Category: default || By jt3y

There was an interesting contrast in the coverage of Friday's Mon Valley economic development summit between the Post-Gazette's story and the story in The Daily News. (I didn't see a story in the Tribune-Review; if you did, let me know, and I'll link to it.)

The P-G story leads off with the negatives:

To McKeesport Mayor James Brewster, the need for economic development in the Mon Valley has never been more apparent than it was Thursday night when a young man was killed after an apparent drug deal went sour.

Working on very little sleep because of the shooting and subsequent arrests, Brewster addressed a conference of officials from all levels of government and local agencies about the need to provide economic opportunities that are part of legal enterprises.

Those economic opportunities are going to have to grow on land that is so polluted today that no one wants it.

Gee, thanks. But we have a great personality, and we're a good dancer, right?

The News' story is more upbeat, or at least neutral:

The Mon Valley is primed for industrial growth, said presenters at the Mon Valley Economic Development Summit.

At the summit, held yesterday morning at the Palisades along Water Street, McKeesport Mayor James Brewster gave an introduction that reminded attendees to "stay positive."

(long list of attendees deleted)

Major points of the strategy include the concentration of commerce into hub areas, the development of the Mon/Fayette Expressway, and the development of a proposed technical school called the Valley Academy of Science and Technology.

I don't want people to sugarcoat the problems that the Mon-Yough area in general, and Our Fair City in particular, still face. As Chuck Noll once famously said about one of his player's problems, "they are many, and they are large."

Nor would I expect any Pittsburgh reporter to drive past the abandoned Penn-McKee Hotel on her way to the Palisades --- where the meeting was held --- and come away with a positive impression of Our Fair City; or expect them to ignore the obvious.

But I still say it's not all doom and gloom, and I still say that a lot of the coverage of the Mon Valley is plain old lazy, full of stereotypes and cliches about "depressed old mill towns." It would be in everyone's best interest if we moved past those.

Also, I really liked this quote from Brewster that was in the P-G's story; I've never met the man, but as I wrote last week, I'm really starting to admire him:

Brewster, the mayor of McKeesport, said development will not come easily. He recalled overhearing a woman at a party say she wouldn't go to McKeesport because she was afraid. He said local officials have to turn that perception around.

"Why should we have to overcome that obstacle? We should market what we have. We should brag about what we have," he said.

I'd say he read my mind, but that would be like skimming a pamphlet.

In other news: the G.C. Murphy book project got a nice write-up in Friday's News, coincidentally enough, by the same writer mentioned above. The story isn't online, but you can probably get a back issue by stopping at the News. Every little bit of publicity will help! (Thanks also to Jonathan Potts for his nice mention at The Conversation.)

A few miles north, there's big news this morning in the Steel Valley, reports Ron DaParma in the Trib, and if irony were made of strawberries, we'd all be drinking smoothies:

U.S. Steel Corp. is expected to return to the site of its historic Homestead Works after almost two decades.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker, which closed the 550-acre plant in 1986, might purchase a vacant building on the site originally targeted for Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. for fuel cell manufacturing. An announcement could come as early as today, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has learned.

U.S. Steel would relocate its research and technology center operations from Monroeville to the site in Munhall, which is next to the popular, 270-acre Waterfront development of restaurants, stores and entertainment. Columbus, Ohio-based Continental Real Estate Co. owns the building.

Meanwhile (and also in the Trib), Jim Ritchie had a good piece about the soon-to-be-traffic-nightmare that will occur next year when the Homestead Grays nee High-Level bridge finally gets a long-overdue rehabilitation. The bridge hasn't been overhauled since 1979, Ritchie reports.

The traffic pattern at The Waterfront is crazy enough as it is; I have a hard time imagining what Eighth Avenue and Browns Hill Road are going to look like with the bridge restricted, but it won't be pretty. The Waterfront has already strained the existing roads to the breaking point, and any little disruption brings lower Homestead to a standstill. Saturday's Christmas parade down Eighth Avenue, for instance, snarled traffic for blocks in all directions.

Alternate routes being suggested include the none-too-good Rankin Bridge or the Glenwood Bridge, which regularly turns into a parking lot if any cars stop or stall in the curb lane on Second Avenue. Rots of ruck, it says here.

Thinking about taking the bus? You better pack a lunch and a change of clothes, because they'll be stuck in the same traffic as everyone else. One of the bus drivers on a route I use has already told me he's transferring from the West Mifflin division before the bridge closes.

Instead, the suggested Tube City Almanac alternative for Mon-Yough commuters heading to Picksberg is a helicopter. Or barring that, a giant catapult.

Finally, if you're looking for a way to waste some time (and if you weren't, why would you come to this Web page?), you can play "20 Questions" against a computer. I played four times; the computer beat me twice. (Tip of the Tube City hard hat to Eric Zorn.)