Meet the Candidates for the Board of Directors of ACCA

At the Allegheny City Central Association General Membership Meeting that will take place on Monday, September 11, a Special Election will be held to vote for individuals who have been nominated for the ACCA Board of Directors.

Two nominations have been made: Laura Winter and James Wick. If elected to the Board in this Special Election, both will hold this position until the next General Election in May 2024.

Take some time to learn more about each of the candidates:

Laura Winter

Laura Winter moved to the Northside in 1995. Since moving to Pittsburgh she has been a bilingual executive secretary and a Pittsburgh Public School teacher. She currently works as an academic program coordinator in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

Shortly after moving to the Northside, Laura became involved in community gardening. She got a plot in the Olde Allegheny Community Gardens and became a Penn State Master Gardener. In 2000 she created the Green Millenium Children’s Community Garden on Sherman Avenue, which she coordinated for over 10 years. The Children’s Garden provided a safe environment for kids to play with each other. By growing fruits and vegetables children learned about where their food came from.

Laura and her husband, James Wick, live on Jacksonia Street. Laura can often be seen playing cards with James at Commonplace Coffee. She and her husband also enjoy walking their dog, Charlie, around the neighborhood and park.

For the past couple years, Laura has gathered neighborhood volunteers for a ‘Spring Sprucing’ of Mechanic’s Retreat. Laura’s latest project, with James’s support, is the beautification of Alpine Parklet. She has received grants from the Pittsburgh Clean Commission and One Northside for this project. Neighbors and friends worked together to plant 8 trees, 20 shrubs, and various ground covers in the parklet. This past spring a Native Perennial Demonstration garden was installed.

Laura’s primary interest is collaborating with the community in the greening of the Northside.

James Wick

James Wick is a lifelong Pittsburgher. He raised his children in Mt. Lebanon and worked as a manufacturing engineer and ran the machine shops at AEG/Westinghouse and Schroeder Industries for 25 years.

James moved to Jacksonia Street five years ago after meeting and marrying Laura Winter. Since retiring from manufacturing, he now works as a registered nurse at UPMC Mercy.

When not distracted by work, he previously volunteered at St. Clair Hospital, was on the Pittsburgh NTMA Machining Apprenticeship Steering Committee for many years, enjoyed making and serving food at the Pleasant Valley shelter for the men, and serves as Laura Winters’ able gardening assistant on her many gardening projects.

James looks forward to becoming more active in the community through the ACCA.