Ballot Access Fundraiser with Russ Diamond, June 16

The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition will be holding a fundraising
buffet dinner on Friday, June 16th, at the Shady Maple Farm Market and Smorgasbord (www.shady-maple.com), on PA 23 eight miles south of the Morgantown exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Chester County. The guest speaker will be PA CleanSweep founder Russ Diamond.

Doors open at 7 PM, and dinner will be served at 7:30. Admission is $25 per person at the door. All proceeds will be used to help reform Pennsylvania's onerous ballot access laws for independents and third party candidates.

RSVP's are requested so that a large enough room can be reserved. Questions and RSVP's can be directed to Ken Krawchuk via Ken@KenK.org or 215-881-9696. For more information about the Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition, visit www.PaBallotAccess.org.

Father drowns trying to save son

Father drowns trying to save son A man drowned and a woman was in critical condition at Allegheny General Hospital after they plunged into the Allegheny River to rescue a boy who slipped into the water while wading at the edge.

Greek fans riot as PAOK faces financial collapse - Monday May 29, 2006 6:40PM

After the Steelers won the AFC Championship game, Mayor Bob O'Connor said, "Police made no arrests" following some serious street party hardy types went a bit 'out of bounds.' It is one thing to brag, and another to lie. Well, here is one that is a 'topper.'
Stadium and sculpture.

They use tear gas on fans -- and 'no arrests were made.'

SI.com - Soccer - Greek fans riot as PAOK faces financial collapse - Monday May 29, 2006 6:40PM Greece (AP) -- Police fired tear gas at soccer fans rioting early Tuesday over the possible exclusion of PAOK Thessaloniki from the Greek league and UEFA Cup next season because of financial problems.

One policeman was slightly injured in the city center clashes. No arrests were made.

When do you think Pirate fans take to the streets to riot about the team's performance?

In other leagues, the Pirates would be shifted to a minor-league and not stay in the majors.

If we shifted teams up and down in leagues -- perhaps we'd not be in a position where teams would threaten to leave a town -- purchased elsewhere.

The Penguins would slide down to another league. Then if K.C. wanted a team in the NHL -- they'd build one from scratch and not steal one from another NHL town.

What do they say about the loss of the Expos in Montreal these days? Are they playing minor league ball there?

China to make Olympics a smoke-free zone

Smoke behind the ear, but many puff and bike while on their cell phones.

This is huge news. Huge.

SI.com - Olympics - China to make Olympics a smoke-free zone - Monday May 29, 2006 3:44PM China vowed on Monday to organise a 'non-smoking' Olympic Games, but health officials admitted that changing the habits of 350 million smokers would be difficult.

China would enforce a ban on smoking in public places, a Health Ministry official told a news conference on Monday, with those places that offer services to children a top concern.

'Smoking will be banned at all Olympic-designated hospitals by the end of 2007,' Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Bin as saying.

Entry gate to Chengdu Sports University.

Podcasting Legal Guide - CcWiki

Podcasting Legal Guide - CcWiki Legal Issues In Creating Your Own Podcast. Overview Of The Legal Issues You Need To Consider.

PbgHouseConcerts@yahoogroups.com -- its JUNE 2 for our event

Joe Jencks, JUNE 2, 2006, 7 pm and 8:30pm
The wrong date got listed to an email blast. Ouch.

Join Mark Rauterkus and family (Catherine Palmer, Erik & Grant) in hosting friends, family, neighbors, bloggers, strangers and fellow
music lovers from school, church, labor and sports – and perhaps politics too, at their home and office:

108 South 12th Street, South Side, Pittsburgh.

RSVP is necessary as space is limited to 35 seats.

Call 412 298 3432 or email Mark@Rauterkus.Com

Kids who can sit and enjoy the concert are welcomed (first set).

Joe Jencks, singer/songwriter, plays guitar and is equally talented as the other excellent performers hosted in the past. Joe's original music and ballads are for the everyday, modern workers with many union songs, tunes of history, struggle, rails, fast-food workers, Rosie the Riveter (Revised), John Henry and even the Deportee.

Joe happens to be on tour with his latest CD, Rise As One. Artist donations accepted. CDs for sale.

The next release of the Mark@Rauterkus.Com CD might include the Joe Jencks tune(s): "We Won" and/or "We Do the Work." Help us decide.

WINNER 2005: Plowshares, Songwriting Contest; South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
Winner 2004: Winfield Music Festival Songwriting Contest
Winner 2004 and 2003 Tumbleweed, Folk Festival Songwriting Contest

Other upcoming concerts:

JUNE 2, Joe Jencks at Rauterkus House Mark@Rauterkus.Com

June 9 Chris Chandler and David Roe at Jim and Llousie altes -at- potomacnet -dot- com
Sept. 7 (Thurs) Sara Grey at Curt & Annie amtrimble -at- earthlink -dot- net
Oct 21 Mike Agranoff at Cindy & Rick cah -at- lonewolf -dot- com

Old notes. New twists: "Mark, You're being too global."

One of the first political efforts in my personal history in Pittsburgh had to do with the plans for UPMC Sports Center moving into the South Side Works. I didn't like many of those plans and how it all unfolded.

I raised my voice and called a public hearing in city council chambers.

Carrie Harris, SSLDC, Forum Member, Steering Committee for the site, said about the NCAA rule restrictions for member insitutions (Pitt) that prohibits professional and college athletes from sharing the same facility at the same time, "That is their problem."

Hugh Brannon said at the LTV Site Steering Committee meeting, "Mark, you're being too global."

A sugar daddy grant came from UPMC to locals to get them to buy-into the their plans. At the first go-around, UPMC promised to build a new ballfield for the community on space that didn't exist. I asked, how could UPMC build a the community a new ballfield when their playing fields were but dwarf fields.

Then the UPMC exec raised the offer to $30,000 for any fitness and sports location. Then on Feb 23 of that year, the amount jumped to $75,000. That money, it seems to me, was to sway the opinions of the concerned citizens.

The offers of "community access opportunities" at the planned UPMC compound are slim and tiny -- so I said then and still stand by today.

I listened, laughed, and can say I told you so. The SS Planning Forum took the notion and wrapped it in red tape to become a funding agent. The group didn't even have a bank account until then.

That's water over the dam -- until last week when the Pgh Public Schools hosted its second, rained out, elementary grade track meet at South Side's Stadium. The first event came to a close with a driving rain storm and hundreds of kids and teachers wet to the bone. The next event, a week later, got waved off after the kids went to school and the clouds were spitting. The kids didn't spit -- but some tears flowed from the disapointed girls.

On Friday, June 2 (before the house concert that night), we've got another date with the S.S. Stadium for the first ever "Phillips Field Day." All the kids in all the grades are going to play, compete and be outdoors.

At this point, we could start watching the weather channel -- or -- put in a call to the facility managers at the UPMC Sports Medicine Center so we'd be able to direct our efforts there, indoors, to a turf field, should the rain fall as it did those past two Thursdays -- washing out the PPS girls track meet.

Community access was promised -- and hardly delivered.

Grants for pools make a splash - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Open the pool...

Grants for pools make a splash - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The city will pour thousands more gallons of water into Pittsburgh pools this year -- but no extra money.

Few people, the world over, would be more excited about the re-opening of neighborhood swim pool than me. I'm happy -- if not thrilled -- to see five new pools with water this summer.

But, ... Don't tell us that the pools will open without any extra money. It might not be city budget money -- but that money is still the money from you and me -- taxpayer money. It costs. It costs someone, somewhere -- and that's us.

But2 ... a swim pool is something but a swim pool with a lessons, a team and workouts can turn the concrete hole in the ground into a great learning labratory that the entire community can respect. Sadly, these pools are without programming.

House Concert 7 pm (sharp) on Friday, June 2

with a second set at 8:30 pm

Join Mark Rauterkus and family (Catherine Palmer, Erik & Grant) in hosting friends, family, neighbors, bloggers, strangers and fellow music lovers from school, church, labor and sports – and perhaps politics too, at their home and office:

108 South 12th Street, South Side, Pittsburgh.

RSVP is necessary as space is limited to 35 seats.

Call 412 298 3432 or email Mark @ Rauterkus . Com

Kids who can sit and enjoy the concert are welcomed (first set).

Joe Jencks, singer/songwriter, plays guitar and is equally talented as the other excellent performers hosted in the past. Joe's original music and ballads are for the everyday, modern workers with many union songs, tunes of history, struggle, rails, fast-food workers, Rosie the Riveter (Revised), John Henry and even the Deportee.

Joe happens to be on tour with his latest CD, Rise As One.
Artist donations accepted. CDs for sale.

The next release of the Mark@Rauterkus.Com CD might include the Joe Jencks tune(s): "We Won" and/or "We Do the Work." Help us decide.

WINNER 2005: Plowshares, Songwriting Contest; South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Contest

Winner 2004: Winfield Music Festival Songwriting Contest

Winner 2004 and 2003 Tumbleweed, Folk Festival Songwriting Contest

Pittsblog - Rich people and Nerds, make a good start

Pittsblog I think you only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: rich people and nerds. They're the limiting reagents in the reaction that produces startups, because they're the only ones present when startups get started. Everyone else will move.

BUNK. There is my knee jerk reaction to a sliver of a longer presentation. I'll get to reading the rest, in a day or so. My off-the cuff rant....

Rich people and nerds would make a good combination for "high teas" -- or "chess matches on park benches" or a fine "lawn bowling" league at the country club. No doubt.

But that combination (Nerds + Rich) is nowhere without another key, ambitions. Rich who don't want to "risk" their "capital" and be on the "offense" only delivers people in nice shoes with fancy hats and garden parties.

Rich with comfort and adverse to risk are part of the problem in Pittsburgh's landscape. All the nerds in the world won't move the idle rich from under their white tents pitched to marvel at the gardens. Getting folks to opt out of their next 'lawn bowling' appointment for other ambitions isn't going to happen.

IMNSHO, there are two types of actions in the world. Moves to protect capital and other moves to grow capital. Its either offense or defense. There are a lot of rich who play defense.

And, isn't that what HEINZ Foundations and folks like Elsie Hillman have done? They put $$$ into "Save Our Summer" a couple of years ago -- so the city wouldn't burn to the ground on some hot summer afternoons when the police and people clashed, if God forbid, the public pools were closed. Few are with ambitions to make big changes or long-term advances. There is a lot of 'feel good' investments in Pittsburgh. Many of these are 'defensive.'

Furthermore, I think that you also need products, solutions and marketplace enhancements in the original statement. Rich folks with nerds are clueless unless they've got something to sell.

This is another area where we fall when a contrast is made with Silicon Valley. They've got iPods, software, routers, and chips to sell. The devices that they need to push out to the marketplace are critical to feeding the economy.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is into this 'service economy' cycle. We take care of sick people. We fix broken bones. We raise our kids. We educate bright students from all around. We hire and stage cultural events.

The heat and passion in the mills where steel was made meant that there was a job to do, goods to deliver, products to push out the door. We were in the marketplace with mission critical tasks to perform, and as the furnaces went to room temperature, so too did our necessary hook to the marketplaces.

A bunch of nerds and rick folks (even with the fire in the bellie) can do all the head scratching they want -- calling for RFPs or grant proposals -- but that isn't going to get it done.

Again, we see a platform with two legs -- and its two or three legs short of being viable.

Finally, for MM, or the original author, where is the orginal report? Thanks for sharing an excerpt, but I'd be happy to toss more remarks if the whole package can be revealed. I don't know, it might be out there and I just didn't trip over it, yet.

My hunch: Pittsburgh is light on rich and ambitious people. We got some 'Jim Roddey folks' who love to "do go" -- but most don't really engage.

A lot of rich people is less of a need for a project's success as folks with real products and real drive can and do boostrap, growing from seeds. The rich can provide the oil to slide things along faster and to larger scales.

Without the rich, you've got to be way more patient. The American mindset trap is of a "We want it NOW" attitude. Pluggers don't need the rich and can make do without the available cash on-hand at the early cycles. Sadly, the work ethic to spend a few years or decades to sharpen ideas and projects is not often absent in Pittsburgh.

Smaller investments need to be leveraged again and again, while keeping some of the powder dry to live another day. It might take 20 cycles, not 3, to hit it big. Expect lots of heavy lifting.

Pittsburgh and the City Paper article on the Pittsburgh Promise and the city youth.

Where do we begin? Well, this as fine a place as any.

Perhaps we need a membership site to focus on Pittsburgh parenting with a slant to the schools. 

Diamond gives a reaction to recent remarks from Swann on issues

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann discussed a wide range of subjects during a 90-minute interview Friday with The Associated Press. Russ Diamond, Independent for Governor, gives his answers too.

---

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Swann favors the death penalty and considers it a deterrent to crime.

I oppose the death penalty, as we cannot assign any power to government we do not possess as individuals. The Constitutional flow of power - from the Creator to individuals to government - establishes this.

GAY MARRIAGE

Swann supports a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

I support traditional marriage but I believe churches are the best institutions to oversee it. Government needs to impose less upon our lives, not more. This issue is not about "marriage," per se, but about insurance, survivorship, and other rights of private contract.

GUN CONTROL

A gun owner himself, Swann said gun violence is best curbed by enforcing current laws and changing the mindset of those who would use guns to settle disputes. Mindsets are changed by providing better economic opportunities, he said.

I believe Article 1, section 21 of the PA Constitution is quite clear: the right to bear arms "shall not be questioned." And yes, we can reduce pressures that lead to gun violence by promoting economic prosperity. But the way to do that is for goverment to get out of the way, so businesses will invest in our communities.

GAMBLING

Although Swann doesn't support slot-machine gambling in Pennsylvania, he said it would be "a waste of my time and energy" to try to repeal something already passed by the Legislature.

A waste of your time and energy? Remember the pay raise? Passed in the same unconstitutional manner as Act 71 of 2004 (slots)? Regardless of whether we support gambling or not, this bill was wrong at the beginning and has been wrong every step of the way since then. If you oppose it, fight to repeal it! I will.

ABORTION

He would sign a bill outlawing abortions except under limited circumstances if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. He agrees with current restrictions in Pennsylvania law.

I am opposed to abortion but the majority of Pennsylvanians are not prepeared to completely outlaw it. I'm running for Governor, not king. If Rowe v. Wade is overturned, the legislature would need to act to change the law. Meanwhile, what we need to work on preventing is unwanted pregnancies.

TAXES

Over the next four to seven years, Swann would reduce the corporate net income tax from 9.99 percent to 5.99 percent; roll back the personal income tax from 3.07 percent to 2.8 percent; and phase out the inheritance tax. He wants to replace the state's property-tax system with a new one that would base assessments on the selling
price of real estate.

I'm left wondering what areas of the budget he'll be cutting to do that. I will work to abolish property taxes, once and for all. We must also curb government growth - which only diminishes the standard of living for individual Pennsylvanians - so we CAN lower taxes. Let's start with the oversized novelty checks and America's most
expensive legislature.

MINIMUM WAGE

Swann is neutral on the question of whether Pennsylvania should increase its minimum wage above the federal level. He said he wants more information on the effects of such a move before taking a position. The state House of Representatives last month approved a $2-an-hour increase, to $7.15 an hour, by July 1, 2007; the Senate is
considering the measure.

I believe raising the minimum wage at the state level enables the federal government's perchant for creating inflation through deficit spending. It would also cause a ripple effect throughout the economy. We don't need more inflation, we need to build a new Pennsylvania where labor is naturally well-paid because it is in high demand.

SMOKING

While noting that "smoking is not against the law," Swann said he would support a ban on smoking in the workplace. That does not extend to restaurants and bars, where Swann said the decision should be made by the owners.

We agree on this one, but let's make one thing perfectly clear: This is a property issue. Prohibiting smoking in public buildings is reasonable, contributes to the public good and limits the public's liability. But restaraunts and bars are private property - and the owners of that property have the right to decide.

What would your bumper sticker say?

If you think you can do better than “Pennsylvania is for Roadtrippers” or “Honk if you like Roadtrips” for a bumper sticker slogan for the Keystone State, then the PA Tourism Office wants to hear from you. Pennsylvania is conducting a slogan contest for bumper stickers that will be distributed through PennDOT welcome centers beginning July 4, 2006.

Sketch it, write it, and submit it before midnight July 1, 2006 or vote for one of 16 suggested slogans: http://www.visitpa.com/visitpa/bumperstickerForm.pa

View current voting results at http://www.visitpa.com/visitpa/bumperstickerStandings.pa then submit your vote or electronically enter your suggestion at the bottom of that page.

Your slogan could be in welcome centers throughout the Keystone State.

Pennsylvania welcome centers offer more than clean restrooms, assorted vending machines, friendly picnic spots and pet areas. You’ll find a wealth of information about Pennsylvania's cultural, historical, private and scenic attractions as well as the latest road and weather conditions. Getting a room is no problem either. An accommodation service provides reservations to more than 1,000 Pennsylvania hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and campgrounds - all free of charge!

'Roadmap to Reform' targets spending records - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

'Roadmap to Reform' targets spending records - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review HARRISBURG - To find out how lawmakers spend tax money on meals, travel and a wide array of perks, people must submit a written request, notify the legislators involved, and then usually wait before getting a chance to inspect records at the state Capitol.

But legislative reform groups want to change that, saying each month's legislative expense reports should be available on the Internet.

That's among the items in the 'Roadmap to Reform,' an agenda embraced by liberal and conservative groups. They announced it Thursday, portraying the General Assembly as highly secretive and resistant to reform.

'Pennsylvania is unique in how very closed it is,' said Matthew Brouillette, president of the conservative Commonwealth Foundation.

Penn Hills, Bob, Rick, Voting Challenges and Jon Delano's reporting

I grew up in Penn Hills. I was a classmate of a Garver. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the good stuff.

Jon Delano wrote a long and detailed saga in his email to PSF (politically Savvy Friends) that is re-posted on the comments section of this blog post. Check it out if you have 5 or 10 minutes and want to gut up to speed with how we are going to pick a US Senator in Pennsylvania.

City League Baseball Championship: Langley pitcher strikes out 11 in another PNC Park win

PNC Park's stage was set for yesterday's high school baseball game -- and the teams did not disappoint.

City League Baseball Championship: Langley pitcher strikes out 11 in another PNC Park win: "Langley defeated Allderdice, 22-2, in three innings earlier in the season. Mustangs coach Leo Rauterkus was not expecting another one-sided victory, but was confident his team would prevail.

'That first game gave us some confidence to beat a good team like Allderdice, but I was expecting a tight ballgame.'"

In the Tribune Review, the quote from my cousin, Leo Rauterkus, talks about 'math' of all things.

City League Barnes burner - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 'This was typical Matt Barnes,' Langley coach Leo Rauterkus said. 'He's just a solid baseball player, a competitor. We figured if Matt had eight or nine strikeouts, we'd have a good chance. He had 11. The math was with us.'

Sports is often about 'math' and 'science' as well as 'psychology.'

Langley's team was better coached yesterday -- and it showed in a number of ways from squeeze plays to pitch outs that worked like magic.

At PNC Park, Langley, visitors, was on the first-base side of the diamond, by the way.

City Council 'consultants' funds build political support

This is what I mean by calling the miss-spending by those on City Council a "WHICH Hunt" -- rather than a "WITCH Hunt."

They all are guilty as the day is long. Guilty of fumbles in public trust. Guilty of padding their own "nests."

City Council 'consultants' funds build political support: "An activist wonk. A tree trimmer. Some buddies who can do office work. A political backer. All have been considered professional services consultants under Pittsburgh City Council's loose spending guidelines.

Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle, whose spending has been referred to county prosecutors and the State Ethics Commission, is council's top spender on consultants. Since 2002, she has steered $134,300 to two dozen private individuals for services, including a half-dozen who were also involved in her 2003 election campaign.

A review of other council members' spending shows that none steered as much money to consultants as she did. But most, at one time or another, have used city funds to pay a friend, buy something for a key community group, or even retain a lawyer to intervene in a private legal fight. The funds have served to build political support.

All council members interviewed yesterday agreed that more controls were needed, but defended their own spending."

We don't need anything more in terms of "built in controls" that go beyond the city's charter. We don't need a third or fourth oversight group as we already have TWO and neither of them are doing a good job.

What we need is already built into the city charter and has been DEAD. The city is to have a "Ethics Review Board" -- but Mayor Murphy saw to its closure. It was shut down as new appointments were never made to the five person board.

This is the same ploy that crippled the "Citzens Police Review Board." They kill the body by starvation. Don't feed it new members and appointements.

Yesterday a KQV Poll asked about the re-creation of the Ethics Review Board and a huge majority of listeners (both callers and with the on-line clicks) wanted it to come back. The numbers of the poll won't be released until the end of the week, if you didn't catch them on the closing comment at 7 pm. (sadly)

The City's GOP Committee wrote a letter to new Mayor, Bob O'Connor, in January 2006 asking for him to restart the ethics board too. That was the right thing to do -- as we have a new administration. We need the new mayor to fix ills of the past administration.

But there has been no reply on this topic, to the best of our knowledge.

Bob was part of the problem when he was City Council President. That's when the ethics board died -- also on his watch. So, I do hold out hope -- as I'm thinking about the positive. But, I'm not holding my breath.

Paul Sentner, an activist who helped to put an end to the ugly "WE HAV" program, emailed me today with another great idea. He'd like to see KQV Radio take up the cause of getting an Ombudsman put into the fabric of city and county government.

The new County Charter had an Ombudsman component that was taken out of the plan at the last moment before it went to the people for ratification. That quick switch was under the watchful eyes of Michael Lamb.

Meanwhile, Bill Peduto is all hyped about sharing his "template" for revealing how his office spends its taxpayer money, nearly $100,000 annually, or nearly a half-million dollars per term.

That was above and beyond the cool $1-million each office got as part of the "neighborhood needs money" from not too distance years. The City's Republican Party, and I too, had called for the ending of those pork accounts as well -- years ago.

The neighborhood needs money SCAM was (and is to this day) a joke. It is the personification of a big fat corruption, cronie, $9-million ploy to make the rich richer and the poor poorer -- all while keeping power right where it sat.

If any news organization wants to do a real investigation, begin to look at that money and miss-spending. Then perhaps the investigators (legal authorities) could put a few others (WHICH ONES) out of office and into the limelight of public review and eventual convictions.

First things first: Re-start the ethics board.

If William Peduto really wants to be candid with public disclosure on spending, he needs to re-awaken a past project I was involved with -- campaign finance reform. An advisory group was pulled together in 2004-2005. We had meetings. We issued a report to the councilman. But, the report was never made public. He sat on it. He didn't do anything.

Part of my suggested solution that came about as a result of those discussions is a transparent PAC account. PAC accounts need to be transparent, just as office accounts. And, citizen / voters need to see these funds come and go as well. And, the transparent PAC account goes way, way, way beyond what is being suggested as a 'template.' We should see real-time movement of money, not just what someone types into a computer form.

Cooking the books will be harder with Transparent PAC Accounts -- and TRANSPARENT Officeholder Accounts.

Young boy does historic swim, but not here

ESPN.com - MORESPORTS - Boy, 7, completes historic swim from Alcatraz Island SAN FRANCISCO -- Fueled by several slices of pizza, a 7-year-old boy braved the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay on Monday and became one of the youngest swimmers to cross the channel from Alcatraz Island to the city.

Nice job!

Meanwhile, we don't put our kids in the river. We should be making news on a swim from Sandcastle to Station Square.

Oh well, in due time.

Who is going to win today????

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News - Paradise Lost: A Recipe for Gentrification in Chicago, San Francisco, and Beyond

Talking about our struggles and defeating Mayor Murphy's half-baked plans.

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News - Paradise Lost: A Recipe for Gentrification in Chicago, San Francisco, and Beyond Newsom is not the first public official to be seduced by this appealing picture. After visiting downtown Chicago in 1996, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy decided to use the power of eminent domain to demolish 60 buildings and condemn 125 mostly locally owned businesses occupying several blocks along the Fifth and Forbes corridor in downtown Pittsburgh in order to build a multi-level retail mall containing many of the same upscale shops as the Magnificent Mile. Murphy even pegged Chicago-based Urban Retail Properties to manage the area’s redevelopment.

Through local organizing efforts, a coalition of small business owners, historical preservationists, and supporters of immigrant and African American rights eventually forced Murphy to abandon this project. Their concerns were buttressed by research compiled by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance which showed that roughly two-thirds of the revenue generated by chain stores and franchise operations like McDonald’s routinely leaves the local economy and the metropolitan area altogether. In fact, a 2004 report entitled The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics demonstrated that, contrary to conventional wisdom, locally owned, independent businesses generate 70 percent more revenue for the local economy per square foot than national chains.

Navy Pier in Chicago.