Save or demolish St. Nicholas? Think again!
Share with others:
Two days separated two very different decisions on two Pittsburgh landmarks, and if you're finding it all just too, too much -- hey, I'm here to help.
To demolish or not to demolish? That is the question facing the powers-that-be -- for the umpteenth time regarding the Civic Arena and for the first time regarding St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church.
On Sept. 7, the Historic Review Commission voted to deny the Millvale parish's request to demolish the vacant church that stands on Route 28, siding -- for now -- with the preservation and re-use crowd.
But on Sept. 9, a federal judge dismissed the preservationists' last-ditch effort to save the iconic arena -- though three days after that, he ordered a 10-day demolition delay to give the preservationists time to appeal.
Whiplash? I know! If you've been following the years of back-and-forth over the arena, you've risked long-term damage to your neck.
But the far greater damage to us average Pittsburghers has been the assault on history and logic. Sometimes the double-speak has made our brains hurt. Can we really be expected to go through this again?
Here's a sample exchange, in case you've managed to banish it from your minds. Preservationists: "The arena deserves historic designation because it hosted many historical figures and events, including Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Barack Obama and U2." Sports & Exhibition Authority: "No, it didn't."
Any English lit major could paraphrase the testimony at the arena "hearings," add a little Friday Night SmackDown color to our city's drab kangaroo court reality and be hailed as a latter-day Orwell. I smell a Pulitzer! (For fiction, of course. No one could believe these events are fact.)
Thank goodness the Sports & Exhibition Authority isn't involved in the St. Nicholas debate! Just to be safe, though: If you personally witnessed any reluctant baby turning a baptism into a mini-wrestling match, keep the information to yourself -- we don't want to give the SEA any opening.
We the people will have enough to do just keeping tabs on those legitimately involved.
Speaking of which, my neighborhood lies adjacent to Troy Hill, where St. Nicholas stands, so our community council -- of which I am, for now, the president -- filed a request with PennDOT to become a "consulting party" on this matter. But our council has taken no stand because our members are very divided and emotionally torn by it.
First Published September 19, 2011 12:00 am
