Scott Goldsmith for Politico Magazine Letter To The Editor Johnstown Responds to Politico Community leaders write that a recent magazine piece ‘depicted a community that does not reflect who we truly are and what we believe.’

To the editor:

How did Donald Trump get elected? Rather than ask the question, a recent piece in Politico seems to be looking for someone to blame. For the sake of a one-year look back at the Trump win in middle America, reporter Michael Kruse came to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for a follow-up story with those same voters he’d interviewed for earlier pieces. He left, unfortunately, painting a portrait that is grossly incomplete.


The vast majority of our community is working to make it a better place—and some were given the opportunity to discuss those experiences. It’s too bad, but not surprising, that Kruse instead focused on specific comments by a few people who fit a narrative he created before arriving. We wish Mr. Kruse would have taken the time to understand the context of the entire community, rather than simply using it as the convenient backdrop for a preexisting storyline. For readers outside of our region, his story depicted a community that does not reflect who we truly are and what we believe.

In the unsavory parts of Kruse’s piece, you could insert the name of any city that is recovering from the loss of coal and steel jobs. As with every other Rust Belt community, there are people here who are hurting and some who have lashed out in ugly ways. We are open to acknowledging and confronting our issues head-on—including the racism and bigotry by a few who do not represent our town. But focusing simply on just those aspects means you’re missing a bigger picture. Those of us who live in Johnstown know that we’re better than this.

By taking the hateful words of those few and elevating them into a story labeled “a letter from Johnstown,” Kruse not only portrayed a city we don’t recognize—one that literally made members of our community gasp—he cast a shadow on the good things that are happening here.

Instead of seeking an apology or feeling badly about how Johnstown was characterized, we see this as an opportunity to raise attention for many of the positive initiatives happening here. We acknowledge that there is much work to be done, but the article completely ignores the fact much of this work is already happening.

Over the past two years, as part of the Vision 2025 action plan that Carnegie Mellon University developed specifically for Johnstown, thousands of local residents have joined together on dozens of grassroots teams to build trails, open an entrepreneurial incubator, install public art, and develop job-training workshops. Our community has an active “Unity Coalition” to promote diversity education; a growing cultural arts district; and a renewed business-development plan. We’re investing in building out a diverse economy and culture, and while we’d like everyone to know this, one family’s close-minded view of the world in no way represents the real effort that is afoot.

As Kruse did point out, Johnstown is a resilient community. We don’t deny the images and opinions that he gathered in his brief time here. But, for example, Kruse decided to highlight two closed diners without bothering to point out that just a couple of blocks down the street, a brew pub and another restaurant are renovating and in the process of opening. He didn’t share that the “leftover heap of slag” he referenced is part of an active commercial re-mining operation that is removing ferro manganese and other metals—and, in the process, restoring hundreds of acres of land. And he wasn’t here long enough to speak to the two African-Americans who were just elected to our city council, one of whom was the top vote-getter on November 7 in a city where the large majority of voters are white.

As if being irresponsible was not enough, the article’s closing is truly reprehensible. The author punctuates his piece with base inflammatory remarks that are represented as all-encompassing but are profoundly and deeply insulting to our community.

We assume that the reporter reached his goal for this story, but in the process, he painted an erroneous picture of a great region of our country that continues to have high hopes for our future and for more people and business to migrate here to enjoy the benefits of a town on a turnaround.

No one will rescue us but us, and it’s a shame that this spirit of grit, determination and unity was absent from the piece—especially since those same values are so present in the daily life of our city. All are welcome here.

Respectfully,

Frank Janakovic — Mayor, City of Johnstown

Alan Cashaw — NAACP, Johnstown

Rachel Allen & Christine Dahlin, PhD — Unity Coalition

Melissa Radovanic — Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership

Allen Higbee — Young Professionals of the Alleghenies

Mike Kane — Community Foundation for the Alleghenies

Melissa Komar — Johnstown Redevelopment Authority

Tom Chernisky, William Smith & Mark Wissinger — Cambria County Commissioners

Linda Thomson — Johnstown Area Regional Industries

Mike Artim — Cambria Regional Chamber of Commerce

Wally Burlack & Ryan Kieta — Vision 2025

Lisa M. Rager — Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Convention & Visitors Bureau