Category: Another Viewpoint || By Alert Reader Shadango

Alert Reader "Shadango" sends the following commentary:

. . .

On my way to work today I was deep in thought on the most recent brew-ha-ha in McKeesport. No, it's not how to keep people from moving out of our city, the number of homicides this year versus last, or how to cure the problem of blighted properties.

It's about dirt bikes and ATVs in Haler Heights.

I pondered as I drove and opened my windows for a nice fresh taste of the brisk fall air. In came a cloud of nasty cigarette smoke from the car in front of me ... and my mellow Manilow tune on the radio was drowned out by the thump-thump-thumping of the latest "song" from DJ Get Busy from the car next to me.

I would like to ban cigarette smoking, all loud thumpy music and rude drivers on cell phones. But that will not happen. I just have to deal with it. I have to pull on my big boy pants every morning, drive that commute, breath the stinky cigarette air, listen to the thumping and pray I don't get wiped out by jerks on the road.

. . .

Well, I thought to myself, at least I can go home at the end of what is sure to be a real long day at work to my home and relax in peace and quiet. But then I realized that I live in the suburbs, and thought about how "peace and quiet" means a lot of things to different people. And I realized that when I go home at the end of the day I am as likely to find "peace and quiet" as I am to find three extra zeros on my paycheck this week.

You see, I live in a modern day suburb of the City of McKeesport. It's typical of any suburb in any area.

My neighbor built his pool just feet from the property line and the pool pump, filter and motor face my property, so for more than 10 years, from Memorial Day through the middle of September I have had to listen to his very loud pool equipment whining all day and night.

That makes opening my windows in the evening to let in the fresh fall air when I get home almost a no-starter. Forget about sitting outside on my porch to listen to the night sounds ... all I hear is the pool equipment. Not to mention the noisy pool parties with screaming kids they seem to hold every weekend in the summer, complete with a booming radio blaring obscene lyrics and enough bass to vibrate the dead in their graves.

. . .

The other neighbor just loves his power yard equipment and they always seem to have some major yard renovation going on every evening and all weekend. All I hear is the buzzing of weed whackers, the roar of industrial-sized lawn mowers and the sounds of huge lawn vacs that make a household vacuum cleaner sound like crickets chirping in the far distance.

The neighbor across the street smokes like a freight train and that acrid filthy odor wafts over my peaceful abode like a nuclear fallout cloud over Chernobyl --- talk about air quality for asthma sufferers, which I am, just like one of the ATV opponents. So even if the pool people turned off their noise for an evening, the only air that I could let in through open windows would be tainted with cigarette stink.

The kid with the hot rod down the street ... you know the kind, made in Japan, big huge "coffee can" muffler sticking out the back ... apparently testing to see just how loud he can rev that engine all evening while he's "tuning" it.

And lest I forget about the three other neighbors within a few doors of me that have those annoying "toy" dogs whose constant barking (more like shrieking) and yapping are like nails on a chalkboard. "Well, what should I do, muzzle my dog?" one owner asked me when I asked her to please try and keep the dog from barking so much.

. . .

All that on top of freight trains barreling through the valley at night, the Serra marching band playing their tunes to a stadium of people, and the wail of sirens of our city's finest making yet another arrest somewhere.

No, my home is no longer the place I can go for true "peace and serenity" as the opponents to Mr. Young's use of his property and the city council president seem to infer is a "right."

If it is a "right," doesn't that right apply to all residents and all issues that put any individuals "peace and serenity" at risk? And if so, who is taking up my cause?

. . .

One ATV opponent uses her own pool and extra property she bought as an example. Some 15 years ago she bought part of the property adjoining Mr. Young's and had to go through the process of variances, etc., to do whatever she did on her property.

She asked folks how they would like it if they were trying to relax by their pool and had to listen to dirt bikes "50 feet" from her pool. That's a valid question.

But I got to wondering if that lady ever plays a radio while she is enjoying her "peace and serenity," and where her pool equipment is set up.

Now, the word "covenant" was used many many times in the audio recording. The council president said himself that the covenant being discussed was crafted "back in the '50s."

. . .

Haler Heights, in the '50s, was a vastly different place than today. In fact, "suburbia" was a new concept. Prior to suburbia, there was either "city" living or "country" living. Suburbia was a new concept that mingled the conveniences of city living with the supposed benefits of country living. A newfound increase in job growth and a new "middle class" allowed former city dwellers to buy an automobile and move further away from work.

It was also a time when there was room to spread out everywhere. Haler Heights bordered on country land. In fact, much of what is now housing was once farmland.

The covenant in question has to be looked at through the lens of 2012. I would bet that most or all of the people who were in favor of that covenant at the time are long gone --- having died off or moved to some nursing home. Even then, I would bet it was just a few people who threw their weight around enough to have it made "law." The rest just didn't care or had no power to argue it.

I seem to remember reading about the covenant and how one neighbor wanted to have livestock at one point. Can't get more "country" than that. But the person making the stink was (ironically) complaining about the livestock making a stink. Had that person ever been to the country? Country living is replete with farm smells and sounds. Yet they were against that. Go figure.

The rest of us, now in modern times, mostly have no idea what is in that covenant being touted as the way people have to live their lives in Haler Heights. That is, except the folks looking to get their way by any means possible. Has anyone ever polled the property owners in Haler Heights to see if they felt the covenant should stay in place and should still be applicable?

As property owners, don't we all have the right to say whether a covenant, put into place six decades ago, should still be applicable? Maybe that info is buried somewhere deep in your deeds? One needs a lawyer to decode legal documents these days and who can afford that?

. . .

Well, apparently one of the opponents can. Just weeks after Mr. Young buys an otherwise wasted piece of property and clears brush, improving it dramatically at street level, this person goes out and hires an attorney to bring up everything from noise ordinances, Pennsylvania vehicle code, safety issues and air pollution issues. Hard to fathom, that.

Why do all that rather than just talk it out and work it out with the neighbor and see what effect something will really have on them. That says a lot about the person doing this, doesn't it? In fact, this person doesn't want to just ban ATVs and dirt bikes from the property in question --- that isn't enough. No, that person wants to ban them everywhere in McKeesport. That says a lot about them too, I think.

This person doesn't like ATVs or dirt bikes and sees them as unnecessary. Probably likes kids as long as they are "seen and not heard." And most of all, this person wants things the ways they wants them, damn everyone else.

In truth, I think we are all a little like that these days. We all want quiet when we want it, but want to be able to make as much noise as we want to when we want to. We are a society of "me."

Well, Mr. Young bought a piece of property and keeps it on the tax rolls. He cleans it up. That is certainly a good thing. I am pretty certain that ATVs and dirt bikes will not be there "24/7" the opponents say.

The noise from dirt bikes is actually less loud than that of chain saws, lawn mowers, weed whackers and lawn vacs. On any given day in Haler Heights you will hear someone using some or all of them. It's a veritable concert of yard machines the day before garbage day during grass cutting season.

. . .

If you want to ban noise, fine ... ban it all. Require us all to go back to push mowers, hand-clippers and rakes. That would be fair. Banning one type of power equipment because you do not consider it a necessity, and allowing others because it is more convenient for you is not fair.

The opponents want a study done to see if Mr. Young is causing any problems. Well, in my opinion, the opponents should have to do that. Let them pay the costs for it. Let them prove that this is a problem. Just because someone says it's a problem doesn't make it so.

Do the opponents want to buy the property back off of Mr. Young and pay the taxes on it and just have it sit so they can have the luxury of having nothing going on there? If not, they need to wake up! Most residents of Haler Heights have neighbors to the sides and front and rear of them and we all have to be tolerant of what the other neighbors are doing. It's called living in suburbia.

Mr. Young has the right to do what he wants as long as it is reasonable and not directly infringing on anyone's "peace and serenity."

And as we have already visited, what defines "peace and serenity" is about as subjective as you can get.

. . .

If the opponents want 100 percent silence and quiet country living, they need to buy a few thousand acres outside of Allegheny County and build their home smack dab in the middle. Haler Heights residents do not live in the country anymore.

We all need to look in the mirror and see that we all certainly do our share of annoying others at some times. We all need to be more tolerant of our neighbors and accept that we have to live with each other and our rights are no more important than anyone else's. Deal with it.

. . .

The preceding was a guest commentary from a reader who calls himself "Shadango." His real name has been withheld upon request.

Responsible replies are welcome.

Tube City Community Media is committed to printing viewpoints from residents of the McKeesport area and surrounding municipalities. Commentaries are accepted at the discretion of the editor and may be edited for content or length.

To submit a commentary for consideration, please write to P.O. Box 94, McKeesport 15134, or email jtogyer -at - gmail -dot- com. Include contact information and your real name. A pen name may be substituted with approval of the editor.

You should type something in the 'comment'-field. Be sure to click on 'Post Comment' to store it permanently.