NEW CASTLE Council OKs street closing
Councilwoman Patricia May was the only dissenting vote.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Despite numerous pleas to keep Reis Street open, city council voted to close it and an unnamed alley.
The street closure is necessary for the construction of a new city high school. City officials also agreed to give the school a conditional use permit to build part of its new school building in an area zoned for residential use.
Those votes will pave the way for the city school district to raze 13 homes, some dating back to the 1800s, and the 91-year-old school for a new campus-style building.
"I have a lot of feelings for history and old buildings. History was my major in college. But if at this time you ask me to prioritize, I would say we need a new high school, and it's a higher priority than the historic buildings," Councilman Mark Elisco said.
Against it: Councilwoman Patricia May's was the only dissenting vote on all three matters. She said she agreed with the city's fire chief -- who called closing the street "immoral" because it would increase fire response time by 45 seconds to a minute to about 100 people behind the school.
School officials have proposed letting fire officials use a private school road to access those homes if Reis Street is closed.
"Not only does a private road have loading docks, it is the ingress and egress of nearly all the parking lots. It has school crossings and will have nearly 1,000 students parking cars, school buses unloading and loading and students and faculty going in and out of school," May said.
Councilmen Stephen Vitale and Rick DeBlasio said they both favor the new school and approved all three measures.
In favor: Council President Robert Bullano also voted for all three measures, but he would not give his position on the matters during council's comment period.
People opposed to the school plans touted the importance of fire safety and keeping the street open before council voted.
"Somewhere down the road, an accident may occur or someone may die in a fire because of the delay in time. If the city gets sued, can you honestly look yourself in the mirror and feel good about it?" said Rosemary Henderson of Neshannock Boulevard.
Previous comments: Andrea Przybylski of Laurel Avenue questioned Vitale about statements he made at previous council meetings about fire safety.
Vitale lauded firefighters at an August council meeting for quickly responding to his home for a fire, and at a February meeting he said his biggest concern over closing Reis Street was resident safety.
"Is your vote going to be consistent with your public statements? The only vote that is consistent with those statements is a no vote," Przybylski said.
Those in favor of the school plan spoke also, and they encouraged council to close the street and alley and grant the conditional-use permit.
Stan Magusiak, a sophomore at the school, told council that there should be more concern about fire safety during basketball games when cars lines the street than with closing Reis Street.