Lots of Lots

Last weekend I went to the Sprout Fund event called an Idea Roundup. It was worth the $10 entry fee, for sure. Small groups worked in many classrooms and I was happy to be with old GZ (Ground Zero) pals, Jon and Christine, now both in State College for academic work.

One of the strong ideas that surfaced in our group came from them and dealt with vacant land. Plenty of properties are not being used within the city.

Another group also worked on the same concept and used a clever, "Lots of Lots" handle.

Vacant land fix-up is a worthy action. But the plans run into some serious hurdles, such as ownership. And, when you look at the bigger situations, we should be moving those bits of ground to private ownership and taxable property. Philly had this attitude in the past but it has done an about face.

August Incentive Taxation — Center for the Study of Economics We're Pretty Vacant...And We Don't Care

That used to be the sad song of the City of Philadelphia and its assessment arm, the Bureau of Revision of Taxes.

About 40,000 vacant parcels of land sat for years, revalued when there was a sale, otherwise out of sight, out of mind and out of city coffers.

No longer. Now, the city realizes that accurate vacant land values mean more city revenue. They realize that city services create land value, and that value should be recouped.

This summer, 20,000 vacant parcels will be revalued. It’s high time. A glance at current vacant land values would make Paris Hilton blush: The lot at 1401 South 54th Street in the troubled Kingsessing neighborhood is a case in point.

• The lot was purchased in 2004 for $11,000.
• The official “market” value? $2,400
• The official “assessed” value? $640
• Total tax bill? $53!

Meanwhile the house next door pays about 10 times more at $570 a year.

The overdue reassessment of vacant land is welcome. Next step: cut the taxes on the poor homeowner, and raise the holding cost of vacant lots. How? Land Value Taxation.

He ran for Mayor of Pittsburgh in 2005. Recently, he ran into the undemocratic democrats.

Titus North, Green Party Candidate for US Congress. Is he on the ballot or not?

Stop Big Media - Don't Let The FCC Cover Up Facts

Stop Big Media - Don't Let The FCC Cover Up Facts Just as the Federal Communications Commission is poised to open the floodgates to wholesale consolidation, comes news that former Chairman Michael Powell buried a study showing media consolidation is harmful to local news reporting. The FCC can't simply cover up evidence, ignore the public outcry, and hand over local media to the likes of News Corp., General Electric and Disney. They need to hear from you first.

Use the form below to speak out against FCC efforts to make Big Media bigger. Use the text provided or write your own comments about how media consolidation will impact your community.

Dragon Boat Races this weekend on the Mon

I'd rather see real people in swim races.

6abc.com: PA Supreme Court Reinstates Raises for Judges

6abc.com: PA Supreme Court Reinstates Raises for Judges HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - September 14, 2006 - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated pay raises for 1,200 elected judges and district judges in a decision adding new fuel to an issue that has roiled state politics for more than a year.

The opinion:

Party.

Pointer: Three Rivers Post & Standard -- Don’t Mess with the Bosses In Government Gambling

Gambling: "Well, I’m personally no fan of gambling, but neither am I a fan of laws that prohibit adults of sound mind making consensual decisions among themselves. That means, as far as I’m concerned, if you want to play a little online blackjack or roulette, it is your business and nobody else’s.

The crackdown is yet to come. It will be big.

The sky isn't falling, but the boot on the necks of others is going to hurt.

We see in the paper that the projections at The Meadows Slots Parlor next to the race track has a wide range of expectations. The kickback to give tax relief seems marginal. But that is only part of the story yet to unfold.

When these slot locations don't make enough money -- they'll start to attack others. They'll be hungry and they'll have some cash flow. And, they'll want to be fed, eating what comes between customers and their purses.

Furthermore, the slots deal isn't going to be enough to break even. They'll need to expand to table games and all sorts of other revenue streams.

Op-ed column: Zero-sum games by David Schlosser, candidate in Arizona for U.S. Congress

Source

When there are two people competing for a finite set of resources, whatever one person secures is lost to the other. In a two-party political system, what one party wins, the other party loses. Game theorists call this concept a “zero-sum game.” The logical assumption is that the two parties represent the opposite ends of the political spectrum. Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives.

A logical assumption, but – like most conventional wisdom – wrong. Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin. While those parties may be polarized, they do not represent a true alternative to each other. With rare and easily counted exceptions, both parties advocate the continual expansion of the Federal government into more and more varied parts of Americans lives. Both advocate spending priorities that exceed our ability to pay for them. Both believe the tax code is a tool for granting favors and encouraging or discouraging particular behaviors. Neither so opposes illegal immigration, pork-barrel spending, or the corrupting influence of special-interest campaign funding that it will pass any legislation to actually address those problems.

Americans aren’t used to zero-sum games. At the grocery store, they can choose among hundreds of breakfast cereals and, if they don’t find a cereal they like, they can choose oatmeal, yogurt, a muffin, or fruit. Dozens of brands of automobiles, hundreds of stereos, thousands of styles of carpet and tile and wood and laminate, tens of thousands of book titles – Americans enjoy an embarrassment of riches in virtually every aspect of their lives, except their political choices. Examining the positions of Republicans and Democrats proves there is virtually no difference among their policy positions.

... (snip) ...

The dynamism of our culture and economy is based on circumventing the limits of a zero-sum game. Rather than worrying about how to take away someone else’s piece of pie, leaders and innovators figure out how to make the pie bigger, which benefits everyone. One of the last bastions of zero-sum thinking is the two-party system, in which Republicans and Democrats act as if they own the seats in Congress. Until voters break away from the zero-sum thinking of the two parties, they will fail to acknowledge the real owners of those seats: American citizens.

Full article and other notes from author / candidate reside in his Platform.For-Pgh.org page concerning:

Health care,

Dismal public (primary and secondary) education,

Iraq,

Gay marriage,

Social Security and Medicare,

Immigration.

Green Party Heachaches from the Dems -- Dems bent on breaking democracy

This is exactly what I didn't want to do and was not able to do. I came back from Canada after coaching at camp and talked with Titus North, Green candidate for US Congress. Titus had been sleeping in a tent in Harrisburg, thanks to the undemocratic Democrats.

This is no way to run a democracy. This is shameful politics from the Democrats.

Green Party candidate prepares for day in court
MARTHA RAFFAELE, Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate hopes to persuade a state judge that he has gathered enough signatures to allow him to complete against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey on the Nov. 7 ballot.

A Commonwealth Court hearing on a lawsuit filed by state Democrats is slated to begin Thursday amid a tension-fraught review of signatures collected by Carl Romanelli, who political observers have said could hurt Casey's chances of unseating Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican.

State law required Romanelli, a railroad industry consultant and former family court officer from Wilkes-Barre, to collect 67,070 signatures to qualify for the ballot this year. The Democrats allege that more than 69,000 of the roughly 94,000 signatures he gathered - aided by Republicans who bankrolled the effort and Santorum campaign staffers who assisted with the legwork - include numerous fake names, unregistered voters and illegible signatures.

The hearing date comes toward the end of the fifth straight week in which volunteers for both sides have been reviewing the signatures to determine how many are valid.

Tensions have caused two public disturbances during the process. A scuffle broke out last month between Green and Democratic Party volunteers, and on Sept. 5 an independent Congressional candidate helping Romanelli was charged with disorderly conduct.

Although he acknowledges that there have been difficulties, Romanelli, 47, said he remains optimistic that he will prevail.

"I still have all the confidence in the world in our signatures," Romanelli said Tuesday. "It's ridiculous to see the haggling over the signatures, day in and day out."

But before the hearing can begin in earnest, both sides must jointly file papers indicating how many signatures they agree are invalid.

Clifford B. Levine, a Pittsburgh attorney representing the Democrats, said that as of Monday night, the two sides had agreed that more than 28,718 signatures were invalid. That's roughly 2,000 more than the 26,760 that would have to be invalidated to disqualify Romanelli from the ballot.

"We've been going through five weeks where the Green Party's representative has agreed with the petitioner's representative," Levine said. "Nobody forced their hand."

But Lawrence M. Otter, Romanelli's lawyer, contended that some of the signatures considered possibly invalid were erroneously classified as such because of problems with the state's electronic voter registry, which is being used to verify them. For example, Otter said, in some instances the system has indicated that it has no record of a registered voter's signature on file.

"It's a classic example - you're disenfranchising someone," Otter said.

Otter has even used subpoenas to obtain tax records and driver's license records of voting-age Pennsylvanians from the state revenue and transportation departments in order to prove the validity of any disputed signatures.

Pennsylvania law requires minor-party and independent candidates to collect a number of signatures equal to 2 percent of the ballots cast for the largest vote-getter in the last statewide election. This year's threshold, because it is based on Casey's record vote count in winning the treasurer's office in 2004, was set at an unusually high 67,070 signatures.

A separate matter pending before the state Supreme Court could also determine Romanelli's fate.

Otter is appealing a state judge's decision rejecting Romanelli's arguments that the 2 percent signature threshold should be based on last year's judicial retention elections, which would have cut the number required to fewer than 16,000. The high court has not yet heard arguments in that case.

Could and WOULD you attend a Candidate Forum on Oct 30?

This letter was part of "tidbits" from our UU Church, Sunnyhill. The church is located in Mt. Lebo but has members from many areas south of the rivers.

---

Dear Sunnyhill Members and Friends,

We'd love to plan a special event from 7 to 8 pm for Monday, October 30, at Sunnyhill. We've hosted CANDIDATE FORUMS in the past and we'd love to do so again -- but only if we get a strong promise from our core supporters that this is an event that they'll attend and even promote to other friends and co-workers.

Our goal is to bring in four candidates to each provide us with a 10-minute policy talk and field a couple of questions. These would be ALL the people on the ballot -- not just from one party. We want an inclusive event -- but not a 'real debate.'

The candidates we want to invite are the ones who are running for PA HOUSE of Representatives (Harrisburg) and the US House (DC's Congress). They are the ones on the ballot for Mt. Lebo come November 7.

We figure opinions have been established for US Senate and Governor already.

So, please RSVP YES or NO if you'd be able to come to a one-hour event from 7 pm to 8 pm on Monday, October 30, 2006 at Sunnyhill to hear from candidates on the ballot.

Mark will tally the replies. If we hit a critical mass and get a commitment from a sizable audience, we'll make posters for the event, confirm with the speakers and proceed. Otherwise, resume you're regually scheduled programming.....

Mail to: Mark @ Rauterkus . com
YES and HOW MANY _________ you'll be bringing.

NO. Can't attend.

Stay tuned.....

Redd up opportunity (sent by Matt Hogue)

On Saturday September 23rd there will be an unofficial Elliott "Redd Up" day. The cleanup will start at 9 am and will focus on the 6 blocks on the #30 firehouse side of Lorenz Avenue. These areas have become increasingly dirty and are in need of a spruce up. Please plan on attending. If we have enough volunteers we can do more areas than the planned ones.

At 9 am on September 23, 2006 at 825 Lorenz Avenue / Emanuel United Methodist Church.

It is recommended that you bring a heavier pair of work gloves if you have them available.

Photo below show a sweeping the sidewalks. Quiz: Guess where? And, guess what you'll find just around the corner. (Hint, what kind of plants are they? And, who eats those plants?) (Hint 2: Click photo for a larger view.) (Hint 3: Go to http://YouTube.com/rauterkus.)


Click the comments to find the answer.

Simba Information To Host Premier Education Industry Event, Featuring Analysts, National Experts and Educators

Simba Information To Host Premier Education Industry Event, Featuring Analysts, National Experts and Educators: "Industry experts and educators speaking at the conference will include: Christopher Curran, Berkery, Noyes & Co.; Steve Dowling, Pearson School Companies; Robin Jarvis, Recovery School District, New Orleans; Estee Lopez, New Rochelle (NY) City School District; Julie McGee, Harcourt Achieve, Professional and Trade; Esther Monclova-Johnson, District of Columbia Public Schools; Peter Quandt, Haights Cross Communications; Lynn Spampinato; Pittsburgh Public Schools; Jessie Woolley-Wilson, LeapFrog SchoolHouse; and more. The full conference agenda and speaker list can be found at www.simbanet.com/conferences/.

I guess the outgoing boss of CCAC will NOT be there, as the event has a K-12 focus.

Pitt's and CMU's Greens and Libertarians meet tonight

The Pitt Libertarians and CMU Libertarians present,

Greens and Libertarians, the Yin and Yang of our Political Future.
at 7 PM, tonight, Tuesday, CMU's Scaife Hall Auditorium

A short presentation by Dan Sullivan will be followed by discussion that focus on how the ten key values of the Greens are compatible with the core principle of the Libertarians, and how the Greens have been pulled to the left of their values while the libertarians have been pulled to the right.

It explores how the two groups can keep their identities but create a "dynamic tension" by confronting each other directly on issues instead of letting the major parties and the power brokers work out compromises.

CMU's Scaife Hall is the first building on the left if you cross the bridge behind the Carnegie Library and then turn left just before you get to the Phipps Conservatory. Do not confuse it with Pitt's Scaife Hall.

Walking Home

Walking Home by Sara Kruger

When my husband and I decided to return to the US after five years abroad, we vowed to continue the car-free lifestyle to which we'd grown accustomed. We enjoyed the extra disposable income freed from the budgetary restrictions of car payments, insurance, maintenance and gas. Such savings enabled us to see much of Europe. We would be making our new home in Washington, D.C., and since I had never lived on the East Coast, I was excited to continue putting toward travel any extra money saved by resisting the temptation to own a four-wheeled ton of metal, this time for exploring the surrounding states. Friends were dubious about our ability to hold out. 'You'll fold in a week,' predicted one such naysayer. But, we were determined to survive.

Prove me wrong. Name one thing, just one.

I asked: "Can anyone name ONE idea that the Act 47 Team or the ICA Board has come up with? Just one would be nice."

I don't think they (overlords) get credit for anything. I'll go out on a limb and say, "The oversight board (ICA) and the Act 47 Coordinators have provided Pittsburgh with no benefits -- 'zippo.'

I've been to a few of their meetings. Mostly, meetings don't even occur.

Furthermore, having overlords costs the city. They come with some big bills that the city must pay. The work of the overlords doesn't 'translate well.' Yeah, right. A room full of monkeys and some typewritters could do a better job producing poetry than what the overlords have given the city's citizens in terms of goverance, oversight and management for a better future.

These overlords don't even provide us with good gossip nor photos for the 'seen' pages. Even with the PA Gambling Control Board gets more notice with its 'slime ball back-to-work programs' and the resulting arrests.

Event Sept 15 -- interesting merger of events

Sep 15, 2006

Board Member, Howard Woodridge, will speak at this year's National Conference of Editorial Writers about the failure of drug prohibition. Working a booth for LEAP and talking to conference visitors will be Steve and Doreen Heath. Event location: Sheriton Station Square, 300 West Station Square Drive.
http://www.leap.cc/events

I've heard and respect Howard Woodridge. He come from a police force background and hates the war on drugs.

Panda Power!

SICHUAN, China -- One zoo in southwest China has its hands full with 16 baby pandas. The Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breed Center is dealing with the results of a breeding boom -- 16 pandas have been born since July, 2005. The brood includes five sets of twins. The cubs are weighed and measured every five days by a special panda nurse.

The heaviest tips the scale at just over 24 pounds, while the lightest weighs about 11 pounds.

Pandas.


Rest is good.



Abby and Catherine, with a panda in the background, from our trip to the Panda facility in the past. Abby is now a student at Pitt!

Advice for Luke

At Pittsblog, the question about the 'mayor matters' surfaced. The mayor does matter, mostly.

To be sure, Pittsburgh still has two oversight boards. The ICA and Act 47 folks are still here. Plus, we've got authorities out the ying yang too. Even the Gambling Control Panel has serious powers and influences now too.

Let's reflect a bit on the role of the overlords for a moment. I see the biggest role in the city for the overlords (Act 47, ICA, etc.) as insurance. They must make sure that the bond holders get paid. The city's debt is sky high. Pension promises are massive and still not fully accounted. URA Properties are not even listed in an inventory.

The overlords can't 'run the city' as the question asks. Nor do they try. Nor are they capable. The overloards are here to make sure that the city doesn't run on empty without the loss of serious flesh and blood first. The money interests don't want the city to go bankrupt. That would be a black eye. Rather have a kick in the teeth and rats running wild snf eatting what they can gobble.

Luke: The overlords should be shown the door. That should be one of Luke's biggest missions.

Bob didn't choose to kick any tailfeathers with the overlords. To each his or her own.

My first address if I had been O'Connor in January, 2006, would have been, "I'm here now. I'm in charge. Overlords, there is the door. Hit the road. We don't need you help, now. We don't want your help, as you've not been doing any heavy lifting anyway. And, nobody voted for you -- so take your high priced bills out of here. Morph back into citizens and grab a broom like the rest of us are about to do."

But, that song from Day 1 (January 2006) of a new O'Connor Administration would have been 'flat' as O'Connor was on council when quick fix after quick fix was approved and the city slid into its debt. Bob was on Grant Street, with powers, and then with the Gov, too, with powers, when Pgh did a lot of its financial bleeding. Overspending is the norm.

Luke wasn't. That's Luke's advantage. The new guy should be known as "Long Term Luke."

The spend now and pay later philosophy doesn't sit well with a (mature) 26 year old. The high spending ways works for a one-term chief executive who is about to retire.

Luke should be about 'Long-Term Vision' + Short-term power + and finding the ULTIMATE solutions for fiscal sustainability.

Now is not the time for a band-aid approach.

In Luke's 2007 budget address, Luke needs to talk about the work process for the 2008 budget. The 2008 budget needs to be the best budget any city has ever seen -- anywhere in the world. And in 2007, we build the monitors and enforement and accountability into our city's work culture -- round by round, department by department.

Luke needs to not only send the overlords a message to start packing, but then he needs to take his clipboard and computer over to the building next door. Luke needs to camp out with Dan Onorato for a few weeks, after this year's budget is handed off to city council.

Short term, Luke needs to be with Scott Kunka and Bill Urbanic and the present budget folks on the city side. Luke has to be prudent and go with the flow for now. Perhpas Luke can insert a few financial widgets and utilities for 2007 that make budget monitoring possible in the years to come. Then punt and put faith in the ones who have been in the administration all year.

When Luke goes out into the neighborhoods in the weeks and months to come, I hope he is with a calculator. Luke should be meeting with various employees about various spending and revenue matters at every turn. Luke should be dead set upon finding the best solutions possible. That is going to take a lot of research and hard work -- on paper -- and with the folks in the field.

I dare say that the sillyness and silly spending has already been cut from the budget. But, now it is time to turn to the new and next chapter -- serious solutions with honest accountability. Luke can fix the framework for the city, and make the 2008 budget something to behold, if he and everyone decides to take that bull by the horns.

It is 9-11. Oh my.

Creep stinks. I think it is silly to do a 9-11 flashback on September 10th. The 5 year date should be marked, but not the eve of 9-11, nor the week prior. Hell, if we knew 9-11 was to arrive then like we saw it approach this year, the entire tragic mess could have been averted. The surprise of 9-11 and shock then -- makes 9-11 events on 9-10 or earlier shameful and perhaps, hype driven.

When does Christmas arrive? And 9-11 isn't Christmas, OMG. So, Post-Gazette editors, all that 9-11 stuff should have gone into today's newspapers, because it is 9-11.

---

Jon Delano hosted a talkshoe event today at 9 am. A 30-second moment of silence came, along with some interesting talk.

Personal safety is important. To be safe provides a huge animal need. We need to be safe in our neighborhoods. We want to be safe in our schools, in our travels, in our communities.

I'm a 'lifeguard.' I understand that prevention counts. I keep certifications current in giving first aid. It is hard to discount wellness and safety.

However, being safe isn't the end all and be all question for me nor for our society. To be safe raises 'primal concerns' -- such as in a 'fight or flight' response. But other concerns and ambitions within the human experience make 'safety' factors less than the number one priority.

As we ponder 9-11, we are reminded by some that we are 'at war.' There are 'bad guys' who want to take us (the United States of America) down in flames. They are real. They'll strike again. They are driven. They are planning. We can expect additional actions, gross ones, against humanity, again. No doubt.

This isn't a new lesson. We are all aware of the threats. The possibilities are endless. And what comes next might be unthinkable for most of us.

One guy said that 9-11 came about because of a failure in our intelligence. And, nobody has been held accountable. None got demoted or fired. Rather, most who fumbled got more responsibility and raises even.

My point is that there isn't accountability -- just like there was none in the war on drugs. We were at war, a decade or two prior to this one, with a 'drug culture.' We had and still fight a 'war on drugs.' And, we are not winning that one either. And, I don't see folks there being the fall guys for that campaign either. More and more is spent in those battles too.

(more to come)....

Green defense in City Paper

Growing Green

In “Political Deform” [Aug. 16], Chris Potter chooses to mock the Green Party, quoting someone who is no longer a Green.

He should have interviewed Ed Boortz, Allegheny County party secretary, and Titus North, candidate for Congress in the 14th Congressional District, who spent last week in Harrisburg explaining to a judge how they spent day after day along with other Green Party members, collecting thousands of signatures, working hard to see they were meeting requirements. Potter does not focus on the injustice of denying a voice to people who feel betrayed by Democrats and Republicans, held hostage to the “military-industrial-petrochemical-nuclear complex” for the past 50 years.

In spite of this, the Green Party of Allegheny County continues to grow, and we are waiting for an intelligent analysis of the present system that will bring about campaign reform by the local media.

— Liz Hughes, vice-chair
Allegheny County Greens