Booze is Back: Voters End Prohibition in 2 Pittsburgh Suburbs
Tuesday's vote overturns a more than 80-year-ban on liquor sales.
photo by jim judkis
Prohibition ended for most of the country in December 1933. People in Bellevue and Wilkinsburg had to wait a bit longer — more than 80 years longer in fact. Voters Tuesday voted to pass referendums allowing liquor licenses in hopes of giving both towns an economic shot in the arm.
“This will bring in new businesses that have looked at other neighborhoods beyond Wilkinsburg in the past because they couldn’t get a liquor license,” Marlee Gallagher of the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corp. tells WESA. “But also, you know, we think this will help some of our small businesses that are already in town that want to get a liquor license, too.”
Bellevue voters rejected the idea in 2011, and councilwoman Kathy Coder says she is happy they changed their mind.
“I think people realized that we have to do something differently,” Coder says to WESA. “We don’t believe this is the ‘silver bullet,’ but we think it’s a part of our economic development and our downtown growth, and I think people just kind of got their head out of the sand and realized that we needed to all rally together and do something.”
Since Allegheny County has reached the maximum number of liquor licenses allowed by the Public Utility Commission, business owners in Wilkinsburg and Bellevue will have to buy licenses from other businesses willing to sell them.
––Richard Cook
#PedaltotheMedal: Healthy Ride launches later this month
Thanks to Pittsburgh Bike Share, and partners Highmark and Allegheny Health Network, you may never again have to experience bike envy when you're in perfect weather, sans your trusty bicycle. The organization's Healthy Ride initiative launches May 31, making it possible for you to pick up a bike at any one of the 50 area docking stations and pay a nominal fee to cruise from point A to point B; pricing starts at $2 per hour and increases to $20 per month, granting you unlimited hourlong rides. See you on the trails!
—Kristina Martin
PHOTO BY DANIEL STAINER
#Props: Adams Manufacturing wins an award
Summer officially starts on June 21, and there are plenty of ways for you to kick back and enjoy the sunshine. Now, you just need somewhere to sit.
Meet the Big Easy. The Big Easy Stacking Resin Rocking Chair, created by Pennsylvania-based furniture producer Adams Manufacturing, just won the 2015 National Hardware Show American Manufacturing Award for Best New Product.
This isn’t your granddaddy’s rocking chair. Adams’ product uses a wiz-bang new system called Finite Element Analysis, which the company describes as “a rigorous computer-based design and data modeling methodology that analyzes the behavior of engineering structures.” Translated, this practice enabled the Big Easy to hold weight, resist stains and make you downright comfy in ways other chairs couldn’t before now.
Seem like a lot of fuss for a rocking chair? Well, for less than $50, it’s worth a try — the manufacturer promises “a relaxation that rivals the classic wooden rockers of yesteryear.”
—Brady Langmann
