Look, at we have allowed Whitehall Council and Gateway Engineering contractors do to our public land.

April 5, Council voted to give a single source award of $13K to N&N Landscaping, recommended by Gateway Engineering, to fix the drainage issue.  Work to begin Thursday April 20 and will continue, in their estimation, 3-5 days. While we wait, we will not have baseball games and practices from happening here.  So, if it really works this time, then this will be tax payer dollars well spent. Yet, this is just one  of many cases that a contractor named by Gateway Engineering gets a blank check.  We need better accountability and transparency.

Because I did not want the children of Whitehall to continue to wait, I pumped out this field at zero cost as seen above. It's time that we have leadership that does something instead of just spending taxpayer money.

Regardless of how those buddies at Gateway Engineering "fix" Snyder Field, there is to be yet another redesign not yet released by Whitehall Council to overhaul Snyder Park in 2024 making this park completely not available for the annual Whitehall Day as well as camp and baseball games. None of the other parks have matched what was promised with the 5 year plan so it is a mystery to me as to what in the world Whitehall Council is planning here. Please elect me to Whitehall Council to stop the overhaul of Snyder Park in 2024!

Update 4/20/2023: Day one of Snyder Field job. So far so good. Pickleball, basketball, and playground remain open to resident's use.

Update 4/21/2023: The field looked clear when I came home from work around 6:30pm. I spotted a mom and child running through the deep park of the outfield with a child. This is great news. I do not know if the crew is done. If there is any activity through the weekend, I will update then. Otherwise, the next update is Monday.

Update 4/25/2023: Rain and hail seemed to be a challenge but the posts in the field have been removed. It looks like a ball field again.

Update 4/26/2023: I can't tell but the project could be finished. Let's hope the drains really work!

Update 4/27/2023: I did a foot walk tour with my son of the baseball field last night which seems to be a currently usable state. We dusted off home plate but regretted to see the GBWA pad behind home plate still dirty and slid over. Note to self: pick up ultra strong zip ties to hang the sign once again.

Update 4/28/2023: WE ONCE AGAIN HAVE A SWAMP! Light rain today fails to drain. The $13K clean and ready to play baseball field already did not even hold for a single game! N&N Landscaping and Gateway Engineering, the taxpayers of Whitehall would like a refund, please.

Update 5/1/2023: We have about 1/4 " of an inch of standing water in several puddles in the infield. I took a panoramic photos from where the pitcher's mount ought to be and from the outfield to capture the rest of the park. I haven't noticed anyone from N&N on site for over 7 days. Even where there is no obvious standing water, this place is way too mucky to play baseball. Picture of my actual credit card for scale.

Update 5/5/2023: While it is still unknown if N&N Landscaping is "done" with the Snyder field, it is still and a not-usable condition. One glimmer of hope though. An opportunity for citizens comment will be made for the re-design of Snyder Park as per the bi-annual magazine. I would like to see some arrangements for pickleball to be made at the tennis courts as soon as possible before even any talk about what to do about this park happens. FINISH THE POOL AND BRENNAN PLAZA BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE!

Update 5/10/2023: We should have games held at Snyder field as we are 40 days into the season. Not a single one. No sight of N&N landscaping. Neighbors closer to the field have confirmed. 13K for that?

Update 5/20/2023: Snyder Park hosted a concert and food truck event that was previously booked for Brennan Plaza. It was a great place for it because the kids got a chance to play at the playground during the show.

Update 5/29/2023: I have noticed two baseball games happen so far at Snyder Park. 

Update: 4/20/2023: I brought it to the attention of Pennsylvania State Representative Jim Brewster's office that the stairs were not fixed at Prospect Park so how can we trust that Whitehall will use park grants to fix the stairs in Overlook Park? See below for more details on Prospect Park.

Update 5/2/2023: Council plans to vote on a motion "To Authorize Gateway Engineers to Design and Bid Overlook Park Phase I and II Renovations." NO! Absolutely not. Gateway Engineers have already tried to squeeze Whitehall taxpayers for an additional one million dollars of work. Now you want them to have a second chance to bilk us. NO. Not "no, thank you." Just NO.

Update 5/5/2023: Council did vote to give Gateway Engineers, not one, but two blank checks on 5/3/2023 by breaking the project into two stages. No, there will not be any opportunity for citzens feedback.

Stage 1: ARPA funding has been identified for Phase 1 for the replacement of the playground equipment, building of a new pavilion structure (where?) , as well as fixing the stairs into the park. It's unclear to me if the demolition of the ground floor rest rooms and snack bar are in scope or not.  Gateway Engineering, and only Gateway Engineering will be the ones to decide to exactly what this entails and how close it comes to the ARPA budget. 

To be clear, ARPA funding was COVID relief given to the states from the Federal government to give to the municipalities to upgrade their infrastructure due to loss of income revenue during pandemic shutdown. Council admits to sitting on this money all along but have recently got the go ahead to do the Overlook Park with this money.

Granted, the playground equipment is in such disrepair that it should not be used by children, but it happens every nice spring day. It shouldn't have been neglected this way in the first place. Now it is a huge emergency to rush and spend COVID relief money on a park that is in a shameful state. 

Stage 2: Funding? Scope of Work? Nothing about phase two beyond that there will be one. Future Whitehall problems.

I did a walk thru video of Overlook, took photos of the snack bar stairs which fate are unclear, the graffiti wall in the rear, and a rusty basketball hoop on 5/4/2023.

Does this look like a lovely affluent suburb to you or a dumpster fire of a community who has neglected public lands to much too long?

Update 5/12: The Overlook overhaul was supposed to cost only 1.3 million. Gateway's preferred bidders have been told that it is 1.3 million with the picture as the scope of work. Everyone is coming over 1 million on the bid. That's 77% over budget. The geography, alone, it is going to be massively expensive just to re-grade the playground area to bring it to a level where a wheel chair ramp path can be installed. This design was infeasible in the 1.3 million ballpark, so why did Gateway Engineering guide us down this path? $$$$$$$$

The plan was to use $650,000 from CARES ACT and then also $650,000 from PA State Grant which must be authorized by June 30, 2023. 

No wonder Whitehall Council did not want citizens to get a chance to review the new new Phase I proposal for Overlook Park to see what can be done for $1.3 million. We are all in the mercy at Gateway Engineering. When will this ever stop???

Update 5/18: I believe that council has ordered the playground equipment to be removed. It is not safe as my video walk-through shows. There are still huge question marks as to where the new (already purchased?) equipment will go and if swings will still be a part of this playground. 

Please respect the Department of Interior's work

Do NOT swap the baseball and soccer fields at Highland Park of Whitehall.

Prospect Park

There used to be two baseball diamonds until 2021 when Whitehall Council decided to install a new picnic pavilion and playground with Pennsylvania grant money. You guessed it, contractors recommended by Gateway Engineering did the job. There are several problems with this pavilion and playground. 

1. They reused a concrete pad which was cracked and didn't repair it, therefore there are quite a few tripping hazards as it is uneven.

2. They didn't actually have to destroy the baseball diamond to get construction crew up the hill. But, even if that was true, why did they throw away the fencing behind home plate. The claim was at the time that the land would be repurposed for a soccer field it is not attractive to the soccer club because it is not suitable dimensions for soccer. All that sits there is a sad dirt diamond.

3. The playground was lined with woodchips that are already going astray.

4. Proper trash and recycling receptacles are not around the park, especially the stairs around the new pavilion.

5. Money that could have been spent on repairing the stairs that lead into the park was spent on security cameras pointing at the playground. Does anyone else see this as classist-racist waste of money just because this is the poor non-white part of Whitehall? 

On the heels of re-election, council members, especially Kathy Depuy, gave the go-ahead to contractors from Gateway Engineering to do all of this to Whitehall's Prospect Park. Despite it being during baseball season, permits were revoked. Bulldozers came in. And Whitehall Council spent a lot of grant money.

Update: On 4/20/2023 I attended Pennsylvania State Jim Brewster's open office hours to ask his staff to look into the Keystone grant funding was used and to tour the park to see the current conditions. I still want to know what the security cameras are doing there? If it is for the safety of the children, I would have much rather we fixed the stairs.

Update: After over two weeks of crickets from Senator Brewster, I called up State Representative Nick Pisciottano for help in following the money regarding Prospect Park. I'm waiting for confirmation on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's level of involvement, but it is believed that the most if it was done under a Jefferson Regional Grant. Stay tuned.

Footnote: On 4/19/2023, Councilman McKown asked me to correct the spelling on this website at the last name on this website during council. This is the spelling that has been here all along. I have confirmed this spelling as per the elected officials page on the Whitehall Borough website and on the Allegheny County Elections Republican Ballot. The errors were in old Facebook comments which have been corrected since this request. This is what he chose to say instead of answering my question to council, "Will you commit to finish the pool and Brennan Plaza before you spend any more money on the parks?" 

To his credit, Councilman McKown answered my clapback question of "Care to explain your relationship with Westbanco and the pool financing?" with an explanation that 1.5 million of the debt from the reconstruction of the firehouse on Route 51 was a roll-over into a loan with Westbanco and 6 million dollars was from the pool debt. My opinion is that it is a shame that the funds got intermingled like this to confuse essential service first responder needs with recreation spending. Also, my kid learned about needs versus wants in 1st grade. It is not clear that Mr. McKown CPA knows the difference between needs and wants.