Bob O'Connor's people said that the city paper is full of lies. Bob didn't have the time to read the article.
Pittsburgh City Paper - Main Feature 4/14/2005 How the West Wasn?t Won
A West Pittsburgh development group?s closed-door dealings have cost it the trust of some needy neighbors
The debate was a paid entry invite. On the stage was Hop, Bob, Michael Lamb and Bill Peduto. I asked Les, another candidate for mayor but who was in the audience and not on stage, who won? He said "Hop."
I agree. Hop did a fine job. Hop put a lot of the responsibility upon us all -- the community -- the parents.
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11 comments:
Paul Sentner's quite from within the article is on the mark:
"WEHAV 'is symptomatic of top-down thinking that pays no attention to what?s really going on in the neighborhoods,' counters Paul Sentner, an Elliott resident, sometime photographer and art dealer, and WEHAV opposition leader. 'Expensive homes don?t make an area. City services do.'
Sentner and others assembled some 3,200 signatures asking for WEHAV?s termination. In September, city council ended the program, with only Hertzberg voting no.
Another interesting quote:
In some ways, the Partnership made itself an easy target. "They’re a pretty aloof bunch," says Jack Peth, of Crafton Heights, one of the anti-WEHAV leaders. Peth’s compatriots often reminded council that most of the Partnership’s leaders live outside the city.
Imler lives in McCandless. Just 7 of the Partnership’s 19 board members live in the western neighborhoods. The others own West End businesses, but live in places like Upper St. Clair (Gensler, the president), Mount Lebanon (Irwin, of James Gallery) and Peters (Stevenson). "It’s hard to find neighborhood people who have the time," explains Gensler. "It’s a blue-collar area, and our meetings, as a rule, are at lunch time."
The Partnership conducts nearly all of its meetings behind closed doors, inviting the public just once a year. "If you’re doing a project where property has to be assembled, you’re not going to be able to let that out to the general public," explains Gensler. If you discuss planned developments in public, he says, speculators might then buy up the involved properties and demand top dollar.
Being OPEN is very imporant:
Beatty, of the West End Elliott Citizens Council, says the culture of secrecy is taken to extremes. "Their board members are not allowed to talk about what goes on in their board meetings to anyone in the community," she says.
Combined with the practice of selling properties to board members, the closed meetings encourage suspicion, says Carl Suter, a Crafton Heights community activist who opposed WEHAV. "With no transparency in the organization, how do I know where the $100,000 [that Dysan paid for the Ferro properties] went?" he asks. "I think they need to open up the organization to the community, so we know what’s really going on."
I deleted a comment from this thread about one of the chacters in the article -- and the posting, Carl.
Personal stuff from nameless blog visitors can go onto other forums. So, onto the meat of that mention...
Why would he throw a copy of the paper in Bob's face anyway? Is Bob supposed to sit down and read that right then and there and comment on it?
I'm not sure what Carl had in mind with the connection to Bob O'C about the article. I think he (Carl) was happy to see the cover story in the paper on an issue he has followed in his neighborhood. Carl must be happy about the coverage and attention the paper gave to the issue. Carl must also be mad about the outcomes within the article given the corruption and interal sales of property to board members.
My big talking point is the journalistic coverage of the overall story for the city paper. It was real investigation, real reporting, real work to generate the feature and begin to connect the dots.
Meanwhile, the people in those neighborhoods have championed a real rebellion.
If we had great coverage with the media -- such as displayed in this story -- we'd be in a whole different spot in time in Pittsburgh. Sagas of corruption like this have been all too frequent.
Delete the truth...
Only those who post with their identities are worth anything. Anonymous posters are worthless.
Why is that??
I onlt speak the truth. I don't feel like telling you people who I am.
Personal slander isn't welcomed on this blog. I will be deleted. Negative comments about people in Pittsburgh that stretch beyond the campaign are out of bounds.
Get onto the issues and ideas -- as that is where the real action is.
If you want to build a site to talk about other matters -- go for it.
NOISE that isn't with any SIGNAL isn't welcomed either.
You will be deleted? haha
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