Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director In an unusually brief Foster Township supervisors meeting sewer issues, for a change, did not take center stage. Sewer and sanitary authority issues were discussed, but shared time with police, emergency management, code enforcement and business development. When asked by resident Bill Hallock how much it would cost to develop property at the Foster Brook intersection, supervisor Dale Phillips said there are no figures from PennDOT but development and occupancy permits depend on use, and how many cars are going in and out. “I believe we’ve got some great potential down there in that area,” Phillips said, adding that he likes to go Applebee’s in Olean on Saturday and “it’s like Bradford day. I know everybody in there.” “Why can’t I know everybody in Applebee’s that’s in Foster Township? Why are we going there instead of them coming here?” he asked rhetorically. He said he’s called the owners of the Kmart property in the Bradford Mall in ...

George Corignani is the new code enforcement officer for Foster Township. The annouoncement was made during Monday's township supervisors meeting. He takes over for Jim Robinson, who was let go for personal reasons. Corignani had been the code enforcement officer in Bradford for many years, until his retirement from the Bradford City Fire Department. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

She got away with it again. That’s how one Summer Street resident summed up the situation with landlord Edna Hallock moving new tenants into a house that had been infested with cockroaches last year. Steph Viola and several of her neighbors attended Tuesday’s Bradford City Council meeting to inform council that Hallock was moving people into the house. “We went through, literally, hell this summer,” Viola said. “To know that that house sits there tenant after tenant after tenant and it’s nothing but trash – It’s getting really bad. That’s it in a nutshell.” “I’m sick of living by this,” Viola continued. “It just broke my heart when I found out she got away with it again.” Bradford City Fire Chief Boo Coder left the council meeting to see if the property had a certificate of compliance, which would allow it to be rented out. After the meeting, Coder said Merle Silvis and Chris Angell had inspected it, so he could not keep the new tenants from moving in. At a Board of Health meeting in A...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director (briefly back from vacation) Bradford City Fire Chief Boo Coder, code enforcement officers and captains George Corignani and Merle Silvis, along with Captain Larry Visbisky are retiring from the fire department. The announcement came during a city council meeting in which tempers flared between Mayor Tom Riel and Councilman Ross Neidich after they voted on an ordinance that raises the city’s millage rate and, therefore, property taxes. Neidich voted against the ordinance and, when it was Riel’s turn to vote he said to Neidich, “I don’t know why you would vote ‘no’ to it when we’ve done everything we possibly could and there were no suggestions of yours that were... acted upon or denied and I don’t see the purpose of voting ‘no’ to it.” “I’m not happy to vote ‘yes,’” Riel continued, “but I feel this council has worked, and done as much as they possibly could. I’m not happy about it. I want to reiterate that, but I’m going to vote ‘yes’ because t...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Code enforcement has a new plan. During Tuesday’s Bradford City Council meeting, code enforcement officer George Corignani said he and Merle Silvis want to use the two firemen who are in training at the code enforcement office to find problem properties throughout the city. The plan is to have them go ward to ward throughout the city, take pictures and notes, and report back to Corginani and Silvis, who would act on the problems. Once the First Ward is done, they’ll move to the Second Ward, and so on. Corginani and Silvis would continue to do inspections and answer health-related complaints. “We’ve been jumping around from ward to ward … trying to answer this and answer that. … If we started at one ward and did that ward with the two extra guys, that would give us some relief for us to do the stuff we have to do,” Corignani said. The plan is to pay them with money code enforcement collects from fines and fees. Mayor Tom Riel and Councilman Rick ...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Code enforcement officer George Corignani says if people have a problem with his department, all they have to do is call. “We don’t have to come here every week and sit and trash code enforcement,” Corignani said during Tuesdays sometimes heated Bradford City Council meeting. “I mean, it’s just not getting anywhere.” “If you have a problem, call us at our office. We’ll take care of it. And if you’re not satisfied then, there’s a problem. But we’re not getting any phone calls about any of this stuff,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know about some of the problems until after he reads about the council meetings every other Wednesday. “I’m just trying to do my job and do it right. We can all do this together and work it out together because – Guess what? – I’m not going anywhere,” Corignani said. “We’re not saying it’s you guys,” said Mayor Tom Riel. “We’re saying there’s a problem with the program.” Councilman Jim Evans added that much of what’s ...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director There is something several people in Bradford don’t think is pretty in pink. The Riddell House. Sam Sylvester of the Historical Architectural Review Board said he was asked to attend Tuesday’s council meeting to talk about "the appropriateness of the recent pink job at the Riddell House.” “Joe (Troutman) is a friend of mine and I appreciate (that) he’s doing what he’s doing. But if the HARB is to be effective, we need to see the request first. We have not seen the request," Sylvester said. He said there are several other incidents in town where people have done work without contacting HARB, but he was just at the meeting to talk about the Riddell House. City Clerk John Peterson said the city received several complaints, so he contacted commercial building inspector Mark Grassi. Grassi was told Tuesday morning the building was being repainted the same colors it had previously been painted. “Photographs from Google Earth show that not to...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director A couple of Bradford residents told City Council Tuesday night that they think the code enforcement officers are working hard, but also think more could be done. Vista Circle resident Brad Mangel said in the last 11 years they "did quite a bit" and that any problems with the officers don't need to be confrontational. He did say, however, that the program "obviously does need to be fixed." He added that he wholeheartedly agrees with Mayor Tom Riel's position that something needs to be done about blight. Mangel said he's also concerned about fines and enforcement, especially concerning landlords, nothing that they're getting an income from the tenants that should be put back into the buildings. But, he said, they know how to play the system and are aware of what they can get away with. Cole Avenue resident Jeff Bartholomew is also concerned about blight, and wondered what's being done to go after landlords w...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Volunteer fire departments are "officially" on the endangered species list. That's according to Foster Township Supervisor Jim Connelly Jr., who took time during Monday's supervisors meeting to address the dwindling membership of the Derrick City and Rew volunteer fire departments. "I'm going to put our Foster Township fire departments on the endangered species list," Connelly said. "We need help. It's got to be addressed." He reiterated what supervisors have been saying for months -- people don't have to fight fires to be a member of the department. Plenty of other jobs, such as maintenance and bingo, are available. Connelly acknowledged that the problem isn't unique to Foster Township. "It's a serious issue all over the United States of America," he said. "Our volunteers are falling by the wayside. Having a volunteer fire department is a luxury." "When we pick u...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Say good-bye to blue tarps and hello to a Holiday Inn Express – if everything goes according to plans. Bradford City Council on Tuesday heard from Code Enforcement Officer George Corignani concerning the tarps and other code enforcement matters, and from the developer who plans on building a 72-room hotel at the former Micale Construction site. Corignani said the people who have blue tarps on their roofs have been given until the end of the month to have the buildings re-roofed and have the tarps taken off, or they will be cited. Mayor Tom Riel specifically asked about the blue-tarped property on East Main Street. Corignani said he would be surprised if the owner didn't have a building permit this week. Office of Economic and Community Development Executive Director Sara Andrews said she believes the new landlord ordinance has made it easier for code enforcement to do its job because the ordinance "teeth in it" concerning fines for...