City Tables Request from Motorcycle Club

Council, mayor want more information before granting zoning approval

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
September 10, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Members of Noise Makers Motorcycle Club, in a picture from Facebook. City officials are leery of granting the organization to turn a former bar on Ringgold Street into a clubhouse and meeting space. (Photo via Facebook)

A request from a motorcycle club for planning commission approval to open at the site of a former Downtown bar has been tabled by McKeesport City Council after Mayor Michael Cherepko and others asked for reassurance that the facilty wouldn’t become a nuisance.

Noise Makers Motorcycle Club is seeking a conditional use variance to turn the former Bubba’s Bar & Grill on Ringgold Street into a private club. According to Allegheny County Health Department records, the bar was closed in 2019.

Noise Makers Vice President Tiffany Wilson of McKeesport, who attended this month’s council meeting wearing a club jacket, said she and other members have done extensive work to repair the building and correct code violations.

“The whole building has been revamped,” she said. “It is not Bubba’s. I know the headaches and drug activity that went on there.”

Wilson said she has been involved in the motorcycle community for about 17 years, and that Noise Makers was founded almost two years ago. “We go to other bike nights in other cities,” she said. “This is a place for us to call home, to be able to socialize in peace.”

The club does not have a liquor license and would not be seeking one, Wilson said, though she acknowledged that members might bring beer, wine or spirits with them.

“We are not carrying drugs or weapons, and we are not here to cause chaos or controversy,” she said. “Put (the TV show) ‘Sons of Anarchy’ out of your mind. Everyone of us in the club, including myself, have very good jobs.”

Wilson said that Noise Makers has already participated in recent community events, including the city’s Juneteenth celebration.

“I don’t see any pros for us, having this Downtown in the city,” Cherepko said. “In the eyes of people coming to the community, perception is reality. Right now we’re trying to clean up things and encourage people to come back Downtown.”

The city has “not had any luck with any (motorcycle) clubs,” he said. A bike night that was being held at the McKees Point Marina had to be shut down after repeated complaints and visits by McKeesport police, Cherepko said.

The Ringgold Street location is particularly problematic, the mayor said, because it’s next to the Executive Building, which has been renovated and is attempting to land an anchor tenant.

“We’ve had issues with motorcycle clubs this year,” Cherepko said. “I’m not worried about what (Noise Makers) is doing. I am worried about outsiders visiting.”

Club President Ryder Simpson, who also attended, told council “you’ll have more problems at a civilian bar than at our place.”

“We have a couple of TVs, we have a PlayStation, we have an Xbox,” he said. “We get together to shoot pool or play darts. If there is a problem we know about it.”

Council on a 6-0 vote tabled the zoning request pending further discussions between the club and city officials. Council President Richard Dellapenna Jr. was absent.

In a related matter, council rejected by 6-0 vote a conditional use request from Best Cars LLC to use the former East End School as a self-storage facility. The building at 2225 Fifth Ave. in the East End was recently used as an alternative academy by McKeesport Area School District but is now vacant.

Community Development Director A.J. Tedesco said Best Cars has now missed two planning commission meetings and recommended rejecting the request.

The request had previously been tabled at the July council meeting.

Originally published September 10, 2025.

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