Patrick Dowd talks about tip of iceberg with garbage cans

Updated with video, inserted below:


Patrick Dowd came to my neighborhood today to talk about the cost of garbage cans, again. He put a price tag on the one at 11th and East Carson Street, $1,010.

The inflated price of garbage cans is but the tip of the iceberg, so he said. Jeepers. Why talk about the tip of the iceberg? I want a candidate that is going to address much more than the pimples of life.

More to come.

I asked a few questions too.

Dowd claims Pittsburgh wasted $20 million: "Councilman Patrick Dowd outlined what he called $20.2 million in 'wasteful spending' by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration today -- almost all of it associated with a water authority debt deal -- and repeated his call for changes in how the city spends money."

To me, the irony of it all is what is NOT able to be seen. Putting a price tag on a garbage can is a ploy and it is a dumb ploy. It doesn't resonate with anything as it isn't really a huge deal in the bigger picture of life.

I don't want to spend money on a business district period -- trash cans or otherwise. Does he want to replace the spending on trash cans spent for a business district and get cheaper cans? Let's not just re-arrange chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

The real waste is government is the wasted capacity.

We don't have programs in the parks because we have too many dogs that have taken over the parks -- and too much red tape to get things done with volunteers.

I told Patrick that the biggest waste in the South Side was the closed, indoor ice rink that sits in a park that is behind a padlocked gate. The park is closed for the most part. The rink has been closed for five years. There is only one indoor ice rink in the city and that is the Civic Arena -- a place that is slated for the wrecking ball. The Pens get a new arena -- but our kids don't have a place to play. So, people move out of the city. Families move out of the city.

And Patrick was in charge of the parks committee for the past two years. Nothing got done with parks on his watch. Nothing due to his watch.

Furthermore the school district is no great model for reduction of wasteful spending. In contracts alone, the taxpayers paid out big bucks for Dr. Lynn Spampinato. She vacated her office at the PPS and went to US Virgin Islands with plenty of additional paydays and a golden parachute.

The school district fired Dr. John Thompson six months before his contract was to expire. I had no problems with the district telling Dr. Thompson his time with the district was finished, at the end of his contract. But, it made no sense in a prudent financial sense to release him of his contract before his work was finished. I hate to see folks getting paid for not working.

Government waste = Lynn Spampinato.

How much did she cost PPS?



Update on April 2:
Strings attached! Photograher asks, shouldn't Bruce Kraus write an ordinance about this?

"So preposterous!" Lehe: Couch law cramps 'Burgh living

From china - foods

In China, two women sit on a porch couch like this.

The Pitt News - Lehe: Couch law cramps 'Burgh living Behold City Council’s recent commandment: It is now illegal to put a couch on your front porch in Pittsburgh.

The law sounds ominously like the climax of an unlikely slippery slope argument. Imagine: You’re talking to some right-wing militia nutjob about building codes. “Some basic safety ordinances are called for,” you say. And nutjob says, in a fit of paranoia, “Building codes are fine. But before long, they’ll make it illegal to put a damn couch on your own front porch!” You throw up your hands in disgust because the idea is so preposterous.

Understand that Mr. Kraus, on city council, could be called "Mr. Preposterous."

That's a college word, preposterous.

Latin praeposterus, literally, in the wrong order, from prae- + posterus hinder, following — more at posterior

The posterior part is best left for another day or another blog.

And, source 2:

Contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; absurd. See Synonyms at foolish.

More from The Pitt News:

The newspaper coverage and the City Council members themselves make it clear that the ban is to prevent couch burning... I came to a surprising conclusion: You can burn a couch that isn’t on your porch. Clearly, a porch couch can be stolen and burned by someone besides the owner, but I would submit that the City Council instead take the radical step of making theft illegal.

For every infringement on people’s liberty, the extent of imposition has to be weighed against the severity and commonness of the problem the infringement tries to pre-empt... The couch-burning problem is not serious. It rarely happens. Only a dozen or so of the many thousands of couches that sit on Pittsburgh’s porches year round are set afire. Obviously couch burning should be illegal, but the act is not especially damaging either. The porch couch ban is equivalent to putting stop signs at every single intersection in Pittsburgh, because statistically over one year the stop signs might save a life.

OMG. Only a knucklehead would take the city councilman's logic to its next step by suggesting the city put stop signs at every intersection in the city to prevent car crashes. Bruce Kraus has his marching orders now. The volumes of research will be waved in council chambers in the weeks to come -- and we'll have someone to blame beyond the over-reaching legislative folly wizard.

The Kraus viewpoint is disconnected from reality.

Oakland is not burning. All of the damage happened in one night, not all week long. The damage done by couch burning is also negligible compared with the overturned cars, bus stop collapses and bonfires that people set with trash cans and wooden debris, not couches. It is downright amazing what people can burn when they put their minds to it. That’s Yankee ingenuity in action.

Kraus also makes a non sequitur: “One idiot decides to place an accelerant on the wood of that porch, and that whole row of houses could go up.” This is to say that, if someone covers a porch in gasoline and lights up a couch that’s on the porch, then the porch will catch on fire.

Supporters talk about other reasons, such as rodents and insects that infest couches. This is a classic case of a solution in search of a problem. It’s like people who argue for lower speed limits because driving your car fast hurts its gas mileage, which causes global warming and terrorism and supports governments hostile to women’s rights.

No one believes Pittsburgh suffers from serious rodent problems, or that any such problems are due to porch couches. No one was biting their nails over rat problems before the Super Bowl. Besides, the consequences of vermin infestation fall mainly on those who possess the couches.

Show me the upstanding Pittsburghers who shake their fists at fate and cry: “I did everything right! I keep a clean household! But my neighbor has a couch on his porch that rats use as a springboard for swarm attacks on my home.”

Those who say porch couches are a fire hazard forget that this is only true to the extent that couches in general are fire hazards. The danger doesn’t go away inside the house. A couch actually seems more dangerous inside, where it is dry, can burn a long time with no one noticing, and sits among carpets and other fire-prone upholstered furniture. Is a ban on all couches next? This is a silly, slippery slope. Yet, if you had told the average person five months ago about a porch-couch ban to stop rioting, she would have thought you silly then as well.

The important thing about these complaints — couch theft, couch burning, rodent infestations, fires — is that they are already illegal. More people calling the police, and better police response, would solve these problems surgically.

Well written Lewis.

From texture - misc.

Some things just bug me more than others.

ABT, ABL, WNC?

Other blogs and CP are spinning wheels and kicking up the dust of recycled electrons.

Patrick Dowd might be an ABT (Anyone But Them) candidate (for mayor of Pittsburgh in 2009's D primary), but in a different context. ABT could be: women and/or blacks and/or ex-public safety employees and/or lawyers.

You can dream about an Easter arrival from the "Patcave," (term coined above in the thread, sorta like "Batman's Batcave") a big splash and a change to the world. Or, you can help those who are already trying to do such for some time. Dream or reality.

It seems to me that the train with the "anyone but" slot has left the station. A late arrival to the ballot will diminish those efforts and insure the election of the existing mayor.

But, it isn't too late to get on board with someone from beyond Grant Street.

That is prudent generosity, IMHO. And, until proven otherwise, why so blind?

Glossary:

ABL = Anyone But Luke
ABT = Anyone But Them
WNC = Why not Carmen?

I would never use campaign donations to go to a SuperBowl

I would never use campaign money to go to a SuperBowl. That is wrong.

I would not use tax dollars either. Of course not.

I went to the Beijing Olympics in August 2008. If I had $10-million in the bank from donors, I'd not go there with that money either.

I went to NASA's Florida's Kennedy Space Center in January 2009. If I had $20-million in the bank from tax payers or donors for campaign, then I'd still not go there with those funds.

Then I saw this this:

Mind Bling: Where's Your Spirit Now, Assholes?: "This makes me angry for several reasons. There have been some rumors that you are both using campaign money for this. If this is true, and I sincerely hope it's not, not only do you not deserve your office, you deserve to be tarred and feathered and marched down Grant Street during our victory parade."

Schools meeting at Bloomfield-Garfield Corp concerning Peabody

Just back from a night of talking about schools with some of the top administrators from the Pgh Public School district, a group of citizens and many others from all sorts of sectors (non-profits, politicals, police, students, human services, neighborhoods, bloggers, advocates, etc.).

The three Pgh Public School administrators presented data. They came to facilitate with facts. They delivered the history. They did their jobs. They are like the -- and this got me into trouble, sadly -- the ambassadors. But, something was missing tonight. Something is missing as we try to understand and fix these situations with our schools and the overall district.

For starters, the school board was missing. No board members were present. Oh well. That's okay as next week's meeting is already scheduled and a board member is slated to attend, speak, and reply to questions. Mr. Sumpter is waiting in the wings. So, the board gets a pass for not being at tonight's meeting.

But to be honest, I think I might have seen, out of the corner of my eye, a guy with a frumpy hat that could have been ex-Board President, Bill Isler. He might have even been at the meeting for a while. But, if he was, he didn't speak. Furthermore, another that was seen for sure, and who didn't speak, was former board member and present city councilman, Patrick Dowd, Ph.D.

If the three top administrators in the district are the ambassadors, then Mark Roosevelt, the Pgh Public Schools Superintendent, is the President or "head of state."

To be clear -- and not name call -- Mark Roosevelt is the Superintendent of Schools. The high ranking and fine school administrators are not the Superintendent.

The missing element is big. It goes to some of the major disconnect among various people.

We need a crystal ball that can look into the future. We need a wizard to look into that ball and make sense out of the things yet to come. We need a story to be shared, with various characters, each woven into this fantasy landscape, connected but yet floating deeply into the future. We need some predictive powers and a voice to translate the unfolding, long-term future, into human speech without the educational jargon. This unfolding dream would then be -- not so much announced -- but simply verbalized. This saga of years to come would be an open book and a peek into the open mind of what is possible and practical.

To be sure, the crystal ball isn't the key. But the story teller is. The vision needs to be spoken from the perspective of the leader.

Leaders lead. Leaders lead more than just the top administrators who are on paid staff. Great leaders can lead and rally the public, yet alone the boosters, to follow.

Pittsburgh's citizens and parents need a visionary leader to not only chart the course for school reform, but to stand on the helm and feel the spray, wind and ship with observers cheering and jeering.

The captain's game plan -- err -- the Superintendent's course of academic leadership, is taking us all on a journey. We're moving. We're underway and gaining speed. But, we're not certain where we're headed.

There is a visionary leadership void. There are stories that are not being told.

Many of the facts and figures, as well as landmarks, are obvious. Data is important. The school administrators are getting much better grip on those benchmarks. We all agree that the past is the past and there have been some bumpy times. Fixing blame is not productive to a district that has had its superintendent for more than three years now. We all want change.

Furthermore, we all want great schools. Excellence for all is a nice buzz phrase. We all have high aspirations for the academics and the opportunities. Learning excites us. We are hooked on the whole knowledge is power things so we can all have productive lives and a vibrant community with smart, bright, neighbors and fellow citizens.

We're missing the part where we have to connect the dots.

The story of the superintendent -- from his mouth to our computer screens and ears -- has to be told so we can connect the dots to the future, given the present.

This is a burden for the superintendent -- not the elected school board, nor the hired school administrators and principals. The superintendent runs the show here. He has the power as he earned the trust of the members on the school board. The people on the school board are going to give their votes to the superintendent. If the administration wants something, and if the administration works those wants into a position, then the board will grant those powers to the superintendent.

Some on the board are going to grumble. But, by and large, with all the powers of the paid staff at his command, the school board can deliver the five votes for the superintendent.

So, the person at the helm of this district is, without doubt, the Superintendent, Mark Roosevelt.

Pittsburgh people are fine with commanding leaders. We love it when coaches call the plays. We are fine when QBs take charge of the huddle and even switch plays at the line of scrimmage. We are used to company bosses telling union folks this is what is going to happen -- let's make it happen so we can get the jobs done, get home in one piece, and insert value into our lives.

The people of Pittsburgh are, perhaps, some of the greatest boosters the world has ever seen. We are supporters. We'll cheer. We'll watch. We'll dance when it is time to do so.

Pittsburgh can go with the flow too. We know that rivers take turns. We can bend in the wind. We know how to adjust with both large and small shocks to the system. We don't like change for the sake of change -- and we hate bad change. But good change -- that's sweet for us.

The extra effort that we need right now is with both the playbook and the game plan. Its hidden to us, now, sadly. It is somewhere, we expect.

Case in point: Eighth graders now entering their second semester should have a clue as to what's going to unfold for next year -- as in August 2009. Some do. Some don't. The community in and around Peabody High School are wondering if the Pgh Public School's central administration is going to issue a letter next week, or perhaps the week after, that says there will NOT be any new students entering Peabody in the fall of 2009 as 9th graders. Bang. The doors of the school could shut, in a slow death, with the last class to graduate be the one's in 9th grade now.

Well, well, well. What's happening.

This isn't new to us. Pittsburgh has seen many other great things die off. Some naturally. Some by the force of a choke hold. Some by the curse of a rumor that resonates.

South Vo Tech High School was closed after years of rumors about its eventual death. It died on the vine long before the formal vote to close it was taken. Even then, the vote to close the school in August came as late as June. It was a rushed vote. But it was a protracted death. The good teachers saw the writing on the wall. They left earlier, as they could. The wise families knew that South Vo Tech was getting marginal funding and a big crisis loomed large if you put your kid into that school.

Nobody wants to be in a 4-year school and have the floor pulled out from you. Especially a carpenter would know how to judge the stability of the classroom around you and your buddies.

Years prior, people of the eastern part of the city saw how East Hills Elem. School was starved and closed over time. People pulled in. People pulled out. Most of the voting happens with the feet.

Schenley's ordeal is impossible to ignore. But, let's get back to the one missing element, the crystal ball and the vision statements of a game plan and playbook.

How can the I.B. program move into Peabody High School in three years, while the local kids get a fair shake?

How can families plan for schools next year, year after, and so on -- for Joe, Jane, Jack, Jill, James, Jimmy and Jenny. They all are of different ages and they all are from different backgrounds. Plus, they all have different skills and interests.

There are real stories to be told about all of our kids -- fictional or otherwise.

These are the dots that we need to hear are being connected by those who have the rule book, play book and game plans for our kids.

We just really want to cheer the kids and their coaches on to victory. And, we want to have fun -- on the road to the Super Bowl -- err -- on the road to the life with our families, friends, and their buddies.

Here is how it could work. Let's say we, hypothetically, made these adjustments and blah, blah, blah. What do you think? Can it be done? We figure those costs are going to be $XYZ.

Here is another matter in another neighborhood. Are we ...? What are we missing?

The playbook needs to be more revealing than these three plays:
1. Give Sam the ball. (Sam is heading up the new Science and Technology Jr/Sr High School.)
2. Give Cate the ball. (She is heading up the new I.B. Jr./Sr. High.)
3. Stiff arm opposition. (If not running play #1 and play #2.)

Of course Mark Roosevelt's playbook is more than that above. Sure, he has done some wonderful things. The whole Principal training, evaluation and re-do is monumental. Granted. The whole Pgh Promise is way more than the $500 cardboard check that the PFT gave on day one. Whippie! We got a 2-hour delay for Monday, Feb 2, too. Score that as well. But now what?

Peabody, Schenley, Reisenstein are big harry deals. I.B. folks issued their report and we've not heard anything from that missing crystal ball. Where is the wizard? What's he thinking about when it comes to getting these kids around town and into classrooms in six months?

I think that the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp folks have done a wonderful thing to step up and do the engagement efforts for the next looming ax swings. They are going to organize and mobalize in their/our own way at our own pace. The demand includes coolaboration.

But frankly, I think that coolaboration isn't next. The meaningful give-and-take comes after we hear the vision. The guy at the helm (Mark Roosevelt) has to sell the dream of this short and mid-range journey. Dots need to be connected. Then all the dots on the landscape need to be woven on the final canvas. It is a draft. We'll do the coloring, together, later. But, we'd like to know better as to what is unfolding.

Do the ALAs, K-8s, K-6s, 6-12s, boutique schools all work? Do the 'drop-out factories' get an overhaul or not? Unknown questions linger about sports management at Westinghouse. Are you serious? Can CAPA really work as 6-12 downtown, next to the strip club, with yellow buses, with sports teams? What about a public boys school and public girls school (single gender schools) as an option for certain kids so as to have direct competition for Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic. We want afterschool, weekends and summers to be filled with robust programs and challenges for our kids and our communities -- like is the case in suburban districts. Our bands and ball teams and boosters are hurting, and they don't need to be.

Parents are pushy. We don't have a whole career to see this wash out. We don't have test-tube kids who are practice children who can bank upon experimental gimmicks. We'll sign up. We'll enroll. We've done that. We'll stay for a spell. We'll even sign-up to teach and work in the district. Those applications are proven. But we're still waiting for the insights into the waiting list and the actual numbers matched with the slots available. That transparency is playbook stuff that should be part of the game-plan.

Let's overhaul the magnet application for next year next week, not in June. Let's hold a pow-wow on that while it is fresh in our heads and experiences. Don't print the books yet -- but let's edit them and seek additional comments. That's another play from the game-plan.

The stiff arm play needs to turn into a delegation of a project opportunity and effort.

The folks in the stands want to storm the field -- if only to listen to what is being talked about in the huddle.

I'll post some video of the meeting in a day or two. Stay tuned.

The Post-Gazette covered the meeting too and revealed the same need in its headline:

School officials stress fate of Peabody High still undecided: "School officials stress fate of Peabody High still undecided"

They are undecided. The uncertainty is a killer. They won't say. The doubt is a burden. The fear is mounting so as to be a crushing oppression. This is FUD 101. FUD = fear, uncertainty, doubt.

The fix is a look into a crystal ball. The solution is a vision story. The dream can be sold, and we'll stay on board as too many have already departed.

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials last night said they hadn't decided whether to close Pittsburgh Peabody High School, a school beset with dwindling enrollment and low achievement scores.

The officials' words offered a ray of hope to community members who want to save Peabody High in East Liberty or at least have a voice in deciding what to do with students in Peabody's feeder pattern.

"There's a lot of creative ways we can cut this," said Rick Flanagan, youth development director for Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., which called last night's community meeting in Garfield.

About 50 residents, city officials and representatives of civic groups attended.

A "site selection committee" appointed by district Superintendent Mark Roosevelt last month proposed making the Peabody building the permanent home of the new International Baccalaureate magnet.

The school board still must vote on the recommendation, a point Mr. Flanagan repeatedly emphasized.

The IB school will open in temporary quarters next school year and would, under the site committee's proposal, move to the Peabody building in East Liberty in 2012. The IB school eventually would serve 1,050 students in grades six through 12.

The committee didn't address the fate of Peabody High, fueling concerns that the district will close it and reassign students to another building, perhaps Pittsburgh Westinghouse High School in Homewood.

Officials last night insisted no decision had been made and said they're willing to consider the community's input.

"There has to be engagement of what people would want," Cate Reed, a school district project manager, told the gathering.

At the same time, however, the district put certain limits on the discussion.

Nancy Kodman, the district's executive director of strategic initiatives, said the Peabody building isn't big enough to accommodate Peabody High and the IB school. That raised the specter of at least a change in buildings for Peabody High.

Enrollment has dropped from about 710 students in 2003-04 to the current 489, and the number is projected to drop to 168 by 2014.

Officials said dwindling enrollment has made it difficult to offer a healthy mix of programs, and Ms. Kodman said the school's racial achievement gap and scores on state reading and math tests also are unacceptable.

Mr. Flanagan suggested that impending commercial and residential development in East Liberty, combined with a marketing push by the school district, could boost enrollment.

Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. will hold another community meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at its community center in Garfield. Mr. Flanagan said he also wants to take other steps to find out the Peabody community's demands.

"We need to survey parents," he said.

The survey of parents should ask what I'm asking too.

Question #1 of 2: Do you feel confident in the vision and dream of "Excellence for All."

This, I expect, would get okay grades. People want "Excellence for All." That is an easy place to get agreement. That would be good to know, in data, however.

Question #2 of 2: Do you confident in the administration's pathway and game plan for our schools and students in leading to a reformed and greatly improved school district?

That's where we've got a gap of understanding. That's our sticking point today in Pittsburgh Public Schools.

This is a situation that is now avoidable. It is time to put it all out there and all the elements on the table. This is the time to sell the dream and then respond to objections in a clear and open way with honest dialog with the superintendent.

He has to get us to a better place by planting seeds of the future in our imagination.

Mr. Roosevelt needs to put on a wizard's hat for a spell. A couple of meetings will seal the deal this winter. And, it can't be with some flunky pseudo journalist like Bill Flanigan or Marty Griffin or Jon Delano. We're not talking about fluff and sugar coated pills to swallow mumbo jumbo. Nor can this be done with a cardboard check of $500 for the Pittsburgh Promise handed over by the Pgh Federation of Teachers. We can't have cronie back-slapping.

Our kids, our neighborhoods, our city -- and our future is at stake. And parents need to know what is really going on. It is time for that tough love talk about the facts of life in the future that is before us.

This 'selling of the dream' is about the future. Since politics is about the future, this is too. This needs to be part political stump speech. This needs to be about a range of issues. This needs to be a state of the union address, blended with a call to action and an ask for confidence and trust because you see the future, and you know how to connect these dots like this, this, and this.

The audience will then shout out some suggestions. Requests. It is going to get messy. Citizens and taxpayers may say that the order is slightly not to our liking. We might say the range and scope is too great in some areas and too tiny in others.

I can't tolerate a year without afterschool activities at any school, for starters. We are not sure about the 6-7-and-8 in the same buildings as high schoolers. The RODGERS and CAPA merger is an uncertain quagmire that might be worthy of testing. But turning back has got to be on the table in due time too. The conditions for evaluation need to be stated in public, now, years before they are needed.

The fruitful back and forth between the superintendent and the city's parents and residents is necessary and it must follow the talk of the revealed vision.

Instant Message to Marty Griffin

The Fed dollars that pays for the tunnel under the Allegheny River for light-rail to the stadiums is still OUR MONEY. It comes from the pocket, wallet or purse -- local, state or feds -- but it is still, all of it, OUR MONEY.

Don't build the tunnel because as a FEDERAL taxpayer, it is a waste of money.

Better things can be done with government money.

To win the 'shut it down fight' -- you'll need to get NATIONAL advocates to help. Those in Iowa, Alaska, Calif, Florida, etc., need to help put a fork in it for the benefit of the locals because the local politicians are too drunk to refuse PORK, even worthless PORK.

State board proposes no-frills colleges

State board proposes no-frills colleges As college students face mounting debt, state education officials yesterday proposed a new kind of higher-education institution that would offer a 'low-cost, no frills' bachelor's degree.

The schools would have no sports teams, no extracurriculars, no glittering fitness center and no plum dorm rooms."

This is so wrong.

For starters, they made a three page white paper. I've had blog postings longer than that. Might as well have a three page diploma too. Why not do a degree by postal mail as well. There are plenty of people in India and China. I bet some of them would be happy to get a diploma from a university in the United States. Sell it abroad because I'm not happy to see it come here.

We have ITT. We have trade schools. We have Community Colleges. Get each of those the ability to expand, if they see fit.

It is just an idea. Well, think again. We do not need the state to float a new college / university. I'm looking for the white paper now and can't find it.

I am in favor of a 'prep school' component to be a part of the new I.B. High so that kids can get, at their option, a 13th year in advance a real college experience.

Notice the double talk in this one part of the newspaper article:

The board also said it will work on removing costly and unnecessary state mandates from colleges and look to regulate on-campus marketing by credit card companies.

The removal of costly and unnecessary state mandates makes the college more like a charter school. Fine. That move is to less government regulation and less state authority. However, in the next breath, the push is in the other direction. They want to regulate on-campus marketing by companies. That delivers more regulation and more government authority. Buyer beware.

Isn't Clarion a no-frills option. Back in the day, a no-frills option was delivered at the Carnegie Library of Homestead. A college was there. It went out of business too.

Isn't Clarion like a Ford-brand for colleges and universities, if not a Yugo, when taken with a grand view? I have no doubts that it is expensive. Its value is to be questioned.

Pennsylvania's underprepared workforce that can't afford a college education that is only an underprepared experience.

This is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

The idea I'd love to see them champion is the concept of raising the bar. This only lowers it.

Close the weakest state owned college / university. Close the weakest public schools too, not the one's that are doing the difficult job of educating our students.

If one of the 14 state-system schools was axed, that would save money and make more money available to the others that remain. Make it competitive. Make the kids competitive.

PA Site, http://www.pde.state.pa.us/stateboard_ed/site/default.asp

Bram falls off rocker

Just posted at Bram's blog. he seems to think that the field for the 2009 mayor's race is about to close. The race has yet to begin. He wants to put out a 'last call' for candidates, it seems.

My reply:

Last call, what a joke. You don't get to proclaim 'last call.' And, it ain't happening now, fur sure.

In the last go-around, Mark DeStantis was unknown until after he was a write-in, in MAY.

It wasn't until New Year's Day, Jan 1, 2001, that Josh Pollock came boldly onto the scene with a front page P-G article about his race. His ink was the first to spill in that year and there might have been 7 Ds in the race that year.

It is a long road Bram. Don't do what the others do and declare others the 'lamb' before it begins. Progressives are to be 'open minded.'

The 'done-deal mentality' has been killing Pittsburgh for many decades. That has to be outed and put to an end.

Those who wish to champion the status quo are sure to rush the last call and end before it even began.

The Burgh Report gets an insightful quote from City Councilman, Bruce Kraus

The blog reads:

The Burgh Report'Oh bite me,' Bruce Kraus volunteered to the Burgh Report when asked for his own reaction. 'You can put that on the record.'

Splendid quote from such a deep thinker.

RMU Trips Abroad for 2009

Want to go on vacation and study with RMU in May and June of 2009. Check out this line-up of trips.

See the link under the heading, "Insights" here.

Stay tuned. Thinking about my possible replies.

1. What brought you to Social Media and what keeps you hanging around?

2. Which social networking tool gives you the shakes when it's not updated or is experiencing down time? (Podcasts, Blogs, Micro-blogging, etc)

3. What kind of insight could you offer to others on a topic at PCPGH3? If none, then what do you most want to hear more about?

Humm....

PodCamp Pittsburgh - PCPGH3 themed Friday 5 this week!: "PCPGH3 themed Friday 5 this week!"


In other blogging news:

Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week Calls on Bloggers to Become Partner and Help Stop Bullying: "Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week Calls on Bloggers to Become Partner and Help Stop Bullying"

Missing blacks at GOP Party and in line-up for US Congress

My instant message to KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin who is race baiting:

Smart black candidates run as for office as an Independent, not Republican. That's why there are only 7 blacks running for US Congress. Marty's concepts and benchmark is more mole-hill than mountain.

Relearning how to hear - PG article covers UPMC program

My wife, Catherine Palmer, Ph.D., is director of audiology at UPMC's Eye and Ear (no secret). Today's PG has an article that features a program there and she is quoted.

The slogan, "Think again" fits as people often need to think anew -- or re-think, even for matters as basic as hearing.

Relearning how to hear: "Relearning how to hear
UPMC offers adaptation classes for new hearing aid wearers and their significant others

Catherine's quotes, reposted here:

"Although you do much better with an aid, it's still not as well as when you had hearing," said Catherine Palmer, Ph.D., director of the Center for Audiology and Hearing Aids at the UPMC Eye and Ear Institute.

"The family still must make accommodations. You can't talk to them from another room, for example. It's hard for people to make these changes. In clinic we don't have time to go over those kinds of things. This class gives them time."

And at first, for perhaps two weeks, the wearer might feel as if his or her hearing has worsened, because the aid picks up background noise and other sounds the wearer hasn't heard for a long time. The brain must relearn how to ignore unnecessary noise and home in on what it wants to hear.
...
The more the patient wears the aids, the faster and better the adjustment. "Part-time users never do well," Dr. Palmer said.

Kim is a great teacher with plenty of splendid information and insight. The class is worth the time, for sure.

Examples of pulling rank play out at the Olympics

Examples of pulling rank play out at the Olympics 'The Olympics are a great festival of human beings seeking rank, and that's OK,' he said. 'We all seek high rank, and we rather enjoy watching other people seek gold medals, and we applaud the victor and feel sorry for the loser.'

Problems arise when rank holders abuse their power.

No kidding.

Photos from the other vacation have arrived

From violin-gang

See the photo captions in the Picasa album for more details.

Erik Rauterkus and Amy Carol Webb jam at SUUSI before hundreds and get a standing ovation.

FWIW, are not bringing nor buying violins in China on this trip.

Marty Griffin -- KDKA Radio to do segment on Carlynton efforts

Francismary writes:

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

The discussion of the Carlynton Facilities policy and how it was passed has been moved to Friday, July 18, at 10:05 am on AM1020 (KDKA).

I will be a call in guest on the Marty Griffin show.

I am asking again that you please listen to the program and call in to voice your opinion on the policy and on the way it was passed. The more calls they receive the more attention they will give it and if they get enough calls, they will consider moving it to a TV slot.

The call in number is: 412.333.KDKA (5352)

I appreciate your support in this.

For more insights see a blog and wiki pages that I've helped her to post:

http://Carlynton.Blogspot.com

"I wish I could steal it." A quote from the Pgh Public School Biz Meeting, tonight

Tonight I went to a Business Committee Meeting of the Pgh Public Schools with administrators and most of the members of the school board. A few things came up.

The director of the school district's technology department gave a presentation. The 'dashboard' system is on its way out. Rather, they cooked up a new system.

A guy with a Pitt connection got to say a couple of words in support of what the district has been building. His main statement was, "I do a lot of consulting work with other districts around the region. I wish I could steal the system that you have. It is very good."

After he spoke, I went over to him and say, "You should be able to steal it. Why can't you."

He laughed.

I was serious.

There is no reason why the software that the Pgh Public School is building isn't open source software.

Furthermore, the first question from a board member after the presentation was, "Is there a revenue stream that could be developed with the software." The question came from Heather Arnet. It was her only question in that period.

It is a fair question, given the hype, but it is the wrong direction.

The answer from the tech administrator from the district was wierd too. He said that they've talked a good deal about the business model and the possibility of selling the software and such. But he was leaning to a 'service model' for a possible sales avenue. The PPS District could scan the test answer sheets from the classrooms of the various schools in other school districts and then offer them a turnkey data evaluation and reporting system.

The real value in the system now is the high-speed scanning and the quick turn around. When the central administration gets the test scores by 9 am, the results are generally kicked back to the schools by noon of the same day. Great.

So, the enterprise and value seems to be in the service provider elements. Interesting.

But, the system is NOT open source. And, there was NO discussion of open source, open access and open ways with the entire discussion.

The technology department is trying to be with a good customer service model. They are gearing up to be user driven. Fine. The users are the administrators, principals, coaches (science coaches, math, reading, etc.), and teachers. Humm...

Not a peep about the customers being the parents, the communities, the taxpayers nor the public.

As the public schools develop software, the work product should be put into the public domain.

I'm not looking to harvest personal data and make privacy screw-ups. But, I want the systems to work for the right populations and have the priorities that make sense.

The red flag was raised, slightly, by a couple of board members. The elected school board members are NOT part of the audience from the technology department. School board members have been totally locked out of the data so far. Total firewall. Total blackout. Total denial of services to school board members has been the norm from the get go by design.

The question was asked, and the bureaucrat said, "We'll look into it." He gave the wrong answer. Well, it wouldn't wash with me.

The school reports and data that is now being delivered is a work in progress and it has some merit. It is 'very good' for them to pat themselves on their backs about now. The teachers know nothing of these systems yet. And, teachers have always been a big sticking point.

But, very good isn't good enough, especially when talking about vaporware.

The golden ticket that I'm looking for was NOT mentioned. In this big packet of information there wasn't a peep given to "rate of improvement." That is the key. That is what needs to be identified.

I have a coaching friend in California that has done a lot of work with data and kids -- in swimming. Swimming has data like no other avenue. The golden key is 'rate of improvement.' That number (rate of improvement) needs to be generated by kid, class, teacher, grade, school, district, county, race, gender, subject, skill set and all the other benchmarks that can be imagined.

Kids grow older. We know that. And, they grow at different rates. We know that too. But I want to know if they are getting smarter and more skilled at a rate that is better than before, their peers, and expected.

Complaining Bridgeville Neighbor Arrested For Harassment - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh

This is so wrong.

Team 4: Complaining Bridgeville Neighbor Arrested For Harassment - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh Complaining Bridgeville Neighbor Arrested For Harassment

Team 4:

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. -- Marshall Pappert admits that he has been a pain to government officials from Bridgeville to Harrisburg.

But Pappert says that if those officials had to live where he lives, they'd be complaining, too.

While he expected to get a fight, or to be told off, or even ignored, Pappert says he never expected to get arrested.

I think this guy should be Pittsburgher of the Year!

The story about the 'noise' applies to the one that follows about hearing.

Competitive Bid raises its head -- again -- but winks, blinks and nods prevail

Pittsburgh's water authority ups debt - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: After meeting with PNC and authority representatives, council members questioned why the financial work was not competitively bid.

'I don't think that it's been the policy to bid these out,' said State Rep. Don Walko, the authority chairman. 'I think you just try to find the best team.'

Walko said PNC and JP Morgan assembled the authority's separate $25 million bond refinancing in 2007 and that using the firms again would save money.

City Council had them right where they wanted them. City Council folded.

Well, there is always next time. But next time in this instance is in 2042, give or take a decade.

City council blew it. None even asked a question on the day of the final vote. It was a slam dunk to get more debt.

The 'consent decree' to fix the storm water run off calls for certain measures to be made. Little has happened. Why?

Stewardships. Management. Accountability. Solvency.

The PWSA came about when Tom Murphy hatched an idea for a one-time fix of cash. All the Dems when along with it then. All the Dems sustain it now. Meanwhile, the water main breaks around town are everywhere.

Marty's Army call to action

I need your help right now! This is what we’ve been waiting for! Here's our opportunity to create change in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians.

In what’s being called a “dramatic turn,” the state House just last night voted 159-36 to eliminate school property taxes for low income seniors.

Remember, the House was supposed to discuss raising sales and income tax. House members dropped that idea and finally followed the will of the people!

Folks -- this is a big deal! But here’s the catch: It needs another favorable vote before it moves to the Senate.

This is what we want: TAX CUTS, not TAX INCREASES!

We all need to call our state representatives TODAY! Call ten times if necessary! Tell them you support the tax cut plan.

If you don’t know who your state rep is, ask someone! Look in the phone book! But do it.

Folks, you know our elected leaders respond to phone calls. They respond to pressure. Please take five minutes out of your day and call or e-mail them. Beg them to follow through!

Please do me a favor and forward this e-mail to ten of your friends. Then listen to The Inside Story with Marty Griffin 9 am-noon on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA. Let's make out leaders listen!

We can make a difference and we can create change. We MUST do it together.

Remember one voice a whisper, but our voice a roar!

Thanks again….

Marty Griffin

So, a property tax cut for seniors means everyone else will pay more. A property tax cut for seniors means that the school districts will have less income and the future generation gets the shaft again.

Kids do not vote. Kids don't listen to Marty's Army either.

I would make a better deal, a different offer. I too like low taxes.

The state should eliminate the deed transfer tax. That way Seniors can easily sell their homes and reclaim its value and downsize without a huge sums of money going out of the transaction to the state for taxes. Penalties associated with the deed transfer tax keep seniors in their homes way too long. We should be able to have a more fluid market so that the value of the people's possessions are not diminished so.

The policy we have now results in the need to bulldoze 60 houses in an older community such as Hazelwood. That is a loss of lots of value. The houses were worn down. The people lost value. The community suffers. The taxpayers pay on multiple instances in the deals now -- by design -- because of bad public policy.

NUKE the deed transfer tax for everyone over the age of 50 who is a part of the sales transaction. I'd want to nuke the sales tax on property for all people, but this gets to the heart of the matter of trying to do something good for the seniors.