'Bounty' out on city official

PittsburghLIVE.com: "The finance director, Ellen McLean, began a vacation Wednesday, according to the mayor's office. She is said to be on a trip to Egypt."

If you ever go into a South Side shop on East Carson, The Bead Mine, ask the owner/manager there to tell you about her trip to Egypt. She spend a couple of weeks a boat on the Nile.

You know the locks and dams that are on our rivers. Well, they've got something similar, but different. When she was there, days were spent in one place, stationary. Canal and lock work halts river traffic. Dead in the water. Hot. No breeze. Deisel engine. Get the details from her if you can. You might need to be a customer too.

Denial, not the Nile, comes to mind when thinking about the budget director and an ill-timed vacation.

President Ricciardi, tell her, "Don't come back!" Heave Ho!

A city council president only hires and fires the staffers of four employees (or so) in his/her office. But, a council leader could tell her (and in turn show us you telling her) via the newspapers, newsreleases, (or blog even), that you WOULD fire her if you could.

It's okay when people move into other jobs, like in the private sector. She is an employee that works for us, the residents of the City of Pittsburgh. She has no right to assist in the devistation of our city. The proposal on the table that she can't address aims to save $1-million, give or take a few $100K. Take her $80K job and eliminate it. A professional wouldn't be absent in a crisis. Nor should the call for resignation, if not termination, be absent.

What is that, only Nixon can go to China?

Jerry Bowyer said on this radio show yesterday, "Only Nixon can go to China." I think it had to deal with Nixon be a Republican. Would a Dem just look too much like a pinko?

Explain.

Should we go or should we stay?

We'll be staying in the city. That isn't the question we face. Some have been bailing on their city homes, i.e., John Pierce and Jim Roddey.

This weekend we're pondering a trip to China, again. Last year the whole family went to China for five weeks, mostly in the southwestern city, Chengdu. Catherine, my wife, has been invited back to teach a more advanced course.

So, should we go, again, or should we stay?

As we go, we'll be able to skip over the tourist places in Beijing. And, perhaps we'd stop off in Thailand were there are only three seasons: hot, hotter and hottest. And, we'd not need to be gone for five weeks. But, I'd expect it would be four.

I've not even gotten all the photos from the last trip organized and online.

Advice welcomed. And, the trip to New Zealand isn't going to happen this year. So, that's not a factor.

Despite all of his faults, ...

PG's Anderson: Harris deserves better: "There's growing and passionate sentiment for Pitt to fire football coach Walt Harris."

I'd prefer we focus all of our anguish on ousting Tom Murphy first. Then we can start the ball rolling for others to follow, i.e., Walt, Sala, and more to remain nameless today.

Perhaps we can make a "package deal." We'd be able to trade a good football coach with excellent QB mentoring skills and a multi-term Mayor with a propensity for retail to any willing city for, say, their municipal bond rating status.

I'm with the collumnist, Shelly Anderson, too in that I'm not so angry that I revel in berating and belittling. Not Murphy nor Harris. Not anyone. We're civil. We're grown-ups.

Not only does Tom Murphy deserve a warm handshake and thank you, but I've said before that I will be the first to start a petition and try to rename the Liberty Bridge and Liberty Tunnels in Murphy's honor. I want a vital landmark named after him, and I want to do it soon. That would be a fitting tribute to his departure.

Final question: Shelley are you bragging or complaining when you say you were the only reporter at every practice? For me, I'm the one 'naysayer' who was at most of Tom Murphy's political events as a candidate among other candidates. I've heard it all from Bob and Tom in the last go-around. And, that's nothing for me to brag about. I'm complaining.

Red Sox -- Friday night win in first series

We're home, not Fenway, but our odd-shaped cozy confines, to watch the Sox tonight. The Sox are in Fenway. We enjoyed a game there last season with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Pat.

I love the series games when the starting time is at a decent hour. Today's game begins at 4 pm EST. Major League Baseball is foolish when it plays most, if not all of the World Series games at such late hours. Our bed time for the kids is 8 pm. Baseball needs the kids to get into the games. Baseball is lagging as baseball is past the kid's bedtime.

Greece braces for Olympic-sized bill

SI.com - More Sports - Greece braces for Olympic-sized bill - Thursday October 7, 2004 8:29PM Figures as high as $9.9 billion and $12.4 billion have been suggested. We are talking about a serious overrun, since the initial budget was about $5.7 billion.

Meanwhile, LA's city council wants to host the games again.

Heather Whitestone & DePaul School for Hearing and Speech

Heather was Miss America, 1995. She gave a great talk. A wonderful time was had by all. Photos and details to come soon.

Culture on the cheap

Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts offers a free performance, Carnegie Mellon Night at the Pops, Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Senior Showcase Benefit Performance

A FREE performance by Germany's Theatre Titanick as Part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, North Shore Riverfront Park. Go October 8 at 10:30 p.m., October 9 at Midnight, October 10 at 8 p.m.

NO TICKETS REQUIRED.

Fixing the Parking Mess

Here is a blast from the past rant from January, 2004. Fixing the Parking Mess

The parking issue resurfaces as the mayor's phony 2005 budget makes substantial changes. Plus, the thinkers at the Allegeheny Institute have a new policy brief on the topic. See the comment.

Glitch here, glitch there, everywhere a glitch, glitch...

October 7, 2004

Trib coverage 'Nobody ever intended for this to happen,' he said.

From Sept. 29, 2004

City Council and Act 47: "the city's oversight board itself is nearly broke after lawmakers forgot to fund it in the 2004-05 state budget. Board Chairman William Lieberman called the oversight a 'glitch' and said the state's budget department would issue the board its $585,000 in yearly funding by the end of this week.

The board is currently down to about $5,000 to pay its legal expenses, executive director and consultants, Lieberman said."

Review this blog

Review the Mark Rauterkus and Running Mates blog at Blogarama.

GOP debate party on Friday on North Side

GOPers are gathering for a DEBATE PARTY on the North Side at Finnigans Wake at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 8, 2004.

Finnigans Wake is at 20 General Robinson Street, near the corner of Federal and General Robinson Streets, one block from PNC Park.

At the last debate, the Dems gathered at Hi Tops. Don't know if that is happening again.

Freeze for E-Rate Hits Schools

10-6-04 - Education Week: "The FCC told USAC to change its procedures by Oct. 1 in response to E-rate audits and congressional charges of waste, fraud, and abuse.

Citizen charges of waste, fraud and abuse has been put to the City and Comcast in terms of its City Cable Francise Agreement. In that agreement, the senior centers and recreation centers were to be wired with cable modems. We are still waiting. Nothing has been done.

agreement

With the federal program, it is great to see accountability and audits. More oversight of public funds is welcomed. Being a tech junkie of sorts, I strongly support the concepts of the e-rate program and the public financed investements. However, the money can't be wasted.

On the long-term, it is silly to say that classroom instruction has suffered due to this audit. Local and state funding of schools should carry the bulk of the efforts while Federal dollars provides programs, such as the e-rate.

The Pittsburgh Two-Step (washingtonpost.com)

This is where we live. Mable, we love ya.

The Pittsburgh Two-Step (washingtonpost.com) Follow the Staircases to South Side Slopes

But as I pass back over the railroad tracks, I find sustenance at Mabel Meyers's tiny grocery on Bradish Street.

Clad in a University of Pittsburgh sweatshirt and black sneakers, 84-year-old Meyers welcomes strangers as well as locals (evidently dogs are regulars too; a pair gets a big hello as they drag their young owner through the door). After 1,400 steps, I'd pay almost anything for a soda. But Meyers won't hear of it. "Let me treat you!" she says.

We compromise. I offer her 50 cents and she gives me a soda, a plastic chair next to the candy counter and her autobiography.
After World War II, when she and her husband bought the 1889-era shop, business was good. Their grocery was next to the lower station of the Knoxville Incline, one of the cable car lines that carried passengers and even horse-drawn wagons uphill till 11 at night. (Two, the Monongahela and Duquesne, survive). Incline passengers would wave to her children as the car rose uphill.

"My son Herbie always says, 'We lived history,' " she says. The incline shut in 1960; Meyers started closing shop earlier and earlier, but still spends her days selling soft pretzels and snacks.

"Even if I don't make money, I talk to people," she says with satisfaction. "I've got a very good life here. Where else could you live that's so convenient?"

To read the article, but you'll need to register with the site. Hope to see you around so you can travel the steps as well.

Trib's Mike S

South Side keeps churning - PittsburghLIVE.com

showdown for US Airways

US Airways coverage

Great to see the rank-in-file is getting a vote this go-around.

Need a tux for Thursday night

Heather Whitestone, welcome to Pittsburgh

Former Miss America visits for gala to benefit DePaul school for the deaf. We'll be there, Oct. 7, 2004.

From Sept. 20, 2004

Tips on getting a tux for a black-tie gig are welcomed. The tux is for me. The retirement isn't mine. I'm already retired.

A friend says one should go to Florida and shop in second-hand stores to uncover bargains and goodies like this. Furs too, if that's your cup of tea. The yankees (sorry Sox) go to Florida to retire and die. Then lots of their things end up in re-sale shops. That advice won't help for this week's function.

One upside, other than a date with my sweetheart who gets invited to such occasions, is that our photo could show up in the PG's seen column. Snicker. Or, I could take our photo and post it here and replace that copyleft illustration of digital guy.

Grandstanding at the table and in the halls of Grant Street

Grandstanding rant.

I went to City Council and spoke for three minutes in the public comment period of today's meeting. My comments are posted in an opinion web page.

Enjoy. React as you see fit.

Resign Already

Public statement Delivered to City Council

Resign Already by Mark Rauterkus

October 6, 2004

Opening:

My name is Mark Rauterkus. My family and I reside at 108 South 12th Street, Pittsburgh's South Side. My home on the internet is at Rauterkus.com.

Grandstanding has reached a new level in Pittsburgh's City Hall. Perhaps it is natural to see grandstanding skyrocket as the public treasury ticks to deeper depths.

Grandstanding at the table:

Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle wants the body to take a road trip to Harrisburg. Councilman Jim Motznik wants the commuter tax for leverage. Council president Gene Ricciardi wants the same commuter tax but for different reasons. Councilman Alan Hertzberg wants patience. Councilman Len Bodack is in a hurry to tweak and tinker. Councilman Bill Peduto is thirsty to drink from the cup of the whole package. Councilman Doug Shields wans a blueprint. Councilmen Sala Udin and Luke Ravenstahl, read the blog. I only get three minutes. Grandstanding in the chamber: Earl morns his wife and punishes County Councilman Rich Fitzgerald. Yavonne morns her son. Kim is literally in the dark. I'm here to say that the Market House Children's Athletic Assn. has its fund raising orders due today. Pirogies are $6.00 a dozen. Haluska is $3.50 a quart. Union workers come and say the city hasn't yet cut to the bone. Perhaps the biggest point in a long time came from Dr. Frances Barnes. She was discriminated against while on city's the anti-discrimination commission. Grandstanding in the halls: Bill Urbanic and Scott Kunka are in council's budget office and are working like crazy. The City Cable Department must be getting ready to run infomercials to save their department. The mayor's complaint department is fed up with my email that complain about the phony budget. The impending lay-offs are real to them and their families. The city clerk's office must be blue for sending memos from council to the administration and oversight boards. And yesterday, the Mayor ran to an appeals court to block a question from appearing on the November ballot. Salutes went to Elsie Hillman and Dr. Bill Truehart for the Save Our Summer campaign. The PR extravaganza came at Heinz Field. Council's visitors did obtain new wall decorations, a framed ring-buoy. That token of of gratitude was fitting for their one time band-aid philanthropy. We had a lot of dips in the pool last summer. Questions about the long-term are wet and out-of-bounds here, sadly. I wonder if Citiparks obtained that pair of benefactor gifts, the ring-toss floaties, off of one of the boats that floated down river in the flood? The point: We are floating everywhere and anywhere. Things in this city are are going every which way, yet nothing is happening, other than placeholders with 35% realestate tax increases. Things are disjointed. People are disengaged. There are many disconnects. Solution The next thing that needs to happen is simple, yet this suggested solution takes courage. My advice is for the nine member of council to pick ten important people. Tom Flaherty, our city's controller should join in this exercise too. Then each democrat drafts an open letter to each person on their list. We'd have ten elected city democrats each sending ten letters. Ten by ten makes 100 influential statements. Each of those letters needs to make a case as to why the mayor is failing in his duty as the executive for this city. The Mayor needs to resign. Use the open letters to explain why. Tell all. Open your reasons and justifications for all to see. Admit in public how bad Pittsburgh's situation has become and why. Each in council can act with independence but the voters need to see resignation requests.Councilmembers know that Mayor Murphy can't move his agenda forward. The Mayor can't even come to meetings. His is not the executive leadership for Pittsburgh now. Mayor Murphy's departure begins to heal Pittsburgh's woes. Who among City Council is going to address resignation issues? When? Serious talk among fellow democrats takes courage as resignation demands might wash over others as well. Ain't going to happen! Doubts of a mayor resignation misses the present point. City council's gut-check and leadership is in asking for the resignation and making a measured and open illustratation. The request is key. This is the next Pittsburgh log-jam to unlock. The disheartening fact is that all the elected Democrats in Pittsburgh are not trying to nudge the Mayor into the private sector. Is council content with a phony budget for the third consecutive year? The sideshow of August 2003, orchestrated by the administration with 700+ pink slips, is about to be repeated. Help is going to come to those who try to help themselves. We can't begin to heal Pittsburgh with Tom Murphy in the mayor's office. The people elsewhere don't want to throw their good money and sincere efforts into a bad situation. We have to clean house. We have to light the stumbles of Tom Murphy. Erie, Johnstown, Harrisburg, and Allentown don't hear the obvious call. This call isn't "help." Others want to hear, "Heave Ho!" Others want to see the ripples from the splash. Give Pittsburgh a week, a day or two for each of your successive resignation revelations. Make this occur before the November budget address and December's bounced checks. After members of council each stand on one's own courage and conviction for the greater benefit of Pittsburgh on this pressing issue, duty can pass back others. We'll then see the support that the citizens are capable of providing. It might be that Mayor Murphy's parking spot on the corner of Grant Street becomes plugged: garbage truck, fire engine, police car, park-mower, graffiti removal truck, bikes, strollers on the weekends, kayaks and perhaps even public art advertising in the form of a dinosaur or pillory. Think again I'd hate to stay-the-course and persist with the it-ain't-going-to-happen attitude. "Think again." We have hope for a resignation because in two months, the city runs out of money. Just cause exists for resignations as Tom Murphy delivered his third consecutive budget that is goofy, phony, and absurd, at best.

Is it not enough to just watch the debates, wear a button, post a sign?

Two points on national politics. As a candidate for Mayor, I'd love to have vice-presidential running mates. Hence, the name of the blog, even. The Mayor doesn't get a VP, sadly, -- until now.

A good VP would be a great watchdog and attack instigator. Meanwhile, the top of the ticket candidate could just ponder, preach and organize around the solutions and elements of democracy.

Next, it seems as if it isn't enough t just be a smart voter. There is too much to do. The burden is heavy. But, we need less to do the lifting for the personalities and more for the process, IMHO.

Fight the Spin -- Spread the Truth! --- so goes the call. (edited message)

The debate tonight presents a tremendous opportunity for the campaign to attract undecided voters, but people's perceptions are shaped as much by their conversations around the water cooler as by the debates themselves.

After last week's debate, the Kerry campaign spin machine managed to mask their candidate's flip-flops on the war in Iraq, imposition of a "global test" for protecting America, and repeated denigration of our troops and allies.

If we plan to win the election, we must fight back against their spin and make sure our friends and neighbors get the truth.

We need your help tonight!

www.GeorgeWBush.com/DebateFacts

Immediately after the debate, visit online polls, chat rooms, and discussion boards and make your voice heard. The major news networks will all have internet polls after the debate. Make sure you vote in polls.

P.S. If we plan to win the election, we must fight back against their spin and make sure our friends and neighbors get the truth after tonight's debate.

Un-Democratic Charm fits Dems and a mostly Dem organization

PG: Stevens' strong-arm tactics anger some NAACP members: "as chapter president he has the prerogative 'to do what he damn well pleased.'"

Another example that show that we need to practice democracy more frequently.
You don't have to look far in this town to find many abuses of the spirit of free elections. This is what I mean by "feudal Pittsburgh." A queen decides what pools to open and what pools to close. This prince, Tom Stevens, gets to sustain his role as he is annointed.
Perhaps the best challenge from the floor comes with a new friend, NOTA. Ask for "None Of The Above" be put onto the ballots at every election.