Family, Officials Re-Dedicate Marina Lighthouse

Damaged two years ago in storm, monument honors former mayor

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
September 26, 2022
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Family of the late McKeesport Mayor Joe Bendel gathered Sunday morning with Mayor Michael Cherepko, state Sen. Jim Brewster and others to re-dedicate the Bendel Lighthouse at McKees Point Marina. (Tube City Almanac photo)

Family and friends of the late Joe Bendel gathered Sunday morning to re-dedicate a lighthouse at McKees Point Marina to the former mayor’s memory.

First erected in 2008 following a fundraising drive, the Bendel Lighthouse was heavily damaged in a storm two years ago. McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said repairs to the lighthouse — which is a scaled-down version of a full-size coastal lighthouse — were completed by Vegely Welding in the city’s Third Ward and paid for by insurance.

Bendel, who served on city council and then as mayor from 1995 to 2000, died in 2003. Cherepko and others credited Bendel with working to slow a long period of decline in the city that began in the 1980s with the loss of U.S. Steel, G.C. Murphy Co. and other large employers.

The lighthouse symbolizes the “vision that Joe Bendel had of the marina and bike trail,” Cherepko said. “He saw all of this happening long before we ever imagined it.”

“He used to say, ‘One day you’ll have thousands of people come through here on bikes,’” said state Sen. Jim Brewster, who served on city council during Bendel’s mayoralty, adding that creation of the marina on the Youghiogheny River was also an idea that Bendel endorsed when few other people saw a reason for it.

“That was 30 some years ago,” Brewster said. “Now, almost 200 boat slips are filled every year. And none of that happens without Joe Bendel’s vision.”

A graduate of McKeesport High School and the University of Pittsburgh, Bendel worked in municipal redevelopment in other Pennsylvania cities, including Williamsport and York, before being hired as a city planner by the Philadelphia firm of Mullin & Lonergan Associates.

Bendel represented Mullin & Lonergan’s Western Pennsylvania office for more than 30 years before retiring to become mayor of McKeesport.

Brewster recalled the public meeting where city council signed off on the financing that cleared the way for the marina, the completion of the bike trail and purchase of the Palisades ballroom; as well as Bendel’s habit of persuading other public officials to do what he wanted by making it seem as if it was their idea all along.

“One thing is very, very clear — McKeesport is forever indebted to Joe Bendel and his service to the community,” Cherepko said. “When you talk about this area years ago, before the bike trail, before the marina, it’s like Joe Bendel had a crystal ball.”

Brewster also recalled Bendel’s commitment to removing outdated public housing high-rises and replacing them with new housing, which included personally lobbying then-U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Henry Cisneros when he visited Pittsburgh for a meeting.

On the spot, Brewster said, Bendel convinced Cisneros to change his itinerary and spend several hours in McKeesport.

There were light-hearted moments on Sunday, as when family and former colleagues recalled Bendel’s large collection of unusual caps, hats and helmets from around the world, or his perpetual lateness.

“He said, ‘Jimmy, if you walk in 10 minutes late, people will remember you,’” Brewster said. “I said, ‘yes, because most of them will be mad at you.’”

Patrick Bendel, one of the late mayor’s seven children, said it was hard to believe it had been nearly 15 years since the lighthouse was first erected.

“Just like the city of McKeesport, (the lighthouse) has bounced back, and it’s been built back stronger,” Patrick Bendel said. “My dad was a loyal McKeesporter and I think he would look down today and be very, very proud.”

But, Patrick Bendel added, his father’s expansive vision for the city’s waterfront didn’t stop with the marina and bike trail.

“His plan B or plan C was to somehow have a longboat like they have in the Netherlands, somehow get it through the locks, and take people to Pittsburgh to Pirates games,” Patrick Bendel said. “If that ever comes to fruition, you’ve come full circle.”

Originally published September 26, 2022.

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