South Side restaurant fights for sidewalk dining

The system is sure to fail when the pump is primed with folly.

Doug Shields said the need for a public hearing about a fence represents a "failure in the system." Bingo!

We could play pin the tail on the failure.

"A business owner needs to know what the heck the landscape is," Shields said.

Here is a hint at the landscape, Mr. Shields. In the world of Bruce Kraus, expect to see the attitude: "To the victor go the spoils."

Furthermore, Kraus will kick up some dust and that dust won't settle -- unless some others come into the scene to clean it up and charge the taxpayers along the way. Kraus will send dozens of do-nothing deals to the legal department, or to consultants, or to advisors, or to task forces, or to some other new growth of municipal government, if not the county and state. We'll see over-reaching without any grip. The process from the new council-member in D3 will be filled with chatter from him, "Mine, mine, mine... When it breaks, the urgently not mine provision kicks in."

Kraus said he expected the city's legal department would review the matter to create a more precise definition of permanence.

South Side restaurant fights for sidewalk dining - Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewKraus disagrees. He says structures like the Folino's fence bring the bar scene outside into the public space.

Kraus said he wants to change the perception that East Carson Street is just a place where people go to drink.