Organizers Want Ideas to Transform Fifth-Walnut

City, Penn State, Texas-based foundation unite for community project

By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim
The Tube City Almanac
August 09, 2024
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

McKeesport is holding an event to encourage residents to visualize the future of the city's Downtown area that's more in line with its residents’ wants and needs.

The survey is being taken by the Texas-based Better Block Foundation, in collaboration with the City of McKeesport, Penn State Greater Allegheny and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

It is open to McKeesport residents, and is available on the Facebook page for the City of McKeesport as well as the Better Block website until Aug. 21. Results will be announced Nov. 23.

The goal is to temporarily showcase the potential of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street — including a parking lot, several buildings, and an alleyway — before and after the Salute to Santa Parade in November.

Krista Nightengale, executive director of Better Block, said that the transformation of the intersection will be informed by the responses residents provide in the survey.

Organizers aim to gather feedback and ideas for a long-term plan.

“We are asking the community to respond by the 21st to let us know some of the things that they love about Downtown,” Nightengale said. “Some of the things that maybe they don't love quite as much, some of the things that they would like to see there.”

In the survey, McKeesport residents can inform Better Block of how safe they feel in the area, how walkable it is, what they would like to see more of — restaurants, stores, public services — and if they would like to volunteer for the event.

“There are a lot of generations who remember when Downtown McKeesport was a bustling destination for shopping and entertainment,” McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said in a press release. “And while we might not grow to that level of activity, we have the potential for a quaint but lively ‘Main Street’ setup here on Fifth Avenue. This partnership will allow McKeesport residents and visitors to see what’s possible.”

Nightengale said that the event is taking place after the Salute to Santa parade in order to keep people’s attention on the Downtown area. “After the parade, our understanding is that a lot of folks then leave Downtown and don't really come back to it all that often. So we want to give folks a reason to linger, and to kind of stick around and to imagine what downtown could look like.”

The McKeesport project is the most recent in four Pittsburgh-based projects for the Better Block Foundation. The first one happened in downtown Pittsburgh on July 26, with New Kensington and Hazelwood up next in September and October respectively.

Better Block, whose headquarters are in Dallas, Texas, has a 120-day process that they have implemented in various cities including Geelong, Australia, Dublin, Ireland, and other cities.

“The objective is to experiment with ideas, gather feedback, and integrate community input to shape a more vibrant and inviting Downtown McKeesport,” said Better Block Communications Coordinator Imani Chet Lytle in a press release. “Our collective goal is to create a dynamic environment where residents can live, work, and come together as a thriving community.

“Once these surveys are closed, we'll analyze those surveys, and then we'll put together some 3D renderings… Then we'll spend about 57 days doing all the planning, which includes what entertainment takes place, what kind of food is going to be there.”

Another community that’s currently going through the Better Block program is Thornton, Colo., a city of 141,000 near Denver.

The Better Block project in Thornton will take place on Sept. 7, said Adam Krueger, economic development director for the city of Thornton. The cost of the project envisioned in Thornton is estimated to cost between $60,000 and $100,000.

Organizes said the cost for any proposed McKeesport project could not be determined until survey results are in.

Krueger said that he was a part of a task force whose goal was to develop gathering spaces in the city, and the group selected Thornton’s Eastlake neighborhood as an area to look into due to its unique character.

Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh and a recent Penn State University graduate. He won a Golden Quill award for his work at the Penn State Greater Allegheny Gazette.

Originally published August 09, 2024.

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