Update: I just gotta add this, with a tip of the Tube City hard hat to Francesco Marciuliano:
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A Bang-Up Fourth: If the weather cooperates today --- and that's a big "if" --- a full slate of Independence Day activities are planned at Renziehausen Park.
City Recreation Director Jim Brown says three country and western bands will entertain at the bandshell, starting at 2 p.m., when Bren Marie takes the stage.
At 4:30, it's Buck Wyld, and from 7 to 9 p.m., John Kiger.
Refreshments will be on sale throughout the afternoon, including hot dogs, kolbassi, ice cream and funnel cakes, but the biggest attraction comes at 10 p.m., when the Mon-Yough area's biggest July 4 fireworks display gets underway.
Brown recommends that visitors arrive as early as possible to find a parking place.
"During the day, there are plenty of spots in the park," he says. "After 8 o'clock, that's when it gets really, really packed."
Attendees should plan to bring a blanket or lawn chair to sit on, Brown says.
There's no rain date planned, he says, so Brown and others have their fingers crossed that the clouds will part for at least a little while today. "This weather has been murder," he says.
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P.S.: The concert by Chuck Blasko's Vogues set for last Sunday at the Renzie bandshell was rained out, Brown says. It's been rescheduled for this Sunday at 7 p.m.; the concert is free, so bring a blanket and plan to attend!
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Snap, Crackle, Stop: City Councilman Darryl Segina doesn't mean to be unpatriotic, but Independence Day is rapidly becoming his least-favorite holiday.
The reason? All of the fly-by-night fireworks vendors who set up shop around the valley.
"We're putting fireworks into the hands of amateurs and children," Segina said. "We've got neighbors getting into fights about it, because they're worried about their houses catching on fire."
He said he'd counted at least six different vendors around McKeesport in the weeks before the holiday.
State law permits residents to use "ground and hand-held sparkling devices" and "novelties."
Forbidden for private use without a "display permit" are cherry bombs, M-80s, M-100s, "Roman candles," and any explosive devices or aerial devices.
But they're not illegal to sell to "non-Pennsylvania residents" --- the legal fiction is that purchasers will take them out of state (wink, wink) before lighting them.
"We can't stop them," City fire Chief Kevin Lust told the Almanac. "We tried two years ago --- you're allowed to sell them, but you're not allowed to use them. It's unbelievable."
City Solicitor J. Jason Elash said the city collects a $1,000 permit from vendors, and that they are required to file a business-privilege tax form.
Otherwise, Pennsylvania municipalities have little oversight over transient fireworks vendors.
Lust said many of the fireworks on sale from roadside tents are legal; rather than shooting into the air, they just make a showers of sparks and smoke on the ground.
But as he and others pointed out, "legal" doesn't mean "safe." Segina noted that many fireworks are imported under less-than-rigorous conditions, and that the results can be unpredictable and dangerous.
"I don't know where the state legislature is on this issue, but they've really got to crack down on this," he said.
City Administrator Dennis Pittman wrote a name on a slip of paper last night --- "Harvey" --- and passed it to Mayor Jim Brewster.
As in the giant rabbit from the Pulitzer-winning play and the movie of the same name starring Jimmy Stewart.
As in the "super rabbit" that City Controller Ray Malinchak says that Brewster will have to "pull out of his hat" to keep the city in the black this year.
But if a six-foot-tall talking rabbit like "Harvey" was standing by, ready to help, he wasn't speaking up at last night's city council meeting.
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A combination of rapidly rising fuel costs, unexpected expenses and revenue shortfalls has the city staring into a half-million-dollar hole this summer.
As a result, Brewster said he has asked every department head to conserve resources and money. Police cars, for instance, are no longer to be left idling while not in motion.
"We can't even pave some streets right now, because paving a street which used to cost four to five thousand dollars now costs $20,000," he said. "As employees leave, we're not replacing them, which is not a good thing."
Besides escalating oil prices, the biggest unbudgeted expense this year is an unprecedented 83 percent increase in the health insurance premiums paid for about 80 city employees to Highmark, the region's Blue Cross/Blue Shield affiliate. The additional charge amounts to $620,000.
Although the city is negotiating with another health insurance carrier, Brewster said premiums are still likely to go up as much as $300,000.
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Revenues are off by $150,000 --- the amount the city expected to be paid by a cellular telephone company that wants to erect a tower at the old Union Avenue reservoir.
The proposal was tabled when residents of the Seventh Ward expressed concerns about increased RF radiation the tower might generate; the mayor said last night he and council have asked for a report on the health effects of cell towers, and will have another meeting with residents to discuss the report before taking any action.
Other unexpected expenses have included emergency repairs to a collapsed sewer main on Palm Street and to the roof of the former municipal building at 201 Lysle Blvd., now used by police and firefighters.
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Brewster said last night he's "working" on several things in hopes of balancing the budget. City officials say they're very close to signing several tenants for the empty offices at 201 Lysle.
And it's still possible that the cell phone tower will be erected on Union Avenue.
"But if it phases in late enough in the year, we'll get maybe $10,000," Pittman said, "and the rest will be a receivable. That $140,000 a year from now won't pay any bills in December."
The state's decision to allow the annual $52 occupation, or "emergency services," tax to be paid quarterly, rather than as a lump sum, will also hurt the city's cash flow in the fourth quarter, he said.
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In Other Business: Plans to build a new regional courthouse in the Third Ward continue to progress, Brewster said.
Last week, city and county public works employees cleared weeds and debris from the so-called Capco property along Walnut Street, where the courthouse is likely to be built.
The lot holds a half-finished warehouse that was going to be used by the now-defunct Capco Construction Co.
Capco was seized by federal investigators after authorities discovered its founder, Thomas Cousar, was diverting funds and material from U.S. government projects to his own businesses.
The property on Walnut Street is now owned by the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, which had underwritten a $400,000 loan to Capco.
Brewster said he's been in steady contact with Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr.
"Once it's completed, 35 different communities will be coming to your city to our courthouse, which I think is a tremendous thing for McKeesport," he said.
The mayor said he could not comment further on reports that the parent company of the Tribune-Review and Daily News was considering the city for the site of a $75 million printing plant.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss it, but as we get more permission, we will disclose more details," Brewster said. "It's got great possibilities."
Speaking of remedial math, state Rep. Jim Casorio, Democrat from Irwin, doesn't need any math help.
I'd like to propose a compromise. Hempfield and Unity township can continue to get free police protection, but all cars registered in Hempfield and Unity will have to carry a bumper sticker that says "WELFARE RECIPIENT."
If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, maybe too much knowledge is even more dangerous, at least when it comes to the weather.
Specifically, if you're talking about those computer-generated 3-D storm-tracking weather graphics that the three big Pittsburgh TV stations use.
As some of you know, I work part-time in local radio at two different stations. Sunday afternoons usually find me "riding the board" in North Versailles.
This past Sunday, I was working the day watch when the Emergency Alert System box squawked to life, printing out a little receipt that looked something like this:
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