NEWS 4 REPORTER SHELDON INGRAM SHARES HOW THE CHUCH ENDEDP U BUYING THE PPERORTY AND TURNED IT INTO A PLACE OF PEACE IN THE COMMUNITY. >> THIS IS ALLEGHE CNYENRTE ALLIANCE CHURCH. IN ADDITION TO ITS USUAL WORSHIP SERVICES, THIS CHURCH TO AN UNUSUAL LEAP TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS NORTH SEID COMMUNITY. YOU CAN EVEN CALL IT RADIC. AL PRAISE AND WORSHIP IIDENS ALLEGHENY CENTER ALLIANCE UR.CH JUST ONE BLOCK AWAY ON EAST OHIO STREET, ITS FAITH WALK AND PURPOSE WERE TTED.ES BACK IN 2007, BUSINESS OWNERS AND RESIDENTS COMPLAINEDHAT T EXCESSIVE CRIME ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOCAL BARS WAS DESTROYING THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD AND BUSINESS DISTRI.CT THEY SAY ONE BAR IN PARTICULAR PWAS THE KINGPIN, REBELSAR. B >> WHEN REBELS BAR WAS HERE, IT WAS A ROWDY BAR. YOU HAD PEOPLE HANGING OUT ON THE STREE. TS >> THE OWNER OF SWEET TIME GENERAL STORE WAS SO FED UP, SHE LED A NEIGHBORHOOD PUSH TO HAVE THE BAR STRIPPED OF ITS LIQUOR LICENSE AND SHUT DOWN AFTER IT WAS DECLARED A NUISANCE BAR. >> VERY DISRUPTIVE TO THE RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. >> SHE STILL HAS A STACK OF LEGAL DOCUMES NTFROM COMMONWEALTH COU.RT AND THERE ARE DOCUMENTS THAT DETAIL TESTIMONY AT LIQUOR CONTROL ENFORCEMENT PUICBL HEARINGS AGAINST REBELS BAR. >> I’VE WATCHED PEOPLE WALK OUT OF THAT BAR WITH BLOOD RUNNING DOWN THEIR HEAD, GET IN THEIR CAR, TRY TO N RUPEOPLE OVER. >> SOME OF THE TESTIMONY AT THE LCE HEARINGS CAME FROM PITTSBURGH POLICE CRIME PREVENTION COMMUNITY RELATIO. IN 1998 AND 1999, POLICE SAY THERE WERE 34 911 CALLS ABOUT REBELS B.AR DRUG TRAFFICKING, ROBBERY, ASSAULT, PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS. POLICE MADE 10 ARRES.TS BUT EACH TIME THE BAR CHANDGE OWNERSHIP WITHIN THE FAMILY, ITS TRACK RECORD WAS WIPED CLEAN AND IT REMAINED OPEN. >> WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO DO IN OUR VIEW WAS ELIMINATE THE CITITAON HISTORY. >> THAT’S WHEN ALLEGHENY CENTER ALLIANCE CHURCH CAME INTO THE PICTURE AROUND 2007. EXECUTIVE PASTOR BLAINE WORKMAN LED THE CHURCH ON A LDBO INITIATIVE TO SHUT DOWN THE BAR. >> WE ASKED PEOPLE ON THIS STREET, HOW CAN WE BE A BLESNGSI TO THIS NEIGHBORHOOD? THEY SAIHED LP US CLOSE REBELS BAR. >> IN 2009, THE CHURCH BO UGHT THE BAR AND ITS LIQUOR LICENSE FOR $200,000 AND ENTH THEY SHUT IT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. >> WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT BRINGING BLESSING TO THIS COMMUNITY FOR GOD’S GLORY, THIS WAS A STEP THAT MADE SENSE, AND IT’S HAD AN IMPACT. >>. -- SHELDON: REBELS BAR SAT AT 510 EAST OHIO STREET BUT IT WAS TORN DO.WN TODAY, ALLEGHENY CITY BREWERY USES THE SPACE TO PROVIDFREEE MUSIC ON WEEKENDS. BUT EAST OHIO STREET HAS TAKEN ON A NEW LOOK SINCE THE DEMOLITION OF REBELS BAR. NEW BUSINESSES AND A NEW FSHRE VIBE. UNTIL YOU ELIMINATED ATTH PROBLEM, NO ONE WAS GOING TO COME IN AND INVEST HERE. NO ONE WANTED TO BE PART OF THE COMMUNIT Y. >> WHAT I NOTICED, SIR, MORE BUSINESSES ARE COMING INTO THIS AREA. THIS AREA IS BECOMING MORE OF A DESTINATION PLACE. >> NOW YOU HAVE A WHOLE NEW CROP OF BUSINESSES COMING IN. YOU HAVE RESTAURANTS COMING IN, YOU HAVE PEOPLE THAT WILL COME DOWN TO THE NORTH SIDE THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE. SHELDON: SO, IT CAN BE SAID THAT EAST OHIO STREET HAS EXPIEEDER TWO SIGNIFICANT EVENTS, AN ECONOMIC REVIVAL AND A SPIRITUAL REVIVAL, BECAUSE OF THE CONGREGATION AT ALLEGHENY CENTER ALLIANCE CHURCH. ♪ ON THE NTH
Church buys nearby nuisance bar to create change in Allegheny Center community
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Updated: 3:19 PM EDT May 26, 2022
A Pittsburgh bar was deemed a nuisance for decades. Prostitution, drug sales and other criminal activity all took place right near a church. That church, Allegheny Center Alliance Church took an unusual leap to make a difference in its north side community. You can even call it radical. Back in 2007, business owners and residents complained that excessive crime associated with the local bars was destroying their neighborhood and business district.One bar in particular was the kingpin: Rebels Bar.“When rebels bar was here, it was a rowdy bar,” said Bruce Klein, who owned Bernie’s Photo Center, “You had people hanging out on the streets.”Barbara Burns, the owner of Sweet Time General Store, was so fed up she led a neighborhood push to have the bar stripped of its liquor license and shut down after it was declared a nuisance bar.She still has a stack of legal documents from Commonwealth Court. And there are documents that detail testimony at liquor control enforcement public hearings against Rebels Bar.“I've watched people walk out of that bar with blood running down their head, get in their car, try to run people over,” Burns said. Some of the testimony at the LCE hearings came from Pittsburgh police crime prevention community relations. 1998 and 1999, police say there were 34 911 calls about Rebels Bar. Police made 10 arrests.Each time the bar changed ownership within the family, its track record was wiped clean and it remained open.“What he was trying to do in our view was eliminate the citation history,” Burns said.That's when Allegheny Center Alliance Church came into the picture. Executive Pastor Blaine Workman led the church on a bold initiative to shut down the bar.“We asked people on this street, ‘How can we be a blessing to this neighborhood?’ They said, ‘Help us close Rebels Bar,” Workman told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4. So in 2009, the church bought the bar and its liquor license $200,000, then they shut it down immediately.“When you think about bringing blessing to this community for god's glory, this was a step that made sense, and it's had an impact,” Workman said.Rebels Bar sat at 510 East Ohio St., but it was torn down.“Today, Allegheny City Brewery uses the space to provide free music on weekends. East Ohio Street has taken on a new look since the demolition of Rebels Bar.“Until you eliminated that problem, no one was going to come in and invest here,” Workman said, “No one wanted to be part of the community.”“Now you have a whole new crop of businesses coming in,” Klein said. “You have restaurants coming in, you have people that will come down to the North Side that have never been here before.”
PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh bar was deemed a nuisance for decades. Prostitution, drug sales and other criminal activity all took place right near a church. That church, Allegheny Center Alliance Church took an unusual leap to make a difference in its north side community. You can even call it radical.
Back in 2007, business owners and residents complained that excessive crime associated with the local bars was destroying their neighborhood and business district.
One bar in particular was the kingpin: Rebels Bar.
“When rebels bar was here, it was a rowdy bar,” said Bruce Klein, who owned Bernie’s Photo Center, “You had people hanging out on the streets.”
Barbara Burns, the owner of Sweet Time General Store, was so fed up she led a neighborhood push to have the bar stripped of its liquor license and shut down after it was declared a nuisance bar.
She still has a stack of legal documents from Commonwealth Court. And there are documents that detail testimony at liquor control enforcement public hearings against Rebels Bar.
“I've watched people walk out of that bar with blood running down their head, get in their car, try to run people over,” Burns said.
Some of the testimony at the LCE hearings came from Pittsburgh police crime prevention community relations. 1998 and 1999, police say there were 34 911 calls about Rebels Bar. Police made 10 arrests.
Each time the bar changed ownership within the family, its track record was wiped clean and it remained open.
“What he was trying to do in our view was eliminate the citation history,” Burns said.
That's when Allegheny Center Alliance Church came into the picture. Executive Pastor Blaine Workman led the church on a bold initiative to shut down the bar.
“We asked people on this street, ‘How can we be a blessing to this neighborhood?’ They said, ‘Help us close Rebels Bar,” Workman told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.
So in 2009, the church bought the bar and its liquor license $200,000, then they shut it down immediately.
“When you think about bringing blessing to this community for god's glory, this was a step that made sense, and it's had an impact,” Workman said.
Rebels Bar sat at 510 East Ohio St., but it was torn down.
“Today, Allegheny City Brewery uses the space to provide free music on weekends. East Ohio Street has taken on a new look since the demolition of Rebels Bar.
“Until you eliminated that problem, no one was going to come in and invest here,” Workman said, “No one wanted to be part of the community.”
“Now you have a whole new crop of businesses coming in,” Klein said. “You have restaurants coming in, you have people that will come down to the North Side that have never been here before.”
