Downtown downturn
On a recent afternoon, young men and women regularly made grand entrances into Kool Kutz — the apparent place to be in McKeesport. Guys would slap then shake hands with Laneal Phifer and other barbers at the Fifth Avenue shop, before getting a haircut or just tuning in to the barbershop vibe.
These festive interactions, ringing with personality, energy, humor and lots of razzing, occurred as people received skillful shaves, haircuts and braids. It was almost a ritual and routine designed to raise spirits during these troubled times.
Mr. Phifer, 40, a McKeesport native who holds a cosmetology degree, put down his clippers to discuss his hometown, where, he said, “Everyone knows everyone.” That human network is the city’s best attribute, he said, calling the barbershop, owned by Corry Sanders, “the heart and soul of the city.”
“A lot of people walk through here to see what’s happening,” he said. “We get breaking news first about anything happening in the city.” Unfortunately, much of the news and talk since April has been four street homicides, including the shooting death of a 14-yearold.
From 2010 through 2015, there were 34 murders in McKeesport.
Outside the barbershop doors, history has taken its toll on the city. Jobs are few. Resources are scant. U.S. Steel’s Duquesne plant and National Tube Works, which have closed, provided jobs and financial energy to the city. The city now has lost two-thirds of its peak 1940 population of 55,000, leaving residents to work low-paying jobs to survive, often at a subsistence level.
“I was raised here,” said Mr. Phifer, who graduated from McKeesport High School and lived in a twoparent household with his father serving as an assistant chief of police during a 30-year police career. He acknowledges he’s one of the lucky few.
Hope recently arose with PurePenn LLC’s announcement that it will build a medical marijuana production and distribution center in McKeesport, attracting an estimated 1,000 job applications for the 20 to 40 available positions.
The city does have some streets lined with handsome homes, with flower beds and white fences. Its school district now features the new Twin Rivers Elementary/Intermediate School whose unique architecture has garnered national attention. It also spends nearly the same amount of money per student as does Upper St. Clair, with a student-to-teacher ratio of 13-1, compared with 101 in Upper St. Clair.
Still, Mr. Phifer says, he’s regretting his decision to stay in his hometown, where 34 percent of residents now live in poverty with the average housing price of $47,100 — nearly a sixth of Upper St. Clair’s. Some residents can’t afford to stay — or leave.
“I’ll be square with you,” he said. “This is not about skin color. People in control of resources don’t want to let those resources out. They need to open up more and let resources flow here for blacks and whites.”
“Everybody has to have some hustle to make money to survive here,” he added. “Some towns have more passion