Do you have a pocket full of pins?

One of the most exciting things to happen this year -- the Winter Olympics.

You're hired!

Director Ashley stays! That's good news. He is a master at making chicken soup with nothing but chicken droppings. Mr. Ashley is the Director of Citiparks. He'll be a part of the Bob O'Connor Administation.


Peeps for sale.

Next, I want to put in a computer lab at the Warrington Rec Center. And, it needs to happen soon, while the weather is still cold. How about on Thursday or Friday. We'll slip them in with Youth Places if we must.

Few are going to be happier. Many have suffered worse fates.

The sign in the window got retired a few months ago. But, the chip is still on my shoulders. The health of the city is still yet to be determined. A full recovery is going to take years, if not decades. But, Tuesday makes for a great day to celebrate.


This sign really worked wonders.

Do you think that a Rauterkus sign, but of a positive nature, would ever bring on so many smiles and gushing friendships?


Might as well have said, "Buy me a beer!" Or, "Instant friend." Or, ...


We were counting the days.

Do you realize that the teens on the streets, taking lives from one another as news played last night again, were at ages 4, 5 or 6 when the last mayor was sworn into office.

People tell me, "Mark, kids don't vote. Only the seniors vote. The average age of the Pittsburgh voter pushes in the mid 60s."

Tom Murphy and conventional wisdom says kids don't vote. But there is hope nonetheless. Every older person was a kid. Every older person has seen cousins, classmates, sons and daughters depart. Every senior wants to be free to leave their house, day or night, and not have to deal with some punks.

It is a new day in Pittsburgh. I think some of the happiest should be the youth. But, they don't always know better. They've been starved. It is hard to point to what is not there.

Hand in hand.

This needs to be the theme of Bob O'Connor's talk as new mayor. If Bob pulls out any expert mumbo-jumbo, before we go up and eat some riggitony and wings, I predict he'll go bald by 2008.

And Bob, there is no need to thank me for NOT running for Mayor, again. You've direct words to me were plenty.

Wishes for next Christmas are starting to que

Next year's Christmas wish list has started. We've got a new game room -- but we don't have one of these. Do you know what it is? Can you tell us? It is a game table, I'm sure of that. It has pieces like dominos. But, there are some mechanical elements built into the table, under the green felt. There is a mixer action to shuffle and deal out the "dominos." We saw these in Chengdu, and some models were very lavish.


Another model -- and if you click the image, you'll be able to better see the trays built into the top of the green table.

Another curse broken: Not since 1941

Doug Flute of the New England Patriots made a drop kick in the NFL. That hasn't been done since 1941.

These are the times to make history, not be a slave of it.

For Pittsburgh to soar again, we've got to be more than a one-party town. Our one-party town curse has been lingering since 1933.

Mindy's CD is here... Larry B and Wilburn, copies for you shortly

Mindy's new CD, Live from Pittsburgh, arrived in the mail.

I love the title!

Mindy's song, "One World," is on my latest CD, still. "Peace plays a part in my campaign for public office. I too worrie about the babies...."

Good cop, bad cop - PittsburghLIVE.com

Ouch.

Good cop, bad cop - PittsburghLIVE.com Twelve years ago, Murphy tapped his old friend Tom Cox to be his top aide. They knew each other well, a vital requirement of any successful partnership. Unfortunately, they shared the inability to get along with people.

Murphy and Cox may not have invented the bad cop/bad cop approach to management but they did take it to spectacular depths. Not long into the Murphy administration, the ship of state began to list -- from the helm.

Pittsburgh getting a 'can-do' mayor - PittsburghLIVE.com

Let's hope it doesn't snow.

Pittsburgh getting a 'can-do' mayor - PittsburghLIVE.com 'This isn't going to be an administration that is necessarily going to launch off in a lot of new directions,' Miller said. 'The directions have pretty much been defined by what has been done under the Act 47 recovery plan and the expectations of the oversight board.'

'I think Bob is the type of mayor that can operate in that environment,' he said."

AP Wire | 12/30/2005 | Pittsburgh's new mayor touts city despite problems

State Rep Frankle is hardly an ally of mayor-elect O'Connor. Frankle was a Mayor Murphy supporter.

AP Wire | 12/30/2005 | Pittsburgh's new mayor touts city despite problems 'The city's debt load and pension responsibilities remain intractable, and no level of downsizing and problem-solving is going to be enough,' said Democratic state Rep. Dan Frankel, an ally of the mayor-elect. 'I think he's going to have an enormous challenge in front of him.'

Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances - PittsburghLIVE.com

This is called, corporate welfare.

Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Lance: To PNC Financial Services. Its 2005 stock performance was rated second-best by Standard & Poor's out of the 28 bank stocks it tracks. So, why the lance? This is wonderful news, isn't it? It is. But this is the same very well-to-do banking giant that wants to shake down taxpayers for $48 million to help build a new skyscraper Downtown. A good corporate citizen would not even dream of such larceny."

Wagner to challenge Diven

YourBaldwin.com

'I put my constituents first,' said Diven, a former Pittsburgh city councilman. 'I feel at the end of day, the people will see past politics and elect the person who stands up for them.'

Sadly, the people of the district elected a Democrat. But, they got a Republican just a month after the election.
Furthermore, I'm looking for someone to serve the constitution first. I don't need a bring-the-pork-home guy or gal in Harrisburg.

Big party set for O'Connor's mayoral inaugural

Are you going to go? I'll be there. And, it looks like I won't even need to set my VCR to capture the speech. Besides, the VCR can't eat all the cookies and other goodies.

Big party set for O'Connor's mayoral inaugural The ceremony will be held on the steps of the City-County Building's portico. And no, there will be no tent in case of rain.

While people take their seats from 11 a.m. to noon, they'll be entertained by the Perry Traditional Academy marching band, Wesley Center African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church choir, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts High School choral ensemble, and Greater Pittsburgh Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums.

I don't expect to see any protesters, other than some food vendors who might want to kick up a food fight. Has any been left off of the list? Penny and others not in the newspaper might have been invited, but just left off of the newspaper coverage. That's what I figure.

No booze. That's good. But that does not mean that all from that sector won't be attending. I've heard that the brass of Pittsburgh Brewing will be there with a tin can to take up a collection to cover its water bill. Plus they have their hearts set on a re-do of the Save Our City web page.

"T" is for "track" -- or "T" is for "termination" -- He wants a letter. Pick "T"

I don't know if the educational character from Public Television, Big Bird, will visit Police Chief McNeilly or not. But, if he really wants a letter, I'd suggest that Bob O'Connor could sends him a "T" as that letter.

The mayoral transition: Police chief out 'All they said was they wanted to go in another direction. I asked what that meant, and they said they wanted to go in another direction. I asked that they send me a letter,' Chief McNeilly said.

As McNeilly winds down his career, he'll be able to send news articles along with his resume as he applies to other jobs. He doesn't need to get a letter.

I think it was interesting to see that he asked for a letter. I don't expect he'll get a letter of termination, but that is just my outsider's hunch.

To really toss a wrench in the Bob O'Connor transition team, McNeilly should have asked for an "email." That request could have been a show stopper, a real train wreck, a real -- off-the-track kinda communication.

Here is a golden opportunity for O'Connor's team, is it up to four now?, to deligate. Perhaps they should ask the Executive Director of the Citizens Police Review Board to ink a letter for the outgoing chief.

Others, more creative than me, might be happy to write a letter for the outgoing chief as well. Those rants in the City Paper might be a good place to find such a letter.

McNeilly will land on his feet. He is a good public servant. His work in the Pgh Police Force is done, for now. His next employer is going to be very happy to have a man of his talents and drive.

KDKA - Pittsburgh's Source for Breaking News, Weather and Sports: Murphy Remembers Time In Office Fondly

Goals and principles -- Morphed by Murph.

KDKA - Pittsburgh's Source for Breaking News, Weather and Sports: Murphy Remembers Time In Office Fondly The whole struggle of trying to keep the Pirates here, which morphed into building a new baseball park, which morphed into building two parks and then a convention center.

All along I said that it is much easier to cut a deal with the owners of a sports team, or the owners / players of a corporation than with a bunch of citizens. It was easy for Mayor Murphy to pick up the phone and wheel and deal with the Rooneys. That's one phone call. It is easy to deal with the deparment store bosses, such as Lazarus or Lord & Taylor. Same too with 'fix is in' folks like Station Square owners Forrest City or Chicago developers of downtown malls (Urban Properties whatever).

It is hard to get a handle on citizen groups. It is hard to reach a consensus with diverse populations. It is hard work.

Corporate welfare deals are easier deals. But, they don't work in the long-haul.

May I be the first to wish you all a happy Boxing Day!

We are still trying to get our Christmas letter -- side A and side B -- out the door. But, we had a great Christmas. I only wish that I'd be able to turn the clock back to December 1. I need another December.

This year, we gave the kids a ping pong table -- and a room for it to fit within. And, it was all a suprise.

Others came through with a lot of help and extras. Thanks!

Murphy looks back at his 12 rocky years

Every dog has its day in the sun. The days of Tom Murphy are just about to go to dusk -- finally. To his credit, he didn't have a "day" in the sun. Tom Murphy got more than a decade.

But the beauty of this news article is within the words of Rich Lord. He is great. I just love the angles he puts into print. And, I really love it that his words are being published in the P-G. That is as much of the magic of these times as anything else.

Make no mistake. I'm am thrilled that we're able to see Tom Murphy move to the private sector. And, I'm thrilled to know that Rich Lord is going to be on assignment with the P-G in the months to come.

Murphy looks back at his 12 rocky years There was little left in Mayor Tom Murphy's office last week but a bike leaning against a desk. That and enough attitude to fill a moving van, plus about a dust bunny's worth of regret.

The man who, at his 1994 inauguration, compared his job to Tom Sawyer, 'who got all of his friends to paint the fence,' is leaving office in a town spattered with his vision. He's unabashed about a dozen years of roller-coaster governance, featuring controversial development efforts, federal oversight of policing and a continuing struggle to fix the city's finances.

'We might have overreached,' he said of his administration. 'One's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?'

We should thank them for turning our once great city into a hell -- because when we die we'll go to heaven. Yeah, right.

The over reaching was classic. To over reach is exactly what should NOT happen now and next. We have to get centered. We have to reach within. We have to be unlike Tom Murphy if we are to have any future in this city.

Not only does Tom Murphy get to be the last mayor this might ever have -- but the same holds true for city council as well. Gene Ricciardi is gone too. Both Gene and Tom are departing Grant Street -- but we have OVERLORDS camped out there now.

This is another classic Tom Murphy thought. I say, 'think again.' He says the consent decree was unnecessary, but helpful in accelerating the changes he was already making.

Humm.... but the changes he was making didn't have room for the citizen police review board. Those were changes demanded by the people's votes. So Tom's changes were Tom's to make and his to ignore if they weren't his.

The same gutter thoughts come when Tom Murphy cheered the arrival of "distressed status." The arrival of the outside forces was something he was quick to roll out the red carpet for. Murphy wanted others to come in and do the bailout. Murphy needed those outside forces because he couldn't manage inside forces. His administration could not coordinate nor execute the right changes with the right people within this town.

How sad for him as a Mayor.

Murphy didn't send the Pirates packing. But Murphy is a marathon runner in a town that does not have a marathon. Murphy's management killed the Pittsburgh Marathon.

We'll just have to restart the Marathon. But, we'll need to do it in a much different way.

Rich Lord even tossed in the word, "lockstep" into the article. That raises another concept that we'll need to crack -- like Humpty Dumpty.

Well, I'm not going to waste any more Christmas minutes on this.

Jazz these electrons, if you please

independent solutions Blog hits upon the new downtown development

independent solutions Here we go again, and again...

Just what are our elected officials up to this time? O?Connor and Rendell are happily shaking hands as they use our money to partially finance a thirty story office tower at the initially projected cost of $170 million. That is about six million dollars per floor.

WPXI.com - News - Italian Judge Issues Arrest Warrants For 22 CIA Agents

Some were worried about roid using NHL players going to Italy for the 2006 Olympics. Now there are other worries. Seems as if the judges in Italy are going to be assertive.

WPXI.com - News - Italian Judge Issues Arrest Warrants For 22 CIA Agents ROME -- An Italian judge has issued European arrest warrants for 22 purported CIA operatives wanted for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, a prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the warrants allowed for the arrest of the suspects in any of the 25 European Union member countries. Italy issued warrants for the arrest of the 22 suspects within its own borders earlier this month.