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Video: John Fetterman and Braddock
www.15104.cc Braddock's 'official website' maintained by the Mayor's office.
Braddock Redux is the website for John Fetterman's Non-Profit Organization
When you see
vacant buildings...
empty lots...
teens and young adults
with nothing to do...
what do you think?
Braddock Redux sees resources and opportunities.
Braddock Redux’s founder, John Fetterman had a vision of a vacant church becoming a center of community activity and positive momentum. He imagined groups of people with wide varieties of skills, knowledge, resources, drive, and abilities sharing ideas and developing collaborative efforts. His vision became Braddock Redux.
Mission
To mobilize teens, young adults, and like-minded people of all ages from both within and outside the community for the purpose of the overall betterment of the Braddock area through training opportunities, art initiatives, green initiatives, employment opportunities, the creative re-use of existing structures, and through the flexibility to respond to other opportunities that arise.
Mapping Thomas Bell's Braddock "... Thomas Bell’s Out of this Furnace chronicles three generations of Slovaks as they slugged it out in Braddock in the shadows of Andrew Carnegie’s mill. The work was hard, the town harder, yet there was a sense of community; a sense of everyone carrying the same burden of hot kitchens, hotter tempers, and the hottest steel. A nation’s power was born from these furnaces by immigrants who risked their lives for a small wage.
Out of this Furnace is a love story, immigrant history, and social doctrine all wound into one story. Written by a local, Bell takes us through Braddock as it was and how it still is today...."
The Braddock Carnegie Library "... was the first library built by Andrew Carnegie in the United States. In addition to a library, this richly historic structure acts as a site for a variety of services for the community. Braddock Redux and the Braddock Mayor's Office partner with the Braddock Library on a variety of holiday and community events for Braddock youth...."
"Captain of Industry" an excellent article on Braddock was published in ReadyMade magazine in August/Sept 2007... lots of photos
Braddock PA ... and the Movies
Braddock Films"... Since 1974, Braddock Films (a.k.a. Tony Buba) has made over twenty films. First came the dozen black & white short documentaries that make up The Braddock Chronicles—portraits and vignettes of the stubborn signs of life in a dying milltown. Voices from a Steeltown (1983) expanded these small stories around the question 'Who killed Braddock?'...."
Lightning Over Braddock "... chronicles the decline of Braddock, Pennsylvania, a hard-luck town which once flourished as 'Pittsburgh's shopping center.'..."
No Pets "... …a story about work, and love, and animals. It's about the end of an age, mythical or real, when a job was a job, love was true, and everybody had a dog…"
Scripts Wanted "... Braddock Films intends to produce an anthology film under the working title Laundromat. The company is looking for short screenplays, of one to ten pages in length; that are set entirely in a laundromat; have no more than three characters; and address the human condition in comedic or dramatic form...." CLICK HERE for more information
Iron Maze "... concerns a Japanese investor, Sugita, who buys a dying Pennsylvania
steel town and wants to turn its defunct mill into an amusement park.
The investor is almost killed by an assailant in the empty mill, and a
local man named Barry, who once worked in the mill, confesses to the
crime..... Though Mr. Yoshida had no time to meet Braddock residents, Ms. Herzberg
would occasionally talk with people during breaks in filming, and she
became familiar to some of them. 'If you had been here 30 years ago,
you would have seen one hell of a town' said Steve (Straighty) Vasko,
a Braddock native...." from NY Times Article "East Meets West In a Dying Steel Town", Published Aug. 5, 1990
Agents for Change and Transformation in Braddock PA
Braddock Redux hosts AmeriCorps members from KEYS Service Corps - AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps members work on capacity building for Braddock Redux
See KEYS Unlocks Potential for Neglected Braddock Homes"... Braddock Redux, a nonprofit group Fetterman started, bought the three
homes for $20,000. KEYS Service Corps volunteers, aided by a $30,000
grant from the Buhl Foundation, then rehabilitated them for young
adults who have transitioned out of the foster-care system...."
Braddock Youth Project "... has transformed vacant lots into an Urban Garden and a pumpkin patch; built and installed raised vegetable beds in residents' yards, created video health communication campaigns, made decorative trash barrels from recycled materials, staffed the Grow Pittsburgh Urban Farm, implemented community cleanups...."
Obscurae Gallery "... Change is underway in Braddock, Pennsylvania as groups working with and within the community bring renewed energy to a town that many wrote off. Inspired by the town’s potential for grassroots urban renewal, many artists, social entrepreneurs, community organizers, urban homesteaders and others with a pioneering spirit are using the inherent energy in Braddock to fuel their creativity. It is with this spirit that OBSCURAE views the maligned town – turning a photographic eye towards the borough’s oft-overlooked beauty and the spaces amidst the former grandeur and “urban blight” that Braddock has come to represent for many in the Pittsburgh area...."
Unsmoke Artspace "... a project of Braddock Redux, is housed in a repurposed Catholic school
building. The auditorium has been refashioned into a gallery/events
venue, with the classrooms converted into artist studio spaces.
Inspired by the industrial character and the historical importance of Braddock, the project seeks to further open the community to those with unconventional and forward-thinking notions about the reuse of urban space. In a town where dilapidation and neglect have scarred the landscape, UnSmoke Systems contends that Braddock is fertile ground for creativity.
The gallery and events venue is open for flexible programming for all-types of special events. Currently, UnSmoke provides studio space for several artists in residence...."
Hilary Blaker Project Director for Braddock Redux "... Implementing revitalization efforts in Allegheny County’s poorest community through the office of Mayor John Fetterman...."
James Simon, sculptor"... has partnered with Braddock Redux, Braddock Borough, BEDCO, Allegheny County Economic Development, KEYS Service Corps, and the Braddock Youth Project to create and build: Braddock's 10 x 12 foot mosaic gateway sign and the Verona Street Mosaic parklet...."
Braddock's mosaic and other such public art projects may help revitalize communities
Friday, September 05, 2008
By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
" Tucked behind a nondescript bus shelter on Braddock Avenue and Verona Street in Braddock sits a pond teeming with exotic flora and fauna."
"A green and yellow alligator lies in repose, its jaws dangerously close to the fish with brilliant multicolored scales. An octopus's arms tangle with a lavender and green lily pad."
"There's no water in this pond. It's a 10-foot-wide mosaic constructed of thousands of pieces of brilliantly colored broken tile and cut glass, the centerpiece to what will become a small mosaic sculpture garden that will mimic a park, the brainchild of local sculptor James Simon. Eventually, the sloped walkway that leads to the recently completed pond will be filled in with a mosaic stream."
"For as much that meets the eye, there's plenty more that doesn't. Public art projects such as this are intended to do more than just beautify. Mayor John Fetterman is hoping to transform the distressed borough -- both aesthetically and economically -- partly by making Braddock an arts community. "My immediate goal is to help change the outsider's perspective of what's possible in Braddock through the arts," he said. 'This is a good way to counterbalance popular prejudices.' "
"Mayor Fetterman's plan is not novel. Increasingly in post-industrial communities where old warehouses provide potential studio spaces, art is being used as a part of broader economic revitalization plans. Karen Newell, the spokeswoman for the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, which contributed $18,000 to the Braddock project, noted that the number of communities with cultural districts -- areas where local governments offer financial incentives for artists, entertainment venues and restaurants -- is on the rise across the country."
"Art 'does indeed change communities,' she said. 'So many cities are looking at art as a way to bring people in and enrich the economy.'..... "
".... Mayor Fetterman's hope, with the mosaic and other activities, is to attract artists and others who can appreciate the unique architectural features of Braddock's remaining buildings and preserve them rather than bulldoze them....."
New arts and cultural venue set to open in Braddock, launch inaugural exhibition New arts venue Unsmoke Systems is the latest cultural force to emerge from revitalization efforts in Braddock.
"Located at 1137 Braddock Ave., the gallery is part of a complex of properties purchased by Braddock Mayor John Fetterman and Deputy Mayor Jeb Feldman in 2007. Built in 1904 as a Catholic school, the 17,000-square-foot property also houses seven art studios ranging in size from 400 to 700 square feet. “We’ve touched every surface in one way or another, redone floors, added lighting and painted,” adds Feldman, who says the project is steered by an artist cooperative. 'I’ve emptied six dumpsters out of the building.'...."
" 'The artists are colonizing the whole building—hallways stairwells, three floors. It’ll be like a treasure map to find the artists and explore the building as you go,” adds Pesanti, who asked artists to respond to work by Life on Mars artist Wilhelm Sasnal, whose films will also be screened. “Sasnal’s films relate to Braddock and the abandoned building itself. The museum is excited about a big institution partnering with a grassroots avant-garde community.'... "
"... Plans are also underway to bring a youth hostel, furniture manufacturer and bread oven to the Braddock Ave. properties...."
Loss of Lease Spurs New Artist Project in Braddock "... After relocating some of the displaced artists... Mr. Fetterman's 501C3 Corporation, Braddock Redux, purchased the adjacent St. Michael Parish Convent for $15,000 Nov. 6. Mr. Fetterman said he hopes to work with Braddock's Community Development Corporation and borough council to convert the convent into a youth hostel which would house youth in transition, struggling residents and anyone else who needs a safe place to stay temporarily. Kristin Fetterman, the mayor's sister, plans to run her furniture-making business out of garage space she purchased next door at 1137 Braddock Ave. Braddock Redux does not currently own the St. Michael school building, but Mr. Fetterman said he has been given site control and plans to use it as a combined artists' loft and art gallery.... the youth hostel could fill a great need for some young men in the borough who, oftentimes, find themselves without a place to stay. ... " CLICK HERE for the rest of the story as published by Pam Pancheck for the Post-Gazette on November 21, 2007
Monthly Review Story:Braddock, Pennsylvania Out of the Furnace and into the Fire "... A native of another industrial Pennsylvania city, Fetterman had seen the bombed-out look of old factory towns before. But Braddock is more devastated—and strangely picturesque—than perhaps any other place in the state of Pennsylvania. The challenges and potential that remained in this once-prosperous steel town spoke to him. He continues, 'So after completing my degree, I had an opportunity to continue working at the same program back here, and right away I started pouring my salary into buying some of the amazing buildings that were on the verge of collapse.' In the process he began promoting his adopted home to friends, spreading the word to artists that live-work spaces could be found in Braddock for little money. With his appetite for the challenge growing with each small success, Fetterman jumped at the chance to run for the part-time job of being the community’s mayor in 2005...." CLICK HERE for the rest of the story, illustrated with several photos
..."
CLICK HERE for video of Stephen Colbert interviewing John Fetterman on February 25, 2009
"... Braddock Mayor John Fetterman goes on the Colbert Report to make his
pitch for stimulus funds for the embattled Mon Valley city -- which has
lost "90 percent of everything," he says. Whatever Louisiana doesn't want -- or the banking industry will waste -- Braddock will take, Fetterman says....His tattoo says, "I WILL MAKE YOU HURT" what an interesting mayor. im glad to see someone so different from the usual politician. lets build tower farms and robot factories in that town, and skyboxes?.... "
What the Bloggers... and Blogging Braddockites ... Are Saying about John Fetterman and Braddock
Watch the entire Colbert Report episode Here... and read/comment on blog: "... That mayor is awesome. He completely crushes any preconcevied notions
you might have about a huge tattoed shaved bearded guy you might have.
(I.E OMG HES A SKINHEAD!) He was eloquent and charismatic. Good episode
:)..."
Braddock Journey Blog "... Braddock is an urban 'burb of Pittsburgh that has been drawing in DIY
types willing to put their time and energy into making this a better
place for everyone here. We heard about it in January 2008 from a
friend of a friend whose brother had moved to Braddock in December. We
made it here for a visit in February and were back for good in March.
It's an almost empty town somehow full of energy.
This site is a story of our journey to and within Braddock ... 'what follows is a story; one version only of the many possible narratives that could be told of these events.'..."
PostBourgie "... i present to you, Mr. Black History Month: John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, PA.... i’m sure you’re asking yourself how the fuck some big white dude got crowned Mr. Black History, and i will answer that question to the best of my ability*: …look at him! is that not the coolest mayor you’ve ever seen?? okay okay. let’s start at the beginning. John Fetterman is six foot fucking eight, three hundred fucking pounds. though he looks like he could have potentially been kicked out of your friendly neighborhood neo nazi group for being just a little too angry, or like he listens to nothing but ICP all the live long day, Fetterman is a Harvard grad and has an MA in public policy. his arms are covered in tats, most notable being the dates of deaths that have occurred in the city of Braddock during his tenure as mayor. yeah, kind of like how your cousin Pookie got ‘RIP MAN-MAN 1976-2009 REAL GANGSTAS DO DIE’ tatted on his back after Man-Man died of complications of being shot in his ass by his girlfriend Raynita. oh, and you know how members of the Crips purposefully mispell words that have ‘ck’ in them, using double ‘c’s instead? (ie -‘trick’ becomes ‘tricc,’ etc)? …he changed the spelling of the town’s name from Braddock to Braddocc. no, seriously. it’s on the freakin website...."
OhMyGov: Big Mayor Fights for His Small PA Town ".... While the recession rears its ugly head, the small town of Braddock, Pa., shows that even in the most unlikely of places, hope can still be found. Since 2005, Braddock’s affable mayor, John Fetterman, has been working hard to revitalize his bankrupt borough, and in a recent string of interviews, he is finally giving a voice to a town in desperate need of attention. Not too long ago, few people had heard of Braddock, and even fewer had heard of Fetterman. The town that once claimed a bustling business life and 20,000 residents now had fewer than 3,000 residents — and not a single restaurant. 'Braddock lacks a lot of the basic amenities that most communities take for granted,' Fetterman recently told Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report . 'Right now, we don’t have any restaurants or any places... ' " CLICK HERE for the rest of the story
Braddock Pa"... View recently listed real estate properties throughout the Braddock, Pennsylvania area..."
Truemors: Renegade Mayor Goes National with Town's Plight "... It takes a big man to confront a big problem, and this is literally the case with Mayor John Fetterman, the 6′8″, 300 pound warrior who’s made the revitalization of the town of Braddock a personal issue. His appearances on “The Colbert Report” and Fox News, plus a mention in a New York Times article have brought the plight of this former boomtown outside of Pittsburgh — where housing values average $6200 (no, that’s not a typo, folks) — to the attention of a nation..." CLICK HERE for the rest of the story
The Next Page:
Braddock, the Rebound Town The next chapter for the struggling former mill town might well be a work of art.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
"... How many places could be like this: post-apocalyptic and happening at the same time?..."
BRADDOCK: Apocalypse Then.
Happening now.
"... The town of Braddock is a shell of its former industrial self. But an unconventional mayor and a host of artists have injected new life into the place. DIANA NELSON JONES and illustrator STACY INNERST chart some of the progress...".
"I paint and I live in Braddock. I just got a studio in the church, left of the altar. I came here four years ago to visit a friend and I heard they were reviving it. I have a daughter. I want to say to her, 'I was there. I saw it before it came back.' All the destruction. You can teach this generation that you need to take care of what's out there instead of ruining it." -- Ethelin Ekwa
"A place this raw, you kind of want to experiment with it. Which is why artists are a good fit. An intolerable situation is just fodder for them. I believe in the system when you have a functional society, but Braddock is hanging so far off the edge, it's like the wild west. Braddock is an experiment. The contrast is what's exciting. It's what's so attractive about Pittsburgh. Its ghosts are everywhere."
-- Kyra Straussman
"... All over town, vacant buildings are gaping open at the windows, at the roofs. Whole walls have fallen, revealing all the stuff of a household, strewn as if a tornado or hurricane chased it around before depositing it in huge piles and wrong places. Approximately one in four buildings in Braddock is vacant..."
"I've always been taken with Braddock's malignant beauty and its history," says Mayor John Fetterman, who came to Braddock several years ago with AmeriCorps. He is equipped with a master's degree in public policy and economics from Harvard. His paying job is about $30,000 directing the Out-Of-School-Youth program. He makes $110.22 a month as mayor.
"Braddock still resonates deeply with people. There's a visceral connection."
Elected in 2005, he won the Democratic primary by exactly one vote.
Nevertheless, he says,
"I have a mandate to try something. It will be an experiment."
Rock Bottom for Decades, but Showing Signs of Life NY Times, 2/01/2009
"BRADDOCK, Pa. — As Americans wonder just how horrible the economy will become, this tiny steel town offers a perverse message of hope: Things cannot possibly get any worse than they are here."
"Hunched on the eastern edge of the Monongahela River only a few miles from bustling Pittsburgh, Braddock is a mix of boarded-up storefronts, houses in advanced stages of collapse and vacant lots."
"The state has classified it a 'distressed municipality' — bankrupt, more or less — since the Reagan administration. The tax base is gone. So are most of the residents. The population, about 18,000 after World War II, has declined to less than 3,000. Many of those who remain are unemployed. Real estate prices fell 50 percent in the last year."
“Everyone in the country is asking, ‘Where’s the bottom?’ ” said the mayor, John Fetterman. “I think we’ve found it.”
Mr. Fetterman is trying to make an asset out of his town’s lack of assets, calling it “a laboratory for solutions to all these maladies starting to knock on the door of every community.”
"One of his first acts after being elected mayor in 2005 was to set up, at his own expense, a Web site to publicize Braddock — if you can call pictures of buildings destroyed by neglect and vandals a form of promotion."
"He has encouraged the development of urban farms on empty lots, which employ area youths and feed the community. He started a nonprofit organization to save a handful of properties...."
".... This year, the town will be featured in the film version of another work of art, Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Road.” Set in a post-Armageddon America where food is so scarce that many survivors turned to cannibalism, “The Road” was shot partially in Braddock"
"A town whose story has evolved from building America to making Americans to eating Americans for dinner might seem a hard sell. So Mr. Fetterman, who is paid $150 a month, also promotes Braddock as a place to buy extremely cheap real estate."
"Erik and Shannon Gustafson heeded that call. The couple were living in Chicago, where Mr. Gustafson was a part-time commodities trader, when they heard about Braddock last winter. They settled on a two-bedroom house whose owner warned them that it had black mold and was probably a tear-down. Her price: $4,750......"
How you can help: Volunteers from the Sierra Club, Sustainable Steel City, Carnegie Mellon University, East End Food Co-op and many other groups also work at Braddock Farms. Groups or individuals who would like to volunteer at any of the gardens may contact Miriam Manion at 412-473-2542 or e-mail to info@growpittsburgh.org.
In a steel mill's shadow, sustainable agriculture blooms in Braddock
Thursday, July 31, 2008
By Marlene Parrish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Braddock resident Cecilia Morgan smells some fresh-cut garlic as Braddock Farms' project manager Jeff Jaeger and supervisor assistant Ashley Johnson prepare produce for sale."
"Imagine that an area the size of a football field has been planted as a garden smack in the middle of a town along its main street. Imagine that it is more than just a garden. It is an organic farm, jammed row after row with 50 raised beds, 12-by-4-feet each, and lush with produce, herbs and flowers. The skyline behind this farm is dominated by a working steel mill."
"Is it a dream? Actually, it is. But in Braddock, the dream is becoming reality."
"Braddock Farms is a large-scale demonstration farm on Braddock Avenue, across the street from Good Shepherd School. The mill behind it is U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Plant. On a series of adjoining abandoned lots in the borough, the farm is in its first full growing season."
"It is a dream come true for Grow Pittsburgh, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting and modeling urban farming and sustainable agriculture. With a twinkle in her eye at the intended pun, Miriam Manion, Grow Pittsburgh's executive director, says, 'Urban farming is really taking root in the Pittsburgh region.' "
"The farm is well on its way to a dream fulfilled for Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, too. As he explains, at its peak in the 1950s and '60s, his town boomed with businesses and 20,000-plus residents. 'Today, it is almost a ghost town with about 2,800. Because many buildings had to be torn down, we have an abundance of vacant land in the borough and not much use for it. We also have young people here who need employment. We've taken a situation that could be considered blight and turned it around. The net result is, we have job opportunities for our young people, we are transforming vacant land into attractive green space and we are increasing local access to fresh, nutritious foods.' ...."
Green Industry Hub Rises From Rust Belt Ruins
"...
Paul Solman reports on innovators who are making the Pittsburgh region an eco-showcase of the benefits of going green and bringing new hope to the economically depressed Rust Belt region...."
"The greenest building is the one that's already there. " John Fetterman
".....At its height in the 1950s and '60s, Braddock's downtown was bustling with businesses, a town with visitors from everywhere, and more than 20,000 local inhabitants. How many today?"
"JOHN FETTERMAN, Mayor, Braddock, Pennsylvania: Around 2,800. It's probably the single most dramatic decline of a town that I'm aware of in this country.
"PAUL SOLMAN: Mayor John Fetterman's vision is to turn things around with a new competitive strategy for the global age: going green for health and profit.
"Fetterman, from York, Pennsylvania, came here in 2001 with a Harvard degree in public policy and an instinct for sympathy. He found a population so desperate they were killing each other for pizza money. The dates of each violent death in town since his election in 2005 are etched in memoriam...."
