Category: Another Viewpoint || By Letter to the Editor

I hesitated printing this letter. But maybe it needs to be said. I've often told people that the rest of the world views Pittsburgh the way Pittsburgh views McKeesport, but with Pittsburgh getting attention as an "up and coming city," maybe that's not true any more.

And maybe if this were a football game, this would be the letter that the coach posted in the locker room, to fire up the team.

A reader, "Martin," from Seattle, Wash., writes:

I was born and raised in the Tube City, McKeesport, Pa., 65 years ago.

Moved out due to being drafted into the Army while working at the Hays Army Ammunition Plant in Pittsburgh. So, we packed up and moved back out to the Seattle region.

I was back to McKeesport last summer after 42 years being away.

I was ashamed, embarrassed and scared! But did carry my protection with me on my cross-country trip!

All I saw was blight and corruption, along with a crumbling city that I had once loved and called home, of which will never return back to the days when the mills were up and functioning with a population of 25,000! I read a report in a local publication from Pennsylvania just a few years ago, that the town is past the point of no return!

What's truly sad is the region has totally disconnected itself from the days of the mills. While there, I couldn't find one postcard or photo of the mills, which created the towns around the region (and which your NFL team, the Steelers, were named after).

Back in the day ... it was supported by a bunch of mill hunks, hard-working Americans, that loved the region, their jobs, its team, and now it has nothing to connect to as far as its roots!

And when I looked up ghost towns in Pennsylvania, guess what town was on that list? Clairton! Another crumbling town, where there aren't many residents no longer, the building are crumbling from lack of maintenance, and upkeep.

Now it's just a bad memory after my trip. I no longer call McKeesport my place of birth and never will again! I classify it as "Gangsterville" tried and true!

As a function of a bunch of hoods, gangbangers and thieves, it is one dilapidated, sorry city, on life support from the drying-up county and state funds.

. . .

I emailed this guy back:

Thanks for your comment.

But let me ask you a question --- not to start an argument, just because I'm curious. I get these kinds of comments all the time, and most people are too cowardly to sign their name or take responsibility. So I appreciate that you 1.) took the time to write, and 2.) sign your name!

What exactly do you think your comments are accomplishing for those of us who still live here, and are trying to make a difference?

We have absentee landlords --- banks and corporations --- who have bought up much of the housing. How do you propose McKeesport holds New York and Florida banks accountable?

We have agencies that have dumped homeless people and substance abusers onto McKeesport. What should we do with those people?

We have all of these abandoned buildings. It will cost millions to tear them down. Who is going to pay for that?

What are the answers to these questions beyond, "McKeesport is a sh-t hole, and I'm glad I don't live there"?

. . .

God bless him, he answered:

I don't know what to say. I was disappointed. I guess my childhood visions stayed with me. And what I saw, wasn't close anymore.

I went past my dad's old shop on Evans Avenue just up from the hospital, it was all torn down. Hey: Little things like this affect a person.

I remember many happy days at Renzie Park pool, now it's gone, and fishing at Lake Emilie, ice skating on the lake in the winter. Walking miles to get to and from there.

I hear there are three people on the block where I use to live --- 2900 Palmgreen --- which used to have 25 to 30.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see any part of that region, come back. But what I've seen, I don't hold any hope, nor my breath. All I can do is hope and pray for your region to recuperate.

I know there are many beautiful homes in that region, but like my parents house, you need an income to restore or replace things.

Seattle is no princess the last few years. Boeing is messing up, and gangs came up here from California to follow the drug trade. Drugs and shootings have become rampant. Budget crunches are hitting here on the West Coast, too.

We have just as many long-time businesses closing their doors here. And believe me, if Boeing closed and Microsoft left, we'll be right next to you in living standards in about five years.

We have 25,000 people on the streets here. Seattle built a halfway house for alcoholics, and let them drink themselves into oblivion. The beer distributors darn near deliver right to the joint.

We have young people making more money selling drugs on street corners than I ever made in a year. We have politicians who worry about themselves more than the people who put them in there.

If employment don't pickup nationally, we're all doomed. Automation is killing jobs --- ATMs, e-mail, online banking, smart phones. Look at the booths on the turnpikes, most of them are automated. How many jobs did this take away?

We're becoming a third-class country so rapidly, it's sad! We need to find some type of industry to get back in the game. Get work back from China. Putting people to work at Wal-Mart is not the answer!

I hear you on the outside landlords and banks, they don't care! But neither does Obama! And the Republicans are no better, believe me.

If we don't change society from a "you owe me society" to "let's roll up our sleeves and get to work," I don't know. I wasn't born with no golden spoon in my mouth by any means.

I have no answers, but one must get rid of the riff-raff and crime out of the area first. My bottom line is, I don't want to be here on this when this country falls and turns to sh-t!

. . .

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.