McKeesport Area School District's new superintendent has begun a "comprehensive study" of the system.
At this month's school board meeting, Mark Holtzman Jr. told school directors that he and Tia Wanzo, assistant to the superintendent, are interviewing people in leadership roles, including labor union representatives, central office administrators and building principals.
"We're going to survey all of our teachers and support staff in our district, asking for feedback on some of the major departments, (and) how the schools operate,” said Holtzman, formerly the district's director of secondary education and teacher evaluation, who began his new role July 1.
This process is an effort to gather the core values of every school in the district. From the interviews and surveys, the board will be asked to “generate initiatives for the next five years,” Holtzman said.
(Lake Emilie in Renziehausen Park. Tube City Almanac file photo)
McKeesport officials went to Allegheny County's Regional Asset District this week to plead their case for additional funding for Renziehausen Park.
On Monday, city Administrator Tom Maglicco and Jen Vertullo, assistant to Mayor Mike Cherepko, requested from the RAD board approximately $724,000 toward operating expenses at the park, as well as $225,000 toward capital improvements to parking areas and repairs at the park's seven pavilions.
The operating expense request is a 3 percent increase over the current Allegheny County RAD allocation of $703,000. Maglicco said the city requested the increase to cover inflationary expenses.
"We try to stress to the RAD board that Renzie is a regional asset for all of the Mon Valley in Allegheny County," he said. "We want people to use our facilities and draw people into our city and our community."
Separately, the city has received $200,000 to expand Renzie into the so-called Palkovitz property on Eden Park Boulevard behind the Pennsylvania Coach Lines school bus garage.
The money, from the county's Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund, will be used to extend Renzie's fitness trail and to add a dog park, said A.J. Tedesco, McKeesport community development director.
Work will begin in 2019 on a $13 million, year-long rehabilitation of the Jerome Street Bridge.
Yasmeen Manyisha, a spokeswoman for state Department of Transportation District 11, said rehabilitation of the 761-foot-long, four-lane bridge will be paid for with a combination of state and federal funding.
PennDOT and Federal Highway Administration officials offered an overview of rehabilitation plans for the bridge last week during a public hearing at the Palisades Ballroom.
The Jerome Street Bridge serves as the main entry to Downtown McKeesport from the west and connects West Fifth Avenue with Lysle Boulevard. It crosses the Youghiogheny River, the CSX Railroad and River Road, as well as the McKees Point Marina and the Great Allegheny Passage hiking-biking trail.
At this time, detour plans call for one lane of eastbound traffic into Downtown to be maintained throughout construction, Manyisha said, but westbound traffic --- toward 10th Ward --- will be detoured. One sidewalk on the bridge will remain open at all times, she said.
Concerts and other forms of live entertainment may return someday to the Youghiogheny River waterfront after a long absence.
But first, the dilapidated pier and amphitheater in Gergely Park will need to be replaced. That work is expected to begin soon.
In June, McKeesport city council awarded a $173,200 contract to Lutterman Excavating of Westmoreland County to demolish and reconstruct the pier, which sits along Water Street near the Kane Regional Center at the end of Ninth Avenue. The pier, designed to accommodate fishing, and a neighboring amphitheater were constructed in the early 1980s.
The work is being planned by City Engineer James Garvin, said A.J. Tedesco, McKeesport community development director, and funding is being provided through federal Community Development Block Grant money awarded in 2016.
With money from 2017 community development funding, Tedesco said, the city is hoping to reconstruct the amphitheater as well. Concerts were held along the riverfront in the '80s and '90s, including shows by the River City Brass Band, nationally known artists such as Buddy Morrow, and even events that were part of the former Mellon Jazz Festival.
But the pier in Gergely Park has fallen into disuse and disrepair and is in "deplorable condition," Mayor Michael Cherepko told council recently. Besides wear and tear, serious damage was inflicted two years ago by an ice jam on the Youghiogheny River, he said.
If you're a Mon-Yough resident and you want to experience a total eclipse of the sun on Monday, you'd better get a good night's sleep on Sunday.
Based on Google Maps, the closest community to McKeesport that will see the sun fully blocked by the moon appears to be Niota, Tenn., just off Interstate 75 between Chattanooga and Knoxville. If you want to go, plan to hit the road by 5 a.m. Monday --- Niota is about 8 hours and 37 minutes away, and the maximum eclipse will hit the community of 723 people at approximately 2:32 p.m. Eastern daylight time.
(And if you are hitting the road, the Federal Highway Administration has a list of tips and travel warnings you should read first.)
In our area, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the eclipse will begin to become visible at 1:10 p.m. McKeesport time and reach its maximum --- about 81 percent from our perspective --- at 2:35 p.m. The eclipse will end about 3:55.
Locally, the Carnegie Library of McKeesport will have an eclipse party on the lawn of the main library, 1507 Library Ave., on Monday afternoon, with light refreshments served and glasses provided. For more information, call (412) 672-0625.
West Mifflin's recreation department will host an eclipse party at the borough's main park just off Bettis Road and eclipse glasses will be provided.
Sam Zolten was at the beach in North Wildwood, N.J., last week when he spotted someone wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers hat. So he walked over to say hello.
"He turned out to be a teacher at McKeesport High School," Zolten says. "In my heart, I've never left McKeesport. I'm still an 18-year-old, going to the White Elephant on Saturday nights. It's the town that grew me and the town that I fondly reminisce about."
Thanks to his new documentary, many more McKeesporters --- including those, like Zolten, who moved away long ago --- will likely be reminiscing as well. "Missing McKeesport" has yet to be screened and is already creating enormous buzz among past and present Mon-Yough residents.
More than seven years in the making, the movie will have its world premiere at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh's Strip District.
"There's a lot of buzz in the community about it and it's a film I'm very proud of," Zolten says.
State Rep. Marc Gergely will be sentenced Nov. 6 for his connections to a gambling ring that was broken up by investigators in 2012.
Gergely, 47, of White Oak, on Tuesday pleaded guilty before Allegheny County Judge Ed Borkowski to criminal conspiracy and violating state election laws by accepting cash contributions in excess of $100. Both charges are first-degree misdemeanors carrying penalties of not more than $10,000 in fines or five years' prison or probation.
Related charges of participating in a corrupt organization, conspiracy to participate in a corrupt organization, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity and criminal attempt to operate illegal gambling devices were withdrawn by prosecutors.
Gergely represents the 35th Legislative District, which includes Clairton, Duquesne, Lincoln, McKeesport, Munhall, South Versailles Twp., Versailles, Whitaker, White Oak and part of West Mifflin. He was first elected to the seat in 2002 and was re-elected last year after defeating McKeesport City Councilwoman Fawn Walker-Montgomery, who was running as a Republican.
Listen: Jamie Holmes is our guest this week on "Two Rivers, 30 Minutes." The show airs Sundays at 8 a.m. on WEDO (810) and WZUM (1550) and at 3 p.m. on Internet radio station WMCK.FM. It's also available as a free podcast from our website.
In 2005, a 17-year-old who had just graduated from McKeesport Area High School started a charity with the help of her grandma's checkbook.
Last year, Jamie's Dream Team raised nearly $400,000 to provide help to children and families in serious need. More than 3,000 people have benefited from Jamie's Dream Team since its inception, Holmes says.
"We've grown fairly quickly," she says. Although the charity remains based in the McKeesport area, it now serves families anywhere in the United States. "Where the money is raised is where the money stays," Holmes says. "If we get a request from North Carolina, we try to raise the money there."
The charity is presently trying to raise $52,000 to send 10 families to Walt Disney World in Florida and to help raise funds will hold a fishing derby Aug. 12 at Twin Lakes Park just east of Greensburg. Contestants will be able to compete for cash prizes as well as gift cards, Holmes says.
The Mon Valley is at the forefront of a new industry that will be as transformative for the rest of the world as the steel industry was a century ago, state Sen. Jim Brewster said Thursday.
At a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the former U.S. Steel National Works, Brewster called PurePenn's new medical cannabis production and research facility "a beacon of hope" for both the region and patients around Pennsylvania.
"Don't let the naysayers drag you down," Brewster told a crowd of more than 200 gathered in the RIDC Industrial Center of McKeesport, where PurePenn is purchasing five acres of property, with an option to purchase five more. "We can do almost anything in the Mon Valley --- you should believe that."
Afterwards, many in the crowd joined the hundreds of people who lined up outside the Palisades Ballroom to apply for one of the 25 jobs that PurePenn needs to fill.
Gabe Perlow, the company's chief executive officer, said operations will begin by Dec. 20.
Thanks to two local men and West Mifflin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 914 Intrepid, a ceremonial howitzer near Kennywood Park recently received a much-needed facelift.
Ken Curcio and Garrett Tomko, both from West Mifflin, refurbished the monument earlier this month as part of a community service project. The howitzer sits in Mitchell Paige Memorial Park at the intersection of Homeville Road and Commonwealth Avenue, and is seen by thousands of motorists as well as students at nearby West Mifflin Area High School.
According to VFW Post 914 Commander Jake Bradich, the results couldn’t be better.
“Like the men and women who serve in our armed forces, you always expect a piece of military hardware to look sharp,” said Bradich, an Army combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “I’m glad we’re able to help honor our veterans in this way, and I thank everybody in the VFW and in the borough who helped make this possible.”
