Steve Mellon

3 weeks ago | insideselfstorage.com | Steve Mellon |Adam Roossien

As self-storage advisors, we’re constantly asked about market fundamentals and the state of capital markets for the sector. Lately, the most common questions have been about rents:“Why are owners cutting their rates so low?”“How are operators making money renting space at discounted rates?”“This is an undersupplied, high-income area, so why are operators advertising such low rates online?”Our answer? It’s all about existing-customer rate increases (ECRIs).

3 weeks ago | unionprogress.com | Steve Mellon

The movement to unionize workers at one of the region’s few abortion care providers took a dark turn last week when managers at Allegheny Reproductive Health Center in East Liberty fired one of the employees involved in the organizing effort and issued written reprimands to several others. Workers announced two weeks ago that more than 80% of the center’s nonmanagement employees had voted to join the Office and Professional Employees International Union as Local 98.

3 weeks ago | unionprogress.com | Steve Mellon

A self-described conservative Republican from rural Ohio, Chris Albright stood beside the small stage at Freedom Corner in Pittsburgh’s Hill District on Saturday and listened carefully to an eight-minute speech delivered by U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, a progressive whose district includes the diverse neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. Albright, wearing a faded hooded sweatshirt and a long gray beard, shoved his hands in his pockets but otherwise remained still.

1 month ago | unionprogress.com | Steve Mellon

As closing time neared on Friday afternoon, Pittsburgh workers thought of barbecues and beer and prepared to head for the exits so they could get an early start on the holiday weekend. But on narrow Kirkwood Street in the city’s East Liberty neighborhood, Raven Kirksey’s thoughts remained focused on her job. “I was a patient here for an abortion before I ever started working here,” she said, nodding at the Allegheny Reproductive Health Center across the street.

1 month ago | unionprogress.com | Steve Mellon

Thursday’s grand reopening of the Braddock Carnegie Library was the most notable celebration of the old building since 1914, when an aging and white-haired Andrew Carnegie stood on a stage with a bunch of other formally dressed men and, on the library’s 25th anniversary, declared it a “center of light.”Carnegie died five years later, and, by the mid-1970s, the library seemed poised to follow him to the ever-after. The center of light grew dark and empty, its doors secured with chains.