January 08, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport officials are urging city residents to have patience with their new trash hauler after some homeowners reported their houses were missed, and others expressed confusion over when recycling would be picked up.
The city's contract with its previous trash hauler, Big's Sanitation, expired on Dec. 31, but the new collector, County Hauling of Rostraver Twp., didn't begin service until Jan. 6.
As a result, some residents reported having almost two weeks' worth of trash that needed to be collected.
County Hauling also has not yet released a schedule for recycling collection or explained what items should be put out for recycling. Emails sent by Tube City Almanac to County Hauling spokespersons asking for clarification have not been answered.
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January 07, 2020 |
By Ann Belser | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, Politics & Elections
County Councilman John Palmiere, Democrat from Baldwin Twp., is sworn in by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Dan Regan. Palmiere represents District 6, which also includes Clairton, Elizabeth Borough, Jefferson Hills and Pleasant Hills. Looking on is Common Pleas Judge Kathryn Hens-Greco. (Photo by Ann Belser/Print, special to Tube City Almanac)
If its first meeting was any indication, Allegheny County Council could be in for a contentious new year.
On Jan. 2, the night that all of the new and re-elected members of council were sworn in and Pat Catena of Carnegie was elected as the new council president, a dozen residents availed themselves of the public comment period to talk about the poor quality of the air and water in Allegheny County.
“Of all the issues that come before you, none is more serious than the toxic air that we breathe everyday,” John Detwiler of Squirrel Hill said. “Our county’s air is among the worst in the nation, it affects the health and the very lives of our friends and our neighbors, so all of us should care about our air.”
He called on the new council to reshape the Board of Health through its confirmation process to make the board more responsive to air quality issues.
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December 30, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements, McKeesport and Region News
A new provider will be collecting trash and recyclables in McKeesport and North Huntingdon Twp. beginning Jan. 1.
Rostraver Twp.-based County Hauling was awarded a four-year contract by North Huntingdon commissioners on Sept. 18, replacing Waste Management, and a one-year contract by McKeesport city council on Nov. 6, replacing Big's Sanitation.
In both cases, officials from the municipalities said County Hauling was the lowest responsible bidder. The company is a subsidiary of Noble Environmental Inc. of Pittsburgh, which also owns the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill near Monessen. Noble purchased the landfill in 2016 from Tervita, a Canadian company.
“We are a growing, locally owned company,” County Hauling spokeswoman Ro Rozier said in a prepared release. “We are thrilled to be able to provide service to McKeesport and many other communities in Allegheny, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.”
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December 20, 2019 |
By Emily Pidgeon | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, White Oak News
Herb Spang and an employee prepare to bale a customer’s tree at the family’s lot on Hartman Street in McKeesport. The Spangs have been selling Christmas trees at the location for nearly 60 years. (Emily Pidgeon photo special to Tube City Almanac)
Selling Christmas trees during the holidays may seem like a fun and easy way to make a buck, but after talking to some local tree lot owners, you may think differently.
“We have to fight snakes, spiders, the sun, the weather — everything, you know,” said Don Spang, 88, of White Oak, owner of Spang’s Trees on Hartman Street in McKeesport.
Spang and his brother Herb, 79, along with other family members and employees, are celebrating 59 years of selling Christmas trees in the very same location.
Spang said he’s sold as many as 5,000 trees in one season. These days, the lot sells closer to 500 trees.
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December 20, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
A Duquesne woman who says she was bitten by a McKeesport police canine officer that got loose from a police officer's yard is suing the department and the dog's handler.
Shanita Beatty, 42, is seeking damages for pain and suffering, hospital and medical bills and lost wages. The lawsuit was filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Dec. 3.
City officials declined comment.
The lawsuit alleges that Beatty was in the parking lot of an Eden Park Boulevard restaurant on Sept. 8, 2018, when the dog jumped on her, biting her on the neck and forearm.
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December 18, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: Duquesne News, McKeesport and Region News
(Submitted photo courtesy Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring)
Two local school districts are partnering with Literacy Pittsburgh to bring volunteers age 50 and older into kindergarten through fourth-grade classrooms to help students work on their reading and writing skills.
Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring is already working in the Wilkinsburg, Woodland Hills and Pittsburgh school districts, and is now expanding into Duquesne and McKeesport Area schools.
“We only go into places where the districts want us to be there, so I commend all these districts because we know there is a high correlation between low literacy and poverty and these are high poverty districts,” said Carey Harris, Literacy Pittsburgh's chief executive officer.
Harris commended McKeesport Area and Duquesne for being proactive about seeking partners to provide additional enrichment support.
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December 16, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Conflict of Interest Note: The author has a conflict of interest. He is a member of the McKees Point Development Group. See previous coverage of this issue and the note at the end of this story.
Dennis Davin, state secretary of community and economic development (fourth from left, first row) joins city and county officials, state Sen. Jim Brewster (seventh from left, first row), McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko (fifth from left, second row) and U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (eighth from left, first row) announcing details of a six-year, $3 million development program. (Photo special to Tube City Almanac)
State officials approved a $3 million package of tax credits that will enable McKeesport to demolish blighted buildings in the Downtown business district and prepare the former Penn-McKee Hotel for possible reuse.
Through Pennsylvania's Neighborhood Assistance Program, or NAP, the six-year plan will be funded through investments by Duquesne Light, First Commonwealth Bank, the gas-drilling company Noble Energy and UPMC Health System.
"We really appreciate this major investment by these corporations that reflects their belief that McKeesport is a great place to do business, and its future is bright," said Dennis Davin, state secretary of community and economic development.
The city is targeting most of a block of Fifth Avenue between Lysle Boulevard, Sinclair Street and Sheridan Alley for demolition, and hoping to environmentally remediate the Penn-McKee to prepare it for redevelopment.
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December 15, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School District’s decision to compete in WPIAL’s Class 4A for football in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was done for student safety reasons, school officials said.
PIAA reclassifies districts every two years. At the school board’s open agenda meeting, School Director James Brown said the reclassification of McKeesport Area’s football team from 5A to 4A was approved in November.
Boys’ basketball will continue to compete in 5A.
Brown said the some of the schools classified as 5A for football have “double our numbers, double our student body population.”
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December 12, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Students participating in the Career Works program at the Tube City Center for Business and Innovation pose with Lisa Abel-Palmieri, Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania president and chief executive officer (fourth from right) and Emily Donato, career development coordinator (sixth from right). (Tube City Almanac photo)
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania is scouting locations for a new, larger facility in McKeesport that would serve a much broader footprint in Allegheny County.
Lisa Abel-Palmieri, president and chief executive officer, told Tube City Almanac the Pittsburgh-based non-profit wants to serve a growing demand for services for young people in the Mon Valley and eastern boroughs of Pittsburgh.
"We're excited to continue to grow our footprint in the Mon Valley," she said.
The new facility would include a "maker space" for STEM education, community center, gymnasium space and classrooms, Abel-Palmieri said. Although the facility is still in the planning stage, the organization hopes to possibly break ground in "two to three years" and will need to raise funds to it possible, she said.
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December 11, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: Duquesne News, McKeesport and Region News
Linda Iverson, Wilkinsburg school superintendent, says some of her students are dealing with multiple generations of poverty and trauma. (Richard Finch Jr. photo)
School superintendents who attended a press conference in McKeesport on Thursday said most urban school districts in the Mon-Yough area --- and across the country --- face similar challenges created by poverty.
In the Wilkinsburg School District, about 99 percent of approximately 1,000 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, said Linda J. Iverson, superintendent.
Some of them are coming from generations of poverty and "fragmented" home environments, she said.
“It's not just that they're coming in from trauma-informed instances," she said. "They may not have had food or sleep the night before, or they may not have clothes.”
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