September 13, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Lucy McNee, a bicyclist from Scotland who is traveling across the United States, jokes with state Sen. Jim Brewster on Wednesday morning outside McKeesport's trailside hostel. (Tube City Almanac photo)
Bicyclist Lucy McNee slept Tuesday night in McKeesport's trailside hostel and expected to hit the trail Wednesday at about "half past seven."
The audiologist from Sterling, Scotland, didn't know she and her bike, Bertie, would have to wait for an official welcoming committee.
Just after 9 a.m., Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, former U.S. Attorney David Hickton, Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas, and a delegation of other local leaders, philanthropists and their families, arrived on the first leg of a six-day bicycle tour from downtown Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.
For McNee, who is keeping a blog of her experiences, it was only the latest unexpected pleasure of a coast-to-coast American bicycling trip that is taking her from the Pacific Ocean at Coos Bay, Oregon, to West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Maine.
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September 07, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Saying "even one homicide is too many," McKeesport officials on Wednesday expressed frustration about the number of fatal shootings in the city so far this year.
There have been 10 murders in McKeesport in 2017, including the shootings last week of Kimberly Lesko, 55, and Melodie Robb, 52, in a home in lower 10th Ward.
Allegheny County police are investigating the Lesko and Robb killings, though they have released few details. The women, who were sisters, were buried Tuesday in Richland Cemetery in Dravosburg following a funeral Mass at St. Mary's Romanian Church in Christy Park.
The shootings have not officially been ruled homicides by the medical examiner's office. Lesko, of Versailles, was an overnight guest at Robb's home when she, Robb and a third person were shot just after 3 a.m. Sept. 1.
McKeesport police Chief Bryan Washowich told city council on Wednesday that he's reluctant to speculate in public on why homicides have increased this year. There were four homicides in McKeesport in 2016, including two from gun violence.
"We're making every effort possible to solve these murders," Washowich said. "If you ask me what the common denominator is, I have to be respectful of victims and their families, so my comments have to be limited."
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September 04, 2017 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Crowds turned out at Renziehausen Park this weekend for the seventh-annual McKeesport Rib Fest, including a car cruise on Sunday sponsored by the McKeesport Lions Club.
Events conclude this evening with a concert by The Igniters at 7, followed by fireworks. Vickie Babyak took these photos for Tube City Almanac.
Chuck Blasko's Vogues performed at the Lions Bandshell at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Vietnam Veterans: Sam Gallo of North Versailles Twp. served in the Air Force from 1969 to 1971; Chris Tatchel served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1968; and Dan Schlegel of McKeesport, served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1971.
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August 30, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Above: McKeesport fire Chief Jeff Tomovscik and firefighter Jay Pravdica pose with a new fire engine added to the city's department. The city has also purchased a new ladder truck. Tube City Almanac photo.)
If you're a car buff, a 500-horsepower, 12-liter engine sounds pretty impressive. (That's about 732 cubic inches, for those of us who don't speak metric.)
But when you put it into a 52,000-pound vehicle, such as a fire truck carrying a 78-foot-long steel ladder, "it's working pretty hard," says Jeff Tomovscik, McKeesport fire chief, about one of the two new trucks recently added to the city department.
Purchased with the assistance of the federal Community Development Block Grant program, Tomovcsik says the new ladder truck and fire engine are safer, carry better equipment and are designed to fight fires more efficiently than the 1998-vintage equipment they replace.
"As well as they served the city, (the 1998 trucks) were becoming very problematic mechanically, and getting expensive to service," he says. "These trucks take a beating. We're a busy department with tight roads and a lot of hills."
In theory, better equipment also helps improve the ISO, or Insurance Services Office, fire suppression ratings for the city, which can lower insurance costs for all property owners.
The McKeesport department, whose two stations are staffed 24 hours a day by paid firefighters, answers roughly 1,400 calls per year, including 25 to 40 residential fires, Tomovcsik says.
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August 24, 2017 |
By Mary Shelly | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
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.
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August 23, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(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.
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August 22, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
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.
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August 21, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
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.
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August 18, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
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.
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August 17, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Submitted photo courtesy Heinz History Center)
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.
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