Category: default || By jt3y

If you don't like this one, blame the priest who told it during his New Year's sermon. That's where I heard it:

It was the Great Depression, and Clancy was laid off and looking for some way to stay busy. Just after Christmas he went down to talk to Father Murphy.

"Well," said Father Murphy, "the vacant lot next to the church is full of weeds and junk and garbage. I suppose if you've time, you could haul away the trash and clean that lot."

Clancy set to work that January, dragging old tires and broken boards and all sorts of debris out of the lot. Next he cut down the overgrowth, dug out the rocks, and turned over the soil. In the spring he planted row after row of vegetables --- tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, corn --- and that summer he began distributing the spoils to the hungry families in the neighborhood.

Father Murphy was astonished and gratified, and one afternoon, when he spotted Clancy on his hands and knees, pulling weeds, he went over to greet him.

"Clancy," Father Murphy said, "what has happened here is a miracle. Isn't it marvelous what the Lord can do?"

Dripping with sweat, Clancy leapt to his feet. "Aye," he said, "and do ye remember what this land looked like when He was working it by Himself?"

. . .

That story brought to mind a Christmastime blog entry by City Councilman Paul Shelly. "Anyone who grew up in McKeesport before the early '80s has to get a little disturbed when driving through our downtown area now," he writes. "Some of my most vivid memories as a child in McKeesport are of going Christmas shopping with my mom and being elbow to elbow with folks up and down Fifth Avenue and having countless stores and shops to stop in.

"Driving through town today, during the holiday season, I was reminded once more of what once was and what could be in McKeesport," Shelly says. "Revitalization won’t be easy or quick but it can happen."

Our Fair City took its share of knocks in the news last year --- the notorious fake-phallus-in-the-microwave-story, the Tanya Kach case, and the news that Penn State McKeesport Campus is changing its name (even as the New Kensington Campus is reassuring residents that it's "proud" of its New Kensington heritage).

My problem is not with the media, mind you --- the Almanac had its share of fun with the microwave story. And in a region where everything was going well, stories like those would be laughed off and forgotten. When everything isn't going well, stories like that just linger.

. . .

My complaint is that too many people --- including people who live here --- use incidents like those to shake their head and say, "oh, poor McKeesport."

Over the summer, a lady from Elizabeth Township wrote a letter to the Daily News saying that she grew up in McKeesport and loved the city, but wanted to urge people not to move there because it was full of crime and drugs and mean people and dirt (and I think Oompa-Loompas), and I'm pretty sure she also implied that the Lindbergh baby was dumped in the Youghiogheny River, but I don't have the letter in front of me.

Years ago, the Valley Mirror ran a list of "Top 10 Ways For Homestead To Stop Being Called a Depressed Mon Valley Mill Town." (One was "add Prozac to the water supply.) The point was that "depressed Mon Valley mill town" seemed to have been permanently attached to Homestead's name.

In my experience, no one who cares about the city --- from Mayor Brewster to Shelly down to your humble correspondent --- is blind to the problems. During the Santa Claus parade, I was struck by the irony of seeing Downtown teeming with people, music and excitement, lined up in front of abandoned storefronts.

"Salute to Santa" was originally designed to draw people into town to shop and eat during the holidays. Now, if they want to shop or eat after the parade, chances are they were going to have to drive to White Oak or at least to Olympia Shopping Center.

And the problems are not confined to Downtown --- plenty of once-great residential neighborhoods are suffering the effects of abandoned houses and absentee landlords. Houses that would sell for a million dollars in Shadyside can be picked up for $40,000.

Some of these problems began developing 20 or 30 years ago, and they won't disappear overnight.

. . .

But instead of mourning what's lost, how about making a New Year's resolution to appreciate what we have?

Recreational Assets:

• A wonderful riverfront area that hosts a busy marina and free, safe public events nine months out of the year



• One of Western Pennsylvania's best regional parks, with a nationally-recognized rose garden, a fishing lake, tennis courts and a great museum



• A well-maintained and rustic bike trail system

Cultural Assets:

• A regional symphony



• A vital and busy library system (visit Carnegie Library of McKeesport on a Saturday morning --- you'll be amazed)



• A very active community theater

Educational Assets:

• A solid school system with low taxes and demanding vocational and technical training courses



• Private and charter schools like Serra Catholic and Propel



• The regional campus of a great public university (and two community college campuses nearby)

Public Assets:

• Charitable organizations like the Crawford Trust, the G.C. Murphy Co. Foundation and the McKeesport Hospital Foundation



• Service organizations like the YMCA, UPMC McKeesport, the Salvation Army, and Boy and Girl Scouts



• Government services like a full-time, paid fire department and a complete police department with detective bureau and juvenile officers

. . .

I was thinking about all of this on Christmas Eve, when I went to Mass at Holy Trinity Church (now part of St. Martin de Porres Parish) on Sixth Street --- a beautiful service in a historic sanctuary, filled to the walls with people of every age, race and description. Any suburban congregation would have been proud to host a worship service of such grace and humanity, but they wouldn't (couldn't) have one-tenth of the heritage of that great old church, built by Slovak immigrants.

If you "love McKeesport," like the lady from Elizabeth Township said she did, then make a vow to visit one or more McKeesport assets this year, and look at them objectively --- if you visited Cranberry or Peters townships, wouldn't you be impressed? You're darned right.

Get permission to view some of the art, science or vocational projects on display at McKeesport Area High School. Take in a concert or play. Attend International Village or a free "lunch on the lawn" this summer.

And instead of complaining about what the Mon Valley has lost, try promoting what we have. Instead of bad-mouthing the valley, shop there, bank there, worship there, and maybe even move back there. (Although I don't live within the city limits, I live within a stone's throw, and I have always considered myself a McKeesporter.)

God provides, of course --- but like Clancy demonstrated with the vacant lot, He can use a little assistance on Earth.

No, you probably can't donate $1 million to some worthy cause, and you may not be able to start a business or renovate an old building. But in whatever way you're able, there's nothing stopping you from making a little difference in the Mon Valley's future.

. . .

P.S.: I'm even more full of hot air that you thought, aren't I?