Year in review: A look back at the stories that shaped Monroeville in 2020

Monroeville participated in some of the world’s largest and most impactful stories in 2020.

Here’s a look back on how the municipality fit into some of the top stories that defined the year.

The covid-19 pandemic

It’s the story that, unfortunately, won’t go away. Covid-19 rapidly spread through every fabric of daily life.

Monroeville did not go untouched. In fact, case numbers for the Monroeville area remain among the highest in Allegheny County, with 1,550 cases reported as of Dec. 30 and 47 deaths, according to Allegheny County’s covid-19 tracker.

Since March, institutions — such as schools, houses of worship and other public meeting places — have kept thier doors closed. The local economy, especially local restaurant owners, have suffered.

Some of the 47 deaths include people from a single nursing home, which is operated by the same people who own Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County. One former staffer has filed a lawsuit against ownership that is still making its way through Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Gateway School District hosted a drive-thru graduation ceremony for its 233 seniors in a Monroeville Mall parking lot. In the fall, students headed back to school differently. Many chose to attend online classes fully, while others chose to go back to in-person classes just two days a week.

Tragedy, though, sometimes leads to uplifting response. There were stories of hotels packing thousands of meals for people in need, women providing face masks to others and unique ideas to keep relationships and connections strong throughout isolation.

Protests

Monroeville also played a part of another story that grabbed headlines this year: social unrest. Hundreds took to the municipality’s busiest commercial streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in May.

The protest marked the 11^th straight day of protesting in the Pittsburgh region. It was scheduled to last five hours, but organizers cut it short after some suffered from the sweltering heat.

Days later, children rallied on a school-owned football field to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Some of the posters spotted that day included messages that read “My life matters,” “Be kind,” “If you think your mask made it hard to breathe, imagine being black in America,” “Am I next?” and “At what age do I become a threat?”

MS4

The saga of the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, or MS4, continued this year when houses of worship got caught in the middle of a legal battle between Monroeville and Gateway School District.

It was the latest trouble since Monroeville established the new yearly fee in 2018, which triggered several appeals from individuals and larger commercial properties such as the Monroeville Mall.

Essentially, religious institutions lost the right to qualify for a 25% discount on yearly MS4 fees. It was initially granted to them when council ratified the ordinance setting up the fee as a way to offer some relief.

The reason Monroeville council eliminated the discount is complicated and rooted in a legal case between it and Gateway School District, which was first filed in 2019 by the district. Gateway owes around $90,000 in yearly MS4 fees to the municipality, but has argued it should not have to pay the fees.

Shootings at the mall

This year marked another of violence at the Monroeville Mall. This time, tragically, it resulted in the death of a 20-year-old who was employed at a kiosk located inside. Saheed Gayle was shot in the chest after an argument Oct. 7. Police charged Lawrence Mark Murphy with criminal homicide and weapons violations.

Family and friends remembered Gayle as a “jokester” and someone who stood among peers for his work ethic.

Giorgio Coraluppi

Speaking of work ethic, 2020 introduced many of us to a man named Giorgio Coraluppi — the person who invented the digital teleconference call. Coraluppi, 86, still works as the CEO of Compunetics, a Monroeville-based company he founded in 1968 that develops conferencing software and hardware.

The technology he invented eventually replaced NASA’s entire communication system in the 1990s and today serves as the basis for technology that has kept us connected through the pandemic.

The man inspired us to keep chasing after our curiosities — no matter our age or circumstance.