Mcall.com: Q & A with Onorato

Dan doesn't see the need to lead.

Mcall.com: Capitol Ideas with John L. Micek Blog: Are you holding back because you think it's distracting to voters, or does it send a message?: 'I just haven't seen any need to do it at this point in time. Besides, April 22, the voters of Pennsylvania will be able to make their own decision.'

Dan doesn't see the need to follow the law either. In terms of campaign finance reform, the county election department is OUT OF BOUNDS. Local acts were passed that instructed the administration to put the campaign finance reports of candidates onto the internet, years ago. And Onorato didn't see the need. It wasn't done. Following laws is an option for him. He does what he wants. Taking advice and charting a course of leadership is more of a whim.

Onorato bucks certain forces of nature and shoves the drink tax and car rental tax onto the backs of certain populations. That money is to pay for -- so he said -- the operations at PAT (Transit Authority). But, he does NOTHING but advance the boondoggle of the tunnels under the river for a minor expansion of the light rail to serve the North Side stadiums and slots parlor.

Results of Presidential Election Released Early

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Bill's letter to action @ campaign finance reform

Dear Pittsburgh City residents:

Pittsburgh City Councilmembers need to hear from YOU!

Tomorrow, February 26TH, at 2 PM, City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed campaign finance reform legislation recently introduced by Councilman Bill Peduto that aims to limit individual and PAC contributions to individuals running for political offices in Pittsburgh (i.e. Mayor, Controller, Council).

As observed in Philadelphia and other cities that have already implemented similar rules, passing this legislation would help to further reform the local government process by limiting the impact of large-scale donors and reducing their access to decision-makers, while also enabling less well-funded candidates to run for office.

If you would like to make a public comment (limit three minutes) at tomorrow's hearing, please call Linda Johnson-Wassler in advance at 412-255-2138 to sign up.

Tuesday, February 26th, at 2 PM in City-Council Chambers 5th Floor, 414 Grant Street

To urge your City Council member to support the proposal, go to http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/council/

Links:
Campaign Finance Regulation Ordinance proposed by Counciman Bill Peduto
http://legistar.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/detailreport/?key=10285

Post-Gazette article announcing the proposed legislation: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08007/847284-53.stm

Recent City Paper article on the proposed legislation: http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A42016

Bill Godshall

Jen L (fellow parent, taxpayer, customer) is asking us to 'think positive' in terms of the looming vote to close Schenley High

Jen wrote in an email:

Hi all --

Well, a lot of issues were thrown into the mix at the agenda review meeting last Wednesday -- what are the real costs, what is the sense in creating a segregated school, what are the costs of renovating three buildings compared to renovating one, what is the real time frame needed to renovate Schenley, is it necessary to move the students out, what is the status of the program planning, for instance.

Not surprisingly, there still aren't a lot of answers to these important questions. There doesn't seem to be an overall plan for the district beyond these changes, the sci-tech high school concept is still up in the air, particularly as to location, money is being spent, and input into program changes isn't being taken until after tomorrow's vote. (Visit www.aplusschools.org for a list of meetings, the first, about University Prep takes place on Thursday.)

The wording remains unchanged, so a yes vote tomorrow will split Schenley students into 10-12th grades located at Reizenstein, add 9th grade at Frick for one year, and reopen Milliones for a 9th grade class of University Prep (only one grade to be located there next year). Also, a request to submit to the state the construction plans to move ahead with a renovation of Reizenstein will be voted on.

If you can, send a letter of Schenley support to the board asking them to act in a responsible and well thought out manner, considering all the ramifications of their actions. We request that board members vote no or table the items regarding moving Schenley students separately and spending on multiple buildings. If it is felt that students must be moved next year, the wording should be changed to "temporary move" and should plan to move all students together.

Some points to consider:

-- Any money spent on currently closed facilities to establish "new schools" is money that could and should be spent on Schenley High School, the most architecturally impressive and structurally sound building of the district buildings.

-- Schenley's location in Oakland is ideal for both an international program and a university affiliated program

-- Using Reizenstein as a high school creates a corridor of high schools in the East End, likely necessitating other closures or moving of students. An overall plan for the East End (or for the district as a whole) should be formulated before decisions are made and funds are spent to open another school there.

The estimates for improvements at Reizenstein are in the $15-$21 million range.
Improvements on the Milliones facility range similarly from $12 million upwards.
The costs for improvements at Frick, for one year of use by 9th graders, are requested at $5 million.

These costs added together would be close to the costs for renovating the Schenley building, which would provide a facility that could house both a University Prep and IB/IS 9-12 program in one centrally located building.

-- The PPS administration has not explored all viable solutions nor have they taken a holistic view of the importance that Schenley has for the city and the communities that it serves.

-- A Financial Task Force of Schenley backers is exploring a wide variety of funding options, that the district has not yet considered, in order to piece together the puzzle of the cost of upgrading the building.

And any thing else you find important!

You can send letters to the entire board at boardoffice@pghboe.net.

Or you can contact your school board member or Mark Roosevelt directly at:

Mark Roosevelt- mroosevelt1@pghboe.net
Heather Arnet- harnet1@pghboe.net
Mark Brentley- mbrentley1@pghboe.net
Theresa Colaizzi - tcolaizzi1@pghboe.net
Jean Fink- jfink1@pghboe.net
Sherry Hazuda- shazuda1@pghboe.net
Bill Isler- wisler1@pghboe.net
Floyd McCrea- fmccrea1@pghboe.net
Thomas Sumpter- tsumpter1@pghboe.net
Randall Taylor- rtaylor1@pghboe.net

If you do know a board member personally and are comfortable calling them with your concerns and requests, that can't hurt either.

And then, think positive Schenley thoughts!

Jen Lakin

Ravenstahl hires Pokora - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Touch Up / Correction

Trib gets it wrong again.

Ravenstahl hires former Controller Pokora - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Michael Lamb, the former Allegheny County prothonotary, beat Pokora in last year's Democratic Party primary to become city controller.

Tony Pokora lost last year's D Part primary to Mike Lamb. Then Mike Lamb got to advance to the general election. The winner of the general election became controller. Jeremy has it wrong.

It should read, "Lamb beat Pokora, Doug Shields and DaMon Macklin and Mike Dawadia in last year's D Party primary to get the dominant party nomination and then advance to the general election and face a fierce challenge from Mark Rauterkus, Libertarian. Rauterkus, with just $250, earned 6,476 votes and Pokora had 4,591."

I see the hiring of Pokora as a good trend as nearly all of my prior opponents are employed by the city or else are in hiding (i.e., Michael Diven and Wayne Fontana). I feels that the list is growing shorter and shorter with each passing week, given the shrinking size of the city. That Ravenstahl appointment I crave is just around the corner. I'd rather not hold out and be the one pegged to pick up the pieces after the ax swings on Ford's career. Shutting down the URA would be fun, but it isn't my cup of tea. Rather, the open seat on the Ethics Hearing Board looks ideal.

The TEETH -- the PUNISHMENT -- the End Results

Suggested Language for Campaign Finance Reform Legislation

Any individual, employee of a company/organization, owner or board member that is found "GUILTY" of exceeding the measures put forth within these campaign finance ordinances are to be put onto a list of rule-breakers.

Rule-breakers are NOT eligible for any payments from the city and its associated authorities. Contracts, payments and even salaries are not to be paid by the city controller. The city controller enforces a STOP PAYMENT order to those who are deemed on the list of 'rule breakers.'

Rule-breakers are to be eligible again to receive payments from the city and its authorities via the controller's office after the candidate that accepted the payment is out of public office. The controller is to remove the STOP PAYMENT orders for rule-breakers after the candidate that accepted the payment resigns from city office. A move from one public office to another keeps the STOP PAYMENT order in effect.

I don't expect this to fly. But, this is what I want to see in Pittsburgh's Campaign Finance Reform Legislation.

Parade on the carpet got a lot of limelight in the morning shows. But this was missing..

YouTube - Heinous Attack Caught on Tape: "And the Academy Award for the worst actor ever goes to..... The dumb old scrag in the front row... Yes the one with eyes in the back of her head!!"

Hat-tip to the BurghReport.blogspot.com pointer.

AMS Bulletin Board posts job at S.H. Country Club

AMS Bulletin Board: "The South Hills Area Country Club is seeking an Aquatics Manager"

Consortiumnews.com covers Kosovo

Consortiumnews.com: "The Kosovo crisis of 1998-99 was the first international conflict that Consortiumnews.com covered extensively, relying on dispatches from veteran war correspondent Don North in the field and on investigations of Washington’s strategy by reporters Mollie Dickenson and Robert Parry.

Given the resurgence of the crisis over Kosovo – following its unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia and angry reactions in Belgrade and Moscow – we are publishing this look-back on our coverage, which faulted all participants in the human tragedy: Serb nationalists, Kosovar separatists and the Clinton administration."

New threat to our way of life: giant pythons

Well, The Dice was NOT snake bitten today at the swim pool at Pitt. Schenley was winning the city league championship meet -- and the girls meet too. After the 500 free, about 3/4th of the way, the points went to The Dice, dipping Schenley into second.

Alderdice has won the city swim championships since 1977. Schenley has never won it.

Ouch.

In other snake bitten news... check this out.

New threat to our way of life: giant pythons: "The Burmese python is one of several nonnative giant constrictor snakes - believed to be former pets - that have been introduced and then established themselves in Florida's Everglades National Park. Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.

It makes sense to do open water swimming in our rivers -- and NOT in Florida nor SF Bay.

Post-Gazette's Early Returns give me some "recycled electrons" about campaign finance reform tips

You know, this is one of my best ideas -- transparent PAC accounts. I'd like to see it take root.

Post-Gazette NOW - Local News - Early Returns City campaign finance reform

Speaking of meetings and speeches, council's public hearing on member William Peduto's campaign finance reform legislation is set for 2 p.m. next Tuesday.

For those of you who can't wait for an earnest discussion of campaign donation caps and pre-campaign contribution limits, here's a neat idea former council candidate Mark Rauterkus dropped on Early Returns today:

Why not convince a bank to set up special political campaign accounts that anyone with an Internet browser can check in on whenever they want? The city could then compel all candidates for its offices to use such accounts for all of their campaign activity, making all contributions and expenses public instantly, rather than disclosing them only a few times a year in paper records filed on the sixth floor of the County Office Building.

Mr. Rauterkus said he presented the idea to a citizens committee on campaign finance that Mr. Peduto convened, and you can bet he'll be back at the public hearing.

At this week's Allegheny County Libertarian board meeting, and such a great meeting it was, we talked about this concept. One of the other board members said, "If we had transparent PAC accounts, there would be no need to have anything else. We'd know exactly who is the source of the money that is heading to the politicians.

I'm not certain that the "transparent PAC accounts" are a silver bullet. But, it is the best weapon we could ever wish for -- complete transparency.

And, to couple that transparency, we need the punishment phase to be all about the complete avoidance of payments of any types of checks and contracts (and pay) for those who break the campaign finance reform measures.

That's the other brilliant idea -- the scarlet letter!

Matt H dumps invoices on local medai & Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog: Whistleblower Documents Web Site Ordered to Shut Down

UPDATED below:

Matt H has released a ton of insights to the local media about bogus spending at the Housing Authority.

Pittsburgh Hoagie: All meat no filler: "Part of my story

http://kdka.com/video/?id=38584@kdka.dayport.com"

If he had come to me, I might have given him this tip. And, still to this day, he could take those documents and post them there. As it stands now, a copy of things just gets flipped before the TV camera. Put em up for all to see.

Wikileaks - Wikileaks: "Wikileaks"

In other, similar news, just hitting elsewhere, we learn of this:

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog: Whistleblower Documents Web Site Ordered to Shut Down: "Wikileaks is openly defying a California federal court, which granted a permanent injunction last Friday ordering the site to shut down. Swiss company Bank Julius Baer sought the injunction to prevent the site from posting what it claims are stolen documents provided by a disgruntled former employee. The Court also ordered Wikileaks to stop displaying or distributing the documents, which allegedly show the bank’s involvement in money laundering and tax evasion in the Cayman Islands. Wikileaks believes the orders violate the First Amendment and vows to appeal."

Update on Friday, a response by Mayor Ravenstahl.

http://kdka.com/video/?id=38628@kdka.dayport.com


Why does the reporter say that Pat Ford and Mayor are "asking questions." Those two are the ones who should be giving answers. They are the one's who have the power to watch the spending, day-in-and-day-out. They should NOT be asking questions. Those two should be held accountable.

3rd Concept Mapping Conference.html

3rd Concept Mapping Conference.html

Ueberroth views U.S. Olympians as invited guests, not reformers

SI.com - More Sports - Ueberroth views U.S. Olympians as invited guests - Friday February 22, 2008 6:33PM: U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth views American athletes as invited guests to the Beijing Olympics, not China's would-be reformers.

I'm not sure Ueberroth and the USOC would understand a reformer from a discus.

Behemoth, good word. Much like bureaucrat. Behemoths and bureaucrats are not to be trusted when it comes to reforms.

One of the architects of the 1984 Los Angeles Games that helped turn the Olympics into the behemoth they are today, Ueberroth acknowledged the upcoming Beijing Games will be different. They will shine a light on China, which before now was a relatively closed part of the world.

But "we don't just go there, we get invited there," he said Friday at the close of a USOC board meeting.

"We accept the invitation, and then there's a set of rules that are IOC rules," Ueberroth said. "We accept those rules. We expect and are sure that our athletes are going to respect their own country, respect their flag, respect the flag of every other country and operate as we all will, under the IOC rules of the Olympic Games."

The International Olympic Committee charter contains bylaws that say the Olympics are not to be used as a political platform. With the Olympics coming to the world's last communist superpower in less than six months, much has been made of China's record on human rights and free speech, to say nothing of its pollution and questionable food-safety practices.

The Beijing Olympics, many believe, are a golden opportunity to expose the problems.

Ueberroth said he's heard many of the same complaints before -- four years ago in Athens, in 1984 and with pretty much every other Olympics in between. But he said he expects these games to be "literally, the best ever."

"This is a virulent worldwide disease that takes place before any Olympic Games, and that's that the doom-sayers all come out and every worst-case scenario is portrayed," Ueberroth said. "I think it's fair for people to do that, but it seems like business as usual."

Of late, Britain's Olympic federation has caused a stir with one potential plan for athletes to wear masks during competition to fight pollution, and another calling for athletes to sign an agreement stating they will not use the Olympics as a political platform. The federation has assured the agreement will not be a restriction on free speech.

A Dutch lawmaker this week suggested a boycott of the opening ceremonies to protest China's human-rights record.

Mia Farrow has been loud in her calls for China to use its influence with Sudan to help end the conflict in Darfur. China is a major buyer of Sudan's oil and is regarded as one of that isolated government's closest international partners.

Farrow's campaign was bolstered by Steven Spielberg, who pulled out of serving as an artistic adviser for the opening and closing ceremonies because he said he could not reconcile working on the Olympics while China and other nations were not doing enough to ease the suffering in Darfur. American speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek has spoken out, co-founding the Team Darfur athletes coalition to bring attention to the cause.

Relatively quiet in all this has been the USOC, which has repeatedly stated that it has no concerns with the food supply and is comfortable having its athletes eat the majority of their meals in the Olympic village; that it believes Beijing will get its pollution problems in check; that it won't use the Olympics as a platform to affect political change; and that it believes the Chinese government will fulfill its promise to provide journalists full access to the country through the Olympics.

Ueberroth agrees with the notion that the Olympics are bigger than sports -- "They provide a gift to the world of transparency," he said -- but he does not buy into the notion that the USOC should be out front, promoting change in China.

"In one sense, it's China's Olympic Games, but all they are is a host," he said. "All Los Angeles was was a host, all Athens was was a host. It really is the Olympic movement and you participate under their rules and guidelines, all their procedures and their protocols."

His comments came after a daylong meeting in which USOC board members received updates about the venues and preparation in Beijing, and also on the progress of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Ueberroth said he was pleased with the city's progress, thinks it will be a good thing for leaders to be at the Beijing Games to get a sense of the enormity of the project. They will make the trip if they are named one of the finalists after the next cut in June.

Ueberroth is confident Chicago will make that short list, but still doesn't consider Chicago a favorite in the contest, which includes Madrid, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and three other cities.

"They're improving every day, but so are their competitors," he said.

The board did not reach a decision on whether to relocate its headquarters or remain in Colorado Springs. Ueberroth said an initial list of six potential homes has been pared to three, including Colorado Springs. A decision will likely be reached before the next board meeting in May.

Neither Ueberroth nor CEO Jim Scherr changed their opinion of America as an underdog to win the medals count at the Beijing Olympics.

U.S. teams had a very good 2007 in world championships across the globe, winning four of six gold medals in women's gymnastics (a record), 20 in swimming (best in 29 years) and 14 more in track (nine more than second-place Kenya).

"Those championships were spread around the world, these games are in China," Scherr said. "The Chinese competitors, some were there in '06, some were there in '07, all will be there in '08. This will be a very difficult competition."

Food safety, OMG. Let's not be so quick to toss the first spit ball -- err -- meat ball. My kid's school district just dumped 95 metric cheesburgers into the bio landfill.

China has been "open" in recent times. It is so open that most of the items in any American household have more things made in China than anywhere else -- if you don't count the refrigerator art from your kids when they were in pre-school. Woops, there is another food mention.

American's have "OPEN" refrigerators and freezers -- and they don't have those so much in China.

Meanwhile, Chicago is in line to be a host of a future Olympic Games. Wonder if the IOC remember the last time Chicago hosted a big confab -- as in political convention, Chicago SEVEN. No big deal.

Really, 'doom-sayers' are the best friend of the thugs who wear black boots and swing clubs with badges on their chest. Homeland Security Types, TSAers, and the rest are always keen to cook up or make threats to increase security, spread fear, cause uncertainty and inject doubt.

The Olympic WARNING color is what, code ORANGE? Can the five olympic rings be blended into some warning signal for Tom Ridge's sake.

It was at OUR GAMES, in Atlanta, when the guy's life was changed due to a bogus bomb accusation.

We are guests. Everyone's a guest. They'll roll out the red carpet. It will be great -- because humans are great. Coming together is great. Reaching for greatness is fun, and its great to witness.

RICH STATES, POOR STATES: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index

RICH STATES, POOR STATES: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index: RICH STATES, POOR STATES

ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index

by Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore

Save Schenley High School -- of course.

Amy M reports:

On Wednesday, February 27, the Pittsburgh school board will be voting on critical issues related to the future of Schenley, Frick, and Milliones, and the students who will be attending those schools. As I understand it, the 4 issues to be voted on are:

1. Move grades 10-12 of Pittsburgh Schenley to Reizenstein for the fall term.

2. Establish the robotics program at Pgh. Peabody.

3. Add 9th grade to Frick ISA.

4. Open Univ Prep at Milliones starting with 9th grade in the fall.

Three committees have been actively working to research our options and develop alternative plans that will maintain the Schenley experience while being mindful of the challenge of increasing student achievement and reasonable use of taxpayer funds. Those of us who have been involved in the discussions of the future of Schenley do not want any decisions to be made before complete information is available and all viable alternatives are considered.

If you are not a member of one of these committees, you can contribute in a very important way: PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER AND EXPRESS YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE UPCOMING VOTE. The board members are voted into office by the residents of the city and should be voting in the best interests of the citizens.

If you have been reading my previous emails and the emails of Jen Lakin, you are aware of my views on the subject but I am going to repeat some of the information/beliefs that I have already stated.

Schenley, the building, is definitely worth saving. The cost to make the building useable is not $64 million. According to Nick Lardas, our committee resident expert, the building is safe for use. If plaster is a problem, it could be safely removed during the summer. (Nick's complete speech to the board is in one of my last emails.) The building committee is actively at work with some very experienced knowledgeable people volunteering their time.

Schenley, the school, is definitely worth saving. The proposed move will eventually divide the current student population into 3 separate schools. The proposed university prep will create a nearly all African-American school which does not seem in the best interests of the students or our city. The school within a school has worked well, benefiting all groups. There are high schools in the city with much lower performance ratings than Schenley; the reform should not begin with a successful school. Spartan Spirit is very real and very much alive. High school is more than academics.

The central location of Schenley is critical to its success. Public transportation is readily available. Rigorous academic programs should be in the vicinity of the universities and the resources of those universities utilized.

Moving the freshman class to Frick for even a year will be a logistical nightmare. Students and teachers will have to travel between the schools for classes and extracurricular activities. Parents have been complaining about the world language teachers (or lack of) at Frick for several years; adding ninth grade will further complicate a bad situation. Students who are unhappy with another year in the middle school building will opt out of international studies to go to a "real" high school.

I know that I have not covered all of the facts or feelings about the Schenley situation but I want to get this sent. I hope that many of you will take the time to call or write your school board member. This vote is critical.

amy moore

Keep Schenley High School open. Put the University Partnership program into Schenley High School too.

We can't let the city schools make a new high school within an older Middle School Building that is only full of black students.

We don't want to re-open Reisenstein's building for a school. That school building does NOT have any windows. It doesn't have a stage. It was set up as a middle school -- not a high school.

Sell the Reisenstein building.

Sell the Board of Education Building too.

Keep Frick Middle School as it is -- but with better language teachers. We've been upset with the language teaching and learning at Frick for years. The bi-lingual teachers need to be given contracts in March for the next year. And, if they are not top flight, they should NOT have their contracts renewed. Frick is a fine middle school.

Moving all the programs to new locations and the fix up for the different buildings is very expensive.

A+ Schools has a job opening

Who wants a job with A+ Schools? Apply soon.

A Schools: "PROGRAM DIRECTOR
A SCHOOLS

When you get there, perhaps you can update their web site and make certain that Michael Lamb's name is NUKED from the list of its board members. He resigned more than a month ago.

Get Psyched!

The WPIAL Swimmers are set to explode next week.

School Lessons from Milwaukee, via Allegheny Institutue Policy Brief

Policy Brief

An electronic publication of

The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy

---

February 22, 2008 Volume 8, Number 14

---

School Lessons from Milwaukee

Pittsburgh’s population continues to fall and could dip below 300,000 in the 2010 Census if recent trends continue. There can be little doubt that much of the population loss can be blamed on the outrageously expensive, poorly performing Pittsburgh Public School District. Substantial numbers of parents interested in a better education for their children, and who cannot afford private schooling, are moving out of the City to take advantage of better schools. Is there a way to stem this outflow? Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist believes school choice offers a real opportunity to stop and eventually reverse this long time trend.

In a recent Allegheny Institute forum, Mayor Norquist spoke of his experience instituting one of the nation’s first voucher programs in Milwaukee. In what he calls the “educational-finance monopoly”, families are compelled to send their children to public schools. Those who can afford to move out of the city typically do so as their children approach school age—and take their tax dollars with them.

As a result, poorly performing school districts can drain a city’s tax base. Norquist recognized this in Milwaukee and began a push for school choice noting that “school choice is especially good for cities” in helping to maintain their tax base. He further observed that “under the traditional government monopoly in education, children from affluent families were leaving the public schools, and leaving children from less-affluent families behind. Instead of choosing an alternative school for their children, wealthy parents were choosing an alternative place to live. Our city, and too many other cities, were left behind.”

In Milwaukee’s voucher system, the parents are assigned an amount equal to the state’s share of the per pupil expenditure to spend at the school of their choice—currently about $8,000 per year. The local per pupil share, derived from property taxes, remains with the school district. According to the Pittsburgh School District’s budget, state aid in 2008 is placed at $7,392 per pupil. Thus, if Pittsburgh had a voucher system similar to Milwaukee’s, parents in the City would have over $7,000 per year per child to send their children to the school of their choosing. This amount would cover most non-public grade schools and many private/parochial/other religious high schools.

Many factors contribute to the decline of a city’s population, but there is no doubt that the performance of the public schools is one of the major determinants. Note that in the ten years between 1990—just before vouchers were available—and 2000, combined private and public school enrollment in Milwaukee rose by 14.4 percent. During the same period Pittsburgh’s combined enrollment rose a relatively small 4 percent as non-public enrollment climbed while the public school count actually fell 3 percent. This occurred even without a voucher program to create an outflow from the public schools. Moreover, since 2000, Pittsburgh’s public school student population has plunged by 25 percent as parents continue to move away or find alternative ways to educate their children rather than send them to the public schools.

To further demonstrate the differences in the two cities, it is important to note that while both cities experienced a population decline from 1990 to 2006, the 15.5 percent drop in Pittsburgh was nearly twice that of Milwaukee’s 8.7 percent decline.

So what are the lessons Pittsburgh can draw from the Milwaukee experience if there are folks in the District who would like to adopt a voucher system? First, they will need a lot of help from the Legislature. Milwaukee had Polly Williams in the Wisconsin Legislature to help push through the legislation to make the voucher system possible. Secondly, there needs to be support from the school board and superintendent. Norquist notes that as mayor of the city, his influence was used to get pro-voucher school board members elected who then hired a superintendent willing to reform the public school system. While this may seem a daunting task in a Democrat controlled town such as Pittsburgh, keep in mind that Norquist was a Democrat mayor who fought for this enormous reform of Milwaukee schools.

The Milwaukee voucher system is less than twenty years old and with its current limit of 22,500 students who may participate is not yet a completely free choice system. But it was a good start and has shown the way for other cities around the country; including Cleveland and Washington DC .Will Pittsburgh follow their lead? Given the current attitudes toward school choice in this area by teacher unions and other powerful public sector unions, the battle would be long and hard, but anything is possible if the resolve is there.

Parents who are fed up with their child’s under performing school must take a leading role in the fight for school choice. Help from civic groups, business groups, and the philanthropic community will almost certainly be needed to reach the desired goal of a generous, far reaching voucher program for Pittsburgh’s children. By the way, this is a far superior way to keep and attract kids than the so called “Pittsburgh Promise” program.

It is must be recognized by people in the City who care about its future that school choice is a fundamental component of freedom and freedom is always a good thing in promoting competition and economic vitality. It is not pie in the sky rhetoric. The question has to be asked, “Why are parents being forced to send their children to poorly performing, sometimes physically dangerous schools that are egregiously failing the majority of students and where there is little or no improvement year after year?” In fact, the case can be made that for many schools things continue to get worse over time.

At the very least, if there is a shred of honesty and human decency left in the education establishment — teachers, board members, administrators, and paid defenders of the status quo — they should loosen the monopolistic, ironfisted grip of the public schools over the education of the City’s children. Are they afraid that an experiment in choice would lead to such a massive demand for the available vouchers that it would be impossible not to expand the program? If that is the case, it is tantamount to admitting they know in their heart of hearts that their system is a failure even with all the money being spent and all the programs and all the promises year after year that things will get better.

It is time for Pittsburgh to take what might be one of the most important steps it could ever take. Create some real school choice opportunities for those currently being held hostage by force of state law and school board governance of a system that fails far too many of the City’s young people. This is a moral issue. Preservation of the school district and the self-preservation of those who are employed by it are not the foremost consideration here. Offering opportunities for parents to seek the best education for their children without having to leave the City should be everyone’s primary goal.

In sum, we need to have a leader such as Norquist in this community—a leader who truly believes and understands that the City’s long term best interests and the education of the City’s children must take precedence over the beneficiaries of the failing status quo system. Such a leader inevitably reaches the conclusion that parental school choice financed through a generous voucher program is the single best policy that can be adopted.

---

Jake Haulk, Ph.D., President Frank Gamrat, Ph.D., Sr. Research Assoc.

---

Please visit our blog at alleghenyinstitute.org/blog.

If you have enjoyed reading this Policy Brief and would like to send it to a friend, please feel free to forward it to them.

For more information on this and other topics, please visit our website: www.alleghenyinstitute.org

If you wish to support our efforts please consider becoming a donor to the Allegheny Institute. The Allegheny Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible. Please mail your contribution to:

The Allegheny Institute

305 Mt. Lebanon Boulevard

Suite 208

Pittsburgh, PA 15234

Thank you for your support.

Schenley Hoopers: Boys snag City championship again -- Swim Fast Too!

Schenley -- in its last year (we hope not) as a wonderful, true urban high school -- is in its championship run. Last season, the Schenley boys hardcourt team was STATE CHAMPION. This year is different, but just as good in the city-league title game. Boys win:

Schenley snags City championship - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Schenley snags City championship

Next up for the guys, a March 1 date against the #3 WPIAL team.

Girls get second, by 1 point:

Westinghouse nips Schenley girls in City basketball title Westinghouse nips Schenley girls in City basketball title

In other, personal Schenley sports news, I had the pleasure of leading Tuesday's Schenley swim team workout. The swimmers, both boys and girls, are in the city championship swim meet this Saturday at Pitt's Trees Hall (around noon).

For years, the swim competition in the city has been dominated by 'Dice.' I don't know how long their streak is. But, the Dice domination is impressive.

This year, Schenley's teams want to break the traditions.

In the heat sheet -- after all the points are scored based upon the seeded times -- Alderdice girls win by only six points. That's a very close meet.

I gave the team nearly two hours of a tapered workout -- stressing starts, turns, finishes and end of season knowledge.

I was impressed with the squad's capacity to listen and follow new leadership from a guest coach. The team has good depth, good talent, and some athlete leadership as well. They'll do well at the city meet -- and I expect it to be a wild meet.

National Friendship Week

Send this to everyone you are friends with.

(see comments)

Thanks Gina!

Robotics Institute: Teaching technical creativity through Robotics: A case study in Ghana

There has been a robotics major at Schenley High School. They are now being moved to Peabody, it seems. Plus, there is to be a Univeristy High School Partnership with Pitt that is going into an old middle school.

I wonder what these kids in Africa have next to what we do with our own kids?

Robotics Institute: Teaching technical creativity through Robotics: A case study in Ghana Creating technology that is relevant and accessible to developing communities is an emerging area of scholarly and practical importance. Diversity in both the creators and conshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifumers of advanced technology is required to develop sustained and useful applications of robotics, AI, and other technical fields in developing regions. Increased diversity will result in a wider array of technological innovations that are of benefit to both developed and developing regions. However, due to restricted access to technical resources, infrastructure, and expertise, technology education in developing communities is non-trivial. Thus, international partnerships and creative course designs are required. In response to this need, we developed a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA and Ashesi University in Accra, Ghana to design and implement an undergraduate introductory Robotics course targeted towards the Ghanaian context.

Check out this example of what's going on with high-tech in developing countries:http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

http://www.techbridgeworld.org


Of particular interest (from Joel) is one article linked to from the "Publications" section of the site:

http://www.ri.cmu.edu/pubs/pub_5743.html

Click on the "pdf" link to get the whole essay.

One has to respect these people -- both the folks from Carnegie Mellon and the natives of Ghana-- who are willing to take on subjects like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and robotics under the conditions they faced.

Near the end of the article, the authors describe themselves as being "in the preliminary development stages of a robotics kit modeled on the Open Source Software approach." I wonder how much progress has been made in this area? Is anyone up for contacting the article's authors and pursuing this?

Rogge: IOC cannot fix worldly woes - Chew on this while your at it.

SI.com - More Sports - Rogge: IOC cannot fix worldly woes - Thursday February 21, 2008 12:25PM: "With the clash between sports and politics sharpening as the Beijing Games near, the president of the IOC says the Olympics cannot solve the world's problems."

Of course the Olympic Games can't fix the problems of the world.

In other news, pack a lunch if you are going to compete. Bring bread. The typical kitchen in China does NOT have an oven. But, there are plenty of bakery outlets. And, bring cereal. They don't eat it. In China, it is really hard to eat your Wheaties. They don't sell cold milk either. Buy it warm. Then put it into the refrig.

We hope to go to Beijing. We'll do what I can to bring our appetites. We're not going to compete. And, after the events, I expect you'll see a lot of very hungry, ready to party US Olympians.

The United States Olympic Committee's plan to bring its own food to China has disappointed the leader of food services for the Beijing Olympics.

"I feel it's a pity that they (Americans) decided to take their own food," Kang Yi, the head of the Food Division for the Beijing organizing committee, said Thursday. She added the USOC had not officially notified her department of the plan.


The USOC is planning to transport tons of meat and other foods to a training camp at Beijing Normal University.

The 600-plus American athletes are expected to eat their daily meals at the Athletes Village, USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said. But the U.S. delegation also includes an additional 400-plus personnel -- support coaches, trainers, etc. -- who are not eligible for food service at the village and therefore will eat most of their meals at Beijing Normal.

Seibel said the food service at Beijing Normal will serve as a supplement to the Village, which will house about 17,000 athletes and officials during the Aug. 8-24 Games and be capable of serving 6,000 meals simultaneously.

"We have absolutely no concerns about the quality and safety of the food in the Athletes Village," Seibel said. "Also, we will be sourcing products from local suppliers for our training table, in addition to bringing some products with us. We had the same approach during the Athens and Torino Games, as well."

Food safety in China has become a major issue for the Olympics, following recent incidents of tainted products and reports of the heavy use of drugs and insecticides in food production. Officials are aware a positive drug test triggered by contaminated food could ruin an athlete's career and generate a public-relations disaster for China, which is intent on showing itself as a modern, sophisticated country.

"We have made lots of preparations to ensure that they (athletes) can get together at the Olympic Games," said Kang, speaking at a news conference Thursday on food safety.

Another official said there was no evidence drugs and growth stimulants used in meat production could trigger positive doping tests.

"As far as we know we haven't found any scientific report on this," said Lu Yong, director of the Beijing Municipal Food Safety Monitoring Center.

Tang Yunhua, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Municipal Office for Food Safety, repeated Thursday the plans for extensive monitoring from the pasture to the plate -- using bar codes, satellite tracking devices and labor-intensive operations -- for food served at the Olympic Village.

"We can guarantee the food safety during the Olympic Games," Tang said.

"We have a safety plan during the Olympics Games to guarantee our venues will be safe," she said. "And the standards for Olympic food safety are much more strict than international standards. So all the delegations can enjoy the food provided during the Olympic Games."

In the US, we have our own food worries with recalled BEEF. And, much of our food is not welcomed in other parts of the world -- as we use too many drugs and steroids. Go figure.

Making an Ethical Stand: Ethical operations deals among ethical players.

Part 2 on my series on Campaign Finance Reform

by Mark Rauterkus

Conducting a business presents choices as to who to deal with and who to avoid. The suppliers and providers of the the goods and services you buy matters greatly and impact the end product, the economy and one's sense of satisfaction.

The same holds true for the business dealings of our government entities.

The city of Pittsburgh buys supplies, obtains materials and lets contracts. Municipal, county and state government, as well as the authorities, have massive budgets. Some businesses cater to government sales and contracts, no doubt.

It makes great sense to be particular as to who you do business with and who to avoid.

If we want to live in a more ethical city and region, we need to tell our city leaders that we don't want them to spend any money with unethical suppliers. For instance, the City of Pittsburgh will NOT sell property it owns to anyone who already owes back taxes to the City of Pittsburgh on other property. If you want to obtain new property, from the public holdings, you had better not be a tax cheat. That makes sense.

This same line of thought can be applied to other aspects of city government. Felons need not apply for jobs in the courts. Background checks are needed for those who work in the schools and at parks. Campaign finance issues can come under the same type of scrutiny.

New laws on campaign finance reform are being discussed in city hall this week.
A public hearing is slated for 2 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2008. Check out the ordinance to supplement administrative code, by adding "Campaign Finance Regulations," sponsored by Council member Bill Peduto at his blog: http://www.reformpittsburghnow.com/ And, visit http://Rauterkus.blogspot.com and search for "Finance."

Holding better campaigns and elections is important to the health of the region. But massive weakness with enforcement and penalties may cripple the good intentions of better elections and cleaner candidates.

If everyone plays above board and follows the (new, proposed) rules, we'd have wonderful new day. Dream on. This is politics. We're in Pittsburgh, a one-party town. Some have been known to cheat in the past.

When cheating occurs, the fair-minded folks get screwed while the cheaters trump the system. Those that are more clever at money laundering shouldn't have an upper hand in getting government jobs. Candidates who can money launder well and win elections would then get put into positions where they'd further refine their skills with tax-payer funds.

Keeping participants more faithful to the rules and spirit of campaign finance reform needs drastic, yet simple, measures.
I suggest a "Scarlet Letter Penalty."

If you want a city contract, you can't break our campaign finance rules. If you are at odds with the campaign finance measures, you're out. Let's live in a city that chooses to only make payments to those who honor our campaign finance laws.

If a culprit breaks any campaign finance reform law, that person, as well as his company, becomes ineligible for any contract from city government. All payments from the city to the offending person and firm, including pay checks, are terminated. These individuals and firms would wearing a 'scarlet letter" so as to be "black listed at the time of cutting city checks."

This "scarlet letter penalty" would apply to both, the candidate and the donor. A candidate that wins an election could keep his post, as the people voted and the election was won. But, the candidate won't get paid.

If a mythical great uncle wants to give a large sum of money to his favorite nephew to run a campaign in Pittsburgh, fine. The money from the great uncle can be taken by the candidate, reported and spent. Meanwhile, the generous great uncle won't be eligible to get any city contract. He won't worry about city contracts and won't try to benefit from them. This great uncle donor has no worries about getting special influences, and in turn, the taxpayers have few fears about corruption from that source.

The length of punishment is another factor to consider.
Some say that a four-year punishment is long enough. In their point of view, if someone gets caught and screws up in the 2009 election and buys a candidate a seat, in part by breaking a campaign finance law, the guilty donor would be eligible for city contracts four-years later, in 2013.

I don't like the timing of a four-year penalty phase. Four years could be too short. Or, it could be too long.

Consider, for example, Don Barden or some other slots parlor operator seeking to buy city council members. Barden holds a contract with the state for the exclusive operation of a slots operations in the city. The state sold license to Don Barden never expires. His was a one-time payment that lasts forever. Four years is NO TIME AT ALL in that type of deal.

A contractor that builds bridges, tunnels and other mega projects -- such as light rail extensions to Oakland and the East End -- would gladly suffer a few years of penalties to have votes on city council and contracts awarded in year five and beyond.

Punishment to the ones that make the infraction to the campaign finance regulations should be in effect for as long as the candidate that benefited is an elected official in any public position. The "scarlet letter penalty" should end when the candidate exits all public positions.

For the sake of example, if a guilty employee at a developer such as Forrest City gets caught giving $50,000 to a council candidate, (the limit is $2,500), then that firm is OUT for all city contracts. However, if the candidate who took the money resigns his or her post, then the firm could get back into the game for city contracts. The candidate who took the money and the company that gave the money are in bed together. They both should be linked while that candidate stays in any government post.

A big payment that exceeds the limits could go to a candidate can not be spent for years. The funds could sit and gather interest for future campaign cycles, decades into the future. The city does not have term limits.

I'm not fine with specific dollar amounts of the proposed fines.
Another suggestion was to set penalty amounts for fines for the rule breakers. They wanted to attach the dollars of the sin in the campaign finance deed to the penalty. The thinking of the rule makers was to charge the villains a three-fold putative damage. Make the guilty pay a fine that is three times what was spent on the candidate.

I think it is impossible to set uniform dollar amount penalties in this realm. In recent times, $50,000 could easily buy a seat on city council. If the risk of getting caught means a pay-back of three times that amount, say $150,000, that's nothing when contrasted with the totals being spent in public building projects. A public financed parking garage, for example, can cost $10-Million. That penalty of three times the amount of damages as tied to the sins that flowed into the election coffers is chump change.

A Sister and Rabbi and a vacant seat huddle and an Ethics Hearing Board meeting breaks out.
The new bills sponsor has the proposed campaign finance regulations being upheld by the Pittsburgh's Ethics Hearing Board. I've seen glaciers move faster than the Ethics Hearing Board. That body is a total failure. The mayor's golf outing with UPMC executives in the summer of 2007 won't be resolved until the spring or summer fo 2008. They want to change the employee handbook to redefine perks from nonprofits. Sad to say, the Ethics Hearing Board in Pittsburgh, as appointed, can't navigate its way out of a wet paper bag. It would be more effective to administer Boy Scout Oaths to candidates, or do nothing.

Employees, companies, and citizens, it is time to ponder these proposals. Those who make and receive political donations are doing so with good intentions, but we need to think them through. I want the new rules to benefit challengers, competition, taxpayers and freedom.

---

Postings in this series:

Part 1: Local Campaign Finance Reform http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/02/local-campaign-finance-reform.html

Part 2: Making an ethical stand. http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/02/making-ethical-stand-ethical-operations.html

Part 3: Proposal to Bankers for a Campaign Marriage, with drive-through guests http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/02/proposal-to-bankers-for-campaign.html

A new platform: The Libertarian Majority

Libertarian Majority: "As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.

This is great.

Singapore will host first Youth Olympics in 2010

SI.com - More Sports - Singapore will host first Youth Olympics in 2010 - Thursday February 21, 2008 8:09AM: "The event, to be held every four years, is designed to encourage youngsters to get involved in sports and spend less time in front of computer and television screens. The first Winter Youth Olympics will be in 2012.

Let's not bash computer screens. I think it would be great to blog at that event. :)

Rogge said broadcasters will be offered free daily television highlights from the Singapore Games.

"We know that youth sport is a difficult issue for broadcasters who are not showing much of it and I regret that," he said. "However, this exposure will be much bigger than for any other junior world championships."

Perhaps we can get the feed and stream them onto PCTV 21.

Vote on closing Schenley High School delayed - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Vote on closing Schenley High School delayed - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "City schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said he delayed a vote on closing Schenley High School to give supporters time to raise money to fix it and to study if it would be cheaper in the long run to repair the structure.

In other Schenley news:

The topic of this evening's PSCC was scheduling for next year's classes. Mrs. Facaros facilitated the meeting with counselors Dr. Dillard and Mrs. Martin. Sample course selection sheets for incoming 9th graders, 10 through 12, and IB Diploma Programmed Course Requirements were available. Counselors will be meeting with each student to plan schedules for next year; students will bring schedules home to be signed.

Grades and records of 10th grade students will be reviewed carefully before students sign for IB courses. An attempt will be made to coordinate the block schedules with non-IB classes for flexibility if the student has difficulty with the IB classes. The goal of scheduling is to find the right level of class for each student.

Schedules for next year are tentative, depending on the outcome of the school board's vote next week on the move to Reizenstein, the expansion of Frick to include 9th grade, the move of 9th grade students to Milliones for university prep, and the move of the tech program to Peabody. For example, if the moves do go through, it will eliminate culinary arts as an elective for all but the Peabody students. With the 9th grade in the basement of Frick, the food prep rooms will be eliminated; Reizenstein does not have facilities for food prep either.

Discussion on proposed moves: As usual when there are Schenley parents, there was an informal discussion of the proposed moves for next year. Time is passing very quickly to have classes in place for next September. As stated above, certain aspects of the schedule will have to be changed depending on the location of various students. If the 9th grade is to remain at Frick, renovations will be needed to the basement floor which currently houses the kitchen, sewing, industrial arts classrooms. After the location of students is determined, the placement of teachers will have to be determined. Teachers who have been trained for the IB program will have priority over teachers who have not been trained. At this time, it is planned that the 9th graders at all "Schenley" sites will follow the high school bell schedules. Teachers, especially world language teachers, will probably travel between the two IS sites. It is possible that buses will transport students for advanced math and after school activities although those details have not been worked out.

A parent requested and Mrs. Facaros will try to arrange a tour of the Reizenstein facility for those who would like to tour the building. This will need to be arranged before any renovations are begun on the building.

Although this was a short meeting, there was a lot of information. If anyone who was at the meeting has anything to add, please email me and I will make corrections/additions.

Next PSCC meeting: March 19. Topic: IB/IS
Please put the April 16 PSCC meeting on your calendar when Duquesne University will be doing a parent evaluation of High School Reform. We need parental input.

amy moore

Great, another institution doing an evaluation on high school reform after the deal has been cut. The evaluation needs to happen in April -- for changes in say 2010 and unfolding to 2014.

David C. Salo is publishing a new book -- June or July 2008

Dave Salo, Ph.D., head men's swim coach at USC, author of the now out of print book, Sprint Salo, is publishing a new book with Human Kinetics.

Sounds good. Total conditioning for swimmers, or something like that.

Can't wait.

Finally the skeleton spotlight to herself. - Wednesday February 20, 2008 2:36PM

We are NOT talking about "BODIES" at the Science Center.

SI.com - More Sports - Katie Uhlaender finally has the American skeleton spotlight to herself. - Wednesday February 20, 2008 2:36PM: "Katie Uhlaender finally has the American skeleton spotlight to herself."

Darfur activists urged to keep Olympics non-political - Wednesday February 20, 2008 10:22AM

SI.com - More Sports - Darfur activists urged to keep Olympics non-political - Wednesday February 20, 2008 10:22AM Beijing Olympics officials defended China's stance on Darfur and appealed to activists Wednesday not to pressure sponsors to pull out of the Games.

Those pesky Darfur activists.... Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone.

Singapore believes size is advantage - Wednesday February 20, 2008 11:20AM

SI.com - More Sports - Singapore believes size is advantage - Wednesday February 20, 2008 11:20AM The Youth Games are likely to only feature one-third of the athletes -- all aged between 14 and 18 competing in 26 sports -- that the Summer Olympics draws.

We are not a rubber stamp. We are the council of the city of Pittsburgh.

Them thar are fighting words from Bruce Kraus.

Gosh. Notes (live blogging) of the city council meeting on Wed, 2-20-08.

Process.

Investigation or Conversation?

"I support a hold," says Jim Motznik. Motznik wants to refer it to somewhere else. Let the buck stop elsewhere.

Bill Peduto introduced a bill to begin an investigation. Too bad there are no others on city council with a backbone.

Even Doug Shields made a wish upon a eclipse that the administration make a statement to rescind the sign deal.

Dan Deasy says that they are a long way off from determining if the sign is appropriate or not. That's called being 'out of touch.'

Rev. Burgess thanks Bill Peduto for his leadership on this matter. The process of how the sign got approved is broken. But he'll want to exhaust the powers of council.

Tonya Payne says we may be getting too far out there. She has not heard one thing from anyone on this issue. Does Tonya read the paper? Does Tonya only live for the mob mentality? She doesn't want to do anything that is so political. She doesn't see the remedy. She is without vision. Her good judgement means following the marching orders of the mayor.

Tonya, the URA is a city authority -- not a state authority, by the way.

Tonya, when things get tossed around in a campaign, such as merging the URA and the City Planning Department, they are NOT real. Campaign chatter is just campaign chatter. Campaign ideas do NOT establish laws.

Tonyna thinks, "If you want to keep this clean -- calling for an investigation only sees who is on whos side." -- NO.

An investigation is NOT a political call. A campaign is a political side struggle.

Bill Peduto says last year is last year. Dennis R, Cathy McN, domestic violence. Bill thinks that city council is powerful and it can pummel. Whew. This isn't just about a billboard. City employees and past city employees put this together. The pattern includes the threat that employees would NOT be able to talk to city councilmembers.

Steps: Zoning, planning, conditional use, bid. Investigate now or get pulled into a lawsuit that the city (Ravenstahl bending over for Lamar Advertising) will not win.

Kraus is proud to sit on this body for an important issue. This is never about politics. It is about our sworn duty. Very difficult territory. One must be willing to leave one's comfort zone. Kraus is unsure about public hearings and post agendas. Kraus is worried about spending taxpayer money if council should hire an attorney. Gosh.

Doug said that this is a civil, not criminal matter. The big fear is the fallout of people being put under oath. Then it gives rise to criminal. None are talking about any criminal matters at this time.

It is a fricking sign. It isn't an important issue. And Pat Ford is playing the city like a fiddle. What is the next verse? Dance on or end the tune?

The cure, for Doug Shields, is to have this go through all the normal steps.

I think that the cure is to fire Pat Ford. Nuke the darn sign too. Then, move to liquidate the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Ravenstahl appoints Lanier treasurer - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Ravenstahl appoints Lanier treasurer - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review She will not receive a pay increase.

This is the second new hire that gets a new job title and does NOT get a pay raise.

If I get hired as the newest member of the Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board -- the number of new hires without any pay increase would be three!

Really, I'd be 'appointed' -- not 'hired.' The post comes without any pay.

Yesterday, in my public comment at city council, I told Luke Ravenstahl, that I was available. I had sent him a letter in the past.

Slippery Rock Gets One More Year

CollegeSwimming.com::Slippery Rock Gets One More Year “Women’s swimming just completed its 2007-08 season. With the announcement today, students who will be seniors next year know they will have a final season at SRU and underclassmen will have time to evaluate the options concerning their future. Water polo competition begins in March so those student athletes now know definitively this is their final season.”

There is no honor is cutting a team. To have a phase out is okay -- but don't begin to talk about 'honor.'

SRU President, Robert Smith, sucks. May the pox that falls upon him and his career be painful and forever.

I look forward to the return of those teams in better times.

Learn about publishing on the web with these tutorials

Feds tell Pittsburgh schools to destroy recalled beef

Feds tell Pittsburgh schools to destroy recalled beef - Examiner.com: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture has told the Pittsburgh school district to destroy 323 cases of recalled beef."

Where is the beef?
There are a few things that should be recalled in Pgh Public Schools. High School Reform needs to be recalled.

Inside PA Political Elections

The PA Elections Division is to hold the ballot position lottery drawing for delegates and alternate delegates on Wednesday, February 20, 9:30 A.M. in the Keystone Building - Hearing Room #1 (intersection of Forster St. & Commonwealth Ave.).

The last day for D and R party candidates who filed nomination petitions to withdraw has been extended to Friday, Februray 29, 2008, 5 P.M.

Dear Campaign Finance Reform Supporter:

Pittsburgh City Councilmembers need to hear from YOU!

Next TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, at 2 PM, City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed campaign finance reform legislation recently introduced by Councilman Bill Peduto that aims to limit individual and PAC contributions to local politicians in election and non-election years.

As observed in Philadelphia and other cities that have already implemented similar rules, passing this legislation would help to further reform the local government process by limiting the impact of large-scale donors and reducing their access to decision-makers, while also enabling less well-funded candidates to run for office.

To help convince undecided members of Council, I urge you to please consider attending the hearing, along with other members of your organization (or with friends!).

The details of the meeting are below, and the legislation and talking points are attached.

Tuesday, February 26th, at 2 PM in City-Council Chambers
5th Floor, 414 Grant Street

If you would like to make a public comment, please call Linda Johnson-Wassler in advance at 412-255-2138 to sign up.

If you have other questions about the meeting, please call Dan Gilman at 412-255-2133.

Links:

Post-Gazette article announcing the introduction of this legislation:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08007/847284-53.stm

Recent City Paper article with quotes from both sides of the debate:
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A42016

Thanks in advance!

Julia Nagle
(contact deleted by blog owner)

---

Talking Points for the PEDUTO CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM


- Legislation limits the amount any individual can donate to a candidate to $2,500 per year

- Legislation limits the amount any Political Action Committee donations to $5,000 per year

- If a candidate spends more than $250,000 of their own money, the contribution limits for all other candidates double

- Limits the amount a candidate can raise in non-election years. A mayoral candidate can raise no more than $250,000, a controller candidate $100,000, and a council candidate $75,000.

- Prohibits any individual or business that contributes the maximum to a candidate from receiving any no-bid contracts from the City.

- Calls on the City Controller to place all campaign finance reports online

- Requires the Ethics Board to advertise the contribution limits and other aspects of the campaign finance regulations

- May take violators to court for an injunction

- Ethics Board has right to punish for violations

Full bill from Google Document

Costs for 2014 Games have doubled - Tuesday February 19, 2008 11:43AM

SI.com - More Sports - Costs for 2014 Games have doubled - Tuesday February 19, 2008 11:43AM Russia was awarded the games last year, with an ambitious plan to build almost all facilities from scratch at the Black Sea resort. Among them was an elaborate light-rail system leading from the seaside ice-sport venues to the snow sports locations in the Caucasus Mountains 30 miles sway.

Dutch lawmaker calls for Olympic boycott

SI.com - More Sports - Dutch lawmaker calls for Oly boycott - Tuesday February 19, 2008 9:44AM: "Voordewind also suggested setting up a venue in Beijing during the games where visitors can discuss human rights.

He expected opposition from organizers, but said, 'If the Chinese are against the plan, that means they are against human rights.'

Voordewind has only just begun enlisting world support. Neither the Dutch government nor the Olympic Committee have backed him."

Well, there is ONE place to eat Kosher food in Beijing. Perhaps that venue can be a place to chat about human rights.

Did Dan Onorato or Luke Ravenstahl visit with this guy while in the Netherlands?

Perhaps I should.

Texas Looms Larger for a number of reasons

Ron Paul posted:

The DC neocons think their old dream is about to come true. They think they can defeat me in the Republican congressional primary in Texas on March 4th. And you know what? They may be right.

My opponent, who describes himself as a traditional conservative, is a dedicated servitor of all the special interests who have given us the disaster of recent years, from unconstitutional wars to a looming recession, from huge deficits to massive new welfare programs.

A Republican operative allied with the worst forces in DC recently said: "Give what you can [to Ron Paul's opponent]. Ron Paul is running scared -- using his Presidential campaign's donors' money to subsidize a desperate last-minute attempt to save his Congressional seat."

That is a lie, of course. It is illegal to use presidential campaign donations in my congressional race. The congressional campaign has to stand on its own. But so far, we have raised only about a third of what a well-funded effort would need.

In my 10 terms in Congress, I have not only been able to serve my constituents, and help them, for example, negotiate federal red-tape. I have also been able to defend our principles of less spending, lower taxes, no inflation, and strict adherence to the Constitution. Some people in DC laugh at the idea that I should obey my oath of office, and ask first of any proposed legislation, is it constitutional? But I know that you share my support for the vision of the framers.

My friend Congressmen Wayne Gilchrest (R-Maryland) was just defeated in his primary election by a neocon fraud similar to the one I face. My friend Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) is under heavy pressure as well. People like our hand-picked opponents will do anything to gain and keep power. They represent everything that is wrong with DC.

If I am defeated in the upcoming congressional primary, our ideas will be held to have been defeated as well. It will be proclaimed from the rooftops in DC that such "ridiculous and outmoded notions" as the free market, sound money, personal liberty, limited government, and a pro-American foreign policy are through.

I am determined not to let this happen. All that you and I believe in is far too important to the future of our country, and to everyone and everything we love, to let the neocons dance on its grave.

Please, help me stop the lies, the distortions, the pressure groups, the special interests that benefit from DC rip-offs. There is still time to run radio and tv ads, to set up phone banks, to get out the vote. But unless you help, my reelection to Congress may be in jeopardy. Please help me return to Congress to fight for the people of my district, and for the ideas that can save our country from the path to trouble we are now on.

I hesitated to ask you, since you have already done so much. But my wife Carol said, "When you need help, you ask your best friends." So I do ask you, to hold out your hand in support.

Please give today http://www.ronpaulforcongress.com, as generously and as quickly as you can.

Sincerely,

Ron

Public comment delivered to Pgh Public School Board and Administration: Schenley High School can stay open

From moments ago, a fellow parent delivered these comments to the Board of Ed and the Administration in public comment. Nick's son and my son are school mates and team mates at Frick Middle School.

Good evening everyone. My name is Nick Lardas. I am a resident of Oakland and am here to speak again as a concerned parent, taxpayer and voter.

I request that the board vote no on moving students out of Schenley HS, and no on further expenditures on HS reform. These issues are interrelated and until complete information and complete plans are available spending any money down any one path is a waste of our precious resources.

Ten days ago because of my engineering & construction expertise I was invited along with a group of construction professionals to tour Schenley HS with some PPS Facilities personnel. Base on that visit and the information in this Facilities Portfolio on Schenley I have concluded that the building is safe for students now and next year. There is no emergency. There is time to plan wisely before spending money.

There is not now, nor have there ever been according to your records any asbestos fibers in the air at Schenley.

According to WJE, your expert, the plaster that fell last summer was the result of prior water and vibration damage that was never fixed. Now that all the plaster has been addressed there is no imminent threat. Furthermore there’s no such thing as sudden catastrophic adhesion failure in 90-year-old gypsum plaster. Go search the web or the public library.

High moisture readings in water damaged plaster are to be expected regardless of humidity levels.

Contrary to what has been reported the ventilation system is partially working. The exhaust fans on the roof penthouses are actively pulling air out of the building. While the intake fans are off, the ducts and dampers are open so makeup air is being drawn into the building through them.

The new windows do not seal well. In fact your facilities personnel are screwing them shut because of this. I don’t understand why you do not have the manufacturer who warranted these windows fixing them.

If you would like to act in an abundance of caution, remove the plaster ceilings in Schenley this summer. This is work that will have to be done as part of the renovation of Schenley, so you will not be throwing money away on any temporary move.

The cost to renovate Schenley according to your portfolio is $37.8 Million, not the higher figures reported.

There is not enough time in the 3 minutes allotted here for me to explain everything I know related to these issues. I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with each of you individually or together to more completely explain your own documents, as well as tour Schenley with you and facilities personnel to point out these items. If you are interested my contact information is included below.

Thirty years ago this school district rushed to embrace the latest in educational trends and wasted tens of Millions on open class rooms & windowless schools. Concepts which have proven to be a failure. There is no emergency. The sky is not falling. Don’t be fooled by fancy names and feel good salesmanship. Ask for all the data. Ask for the cost benefit analysis of all the options studied. Take the time to get all the information and make an informed decision.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Nicholas D. Lardas

Nick's contact info has been nuked by the blog owner. If you want it, leave a note in the comments.

Tom Kawczynski pulled out of a race for R nomination for PA House

Tom Kawczynski posted to a public email list this notice. He had been working to get onto the ballot for the Rs in a state house race. Tom lives in Bellvue. He had also been a key organizer for the Ron Paul MeetUps.

Hey Everyone,

Since some of you didn't know, I just wanted to confirm that I am dropping out of my state legislature race. Although I very much wanted to run, and was very grateful that the support so many of you gave, there were circumstances beyond my control that forced me to withdraw. If I had a choice, I would have continued my run, but that did not seem feasible.

I believe now as I ever have that it is important that all of us stay involved, howsoever we choose, to spread the important ideas that this campaign has illuminated. People want to hear about liberty and limited government. I spent a great many hours out there talking to people, house by house, door by door, and they accepted this message. It transcends parties and policies.

For the same reasons that I'm withdrawing from this race, I'm going to be taking a much lower profile. Rest assured this is not because of any change in my ideas, but driven by a new dedication and focus in creating a situation for myself where I am more able to facilitate the changes I believe are so necessary. We all need to get smarter in how we act, and myself more than anyone.

I just wanted to say thanks to those who helped. I'd like to especially thank Scot, Jay, Lionel, Dave P., and Sara. I couldn't ask for better people or better friends. Value the people you meet here. They're a special bunch, and together, we're the best hope for the future.

Yours,
Tom

I don't know if Tom will stay on the Libertarian Party board or not.

Modern China in Recap from AP -- without a byline

Don't you love the AP and Sports Illustrated?

SI.com - More Sports - China hoping Olympics will bring international fame - Monday February 18, 2008 11:25AM: "Return of prestige"

This article (link above and reposted below) provides a modern day re-cap of China with a review of a reporter who has been there. He knew Chairman Mao. He reopened the AP office in Beijing after the rules of the Cultural Revolution were changed to allow Americans to return to China. However, the reporter / writer is without a byline on this posting from the S.I. web pages.

Nice article:

Return of prestige
China hoping Olympics will bring international fame
Posted: Monday February 18, 2008 11:25AM; Updated: Monday February 18, 2008

HONOLULU (AP) -- On Aug. 8, 2008, when the Beijing Olympics begin in promised splendor, a few may reflect on how far or how fast China has come to host this high mark of international prestige.

A little more than a year after the games finish, Oct. 1, 2009, China will mark its 60th anniversary as a communist nation. It is a survivor when many Marxist regimes have met their demise beginning with the first, the Soviet Union.

To my old eyes, it seems almost a miracle that China has survived the pain and bloodshed to emerge from poverty and become one of the richest of Earth's nations in so short a time.

Torn by internal strife for years, long shunned internationally, China now seeks to acquire something intangible but precious, to match its new prosperity. It seeks prestige, or "weiwang" in Chinese. Prestige is a quality China once had in abundance as the ancient Middle Kingdom, an empire to which other nations regularly paid tribute.

To understand why Olympic prestige is so important to China, it is important to remember how low as a nation China had fallen -- and how little real prestige it enjoyed -- as a result of power struggles during the first few decades of its communist existence after the Nationalists were vanquished in 1949.

It is useful, too, to remember the three powerful, larger than life figures who dominated the Chinese landscape early on.

They were Mao Zedong, its founder, a peasant's son and dreamer; his ambitious, once bone-poor third wife, Jiang Qing, and Deng Xiaoping, the no nonsense realist. During the early years of Mao's dictatorship, quarrels within the Communist party over China's direction brought it to the edge of collapse, a blood-spattered period remembered today for its cruelty and chaos.

The violence only ended with Mao's death and his wife's imprisonment in 1976.

Twice purged by Mao, Deng emerged from house arrest a few years later to halt China's headlong tumble into anarchy and begin the remarkable economic recovery and regaining of national prestige reflected in these Olympic games.

As an AP reporter, I knew all three of the lead players: Mao and his wife in 1940s Yanan, the Red base before the victory of 1949, and Deng in 1979 Beijing.

Mao was a dreamer with his feet firmly planted in the past. He believed China was powerful enough to achieve greatness by itself without relying on the outside world.

When Mao's grandiose national economic campaign resulted in failure and famine, the pragmatists led by Liu Shaoqi and Deng removed him from office and took over. Mao meekly accepted his punishment. But Jiang Qing, furious at losing her place as First Lady of China, fought back.

Cannily, she used Mao and his great national popularity and organized the Marxist sounding 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. With the help of defense minister Lin Biao, she turned Mao into a demigod, a genius born once in every 10,000 years. Then she denounced Liu and Deng as villains for trying to diminish Mao's greatness. The nation's students, organized into Maoist Red Guards, attacked anyone daring to belittle the Great Helmsman's name. The "no school" bell rang throughout China and the students gleefully went on a hot-eyed rampage.

I wrote about the Cultural Revolution mostly from Hong Kong and Tokyo -- Americans were barred from China -- but got a glimpse of China under Mao when I was allowed to accompany the U.S. ping pong team to Beijing in 1971. I made more visits later, after the ban against American reporters was lifted.

Beijing under Mao was drab, emotionless and bureaucratic. The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, once a delight to visit, were stiff with plaster statues of Mao. Huge portraits of Mao adorned the walls of the Forbidden City and China's Great Wall.

The little red book of Mao quotations, compiled by Lin Biao, and tin Mao portrait badges were everywhere. I acquired one.

By the end of 1971, only months after the American ping pong visit, Lin Biao's agenda had become clear: he plotted to murder Mao and take his place at the head of party and nation. Discovered, he fled, and died when his Moscow-bound plane crashed en route.

Madame Mao, high priestess of her husband's cult, banned the famous Peking Opera, put in its place a half dozen dramas of her own composition which glorified Maoism. I suffered through several of them, bemused by the heroes, bigger than life, and amused by the villains -- usually running dogs of American imperialism.

I had the good luck to reopen the AP Beijing bureau in 1979 and thus become a daily spectator during the early days of Deng's determined campaign to recover China's lost prestige. Unlike Mao, who dictated the smallest details of Chinese life from Beijing, Deng believed in openness and few controls. He gave the cities and the provinces license to make their own rules, draw up their own contracts.

I developed a bantering friendship with Deng, one of the few Marxists I knew with a sense of humor. Remarkably modest for a man with so much power, he described himself modestly as the first among equals and insisted he had no desire for titles like party chairman or president.

He intended, he told me, to gradually introduce controlled democracy along with his limited capitalism. Later, the student protests that brought chaos and bloodshed to Tienanmen Square in Beijing in 1989 soured his view of democracy. He ordered the troops to fire on the unarmed demonstrators. He died at the age of 93 without apologizing.

Some observers say the games now give the Communist party an ideal public opportunity to achieve for China, after all its suffering and sacrifices, the prestige it so apparently desires.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.