Beginning To Look a Lot Like Demolition

There appears to be demolition work going on right now at Eastland Mall in North Versailles. A check over the weekend revealed roll-away trash bins and a big pile of debris (much of it looked like it was from old flea market stalls) outside the old mall entrance between what had been Baker Shoes and Gimbels.

There's a possibility that someone is renting space for storage and that remodeling is underway, but given the terrible condition of the mall over the past few years, I strongly doubt it. Instead, I suspect that preparations are underway to finally knock the old white elephant (not that White Elephant!) down.

One sign that Eastland has an imminent date with a wrecking ball would be the start of asbestos abatement --- early '60s commercial buildings are often lousy with asbestos, which was widely used as a fireproofing material in floor and ceiling tile and insulation.

If I can sniff out any other information, I'll let you know.

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Speaking of North Versailles: Here's some useless but interesting trivia that I don't think anyone in the local media has picked up on. (In any event, a search of the Internet tubes hasn't turned up anything, but maybe it was in the News --- in which case a certain reporter who covers radio and TV is sure to email me.)

Anyway: Apparently, one of the characters in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds is supposed to be a graduate of East Allegheny High School in North Versailles.

It's true --- I couldn't make this up. A.J. Cook plays FBI agent Jennifer Jareau, who's supposed to be a graduate of EA, where she captained the soccer team and won an athletic scholarship to Pitt.

I've been trying to figure out the Mon-Yough connection to the show, without any luck so far. I'm assuming that someone has a relative from this area, or attended Carnegie Mellon.

I found this out the other night when I caught a few minutes of Criminal Minds and noticed that the guy from Dharma & Greg is one of the stars. Since I was pretty sure he had a name (Thomas Gibson, as it turns out) I looked up the show on Wikipedia.

If you watch the show and start seeing references to Wilmerding and Monroeville Mall, you'll know why.

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More Turtle Creek Valley News: Alert Reader Dave says: "Jason, please write something about Marty Griffin from KDKA and the preacher from Pitcairn who encouraged kind-hearted, generous local people to donate over $10,000 to buy Thanksgiving turkeys for our less fortunate folk. This is a great story."

Indeed --- you may have seen Pat Cloonan's story (subscribers only) in the News last night.

You can also read about it in the Pitcairn Times-Express. As Michael Cristiano reports, for the past two years, Rev. David Martin, pastor of the Pitcairn Assembly of God Church on Wall Avenue, has climbed onto the roof to collect money to donate turkeys to local food banks.

This year, Griffin, who hosts a morning talk show on KDKA radio, got involved and his listeners pledged $10,000 --- the equivalent of 1,000 turkeys, according to Cloonan --- enabling Martin to wrap up his vigil early. You can listen to the podcast (MP3 file) of the program at the KDKA website.

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City Councilman Paul Shelly Jr. kicked off his run for the District 9 seat on Allegheny County Council last Saturday. Shelly is seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat currently held by Bob Macey of West Mifflin. Macey was appointed to the seat back in May after Jay Jabbour resigned to run for state representative.

Saying he will "not badmouth any fellow Democrats," Shelly is also pledging to do his best to "serve the entire valley," though he adds "any candidate that tells you that they wonât look out for their home town first may just come back and try to sell you the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge!"

Shelly has posted his "Platform For a Better Mon Valley" to his website at paulshelly.com.

Besides Our Fair City, District 9 includes Duquesne, Dravosburg, Elizabeth and Elizabeth Township, Forward, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln, Port Vue, South Versailles (Coulter), Versailles Borough, West Mifflin and White Oak.

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One aside from your humble editor about Shelly's platform: The candidate who attacked "fellow Democrats" the most this year --- at least in the Mon-Yough area --- was George Matta II, who Shelly endorsed. Matta ran a brutal campaign against state Rep. Marc Gergely (another occasional reader of the Almanac).

But Shelly offered a pretty good commentary on the situation back in May. A few choice morsels:

I donât agree with many of the tactics used in this race. It seemed a campaign of making the other guy look worse than yourself rather than giving compelling reasons as to why you are the better candidate. I detest negativity and am disturbed that those sort of tactics were employed. I thought we had turned a corner and got past that stuff. I guess I was wrong. Negativity still works or politicians wouldnât employ it. I believe that it hurts the candidates, the voters and the process. It keeps good folks from seeking public office as they choose not to subject their families to such craziness. ...

I must agree with Mayor Brewster who said that this was a divisive election and that we need to rebuild relationships within our own Democratic Party. We tend to spend too much time and energy fighting each other rather than rallying behind the common cause of fighting for our city.

Unfortunately, elections can and do bring out the worst in some people. I know that in the past, in the heat of battle, that I have done and said things that I later regretted and even apologized for. I am conscious of this and try to do better at it. Iâm not condoning anyoneâs actions. I saw a lot of things said and done in this race that I would never do. My family and I have chosen to stay here and it is just not worth it.

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To Do This Weekend: Geez, is it that time again? Yes, it is. And here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Fifth Avenue, starting at the Palisades and continuing to Coursin Street. The Downtown McKeesport Association's 42nd annual "Salute to Santa" parade begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, and Santa will also be taking children's letters on the spot ... McKeesport Little Theater, Bailey and Coursin near Carnegie Free Library, presents Neil Simon's The Last of the Red Hot Lovers tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Call (412) 673-1100.