Starting now.
Commonalities where guests find
common ground through uncommon
conversations, politics,
religion, finances,
all the topics your grandmother told
you not to discuss with friends.
And now your host, Matthew Dowling,
and today's guests on commonalities.
Well, hello, and thank you for joining
us on another episode of Commonalities.
This is actually episode 20,
so we are 20 in now to
the show. Uh, I apologize,
I I did have a new show on
Tuesday of this week, um,
but you were hearing the best
of for the, the past week or so.
I've been a little under the weather
and, uh, and so I apologize for that.
But we're back up and running.
My guest today is a good friend of
mine and one of the sponsors of our
program, mayor Bill Gerkey. Mayor
Gerkey, thanks for joining us here today.
Well.
Thanks for having me, Matt, and glad
to see that you're doing much better.
Well, you know, we on this program, uh,
talk politics at all different levels.
In fact, it's not just politics.
We talk about, we say at the beginning
of the show, we talk about politics,
religion, and finances,
all the things your grandmother
told you not to talk about. And, uh,
and that's what we do here.
But today we're gonna talk
about government that is closest
to you, the people. And
sometimes, uh, that is where,
uh, the most amount of change
in your life can be made.
People make a big deal out of what's
happening in the United States Senate
or in Congress, or even
in the State House. Um,
but when it comes down to brass tack,
the fact that your garbage
is picked up on time,
the fact that your parks are clean, uh,
the fact that your
roads are taken care of,
those are the things that
we see each and every day.
And those are the things
that municipal government,
like the city of Uniontown
are responsible. So,
I wanted to have you on the program
today to talk a little bit about some
exciting things that are happening,
but beco, before we go there, um,
you know, bill,
I've known you for a long time
and I know that you are a,
uh, a major union town,
red Raider basketball fan, and,
uh, they're playing tonight.
So I wanted to get your insight on, uh,
on our Red Raiders and what you think
will happen, how you think Coach K will,
uh, will do, and, and how's
that game gonna turn out for us?
Well, I don't have a
Crystal ball Mac, but um,
I've seen Uniontown play probably three
quarters of their games this year.
They're well coached, um,
well disciplined team. Um,
they're going up against
a tough opponent tonight,
but I think at this time of year,
they're all tough opponents.
So hopefully they, they can
pu pull out a win tonight. I,
I've talked to the coach this morning.
He said he has his team ready to go.
And I think everybody in the community,
we're all hoping that Uniontown wins
tonight, along with Laura Highlands,
cuz that sets up a show down
next Monday night. I think, um,
everybody in the city will, will go to
see that game. So we're wishing out,
we're wishing all the, the best of
Coach K and his staff and his team.
Well, we have Bill over in the
producer's chair, and, uh, bill, I,
I guess you have a mic over there.
What's your prediction for the
outcome of today? Tonight's game, uh.
A lot of people will be watching our
live stream on the W Nmb s Facebook page.
<laugh> <laugh>. That's my prediction.
For, you know, it's, it
has amazed me. Um, I,
I watched the live stream of
both of the Uniontown Laurel
Highlands games, um,
and I've been following basketball
more than I normally do, um,
because I have some clients that, uh,
that wanted to make sure that we
highlight some basketball information on
their, uh, social media accounts.
It's one of the things that
my company does is we, uh,
we manage social media for small
businesses and political candidates,
people like that. Um,
and you guys have reached the 2000 watcher
mark, uh, on Facebook.
What is is simply, uh,
just astonishing to me that you have
all of those people crammed into the
gym,
and then you have 2000 people
that are logged on to their phones
or their computers, and,
you know, as many of us, uh,
know who follow livestream, um,
generally statistics say that
for every viewer that you see
on a livestream,
you have 3.5 people that are
watching because people watch
as families or as groups. So simply
thousands of people are tuning in.
Maybe they like to hear the sound of
Brian Marx's voice, I'm not sure. Uh,
but they're definitely, yeah,
that's it, by the way. Yeah, that's,
that's what it is. But, uh,
they are definitely watching our Red
Raiders and the Laurel Highlands Mustangs
and, and our local teams
here. And, you know,
high school sports are so
very important in mayor,
I think you would agree with me
because high school sports not
only give an athletic outlet to the
young people that play them, but they
keep our young people off of our streets.
And if they're off of our streets,
um, they stay outta trouble. And,
and so I think there's a huge benefit
to the community to have not only
good high school sports,
not only high school sports,
but good high school
sports at that. Would.
You agree? Absolutely. And, and
you can, you can see, see that and,
and the community, it helps the community
also, the community gets behind them.
And as I've always said is my, I
guess it's three and a half years now,
I've been, I've been mayor and
what my goal has been, and I'll,
it'll continue to be,
is to bring the community together
through whatever venue or avenue that we,
that we pick. But that's a good way of
bringing the community together. Um,
I've talked to people that
are going to the game tonight,
but there's a lot of people like you and
Bill had mentioned that they're going
to watch it on livestream on w Nmb
s but the gyms are filled. So it,
it's a really great service that w Nmb
s provides. And, uh, matter of fact,
just for a short period of time,
I'll make a real short story of this.
We went to church last night and I
wanted to see what Gebel was doing,
so I was able, we went to eat dinner,
pulled it up on my phone, and it was just,
it was the first time that
I've watched it on livestream,
and it was just really nice
for me to sit there and watch.
We were in a restaurant,
turn the, the, uh, the, um,
volume down and got to watch the,
the Gators win win a game last.
Night. Is it now you were
watching the Gators during dinner?
Not during the sermon church.
Right? Absolutely. Fortunately,
the church was over at eight o'clock
and we didn't get broadcast until.
Eight o'clock. Well, I can
tell you one thing for sure,
I wouldn't wanna be the person answering
the telephone at Mama Marque's Pizza
on, uh, on game night,
because I know they always advertise
specials and so forth. And, uh,
and I'm sure the kitchens
not only in their restaurant,
but in restaurants across town,
do better on game nights than
they do on most Friday nights. Um,
so there's an economic
boom that it brings to, uh,
to the area as well. And you think, you
know, this is just high school sports.
This isn't the Super Bowl. Um,
but it does make an economic
impact here in the local.
Area. And, and like you said at
the beginning of the show, Matt,
that we can sit here and talk about, um,
national government, state government,
but what people are really interested is
what's going on in their community and
high school basketball, is it just
taking the limelight right now?
And it brings the community together and,
and it's really fun for everyone to
have a conversation about high school
basketball. And it, as your
show says commonalities.
A lot of people have different opinions,
but we all come together and that brings
us all together, which I really enjoy.
Well, you know, we're talking recreation.
So that's gonna gimme
a great segue to, uh,
one of the other topics that I
wanted to talk to you about today.
I know the city of Uniontown has
already connected the Sheep Skin Trail,
which we're hearing, uh,
a lot about to the South
Union Township, uh,
portion of the trail.
But you guys are getting ready to
connect to the North Union area,
um, or their section of the trail,
and that sheepskins gonna
run right through Uniontown.
So why don't you tell me
a little bit about that,
that project and what's going on with, uh,
kind of a quick update
on the Sheep skin trail?
Sure thing, Matt. It's really
exciting for me when I, um,
became mayor, uh, probably a short
time into my office, into my term,
um,
township supervisor Bob Ship Bar paid
me a visit one day and it looked pretty
easy, like what South Union
did. But they, of course,
they didn't go through the,
the center of a city and I,
I was really not aware of
what, what we needed to do.
But we got our team together
and we started planning,
which we started from square one.
Made a few mistakes and a
few good moves, but, uh,
this past summer we started at
Dunbar Street, I mean, excuse me,
at Pennsylvania Avenue next to CLOs
Lumber and started our trail and it went
behind Bailey Park and, uh,
we crossed Dunbar Street and we
ended up at the end of the year,
we ended up on Fayette Street. So we
have a, we have a, the trail is complete,
I wouldn't say complete, but the
walkways complete the signage.
There's always things to do with the
trail that I was not aware of originally,
but now I'm as, as I'm learning, there's
more and more to do. But our next,
our next goal is of,
I wanted to say that that trail that I
described from Pennsylvania Avenue up to
up to Fayette Street, that was
all done by the city's workers.
And I wanna send a big thank
you out to John Linsky. Um,
he headed up that job and there was a lot
of other people that were instrumental
in getting that done. So now what
our goal is in the springtime,
which spring is just around the corner,
looks like it's here today, but,
but whatever the case may be behind the
Auto Land store that goes from Fayette
Street up to Beon Boulevard,
there's no traffic there.
We're going to remove the, the railroad
tracks there and pave that area.
So then that's a pretty easy
job compared to what we have in
front of us. You know, going down
the center street of, of Uniontown,
down Beeson Boulevard, down behind
Capella's Restaurant and get to the,
um, north Union township border.
There's a lot of things that
need to be ironed out. Um,
we're working on that. The commissioners,
all three of the commissioners
have been very instrumental,
very helpful in getting us some
grants and trying to plan this out.
So, um, we're looking forward to, um,
getting that section behind
Auto Land completed, um,
in a month or two so we can
see a little more done then,
then we go into Beon Boulevard, and
that's gonna be a little more, um,
problematic, but we have a
plan there. And then get,
get behind Capellas, which
again, the areas that,
that people aren't traveling, um,
with a car is a little easier than,
than going through the center of
Uniontown. But we're working on it and,
and it is exciting.
Alright? It definitely isn't.
And that's another economic driver
that we see for the community.
We've seen what trails have done
for the great Allegheny Passage. Um,
and I, in my youth, before
I had a fake hip, uh,
I rode on a bicycle from
Cumberland, Maryland to Washington,
DC That's a great trail. They've now
connected from Pittsburgh to Cumberland,
Maryland. I've never had the opportunity
to, to ride that portion of the trail,
but I know that, uh, that you have
businesses that spring up that, uh,
that take care of that tourism
that's coming through your area. And,
and I think that'll be a great
thing for our local community.
We have to get our first
break in here today,
so stay with us and we'll be
right back here on commonalities.
You're listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities
and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five, 10, or $25, or any
amount you feel comfortable sharing
[email protected] Again,
that is donate.commonalities.online
on the worldwide web.
Buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay
for airtime at donate dot commonalities
online.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling
of home. That's sense of belonging.
Those fall Friday nights under the
lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders,
those refreshing spring afternoons at
Bailey Park rooting on our Red Raider
softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and
hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those
memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future.
During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back
to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first
comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's
section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted
properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty
equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more
competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet
service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's
still more to do. So I Bill Gerkey.
I'm running for a second term. We're
Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to
rebuild Uniontown for the next
generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Billey.
I'm Melinda de LaRose. As an
Assistant District attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families
and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor
and trusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a
strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as
Judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the
highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's
respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking
for your vote for Judge.
Paid for by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should call
Dave Dowling At Grandview Inspections
at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers,
freshly painted walls,
granite countertops, gleaming
hardwood floors, and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that
might be revealed when you hire
a home inspector. And when
it comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grandview Inspections
is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and hundreds
of inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report
outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and what
will require maintenance after you move
in your home is one of
your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
Is your business using analog
strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca
Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we
bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides
digital marketing, paid ad
and media buying services,
web design, social media
management, video production,
and more for businesses, organizations,
and political campaigns
with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can
help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world. For a no
risk media evaluation and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12 or visit
us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
Uncommon Conversations.
Well, thanks for sticking with us.
Our, my guest today is Mayor Bill Gki,
mayor of the City of Uniontown,
and we've been talking, um,
actually a lot about high school
sports. I'm kind of afraid that, uh,
Jonathan Goth may, uh, may come after
me for, for still in his topic of, uh,
his show. But, uh,
we've also been talking a little bit
about the Sheep Skin Trail and some
recreation pieces that are happening
in the city of Uniontown now,
mayor Erky, um,
I know there's not a lot to
update everyone on right now,
but I did want to make note of
the fact that you guys are working
on a comprehensive plan and
planning is so extremely
important, uh,
for municipalities because
that's where you not only
decide what's gonna be done in the future,
but how you're going to
fund things in the future,
whether it will be through tax revenue,
whether there are grants
available to you. Um, so I,
I know you're doing
the, the first, uh, uh,
comprehensive plan in nearly
20 years or in 20 years,
if I'm correct. So tell
us a little bit about, uh,
what's going on with
that comprehensive plan.
Yes. Um, the city, as Matt had said,
the city had not had a comprehensive
plan update for 20 years.
So actually we started from
square one. And, and again, um,
whenever you're starting at Square
one, you make a lot of mistakes.
And when you make mistakes,
it takes up time. But, um,
a after we got our bearings together and,
and found which direction we want
to go, we hired Gibson Thomas, um,
to head up our comprehensive plan,
getting with some of the members of the
community to get an idea where we want
to go. And without a co uh, an updated
comprehensive plan, it's really hard,
if not impossible,
to get some of the certain grant
fundings that you need to improve our
city. And, and that's one thing that
I couldn't understand at one time,
that grants are very important to
be able to get things done. Just,
I'll go back to the Sheep
Skin Trail. You know,
the city did provide some of the
funding to do some of the sheep control,
but to do all of the Sheep
Skin trail grants play,
play a major role, if not a,
a complete role in that. So,
but back to the comprehensive
plan, I'm excited.
We've had a couple meetings over
talking about the comprehensive plan,
getting some people in
the community involved,
and I think by the end of the year,
we're gonna be more concrete on what
we're doing and make the public much more
where aware of where,
where we are going and,
and it'll be an improvement to our city.
You know, and, and,
and I wanted to pause there and
talk just a little bit about grants.
In my six years in the,
in the legislature, uh,
I worked with a lot of municipalities
that were looking for funding. And,
um, you know, I, you come to, uh,
a grant maker with what you
think is a fantastic project,
and it may be a fantastic
project we'll use just for, uh,
the sake of an example, the Sheep
Skin Trail, uh, as an example.
But many times when you
apply for the first grant,
one of the things that they're gonna
want you to do is to get some engineering
done and get some drawings in
place because grant makers don't
like to, uh, don't like to,
to go on the mindset that, you know,
we got Bobby Jo that works for us,
and, and they got it all figured out,
and they know how they're gonna do it.
They want to see, you know,
concrete architectural drawings
on how things are done.
So sometimes, uh,
it may cost a municipality a
little bit extra to get that
work done through the grant
process, but in the long terms,
the municipality is better off because a,
a good plan is put in place, good
architectural drawings, uh, exist,
and then you can apply for additional
grants to actually do the project.
But many times, uh, it takes a
little longer to get things done,
then, you know,
if we could just send the
street department down
there with some blacktop and
they, and they start rolling, uh,
with their own, uh, knowledge.
Exactly. And, and that's one,
that's one of the things that I,
it was hard for me to understand at
the beginning, but I agree with Matt.
And even, um,
we did receive some grant funding
for the Sheep Skin Trail. Um, but,
uh, the city I think applied once
before I became mayor. Then we applied,
so the third time. So a lot of times
with grant funding, when you first apply,
you're not guaranteed that you're
gonna be awarded that grant.
So you learn a little bit about your
mistakes and go and apply again and go
apply again. So again,
that takes time. So, um,
it's a little frustrating that it
takes so long to get this done.
And I'll go back to Mr. Schiff
Byer whenever he came to see me.
It looked pretty easy whenever I first
looked at the plans. But as time goes on,
there's a lot of moving parts that we
have to put them all together to make this
project work, but it, I feel confident
that it will come to fruition.
So, you know, we have a a
a couple things that, uh,
that happen when exciting things are
happening in a downtown corridor.
I know, uh, the city of Connellsville
has dealt with this to some extent.
The city of Uniontown
is now dealing with it.
We're bringing people to
downtown. And downtown,
uh,
Uniontown is not the downtown
that it was designed to be in
the late 18 hundreds,
even in the 1920s during kind
of the renaissance of downtown,
because everyone's driving
one of these big vehicles,
these SUVs or pickup trucks or, you know,
there are no compact cars. Of course,
in the 1920s, if you had a car,
it wasn't compact either.
Um, you know, you had.
Those, but there weren't as, as
knocked in Arabia. But there were,
there weren't as anywhere near.
As many as there weren't near as
many. So that brings me, um, to,
to, uh, kind of my next
topic and my next transition.
We have what we call the
Grand Old Lady of Main Street,
the State Theater Center for the Arts, uh,
which is just less than a
block from City Hall there,
a beautiful newer parking garage
that was built right behind
that building. And on show nights,
I know it fills up rather quickly.
Um, in fact, very funny,
Erica Miller from the,
the theaters rigged my cell phone right
now, so I'll have to get back to her.
Um, but, uh, that,
that parking garage had some issues
and some issues that you guys had
to figure out because, you know,
I've parked there during a,
uh, a show at the theater
and then have been stuck,
and the firemen have had to come
open the gates and, and let us out.
But some of those problems have been
addressed. So tell us a little bit about.
That. Oh, absolutely. Those
problems have been addressed. Um,
just to bring people up to
speed. Um, our parking garage,
the one Matt is speaking of, behind
the state theater, we've just,
we just paid that off payment,
made the final payment,
I can't remember if it was December
of last year or January of this year,
but we don't have a payment there anymore.
But that building's still in good
shape and it can generate some
income. But with the
equipment that we had there,
it was the same equipment that when it
was originally built. And of course,
that was 15 years ago, 16 years ago.
So Mark John had spearheaded a
project of getting us parking
garage equipment at before, up until now,
the parking garage was not
able to accept credit cards.
And sometimes when you put cash in, it
wouldn't give you the proper change.
So that, that makes an
inconvenience for people. Of course,
if you walk across the street
to City Hall, if you know,
to walk across the street to
City Hall, the girls there would,
would make that right. But then
again, I've talked about time again,
people's time is valuable
and, and, you know,
you walk over there to a strange place
say, Hey, I didn't get my changer.
I can't get out. But now
we've got equipment in there,
it isn't completed yet,
but hopefully, and I keep
saying this, within a month,
that you'll be able to use
the parking garage and,
and then we can utilize the two
hour parking on the streets.
We hired a parking enforcement officer,
so I always say that parking in
downtown Uniontown was the wild West,
but we don't want it to be that way,
and we're gonna transition into a, a,
a more organized parking situation in
the city. So I'm excited about that.
Of course, it's been three years.
I saw it whenever I came into office
and I see it now. But we're working,
and I believe that that'll come
again to fruition here real soon.
Well, you know,
in parking enforcement is
so very important because
you have Joyce find jewelry
on that block. You have new Bowers
flowers that are right there. Um,
you have places that are
even Marylands on Maine, um,
that are bringing people
from outside of the,
the union town metro area
to shop and to eat and to
dine. And, uh,
and so we wanna make sure that the
parking spots that are available on the
streets are available to them.
And too many times we see the,
the people that are working in those
downtown establishments, um, you know,
parking all day in those spots. And,
and we wanna make sure that that's not
the case that you have, uh, you know,
parking for your out-of-town
visitors. Of course,
if you work downtown and
you're just stopping for five
minutes to pick something
up, that's one thing.
But to park there for a full eight
hour shift takes parking away
from, uh, from a client from out of town
that, uh, that we want to be able to,
to have them spend, uh,
spend their money because we want people
to come to Uniontown with pockets full
of money and, you know, leave Uniontown
with empty pockets. Well, I I like that,
Matt. You know, so, so that's our
goal here in downtown Uniontown. Bill,
we have another break we
have to get to, and, uh,
then we'll be right back
here on commonalities.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities
and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five, 10, or $25, or any
amount you feel comfortable sharing
[email protected] Again,
that is donate.commonalities.online
on the worldwide web.
Buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay
for airtime at donate dot commonalities
online.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling
of home, that sense of belonging,
those fall Friday nights under the
lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders,
those refreshing spring afternoons at
Bailey Park rooting on our Red Raider
softball and baseball teams.
I'm grateful for those memories and
hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those
memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future.
During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back
to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first
comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's
section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted
properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty
equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more
competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet
service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's
still more to do. So, I Bill Gerkey.
I'm running for a second term. We're
Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to
rebuild Uniontown for the next
generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Erky.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling At Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers, freshly
painted walls, granite countertops,
gleaming hardwood floors,
and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might
be revealed when you hire a
home inspector. And when it
comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grandview Inspections
is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report
outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and
what will require maintenance after
you move in your home is one
of your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
I'm Melinda De LaRose. As an
Assistant District Attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families
and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor
and trusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a
strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as
Judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the
highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's
respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking
for your vote for Judge paid.
For by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
Is your business using analog
strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca
Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we
bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides
digital marketing, paid ad
and media buying services,
web design, social media management,
video production, and more for businesses,
organizations, and political
campaigns with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can
help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world. For a no
risk media evaluation and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon Conversations.
Well, thanks for sticking with us.
My guest today is Mayor Bill Gki,
and we're talking all
things city of Uniontown.
We've already covered the sheepskin
trail and the economic boom
that has the potential to
bring to downtown Uniontown.
We talked about people from outside
of Uniontown coming downtown to
shop and dine and to
have a nice night out.
And the fact that we have
the parking garages, um,
if they're not yet very soon, will
be in tiptop shape. Um, but you know,
one of the things that
Uniontown has been known for,
for many years outside
of our local area is
the street festivals that
have happened in downtown
Uniontown. You know,
upwards of 20 to 30,000 people
that have attended annual
Italian festivals and so forth. Uh,
there was a period of time where when
Terry Serell was doing those, uh,
unfortunately Terry is passed on
and is no longer with us. But,
uh, I hear some exciting
news, mayor Gki, that the, uh,
the Italian festival, perhaps
we'll call it an ethnic festival,
will be coming back to the
streets of downtown Uniontown
with that ambience and
atmosphere. And of course, uh,
some of that great food. I don't know
if you like the Giuseppe sandwich, but,
uh, but I know that's a top seller
there. So tell me a little bit about, uh,
what's on the drawing board
for the Italian festival in
Uniontown this summer?
Good, thank, thank you, Matt.
Um, around the first of the year,
um, Ron Romeo, Jim Santilli, Rick esy,
and the group from the Sons of Italy
contacted Mark, John and myself,
uh, about seeing what interest,
if we had any interest
to working with the,
the Sons of Italy and bringing the
Italian festival back to Union Town.
You know, when Covid came, um, it kind
of changed the way our life, our, our,
our life's lives were lived. And that's
something that went by the wayside,
and there's a lot of work to putting,
putting an Italian festival on. So, um,
mark John Moki and I went
out to visit with the, uh,
gentleman out at the Sons of Italy and
got into discussions of how would do
this, who would run
it. And, uh, we've, um,
we've finally come to the
decision that the Sons of Italy,
they know how to run this festival,
and we have the venue. So we,
the particulars will come
out a little bit later,
but basically what I'm saying is that
we've worked in conjunction with the
Sons of Italy, with
the City of Union town.
Our police department is on board
or street departments on board,
and that's something like to just send a,
a shout out to our fire
police and street departments.
Whenever Mok and I come up with
an idea, they, they back us 100%.
And we've got a, I think we,
I know we have a really good
partner in the Sons of Italy,
and we plan on having,
they plan on having the Italian
festival the weekend of August 12th and
August 13th, and they're just
starting their marketing plans.
So there's a lot more to come along,
but I'm excited and everyone in the
city are very excited about the Italian
festival or ethnic festival,
whatever they may call it,
coming back to the City of Union Dam.
And we get to showcase our city with
a good group of people promoting it.
Absolutely. And I know people come
all the way from Moundsville West,
West Virginia, from, uh, from
Morgantown, West Virginia, and,
uh, they come here just to
enjoy, uh, that ethnic food.
You know,
one of the things that amazes me about
Southwestern Pennsylvania is it doesn't
matter if you are Polish,
if you're Slovak, if you're
Irish, if you're Italian,
um, you know, we really
are a melting pot, um,
for all of those ethnicities.
And we're so lucky
because we have those, uh,
all of the, those food items from
those different backgrounds, uh,
that are available at our local
eateries here, right in downtown. Um,
you know, I gotta plug, uh, my
friends at, uh, world importing.
I was really sad to see that, uh,
that after years and years it was,
uh, being sold and, uh, the Romeo
family would no longer own it.
Uh, or actually they were
looking for a buyer for a while.
Now they found a buyer in Pic Lamini,
and you can go in there any day of
the week and, uh, and get your, uh,
Italian foods and cuisine, uh,
right in downtown Uniontown.
Not to mention, um, you know,
during Lent we have, uh,
some Lenin specials at places like
demarcos and Rs and even Maloney's
and tit lows. So great
eateries in downtown Uniontown.
And I'm really excited for this
festival, which will be going on.
We gotta get our last break
of the day in and, uh,
we will come back with final
thoughts here on Commonality.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities
and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five, 10, or $25, or any
amount you feel comfortable sharing
[email protected] Again,
that is donate.commonalities.online
on the worldwide web.
Buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay
for airtime at donate dot commonalities
online mine.
I'm Melinda de LaRose. As an
Assistant district attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families
and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor
and trusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a
strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as
judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the
highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's
respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking
for your vote for Judge.
Paid for by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon Conversations.
Well, thanks for sticking with us. My
guest today has been Mayor Bill Gerkey,
and we're gonna go to final
thoughts here in just a moment.
But I was really excited about
today's show because a lot of times we
talk about politics, we talk about
what's happening at the state level,
at the federal level, and, uh,
and I'm very blessed to have
some connections into, uh,
into some of those groups of people and,
and like to bring statewide
newsmakers here to Wmb s
to, to be able to talk to us
here in Fayette County directly.
But as I said at the top
of the show, you know,
the government layer that is closest
to you is normally your municipal
government. And, uh,
and that's why it's been exciting to
talk all things City of Uniontown today.
Mayor,
I wanted to turn it over to you to
let you give any final thoughts as
well as any contact information. If
someone needs to get ahold of City Hall,
how can they go go about
doing that? If they, uh,
are interested in getting involved
with the Sons of Italy's, um,
Italian festival that we've
promoed on the show today, how,
how can people go about doing that? And,
and what are kind of your
final thoughts for the day?
Well, thank thanks Matt.
Um, Jim Santilli is,
and I don't have that information
in front of me, but, uh,
you could call City
Hall, um, or, um, okay,
uh, <laugh>, excuse me.
You can call City Hall and,
and I'm sure they can get you
in touch with Mr. Santilli. Um,
there was a couple other
thoughts that I had, you know,
we're excited about the, um,
about the Italian festival.
One thing I wanted to bring up,
we're having a citywide
cleanup day on April 22nd,
and we go around and clean up
the alleys and the streets.
It's not a clean out your garage day,
but it's to make our city look
more beautiful. And we planted,
that's a Saturday between eight in
between eight 30 in the morning and noon
that would, would gather down, uh,
at the empty lot across from, um,
the Galton Gardens on, on Gallatin
Avenue. And we'd go out through,
throughout the city and, and have
areas that we, that we clean up. Um,
and that's something that we've done even
through Covid and long before I became
mayor, it's been something that the city
has done, and the girls at City Hall,
um, are putting that together.
And we're very blessed to have a,
a good staff in the Mayor's office.
Um, and there'll be more information,
there'll be some, matter of fact,
there'll be some flyers sent out
about the cleanup day on, um,
April 22nd.
Well, thanks Mayor,
for being with us and for sharing your
thoughts and everything that we talked
about Uniontown today.
Uh, so very important.
One thing I'd remind
anyone who's listening,
if you wanna see Uniontown
become a bigger and better city,
it takes your effort. So get involved.
And thank you for listening to
today's episode of Commonalities.
This has been commonalities,
a show where guests find common
ground through uncommon conversations.
Copyright 2022 Coordinated 360,
all public rebroadcast should be done
with prior written approval from Matthew
Dowling. All requests should be sent
to
[email protected]
Thank you for listening to commonalities.