Category: Announcements, Commentary/Editorial || By Submitted Report

The 65th anniversary of the Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1947 will be marked with a labor history symposium at the Palisades ballroom from 9 to 11:30 a.m. April 21.

The debate between then-freshmen U.S. congressmen John F. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Richard Nixon, Republican of California, was held at the Penn-McKee Hotel and was hosted by the city's Junto club.

The symposium is being sponsored by the Pittsburgh-based Battle of Homestead Foundation, the McKeesport Preservation Society and the Pennsylvania Labor History Society. Leo Gerard, president of the United Steel Workers union, will serve as the keynote speaker.

In November, the groups announced that they had obtained a state historical marker for the 1947 Kennedy-Nixon debate. The marker will be unveiled following the symposium.

The Battle of Homestead Foundation is seeking more than $2,000 in donations to pay for the marker and other expenses, a spokeswoman said in a press release. Any funds raised beyond those costs will be used to support the foundation's educational programs, according to the release.

The hotel's design is credited to famed Pittsburgh architect Benno Janssen. It opened in 1926.

Following stints as a retirement community and a home for transients, the hotel was abandoned in the early 1990s. It has since been looted and vandalized, and has been the target of at least two arson fires. The hotel has lately been the subject of a court fight between the city and Mary Ann Huk, president of the McKeesport Preservation Society.

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Editorial Comment, Jason Togyer: You can read my personal position on this historical marker in the Post-Gazette:

• Letters to the editor: Penn-McKee project has history behind it


• Preservation of McKeesport's Penn-McKee Hotel at issue

I stand by those comments: I cannot tell if the McKeesport Preservation Society and the Battle of Homestead Foundation are obtaining a historical marker or a tombstone for the Penn-McKee. But in my opinion, Ms. Huk has confused "preservation" with "obstructionism."

She has refused to work with anyone --- not McKeesport Heritage Center, not the Young Preservationists of Pittsburgh, not Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. Her response to inquiries has been "talk to my lawyer." I've tried. Believe me, I've tried. So has a lawyer who's helped me. We get no responses.

Personally, I have yet to see the McKeesport Preservation Society "preserve" anything. The society was supposedly founded to restore the homes of "Millionaire's Row" along Shaw Avenue. Go look at those houses and tell me whether they look worse than ever.

As for the historical marker, it's a lovely idea. But historical markers don't pay taxes and they generate exactly zero jobs.

(Here's a question: Does the Mary Ann Huk and/or the McKeesport Preservation Society own the Penn-McKee Hotel? If so, shouldn't she or it be held legally responsible for not paying the taxes on the property, and for not securing the building against vandals and the elements?)

A historical marker in front of the Penn-McKee sure won't hide any of the blight that's caused by the Penn-McKee Hotel in its current condition --- blight that attendees to this symposium will get to drive past on their way to the Palisades ballroom.

It is arguable that Ms. Huk and her "Preservation" Society --- by blocking an attempt to save and remediate the Penn-McKee Hotel --- have contributed to the blight of Downtown McKeesport. For that, they should be ashamed.

And if we're judged by the company we keep, then the Battle of Homestead Foundation should explain why it thought the McKeesport "Preservation" Society was a worthy partner.

--- Jason Togyer

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EDITOR'S NOTE: I have been reluctant to use Tube City Almanac to air my very personal complaints about this issue, but it seems worthy of discussion in this forum.

Opinions expressed at www.tubecityonline.com are those of individual authors, and do not represent those of Tube City Community Media Inc. The editor of Tube City Almanac is a member of the board of directors of McKeesport Heritage Center Inc.; however, opinions expressed at Tube City Almanac are not those of McKeesport Heritage Center, its directors, employees, members or volunteers.

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