Jester Hairston, (Composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor, and actor) At an early age he and his family moved to Homestead, PA, where he graduated from high school in 1919.
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum, (Actor) born October 22, 1951, West Homestead, PA.
Curtis John Leskanic, (Boston Red Sox), born April 2 1968, Homestead, PA.
Charles D'Donte Batch, (Pittsburgh Steelers) born December 5, 1971, Homestead, PA.
Tamara Tunie, (Actress) born March 14, 1959, childhood home: Homestead, PA
The 26th AFL-CIO Convention, Sept. 13-17, will convene in a city rich with labor history. Pittsburgh is the birthplace of both the AFL and the CIO, as well as the United Steelworkers (USW), the Ironworkers and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). It also is the site of two legendary strikes—theHomestead steel mill strike in 1892 and the U.S. Steel strike in the 1930s.
[Pittsburgh's] workers and industries had produced incalculable volumes of coal, iron, steel and glass. Its inventors and laborers had been the first to refine oil, manufacture aluminum and create some of the primary mechanisms of electrical generation and distribution. In a stupendous effort, its mills and factories had been the arsenal of democracy, providing much of the muscle that made the United States of America the world’s most powerful nation.
Delegates and guests can view a map of labor history sites within walking distance from the David Lawrence Convention Center, where the convention is meeting. Click here to see the map.
One of the area’s most famous struggles, the Homestead steel mill strike, took place after robber baron Andrew Carnegie assigned Henry Clay Frick the task of breaking the union. Seven workers and three Pinkertons were killed in a riverfront battle and the state militia crushed the strike.
Pittsburgh workers later went on to victory at U.S. Steel, the nation’s largest steel company. Following passage of the New Deal’s National Labor Relations Act, U.S. Steel agreed in 1937 to recognize the CIO’s Steel Workers Organizing Committee. Other steel companies followed suit.
The following year, after the advances of the steelworkers in Pittsburgh, as well as the vast numbers of Pennsylvania and West Virginia miners who had joined the Mine Workers (UMWA), the legendary John L. Lewis told the CIO’s founding convention that
The Pittsburgh area today is the most completely organized of any city or area in industrial America.
Some of the hardest-hit communities in this recession are the towns and cities that have lost jobs in the automobile industry — or worse, saw an entire auto plant close.
It's a predicament the steel towns around Pittsburgh know well. They had to search for new identities after the steel industry buckled in the 1980s.
During a recent visit to the Steel City, I sought out some of the people who brought Pittsburgh through its hardest times to see if there were any lessons to learn.
From Industrial Mill To Waterfront Shopping
In the Pittsburgh suburb of Homestead, I found longtime Mayor Betty Esper. She spent three decades working in U.S. Steel's massive Homestead Works, a sprawling mill across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh that shut down in 1986. She was elected mayor several years after the mill closed.
Esper says her community lost tax revenue during those years with so many people out of work. The town had to slash its budget and cut services.
Over time, Homestead recovered. The key, Esper said, was redeveloping the site of the old mill. It's now a sprawling waterfront shopping and business complex. And the money generated from the property is fueling Homestead's economy — and helping the town weather the current recession.
Esper looks to communities in the Midwest that are losing car manufacturing jobs, or seeing plants close. She says she knows how they're feeling.
"Right now, they're in a dark tunnel. All they see is darkness as far as I can see," she says. "Until the waterfront opened up, then we came to the end of the tunnel and we saw some brightness. I can't tell them how long that tunnel is."
After driving from Pittsburgh west to Dayton, Ohio, I found someone in that very tunnel.
When GM Leaves Town
Jean Matheny is the acting mayor of a small suburb of Dayton. In December, she says, the city of Moraine — and the Dayton region — lost some of its identity when General Motors shut down its Moraine truck assembly plant.
"You're just going to have to part yourself away from being GM, Moraine," Matheny says. "We'll just have to be Moraine with no GM with it. And it's just going to take time to build that up. It's something that's not going to happen overnight."
No two towns or cities are identical. But maybe history has a way of repeating itself. And Matheny is dealing with many of the struggles Esper spoke about back in Homestead. What to do with a vacant factory property? How to make up for lost tax revenues, with so many local people unemployed?
Anticipating that loss in tax dollars this year, the town has made budget cuts across the board. That includes much of the funding for this summer's heritage festival.
"We will survive," Matheny says. "We're a strong little city. I don't look for us to go anywhere, but stay right here and get back on the map."
Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald came to the Carnegie Library of Homestead yesterday bearing a significant gift -- a $150,000 check from the county Department of Economic Development.
The funds came from a Community Development Block Grant and will be used to begin infrastructure improvements in preparation for the installation of an elevator that will make all three floors of the library, built in 1898, accessible to the disabled, said Library Board President Dan Lloyd. The library is still seeking funding for the elevator.
The grant was the second major gift recently received by the historic library, which is actually located in Munhall. The library board plans to soon renovate and enlarge the children's and teen area with a $50,000 grant from the Allegheny Foundation and a $10,000 gift from Janney Investments.
The project will enlarge the current 850-square-foot children's library by about 50 percent, said Mr. Lloyd, who is also a Munhall councilman. He made the announcements at a late-day news conference yesterday at the library.
The new children's area will be across from the new adult reading room the library dedicated in November. The adult room was restored to what officials believe is its original design and the project was funded by grants from the Donald A. Abraham memorial committee and former Homestead native William Campbell, who is chairman of Intuit Inc.
Mr. Lloyd also announced a new web site and new ticket sales service for the Carnegie Library Music Hall, which will be easier for those who want tickets to use and will increase the music hall's profits by about $1,000-$1,500 per show. The web site is www.Librarymusichall.com
The new ticket service will become available as soon as new acts are booked for the hall. For the shows currently booked through May 3, ticket sales are through Ticketmaster.
Yesterday's good news announcements were in contrast to the negative news from the library during 2008, when it experienced a $300,000 drop in its endowment, which prompted the board lay off the executive director, library director and a technical employee of the music hall.
The Carnegie Library of Homestead has received a $50,000 grant from the Allegheny Foundation for the renovation and expansion of the children's library, Dan Lloyd, president of the library's board of directors announced Wednesday.
The Allegheny Foundation, chaired by Tribune-Review owner Dick Scaife, has invested more than $800,000 in the Homestead Library over the past two decades. The library has served residents of Homestead, Munhall, West Homestead and Whitaker since 1898.
"Libraries are critical to the happy, healthy development of young people, which is why the trustees were pleased to make this grant," said Matt Groll, executive director of the Allegheny Foundation.
Homestead Grays owner forged lasting baseball legacy By Justice B. Hill / Special to MLB.com 2/9/09
Who was the best or most influential executive in the history of "black baseball"? In a salute to Black History Month, MLB.com is counting down to the No. 1 executive in the history of the Negro Leagues. More than two dozen people who have written about the Negro Leagues or are passionate about its history submitted their choices. Based on a compilation of their votes, here is a profile of the man who finished No. 3: Cum Posey, owner of the Homestead Grays.
Cum Posey Jr. was destiny's child.
Unlike most black youth at the turn of the 1900s, Posey came from privilege. He was the son of the businessman who found success in Pittsburgh among the growing number of blacks who migrated there from the Deep South in the last decades of the 1800s.
Hailed as a "pioneer of industry," Captain Posey, as the elder Posey was called, left a legacy when he died in 1925 that few sons could have hoped to eclipse. His Diamond Coke and Coal Co. brought him wealth, and this wealth laid the pathway for Posey Jr. to find success in his life, according to Robert Ruck, senior lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh and an authority on the Negro Leagues.
"Given his father's background -- and his father was probably the leading black entrepreneur in Southwestern Pennsylvania and well connected in the black social and fraternal world -- Cumberland Posey grew up in that context," Ruck said. "He absorbed lessons on how to do things."
Yet what were the odds, considering the times, that Posey Jr.'s legacy would eclipse Posey Sr.'s?
Too many obstacles prevented that from happening, right?
Ruck said Posey Jr. never saw obstacles. He was programmed for success, and he succeeded at anything he took on in life. His success would mirror his father's success.
Both would succeed in business. The difference was Posey Jr. forged his Hall of Fame legacy on the baseball diamonds in the heart of Pittsburgh and not inside the coal mines that surrounded the region.
During his life, Posey Jr., the man who owned the Homestead Grays, became what some sports historians have called the most influential owner in the history of "black baseball."
That's high-minded praise to heap on anybody who owned a Negro League team, because more than a handful of owners held great sway when baseball had parallel leagues: one white, one back; separate but equal in so many respects.
In this socio-political climate, Posey used his smarts, the business savvy he inherited from his father, the connections he built with barnstorming basketball teams he owned and the competitive spirit he learned playing basketball and baseball at a white university to turn the Grays into a Negro League dynasty.
"He founded the Grays, basically," said James A. Riley, one of the foremost authorities on the Negro Leagues.
Posey, who wrote a popular column in the black-centric Pittsburgh Courier, took over the Grays when he was in his early 20s, a time when black teams survived as regional powers outside a league structure.
"He was a combination player/manager -- a manager, a road secretary," Riley said. "He could do all things, and he turned them into the professional level."
During those years, in the 1910s, the Grays played as a semi-pro team, but over the years, Posey beefed up the roster with better and better players.
Most teams, including the Grays, were regional, and the best of those teams eventually joined Rube Foster's Negro Leagues. Posey's ambitions couldn't be sated with just being in the league. No, he wanted more -- he wanted to win.
Like Foster, Posey did win. He won because he was an innovator. He was tough -- physically and in his ability to handle conflict. He related to people, from the coal miners to the domestics.
"He was very intelligent," Ruck said. "He used his connections in promoting barnstorming basketball teams. The teams made money, and they created contacts that helped him when he went into baseball."
Those contacts helped Posey, a mulatto, assemble a powerhouse. His 1930 and '31 teams were outstanding. The '31 Grays have often been called the greatest of all Negro League teams.
Posey built the '31 Grays, an independent team that barnstormed the United States, around Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Jud "Boojum" Wilson, Smokey Joe Williams and Willie Foster.
They remained independent until Posey took the franchise to the Negro League in 1937 season. His Grays were no less dominant there than they had been as a barnstorming team.
"The fact that Posey's able to put a winning ballclub on the field and sustain it about as long as any other is remarkable," Ruck said.
Posey put in close to four decades as a baseball owner, but he didn't live long enough to see the color line erased, not that it would have altered his legacy as arguably the most influential owner in the history of the Negro Leagues.
His place in history had been cemented long before he died March 28, 1946.
"In his death," John L. Clark wrote in The Courier, "the race lost one of its most dynamic citizens, baseball lost its best mind, and Homestead lost its most loyal booster." Homestead Grays - Gone But Not Forgotten
Looking for three responsible, reliable, Summer Lunch Site Supervisors; one for each of the three playgrounds in Homestead. Program begins in June and ends in August; approximately 8 weeks. Requires Act 33/34 clearances and pays minimum wage for 4 hours a day, Monday through Friday.
Clearances can be obtained and paid for by the County if papers are submitted early enough.
As a Site Supervisor, you are responsible for:
*Being on time at the scheduled site (10:00 AM)
*Maintaining your meal count by INCREASING or DECREASING daily.
*Serving meals to children 18 & under only. No adults!
*ON-SITE meal service.
*Performing meal count at time of service.
*Taking attendance daily.
*Ordering and serving one meal per child.
*Having meal records and time sheets on site and correctly completed.
*Serving meals ONLY at the time assigned by the office.
*Counting and inspecting meals as soon as they are delivered.
*Taking meal temperatures.
*Keeping meals at the allowable temperature by ordering more ice/coolers.
*Notifying the Central Office immediately if there are any problems.
*Maintaining site cleanliness and keeping garbage away from food.
*Wiping tables and sweeping as needed.
The children that attend the County Summer Lunch Program are all residents of Homestead, and they need someone who cares enough to ensure that each child is fed over the summer months.Please give this serious consideration and call 412-462-7272 or e-mail homesteadwns@aol.comwith a response.
Homestead officials have agreed on a settlement proposal which would change the Steel Valley School District's board of director's election system.
Currently, all nine school board members are elected at-large. That could change by the end of this month. The proposal establishes three voting districts, with one seat elected from each district and six at-large.
Homestead council unanimously approved the settlement at Thursday night's meeting. Council Vice President Lynette Mariner, Councilwoman Susan Titmus and councilmen Jonathan Stewart, Donald Purifoy and the Rev. Donald Turner were present and voted in favor.
Those absent were President Drew Borcik and councilors Jack Myers, Marvin Brown and Georgianetta Miller. Turner said a prayer after the Pledge of Allegiance for Borcik, Myers and Miller, who were dealing with health issues. There was no explanation given for Brown's absence.
Homestead officials filed a petition with the Allegheny County courts attempting to establish a "2-2-2 system," giving residents from Homestead, West Homestead and Munhall a guaranteed two-seat representation on the school board.
The 1-1-1 system settlement proposal was made in late December after months of negotiations, Homestead solicitor Bernie Schneider explained.
The three proposed voting districts are set up in the following manner: one is comprised of Homestead and wards 9, 1, 2 and 3 of Munhall; a second with West Homestead and wards 4 and 5 of Munhall; and a third comprised of Munhall's remaining wards.
District 1 would have more than 4,500 resident; District 2 would have more than 3,300 residents; and District 3 would have almost 4,200.
Homestead Mayor Betty Esper said she's not entirely happy with the agreement, but wants to move forward.
"We're just going along with the flow," she said. "Why should we be happy? We pay taxes. We're going along with it. They're not giving us that board (seat), we have to run for that board ... It doesn't give us the seats. It gives us an advantage."
"It ought to make the election interesting," Mariner said. "We'll have at least one person on it, so that will be a good thing."
Stewart encourages borough residents to take an active role in the district election process in order to ensure a voice from the borough is heard.
Your used printer cartridges and cell phones can Make a Difference We are helping keep the earth clean while earning new equipment and cash. You can help us earn even MORE by saving used cartridges and cell phones!
Help us to recycle cell phones and used cartridges! Our reasons are twofold, one to help the environment and the other to raise funds for special police equipment.
All cell phones/used ink cartridges can be dropped off at the Homestead Police Station at 140 East 9th Ave.
The Salvation Army Steel Valley/Homestead Corps is hosting their annual New Year's Eve Celebration on Wednesday December 31, 2008 from 6:00 pm to 1:00 am.
Happy New Year!
Events: 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Worship Service
7:00 pm - Midnight Fun, Food and Fellowship. Movies, Games, Tournaments, Food, Refreshments, Popcorn, Play in the Pittsburgh Steelers Youth Fitness Zone.
Midnight New Year's Countdown
FREE! All Welcome! Fun for the Whole Family! Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Salvation Army Steel Valley Worship and Service Center 104 E. 9th Ave. Homestead, PA 15120
Captains Keith & Katherine Jache, Steel Valley Commanding Officers (412) 461-2460
Every item is handmade; e.g., hats, purses, scarves, bookmarks, a collection of prints by George Nama to name a few.Hope to see you there. Free gift wrapping with purchase. www.steelvalleyarts.orgsteelvalleyartscouncil@comcast.net Happy Holidays.
Mon Valley residents can experience the area's historic past while looking out upon present-day developments from the new adult reading room at the Carnegie Library of Homestead.
The room, which has been restored to what library officials believe is its original design, sits in the front of the 110-year-old library and overlooks what was once the massive U.S. Steel Homestead Works, now the site of the sprawling retail and entertainment complex, The Waterfront.
That room design was taken from a black-and-white photo of the room that library officials believe dates to about 1920.
The project was completed and dedicated last month and was financed by grants from the Donald A. Abraham Memorial committee and former Homestead native William Campbell.
Mr. Abraham was a popular state legislator from the area who was killed in a car accident in 1978. Mr. Campbell is chairman of Intuit Inc. and a major benefactor to projects in the Mon Valley area.
Library officials have not released a total cost on the project.
The lamps and other items in the reading room were made to replicate those from the 1920s photo by an Oregon firm called Rejuvenation, said Eddie Wehrer, a library board member involved in the restoration project.
"We sent them pictures and dimensions and they worked from that," Mr. Wehrer said.
The restoration included uncovering a fireplace and the rebuilding of the woodwork and mantel.
The outside vent to the fireplace had been closed, so artificial logs sit in its hearth. Two chairs and a table and lamp sit in front of the fireplace and two lamps sit on the mantel, making it a bright place to sit and read.
Also restored was the hardwood floor in the room, which had been covered with layers of carpet and padding. Volunteers ripped up the old carpet.
"It was very hard, dirty, nasty work, but the volunteers who did it saved the project about $7,000," Mr. Wehrer said.
The walls of the room are covered with wooden bookshelves filled with adult fiction. Various chairs, tables and lamps are set for reading.
The black-and-white photo used as a model for the restoration sits on an easel at the entrance to the room to show visitors that the space has been restored almost completely to its original design.
The project started Aug. 30 when volunteers and librarians began dismantling and moving items from the room.
"The librarians oversaw the process, but most of the work was done by volunteers and board members. It was a real joint venture between board members, community volunteers and the contractors," Mr. Wehrer said.
It was dedicated Nov. 14 as part of the ceremony for the first-ever Steel Valley Hall of Fame induction.
"I think it's something the community can really be proud of," Mr. Wehrer said. "It keeps the original intent but makes sure it's a place that makes good, productive use for patrons in the 21st century."
The Steelers scored enough points to beat the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday at Heinz Field.
On Tuesday, many of those players made a push to score more donations for Toys for Tots so that unfortunate children will have a merry Christmas.
Quarterback Charlie Batch and teammates Justin Vincent, Carey Davis, Dennis Dixon, Chris Kemoeatu, Dallas Baker, Ryan Mundy and other players gathered at the UPS Store in the Waterfront to accept donations and sign autographs as part of the Best of the Batch Foundation's fourth year of partnering with Toys for Tots.
"It's big," Batch said of Tuesday's event. "This is something that we've been doing for the past couple years. It's always grown. So it's just great to be a part of it."
The line of people waiting outside the store stretched for at least a quarter mile, wrapping around the Rock Bottom restaurant. Some came just to donate, and others came just for autographs.
"This event is only as good as what the fans make it, and it's just something that's great to be part of," Batch said.
The youngest fan in line, and one of the first through the door, was 8-month-old Christina Cherevka of Munhall. She sat down with Batch while her mother Gemma and grandmother Kathy Cherevka took pictures.
"My kids like sports and I like the fun of it," Kathy Cherevka said.
"It's exciting. (Christina) gets to meet Steelers," Gemma said.
The Cherevka family has made it a family holiday tradition to donate to Toys for Tots. This is the fourth straight year they've attended Batch's event.
Don't forget the Best Christmas Parade in the Valley!
We need the Spirit of Christmas more today than ever before. Leave your troubles on the doorstep and come join us for a few hours of holiday spirit! The Historic Steel Valley Parade is this Saturday December 6th. Starting at noon there will be entertainment all along 8th Avenue.
The parade route will be alive with entertainment from numerous local bands and marching units, floats, school groups, scouts, mini-cars and clowns greeting children of all ages. In celebration of the City of Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary, we are respectfully saluting our neighbors with participation from a few “true” Pittsburgher’s in this years Parade.The parade Grand Marshal, Mr. McFeeley of Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood (who is celebrating his 40th year of entertaining our children) will be joined by other local television personalities and dignitaries.
United States Steel Corporation is once again sponsoring the Valley’s premiere holiday event. The parade will start in West Homestead and move along 8th Avenue to Shop N Save where Santa Claus will be available for photographs.
In the true ‘Steel Valley Spirit”, there will be a food drive to benefit local food pantry’s that serve our neighbors. You can help by bringing donations of canned goods, non-perishable items and toiletries to the Parade Reviewing Stand, located at the intersection of 8th. Ave. and Ann Street.
Other activities that will keep our spirits warm include: ·Holiday music before the Parade at the corner of 8th and Ann Street ·Artist’s Holiday Market at the Artspace 105, hosted by the Steel Valley Arts Council.There will be free hot chocolate and cookies available. ·8th Ave. Place located at 101 E. 8th will be serving coffee & cookies free of charge ·Walgreen’s will be selling coffee for five cents a cup and icees will be available for $1.00.·
Vendors will be selling their wares along the Avenue to add to the festive atmosphere.
So bundle up the children and join your neighbors for an hour of great entertainment, laughs and smiling faces …. a great way to kick off the holiday season in the Valley!
Please Join Us As Our Seasonal Windows Come to Life With Light And Performance In Celebration of Homestead's Re-Emerging Historic Business District
Friday, December 12, 7:00PM The Avenues in Homestead The 200 Block of East Eighth Avenue, Homestead, PA 15120
Stop by 213-215 E. 8th upon arrival for a map and full schedule The Windows Go Live at 8pm Festivities ongoing from 7pm include
Tours of Building Renovations & Completed Spaces Live-Work Lofts, Commercial, Green Roof Entrepreneureal Information Exchange & Empowerment For Those Intersted in Opportunities on the Avenues Live Local Music, Holiday Films, and Fine Art Wine Tasting, Gourmet Treats, and Abundant Cheer Shopping on the Avenues For Vintage Design and Architectural Treasures See You Soon On The Avenues Dress Warm!
More people hungry, less food available, organizer says
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 By Margaret Smykla
Rainbow Kitchen Community Services receives most of its food from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, where it is a member agency.
But to completely stock its popular breakfast program, food pantries and Kids Cafe, the Homestead kitchen also must rely on donations.
In tough economic times, however, people are less willing -- or able --to give even though the number of those seeking assistance grows.
"There is less food available, yet more people needing it, so we have to stretch what we have,'' said Donna Little, executive director.
Rainbow Kitchen is a nonprofit that seeks donations year-round to help low-income individuals and families.
Its next effort will be the annual Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, which is open to everyone. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Rainbow Kitchen, 135 East Ninth Ave., Homestead.
The meal of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole and more will be prepared and served by the boys basketball team at The Neighborhood Academy, a college-preparatory high school for low-income students.
Last year's Thanksgiving dinner drew about 100 diners.
Rainbow Kitchen was founded in 1984 in response to the closing of the local steel mills, which displaced hundreds of families in the Steel Valley.
Its beneficiaries are single parents of young children who are unable to make ends meet; the unemployed and under-employed; needy seniors on a low fixed income; latch-key children in need of a hot meal; and the ill or disabled who are in chronic need.
"We're not just a soup kitchen,'' Ms. Little said.
Programs include a recently completed winter coat drive, tax assistance, case management services, anti-hunger initiatives, medical assistance, transportation and a holiday gift distribution. It also serves as host site for educational and informational presentations.
For the holiday gift distribution, toys are being collected at St. Therese of Lisieux Church in Munhall.
Aid also can be given by staging a nonperishable food drive or for collections of paper products, Ms. Little said.
Volunteers willing to give of their time and talents are invaluable to the organization, she said. And, money is always needed.
"We are really, really grateful to accept cash donations," she said.
Monetary donations can be sent to Rainbow Kitchen, 135 East Ninth Ave., Homestead, 15120. For more information on how you can help, visit www.rainbowkitchen.org.
Young Life is selling Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit and Navel Oranges.The donation for each 20 pound box is $18 and $19. A mixed box is also $19.00. Fruit can be picked up on Saturday, Dec. 6th at the Lamb of God Church, 10th & Ann Street, Homestead.
Orders can be placed by calling 412 462-1619. Young Life will deliver for an additional $2.00.
Young Life is a faith based organization that reaches out to adolescents through volunteers, staff, club meetings and camps by building meaningful relationships.
