Small Town , Pennsylvania- Monessen , was passing throughSubmitted by toddnkaya1 t3_11lz9gr in Pennsylvania
dr_xenon t1_jbf2tfv wrote
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/monessen-building-collapse/
Watch out for falling buildings.
It’s a shame what’s happened to that town. In the 50’s and 60’s it was booming. My mother graduated from Monessen High school in the 50’s with about 300 students. Now they barely have 50.
Robocop and Striking Distance were both filmed in Monessen.
Tom Savini has a special effects school at Douglas Business there.
Frances McDormand graduated from Monessen HS.
The Coolio song “I Remember” has the line “runnin through the streets of Monessen PA.” He wasn’t from here, but someone in his band was.
That’s all I can think of for now.
FiveNations54 t1_jbf4acd wrote
There's a big push in Westmoreland now for code enforcement/blight remediation, so hopefully Monessen gets swept up in that.
dr_xenon t1_jbf81rj wrote
It’s easy to say “just tear down all the old buildings”, but there’s a big expense in tearing it down and acquiring the property from the owner. Local government can’t just take your property. If the owners keep paying the taxes, you have to make a deal with them to keep it. Brownsville is the same way.
Excelius t1_jbfj5xm wrote
There's established procedures for that kind of thing, the bigger problem is money. Demolition isn't cheap and a lot of small towns can't afford it without outside help.
Probably every couple of weeks you'll see a story in the Tribune Review about some town in Westmoreland County using state/county funds to tear down some blighted properties. It's very common.
Here's one from last week regarding Vandergrift. Here's one from Greensburg in December. Arnold tore down ten buildings last year, New Ken tore down a dozen in 2021 and another ten in 2020.
Alternative-Flan2869 t1_jbif6ek wrote
Brownsville could use some of that blight remediation - Charleroi too.
Bucs-and-Bucks t1_jbfpqg6 wrote
One of my goals in life is to spend as little time in Monessen as possible. Doing pretty good at that over the past 15 years now.
tonytroz t1_jbfhy1a wrote
>The Coolio song “I Remember” has the line “runnin through the streets of Monessen PA.” He wasn’t from here, but someone in his band was.
He was actually born in Monessen. It seems he claimed he was born in LA at times and some sources ran with it.
nouveau_user t1_jbg83t7 wrote
yup: 58% voted for oz, 52% for mastriano.
edit- not that the current administration is going to help them any more than those 2
memberjan6 t1_jbfil7i wrote
There are so many old buildings across Europe. It's like they found a solution. I have no idea what.
dr_xenon t1_jbg9tm3 wrote
Keep them occupied and maintained. A few years abandoned and neglected and the roof starts to go or windows break. Once the weather starts to get in it’s all over.
BurghPuppies t1_jbjqund wrote
Isn’t Monessen the town where they were giving away unoccupied homes for FREE if the new owner would catch the property up on back taxes?
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