A step toward a commuter tax, a step toward victory

PG coverage: A step toward a commuter tax City Council voted yesterday to lay the groundwork for a commuter wage tax.

The victory, in this headline, is NOT with the pending arrival of the commuter tax. I feel that the commuter tax is wrong. It isn't prudent. There are many other ways to solve these problems and the commuter tax is not anything near an ideal solution.

The victory goes to the fact that every Pittsburgher, except those in Bethel Park and Penn Hills, (see below), now has some skin in this fight.

In the past, it has always been the conventional thinking that those in the city are on their own. Those in the suburban areas are on their own. An iron-curtin has kept the city and the suburban folks away from each other.

The people in the burbs have had a "hands-off attitude" about the political life in the city. This is about to end now that the city's hands are reaching into their wallets.

A few people on city council want to tax the suburban workers. They want a bail out, and the tab for the bail out, in their opinion, should be the responsibility of those who live beyond the reaches of the city's borders.

Wake up suburban Pittsburgh. What happens in the city, its folly and all, is now your business.

If you live in Penn Hills or B.P., have no fear. You're not going to pay the city anything. The taxes in those suburban locations are already at the limit.

If you live elsewhere, your taxes are about to shift. The income tax is going to go up in your neck of the woods so that the money doesn't flow into the city. You might expect a slight dip in the property tax to offset the new funds from the other source.

Meanwhile, the city is going to be a grand looser in one instance, and a grand victor in another. In time, say two or three years, the suburban municipal governments are going to do the tax shifting and the city is going to be left without any viable revenue stream from the commuter tax. It will be worthless.

On the upside, the city is going to win big as the suburban folks have grounds to entertain, study, donate, politic and energize the political landscape in the city.

For example, four years ago I was on the agenda as an invited speaker to a candidate's night in a suburban location. I understood clearly that none of the people in the audience would get to vote for me. However, I wanted to go and speak to that audience. Even three minutes would be worth the trip and the evening I told the organizers. At first, they said fine. Then they called and took me off of the agenda a day before the meeting. "We don't talk about city politics here," I was told.
Guess what. I'm back. And, now you will.

If you are associated with any suburban political group, of any party, I'm willing, able and eager to get invites to come to speak to your groups. The city needs you to care and be aware. And, the city is about to start taking your money.

City snubs retail suitors

Great lead.

Trib's Erik Heyl: Nature abhors a vacuum, but city officials are embracing one ...

Meanwhile, my goals are to embrace the "free markets." I'm a "free market" candidate.

To be really honest, we don't need to embrace the free markets, as that will take years if not a generation to occur. However, we need to turn to the free market approach and apply it everywhere. Its embrace of Pittsburgh will come soon enough, after we've changed the mindset and made bold moves in those directions.

This embrace is much like being married. One can't be a little married. It would be great to at least flirt with the Free Market Ways from time to time. Meanwhile, Murphy is married to doing nothing.

Murphy says developers put off by ban on slots Downtown

Murphy oversteps again and injects burdens on property ownership to soil deals for downtown "Samuel Jemal, president of J.J. Operating Corp., said, 'We had a different philosophical approach on the future use of the building and did not wish to dispute it with the city.'"

The anchor of Tom Murphy and his administration is getting heavier.

Mayor Vetoes Early-Bird Discount To Taxpayers

WPXI.com - News - Mayor Vetoes Early-Bird Discount To Taxpayers Mayor Tom Murphy has vetoed a plan to offer an early-bird discount to taxpayers next year.

Hurry up and wait. Do nothing. Let's chase our tails. We are only running out of money next month. Here we go again, doing too little, too late.

If the early bird gets the worm, then that explains the Tom Murphy veto. The mayor is in vulture mode. The city is still crashing into a deeper decay.

Trib quote for Ricciardi:"'If we implement my plan, we will be on the road to picking ourselves up by the bootstraps.' "

Hardly. This early bird is but a worm of a plan. This isn't even a caterpillar.

The early-bird tax discount for an extra 1% discount is worthy. However, it is more like a cup of warm tea on a cold winter day while at the hospice. To sooth is sweet. But to say this plan and overrive of the veto puts us on the road to recovery is foolishness.

Simply put, the plan keep us on the road of malingering. The city is floundering and bumbling. We all know that the Mayor's agenda can't be advanced. Now is another test to see if the agenda of City Council President can be advanced. And if it does squeek by, this isn't a cause for celebration. It is a worm of a plan.

Coming Post-Election Chaos

FindLaw's Writ - Dean The Coming Post-Election Chaos:A Storm Warning of Things to Come If the Vote Is as Close as Expected By JOHN W. DEAN

This next presidential election, on November 2, may be followed by post-election chaos unlike any we've ever known....

Not Howard Dean.

Amy Carol Webb, our dear friend and singer from Florida, also predicts that the election won't end on November 3.

The Storm Warning concept is fitting. In 2000 I called for international observers to our elections. Roll eyes. Shrug. This was posted before we came to understand "hanging chads."

Another friend said it could be Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve before we know the real outcome of the election. Provisional ballots are bad. Furthermore, voter fraud might be such that the court system could set back for months trying to bring trials against those who vote while dead or vote more than once.

The RUNNEL -- chunnel -- Pgh big dig -- and cranks

I've been speaking for months and months about the sillyness of the under river tunnels for a light-rail extension to the stadiums on the North Side. The idea needs to be taken off the tracks and stopped. Some editorial folks at the Trib, especially Bill S., agrees. Link.

... railed on about how pitifully few people the 1.2 mile boondoggle would carry. How badly its construction would tear up both banks of the river. How the idea would never even be considered if it weren't for that "free" 80 percent federal contribution.

And how, except for a few cranks and free-market ideologues at the Trib, everyone was so gung-ho to build it - including Specter and his allegedly conservative comrade, Rick Santorum.

Great news, except the part about the "few cranks." I could resemble that remark. And, what good does it do?

The cranks, the "naysayers," -- we citizens -- are the ones who know best.

Why would he do this?

To me, the Trib and this friend of the "free market" is p*ssing in his own breakfast cereal.

Comments about the treatment are welcomed here. Comments about the meat of the transportation elements should flow into the transportation blog.

Talented Women

Mark Rauterkus, (Union Maiden) Anne Feeney, and Amy Carol Webb at our South Side home.

On the radio for an hour.

Amy Carol Webb and the gentleman from Oklahoma, Chris Moore, while in KDKA radio studios.

KDKA Radio, 5 to 6 pm on Sunday

Amy Carol Webb and I are slated for the Chris Moore radio show for 5 pm this Sunday. Please tune in. I won't do any singing.

Rather, a broken record might be more fitting

Trib whispers "... see Mayor Tom Murphy come dressed as the Invisible Man. Given the mayor's increasing reclusiveness, he won't even need to buy a costume."

Yard Sign: "This is campaign trickery," said Hoeffel

Another reason to avoid yard signs comes from the brotherly love folks to the east:

Birds of a feather? Well, they only have left wings - PittsburghLIVE.com

Those "Kerry & Specter for Working Families" signs that began popping up in eastern Pennsylvania last week were not disingenuous attempts by the senator to link himself with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democrat presidential nominee.

Actually, it was a disingenuous attempt by Republican political consultant Roger Stone to link Specter to Kerry.

Suburban Republicans do their best to kill city

Suburban Republicans do their best to kill city

My letter to Brian

Hi Brian,

I saw the news of the 18-page letter in the Trib on 10-20-04 --- and that same day I went to the election office and changed out of the GOP party.

Amy Carol Webb, a singer/songwriter and friend from Florida, and I are to be
on KDKA Radio's Chris Moore show, 1020 AM, from 5 to 6 pm today - Sunday.

I'll share some news for you and the listeners then.

For fun, here is one of here songs:
"Be careful punching ballots if you can't find the hole."

http://65.254.51.42/~player/history/audio/AmyCarolWebb/CantFindTheHole.mp2

Give a listen.

She has a new verse about electronic voting machines, paper trail and voting
UNPLUGED.

Very clever.

But I'm also prepared to cover some ground about local politics too.

As for the money points --- you're too old school and too media centered in hopes of selling soap. Why spend $1-million to get a risk in the chance to get a $90K job as captain of a sinking ship? We don't really want a mayor's race with those costs as the debt is an anchor and the candidate is beholden to others then.

This week's event pointers

Films

Western Westmoreland Republican Club invites you to a showing of a film by by Dick Morris, Fahrenhype 9/11, a rebuttal to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 at 7 pm on Thursday, October 28 at Lincoln Hills Country Club. Join us for an evening of truth, unity and a tribute to the American Soldier past, present and future! The Public is Welcome! Admission is Free. http://www.farenhype911.com.

Michael Moore was headed to Penn State University as well.

HAUNTED HALLOWEEN BIKE RIDE

Friday, October 29, starting at Washington's Landing at 6 pm to 9 pm, Cost: $20 Bike Pittsburgh & Venture Outdoors Members, $25 others. Sign up: (412) 255-0564.

This easy-paced ride and fundraiser will take us all over Pittsburgh to various haunted buildings. We'll be making plenty of stops to tell stories and give local haunted history. A fully supported ride with treats and drinks provided along the way, participants are encouraged to ride in costume, but please make sure that you wear something that will not get caught in your wheels or chain, and that does not impair your normal field of vision. Helmets are required, but you can decorate them! Benefits Bike Pittsburgh.

Trying to keep the streets from getting too "scary" when it's not Halloween. Come out and enjoy a pleasant evening of stories and legend while helping to support an important local cause. Please bring a bike light if you have it; loaners available with advance notice.

More
If you have an event, send it me, Mark -at- Rauterkus -dot- com. I'll give it a mention in this blog.

World Series

Boston (think Tea Party) vs. St. Louis (hometown of the famous Anheuser-Busch Brewery).

Boston (J.F. Kerry's home) Red Sox win. Triumph bring tragic death to student shot by police while in a mob. Now the Boston Mayor sabre rattles about a prohibition. The overly rash reaction by the Mayor to a tragic death following the game gives an opportunity to make a point to the blog world.

"If you shut down the bars, the problem will get worse," said Alan Eisner, executive director of the Massachusetts Hospitality Association. "At least in a licensed premise you have supervision."

Another decent quote from a blog in Pittsburgh, "Unless the cop was drunk, alcohol had nothing to do with her death."

Presidential candidate, Libertarian, Michael Badnarik could put out a call to create web ads for sports blogs. With a press release, some eye candy and computer code, sober baseball fans and political junkies who crave a free world and an end to the war on druges would be able to inject messages in alternative avenues to drive home some points and buzz for the final innings of the campaign.

Yard sign: Politics is compliated. Democracy is messy. Voting is simple.

Bush vs. Kerry: Candidates more alike than different on tech issues

PG: Bush vs. Kerry: Candidates more alike than different on tech issues

I am going to offer strong distinctions next to my opponents on tech issues in 2005. Sadly, some on Grant Street today have been there long enough that I'm not sure that they can even spell email. And for me to point to spelling as a strong suit is fiberglasting. Many on Grant Street need to move to the private sector for a while so the city can retool.

On copyright policy:

Most of my content is put into the public domain. I was one of a few who helped to push Netscape to the Eureka Squared! concept for putting its web browser code (remember the browser wars) into a tar ball into the public domain and to release under a more liberal Mozilla public license. Later, Mozilla changed its license policy. I also pushed for the DSL (Design Science License) years before there was any Stanford based Creative Commons. Now the CC is moving too far back into the corporate sphere with too many options and restrictions.

While the trade group will not comment on either candidate's platform, at least one high-powered member has expressed annoyance with the candidates' silence on tech issues.

Intel Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett told a crowd of tech workers earlier this week that the country is losing its global competitive edge and that Bush and Kerry, in their debates, virtually ignored the country's declining tech infrastructure.

Pittsburgh has lost its tech advantage. We should have 80 wired senior centers, rec centers and community outlets with cable modems. These factors are part of the city's cable franchise agreement that are now being squandered by Tom Murphy's administration.

We should have the parental dashboard functional for all the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Then parents can check on real-time matters at schools -- like if the kids are in class or not.

Wiki kick-off this week

A fantastic evening with Amy Carol Webb and political presentations

The 2004 Voter Education and Concert Showcase with Amy Carol Webb was held on Thursday, October 21, 2004, at Sunnyhill.
Order of events in PDF. Archives to be posted at S6.CLOH.Org.

The Sunnyhill blog links to two of Amy's songs.
If You Can't Find the Hole
Be careful punching ballots
If you can't find the hole
Or you could see your civil rights
Jerked out of your control
You could find your chad left dangling
In some partisan unknown
So be careful punching ballots
If you can't find the hole

The early concert features Amy Carol Webb from Florida, and a new verse to the song that included touch-screen voting machines and the desire for a paper trail. The other two songs were, Oh Abraham and my favorite, Think Again.

When does the curse vanish?

Red Sox ... how sweet it is. The Sox are, after all, one of the big-league teams that employ Pittsburgh Pirates. Wish we could send Boston a new toll-taker for the Mass Pike, i.e., Tom Murphy.

We lost our soccer game tonight by the score of 11-1. So, in a small way, ever so small, I share the same feelings of the Yankees. Isn't it great how sports can unite?

But music has the power to unite as well, perhaps more so than sports. We are really excited about the visit from Amy Carol Webb. She is so good. Hope to see many of you there. Don't miss it.

State court tosses fire union's referendum

AP Wire | 10/20/2004 | State court tosses fire union's referendum Commonwealth Court Judge Joseph McCloskey rejected the referendum on Wednesday - less than two weeks before the Nov. 2 election - saying that the petitions that 24,000 city residents signed were unclear.

This judgement is another golden invitation to 24,000 citizens to pack up and leave town. The judge and the mayor are telling the world that they know better than the rest. The voice of the citizens has become meaningless in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh nears meaningless status too.