Friday, January 12, 2007

The Busman's Holiday: Mayor Ravenstahl Q&A & New McNeilly Case Documents

The Busman's Holiday: Mayor Ravenstahl Q&A & New McNeilly Case Documents Podcast: Mayor Answers Reporters Questions
My memo with both praise and constructive remarks to Bob Mayo about yesterday's coverage is posted at his blog in the comments section. And here:


Well done Bob. I don't need to listen to the podcast, as I was there in person. But I'm very glad to see you are doing this type of collection of digital dust -- and putting a light on matters.

We need watchdog journalists.

Too bad, at that event, there were not questions about the Pittsburgh Promise. I was wondering, how much money the Pgh Federation of Teachers gives to candidates each election cycle (all endorsed democrats, and 99% in office already) vs. how much it gave to the college scholarship fund. Was the ration 5 to 1 in favor of money to status quo politicians vs youth in the city.

How many of the 4,000 members of the PFT have kids in the Pgh Public Schools?

Would LUKE, a product of Catholic School, like it when only public school kids get college scholarships?

What about North Catholic, Luke's old school, moving outside the city? Can't he do something about getting them to stay here. He did talk about getting families to move back into the city. -- because of this Pgh Promise.

The Pgh Promise is sure to be a broken promise. Do the math. The student has a brother looking to spend $60,000 for an undergrad degree. Plus, there are two others in the family.

This venture, Pgh Promise, does NOT even have a bank account yet. Why not? Did they think it through?

Finally, the Pgh Promise is nothing but a bribe to get students to move to Pgh. It won't work. It didn't work for Lazarus either. And they got millions.

The journalist were at the event to get in some digs about this case, and missed a golden opportunity to cover the real news. More wool is going to be pulled over the eyes of the city -- and watchdogs are needed. Cover all sides of the Pgh Promise, please.

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