Caste Village Owner's Letter on Port Authority, Rumor Mill

The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch received the following email on March 13. Other than addressing some minor grammatical issues, the wording seen below was written as is.

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I write because a careless rumor has grown into an ugly misinformation campaign at , with the owner of the (and, to some degree, Caste Village management) being blamed for the potential loss of the bus route that circles our shopping center. This is blatantly false.

Neither the owners of Caste Village nor the tenants within it want the route eliminated. It flies in the face of reason and is completely counterintuitive. In fact, Caste Village partnered with Port Authority of Allegheny County to help create the bus stop there. This route brings many shoppers to our shopping center, and many Caste Village businesses have clients and customers that are heavily reliant upon public transportation and the Caste Village bus service. A prime example is Jefferson Regional, which has expressed deep concern given that many of its patients rely on bus service to reach that office. Caste Village and all of its tenants will do everything in their power to maintain this bus route.

It is true that Caste Village management has contacted Port Authority to remedy safety problems regarding idling buses at the Baptist and Grove roads intersection over the past two years. Our primary concerns were safety issues caused by limited sight distances and, occasionally, the double stacking of buses, which led to the partial blocking of Baptist Road's southbound lane and/or the entrance to Caste Village off of Baptist. Meetings have been held between Caste Village,  and Port Authority to solve the problems. All parties hold safety as a top priority and have agreed on solutions. However, the problems at the Baptist stop have persisted, and it has been an ongoing process to try to keep this intersection and the bus stop as safe as possible for both riders and motorists.

The problems at Port Authority are far larger and more systemic than these issues at Caste Village. Port Authority faces a $64-million deficit in its operating budget for 2012-13, and cuts are causing pain all over Allegheny County. This is the harsh reality creating those route cuts and not any minor safety issues that have occurred at Caste Village. Caste Village owners and tenants support and desire a healthy public transportation system. We hope that the route will be maintained despite the current financial crisis within Port Authority.

Tom Caste (tcaste@royalmile.biz), president of The Royal Mile Company, the management operation that serves the Caste family properties, including Caste Village

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