Category: Hardscrabble Mon Valley Watch, Mon Valley Miscellany, Rants a.k.a. Commentary || By

It's about time that Downtown finally got its own lighthouse. Too many ocean liners have foundered on the shoals of the Youghiogheny.

Next, someone needs to stop those sirens in Dravosburg from luring sailors to their deaths.

I keed, I keed. Actually, the lighthouse, funded by private donations, was erected at the McKees Point Marina on Water Street in memory of the late city councilman and Mayor Joe Bendel.

Bendel was among the people who had the vision and foresight to push for the marina's construction, over strenuous objections from some residents and political rivals.

The lighthouse is a little bit incongruous, to be sure --- what's next, lobster traps? --- but it sure does look neat.

It's odd to think that the marina was a controversial idea. There were many people who objected on principle --- they thought any recreational opportunities should be handled by the private sector.

That's true enough, except that no one in the private sector was doing anything to develop the city's riverfront.

There was a bigger group of people who objected on the grounds that it was a waste of time.

"McKeesport's dead," they said. "Who would want to come to here?"

It was the same group of bellyachers who sits around complaining because there's no place to shop Downtown, but who never shopped Downtown when stores were open, or who complain about corruption, crime and taxes, but haven't lived in the Mon Valley since the Jakomas administration.

Marina Manager Ray Dougherty told city council in May that just about everyone who had a slip in McKeesport last year has returned this year. (Although someone jokingly said to me the other day that even if they put their boat in the water, they might just have to sit at the dock, because they can't afford fuel.)

The answer to the question, "Who wants to come to McKeesport?" turns out to be "a lot of people," if you give them something worth coming for, if you behave professionally, and if you promote the city.

In general, the Mon Valley could use more "do'ers" who are planning for the future, and fewer "complainers" who talk about all of the things we've lost, but never try anything new.

I don't have a boat myself, but ain't that a pretty sight?

If you sort of squint and block out the abandoned Penn-McKee Hotel, you could imagine you're up in the Allegheny National Forest, not in Downtown McKeesport.

And now for the ugly.

Here comes the sun on Fifth Avenue, and the pigeons of McKeesport and winos drinking MD 20/20 out of paper bags both need a new place to sit.

So, farewell, then, to the remnants of one of the Mon Valley's worst-ever public works projects ... and that's saying a lot.

The concrete arches of the old Midtown Plaza Mall parking garage are finally down, and Fifth Avenue will be restored to two-way traffic later this year.

Now, it's up to developer Barry Stein to rehabilitate the remaining section of the mall, rechristened the "Boulevard Shops," as in "Lysle."

There's been little progress since Subway, Jackson Hewitt, Pizza Hut and Dollar Bank relocated, but I'm told the ugly arches discouraged potential tenants, and I'm taking Stein at his word that everything else will get a makeover soon, too.

If it inspires some other property owners Downtown to remodel and market their buildings, it's all for the better.

It doesn't help, by the way, that every reporter who comes to the city feels it's necessary to mention that the Downtown area is "economically devastated" and "mostly abandoned."

(Gee, thanks, Moriah Balingit. We hadn't noticed. By the way, you left out "hardscrabble.")

No, we don't need a lighthouse as a warning beacon for boaters.

We need it to attract more "do'ers" and fewer doubters.

"Yes, we can," isn't just the motto of a political candidate, after all.