Ready Or Not, Progress Rolls On

I remember attending a North Huntingdon Township zoning hearing when Redstone Presbytery was first proposing to build a senior citizen community on the site of the old Menzie Dairy farm.

As with any large proposed development, a couple of dozen people had turned out to cry, "not in my backyard!" Never mind that Redstone was planning to build a self-contained community for people who, for the most part, don't drive and would never put kids into the school system; or that Redstone was planning to leave most of the farm to grow wild. (As Redstone rightly pointed out, the Menzie farm could have been turned into McMansions or a few hundred tract houses or even a shopping center, with the associated traffic and water runoff problems those would bring.)

No, these folks just didn't want to see anything change. Ever. Chalk them up as part of the BANANA brigade: "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone."

One lady stood up to tell the zoning board that she liked to get up in the morning and watch the sun rise over the old Menzie barn. If Redstone Highlands was built, she wouldn't get to see the sun rise over the barn any more, she said, and that was wrong.

I sat in the audience silently, but thought: If you like to watch the sun rise over the barn so much, buy it. The property owner has the right to do with the property whatever they want, so long as it's legal, and so long as it doesn't adversely affect the other property owners.

In the end, Redstone Highlands was built. Lincoln Way didn't descend into anarchy and chaos, most of the Menzie Farm is still covered in trees and fields, and the view of the sunrises from the surrounding housing plans hasn't been impacted. (By the way, I was just up at Redstone Highlands last week to visit an old friend: It's quite nice --- better than many of the hotels I've stayed in. And the apartments are larger than the house I just bought.)

I've been thinking of that hearing since word leaked that Joe Chiodo was selling his bar in Homestead. At a meeting this week of the Steel Valley Historical Review Commission, many residents turned out to urge the board to reject Chiodo's plans to sell the property to Walgreen's so that they can build a new drugstore.

Look, the last thing the Mon Valley needs is another mega-pharmacy. You know, the kind where you can buy chocolate chip cookies, alarm clocks and 47 different kinds of suntan lotion, but the prescription counter is hidden way at the back of the store. Personally, I like a drugstore that looks like a drugstore, preferably run by a kindly druggist who wears a white coat and closes the store early on Wednesday so he can go golfing.

I'm an unabashed nostalgia buff. I've hated to watch the five-and-dime stores close, one after the other. I also hate to see small, independent businesses close and be replaced by chains --- and I put my money where my mouth is. I patronize local stores, even if I have to drive out of my way or pay a few pennies more than I'd pay to Wal-Mart. The unique character of Eighth Avenue in Homestead and West Homestead will die a little when Chiodo's is gone --- just as the character of the avenue died a little when the Levine Brothers closed their hardware store, or when Isaly's closed.

But if Joe Chiodo wants to sell his bar to Walgreen's, or whomever, let the man sell it, and wish him the best of luck and good health. According to Jen Vertullo in The Daily News, Chiodo told the Historical Review Commission: "I want to retire from that bar. I have to retire from that bar. I'm tired. I need a rest. I don't care if I sell it; I'm closing the doors."

In the end, the plans were approved by the commission, but not without a fight, and not without two people voting against them: Walter Haglund and David Gilland.

I don't doubt that their objections are sincere and reasonable, but what do they propose? That Joe Chiodo, at age 86, be forced to run a tavern that he doesn't want? That the borough of Homestead take it over as a public utility? That it be turned into the museum of dusty beer mugs?

If they like Chiodo's Tavern so much, then they should take out a small business loan and make a counter-offer for the property. Otherwise, they have to give into progress. Nothing stays the same, and it probably shouldn't.

After all, something was on the property before Joe Chiodo opened his bar. If someone had prevented him from opening the tavern back in the 1940s, then the valley would have never had the chance to accumulate all of the wonderful memories of Chiodo's Tavern and its mystery sandwiches.

And something eventually will replace Walgreen's. At least we can only hope so.

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Speaking of Eighth Avenue, here's another Tube City Almanac speedtrap alert: West Homestead police have set up a speedtrap at the intersection of West Eighth Avenue and West Seventh Avenue (Route 837). That's about a half-mile east of the Glenwood Bridge.

Also, North Versailles Township police are clocking traffic on East Pittsburgh McKeesport Boulevard, just past the McKeesport city limits near Allmor Towing. You have been warned, so obey the speed limits and get the lead out of your feet. And keep sending your speedtrap alerts to jt3y at dementia dot org.

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Alert Reader Rich takes issue with my assertion that only physical products add real money to the economy:

Only those creating a physical product add real money to the economy? What, were you born in the Mon Valley or something? Try telling it to the thousands employed at PNC, Mellon, or even US Airways or UPMC. None create physical products as their main business. Are these companies not employing us and adding to the local economy? If PNC does a better job than a other financial services companies, they get more customers and may hire more people here, no?

Yeah, that was sloppy thinking on my part, but my understanding of economics stopped in Mr. Cleary's 11th-grade social studies class. Not that it's his fault; I spent my time thinking about girls and staring out of the windows. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. (Actually, I think that was the school motto.)

Industries that provide necessary services are obviously a part of the economy, whether those services are pilots flying planes, mechanics fixing cars, doctors treating injuries or trash collectors hauling garbage. I still say gambling doesn't add real value to the economy, because it just moves money around --- it doesn't create anything new.

Manufacturing, agriculture and extraction create something new --- and the support industries that keep those industries going (healthcare, maintenance, financing and the rest) are necessary services. If hard goods, oil, produce and the like weren't the engines that drive the world economy, then why else would economists spend so much time tracking the commodities markets and durable goods orders?

All right, so it's arguable. I'm basically advocating a return to the gold standard, which has been thoroughly discredited, and I'm talking out of my hat. But cut me some slack. If I wasn't able to make sweeping generalizations unsupported by logic or facts, then this wouldn't be the Internet, would it?

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P.S. Please, fellow Serra High graduates, I know the motto isn't "mea culpa." It's "Amor a Dios," which means "Love God" in Spanish. (Some people think the motto was "Un sacerdote est‡ esquiando a travŽs del cŽsped," which means, roughly, "a monk is skiing across the lawn," but that's just a nasty rumor.)