Work, Work, Work

Category: Mon Valley Miscellany || By jt3y

At Tube City Omnimedia's World Headquarters overlooking Our Fair City, we are frantically working on a new, improved Tube City Almanac for debut ... hopefully ... on Monday.

Your editor is on a very steep learning curve as I try to simultaneously understand the new content management system, called Pivot, and teach myself CSS (cascading style sheets).

I'm way behind in my understanding of CSS, which would help me in my day job, so I decided there was no time like the present to teach myself. (Some people say I have a fool for an instructor and a bigger fool for a student.) A book from Pogue Press' "Missing Manual" series is helping me greatly.

Anyway, this should take my understanding of HTML (the language that all webpages are built in) from my present 1997 knowledge to roughly ... oh, 1999.

What does this mean to you, our the 500-or-so loyal Almanac readers? Hopefully a cleaner-looking page that loads faster ... and without the fershlugginer frame that currently surrounds the Almanac.

In plain English, you should be able to more easily link to any entry you like. Also, the current clunky filter that rejects many comments will go away. Huzzah!

. . .

Point, Counterpoint: Comments are still coming in on the Mo-Fo Excessway essay. Feel free to add yours. Mark Rauterkus, candidate for Pittsburgh city controller and city council, writes:

The talk of HEAVY RAIL as an alternative would be welcomed. The freight lines can often be diverted. We've got plenty of lines. We have a glut of lines. I think they can live in harmony. Other cities have trains. And the line from McKeesport didn't stop just at Station Square -- it went to Sewickley (years ago).

A few comments, if I can interrupt: First, it's easy to talk about "diverting" freight railroads in the abstract. Try selling that idea to CSX and Norfolk Southern and their stockholders.

CSX alone hauled 160,000 carloads of freight out of Pennsylvania last year, serving 300 different companies. Most of that haulage was through the Mon Valley. The company has five main freight yards in the state; three of them are in the Monongahela and Youghiogheny valleys, including Demmler Yard in McKeesport.

"Diverting" that traffic is a hell of a lot easier said than done, and it would have to be done at the taxpayers' expense. If you think it's hard getting funding and approval to build a highway, try telling people you're going to build a railroad for a private company through their backyard ... and their expense.

Second, "other cities have trains." Yes, notably New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Boston-to-Washington corridor is one of the most-densely populated stretches of land in the Western world. Pittsburgh is not comparable.

Third, there hasn't been passenger service to Sewickley since the 1960s, when the Pennsylvania Railroad discontinued its local commuter service around Pittsburgh, when it was losing thousands of dollars a day ... mainly to Ohio River Boulevard.

I love trains. I think it's a great way to travel. I think it's very efficient and environmentally friendly. I just think it's a pipe dream (although with oil possibly going to $100 a barrel by the end of the year, it becomes more realistic every day).

Mark continues:

PA Turnpike makes new PA toll roads. Go figure. PAT (a bus company) isn't well suited for light rail either. Go figure. We can do better and think again about rail, the rails for human cargo, and freight elsewhere.

I can't argue with any of this. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission builds turnpikes. That's all they know. And as a friend often tells me, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

Alert Reader John M. writes:

$3-some billion in tax money doesn't have a lot to do with the free market. You fight the tide by fighting the tide, otherwise you are just part of it.

I hate to sound like a wiseguy, but I assume you've been to the ocean. You can't fight the tide. You drown.

I want to be convinced that there's a viable alternative to the Mon-Fayette ... or to some limited-access highway serving the Mon-Yough area. It hasn't happened yet.

. . .

Here's a Thought: What if the Mon-Fayette was re-routed from Large to McKeesport out to Monroeville, like the old Route 48 bypass was supposed to go, and avoided Hazelwood, Braddock, Turtle Creek, etc.? Is that crazy?

. . .

Tragedy in Elizabeth: Officials are investigating a suspicious fire in Elizabeth Borough. Fire Chief Lenny Bailey Jr., who was also an Elizabeth councilman, died on his way to the scene of that blaze. Raymond Pefferman has more on Bailey and the investigation in the Daily News.

There's a discussion thread ongoing at the Elizabeth Borough website, where residents can post comments and remembrances; the funeral is set for tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at Bekavac Funeral Home on Second Street in Elizabeth. Requiescat in pace.

. . .

National Affairs Desk: Something about the President's address last night leaped out at me:

The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is "return on success." The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home.

What's he saying? That it's the fault of our American soldiers and Marines that they're still in Iraq? "If only they were more successful," they could come home. So it's their fault, not the President's ... nor the Vice President's, though by many accounts Cheney has micromanaged the Defense Department.

Oh, my aching head. If Bill Clinton had said that, they'd be burning him in effigy in Lafayette Park this morning ... and rightfully so. History is not going to be kind to us for re-electing this man in 2004.

. . .

In Other Business: In the Post-Gazette, Eric Slagle writes about the proposed referendum to change the city charter and allow employees to run for public office.

. . .

To Do This Weekend: State Rep. Bill Kortz hosts a sportsmen's and outdoor expo at The Palisades, Fifth Avenue and Water Street, tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Representatives of the Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen, and other groups will be on hand to answer questions. Refreshments are free; free flu shots will also be administered.

Your Comments are Welcome!

OK, we rolled the new blog out a little sooner than we expected. Any comments left on the dementia.org server will make it over here in a day or two. Thanks for your patience.
Webmaster (URL) - September 15, 2007

“Here’s a Thought: What if the Mon-Fayette was re-routed from Large to McKeesport out to Monroeville, like the old Route 48 bypass was supposed to go, and avoided Hazelwood, Braddock, Turtle Creek, etc.? Is that crazy?”

No. It would be much less expensive than trying to ram another highway into Pittsburgh.

Also to only rail line in these parts that could be easily used for commuter rail is AV RR whose owner actually wants to do it.
Posted by doug at September 14, 2007 10:38 AM
Doug - September 15, 2007

The post says: “First, it’s easy to talk about “diverting” freight railroads in the abstract. Try selling that idea to CSX and Norfolk Southern and their stockholders.”

That is the POINT exactly. I want to TRY to sell the access for passenger rail to the railroads. None have tried.

I heard a rumor a while ago that at least one rail company TRIED to sell off a line to a public entity. The rail folks approached the city and county. They knocked on the door — and the elected officials, bozos that they are, didn’t even engage them in conversation.

Let’s TRY. That’s my point.

The divertion of freight to the abstract isn’t right. There is a glut of lines here. And, not much of what moves through here begins or ends here.

Even, for example, on the South Side — there is a right of way for rail. BUT, the existing freight line only uses ONE rail. There used to be multiple tracks. Plus, there is rail at the river’s edge and more rail at the edge of the hill, just 8 short blocks away.

The railways are not using all the rail capacity. There is a ton of existing capacity. Frail, of course. But, prudent and ripe for a fix up to passenger lines.
Posted by Mark Rauterkus at September 14, 2007 12:13 PM
Mark Rauterkus - September 15, 2007

With all due respect, Mark, I beg to differ. The FRA, DOT, Amtrak and various state and local transit agencies have been “trying” to sell their services to freight railroads for 30-plus years.

Freight railroads do not want passenger trains on their tracks or in their rights-of-way … period. It doesn’t matter if they’re on adjacent tracks.

Part of this is a reaction to the infamous Conrail crash at Chase, Md., in 1987, but mostly they just don’t want to schedule time-sensitive freight around Amtrak, SEPTA, Metro-North, etc.
Posted by Webmaster at September 14, 2007 01:09 PM
Webmaster - September 15, 2007

The only Mckeesport-Pittsburgh rail that would have a chance I think would be Mck to Oakland @ Panther hollow. Since the coke plant closed there isn’t much traffic on the line pass the split of the CSX mainline at Homestead. Oakland being a big employment center this might work well for McK. And it could always be extended to the route 8 corridor in the N. Hills. Take a look at it on Google Earth. Same with running the MoFay to the turnpike at Irwin.
Posted by doug at September 14, 2007 01:41 PM
doug - September 15, 2007

I can get behind the Mon-Fayette Express if planners were to adopt your idea of bypassing Hazelwood, Braddock, etc. The first thing I thought when I read your original post was “I can’t argue with him, but can’t we do this without destroying or damaging several communities and neighborhoods.”
Posted by Jonathan Potts at September 14, 2007 01:43 PM
Jonathan Potts - September 15, 2007

If you think it’s hard pitching a lease option to the railroads, how do you suppose the Turnpike is going to get their cooperation to build the Pittsburgh leg of the MFX? Try driving the proposed right-of-way sometime: an astounding percentage of it lies over railway. It’s much, much more feasible to think about adding passenger rail service on those lines than it is to think about building highway flyovers.

Consider, for example, what’s getting started with a G r e e n sburg commuter rail connection. There’s an annual pot of $50m set aside in Act 44 that’s all about commuter rail projects.

Posted by andrea at September 14, 2007 03:08 PM
andrea - September 15, 2007

“It’s much, much more feasible to think about adding passenger rail service on those lines than it is to think about building highway flyovers.”

But I think it should be a tandem project.
Run the MFX to Irwin(Turnpike-Turnpike) and use the former Baltimore&Ohio rail line to link McKeesport to Oakland and the N.Hills. McKeesport gets better highway access and a commuter rail link to pgh and the N.Hills.

As far as finding an operator for the commuter rail line, Amtrak provides this type of service in CA.
Posted by doug at September 14, 2007 05:02 PM
doug - September 15, 2007

In previous Almanac posts concerning the MFX, I’ve commented, rhetorically asking, “... is this the right project?”
Pedants Corner – http://mckeesport.dementia.org/blog/000616.html

I’ve also stated that without other significant reforms, “... the Mon/Fayette Expressway is simply an unaffordable idea from another time.”
Up The Expressway – http://mckeesport.dementia.org/blog/000812.html

I would certainly consider information that might change my mind — if I could find any. Meanwhile, the case against an expressway is solid. In Build the Mo-Fo Already, “Traveler” calls it the Mon Valley BYPASS. My neighbor, a veteran member of the local planning commission has said exactly the same thing. Andrea of Penn Future presents a strong argument, etc., and so on …

Those looking for an alternative should read the G r a t a Plan: Getting Around: Downsize and get on with Mon-Fayette expressway.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06155/695319-147.stm
It may be a better idea, but it’s not the answer.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, wages of working families in Northeast Ohio have plummeted. That area, with Cleveland as the hub, is crisscrossed with interstate highways. I-76, I-80, I-90, I-71, I-77 and connectors I-480 and I-271 make getting from here to there a breeze. Yet from 2000 to 2006 the region lost 45,500 manufacturing jobs. Ask them if highways are the key to economic development. If the MFX was finished tomorrow, could we compete for sustainable, living wage jobs with more p r o g r e s s i v e regions?

Where is the vision? We need multi-county planning, local government and education reform and an infrastructure that enables a 21st century economy in the region. The SPC’s Southwestern Pennsylvania Plan suggests that we should “adapt and change.” It calls for a multi-modal transportation structure with the “Vast majority of highway, bridge and transit funding dedicated to maintaining and u p g r a d i n g existing infrastructure” using “reasonably expected funding.”

Adapt and change — do you really believe the MFX is what we need?
Posted by Strisi at September 14, 2007 08:34 PM
Strisi - September 15, 2007

A modified MFX is what the hell hole of McK needs.
I rather go to I70 to I79 to the airport than 2 tunnels and a bridge. Get a clue!
Posted by doug at September 14, 2007 08:43 PM
doug - September 15, 2007

In regards to Chief Bailey, Lenny was an expert air cooled VW mechanic. He would appear at many east coast VW shows with his red trailer selling parts and passing out advice. The VW community is in mourning as well. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3439784
Posted by Bill at September 14, 2007 09:08 PM
Bill - September 15, 2007

“A modified MFX is what the hell hole of Mck needs.
I’d rather go I70 to I79 to the airport than 2 tunnels and a bridge. Get a clue.”

I have plenty of clues and I’ll gladly share one with you. The solution to your dilemma is called the Southern Beltway. You want to fund the section from the existing MFX to I-79 in Cecil Township. It’s in stage 5 of PennDot’s 10 step project development process.
http://www.paturnpike.com/MonFaySB/79tomfexpress/map.htm
Posted by Strisi at September 15, 2007 12:41 AM
Strisi - September 15, 2007

Doug and Strisi … easy, fellas. We run a respectable bar here.
Webmaster (URL) - September 15, 2007

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