Tube City Almanac

That Mysterious Seer from the East (McKeesport)

2010-03-11T14:19:00-05:00

When state Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg, withdrew his bid for the U.S. Senate, he acknowledged that a futile year-long statewide campaign could come back to haunt his campaign for a third state House term ...

Former West Mifflin and Allegheny County Councilman C.L. "Jay" Jabbour is ready to haunt him, filing along with Kortz for a third head-to-head battle for the Democratic nomination. (Patrick Cloonan, The Daily News)

"Even a child of four could discern that the filing had been hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnalls' back porch since noon today ... "

Briefly Noted: Route 30 Closed This Weekend

2010-03-09T21:45:00-05:00

North Versailles Township would be a good place to avoid for the next two weekends --- at least in the vicinity of Wal-Mart and Great Valley Shopping Center.

A demolition project on U.S. Route 30 near East McKeesport will reroute that highway's traffic up Greensburg Pike and down Warren Drive, the short street that separates Wal-Mart from the shopping center.

About 22,000 vehicles use that stretch of Lincoln Highway during a typical weekday, according to state Department of Transportation statistics.

The detour begins at 8 p.m. Friday and continues until 5 a.m. Monday, said Jim Struzzi, spokesman for PennDOT District 11. Signs will be posted to guide motorists through the detour:

Eastbound drivers will have to make a left turn at Wal-Mart onto Warren Drive, make a right turn onto Greensburg Pike, and then bear left onto the ramp to Route 30.

Westbound drivers will bear right onto the ramp for Greensburg Pike, make a left at Great Valley Shopping Center onto Warren Drive, and then make a right onto Route 30.

On Friday night, crews will begin demolishing the aging steel bridge that connects Greensburg Pike to the eastbound lanes of Route 30. More construction work is set for the following weekend --- March 19-22 --- and the same detour will be in effect.

Highwood Avenue will remain open to local traffic.

PennDOT is replacing the old bridge at a cost of $4.5 million, Struzzi says. Other work will include new guide rails and drainage upgrades and will continue until this fall.

The general contractor is Gulisek Construction Co. of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County.

. . .

Free Homebuying Workshop March 20: First-time homebuyers who need free advice on purchasing a house, shopping for a loan and other issues are invited to a workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 20.

The event will be held at the Mon Valley Initiative, 305 E. Eighth Ave. in Homestead, says Mike Mauer, MVI housing counselor. Free parking and a light breakfast and lunch are included.

Attendees can also get advice on budgeting to purchase a home, "closing" procedures and home maintenance, and learn how to qualify for mortgages that include down payment and closing cost assistance.

The event is targeted at people who have jobs and meet low-to-moderate income guidelines. To register, call Mauer at (412) 464-4000, ext. 4008.

Mayor Pitches Plan for Gas-Well Revenue-Sharing

2010-03-09T11:12:00-05:00

A plan devised by McKeesport officials for revenue-sharing of Marcellus-shale gas royalties and taxes is getting a serious look from members of the state General Assembly.

The proposal released last week by Mayor Jim Brewster would benefit all of the state's nearly 2,600 townships, boroughs and cities to some degree.

Additional help is specifically targeted at struggling municipalities with stagnant tax bases (such as those in the Mon Valley) or which have a high percentage of tax-exempt, non-profit properties (such as Pittsburgh).

Brewster's plan also calls for any taxes collected on natural gas production to be shared between the state and local governments, with cities, townships and boroughs receiving shares based on their population.

City council last week unanimously endorsed the proposal. Brewster was headed to Harrisburg today to present copies of the plan to the Pennsylvania League of Cities.

. . .

"It's on the right track," State Rep. Marc Gergely of White Oak told the Almanac last week. "I liken it to how in Alaska, all of the residents receive a stipend from oil production. This is a common-sense approach."

Along with fellow Democratic legislator state Rep. Bill Kortz of Dravosburg, Gergely is promising to draft a bill adopting many of the suggestions in the proposal.

Draft legislation could be introduced by April, Gergely said, with public hearings to follow. "What we need to do now is take the mayor's proposal and turn it into legislative language," he said.

. . .

Written by Brewster with assistance from city Solicitor J. Jason Elash and city Administrator Dennis Pittman, the proposal suggests Pennsylvania share with its 2,572 cities, boroughs and townships half of any royalties collected from Marcellus shale gas wells drilled on state-owned land, along with half of any taxes collected from natural gas extraction.

"I would not get caught up in our expectations of how the money will be divided," the mayor said last week, but added "we worked pretty hard on this to make it in-depth enough to show people that we were serious."

The proposal comes less than a month after Gov. Ed Rendell asked the state General Assembly to enact a tax on natural-gas extraction beginning July 1.

. . .
Rendell asked for a so-called severance tax identical to one levied in neighboring West Virginia --- 5 percent at the well-head, plus another 4.7 cents for every 1,000 cubic feet of gas extracted.

Rendell's administration estimates such a tax would generate almost $161 million in the first year, according to published reports.

But a similar plan to tax natural gas extraction was blocked last year by the Republican-controlled state Senate, and energy firms have already voiced their objections this time, vowing to fight any future levies.

. . .

Brewster's plan notes wryly that Pennsylvania is the only one of the top 15 natural-gas producing states that doesn't have an extraction tax.

Since Pennsylvania currently imports 75 percent of the natural gas it uses, state residents are effectively paying the tax already to 14 other states, the plan says, suggesting "this makes no sense."

Under the Brewster plan, about $80 million of the money collected from a natural-gas extraction tax would be divvied up among Pennsylvania's local governments, with shares based on their population size.

. . .

Also to be divvied up among boroughs, townships and cities would be any royalties collected by the state for allowing gas companies to drill on state-owned property, such as game lands and forests.

Nearly 700,000 acres of the state's 2.1 million acres of forest land are already being leased to drillers. The state is asking drillers to pay $2,000 per acre for drilling rights, plus royalties of 18 percent on the volume of the gas extracted.

The state expects to collect $60 million in royalties from gas drilling during this fiscal year. Under Brewster's plan, $30 million of that would be divided amongst local communities.

. . .

The Brewster plan suggests that $15 million of the royalty pool be distributed equally to all of the 2,572 municipalities "as stakeholders in state-owned property."

Additional shares of the remaining $15 million would then be distributed to communities that:

Host natural-gas drilling facilities;

Are in Act 47 "distressed" status, including Pittsburgh, Braddock, Clairton, Duquesne, Rankin and 14 other municipalities;

Have under-funded municipal pension plans; and

Need tax relief because of non-profit, tax-exempt properties such as universities and hospitals.

. . .

Precedent for such a tax sharing arrangement exists already in the state's Liquid Fuels Fund. Each year, counties, boroughs, townships and cities receive shares of the state's taxes and franchise fees on oil and gasoline and use the money for road maintenance.

"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel," Gergely said. "We have to find ways to make this work. There does have to be revenue sharing, and everyone (in the legislature) should be in receipt" of Brewster's proposal.

In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is trapped in the Marcellus shale under Pennsylvania.

Combined with the state's proximity to major East Coast population centers, the state is poised for a "new gold rush" as "tens of thousands of wells" are drilled, Gergely said.

"It's a new natural resource that's never been tapped," he said. "We have to find ways to make this work."

To Do This Weekend

2010-03-05T19:53:00-05:00

The Palisades Ballroom will be hopping this weekend with a performance by Wayne Macuga's big band on Saturday and a CD release party on Sunday.

Tickets to see Macuga's 17-piece orchestra are $10 at the door, and dancing begins at 8 p.m Saturday.

. . .

On Sunday, the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania debuts its new album, "Blues From the Burgh: 2." A compilation of tunes from 18 Pittsburgh-area blues artists, proceeds from the CD will benefit Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Adagio Health, Blues in the Schools and other local charities.

Artists slated to appear include Wil E. Tri, Jill West and Blues Attack, Ms. Freddye and Blue Faze, Pamela Bick and the Warehouse Blues Band, Angel Blue and the Prophets, Ian Arthurs Band, Gary Belloma, Jimmy Adler, Billy the Kid and the Regulators, Eugene Morgan and the Night Crawlers and Bubs McKeg and Dr. Blue.

The entertainment begins at 2 p.m. and tickets cost $5. CDs will be on sale during the event at a special price, a spokesman said. The Palisades is located at 100 Fifth Ave. at Water Street, near the Jerome Avenue Bridge.

. . .

Meanwhile, McKeesport Little Theater has moved "opening night" for its upcoming performances of "Don't Drink the Water." The show now begins its three-week run next Friday, March 12, and a Thursday night show has been added on March 25.

For details, call (412) 673-1100 or visit the MLT website.

Officials Make Evacuation Plans for Possible Flooding

2010-03-05T19:23:00-05:00

March's record-setting floods could follow February's record-setting snow storms.

With National Weather Service forecasters warning that the possibility of a flood is more than four times above normal, city officials are preparing to evacuate several low-lying areas and to close flood-prone roads and streets.

"After the snow comes the water, and in March we're notorious for having floods," says Ed Coulter, city emergency management coordinator.

. . .

The snow on the ground in the Mon-Yough area represents 2 to 3 inches of water already, say experts at the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center, based in Minnesota.

In the mountains south of the city --- along streams and creeks that feed the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers --- it's more like 4 to 6 inches of water, the agency says.

Although no flooding is forecast through Wednesday, an NWS report released Friday morning says the outlook could change rapidly.

Forecasters are particularly wary of a storm system expected to develop late next week over Tennessee and then move north toward Western Pennsylvania.

. . .

According to the NWS in Pittsburgh, 3 inches of rain in any 24-hour period could trigger flash flooding in Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

"Given the prevailing storm track, the Upper Ohio River Valley could receive above normal precipitation," the report says. "If there is a surge of warm air with one of these storms, producing quick snow melt, flooding is likely."

The ground is already saturated with water, and a combination of rapidly warming temperatures and several inches of rain could cause flooding, the agency says.

Flood-control reservoirs have already been lowered below normal levels in anticipation of "above normal snowmelt," according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Pittsburgh District.

. . .

There's recent precedent for such an event. In January 1996, storms dropped more than 23 inches of snow on the region. A sudden warm snap a week later combined with heavy rains to trigger floods throughout Western Pennsylvania.

The resulting deluge caused heavy damage at Harrison Village, a public housing complex along the Youghiogheny River in the Third Ward, forcing 800 people to be relocated.

Portions of Route 837 through Dravosburg and West Elizabeth were closed for several days until the water receded.

In Port Vue, Glenn Avenue was closed when Heath's Run spilled over its banks, swamping houses and several auto-repair shops, and many homes in Elizabeth Borough were damaged.

. . .

Coulter says evacuation plans have been readied for Harrison Village and the adjacent Isbir Manor apartment building in the Third Ward along the Youghiogheny River, and for Auberle Street in the East End.

During the 1996 flood, according to published reports, some residents of Harrison Village complained they didn't receive notice to evacuate, and some had to be rescued by firefighters in boats.

If a flood happens this year, Coulter says, city police and McKeesport Housing Authority police will notify Harrison Village and Isbir Manor residents if they need to evacuate.

. . .

In addition, buses will be available to transport residents to the community center at Crawford Village, while firefighters will have two small boats available for emergency rescues.

Medics from McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service will provide emergency medical care for the sick or elderly at the Crawford Village center, Coulter says.

Police and firefighters will be ready to close Walnut Street at Eden Park Boulevard; O'Neil Boulevard between Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus and Amherst Street; Fifth Avenue at Lincoln Way; and other flood-prone sections of road, he says.

. . .

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, city Administrator Dennis Pittman wrote to White Oak officials pledging McKeesport's cooperation if Route 48 floods.

The city thinks the state's recent flood control project along Long Run Creek has addressed many of the problems, Pittman says, but the intersection with Ripple Road may be a concern.

If the intersection is inundated, city police will close Route 48 at its junction with Old Route 48, he says.

. . .

Editor's Note: National Weather Service flood predictions and river observations are available online. Flood-plain maps are available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

City's Bill for February Snow Removal: $225K

2010-03-04T15:49:00-05:00

The bill for clearing city streets after February's record-setting snowfalls will likely approach a quarter-million dollars.

At last night's council meeting, Mayor Jim Brewster and public-works director Nick Shermenti detailed the aftermath of the two storms that whacked western Pennsylvania on Feb. 5-6 and again on Feb. 10 with more than two feet of snow in some areas.

They also defended the city's snow-plowing efforts in the face of criticism from residents who accused crews of acting too slowly to open streets in some neighborhoods.

. . .

"Am I satisfied?" Brewster said. "No. I wish we would have gotten to everybody in a couple of days."

One thing the city could have done differently, he said, was to hire outside help on the night of Friday, Feb. 5, when the snow first began falling, instead of waiting until Sunday, Feb. 7.

Otherwise, Brewster said, "we wouldn't have done anything differently."

Bills for overtime, fuel and outside contractors are currently estimated at $225,000, Brewster said, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned the city will probably not be reimbursed for most of the expense because it was incurred more than 48 hours after the storm began.

Nevertheless, the city has submitted bills for about $80,000 in expenses incurred on Feb. 5 and 6.

. . .

Outside contractors were hired to supplement the city's DPW force of seven trucks and 28 employees, Shermenti said, and the city's Housing Authority and sewerage authority and McKeesport Area School District helped clear some streets.

"When you have the amount of snow that was falling --- two to three inches per hour --- you can't get in front of it," he said. "And you quit salting, because you'll be wasting the salt."

City crews had difficulty clearing some streets, Shermenti said, because the largest trucks are equipped with nine-foot-wide plow blades.

According to county deed records, many of the city's older residential streets are just 20 to 24 feet wide, and with cars parked on both sides, little more than nine feet is left for traffic. As a result, smaller, pickup-size trucks with seven-foot blades had to be sent instead, Shermenti said.

Even using the smaller trucks, 22 parked cars sustained damage from snow plows.

. . .

Adding to the difficulty were downed electric wires and tree limbs. Eden Park Boulevard was closed for two days because of fallen trees and about 2,500 people lost power, many of them in the Grandview section of the city.

Roughly 70 people stayed overnight at a warming shelter in the Palisades Ballroom, Downtown, according to Coulter, with Zoscak's Market in 10th Ward supplied 400 to 500 hoagies for people without power.

"Our priority was to take care of people who were facing emergencies," Brewster said. "Going to work is not an emergency. If you need to go to work that badly, you can walk."

. . .

Councilwoman Fawn Walker disputed that, noting that some people were threatened with dismissal by employers if they couldn't make it to work.

"Many bosses were not giving people the day off, despite the state of emergency," she said. Walker suggested the city needed a better plan for clearing residential streets after a major snowfall.

The city's snow emergency plan calls for major arteries to be cleared first, Shermenti said, followed by routes leading to UPMC McKeesport hospital and then to schools.

"We do have a game plan in place," he said, "but no community is prepared for three feet of snow. Once you start getting three feet of snow, it's over."

Auto Row Added to 'History' Section

2010-03-04T13:11:00-05:00

Alert Reader Randy B. recently wrote Tube City Almanac to ask:

I have a small disagreement with another McKeesport alumnus. I maintain that J.P. Mooney Packard was originally at the corner of Fifth and Huey. He maintains that it was always at the foot of Hartman Street.

I am confident of my memory as my stepfather bought a '52 Packard from Mooney and it was by then at the Hartman location. Can you verify this or at least point me in the right direction to prove or disprove this?

I love these kinds of questions, because they are completely pointless, yet they are exactly the type of thing that keeps me up at nights.

Using old telephone books and copies of the Polk City Directory (available at Carnegie Library of McKeesport and McKeesport Heritage Center), we were able to determine that in 1941 and 1944, John P. Mooney Co. was located at the corner of Fifth and Huey streets.

Although the exact address provided no longer exists, it seems to have been on Fifth Avenue, catty-corner from the present Sunoco station that faces Lysle Boulevard.

By 1950, Mooney Packard was at Fifth and Hartman --- specifically, 2409 Fifth Ave. in the East End, which is currently an automatic car wash.

. . .

Mooney's dealership had an interesting history. In the 1920s, John P. Mooney was in business at Fifth and Huey selling Overland automobiles, an all but forgotten make of cars that was nevertheless extremely popular before the Great Depression.

Overlands were manufactured by the Willys-Overland Co. of Toledo, Ohio, which went onto greater fame as builder of Jeeps during World War II.

The Willys company would eventually be acquired by industrialist and steel tycoon Henry J. Kaiser, and then by American Motors Corp. It survives --- at least in spirit --- in the Jeep division of Chrysler Corp. Until recently, in fact, the old Overland plant in Toledo was still used by Chrysler to build Jeeps.

. . .

By 1946, Mooney was selling the Packard, another all-but-forgotten brand of car. During the 1920s, Packards were considered among the finest American cars --- on a par with Rolls-Royce --- and were driven by celebrities and millionaires.

But the Great Depression wasn't kind to car manufacturers, especially not to companies making expensive luxury vehicles. Packard launched new lower-priced cars, the 120 and the Clipper, which saved the company at least temporarily, but diluted its luxury image.

After World War II, a newly resurgent Cadillac --- backed by the superior financial power of General Motors --- usurped Packard's place as America's premier luxury car, and the smaller company went into a tailspin. Hoping to build volume and achieve economies of scale, it purchased the Studebaker Corp. in 1954, but that only made things worse. Within four years, Packard was gone.

. . .

In the meantime, Mooney --- like many Packard dealers --- turned in his franchise and placed his hope and trust in the Ford Motor Company, which was launching a brand-new medium-priced car with one of the most expensive advertising programs ever planned.

The car, which debuted in September 1957, was the Edsel. And you know how that story wound up. Needless to say, Mooney wasn't selling Edsels for very long.

Happily for Mooney and his employees, by the early 1960s he'd taken a franchise for the Volkswagen Beetle, which went onto become the hottest-selling imported car that the United States had ever seen.

Mooney Volkswagen eventually moved to Route 48 in White Oak in the building currently used by Bob Massie Toyota.

. . .

Anyway, Randy's question --- and the recent Pittsburgh Auto Show --- left me wondering where the city's car dealers were located in the years following World War II. It turns out that McKeesport, like many other American cities, had a very vital "automobile row" Downtown in the 1950s and '60s.

Urban car dealerships across the United States were in eclipse by the 1970s, but at one time it would have been possible to see practically every make and model of new car within a few square blocks of Walnut Street.

I thought it was interesting enough to add a new article to Tube City Online's History Section.

It's called "Remembering McKeesport's Auto Row."

Family, Peers Gather to Honor Baldwin

2010-03-01T14:09:00-05:00

Retired state Supreme Court Justice Cynthia Baldwin receives a proclamation in her honor from Tom Maglicco --- acting for state Rep. Marc Gergely --- as her husband, Arthur, left, and son, James, second from left, look on.

Baldwin, a longtime Allegheny County judge who was recently named chief legal counsel to Penn State University, was the featured speaker at McKeesport Heritage Center's annual Black History Month program, held Saturday afternoon.

The program included a performance of the traditional African-American spiritual "Every Time I Feel the Spirit" by city native Byaar Meekins (above), a former member of the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, accompanied on the piano by Marilyn Wood Baldwin (below), chair of the center's Black History Program committee and a member of the center's board of directors.

Additional photos follow after the jump.

(All photos by John Barna, special to Tube City Almanac.)

Above, Jordan Slater, 10, a student at Francis McClure Intermediate School in White Oak, reads her original poem "The Wheel Around the World: Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

Lydia Lockhart (above), professor of business management at Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus in McKeesport, spoke about Baldwin's legacy as a judge, advocate and educator in international law, while the Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Downtown, delivered a prayer.

Other guests included retired Allegheny County Judge Livingstone Johnson.

J. Terrence Farrell, president, board of directors, McKeesport Heritage Center, welcomed visitors to the program.