What Was the Name of that Alley???

by David Croyle

There are streets and there are avenues. But what are the names of the alleys in Ford City? Council wants to make sure they are named.

Council President John Lux

“We talked about it couple of years ago,” Council President John Lux discussed with Council. “There are certain allies that haven’t been named yet. We need to sit down and get these allies named and put up appropriate signs. We had an incident where an officer fell in one of the alleys and no one could find him because the alley wasn’t named. They had to hunt around until they could find him. We need to get it done as soon as we can.”

Councilman Ron Dillard had the solution. “Our Secretary has expressed the fact that we have used tree names for allies and we should continue that particular fashion.  We should leave the names up to the Secretary and approve them at the next meeting.”

According to Councilman Lou Vergari, all the long allies have names such as Ash, Birch, Cyprus, and Dogwood.  In fact, the names of the alleys have been assigned with names of trees in their alphabetical sequence thus far.

“Every alley going north and south is named after trees,” Vergari said. “Ash is between 7^th Street and 8^th Street. There are alleys that don’t have named behind Klingensmiths or Citizens Bank.”

Not only will unnamed alleys be given a name, but some alleys will become one way.

“I would like to make a motion to authorize Solicitor Wolfe to prepare an ordinance creating one way alleys by the Municipal Building and the Municipal Parking Lot,” Councilman Rob Mohney said. His motion was seconded by Councilman Ray Klukan.

Ford City Councilman Ron Dillard

“I would like that motion extended to include different alleys we talked about in the central part of Ford City that will encompass from school all the way to 8^th Street,” Dillard said. “It would encompass from the 1100 block from 8^th Street to 12^th Street.”

Solicitor Frank Wolfe asked that Council sit down with him and designate which direction the one-way traffic will be assigned to specific alleys.   

Lux described his understanding of the one-way alleys. “Near Klingensmith’s, the one way alley will go from Fourth Ave to the Municipal Lot.  ‘Do Not Enter’ signs will be put at the end of the lot. I have to talk to Mr. Dillard about other alleys. The old drug store that goes behind church between Ford Street and Tenth Street needs to be one way from Fourth Avenue to Fifth Avenue.” 

The draft of the new ordinance will be reviewed by Council at the next public meeting.