Category: default || By jt3y

(Today ... Downtown Development and Duckling Photos! Who could ask for more?)

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First, The Good News: A vacant lot near the McKees' Point Marina and at the entrance to Downtown may soon be developed after being empty for more than 30 years.

The bad news? It's for a satellite county courthouse, which won't pay taxes.

The so-so news: If it happens, it's development that will bring traffic back to Fifth Avenue --- namely court workers, cops, lawyers, and people waiting for cases to be called --- which could support local businesses, which means jobs. But some proportion of the people hanging around will be criminal defendants.

Anyway, Jennifer Vertullo had the story in last night's Daily News:

Mayor James Brewster announced Wednesday that the city is working with the DA's office on what could be a $4 million construction project at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Market Street.

Parties have been engaged in discussion for years --- envisioning a Mon Valley location for satellite courtrooms, row offices, bond clerks and attorneys. Now, the project is becoming more than a vision.

City Administrator Dennis Pittman said Zappala wants a land commitment by July 1. He said city officials are confident the district attorney will bring County Executive Dan Onorato on board and the facility will be built McKeesport.

For the life of me, I can't understand why there's no appreciable development between Market Street and the marina.

I would have thought by now that someone would have bought the Penn-McKee and either demolished it or renovated the first floor for storefronts with little businesses to cater to people at the marina or the Palisades, which is currently buzzing several nights per week. Instead ... nada. Zilch. Bupkis.

I would surely have thought that the part of Fifth Avenue near the Jerome Avenue Bridge could support a couple antique shops and a candy/convenience store. Maybe a nail salon? Am I nuts? (Don't answer that.)

Instead, that area just claimed another victim --- the Carquest auto parts store that was located in the old R&J Furniture building at Sixth and Market closed its doors last month.

The land being used, incidentally, was the site of the old Memorial Theater, Kadar's Men's Wear and Coney Island Grill until the 1976 fire. The corner lot has been vacant since then; the Memorial, which closed after the fire, was torn down in 1985.

Well, maybe the courthouse, if built, will light a fire under some developers. It would be nice to have someplace Downtown to spend money besides GetGo and Family Dollar.

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See “Penn-McKee Progress, Lack Thereof”: Which brings up another point ... what's going on with the Penn-McKee Hotel?

The Penn-McKee is the first sight to greet visitors to the Palisades or the marina, but it's been closed since 1985. It's not architecturally significant, but it does have great emotional value to McKeesporters and was the location of the first debate (in 1947) between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.

It was removed from the city's demolition list more than a year ago because the owners claimed a buyer was imminent. Instead of being renovated, however, the Penn-McKee is just another year older and moldier. If it's being actively marketed, I haven't heard anything, and this website for "Penn-McKee Place" has never been updated.

The hotel is owned by something called "See Bee Inc.," but according to county records, the tax bills go to E.L. Kemp Inc., the heating and air-conditioning contractor on West Fifth Avenue.

If you live in the city and you're having E.L. Kemp work on your A/C this summer, ask about it when you call.

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Yinz Are Smart: Tube City Almanac doesn't have a large readership (about 500 people per week), but dang, the audience it does have includes some smart cookies. Alert Reader Bulldog says the story of the "USS McKeesport" breaking off of the bow of the USS Pittsburgh in 1943 is no "urban legend," and is documented in the Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, published by the U.S. Government and available at Pitt's Hillman Library. Shonuff it's on page 323 of Volume 5:

On 4 June, PITTSBURGH began to fight a typhoon which by early next day had increased to 70-knot winds and 100-foot waves. Shortly after her starboard scout plane had been lifted off its catapult and dashed onto the deck by the wind, PITTSBURGH’s second deck buckled, her bow structure thrust upward, and then wrenched free. Miraculously, not a man was lost. Now her crew's masterful seamanship saved their own ship. Still fighting the storm, and maneuvering to avoid being rammed by the drifting bow-structure, PITTSBURGH was held quarter on to the seas by engine manipulations while the forward bulkhead was shored. After a 7-hour battle, the storm subsided, and PITTSBURGH proceeded at 6 knots to Guam, arriving 10 June. Her bow, nick-named "McKeesport" (a suburb of Pittsburgh), was later salvaged by fleet tug MUNSEE (ATF-107) and brought into Guam.

However, The McKeesport Anti-Defamation League is demanding a retraction from the U.S. Government on that "suburb" comment, and unless the Navy wants an angry tiger on their doorstep, they'll do the right thing.

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Make Way For "Jericho": Both my brother and my friend Clarke Ingram made The Burgh Blog this week. If Ralph Edwards had shown up, I'd have thought it was "This Is Your Life."

Clarke has been one of the top two people in the country behind the movement to save the TV show Jericho, while that was indeed Alert Reader Officer Jim who made the Post-Gazette for his role in saving several ducklings from a fate worse than Chinese food.

And now, in a story you'll see only at Tube City Almanac (and for good reason), we have exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the thrilling rescue of the cute widdle baby ducklings. Informed sources tell the Almanac the ducklings were last seen paddling around the Westinghouse pond in Schenley Park.

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To Do This Weekend: George Westinghouse Days in Wilmerding continue, with fireworks set for tomorrow night. Attractions include rides, food booths with ethnic and "all-American" favorites, bingo and other games. The Westinghouse "castle" and George Westinghouse Museum will also be open. Hours are 5 to 11 p.m. today and 4 to 11 p.m. tomorrow. Call (412) 825-3000 or visit WilmerdingRenewed.org.