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City officials are investigating the purchase of several security cameras that could be placed at different locations in the central business district.

The move was prompted in part by the recent theft of 12 parking meters from the 300 block of Fifth Avenue.

Mayor Jim Brewster told council last week that the city is looking at vendors who could supply movable cameras that can be placed temporarily in areas where residents and police report criminal activity --- drug dealing, for instance.

The city would seek funding to pay for the cameras, Brewster said. The boroughs of Homestead, West Homestead and Munhall have already announced plans to install cameras at the entrances and exits of The Waterfront shopping complex (which spans all three boroughs) after two murders and several armed robberies.

As for the parking meters, members of council suggested the ones that were stolen were obsolete and likely taken for their scrap value, rather than the quarters inside.

Several councilors suggested the city investigate the purchase of so-called "smart meters," which reset to zero when the car parked at the meter pulls away. The technology prevents other cars from pulling into an empty parking space where unexpired time remains on the meter.

Meanwhile, there's word that the Midtown Towers apartment building will have a new owner soon. The low-income high-rise, valued at more than $2 million, is currently operated by Seattle-based Security Properties Inc.

City officials said the potential new owner has promised better screening of tenants, capital improvements to the facility, and an increased security presence in the building.

In a related item, city council by 5-0 vote awarded a $7,695 contract to Singer Paint & Glass of White Oak to install new entrance doors between Midtown Towers and the adjacent city-owned parking garage. Councilors Loretta Diggs and Paul Shelly Jr. were absent due to illness.

The new doors will keep garage users separate from residents of Midtown Towers. City documents indicate that the cost will be reimbursed by parking leases from the garage and Boulevard Shops LLC, the Pittsburgh development company that owns the old Midtown Plaza Mall storefronts along Lysle Boulevard.

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In Other Business: City council by 5-0 vote approved the sale of a vacant lot in the 500 block of Fifth Avenue by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of McKeesport to JRA Development Group of Pittsburgh's Strip District.

The lot --- next to the current Social Security Building --- is being considered by the federal government for construction of a replacement for that structure, built in 1996.

Once used as a parking lot by employees of the former G.C. Murphy Co. home office, located across the street, the 1-acre property is valued by county assessors at $77,000.

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Sidewalk Contract Let: Joseph Palmieri Construction of Ross Township was the apparent low bidder on a contract to build sidewalks between the 15th Avenue Bridge and the 2000 block of Walnut Street.

Council by 5-0 vote awarded the $180,446.60 contract to Palmieri. Phillip Herman, project engineer for Senate Engineering, said the bid was consistent with previous estimates. Nine other bids were received; the highest came in at more than $363,000.

Funding is being provided by the state's Elm Street Program.