Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes should be embarrassed

Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes should be embarrassed - MarketWatch Newsweek, feeling properly chagrined, saluted this development in its Conventional Wisdom section, writing, tongue-in-cheek, 'We put this jerk on the cover?'

Against TIFs -- my statement to City Council

Statement before Pittsburgh's City Council on March 1, 2006.

I'm Mark Rauterkus, Libertarian candidate for city council in the special election slated for March 14.

I'm the vice-chair of the Libertarian Party of Allegheny County in 2006. I've been active in politics since 1999 when I called a public hearing in city council to oppose a TIF and land-transfer on the South Side to UPMC for a Steelers and Panthers football training facility. This was in the wake of the NO VOTE on the raising of new taxes to pay for two new Stadiums.

Worldwide, cities and urban areas are seeing tremendous population growths. People are moving to the cities in a new urban trend. Cities offer quality of life enhancements that can't be found elsewhere.

However, Pittsburgh is going against the worldwide trend. Here, people are leaving the city in droves. Our population loss makes a bad downward spiral.

We're upside down because city council is doing the wrong things.

Pittsburgh can boom again, with prosperity, families, community – and increase our population, increase our urban fabric – if we make some serious systematic changes.

TIFs are one prime example of how city council and the powers that be are doing the wrong things. The TIFs are tax-breaks for the super-rich corporations and developers and institutions. TIFs make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

TIFs are complicated – by design. But outcomes are obvious to me. Perhaps I have different perspectives because I'm NOT a Democrat.

Yesterday there was a public hearing in council chambers. It was NOT on cable TV. The TIF for new parking garages on Second Avenue makes no sense to me. It cuts against what we should value.

The TIF takes flat land, next to the river, next to a highway on/off ramp, nestled among tight connections to three vibrant city centers (Downtown, South Side and Oakland). This is a valued, prime asset.

But the TIF is also next to a bike path, near to a pedestrian bridge that just got a $5-million dollar federal check.

Plus, this TIF of 2006 is layered upon a previous TIF from a deal in the past decades already, proving a lack of sustainablity to the entire TIF concept.

We don't know how much this TIF is going to cost. The price tag is unknown. People on Council were at the table yesterday and asked, "How much it was going to cost?" Jerry Detore, the director of the URA, didn't tell you.

Additionally, we don't know when the TIF is going to start. It might end in ten years. So, we are not with any certainty when it is going to conclude either.

I feel that there is little to no demand at the location for this TIF. However, people are starving for attention in Hazelwood. Do deals elsewhere where real hunger cries for help.

There is a demand, so we are told, for quality bio-tech lab space. Some of these spaces are called, 'Wet Labs.' Granted, bio-tech jobs make for good paying professionals in high-turnover companies. My wife, a PhD researcher. Today she is working in Texas on the Air Force's largest base – at a hospital as they solve a bio-tech solution that involves distance medicine. They are there to figure out how to program a new hearing device attached to a person's brain while the patient is on the other side of the world.

If we want to be tech darlings, then don't blow hard earned money, what little there is, on a parking garage just down the courtyard from another garage. This town is overboard on parking, as well illustrated by Joe Gratta's article in the P-G this weekend.

Keep your eye on the ball.

But it gets worse.

City Council and the URA want to do this TIF deal with a hand-picked developer. This comes to the public sector for a stamp of approval from city council without an RFP, (Request For Proposals), without a bid (competitive bid process), only so some can suggest the URA picks a buddie that just did the last job.

I was floored to hear of the last parking garage and its success. The boss of the URA said that it was oh-so-successful since it might make a profit, perhaps, in four years. It takes four years until operational costs cover the expenses. Money is being poured down the drain, yet it is called a success and a model.

It gets worse.

This TIF, like other TIFs, takes money from one and gives it to another. This TIF comes after the news of last night's school board vote when the hard decision was made to close 22 schools. The money to pay for this TIF comes right from our schools. Many of the schools to remain open are part of a trend to K-8 settings. But there are many problems because the available schools are not able to house the necessary students and grades.

I predict that the school 'right-size plan' means 2,000 kids leave the school system in the next two years. It only gets worse when we talk about the High School situations in the years to come.

So, city council is going to rob the schools for a parking garage.

And there is more. The TIF is to build parking garages for suburban workers who can commute to these jobs, along our highways, without hope of public transit.

My advice. Say no to the TIF. Don't build the parking garage along the river. Then we'll have a parking problem and people might need to walk to work, or take a bus to work, and perhaps choose to live in the South Side and be my neighbors. Then we'd have a triple win rather than another depressing, bone-headed, unsustainable mistake.

City Councilman Bill Peduto is right on with his questions about building the lab space and not the garages. But, we've seen this line of questions before. In the end, I expect that he'll vote the wrong way. If the city has a shortage of "wet labs" for bio-tech work, then build "wet labs" -- NOT PARKING GARAGES.

I want Pittsburgh to be a community where we can raise our families. I am not interested in making Pittsburgh into a place where we can park our cars. I don't want to see homeowners pay more than their share of taxes to a school district in crisis mode so in the end the city chooses to subsidize car parking of other people who don't live here and don't raise their families here because the schools are so rough.

An expected vote on this issue goes again to Pittsburgh City Council on March 15. The city council special election is slated for March 14. I promise, (as a candidate, as a citizen-taxpayer-homeowner, as a parent of kids in public school, as a spouse of a bio-tech-like worker in a research / university job,) that I'll go again to Council Chambers on March 15, to speak out against this TIF -- and others just like it in the years to come.

If I am able to win the election, then my questions come from the table within Council Chambers. The questions I want to ask can't fit into 3-minutes before the buzzer sounds. The questions I ask will need to have real answers with specifics -- like how much, when, who, how, and lost opportunities to kids and other sections of the city that really need the attention.

As one vote on council -- I might not be able to defeat the TIF, this year. But, I won't give out a free pass so the rich to rob from the poor, as we've seen time and time again from others.

Pitt Sports Blather

Pitt Sports Blather -- Rantings on the Panthers We have guys calling other guys in the morning to wake them up and make sure they get to class. We have guys calling around to make sure other guys have a ride to the South Side for training. We've had amazing results.

Hummm....

We have guys calling guys to remind them to vote for the candidate / coach that, year's ago, didn't want the college to move the football practice facility off-campus so the guys wouldn't need to call each other to get a ride to go watch film or lift or practice where the girls are not allowed.

City Paper -- in news boxes now, and not yet on the web

Pittsburgh's City Paper is out -- today -- Wed, March 1, 2006, and it includes Chris Potter's article about the special election for city council. It is a nice article. Everyone who showed up got some ink and a photo.

I'll link this blog to the article as soon as it appears at www.Pghcitypaper.com.

Betsy Hiel's Winter Olympics Blog

Betsy Hiel's Winter Olympics Blog - PittsburghLIVE.com ... altruistic speed skater Joey Cheek holds the lead. Cheek, a gold and silver medalist here, has donated his U.S. Olympic medal compensation of $40,000 to a charity, Right to Play.

Joey Cheek got to carry the stars and stripes into the stadium for the closing event. Next he gets to go to college. He is the one with the biggest heart this go-around. He got my vote too.

'Right size' is done deal -- but the real quotes isn't for "right size" but for "done deal"

'Right size' done deal - PittsburghLIVE.com The district has 31,148 students.

It wasn't that long ago when the district had 35,000 students. It will not be too long from now when the district has 29,999.

People often vote with their feet. The closing of so many buildings, again, is going to send scores of people out of the city. Many others won't ever show up.

The downward spiral is continues with the plan.

All of those who want to manage decline are at the head of the class now, in our schools, and in our city's political life. Those of us at the back of the room are feed up. Many have already left. Most have their bags packed and are ready to run once the next test comes and a clean break is presented.

Condo plan dead? -- as it should be!

This is a threat.

Condo plan dead? - PittsburghLIVE.com Unless Mt. Lebanon commissioners and the school board approve tax-increment financing worth $4.5 million over 20 years, a plan to build a $28.8 million luxury condo complex will not happen, a developer said.

Zamagias Properties gave commissioners a brief overview this week of the plan to build 60 condos at Washington and Bower Hill roads, a longtime vacant strip of land. School directors were briefed last week.

Don't do the deal. Don't make the TIF. If the condo project can't be done on its own merits, in a sustainable way, then tell the developer to scram. You don't need to bribe real business owners to move into the neighborhood.

When everyone pays their full share of the tax load, then everyone gets equal treatment. When that happens, real development can occur.

Once you give a break to one favorite -- then no others are going to be inclinded to move there too unless they get a break as well. Why move in when you have to compete agasint those who are already given favorite status? Why move somewhere where justice is absent?

Mt. Lebo residents should fight hard against the TIF. Don't stand for it.

URA urges approval of TIF for Technology Center garages

URA urges approval of TIF for Technology Center garages City Council candidate Mark Rauterkus equated TIF to 'bribing someone to move in.'

Building garages is 'promoting dirty air, highway gridlock, oil dependency and suburban sprawl,' said transit activist Steve Donahue.

City Councilman William Peduto urged the URA to finance the lab space, rather than the garages.

Mr. Dettore said the URA will stick with the garage plan.

An interim council vote on the TIF is expected March 15."

Peduto is right on -- but -- in the end, I expect that he'll vote the wrong way.

Case in point, if the city has a shortage of "wet labs" for bio-tech work, then build "wet labs" -- NOT PARKING GARAGES. Keep your eye on the ball.

I want Pittsburgh to be a community where we can raise our families. So, I am not interested in making it into a place where we can park our cars. And, I don't want to see homeowners who pay more than their share of taxes to a school district in crisis mode to pay for subsidized car parking of other people who don't live here, don't raise their families here.

There is an expected vote on this issue on March 15. Our election is March 14. I promise that I'll be down to Council Chambers on March 15, win or otherwise in terms of the election outcome in my favor, to speak out against another TIF.

Pittsburgh school reorganization approved

Pittsburgh school reorganization approved The board voted 6-3 to close 22 elementary and middle schools at the end of the school year; expand 10 elementary schools to include sixth, seventh and eighth grades, so-called K-8 schools; and turn eight low-performing schools into new, more rigorous schools called accelerated learning academies.

Done deal.

Black board members criticize school reorganization plan

Serious words and worries:

Black board members criticize school reorganization plan Celeste Taylor, a Point Breeze resident and community activist whose two children attended city schools, said safety concerns were among the reasons some parents view the plan with skepticism.

Some parents fear movement of children across neighborhood lines would provoke gang violence or turf disputes, while others worry about younger students encountering drug activity or high school students on walks to new schools. Without addressing safety concerns, these parents say, children won't do better in school and Mr. Roosevelt's goal will be unmet.

Solutions I'm hoping to inject into the discussion include:

-- Re-hire the crossing guards as part of the city's budget, not the school district's budget.

-- Re-tool the crossing guards to make them more repsonsive to enformcement matters.

-- Re-tool the high schools in the east end so that Peabody becomes a city-wide magnet as a single gender school -- as does Westinghouse.

-- Keep Schenley High School at Schenley for the long-term. But, to save money and to insure safe conditions for students and staff in the rehab phase -- move the Schenley campus for one acadmeic year (September 2007 to June 2008) to another location. One possible alternative location, as suggested by the present Schenley High School Principal, is South High School, recently closed.

-- Migrate all the city leage sports teams into the WPIAL, soon. We need to have our city kids face suburban competition day-in-and-day-out so that they raise their expectations and targets for performance in healthy pursuits.

Some say Montessori move 'slap in face' - PittsburghLIVE.com

What do you want? Choices: a slap in the face, or a kick in the teeth? Or, how about a slug in the gut? Call it what you want -- but let's get past the insults and figure out what's what already.

Some say Montessori move 'slap in face' - PittsburghLIVE.com Under a revised plan released earlier this month, the school would be renamed Pittsburgh Montessori and moved to Friendship, and Lemington Elementary would be closed. Fifth- through eighth-graders from Lincoln-Lemington and Homewood would attend school in Montessori's current home, the Belmar building.

The Montessori program is a great asset for our city school district. Sadly, the program has been without all the support it really needs to stay true to its mission with its different academic focus. The staff training has been weaker than it has needed to be. The supplies have not been kept in working condition -- for 25 years.

Here is another great example where we have had a fumble in terms of on-going stewardship.

The Montessori program in the Pgh Public Schools needs a boost from within the district.

The move to Friendship might make a splendid fit for the greater good of the city.

Perhaps we should move a second Montessori program into Friendship and keep another one in the existing location.

The ALAs (buzz talk for Advanced Learning Academys) is a new style of educational flavor that is about to start in September 2006 in ten elementary schools in the Pgh Public School District. Well, the Montessori brand is already a specialized school that is within our landscape now that acts much like these ALAs are to in the future. The benefits are the same when looking at the global district views.

But, now, the tinker phase.

I wish I could have been to the school board meeting tonight. When is it on TV? How did it go down? Feedback welcomed.

Standing and speaking in opposition to another TIF -- today -- again

A public hearing was held today at 1:30 on Grant Street in City Council Chambers about another URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) TIF (Tax Incramental Finance) deal that gives a tax-break to a development.

I was there to speak against the TIF, along with Steve D, of Save Our Transit fame and the TMC.

The other candidates in the race were not present.

However, it is fair to say that there are three in the race, out of eight candidates, that are speaking up against the concept of tax-breaks for the large corporation and institutions. I've been talking about ending TIFs since 2000. Joining me on the trails now to speak up against TIFs is an Indie, Matt B. and the 30-year-old Republican. It is good to have them help to shift the conversation away from the corporate give-a-ways that do NOT help the neighborhoods.

TIFs are another way where the city has policy that make the super rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The TIF on the agenda today was to build parking garages on Second Avenue within what amounts to a suburban office park along the river.

There are many reasons why this TIF and all TIFs should end. These are flowing into a more detailed position paper, to be posted shortly.

TIFs present a quagmire of problems that go to the roots of the city's troubles in terms of finances and population loss. I fear that you will not hear the other four front-runners raise a peep of an objection against TIFs. So far, they have been silent on this topic and this makes for a big distinction in the campaign.

Status quo politicians love TIFs. They love tax breaks. They love to spread the kickbacks to those with influence. They love to make complications and feel as if they are going to win at the game of Sim City.

Furthermore, I need to get onto city council so as to ask a series of direct questions and demand better replies. For example, Bill Peduto asked a fair question. He asked how much this TIF is going to cost. How much is it worth? That is a straight-forward question but he didn't get an answer that had a dollar amount. The best the director of the URA could say was, "We'll see." He didn't know. He didn't say. He didn't answer.

As a tax payer, I'm sitting there to wonder about a tax break that they are going to cut for parking garages -- and they don't even know how much is on the table.

The dollar amount is a big unknow.

These are the types of answers you get when you have eight members of city council all from the same political party.

Sure, I would NOT be able, as a lone vote on city council, to defeat the TIF. However, I would be able to ask pressing questions from at the table and be able to have a dollar amount stated to the public, understood by all the others who are going to vote 'yes' -- and inject a bit of transparency to the process.

Then there is the question of 'when.' This TIF is a deal that could come about in the next 10 years. There is not 'start date.' The project may or may not happen -- say -- when the first graders are in high school.

So, there were total failures on what amount and when it begins and end -- plus comes the kicker. No RFP. The project is going to be a hand-picked deal. There will not be an open-bid process. There won't be a competitive process. There won't be a chance to hear from other developers about ideas that they might have for a deal for the property. There won't be any 'master plan' critique from the market, at large. Nope, this is a good under-the-table, smokey city deal of the highest order.

Let's take some prime, flat, river-front property, right next to our biggest highway, between our three most vibrant business districts (Downtown, Oakland and South Side) pinch it between a new $5-million pedestrian bridge and bike path -- and give it to some developer cronies without so much as an "OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPATION" to anyone other than a hand-picked windfall agent.

TIFs stink. The TIF process stinks.

What did I do with the phone number for the F.B.I.? This is HIGHWAY Robbery. This is why Pittsburgh is going down the tubes still. We need to turn the tide -- and rather than 3 out of 8 candidates in a race against TIFS, we need every candidate against them.

Kraus, Krane, Koch, Phillips, .... your no-show and no-voice is noted.

There is a simple way to come onto the record when there is a public hearing, such as what happened today. Just call the City Clerk's office and have your name put onto the agenda as either "FOR", or "AGAINST", or "COMMENT" -- and then you can show your true colors.

As I expected, you won't be able to watch the public hearing on the city's cable TV channel because the cable-casting of the meeting was not ordered by anyone on city council. That is like another ring of smoke to complicate deals and keep the city residents and taxpayers in the dark.

But, both the P-G and Trib Grant Street reporters were there to witness the folly. I expect we'll see something in the newspapers, I hope.

This is NOT what I mean by an upgrade to activites on the lake at Panther Hollow

Last night, I released a statement that called for new activites at Panther Hollow -- in the lake / pond there -- with kayaks. We can do more in terms of recreation. Another buddie wrote to me and say I was onto something as that place has been going to the dogs for far too long.

This is close, but not exactly, what I have in mind.

Click on the image for a little video clip of three folks in kayaks and a suprise visitor.

Mayor may fill finance vacancy

Mayor may fill finance vacancy - PittsburghLIVE.com Under O'Connor's administrative reorganization, Kunka could become director of the mayor's Management and Budget Office, which might replace the position of finance director. City Council would need to approve a change.

This is a great appointment. If I was elected a member of city council, I would, after an extensive interview, in the open, in public, move to approve the changes necessary to allow for a new directorship for Bob O'Connor's Administration.

Scott Kunka gets a great deal of respect from me for the job he has done in the past years. He does not get a new job without sitting on the hot seat for a few minutes. But, he's a good person for these duties. He could offer a lot of insight to the new mayor in an area that is pressing, like few others.

New ink at South Pgh Reporter

: Mr. Rauterkus believes the best way to make the city attractive again is by getting neighborhood youths more involved in activities. He claims the problem with juvenile delinquency makes this part of the city unattractive and unsavory for any one planning to raise a family to want to move to this area.

Running out to swim practice now, so I can't do much but put up a pointer to the latest article. The City Paper article on the race will appear on WEDNESDAY. The PG gives the race coverage on Friday, I expect.

Thanks to all for the effort for the fine event last night in Oakland, at the Student Union.

My League of Young Voters statement

Focus on freedom, liberty and justice for all favors everyone, not specific cronies nor constituents from single demographics.

All benefit with: Bike lanes on streets; Trust in democracy; Annual Youth Technology Summits; Day-cares and Preschools; Subsidized housing for poor (not rich); and Graduate housing at Pitt's "River Campus" in Hazelwood.

In-fill-parking treatments in established neighborhoods make more sense than subsidized garages on Second Ave.

I'll deed city-owned properties to college juniors and post-grads as bonus scholarships to encourage home-ownership and roots to Pittsburgh past graduation.

Cutting taxes, (i.e., the deed-transfer-tax) helps young home buyers.

Expect kayaks in Panther Hollow, under lights, a marathon, and community fitness to give urban participants goals to shoot at and for, not each other with guns.

My tech interactions push fairness, transparency, engagement and open-source solution building. Give input at Platform.For-Pgh.org/wiki.

Business as usual? - PittsburghLIVE.com

Honeymoon. JSM makes a case that what I call a honeymoon might be ending.

Business as usual? - PittsburghLIVE.com Everyone wishes O'Connor well. Yet even some of O'Connor's supporters already are grumbling that the man who ran as the 'business' mayor is looking a lot more like the 'business-as-usual' mayor.

I do think that time has been wasted. But, O'Connor has done okay in getting that 'dream team.'

The next key to the dream team is the 9th member of city council. If it is one just like O'Connor, or just like what we used to have -- then that hope for change goes down the drain.

Hooking O'Connor's fate to a hockey arena -- well -- say it ain't so media pundit. Because O'Connor is NOT kissing up to the hockey arena thing is proof enough that this is NOT business as usual. Murphy already built two new stadiums and a convention center that will never be used to its full capacity. We don't need another mayor to build massive things that then act like anchors to our public life.

The arena, now, is simply a distraction. Talk of the arnea takes the eye off the puck (or ball) to what really matters around here. Pittsburgh is more than a bunch of professional sports spectators.

Bob told the Pens to "Think Again." Wonderful.

Bob told the Pens, he has some more pressing things to handle, like the budget. Fine. Now Bob needs to move on those areas, then we'll re-measure his honneymoon and his team's effect on change -- or not.

The arena proposal is not O'Connor's Waterloo! I'm certain of that, despite what Pens fans and Mario might think.

Taxpayer score of Congress Critters

VS_2005.pdf (application/pdf Object)

USOC intends to address bad-boy behavior - Saturday February 25, 2006 1:13PM

Woops.

SI.com - 2006 Winter Olympics - USOC intends to address bad-boy behavior - Saturday February 25, 2006 1:13PM Miller failed to finish in the first run of the slalom and officially ended his Turin stay with zero medals in five races.

Scherr was obviously aware of reports from the Alpine venues of Miller's late-night tequila shots at the Irish Igloo.

'We have certain expectations,' said Scherr, detailing the code of conduct for the U.S. team. 'The athletes have to prepare themselves and compete to the best of their ability. And their behavior should bring honor to the United States.'

Student crowds Downtown discussed

Student crowds Downtown discussed She said Pittsburgh's Downtown should still be perceived as 'one of the safest urban centers in the country,' and will be helped further in summer by the partnership's hiring of 'ambassadors' who will walk the streets and serve as extra eyes and ears for police.

I think it is sorta silly to hire ambassadors. We should hire crossing-guards.

I think it is sorta silly to put more and more kids onto PAT buses when we should have some service for school buses to and from neighborhoods to our high schools.

I think it is dangerous to close Schenley High School -- in Oakland. I don't like the idea of moving Schenley HS to the east end into Reisenstein Middle School's building. That would put Westinghouse, Peabody and Schenley all into an area that is too close to each other -- and -- someone else has said it would be "a hornets nest."

Building a guys only campus and a girls only campus is another trend that should be examined in Pittsburgh.

The other cheap and obvious solution, should violence become more and more of an issue for the high school kids is to go to a 'uniform' policy. The uniforms are not 'fool proof' of course, and there is some downside to that move, but, it can help and everything needs to be on the table.

Finally, the kids are not going downtown to play basketball or use recreational facilities. That's for sure as there are no decent facilities for them to gather in productive ways downtown.

Until recently, there used to be a swim pool at the Salvation Army -- closed. There used to be a swim pool at the YWCA -- closed. The gym spaces are for the more up-scale corporate clients in town.

What do we have for our kids to shoot at or to shoot for -- other than themselves? That is the nagging questions I want to ask and fix. I want to attack the problems from the other end of the spectrum, from a holistic approach. We need to challenge and coach our teens.

Seniors vote. Seniors have been not only at the top of the priority list -- but the only thing on the priority list. That mentality has lasted far too long.

We have a generation of kids having babies. We need to give new focus to parenting and support areas such as pre-schools and day cares and playgrounds where coaching occurs.