been telling you people just how bad the town of Braddock, PA is and that for a PGH resident it is impossible to believe the Democratic party would have put their Senate seat in the hands of a slum lord profiting off of the money the govt will give him for running a ghetto and, of course, keeping it a ghetto. suddenly now that his campaign breaks down someone writes about Braddock and speaks to the current mayor. wild how that happens, eh?
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miaca...tterman-depressed-home-town-braddock-n2614976
Here’s How the Town John Fetterman Supposedly Saved Is Doing Today
Mia Cathell | October 26, 2022 6:00 AM
John Fetterman is unwell, and so is the small town he claims to have revitalized.
This weekend, I walked
the desolate streets of Braddock, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh-area borough where the Democratic candidate was the hot-shot progressive mayor for more than a decade. There, I chatted with a few Braddock residents and local officials about Fetterman, the steel town's self-proclaimed savior now seeking a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.
The first thing I noticed trekking through Braddock: There weren't many Fetterman signs.
"You will not ride around and see a lot of Fetterman signs," chuckled
former Braddock Mayor Chardaé Jones, who succeeded Fetterman after he left his $150-a-month gig in the mayoral office to become Pennsylvania's well-paid lieutenant governor. I asked why there's seemingly a shortage of support for Fetterman in a sit-down video interview with Jones last week. To which, Jones said: "Fetterman lives in the community and we don't actually see Fetterman."
When I questioned how often Fetterman visits Braddock's businesses or the projects he worked on, Jones said, "Not very often. I see him at the Waterfront more than I'd see him in Braddock." For those not native to Greater Pittsburgh,
the up-scale Waterfront in nearby Homestead is an open-air shopping mall where you can sip on a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, peruse books at Barnes & Noble, watch a flick at the AMC theatre, or go Skee-Balling at Dave & Buster's.
"Technically, he is a Braddock resident but we don't see him at community events," Jones said. "A lot of people know nothing about him. And the cool thing about Braddock is like everyone knows everybody that knows somebody..."
You won't find Fetterman featured on community artwork that showcases prominent figures in Braddock either. While we were walking past the art display, a newcomer to Braddock stopped Jones, asking: "What's up with the town?"
"I've been here two years. I'm on my way out," the Braddock transplant said. "You and everybody else," Jones answered. "You ain't got no grocery store down here...Ain't no bank," the resident replied. Farther down the road, the glass doors of the permanently shuttered First National Bank, near the fenced-off "#BraddockBeautiful" graffiti, remains shattered.
At first, the two of us struggled to find a meeting place in Braddock when I initially reached out to Jones.
"There's not much open in Braddock nowadays," Jones wrote back.
We settled on
Civic Plaza, a colorful, aesthetic-looking community space that stands in contrast to the urban decay plaguing all other parts of bleak Braddock. During our outdoors interview Friday on that windy autumn afternoon, a handful of low-income locals lined up for "FREE PHONES" as advertised on a nondescript white car that was parallel parked along the park's perimeter by a casually-clad salesperson giving out government-subsidized cellulars.