June 05, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Conflict of Interest Note: The author has a conflict of interest. He is on the McKees Point Development Group. See previous coverage of this issue and the note at the end of this story.
An architect's rendering depicts the former Penn-McKee Hotel as part of a shopping and entertainment district attached to McKeesport's waterfront. (Nina Chase/Merritt Chase Architects via Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh)
(PDF reader required)
Up to $141 million in tourism money that could be spent in McKeesport is leaving the area, and at least part of that could be captured along the city's riverfront if the right attractions were in place.
That's according to a study of the area around the Penn-McKee Hotel that was done for city officials by the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh.
The report concludes that reusing the long-vacant hotel is "costly" but feasible, and recommends that funds be raised to mitigate environmental problems, prevent the building from further deterioration, and make it more presentable to investors.
The study was released Tuesday night during the regularly scheduled city council meeting and is available for viewing at the mayor's office.
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May 30, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Faced with mothers complaining their daughters were being bullied in a cheerleading program and that discipline handed out is unduly harsh, McKeesport Area school board members have agreed to take a look at policies and rules governing all athletic programs in the district.
None of the cheerleading coaches were at May's school board meeting, but plenty of complaints were lodged by mothers who said their daughters had suffered from what they called bullying.
One mother, Amanda Webb, said she had a problem with the way her ninth-grade daughter was dismissed from the squad by a fellow student.
Webb said her daughter practiced with the squad all summer and “they just threw her away.”
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May 28, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School District residents face a possible increase in property taxes next year.
At last week's meeting, the school board approved a preliminary 2019-20 budget of $69.1 million.
The millage rate is currently 19.48 and would increase 0.68 mills to 20.16. A property assessed at $50,000 would see its taxes increase by about $34 per year.
In other business, school directors congratulated Colin Lyons for coming in second place in the discus throwing competition category at the WPIAL AAA Championships on May 16. Lyons threw for 146-feet-5-inches, School Director Ivan Hampton reported on behalf of the athletic committee.
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May 28, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School District officials have approved the hiring of a police chief and police officer for the 2019-20 school year.
At last week’s school board meeting, school directors also voted to approve a $55,000 annual salary for the police chief and $50,000 for a police officer. School Directors Mindy Sturgess and David Donato left the meeting prior to the vote.
Currently, the district contracts with the City of McKeesport for a school resource officer.
“This is no reflection on our current SRO, who has done an outstanding job for many years,” said Mark Holtzman Jr., district superintendent. “It's an opportunity to have our own police department and save some money down the road.”
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May 15, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
An intermodal facility employing 50 people will be built on 18 acres of the former U.S. Steel National Works near the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge. (Tube City Almanac photo)
A Braddock-based network of companies that operates steel recycling, transportation and materials-handing businesses is building an intermodal facility on McKeesport's riverfront.
City officials and Regional Industrial Development Corp. have broken their silence about plans to create the truck, barge and railroad loading and unloading facility near the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge.
Work began several weeks ago when cranes and a barge appeared on the Monongahela River, but the tenant was not identified until Wednesday.
A new company, River Materials Inc., will use about 18 acres of the former U.S. Steel National Works site for warehousing, processing and recycling and intends to construct buildings for offices, storage and light manufacturing, as well as a railroad car and barge remediation facility, according to a press release.
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May 14, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News
Celebrating a gift of $75,000 to the Wilmerding Community Center from Allegheny Petroleum Products Co. are CEO Jim Kudis and President Barb Kudis, state Rep. Brandon Markosek, Wilmerding Community Center board member Peter McGinty, Wilmerding Mayor Greg Jakub and state Sen. Jim Brewster. (Submitted photo courtesy Allegheny Petroleum Products Co.)
An effort to reopen the former YMCA in Wilmerding has gotten a big boost from a local business.
Allegheny Petroleum Products Co. has pledged $75,000 over three years to the new Wilmerding Community Center Inc. The gift was announced Friday.
Organizers are hoping the former YMCA will reopen this August --- on or about the one year anniversary of its closure.
Barb Kudis, president of Allegheny Petroleum, says the company hopes its gift spurs other donations. The 32-year-old company has been headquartered in Wilmerding for all but five years of its existence.
"We're a big supporter of the community," she says. "We have a lot of employees in the area, and the Wilmerding area has been a good partner of ours for many years."
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May 13, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Photojournalist Martha Rial will lead a series of story-telling workshops at the former Daily News Building beginning this Tuesday. (Tube City Almanac photo)
The old newsroom of the McKeesport Daily News will echo once again with the sounds of writers and photographers working on their story-telling skills.
But many of the stories they tell will likely be personal ones --- and they'll be working in formats that many newspaper employees never got a chance to experiment with.
"Tube City Writers" will hold its first organizational meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the second floor of the building at 409 Walnut St., now called the Tube City Center for Business and Innovation.
Martha Rial, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1998, will lead the meetings, along with author Nicole Peeler, an associate professor at Seton Hill University in Greensburg.
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May 10, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
CONFLICT OF INTEREST NOTE: The author has a conflict of interest. See editor's note at the end of this story.
A roots-rock group called The Seams will perform May 24 at McKeesport's new amphitheater along the Youghiogheny River. The concert will kick off a new series of Friday night events designed to attract attention to the area around the bike trail, marina and Palisades. (Photo courtesy The Seams)
A new amphitheater at Gergely Park along the Youghiogheny River will be inaugurated with a series of Friday night concerts designed to get people excited about redeveloping McKeesport's waterfront.
The concerts, announced this week by Mayor Michael Cherepko's office, will include ethnic food trucks, barbecue, raffles, artists and door prizes, as well as a beer tent for ages 21 and over.
The series opens at 7 p.m. May 24 with a concert by The Seams, a roots-influenced rock band comprised of Mon Valley area natives. Admission will be free.
The events are being organized under the auspices of the McKees Point Development Group, a volunteer committee that has been studying ways to attract new businesses and investment to the area around the McKees Point Marina and the Great Allegheny Passage hiking-biking trail, starting with the abandoned Penn-McKee Hotel.
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May 01, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Six of the 11 McKeesport Area High School students who sued the district and Superintendent Mark P. Holtzman Jr. were all smiles at a news conference in Duquesne on Monday evening.
Sitting alongside their attorney, Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, they talked about their hopes for the proposed McKeesport Black Student Union.
“I feel like it's a way to get young teens together and to talk about stuff that’s going on, it's a safer environment,” said Ayriauna West, a ninth-grader.
Under the terms of a settlement between the district and the students, school officials must recognize the club within 10 days as “a non-curricular student activity” and ensure the club receives “the same rights, privileges and benefits that it provides to any other non-curricular student activity.”
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April 30, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Photo via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under Creative Commons.)
The Spanish parent company of Kennywood is being targeted for takeover by a group of European investors.
According to published reports, a group calling itself Piolin BidCo owns 44 percent of Parques Reunidos and is attempting to purchase the remaining 56 percent for almost $16 per share.
The details were revealed in an filing with financial regulators in Spain.
Based in Madrid, Parques Reunidos acquired Kennywood in West Mifflin, Sandcastle in West Homestead, Idlewild Park near Ligonier and other related companies in 2008. The takeover ended more than 100 years of ownership by the Henninger and McSwigan families.
The Piolin takeover bid was reported Friday by Skift, a blog for travel industry investors, and the Reuters news agency.
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