Letter to the editor: Jeannette 'city of champions'?

After the shooting in my hometown (“Jeannette police identify fatal shooting victim, suspect in McKee Stadium incident,” Sept. 6, TribLIVE), I felt it was time for me to make my voice heard.

My dad was brought up in Jeannette. Growing up, I viewed him as a legend, and on Sept. 6, I feared the worst — that my legend was laid to rest where he was raised.

How can you call this a “city of champions” when there isn’t even a grocery store? If you believe this is a “city of champions,” I suggest taking a ride down Clay Avenue to get a clearer view. Theaters, boutiques and even a community pool once kept this now ghost town alive.

Jeannette is known as the Glass City. What happens to glass if not handled properly? It shatters, and that it did. Rundown factories leave remnants of an eerie scene of blood, sweat and tears of past roots.

It seems the first priority of this “city of champions” is its sports teams. The turf at McKee Stadium is pristine, some of the nicest I’ve seen, but our roads are poorly managed. The firm foundation this town was built upon has fractured.

We don’t have to sit back and accept this. Future generations deserve to feel safe and protected. If everyone worked together by putting to rest past grievances and accepted one another, perhaps what began as a one-woman wave in Jeannette, Pa., could inspire a nation to stand up one by one and create a rippling wave of positive change. Now that would make Jeannette the “city of champions“ to me.

Amy Jupena

Penn Township, Westmoreland County