Pittsburgh cutbacks don't cut into City Council's spending

PG coverage "The sessions always begin with the reading of nonbinding resolutions and proclamations, followed by speeches and photographs. Last week, for instance, council read proclamations for firefighters, Lincoln-Lemington Democratic Ward Chair Dock Fielder, deaf children and Squirrel Hill philanthropist Elsie Hillman. "

I ranted about the gift to band-aid philanthropist, Elsie Hillman. I think that the city was prudent in getting the two, framed, ring toss floaty gifts by nicking them off of one of the boats that dry-docked in Point State Park in the recent flood.

As for the books, my advice to Twanda, study more with Project Gutenberg.

Roddey's quote:

Former county Chief Executive Jim Roddey, a Republican appointee to the city's fiscal oversight board, has long criticized the all-Democratic council, and this spring wrote preliminary recommendations to the state to dissolve the council and replace it with a part-time body.

The miscellaneous spending "is unfortunately symbolic of the attitude of some council members, that they really have no intention of changing the way they operate, and have no appreciation for the crisis the city is under, and are not responding to it," Roddey said last week.

"They don't get it. They simply don't understand what it means to be frugal."

Roddey is both right and wrong. Sure, he knows and says council is overboard in its spending and clueless in its intentions. But, in terms of the solution, Roddey is off the mark. Cutting all of council is too radical. He floated that idea and it went over like a lead balloon.

Rather than change the rules and structure of our government, we need to change the people who are in government. With new people and new thinking on council, and in the mayor's office, we'd be much further along.

The mayor could cut those budget elements to the bone in his proposals. He doesn't. And, council, with its final authority on budget matters, could cut those budget items to the bone too, and they don't.

Those frames and books are not needed as expenses. And, the stroking and boosterism for the council proclamations are not needed either. But, the ploy is to be "ceremonial" and "build alliances" so as to make more friends and schmooze more votes.

But all in all, parchment paper and gold-leaf seals are cheap. The expenses for generic city-clerk duties where as the members of city council get to kiss up to the do-gooders among us are not the real issue and sticking point with me. Rather, I despise the grandure and patronage that wraps up the entire package.

To be knighted, photographed, and put into the inner walls, like the imperial city, is another way we make Pittsburgh a feudal city. The glass slipper ordeals are not going to fix this city. All the king's men and all the king's horses are of no help. Not in this age.

Link to this blog and use this digital yard sign as you wish

Might help protect your bike

Lord & Taylor's shut down

PittsburghLIVE.com The agreement to terminate May's obligation to keep the store open included a restriction that prohibits the use of the building for gambling.

URA Chairman Tom Cox said he is unaware of any interest in turning the former bank into a slots parlor.

'We wanted to put any speculation to bed,' he said. "

Say what???? I'm not understanding. What's in that "agreement" to terminate May's obligation? And, why would it have anything about a slots parlor?

URA officials who voted unanimously to allow May to close the store without penalty praised Gumberg's pending deal to buy the site.

This quote proves how some must look up to see the curb: "It's not the ideal situation," said city Councilman Sala Udin, a URA board member. "It's the best of all possible worlds."

Their game of musical chairs and corporate welfare needs to unravel. I sense a lot of back scratching of each other and pointing elsewhere for excuses. The bottom line on the deal is we shouldn't be doing deals like this. And, the next most important concept is that Tom Murphy, Sala Udin and their cronies shouldn't be in office any longer as they have always fumbled the interests of the public in their dealings.

I.D., cyber security with local, Ray Brannon

Super PittsburghLIVE.com article for low tech readers and parents

What's a 'blog?'

It stands for 'biographic web log,' and means a sort of online journal any Internet user can post.

Brannon said many teenagers post all sorts of sensitive, confidential information in their blogs, which then can be read by anyone in the world with Internet access--including potential sexual predators.

Such heedless use of blogs, along with unsupervised online instant messaging, is one of the most dangerous practices by kids on the Internet today, according to Brannon.

Classes and programs such as these are part of the vision for progams among 9x9.CLOH.Org and Summit.CLOH.Org.

Turning Ten on Ten Ten

Our oldest son, Erik, turns 10 on 10-10. Our happy birthday weekend is here.

Red Sox gave an early gift with their win last night. Erik loves the Sox. Cousins are over for a sleep over tonight. Then laser tag on Sunday followed by his trip to the Pete to see -- College Jeopardy. He's going there with another friend, but I'm very good at laser tag!

We played laser tag at Grant's birthday in an early snow storm last December. The owner came to my wife and talked to her asking if I would be interested in playing on their traveling team. I was so impressive in battle with the 6 year olds.

On 10-10-10 Erik turns 16!

Fiscal picture gets even worse

PG article: City of Pittsburgh's fiscal picture gets even worse

File under, "I told you so." The healing hasn't begun. The population bounce isn't happening. Ending the gloom and doom comes with the hindge of the doorway. Tom Murphy's tenure ends and the rays of hope will start to shine.

Frank Lloyd Wright's design all wrong

MSNBC & Biz Times- Frank Lloyd Wright's design all wrong for new Grandview When famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright was asked about how he'd go about improving Pittsburgh, he is known to have said, 'It would be cheaper to abandon it.'

Frank Lloyd Wright was right if you search for the reinforcement through the lives of many in suburban Pittsburgh. There have been scores and scores to vote with their feet and leave and/or abandon Pittsburgh.

One interesting challenge, and some might call it more of a pipe-dream, is to engage those in the burbs and get them to change the abandon it mentality. Folks are not going to flood back into the city. But, folks in the burbs can care to come to grips with what is really happening here.

One way to change the tide in this abandonment of Pittsburgh is to interject sports competitions among city and suburban kids, schools and communities. The WPIAL should absorb the Pgh Public Schools' city-league.

MSNBC - Grandview battles over bulk

MSNBC - Grandview battles over bulkZONING AND MOANING

Grandview Avenue resident Joyce Renne, who helped spearhead the restrictions with her husband, Paul, argues otherwise.

'What they did was listen to what the community wanted,' she said of the council members' vote. 'That's what it's all about.'

Another great quote that hits the nail on the head:

A brand-new mountain could probably be built at this point from the mud slung between the two opposing sides of the development debate on Mount Washington.

Volunteer Job Opportunities: Moodle master, Wiki masters

A platform wiki is brewing, but there is some heavy lifting to be done in the months to come. Moodle - A Free, Open Source Course Management System for Online Learning: "Moodle over other systems is a strong grounding in social constructionist pedagogy."

Pippy's bill exits PA Senate and heads to House

... the highest ethical and professional standards are applied to slot machine gambling in Pennsylvania.
Yeah, right.
Keep pushing onward.

Want to help, get on line

Two guys of different generations and parts of the city came to me recently and asked about helping with the mayor's race in 2005. Simply put, get on line. Send me an email. The to-do lists and everything else for now is brewing on line. To be effective, we'll need to be efficient and utlize the web. No way around the net. So, plug in the computer. That's where the help is going to start. We'll have little time for phone conversations, personal hand-holding and the like. We'll need help, but it can't be an anchor either.

November Computer Learning Schedule for Goodwill is taking registration:

Mondays: Computer Basics from 3-5pm - No Cost!
Tuesdays: Internet Explorer from 1-3pm - $30
Tuesdays: Intermediate Excel from 3-5pm - $50
Wednesdays: Intro to Word from 1-3pm - $50
Wednesdays: Intro to PowerPoint from 3-5pm - $50
Tue and Wed Evenings: Intro to Excel from 5:30 to 7:30pm - $50

As always, job seekers pay half price for any workshop.

Soccer - group mandates youth protective headgear

Sports Illustrated N.Y. group "For the first time in the nation, a New York regional youth soccer association will require the mandatory use of protective headguards, affecting nearly 35,000 players 14-years-old and younger.

I'm in favor of this new twist for the sport of soccer. It was some time in the making.

Soccer is great. And, it's dangerous as hell.

The players put their heads on the ball. The grey matter in our hard outter shells gets a jolt. Too many and we get dolts.

We play sports to learn, grow, and better ourselves. When a sporting artifact takes us in the wrong direction, it isn't worthy of my time nor the participation of my kids.

I'd like to see the entire rule book text. I'm a stickler for rules and have poured over many rule books and crafted team handbooks as well as text books. Generally, the rules are written by officials, attorneys or coaches. Some are people people others are just techies in a specialization. Hence the NCAA Manual is bigger than the Pittsburgh phone book and it changes greatly each year.

Another reason to change the rules is that the rule-breakers are generally smarter than the rules. Criminals don't fear handgun laws before armed robbery. Things evolve.

So, it is time to get out your old Knute Rockney hat / helmet. I hope the shells are soft, like the older football helmets. Perhaps we'd blend the style with that of the soft bike helmets of Europe's pros.

Speaking of which, I'm missing Lance's visit to Pittsburgh. Oh well. For the record, I'm all in favor of fixing cancer too.

Pittsburgh is blessed to have a flock of experts in all matters of the brain, heads, bodies, and senses.

'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.