By A.J. Panian, Leader Times, Kittanning, Pa
Thursday, August 7, 2003
URL for article below is http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/leadertimes/s_148487.html .
Armstrong County's civic leaders know its value to local economy and infrastructure.
Many area business owners depend on it for a large portion of their livelihoods.
For registered boaters here and elsewhere, it provides a convenient and enjoyable venue for their water-related pastimes.
They all support keeping both recreational and commercial boating on the upper Allegheny River alive by finding a way to keep the county's five locks and dams open to regular public usage.
Nobody knows more about the damage losing more lock access could have on the county than Clyde Coleman, proprietor and main operator of Coleman's Marina in Rosston since 1968.
"If you don't open the door, the people can't come in. It's just that simple, this problem we're facing," said Coleman in response to the federal government's fiscal year 2004 shift cuts at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District Locks and Dams 5 to 9.
"If you can't use it, you might as well lose it."
Coleman said further limits to lock services could lessen the amount of boater traffic, which would create a ripple effect that will be felt throughout the entire county.
"(The cuts) will curtail the commodity of commerce to every organization here that has anything to do with selling merchandise of any type via the river," said Coleman. "It's not a complicated issue; it's basic logic.
"(Many businesses) are going to collapse because of inability to utilize the river."
Armstrong County officials
In the early 1980s recreational boating on the Allegheny River was at its peak, according to Armstrong County Commissioner Jim Scahill.
"There was a time on this river when all the locks were open 24 hours a day," said Scahill. "If you were docked in Kittanning and you wanted to boat down to Pittsburgh for a Pirate game and get back up river afterward, you had nothing to worry about."
In "Recreation: The Other Allegheny River," written by Scahill in 1986, he said continued operation of Armstrong County lock and dam systems was key to development and revitalization of recreational and commercial opportunity in all 47 county municipalities.
"The critical nature of this (issue) to Armstrong County is that there are five locks and dams in this county, more than any other county and any other system on the Allegheny River," said Scahill.
Corps projections of lower commercial lockages in the coming year and decreased lock service hours at Locks 5 to 9 does not bode well for future river use in the county, said Scahill.
"It's a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Scahill. "Cut the hours because you predict less lockages, then when less boaters have access because the hours are cut, it justifies cutting (the hours) even more."
In Jack Dunmire and Mea Scholl, the county has two residents on the 15-member Port of Pittsburgh Commission board of directors that place a high priority on preserving business on all 200 miles of commercially navigable waterways in an 11-county area of western Pennsylvania.
Together, they help support more than 200 river terminals and barge industry suppliers in the region.
And while both deal more with commercial commerce on the Allegheny, they also are recreational boaters who are equally concerned with decreased river access based on the service cuts.
"You don't realize how many people use that river, it's tremendous," said Dunmire, also an Armstrong County commissioner.
"Go into the cove by Snyder's on a holiday weekend and there's 100 boats in there, and it's all recreational."
Like many boaters Dunmire mostly spends weekends and holidays on the water on his 28-foot pontoon boat, however, the idea of decreased weekday access is still a concern.
"If you are stuck in a pool, where you gonna go? We have a beautiful river and won't be able to go any further than one lock and dam," said Dunmire.
Scholl is a native of Michigan, where recreational boating is a huge industry due to access to the Great Lakes and other waterways. She said the rivers in western Pennsylvania are extremely underused.
"I was shocked when I first came here and saw the lack of usage and promotion of usage of the rivers for recreational boating," said Scholl.
The county could also suffer from a lack of commercial commerce based on decreased lock hours, said Mark A. Devinney, vice-president of sales for Freeport Terminals, Inc., located below Lock 5 at the county's southernmost point.
"We are Armstrong County's last 24/7 link to the world," said Devinney, who also is the vice president of the Waterways Association of Pittsburgh.
"I think it would be a shame if Armstrong County suddenly got cut off from international commerce because the locks are only open by appointment (much of the time)."
With Lock 4 set to remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week all year round, Devinney said, that part of the county will remain accessible all the time.
"But that's not enough, we have to keep it open upriver, too," said Devinney.
Armstrong Terminals of Gilpin Township in Pool 5 is the northeasternmost public terminal of its kind on America's eastern inland waterways, according to Tom Boroski, the terminal manager.
Annually, the company ships and receives more than 40 barges of goods to and from as far away as New Orleans, Australia, China and South Africa, so the need for convenient passage is paramount to their business.
And because the company searches far and wide for customers, many times bids for jobs depend on not only how long it will take to get here, but also how long it will take to unload or load up and head back downriver.
"It always comes up with a bid, it always costs a little more if they have to wait," said Boroski. "That's the way it's always been, it sort of hinders us a little bit.
"If they have to wait any longer, it could make things difficult."
Few have a stock in both the recreational and commercial side of the lock schedule issue the way Mark A. Snyder, president of Snyder Associated Companies, does.
Glacial Sand & Gravel, Inc., in East Franklin Township, part of Snyder Associated Cos., depends on the ability to move the much-prized glacial till sand and gravel dredged from the river's bottom downriver as far as Creighton.
But since Snyder was old enough to drive, he's had as big an interest in the river's recreational side.
"I've been a recreational boater for over 30 years. I dock in Kittanning Marina now, but I've actually docked in pools 7, 8 and 9 occasionally," said Snyder.
During that time, Snyder witnessed many transient boaters make their way up the upper Allegheny from far and wide.
"There were traveling boaters from Indianapolis and Cincinnati, or even further down south or up the Monongahela. But you don't see them coming up this way nearly as often as you did years ago because a lot of the services aren't here that used to be; then the hours of operation just makes it that much more difficult."
Testimony to the far-reaching draw of the upper Allegheny comes from two of Coleman's steadiest customers: John Jackovitz of Monroeville and Rene Duquesnoy of Pittsburgh, who each dock houseboats here.
To Jackovitz, the upper Allegheny is one of the most beautiful stretches of river in the world.
"I've seen the Rhine (River) in Germany and the Danube coming through the Alps in Poland, and (the upper Allegheny) is as pretty and scenic a river as either of them," said Jackovitz. "This is the only place for us to boat, we wouldn't even consider (docking downriver)."
Jackovitz and his family also bring money to the county.
"We contribute to the local economy, buy things, go eat, golf at Lenape, just like a weekend getaway," said Jackovitz. "We'll spend hundreds of dollars, then it becomes thousands, then it becomes tens of thousands, because a lot of people come here."
Duquesnoy agrees that closing the river off further will damage the county's economy.
"You hurt the whole recreational area by closing the river off (further). Businesses like Coleman's and the restaurants will all be affected, and that means they bring in less money, and that affects the whole county."
In 20 weekends Duquesnoy and Jackovitz spend on their boats in the county, both say they pump a huge amount of money in to local businesses.
"When you add up all the things you buy while you're here, it's easily $200-300 a weekend," said Duquesnoy.
A Kittanning native, Tim Visnesky saw the potential for a profitable business that would be largely dependent on boaters like Jackovitz and Duquesnoy when he bought The Allegheny Mariner Restaurant and Marina in early 2000.
"I have people come in from Pittsburgh, Cranberry, Fox Chapel and Freeport, as well as people from Ford City and Kittanning," said Visnesky. "A lot of our customers come from (downriver), mainly because there's not as much river traffic; we're known up and down the river."
However, if Visnesky were deciding today whether or not to buy this currently successful business, he might not have based on the Corps planned 2004 decrease in lock hours.
"I still may have had an interest (in buying the business), but it wouldn't have been as great and it certainly may have not been big enough to actually push me to buy the place," said Visnesky.
A reluctance for persons to develop business here is one of the issues the county could face in the future due to the cuts.
"(Businesses like this) are finally starting to put Kittanning back on the map, and if they close down lock hours the customers won't be able to get here and we'll be right back where we started," said Visnesky.
Jerry Ashworth, owner of Pool 5's Schenley Industrial Park and Marina since 1992, said that his desire to help promote the welfare of the upper Allegheny led him to become a member of River Navigation Coalition from the time of its inception.
"The rivers in Armstrong County, in my opinion, have still never been exploited like they should be, and that's just pitiful," said Ashworth.
"The Allegheny River is the finest sand and gravel river in the United States, and probably one of the most scenic rivers in the United States, and we're not promoting it. This river has never been promoted."
During the recreational boating season, few businesses see the radical spike in sales witnessed by Kittanning Beer's Fred Watson, who said boating customers both local and from out-of-town are constantly in and out of the door.
While revenue from boaters is not immense, taking it away is not the thing to do, either, Watson said.
"With the economy in Kittanning slumping now, every little bit of business helps," said Watson. "I would definitely hate to see (the locks close down further), it would hurt the county and definitely affect this area."
Paul Murray of Murray Auto Electric has boat and car repair shops in Delmont and Latrobe, but from his shop on the hill along Main Street in Manor Township, he sees the potential for a recreational boon on the upper Allegheny.
"As far as the recreational aspect, it seems to be growing more and more in the county," said Murray. "People seem to want to be here, so I think it would be a mistake to make it even less accessible."
And Dale Barnes, assistant manager of the Ford City shop, said the rehabilitation performed on Locks 7 and 8 less than four years ago contradicts the decreased usage such drops in available hours portends.
"They just put the frontage in down in Kittanning, why did they do that," asked Barnes. "There's a lot of money spent on nothing."
As far as any claims that the upper Allegheny is underused, Kathy Wolfe, Armstrong County Tourist Bureau director, said the 2003 RiverBlast scheduled for Sept. 5-7 at Kittanning Riverfront Park is a good example of the group's efforts to change that perspective.
"As far as we're concerned, we're in favor of anything to promote the river," said Wolfe.
"It's our number one natural resource in Armstrong County and we therefore also see the value of recreational boating here as well."
A.J. Panian can be reached at leadertimes@tribweb.com or (724) 543-1303, ext. 241.