The Becker House at 511 Romine Ave. is one of 27 slated for demolition in the city’s next phase of the “McKeesport Rising” program. (Tube City Almanac file photo)
McKeesport city council has awarded a contract for demolition of another 27 vacant houses, including a one-time landmark on Romine Avenue in upper 10th Ward.
Council also approved a $725,000 contract with Lutterman Excavating for renovations at five playgrounds, including Highland Grove, Fawcett Park, Chester Park, Sayfoot Park and Riverview Park.
Mike Betters Co., Inc., of Lincoln Borough was the lowest responsible bidder for Phase 8 of the McKeesport Rising vacant house demolition project, city officials said. The company bid $197,100 to demolish the abandoned homes, including seven on Ridge Street and another at 511 Romine Ave.
The Versailles Avenue Viaduct, part of which is shown here, was closed in February after an inspection determined it had become unsafe for motorists and pedestrians. (Tube City Almanac file photo)
McKeesport is seeking state funds to help replace the closed Versailles Avenue Viaduct.
Council this month authorized city officials to apply for $3 million from the state Department of Community & Economic Development for a multi-modal transportation grant.
McKeesport officials also are seeking funds to replace or repair Ramp 1 and Ramp 2, the bridges that cross the CSX Railroad tracks and connect lower 10th Ward to West Fifth Avenue, said Tom Maglicco, McKeesport city administrator.
Citing an inspection report that showed the bridge had become dangerous, McKeesport closed the Versailles Avenue Viaduct in February. The bridge, built in the early 1970s, is almost 300 feet long and spans Ravine Street between Point Street and Wisp Alley.
The Pittsburgh area’s largest and best folk music and food festival is returning to McKeesport’s Renziehausen Park on Aug. 9, 10 and 11, 2022.
We are once again producing a live video webcast of International Village entertainment from the main stage.
So we need to raise some money ... again. We need donations, and we need advertisers, and we need them fast ...
Donations
If you donate at any level, we'll mention your name on the broadcast.
Deadline for donations is Aug. 8.
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At Saturday’s Renzie Ramble, Olympic gold-medalist and WNBA half-of-fame champion Swin Cash will be portrayed by Nya O’Neil, presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation. Olympic gold-medalist and Baltimore Orioles southpaw Rick Krivda will be portrayed by Mason Gergely, presented by DTI Development and Marc Gergely. (Submitted photos courtesy McKeesport Little Theater)
The Renzie Ramble is returning to Renziehausen Park this Saturday from 12 noon to 4 p.m.
Sponsored by McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center, the event celebrates McKeesport history with a walking tour of local and national figures. They will be portrayed by 11 actors from the McKeesport Little Theater.
All of the people represented contributed to McKeesport’s history. This is the second year for the event.
National figures include Langston Hughes, the playwright and poet from the Harlem Renaissance, who will be played by Dellen Morton and presented by Allen Come Get Wright. Hughes traveled to McKeesport to visit his mother.
In a clipping from the San Francisco Examiner, Duquesne native Earl “Fatha” Hines poses with San Francisco nightclub owner Leonard Martin after signing a lifetime guaranteed contract in 1967. Hines, who died in 1983, is regarded as one of the most influential jazz and pop music piano players of all time. (Tube City Almanac file)
When then-city councilman Scott Adams first took office in Duquesne, longtime resident Arnold Staples handed him a folder filled with history and information regarding the city’s favorite son and jazz legend Earl “Fatha” Hines.
Sitting right next to Adams was Councilwoman Elaine Washington, who caught a peak of the exchange. Intrigued, she told Adams, “I’ll take that” and grabbed the folder.
While she personally likes different artists of that music genre, Washington wanted to ensure that Hines, who is far more instrumental in jazz than many might realize, was properly recognized in his hometown.
He always called Duquesne home, said Washington. “He didn’t say Pittsburgh. He said, ‘Duquesne’.” As a result, Washington has been working with the Pennsylvania State Historical Preservation Office to designate Hines’ childhood home at 600 Priscilla Ave. as a historical landmark.
Lawrence Abdullah died of complications of COVID-19 in 2020. His family has established a scholarship at CCAC in his honor and will be holding a fundraiser this weekend. (Submitted photo)
The second annual Lawrence R. Abdullah Scholarship Fundraiser will take place in North Versailles Twp. this Saturday (July 9), two days after what would have been Lawrence Abdullah’s 42nd birthday.
This scholarship was set up to honor an individual who was “a beast about everything that goes on in the surgery room,” as his mother, Romodore, describes him.
In November 2020, Abdullah had earned his surgical tech specialist certificate from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). Weeks later, on Dec. 9, he passed away after being diagnosed with COVID-19. His immune system was weakened because of a kidney transplant he received a year prior.
Germaine Gooden-Patterson from Women for a Healthy Environment is arranging her table of information and pamphlets. She said, “Health is important and people may not know about all the resources available.” (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
Take Action Mon Valley hosted a resource fair on Saturday in the parking lot of New Beginnings Ministry, Inc.
The resource fair focused on McKeesport’s Hi View Gardens residents but everyone was welcome to attend the event. TAMV hosted the fair to introduce residents to resources they may not have been aware of and to provide a fun-filled day for children.
Residents have been working with the Community Justice Project, a nonprofit legal assistance firm, addressing poor living conditions that were not being corrected by previous management, said Fawn Walker-Montgomery, executive director of TAMV.
She said there’s some improvement but TAMV continues their support for the community.
The McKeesport affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness will not meet in July, a spokeswoman said.
The group will resume meeting on August 3 at 6 p.m. at Penn State Greater Allegheny Room F122 in the Frable Building. The meeting is open to families and friends of loved ones living with mental illness.
Sara Levine Steinberg, Event and Technology Coordinator for NAMI Keystone Pennsylvania, will provide details for the annual NAMI Walk in October.
With the intensity of this fire and the scope of the damage caused in such a short time, the fire marshal has brought in an accelerant detection K-9 unit to investigate. @WPXIhttps://t.co/hs9420bP8kpic.twitter.com/acMYo5nTIa
Investigators were searching for clues on Thursday following a devastating Soles Street fire that destroyed four homes. Officials suspect the fire was deliberately set.
The Allegheny County fire marshal’s office is probing the cause of the blaze, which was reported just after 2 a.m. and also destroyed a parked vehicle. Some crews remained on the scene until almost noon.
Two McKeesport police officers — identified as Patrolmen Chuck Thomas and Anthony Ledonne — were credited with rescuing an elderly married couple from one of the houses that was on fire.
The husband and wife were taken to UPMC McKeesport hospital as a precautionary measure, said Gene Esken Jr., McKeesport deputy fire chief.
A tip received via Facebook led McKeesport police to arrest a Crawford County man whom they allege was having an inappropriate relationship with a city teen-ager.
Glen M. Stevens Jr., 34, of Cochranton, Pa., was arrested Wednesday and is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond pending a preliminary hearing July 11 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi.
McKeesport police said officers received a tip via Facebook that a man identified as Stevens had been having explicit physical contact with a 15-year-old girl and that he was currently at the teen’s residence in the East End of the city.
