The Gigantic Mayor of Braddock Pennsylvania

Muskegon Critic's diary ::

The old buildings in Braddock Pennsylvania are very literally collapsing into the streets. When a heavy storm or a stiff wind comes along, another rotting two or three story brick building groans its last groan and falls in on itself, scattering rubble and steel. When I was there for a tour of this borough in Eastern Pittsburgh our bus had to make a small detour around a road obstructed by the remains of a building.

Once a steel town, this city lost 90% of its population in the space of a lifetime. When the steel mills moved out for a bit more profit, the city, settled before the foundation of America, lost 90% of its business, 90% of its building occupancy, and 90% of its population.

Collapse. From 20,000 citizens to 2,800. Poverty. People were killing each other for pizza money.


This is America in the rust belt region. This America is peppered with crumbling, devastated communities. Cities that grew to meet the workforce, transportation, and infrastructure needs of business, only to see the profitable businesses pull up roots and leave in pursuit of a little more profit. In Muskegon, citizens ponied up millions in additional taxes for an expanded and more expensive waste water treatment facility to meet the needs of the Paper Mill, then saw the paper mill owners shutter the plant, sticking the community with the vast maintenance of this large water treatment facility.

It happens all the time here, but more dramatically in Braddock with crumbling buildings, and a vast majority of empty houses. Don't imagine Braddock is a ghost town in the middle of nowhere. It's a borough on the Eastern side of Pittsburgh. While many rust belt cities like Detroit and Flint are experiencing population declines of 50% in a lifetime, Braddock experienced a population decline of 90%.
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I'd argue that the COMMUNITY is the critical component whether its mobile or stationary, and moving without community is unhealthy.

One of the things that impressed me most about the friggin huge mayor of Braddock is the tattoo on his right arm, inked in harsh, stylized form with the numbers 15104, the zip code of Braddock.

The numbers are there as if to say "I won't leave you." He has permanently marked his flesh with a Commitment to Place. A Commitment to a Community. Underscoring that, his home is in the center of town. A $2000, dark, gothic trimmed converted warehouse where a steel kitchen table holds a bowl of shiny, colorful gum balls and a green baby swing nestled in a gray cinder-block corner.

He has taken this town and has mobilized the citizens and surrounding communities to help clear the land of collapsed buildings. He is organizing kids to plant and create vegetable gardens on the empty lots to create what are now called the Braddock Farms; organic farms creating fresh produce in the middle of an urban borough of Pittsburgh.

Square foot by square foot, rubble from disintegrated buildings is cleared with pitch forks and shovels and replaced with raised beds for beets, tomatoes, peppers, kohlrabi, cabbage, green beans. A post industrial community, riddled with crime and despondence is slowly, slowly, reverting to a more agricultural society -- and the once drifting, directionless teens find a purpose and sense of of community in a town almost left for dead but for an amazing and brilliant man with a vast heart who chose to stick with this community.


An abandoned church undergoing renovation contains signs that say "What do you think when you see an empty building, empty lots, and people with nothing to do? We see untapped resources."


My impression is that revenues from the Braddock Farms, from vegetables sold to restaurants in Pittsburgh and sold at farmers markets, are used to pay youth to improve the city...creating more farmland, or renovating empty, stable houses which can be used to house young adults with no other housing options. Rooms in these homes are given to youth in perpetuity. The renovated space is their home. Forever if they choose.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/19/768588/-The-Gigantic-Mayor-of-Braddock-Pennsylvania-

Good on him...

It's a shame that he has so much that needs to be done. It's a shame the town is in such bad shape. But good for him for tackling all of it and being so innovative and resourceful. :)

This city coming together is an inspiration.

I knew some very fine people from North Braddock.

Pittsburgh will always be my favorite city.

I'm glad the "renaissance" is finally reaching Braddock.

and kudos to the mayor for the farms and what he is doing.

it's location close to the city makes it an ideal place to live as people become more eco-focused.

To be honest, cleaning up Braddock and removing the blight of dilapidated buildings will eventually bring good things to them.

My Grandparents lived there until they died. I remember when Main Street was bustling with activity from bakeries to bars. My Dzedo (Grandpa) and I would walk up one side of Main Street and down the other on Saturdays (all dressed up of course). It was a social event. It would take us hours as he stopped to talk to every shop owner and people he met on the street.

The mayor has a passion and vision. I wish I had enough money to help him with his dream.

More on him here:

A hulk of a man at 6-foot-8 and 300-plus pounds, Mr. Fetterman is a striking and charismatic figure, with his bald head, goatee and master's degree in public policy from Harvard University. A York, Pa., native, he came to Braddock in 2001 to work with AmeriCorps, grew to love the community and ran for office in 2005, winning by a single vote.

Mr. Fetterman earns $150 month for the part-time mayor's job. As for other income, he said he gets financial support from his family.

Many of his efforts have focused on youth. He started the Braddock Youth Project and the Braddock Community Garden. He ran a program, which still exists today, to help young people obtain their GEDs. Next month, a duplex and adjacent house he purchased and refurbished will serve as housing for six youth, who at 18, are too old for foster care.

He has been instrumental in attracting new businesses to Braddock, including a furniture maker and Fossil Free Fuel, a company that retrofits cars to run on vegetable oil. He also helped organize the "Welcome to Historic Braddock" community mosaic project.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09058/952020-85.stm#ixzz0OjWNgcIK

as soon as the powers to be in Pennsylvania get a chance, they're gonna swoop in and kill the dream. I hate to be a naysayer, but growth & renovation, for the people type things just don't sit well with those with large amounts of money.

I hope the best for the mayor, I just think things will kick him in the nutz down the road.

and a big round of applause for the mayor and the citizens making this work. :applause: