Thursday, July 26, 2007

Points from DeSantis might include -- more silly benchmarks -- oh no!

Pittsburgh mayoral hopeful urges frank talk - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Performance benchmarks from other U.S. cities would be pitted against specific accomplishments of Pittsburgh's public safety, public works and other departments and released to the public to encourage city managers to improve."
This isn't what is needed.

The same type of thinking was used in the benchmarks of the Pittsburgh Public Schools as well, but at the other end of the silly spectrum.

People in Pittsburgh Public Schools don't often need to compare the performance between one city school and another. Rather, the comparison and contrast needs to be drawn among city schools and suburban schools.

If a family is going to one set of schools, they are not going to move, say from Lawrenceville to Greenfield. No way. They might move from the city to North Hills, West Allegheny, Woodland Hills, etc.

I want benchmarks that mean something.

Likewise, I don't need to see a suite of benchmarks about public safety from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and Kansas City. Families in Pittsburgh don't worry about the time of arrival of EMS vs. the time it would take if they lived in another city in another state.

Will quality of life be better in Butler, in Westmorland County, in Brentwood -- or in Pittsburgh.

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