Category: default || By jt3y

Well, I shot off my mouth a few days ago wondering why Barry Stein, the developer renovating Midtown Plaza Mall, hadn't done anything else with the structure for about a year --- leaving a big ugly rubble-strewn complex on Fifth Avenue, Downtown.

(Actually, that's not fair --- Midtown Plaza was both "big" and "ugly" long before Stein came to town.)

Ann Belser set me straight in Thursday's Post-Gazette ... Stein has been waiting for the city, which controls the parking garage above the mall, to repair structural problems in the concrete deck that cause leaks in the stores.

Well, it looks as if city council has approved a $1 million contract to renovate the garage, which should (fingers crossed here) allow Stein to move forward with the rest of the complex.

With all of the people working over at EchoStar's call center now, it escapes me why there isn't more retail activity going on Downtown again. We've got a captive audience.

I hope a new, less ugly Midtown Plaza sparks some of that activity.

And apologies to Mr. Stein if I implied that he was dragging his feet on this issue, but I desperately want to see something going on down there.

. . .

If you didn't read Mayor Brewster's "state of the city" address, as recounted in Thursday night's Daily News, get thee to a library (or the News lobby and lay your hands on a copy.

I'd link to it, but, well, you know ... it's subscribers only. I especially agree with his comments about the need to change generations of bad habits that are trashing many city neighborhoods. (To quote "The Simpsons": "Put your garbage in a garbage can, people! Don't just throw it out the window! I can't stress that enough!")

Maybe the folks who administer the city's website will put the entire thing online (he wrote, dropping a not-at-all-subtle hint), because it deserves a wider audience.

. . .

News You May Have Missed: The Pennsylvania Turnpike is considering corporate sponsorship on "57 toll plazas, 157 state vehicles and more than 1,000 emergency call boxes," according to Jerome Sherman in the Post-Gazette last week.

Do we really need more corporate sponsorship of anything? It already seems like every square inch of the damned landscape is covered in someone's logo.

Take downtown Picksberg --- it was fun when the first corporate logo went on top of one of the skyscrapers in the Golden Triangle. Now, the skyline looks like McKnight Road on a Friday night.

Thursday, the New York Daily News (no relation to the McKeesport one, its motto is "More Than a Newspaper --- Youse Gotta Problem Wit Dat?") reported that the Big Apple is cracking down on giant advertisements (especially those that wrap around buildings) and fining violators.

But Pennsylvania --- always 10 years behind everyone else --- wants to go the other direction, and to prop up the bloated Turnpike Commission bureaucracy, no less.

I wish I had some money. I'd buy a toll plaza and rename it "The Next Time Try The Train Interchange."

. . .

Speaking of Signs: I saw a sign on a business down in Hazelwood yesterday that said "Shut Up Murtha."

I suppose that's more concise than sticking your fingers in your ears and singing, "la-la-la-la-la."

. . .

To Do This Weekend: It's soap-box derby weekend in Renzie Park! The annual Greater Pittsburgh Soap Box Derby gets underway at 9 a.m. Sunday on Eden Park Boulevard. The winners will represent the region in the 68th annual All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio. (Expect some traffic restrictions on Hartman Street and around Penn State McKeesport Campus.) WWSW-FM (94.5) will be on hand from 10 a.m. to noon with the "3WS Sports Challenge." Call (412) 462-1957. ... McKeesport Little Theater's "junior theater" presents "Bugsy Malone Jr.," a musical comedy about two wannabe gangsters and a boxer. A spaghetti dinner will be held Saturday evening at a cost of $6 for adults and $4 for children. Discount coupons are available at MLT's website. Showtimes are 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Father's Day Sunday; call (412) 673-1100.