Category: Local Businesses, News || By

If you've been Downtown on Walnut Street, you've probably noticed Voice of Vision Outreach Ministries' used furniture store in the building that previously housed Progressive Music Co. (and many years before that, Baehr Brothers Studebaker).

It's a bargain-hunter's paradise inside, with two floors of antique and not-so-antique furniture, including dressers, dining-room sets, coffee and end tables, chairs, sofas and beds.

Business is good enough that the Voice of Vision store is about to begin warehousing some of its overstock in a building near UPMC McKeesport hospital.

That sparked a debate at city council last week over whether the ministry, which is a registered tax-deductible charity, is abusing its status at the expense of for-profit businesses.

"There's no way they conform with zoning regulations," Councilman Darryl Segina alleged, asking whether the store's presence Downtown hurt R & J Furniture, which closed its store at Sixth and Market streets a few years ago.

"We should know if this business is registered in the city, we should know if their taxes are being paid," Segina said. "These are legitimate questions that should be answered."

. . .

At issue was Voice of Vision's request for a zoning variance to use a vacant two-story building at 1502 Lysle Blvd. to store excess furniture.

State and county records indicate that the building is owned by the same Elizabeth Township family that also owns the building where Barrier Protection Services and Cornerstone Day Care are located --- the former Schulhof Tire store at Lysle and Locust.

Council approved the variance by a 5-1 vote (with Segina dissenting and Councilwoman Loretta Diggs absent due to illness), but only after Council President Regis McLaughlin directed Solicitor Jason Elash to find out if Voice of Vision was complying with city fire codes and tax ordinances.

Sheryl Cross, an administrative assistant to Voice of Vision founder the Rev. Dr. Calvin Green, said after the meeting that she's been working with the ministry for about six months to straighten out bookkeeping problems and make sure the organization is complying with local, state and federal regulations.

"Rev. Green was reluctant to turn over some of the information at times," Cross said.

But she added that the pastor is not trying to evade any laws or hurt any for-profit businesses.

Cross said Green has been hurt in the past by volunteers who offered to "help" at the store, only to "help" themselves to money or merchandise. "He wants to be 'submissive to authority,'" she said, in line with Jesus' admonition that his followers "render unto Caesar" taxes and follow the law.

Segina was quick to add that "there is no question" about Green's character, and that his concerns only involved the store, which is operated under a separate corporate charter from the neighboring Voice of Vision Outreach church.

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Besides direct sales to the public, Cross said the store donates used furniture or sells it at below-market rates to low-income families or people recovering from floods and fires.

Proceeds from the store support Voice of Vision Outreach and are used to fund programs administered by other community organizations and overseen by the state Department of Public Welfare, Allegheny County and other agencies, Cross said.

The store currently has two paid employees, and she said they are paying wage taxes, though according to city officials it is exempt from mercantile tax.

Mayor Jim Brewster defended Green. "He's a good man, and I think in the past some of the dotting of the 'I's' and crossing of the 'T's' hasn't happened," he said.