two years ago is valued at only $302,500. Up the street, one that sold for $425,000 in 1991 is valued at just $280,300. Another one on Hoodridge that sold for $800,000 last September is valued at $361,500.

This must be the street where everyone goes to overpay for homes. I could go on. I could go on for days. Examples abound. We will never have a perfect world, but is it fair for some to pay taxes based on the full value of their homes while others do not? I'm not suggesting anyone snitch on a neighbor who lucked out.

But maybe taxpayers in the city's 1st Ward could check out the 2nd, the 2nd monitor the 3rd Ward, and so on. In the burbs this could be done street to street. If problems unrelated to a person's own appeal are identified, details should be mailed to Susan Caisse, the chief assessment officer for Allegheny County, at the County Office Building, Pitts-: burgh 15219. Do not call. Dusty Rhodes is the auditor: for Hamilton County, Ohiq, wjiicn has had a Web site showing county property values for years; Rhodes told me last week: "We" are so much better than we were before when this was a deep, dark secret.

You have all these thousands of sets of eyes looking atvourwork." We have a way to go. Brian O'Neill's e-mail addres's is boneUKa Allegheny County ii judge ruled last week that there's nothing but "anecdotal evidence" to suggest that there is a systemic problem with the county's assessment of land in Pittsburgh. Judge Stanton Wettick Jr. wasn't about to order the county to reassess all the land in the city without a comprehensive study proving there's a problem. Wettick, from his eighth-floor courtroom in the City-County Building, basically told city officials to take the elevator down three floors and refigure their tax rates.

If you're a city homeowner on a street where land has been incomprehensibly judged to be more valuable than that on more prestigious properties, that could not have been very comforting. Because, as every mother's son now knows, land in the city is taxed at six times the rate of buildings when figuring city property taxes. Still, Wettick made the only call he could make under the circumstances. The city made an anemic presentation. Mayor Tom Murphy is now talking about a class-action suit, but it's dubious whether it would be worth $275,000 to undertake a study with my burns, just as all you guys did," the sophomore at Shaler Area High School told the group of 35 burn survivors, who attended yesterday's event, along with more than 100 of their relatives and friends.

McCarrison said he was clinically dead, with a stopped heart, when he was brought to Mercy that day. Doctors got his heart restarted, but the boy didn't wake up for two weeks. When he did, he was being bathed. "I was in a lot of pain. It was the most terrible pain I had ever felt," he said.

After three months at Mercy, he spent six weeks at the Rehabilitation Institute in Squirrel Hill and then two years on outpatient status at Mercy, getting extensive surgery and skin grafts. Sue Frankovitch, a 36-year-old woman from Daisytown, Washington County, knew the intense pain that McCarrison was talking about. She had sustained third-degree chemical burns over half her body in a domestic violence incident in 1994; her husband threw acid on her. SEE SURVIVORS, PAGE C-8 By Tom Barnes Post-Gazette Slaff Writer Todd McCarrison, a barrel-chested 17-year-old from Etna, stepped up to the microphone at Mercy Hospital yesterday. He had a ring in one earlobe and short blond hair that was parted straight down the middle.

He wore light gray pants and a dark gray, short-sleeved shirt. The shirt revealed his heavily scarred arms, which were badly burned in a house fire in Homestead seven years ago, when he was only 10. McCarrison wanted to talk to his fellow survivors" who had gathered at the Mercy Trauma and Burn Centers for the eighth annual celebration of triumphing over severe injuries. It was part of National Burn Awareness Week, which started yesterday and runs until Saturday. a long road back.

It's painful," said McCarrison, who received third-degree burns over 50 "percent of his body, especially his arms, chest and legs, in a fire at his aunt's house on June 12, 1994. "I've been through hard times rate altogether would have surer results. Alas, one of those results would be jacking up the taxes on those properties with relatively low land assessments. Sabre Systems and Service is the Ohio company that made the countywide assessments, and if it had been trying to sabotage the city's land tax system, it could not have done more to promote its demise. Perhaps it is just too difficult for any company to get land values right in a built-out city that has lost half its population in the past 50 years.

But Sabre was paid almost $24 million by the county to get this right. Much has been made of the fact that an auditor has blessed Sabre's recent work here. A random sampling of more than 300 properties indicated the data gathered on 88 percent of them was accurate, and that sounds great. But that still leaves open WEB: WWW.P0ST-GAZETTE.COMREGIONSTATE II EDITORS: TOM BIRDSONG, SUSAN MANNELLA E-MAIL: PHONE: 412-263-1 601.