December 21, 2022 - Pittsburgh City Paper

GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2022 by Eagle Media Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Pittsburgh City Paper are those of the author and not necessarily of Eagle Media Corp. LETTER POLICY: Letters, or e-mails must be signed and include town and daytime phone number for confirmation. We may edit for length and clarity. DISTRIBUTION: Pittsburgh City Paper is published weekly by Eagle Media Corp. and is available free of charge at select distribution locations. One copy per reader; copies of past issues may be purchased for $3.00 each, payable in advance to Pittsburgh City Paper.

FIRST CLASS MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available for $250 per year (52 issues), $150 per half year (26 issues), or $32 per six weeks. For more information, visit pghcitypaper.com and click on the Subscribe tab.

COVER

ITTSBURGH has a reputation built on sports, steel, and ketchup. But cities are not defined by winning teams, industries, or condiments. People define them. Each year, the Pittsburgh City looks for those locals who made a big difference over the past 12 months.

City Paper team chose People of the Year candidates who devoted 2022 to workers’ and reproductive rights, made positive shifts in the arts, and scored historic wins in politics and other fields. This issue includes profiles of La’Tasha D. Mayes, voted in as the first out Black lesbian to

serve in the state House of Representatives, and Crystal Grabowski, a healthcare assistant fighting for Planned Parenthood patients and workers. It also includes exceptional figures in the categories of Labor, Music, Food and Drink, Business, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Literature.

CP feels proud to present a posthumous tribute to Celeste Scott, a longtime local activist and community organizer who passed away in November.

Please join us in honoring the people working to make this city a better place for everyone.

— Pittsburgh City Paper Editorial Staff Amanda Waltz, Jamie Wiggan, Jordana Rosenfeld, Lucy Chen, Hannah Kinney-Kobre, Jared Wickerham

CELESTE SCOTT

Those who knew her say it’s unde niable: Celeste Scott made Pittsburgh a better, kinder, more equitable place. The beloved organizer, mother, and leader died suddenly this fall at the age of 46, leaving a legacy of love, righteous strug gle, and community care.

Living “Fat, Femme, and Fly,” Scott unapologetically spoke truth to power, sharing her sweeping vision for a Pittsburgh where Black communities can thrive, and working tirelessly to make it happen.

“It’s time for a total reimagining of public safety, restorative justice, and accompanying reallocation of funds to community investment,” Scott said at a 2020 hearing on police reform and public safety. “We know a better future is possi ble. We can make Pittsburgh a city where all of us have our humanity respected.”

Scott was instrumental in the cre ation of Pittsburgh’s Housing Opportunity Fund, which invests millions each year in affordable housing, and SisTers PGH’s transitional housing program for unhoused trans, nonbinary, and gender non- conforming Pittsburghers.

“She had a voracious desire for knowledge, justice for the vulnerable and music,” reads her obituary. “She mastered the art of loving people enough to tell them the truth that would set them free and elevate them even if they were aggressively determined to remain bound.”

In Scott’s honor, the Opportunity Fund has launched a new initiative called Respite for Black Women that will provide funding to support Black women’s “right to rest” in Pittsburgh.

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

We provide individualized, innovative care and ongoing support for more than 200 people in our community with complex physical and intellectual challenges.

Our facilities are located throughout western Pennsylvania, and offer community living, residential homes, intermediate care facilities, adult training services, rehabilitation services, health services, and much more.

Every day, we’re fortunate to witness unbelievable acts that engage, enrich, and better the lives of the individuals whom Verland serves.

Without support from our employees, families, friends, and community this simply could not be possible.

This holiday season, we are thankful for those who support the entire Verland community.

With your help, together, we can continue to make the lives of those at Verland wonderful. Donate today by scanning this code or visiting raisedonors.com/verland/wonderful-life

At Verland, we believe that every person deserves a safe, enriching, and stable environment in which to thrive with dignity and respect.

Exceptional People Compassionate Care

Massaud Salem opened Salem’s Market and Grill 40 years ago to make high quality halal produce accessible and affordable at a time when Pittsburgh offered few other options.

Today, his son Abdullah says nothing has changed.

“I’ve always been with him, I’ve always been his understudy,” Salem says. “The whole basis of the business is to make sure people have access to fresh, healthy, affordable food.”

This principle, pursued steadily over several decades, led city officials this year to declare July 17 Abdullah Salem Day in Pittsburgh. The business also announced plans to open a second location in the Hill District, where they’ve pledged to serve the community with the same mission that made them a Strip District institution.

To Salem, running a meat and produce store has never been about generating wild profits. Instead, he says, it’s a way to give back.

From its earliest days, many clients have been immigrants who Salem says are often vulnerable and taken advantage of by other merchants who frequently sell foreign imports well above retail price. Salem has employed five Afghan refugees this year and frequently distributes free meat and groceries to new arrivals in the form of a welcome box.

“When you serve food in the city, you are uniquely intermeshed with people’s lives, and you see the challenges people are facing in their community,” Salem says.

BY JAMIE WIGGAN // JAMIE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Explore cannabis as a support for what ails

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

NECROMANCER BREWING

2257 BABCOCK BLVD., NORTH HILLS. NECROMANCER.BEER

Necromancer Brewing wants to resurrect a sense of fun in the Pittsburgh beer scene. The Ross-based brewery burst onto the scene in 2021, promising to take their beer seriously and themselves a little less so. This is on display in a Necromancer-branded sweatshirt featuring two seemingly post-coital skeletons under a rainbow comforter, with text reading “Bone Who You Want to Bone.”

The company’s name winks at its mission of awakening dormant beer

styles from the dead, and the results have been phenomenal; its Kvass (brewed with bagels from the Squirrel Hill-based Pigeon bakery), Adambier, and Kulmbacher all represent styles lost to time.

Necromancer also made a renewed call for inclusion to the local craft beer scene. Co-owned and run by women and LGBTQ staff members, the brewery has committed to creating a space for change in an industry dominated by straight, predominantly white men. In

addition to hosting its own Pride event, the brewery continually highlights drag performers, and creates welcoming events like its Ladies and Femme Identifying Night.

Necromancer has also done tangible work with the Pittsburgh Brewery Diversity Council. In collaboration with fellow Pittsburgh brewers like Two Frays and Trace, Necromancer helped to create a strict, comprehensive, anti-discriminatory Code of Conduct in order to protect workers, customers, and partners.

BY

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: FOOD + DRINK

CP PHOTO: PAT CAVANAGH Lauren Hughes

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: HEALTH

CRYSTAL GRABOWSKI

For abortion caregivers and advocates like Crystal Grabowski, 2022 has been a tough year. But, like many, Grabowski has responded to the traumatic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling with renewed determination.

“We all knew it was coming but it was still really devastating. It hurt and it was incredibly difficult,” Grabowski tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “Despite that, I still learned from the experience and it made me feel even more dedicated to the work during this time. I have a lot of clarity about the work that I’m doing.”

Grabowski began her career as middle school English teacher before leaving the field five years ago to pursue a cause that had long inspired her. “I was drawn to abortion access because I knew what it was like to try to access healthcare in a rural area, and I knew how important it is,” Grabowski says. “Five years later, and I’m still here. I really enjoy it and I don’t plan on stopping.”

While Grabowski has spent much of her time since June ensuring people get the reproductive healthcare they need, she has also been working as a member of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania’s new bargaining committee to secure better pay and resources for workers.

This, she says, goes hand in hand with her work on the front lines. “You don’t have any workers without any staff.”

BY JAMIE WIGGAN // JAMIE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

TWITTER: @CLOZILLY

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: LABOR

STARBUCKS UNION WORKERS

TWITTER: @PGHSBUXUNITED

Starbucks union workers in Pittsburgh aren’t backing down. This December marked the one-year anniversary of their national fight for better wages, guaranteed shifts, improved health and safety practices, and fair disciplinary processes.

Across the country, workers have been organizing, with Starbucks Workers United representing more than 250 locations, and Pittsburgh has a heavy concentration. Currently, workers at six local shops are on strike because they say the company is refusing to bargain.

Starbucks Workers United says the company’s lawyers have repeatedly walked away from bargaining sessions or requested to reschedule meetings at the last minute.

Many workers have also reported threats or retaliation from management in response to their unionizing efforts. The National Labor Relations Board filed a 19-page complaint against Starbucks in September for managers allegedly making threats to Pittsburgh workers attempting to organize.

Despite the uphill battle they face,

Starbucks union workers in Pittsburgh are determined to keep striking until they win new contracts.

“I think a lot of people, especially the people in my generation, are sort of wising up to the fact that corporations don’t actually have our backs,” Shea Gannon, a Starbucks organizer, told City Paper this summer. “And that the only way that we are going to be able to get what we deserve from the work we do is by joining together and having that solidarity, and saying ‘Hey, this business doesn’t run without us.’”

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: LITERATURE

PRISON BOOKS PROJECT

PGHPRISONBOOKPROJECT.ORG

It has been a big year for the Pittsburgh Prison Book Project. Founded in 2000 under the name Book ‘Em, the Project has gone through many changes but the mission has remained the same: providing free access to literature and educational materials to people in prison.

After being based in the Thomas Merton Center’s unfurnished basement for many years, the Project moved to an above-ground space in Hazelwood

this year.

“Our space is now a place people want to spend time in,” Project co-chair Jodi Lincoln tells Pittsburgh City Paper “We were able to double the number of packages we sent, getting books and resources in the hands of 1,526 people.”

While the Project primarily sends books to facilities within Pennsylvania’s correctional system, there is one notable exception: local county jails. Lincoln explains that they “often don’t have

public policies, have very little oversight, and aren’t transparent.”

Despite being located in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Jail is no different. Even books from approved sources were “mass rejected this past year.”

In 2023, the Project plans to advocate for increasing book access at the jail by “pushing for new policies and transparency.”

“We’d love to be able to send a book into ACJ by the end of 2023,” Lincoln says.

BY HANNAH KINNEY-KOBRE

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

LABOR CHOIR TWITTER: @PGHLABORCHOIR

At most Pittsburgh protests, picket lines, and rallies — really wherever a morale boost would be helpful — you can find the Pittsburgh Labor Choir belting out tunes like “We Shall Not Be Moved” and “Solidarity Forever.” It’s all about hyping up protesters — and not being scared to reach for that high note.

“We’re keenly aware of how uplifting it can be to do music just as amateurs and friends,” says choir founder Edwin Everhart. “It’s not about being good. It’s just about having fun with it and being expressive.”

Everhart founded the choir in February 2020 after seeing a need for enlivening songs and chants in protests. It’s a fitting endeavor for Pittsburgh, the site of historical steel worker labor struggles and, more recently, union strikes at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, La Prima, and Carnegie Museums, protests for which featured the choir.

Pittsburgh Labor Choir consists of approximately 20 members, a mix of amateurs and trained singers, who fire up as many protests in the city as possible with high-energy choral songs. The group meets for practice at the Pittsburgh Friends Meeting House in Shadyside, where it sings a mix of traditional union songs and contemporary international and English-language creations (a prounion themed “Twelve Days of Christmas” is in the works).

As more and more workers in Pittsburgh demand fairer labor rights, you can expect the choir to be right alongside them, singing in solidarity.

BY MATTHEW MONROY // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY

Many Americans are fortunate to have dental coverage for their entire working life, through employer-provided benefits. When those benefits end with retirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocket can come as a shock, leading people to put off or even go without care.

Simply put — without dental insurance, there may be an important gap in your healthcare coverage.

When you’re comparing plans ...



Look for coverage that helps pay for major services. Some plans may limit the number of procedures — or pay for preventive care only.

 Look for coverage with no deductibles. Some plans may require you to pay hundreds out of pocket before benefits are paid.



Shop for coverage with no annual maximum on cash benefits. Some plans have annual maximums of $1,000.

Medicare

That’s right. As good as Medicare is, it was never meant to cover everything. That means if you want protection, you need to purchase individual insurance.

Early detection can prevent small problems from becoming expensive ones.

The best way to prevent large dental bills is preventive care. The American Dental Association recommends checkups twice a year.

Previous dental work can wear out.

Even if you’ve had quality dental work in the past, you shouldn’t take your dental health for granted. In fact, your odds of having a dental problem only go up as you age.2

Treatment is expensive — especially the services people over 50 often need.

Consider these national average costs of treatment ... $217 for a checkup ... $189 for a filling ... $1,219 for a crown.3 Unexpected bills like this can be a real burden, especially if you’re on a fixed income.

“I don’t worry”

“Now that I have your dental policy, I don’t worry about going to the dentist. I love your plan — you pay what you say!”

Colleen W., MO

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: PERFORMING ARTS

JOSEPH HALL

KELLY-STRAYHORN.ORG

Joseph Hall has played a pivotal role in shaping East Liberty's Kelly Strayhorn Theater. Prior to being named executive director in March 2020, he served as the venue’s producing director. Between those roles, he worked at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, aka BAAD!, where he says he was “part of a loving community of the most brilliant, beautiful queer artists and thinkers.”

“When the opportunity at KST arose, I knew this was my chance to bring part of BAAD! to Pittsburgh,” Hall tells Pittsburgh City Paper

Hall says the pandemic and resurgence of Black Lives Matter changed the organization’s approach. In 2022, KST released a strategic plan to clarify its mission and vision as a “home for culture in Pittsburgh rooted in the liberation of Black and queer people.” The organization also furthered its reach with collaborative grant programs, residencies, and other projects designed to support under-represented artists.

“We’re constantly building a platform to feed the soul of Pittsburgh,” says Hall.

Even as he looks to the future, Hall stresses that KST remains true to East Liberty, the predominantly Black neighborhood that it has long called home.

“I came back to Pittsburgh, and back to KST to carry on the legacy of an organization that I love with a community that I love,” says Hall.

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CP PHOTO: PAT CAVANAGH

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: POLITICS

LA'TASHA D. MAYES

LATASHADMAYES.COM

La’Tasha D. Mayes made history this year as the first out lesbian elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the first woman elected to represent her district at the state level. After decades of advancing LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive justice, and quality of life for Black women and girls in Pittsburgh, Mayes will now represent the 24th Legislative District in Harrisburg, which includes East Liberty, Highland Park, and parts of Wilkinsburg and other East End communities.

Mayes told NEXTPittsburgh’s Tony Norman that she plans to make the most of the Pa. Democrats’ recent electoral victories. “With a House majority, I expect to lead the charge on sweeping legislation on a host of progressive issues from abortion access and healthcare, more broadly, to LGBTQ+ rights and environmental justice,” Mayes says.

She tells Pittsburgh City Paper that she carries with her the strength and legacy of other powerful Black women. “When I walk up the steps into the Capitol, a place that never thought anyone like me would serve as a state representative, I feel right at home and confident in the change I will bring as state representative. I also know that I enter this place with my mother, Shirley Chisholm [the first Black woman elected to U.S. Congress], and Alma Speed Fox [local human rights champion] with me always.

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

listen now at wyep.org

The last few years saw multiple attacks against Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, most notably the March 2021 mass shooting at an Atlanta, Ga. One local group of women and non-binary artists have responded by banding together to create spaces in Pittsburgh for AAPI representation and empowerment.

In a group statement, members Bonnie Fan, Lena Chen, Sara Tang, Caroline Yoo, and Elina Zhang say JADED “addresses the trauma of racial violence, reveals the hidden history of AAPI migration in the region,” and offers mentorship

JADED

and networking opportunities for their communities.

“When I joined JADED, I felt a deep responsibility to the larger AAPI community in Pittsburgh – past and present,” Zhang tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “Beyond the immediate violence and discrimination towards AAPI communities, there is another more latent and equally urgent crisis, which is the fact that Asian American stories are continuously sidelined and made invisible, unmoored and without a home.”

To bring these stories to light, the group organized free events through the

city’s Office of Public Art, including tours of sites like Homewood Cemetery, where many Guangdong workers are buried, and Pittsburgh’s historic Chinatown.

For 2023, JADED promises art exhibitions, writing workshops, film screenings, and other events.

“I am really proud that we have been part of a greater movement about AAPI folks across the country and within Pittsburgh who feel empowered to share our love and stories,” says Chen.“JADED would not be possible if we weren’t drawing from a strong foundation of mutual respect and love for each other.”

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: VISUAL ARTS

IG: @JADEDPGH

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM (from left to right) Sara Tang, Caroline Yoo, Elina Zhang, and Bonnie Fan

EMAIL: workdepartmentfirm@gmail.com

NAME CHANGE

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-22-014518

In re petition of Alexandra Oleynik for change of name to Alexandra Oleynik Helmick. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 27th day of January, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.