McConway & Torley steel foundry under fire in trendy Lawrenceville

[mahatmakanejeeves]

McConway & Torley steel foundry under fire in trendy Lawrenceville

By Aaron Aupperlee
Thursday, April 30, 2015, 11:15 p.m.
Aaron Aupperlee is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7986 or [e-mail].

A steel foundry that employs hundreds in Lawrenceville is under fire from some in the neighborhood it's called home for nearly 150 years. ... Residents, neighborhood groups and environmental activists want McConway & Torley LLC to cut the pollution, truck traffic and noise coming from its 48th Street foundry and support an Allegheny County Health Department permit that could reduce its steel production by 77 percent.

Employees say the production cuts could threaten the more than 400 people who work at the foundry — one of the larger employers in the neighborhood. ... McConway & Torley officials say the foundry complies with state and county air quality guidelines and that the neighborhood does not understand the impact the foundry has locally and nationally.

“In 2015, you would never allow a foundry to locate in Lawrenceville,” said Rachel Filippini, executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, a Garfield-based nonprofit fighting the foundry. “A lot of people really don't know this company exists. When people think of air pollution, they think of the big ones — the Clairton works, the Cheswick power plant, Shenango. A lot of people don't know that this foundry is tucked back on 48th Street.”

McConway & Torley has been tucked back on 48th Street since 1868 when William McConway bought Eagle Gray Foundry. The first transcontinental railroad would be completed in the next year. ... Lawrenceville has become one of Pittsburgh's hottest neighborhoods. Once vacant buildings have transformed into six-figure homes and store fronts. Butler Street is home to trendy bars and restaurants, bicycle shops, retro stores and even the House of the Dead, a zombie boutique.

[mrmpa]

1. i grew up in Lawrenceville and

Last edited Fri May 1, 2015, 02:15 PM - Edit history (1)

had family in it until 1998. My cousin's ex, bought him ex-motherin-law's home, so I still have family there. My family first went into Lawrencevill in1914.

I hate gentrificationists, who want the neighborhood, their way. I'm sure that there is a negotiating way to enable both sides to be happy, but you don't threaten.

Also it's buyer beware, it's not McConway's fault that the new owners didn't know it existed.