Dowd bashes Pittsburgh finances, says more cuts needed

Humm...

Dowd bashes Pittsburgh finances, says more cuts needed: "he called that 'fleecing these organizations for cash' and likened it to 'demanding large monetary gifts from close friends.'

The other interesting quote is saying that the city's goofy budget is like "trying to sell your house to pay your bills instead of cutting expenses."

To be honest, the city already sold the pipes in its house to pay for the neighbor's expansion. Years ago the city sold off the water and sewer authority. That's like selling the pipes within your house. Mayor Murphy was great at one-time fixes. This is exactly what Luke Ravenstahl is doing as well. He offers a one-time fix of leasing the Parking Authority assets.

To lease the Parking Authority assets is silly. Sell them. The Parking Authority assets are like the side lot that is a place where you could park your car.

But the selling of the assets in the past was done so as to build the stadiums, in part. Large sums of money were spent in one-shot deals that invested into the Steelers' Heinz Field and Pirates PNC Park. Both are authority built -- and both should be owned by the teams and not by a city agency.

Well, at least Dowd is trying something.