Tony Landy is sitting on one of three chrome stools at the Hockey Brothers auto parts store on Braddock Avenue, waiting to see how much it will cost to fix his car.
For most of his life, the 61-year-old in work clothes from a factory nine miles down the river in Pittsburgh has called Braddock home. Randy fondly recalls growing up as one of his 13 children surrounded by this once vibrant community.
“This town was just that place,” Randy said. “Bradock Avenue has four or five shops on every block on either side of the street, with shoe stores, clothes stores, menswear stores, restaurants, hairdressers, barbers, grocers, and just about anything you can think of. There was a store of sorts. Nothing there.”
He points to a desolate, crowdless street that he says he once walked shoulder to shoulder with to get from one place to another.
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“Oh, and the streetlights lit up the place like a parade was going on,” he recalled Braddock in the ’60s and ’70s.
It was once a bustling neighborhood of 20,000 people. Residents did not have to leave the city limits to eat, enjoy entertainment, or go to church or school. Less than 1,700 people live in Braddock today. Most businesses, places of worship and educational institutions are gone. Even the heart of the community, the beloved Braddock Hospital, was knocked to the ground.
Democratic candidate for US Senate, John Fetterman, began his political career in 2005 when he ran for mayor and received 149 votes. He stayed for two more terms before resigning in 2019 to become lieutenant governor under Governor Tom Wolfe.
Now running against Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, he’s betting on the image that everyone who saved this small town will get him all the way to Washington.
Fetterman boasts, “As Mayor Braddock and Chief Law Enforcement Officer, I worked with the Chief of Police, officers, and the community to reduce violent crime.”But from 2005 to his 2018 data, violent crime actually Rose under his leadership.
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He also said that despite years of not paying his own school district taxes to fund one of the poorest districts in the state, he “secures the funding our public schools need.” In addition, Braddock’s population declined significantly during his mayoral tenure, dropping by 25.9% between 2000 and 2010, and another 20.3% between 2010 and 2020.
Raised in York, Pennsylvania, Fetterman was born to teenage parents. His father became a highly successful partner in an insurance company. Twenty-two years ago, fresh out of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Fetterman came to Braddock to start a youth program.
Now 53, with a 6-foot-8 linebacker build, shaved head, beard, tattoos, and a penchant for hoodies and cargo shorts, Fetterman has a progressive hero legend far from the truth, according to locals. I made it up.
In fact, there are many holes in the hopeful story of a young mayor saving this small Rust Belt town. And no one has been more disappointed than the people who live here.
Randy laughs at Fetterman’s story.
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“What did you bring back? Life? Come on. Look around. There is no life here, nothing is being rebuilt, no one is bringing anything back. Things are getting worse,” he said. said of Braddock.
Randy said he wanted the Fetterman legend to be true. “That’s true, but we can’t undo this, and to say that our lives are better because of him is an insult to the people who live here.
Walking through the Braddock Avenue business district in the shadow of the massive ironworks that have dominated the skyline since the 1880s, it’s hard to dispute Randy’s assessment.
Not so long ago, Braddock Avenue was lined with hundreds of stores, including Barney’s Clothing Store, Isaly’s Deli, Brandywine Grill, Ohlinger Furniture Store, and more. Today, more than a dozen businesses remain. Many more buildings have been boarded up or demolished, and vacant lots show their former existence like solemn cemeteries.
The Superior Motors restaurant, which Fetterman brought here with star chef Kevin Souza and placed on the ground floor of his home, closed less than four years ago. Brew, which he attracted in 2014, his Gentleman Brewery, is open only three days a week from 4pm to 9pm, and is fully open on Saturdays at 1pm. Open from 12:00 to 9:00 pm.
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“I’ve been there a few times, but these days it’s always closed,” Randy said of the brewery.
As a cultural information facilitator at the Braddock Carnegie Library, Mary Carey has been deeply involved in the community throughout her adult life. She said she held no ill will toward the former mayor who still lives here, but she disputes his story that he made the borough better. increase.
“Job creation, what job creation? You mean that family dollar store over there?” she said, pointing to a discount variety store on an empty street.
Carrie praised Fetterman’s wife, Giselle, for being in town, but said even the much-reported community garden is going through a difficult time.
“We have a lot of community gardens here. [But] If you walked past them now, you wouldn’t think it was a garden because no one was taking care of it. came and created them and once they were gone…” she said, her voice fading away.
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The office Fetterman has held here for nearly 20 years has little power. The mayor is responsible for overseeing public safety and can be a tiebreaker on parliamentary votes. But that didn’t stop Fetterman from running into problems beyond his control.
In 2010, surveillance footage caught him in the middle of the night, changing the sign at Club 804 Nightclub, which read “Opening Soon Under New Management” to “Closed and Not Opening Soon”, telling the owner that they has sent a message that they are not welcome.
Fetterman told the local press at the time: “He had no right to touch our property,” said Cardell Collins, owner of Club 804.
Three years later, Fetterman chased an innocent black jogger after he said he heard gunshots while playing outside with his children. The unarmed man was detained until the arrival of the
After each incident, he simply shrugged off legal responsibility. To this day, Fetterman has never publicly apologized.
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Meanwhile, borough records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show he missed at least 53 borough council meetings in his first three years in office, peaking at 11 in 2011. It was 9 times in 2015.
Fetterman, an advocate for Pennsylvania’s public schools, has also faced harsh criticism for failing to pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes to the Woodland Hills School District on time. The school district imposed more than 30 liens against Fetterman for unpaid property taxes from 2006 to his 2019, and he sued him twice. It took him six years to pay them off.
No one in Braddock holds a grudge against Fetterman for coming from a wealthy background or for his parents paying his salary until he was 49. After all, the mayor only makes $150 a month. All they care about is him pretending to be something he isn’t.
It is true that Braddock’s best years peaked between the 1920s and 1950s, and the town declined as factory workers began to earn more money and moved in and out for a better life. But no one, including Fetterman, had figured out how to keep the community thriving. .
Bob Portugallo, owner of Peppers Nut on Braddock Avenue, said he opened the restaurant and bar in 2016 without notice or assistance from the mayor.
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Portogallo laughed and said he wasn’t surprised. “Well, I morning He shrugged and said, “I didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms.”
When asked to discuss Fetterman’s achievements in the Borough, his campaign offered no comment.
A block down from Pepper’s N’at, Ted Abel works on cars greased up to his elbows at his body shop, Ted’s Auto.
Living in the Pittsburgh area near Swisshelm Park, Abel owns one of the few bustling small businesses still operating here. His wife is behind one of the others, the Mele Brothers & Sister Florists, who lost a lot of business when the hospital was demolished.
Abel said he had no political bones in his body, but is curious that he’s never seen Fetterman walking down town.
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“I never met him,” he said. “He never met him.”
“All of the handful of companies that have made it through and stayed here [Fetterman] I don’t pay attention to,” he added.
“I’m sorry, but if I were mayor, I would visit every business that was in the town I was in. There aren’t that many businesses left. It’s not that hard. I could visit all the businesses.” one day.”