March 17, 2006

They Gave Us Those Nice, Bright Colors

Another Downtown retail store recently closed, or so it would appear. Photographics Supply Inc. had been selling camera equipment and film in the city since 1963, and it's where I bought my first real camera, with my first real paycheck (from Kennywood) as a teen-ager.

If this has been covered already in any of the newspapers, I apologize, but I hadn't seen it. I noticed a week or two ago that the building, located next to the former Helmstadter's Department Store on Fifth Avenue, is up for sale, the website is down, and the phones are disconnected. I sent email to two people formerly associated with the store, but I haven't gotten a response yet.

By the way, I don't know anyone, except non-McKeesporters, who called it "Photographics Supply." It seems like all of the shutterbugs in the Mon Valley that I know called it by its old name, "Brenner's."

I suppose I haven't been as good a customer as I could have been, since I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, nor have I bought any camera equipment (a few Polaroids at the flea market doesn't count), but I stopped in a couple of times a year for film. Most of the time I hung around to drool on the equipment and leave greasy nose-prints on the display cases.

While I don't know for sure the reasons for its closing, I suspect it's a victim of the same trends that have claimed several of my favorite camera shops: Digital photography and one-hour drug store processing. Fotoshop in Squirrel Hill and Loreski's in Monroeville succumbed some time ago, as did the Foto Hut in Oakland, near my office.

And, of course, small businesses sometimes just close when the owners decide to retire --- I can't blame someone for deciding to get some peace and quiet.

I haven't gone digital yet, though I have used a digital camera at work. I'm a little uncomfortable with the long-term storage issues. I've been taking photos since I was 10 or 11 years old, and after 20 years, I'm starting to get quite a collection of Mon Valley landmarks, among other subjects. But they're all prints and negatives, which will be retrievable for hundreds of years, barring fire, flood or other damage.

Try reading a computer disk from 20 years ago --- or even 10. Do we have any guarantee that CD-ROMs will still be good 20 years from now?

But for snapshots and casual one-time use pictures, digital photography is fantastic, and the advantages are obvious. What's more convenient than being able to snap a high-quality picture and immediately preview it? Then, at your leisure, you can print, email or upload them as many times as you want.

Even many (if not all) commercial photographers are working with digital cameras, and turning out excellent work. So it's no wonder that the conventional film business is tanking (no pun intended) and taking the high-end camera stores with it.

And make no mistake about it --- Photographics Supply dealt in high-end equipment, not the Brownie Instamatic kind of crap that I use (though they never treated me like the rank amateur that I am), and several of their employees were accomplished photographers themselves.

Still, Photographics Supply was doing a lot of industrial and commercial business in enlargers, papers, lamps and other expensive equipment, and I had some hope they would be around for a while. I guess that isn't the case.

Sic transit gloria McKeesport, and au revoir, Photographics Supply (nee Brenner's): For those who ran the store for all of those years, may your futures be bright and properly exposed, and may your film and paper stay cool and dry. If the weather holds out, I'll snap a few rolls of Kodacolor this weekend in your honor.

...

In other news: Penn State McKeesport Campus and its sister campuses in Beaver and New Kensington had a combined economic impact of more than $160 million in the region in 2003. So says Penn State President Graham Spanier. About 2,200 students are enrolled at the three campuses.

...

Since Pitt is in the NCAA men's basketball playoffs tonight, it's only right that I provide a link to Pitt's fight songs. And since West Virginia is also in the playoffs, it's only right that I link to WVU's fight song as well.

...

To Do This Weekend: McKeesport Little Theater, 1614 Coursin St. near Carnegie Library, presents "I Hate Hamlet" by Paul Rudnick, 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Call (412) 673-1100 ... Steel Valley Rotary Club holds its sixth-annual Big Band Dinner Dance at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Westwood Country Club (formerly Duquesne Golf Club) in West Mifflin. Cost is $30. Call (412) 464-1772. ... The 22-and-7 McKeesport Area High School boys' basketball team plays Schenley High School in the state quarterfinals tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center.

Posted at 07:21 am by jt3y
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March 16, 2006

Asking Questions About This and That

A while ago, I wrote about Regis Possino, the California businessman behind the company that now owns The People's Building, Downtown. A reader (name withheld) writes:

His investments usually have a strong overseas connection. He's smart, experienced and very well-connected. It's unlikely that your city lawyers are a match for him. Make sure the city knows the score. Good luck. By the way, nice job covering the story.

A little birdie told the Almanac recently that city hall is well aware of Mr. Possino's controversial history. Possino's detractors allege that he's been linked to a number of companies involved in questionable trades, or which have been accused of artificially boosting their stock prices.

For instance, through a private investment banking firm called "Corporate Financial Enterprises, Inc." Possino owned 45 percent of a corporation called The Hartcourt Companies Inc. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission won a $1.2 million judgment against Hartcourt. The SEC alleges that Hartcourt officers issued a series of false and misleading press releases while Yang was selling stock into the market. During the period in which Hartcourt issued the press releases, its stock price rose from $1.27 to $4.50, a 254 (percent) increase."

Note that Mr. Possino is not named in any of the SEC filings, and he was not accused of wrong-doing. Also note that it's not illegal to invest in a company that doesn't make money --- sometimes, investments fail. I have no way of knowing if any of the allegations being made are true.

But I still think someone needs to be asking Mr. Possino some hard questions about his ownership of a Downtown landmark --- and I also think someone needs to be asking some hard questions of the former members of the city Redevelopment Authority who sold this local asset in the first place.

The hard question I'm asking, however, is of the local reporters (print and TV) who were so quick to run to Our Fair City when some clown microwaved a fake penis in a convenience store directly across the street from the People's Building.

How come you're not so quick to pick up on this story?

...

The People's Building, by the way, is now completely empty. I will be interested to see how long it remains that way. Seeing this century-old skyscraper completely dark for the first-time ever is a depressing sight, and without occupants, it's only a matter of time before it starts to fall into disrepair.

Seeing some tenants --- or even just some efforts to renovate and market the building --- would go a long way toward instilling Mr. Possino's ownership group with credibility, and I would like nothing more than to see them succeed.

...

In other news, I'm still tracking local gasoline prices at the Mon-Yough Gas Gauge, and you may have noticed that I'm now calculating a weekly average and posting it on the Almanac.

For the most part, I've been conducting my surveys on Saturdays. But news reports today indicate that gas prices are taking a sharp upward turn in Western Pennsylvania and could hit $2.50 by the end of the week.

Last night, stations in the city were selling gasoline for between $2.27 and $2.35, but this morning I saw two stations in West Mifflin had raised their prices to $2.45; consequently, this week's average is likely to be out of date by the time you read this.

In any event, your reports are still needed. Leave 'em in the comments section of the Gas Gauge or email me at jtthreey at dementia dot org (replace the word "three" with the numeral).

...

In happier news, my former Standard Observer colleague Marge Wertz had a very nice Sunday magazine centerpiece in the Tribune-Review a few weeks ago that I've been remiss in not mentioning. Mea culpa.

Marge wrote a beautiful roundup of cultural, educational and civic opportunities in the city, with spotlights on Mon Valley Educational Consortium, McKeesport Little Theater, McKeesport Symphony Orchestra, and Carnegie Free Library of McKeesport, among other organizations. It's as nice a piece of coverage on the city as I've seen in a while.

...

Also, I didn't realize that Mayor Brewster's seven-point action plan for the city is available for download from its website (PDF reader required) until I stumbled over it recently on my way to something else.

Highlights include economic development (Brewster cites two new businesses, Huckenstein Mechanical Services and Canady Technologies, which are locating in the RIDC Industrial Park, along with a new shopping center on the old Reliance Steel property); residential development (notably the houses being renovated in the Waters plan section, and development of the "Nottingham Estates" housing plan in the Eden Park area of the city); removal of 300 blighted homes and commercial structures; $3 million in infrastructure, including new sidewalks in the Third Ward and new sewage lines; and increased enforcement of narcotics laws.

City-based Coker Construction, which is building those houses in "Nottingham Estates," is now the seventh-largest minority-owned firm in the Pittsburgh region, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times. Coker and Nottingham Estates were the subject of a flattering write-up in the New Pittsburgh Courier not long ago.

Posted at 08:01 am by jt3y
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March 15, 2006

The Deadbeats on Route 30

Take a good hard look at this: .

Can't make it out? Let me enlarge it: .

Still not sure what it is? Well, listen closely, and you'll hear soft, sad music: It's the world's smallest violin playing, "My Heart Bleeds For Hempfield Township."

Hempfield (which contrary to popular belief is not a stoner's paradise) has its knickers in a knot over a proposal in the state legislature that would impose a $100 per person fee on communities of more than 9,000 residents that rely on state police protection. State Reps. John Pallone of New Kensington and Jim Casorio of Irwin are backing the bill, and I say bully for them.

Yet here's a typical letter-to-the-editor from one of the overtaxed residents of Hempfield:

Don't we already provide funds through our local income and state taxes, toll road fees and car registrations? Don't forget about the huge amount of revenue generated by fines and citations issued within our townships and boroughs, many to folks who don't live in our communities. They are mostly commuting from areas like, say, um, New Kensington. I believe that is where you come from, Mr. Pallone, not Hempfield Township, where I and other hardworking, fed-up taxpayers live.

Hardworking? I'm sure the letter-writer is.

But he's also a welfare recipient, as far as I'm concerned, and he and his neighbors don't deserve the largesse. It's time to kick them off the state's dole.

With a population of 40,000 people, Hempfield is one of the largest municipalities in Westmoreland County. It has also developed into the retail and commercial hub of Westmoreland County. And yet it pays not a dime for police protection, over and above the state income taxes that all Pennsylvanians pay.

Take neighboring North Huntingdon Township, population 29,123. It pays about $2.9 million for police protection out of its $9 million budget, or 32 percent.

I couldn't quickly get exact figures for Murrysville, population 18,872, but according to a recent financial condition analysis, 39 percent of its budget went for police protection in 2003; Murrysville's fiscal 2006 budget is set at $7.8 million, so that would work out to $3 million.

From my reading of the Monroeville budget, it pays $8.4 million for police services (excluding crossing guards), or about 31 percent of its $27 million budget. Monroeville has a population of 29,349.

No doubt about it, police protection is expensive.

So why are the taxpayers of North Huntingdon, Murrysville, Monroeville, West Mifflin, Our Fair City, and hundreds of other smaller Pennsylvania communities subsidizing Hempfield Township, which is bristling with new residential and commercial development?

Former Hempfield Township supervisor Bob Regola, now a state representative, says it would create a "tremendous tax burden" on residents. Current supervisor Kim Ward estimates it will add 10 mills to the Hempfield property tax. I heard her on the radio with KDKA radio's Fred Honsberger the other day; he was tut-tutting and moaning about how those bureaucrats in Harrisburg keep raising taxes. We're overtaxed as it is, says Fred.

I'll drink to that. And one of the reasons we're overtaxed is that we have too many layers of government --- too many municipalities, too many school districts, too many municipal authorities. Too many legislators in Harrisburg, too.

But another reason is that some Pennsylvania municipalities keep their taxes artificially low, depending on the state for services that other municipalities provide for themselves.

Take a look at the property tax rates in some other Westmoreland County communities that do provide their own police protection. North Huntingdon's property tax rate is 12.55 mills, Greensburg's is 20, Murrysville's is 11.15, and Irwin's is 11 mills.

And Hempfield? A tax rate of a whopping 3 mills on a $9 million budget. Only about $1.3 million of the township's revenues are derived from property taxes; the largest share of income (nearly $2.8 million) is derived from earned income taxes.

If the neighboring communities of Murrysville and North Huntingdon are any example, I'd estimate it would cost Hempfield about $4 million to operate its own police department. That jibes well with the $100 per head fee that the Pallone bill would impose on communities like Hempfield.

Some communities (like Unity and Mt. Pleasant townships) are complaining that they don't have the tax base or the revenue to justify paying for state police service, starting their own police department, or contracting with a neighboring municipality for service.

Given that Irwin, with a population less than half of the limit in Pallone's bill, can afford police protection, I find that argument specious at best. If those communities are so financially strapped, then they'd better seek a merger with a neighboring municipality, or enter Act 47 distressed status.

The Pallone bill seems eminently fair from where I'm sitting, unless some of the elected officials in Hempfield can adequately explain why all of the new shopping plazas on Route 30 in Hempfield, and all of those new $200,000 to $1 million houses being built out along Route 819, require welfare payments from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the tune of $4 million a year.

Otherwise, I agree with Alan Wallace of the Gateway Newspaper chain, who wrote:

(Instead) of calculating potential tax increases, Hempfield officials (should) figure out just how much their residents have saved over the years because of the involuntary largesse that taxpayers elsewhere in Pennsylvania have bestowed on the township.

And when they have that figure, Hempfield officials ought to send out a couple of thank-you notes.

One should go to all those taxpayers elsewhere for subsidizing police services in the township for far too long. The other should go to Pallone for asking Hempfield just to start paying its fair share -- and not demanding the township repay those who've made its free ride possible.

The free ride has been fun for Hempfield, ever since the 1960s, when it began shifting from a rural community to a suburban community. But the ride has to stop --- now.

Posted at 07:29 am by jt3y
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March 13, 2006

AAA? More Like C-Minus

A few months ago I wrote about predatory tow-truck drivers, but mentioned that the local ones seemed to be fine. (The predatory ones seem to be a problem in Picksberg, as in other large cities.)

I just want to confirm that most of the local guys are, indeed, good guys. Early Sunday morning, on my way to my part-time gig, I hit something on the road that punctured a tire. (It almost always seems to be a snow tire that gets punctured, and I only get flats when it's raining or snowing.) I didn't realize the tire was going flat, though, until I got to work.

I tried to change it myself, only to learn that the scissors jack in the sleek, gray Mercury was, to use the technical term, "kaput." You see, I loaned it to someone a few months ago, who returned it saying, "I think I may have broken it." Well, when the jack now goes up at a 45-degree angle to the ground instead of 90-degrees, I'd say it's broken all right. It makes it hard to lift the car that way, too.

What else do I pay the motor club for if not to change flats in the rain early on a Sunday morning? Not much, it seems. First, the Triple-A sent the tow truck out to Forest Hills instead of North Versailles, where I was at.

This, by the way, despite my giving very specific instructions to the Triple-A operator referencing in great detail the intersection of Routes 48 and 30. Indeed, Triple-A called me back twice to confirm the directions ... and still sent the truck out to Ardmore Boulevard for reasons only known to them.

The driver --- from a towing company based in Our Fair City (I won't mention their name, but its initials are "C" and "D") --- arrived in a driving rainstorm and looked like a drowned rat by the time he was done. (In sympathy, I stood out in the rain with him. I had to dry my socks in the microwave when I was done, and my shoes are probably ruined.)

So, I just wanted to clarify for anyone who thought I disliked all wrecker truck drivers. Just the predatory ones.

Like the one at a Picksberg fast-food restaurant I visited recently. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, he shot in behind me and sat behind my car, watching it, I guess in case I didn't come out right away. (Another truck from the same company was towing a nearby car.)

If you'll forgive a geek reference, there's a scene in the book The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy where the two main characters are being carried to what they think is certain death by a thuggish alien security guard.

One of them, Ford Prefect, finally asks the guard: "Do you really like this job?" Not as such, the guard replies, but he rather does like the uniforms, the shouting, and the stomping around.

I feel like asking some of these predatory tow truck drivers, who spend their lives making motorists miserable, the same question. Do you really like the work? Or do you just get off on bullying people who can't fight back?

...

Speaking of Triple-A: Have you priced their services lately? I dropped Triple-A when I bought the sleek, gray Mercury, because it came with 24-hour Lincoln-Mercury roadside assistance.

Well, that ran out, and I had to find a new motor club. I wound up back at Triple-A, which socked me for $48 for the basic, entry level plan.

Now, I don't use AAA to book hotels or buy airline tickets, because they aren't that hot, in my experience, and it's simple to comparison shop those things on the Interweb. AAA's maps are fair to average. Their much-vaunted "TripTik" service amounts to highlighting Interstates with a magic marker, which you could train a monkey to do.

Thus, $48 for a towing insurance policy seems a little steep to me, especially when they can't tell Forest Hills and North Versailles apart.

So, if you decide to boycott AAA, you do have other options:

• BP operates what used to be called the Amoco Torch Club, and it starts at $69 for what looks like a fairly limited range of services. I'm not certain about this, but it looks as if they only offer towing in certain areas. If there isn't one nearby, you're up the proverbial creek, and have to make your own arrangements (though they will reimburse you).



• Cross Country Automotive Services (which, I think, runs "motor clubs" for several other agencies) has its own branded program called "Driver's Elite." Prices start at $55 per year.



• General Motors has a motor club, and perhaps surprisingly, owners of non-GM cars can sign up, too. (A good thing, too, the way the sale of GM cars has tanked. They'd be sorely limiting their market otherwise.) They claim to offer unlimited towing and to cover an entire family for $50 a year. Anyone tried the GM club? If it's any good, the price seems right.



• AARP has a motor club, for its members only. The price starts at $34 a year or $64 for a family. (You do not need to own a Buick Park Avenue or a Chrysler New Yorker to join, but a white belt and shoes, straw hat and a license plate that says "Ask Me About My Grandchildren" are not included.)



• AARP's service is run by General Electric, which also has a motor club (not just for electric cars, ha ha ha). It starts at $79 a year, and again, benefits seem fairly limited. Like BP, if they don't have a towing provider where you're stranded, you have to make your own arrangements. (In fact, the website looks suspiciously like BP's, and I suspect they're operated by the same provider. They're also headquartered in the same place --- Carol Stream, Ill.)



• Allstate Insurance has a club, and it starts at $48 a year. It doesn't look like you need to be an Allstate customer to join, either (though I'll bet you're deluged with offers for insurance after you sign up).



• And Chevron has a motor club, too, but it's not available in Pennsylvania. Oh, so you're too good for us, eh? Well, who needs your gasoline, anyway?

...

I'd be interested to hear if any Almanac readers have experiences with any of these clubs. (Even AARP, because some days, I feel ready to join.) There is nothing I'd like better than to be able to tell AAA to "stuff it." (They're getting a little too big for their britches, if you ask me --- time was when you could go down to Market Street and talk to someone at the McKeesport Automobile Club, but now, you got to go out to some high-falutin' suburban office in a mall, by cracky. I am ready for AARP, come to think of it.)

On the other hand, given my experience with dumping Ma Bell in favor of a competitor, maybe I had just better fork over my AAA membership renewal next time and keep my fat yap shut.

Posted at 6:12 pm by jt3y
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