Category Archives: News

The first bites are taken out of The Main as Sgt. Kennedy monitors the situation from Chestnut St.

Last month, with some melancholy, I reported on the imminent demise of The Main Hotel.  Like a neighbor who has been sitting next to a death bed, I can say now that The Main is gone.  It is no more.  And like the amputee who still feels those missing toes, I will still look over to that empty space and see The Main sitting there as it did for 107 years.  Carol Brown at the PG caught notice of my blog and included it in her story about The Main.

I view the destruction of The Main as a collective community failure.  Many old buildings, if structurally sound, are renovated and repurposed.  Certainly it was feasible to save The Main.  But the community will was absent.  The community didn’t view it as something to be saved.  We have a strong sense of private property in America, and that leads us to believe that people can do with their property whatever they please.  Sometimes those private property rights will conflict with the community interests and this is always controversial subject.  Certainly this was the case when the UP church on Washington Ave was purchased and converted into a nightclub.  Likewise, the purchaser of The Main had the right to renovate the building, sell it, raze it, or do nothing at all with it.  And he exercised that right.  And now a community landmark is gone.

My concern over the loss of The Main isn’t just foolish sentimentality.  Our local leaders (including myself) are marketing our borough to potential businesses and residents all over the county.  And a main feature of that marketing effort is emphasizing our “small town” atmosphere and our quaint, old-time feel.  In an article about our Thomas Espy Civil War Veterans Post, the Washington Post said of our town, “Its picture-perfect Main Street looks as though it has been lifted from a model railroad”.

We think they are right and we think that people will come to Carnegie for that.  However, my point is that last week we lost a building from the model railroad set.  What will be next?  The old Post Office, maybe?  If I’m not mistaken, every building on Main Street is privately owned except for Husler Hall, the home of the Carnegie Historical Society.  So, really, what is the future of our model railroad set?  I’d be interested in your thoughts.

More pictures can be found here; click

Each year for the past 16 years we have looked forward to the Annual Hoops for a Cure basketball game.  This project is the work of Adrienne Arenson, a long time member of the Carnegie Shul.  Adrienne started this charity event when she lost her husband to pancreatic cancer.  During these 16 years her charity has raised over $1 million for cancer research.

So, mark your calendars for Friday, April 15.  As always the big match is between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chartiers Valley Faculty.  Tickets are $7.  Raffle tickets are an additional $10, and like last year, the grand prize is 2 tickets to the next Super Bowl.

If you have ever known someone with pancreatic cancer, you know that the survivability is low.  This particular form of cancer is often found too late for effective treatment.  I personally lost a close friend to pancreatic cancer.  He was only 52.  And I have two acquaintances in Minnesota who, right now, are suffering with this cancer.  The prognosis for both of them, I’m sorry to say, is not very good.  So, I will be at the game.  And I will be hoping that someday the team at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center will find a cure.

See the flyer by clicking here, Hoops for a Cure.  Pass this on to your friends.

be well, and good Shabbos,
Rick

The story of Charles Kaufman is an interesting one.  I did not know him, nor did anyone at the shul ever mention his name to me.  Stan knew every Jew in Carnegie, but I don’t believe he knew of Mr. Kaufman.  I’m sure he would have told me if he did.

It’s fascinating to me to compare the difference between old and new lifestyles.  Mr. Kaufman was a multi-millionaire, yet lived in a simple apartment.  When he died, he left all his money ($50M) to foundations dedicated to the community good and the advancement of science.  I am not surprised that he was living in Carnegie.  It was not unusual to find hidden millionaires in our town.  At one time there were many wealthy people in Carnegie, but you wouldn’t have known it from looking at their homes.  They lived in modest little brick homes; their kids grew up sharing cramped bedrooms.  I suppose their lifestyle was a result of growing up during the Depression.  They knew what it was like to have little or nothing, and therefore, even when the economy was booming they were frugal— always anticipating that another Depression was right around the bend.  Younger people today (including myself) are numbered among those who “knew not the Great Depression”.  Those who have wealth are spending it on ostentatious homes, fancy cars, and lavish vacations.  They will not have $50 million of spare change laying around to donate to a foundation, and if they did, they would leave it to their kids so that they too can have expensive homes and lavish vacations.

This is the nature of modern society.  Success is measured by the amount of stuff you have, not the quality of the life you lived.  We see it all around us.  Even today for example: taxes on the wealthy are the lowest they’ve been in 50 years, falling from 91% during the Eisenhower administration to the current 35%.  Yet the number one priority for our federal government is to reduce taxes for the richest Americans.  I suppose it wouldn’t be such a big deal if all wealthy people were like Mr. Kaufman, giving back their wealth to the community when they died.  But the fact is that people like Mr. Kaufman are becoming more rare each passing day, and our country will be poorer for it.

See the full story in the Post Gazette.