We'll destory that bridge when we get to it

The statement, "The fix is in", became a buzz statement back in September, 2005, and pressed on people's minds for more than a year. It may or may not go away in 2007.


View of the speakers.


This is the day when Tom Murphy said, "The fix is in."


Tom Murphy was able to scold the media for not reporting on how 'the fix is in.' But he wouldn't name names and be transparent as he expected the media to be. Some mayor. Then can Bob O'Connor, then Dennis Regan. Now Luke, the young Jedi, in full campaign mode. But, the casino choice was made and the North Side won -- the dark horse.

What is the deal now with the West End Pedestrian Bridge?

West End Bridge from the water. The Pedestrian Bridge might be built on the downtown side of this span. It would be a smooth connection to the North Shore (shown on the left) and the pending slots parlor.

What is the deal with the North Side's outdoor concenrt venue to be built by the Steelers? Two years ago Gov. Ridge promised $4-million in grants to that deal, sadly.



Watch the Video

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Yesterday I posted these 'old photos' and then today (Sunday) the Trib put this in the paper, proving that this is a quote that didn't go away easily.

Wrong again, Mr. Murphy.

Anyone remember Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy alleging the "fix" was in last year to award the city's sole slots license to Harrah's Entertainment for a Station Square casino?

Thomas "Tad" Decker, head of the state Gaming Control Board, certainly did.

Shortly after awarding a bunch of casino licenses across the state -- including one to a group headed by Detroit's Don Barden, who will operate the Majestic Star on Pittsburgh's North Shore -- Decker became irked when asked by reporters about Murphy's remark.

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"It's hogwash. It's nonsense," he said. "Who was fixing what? It's insane."

Care to elaborate, Mr. Decker?

"How can people accuse us of this not being on a level playing field without having some facts? It irritates the hell out of me because it's not true."

Given the inaccuracy of the former mayor's comment, which he quickly retracted, it's hard to blame Decker for being a bit upset.

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And another:

The Citizens Voice - Loaded questionsThis is a town where backroom deal-making is part of everyday business, so it shouldn’t be surprising that some people believed — and will continue to believe — that clandestine deals were behind the awarding of the state’s slots licenses.

We going to do something about this yet.

ESPN did a ranking of sports. This beat swimming.

Video removed by ESPN.

Today is Festivus!

Happy Festivus. A holiday for the rest of us.

Grant has been saying, "Have a kicking Kwanza."

Teliban Teachers a no-no

Detention never looked like this:

Sturmgeschutz and Sorcery Taliban are explicitly forbidden from working as teachers for the government. The Taliban sees the growing number of schools, especially those that educate girls, as the most dangerous threat. If the Taliban can get to a teacher, they must first warn them to stop teaching. If that is ignored, the teacher is to be beaten. If that doesn't work, the teacher is to be killed. So far this year, twenty teachers (male and female) have been killed by the Taliban, and hundreds beaten, and even more threatened.

The best way to get revenge on those elements of culture isn't with war, but with education.

We shouldn't send soldiers. Rather, we should educate their daughters at fine educational institutions such as Smith, Kenyon, Chattam and Carlow -- and then send them back home.

Quiz: Where am I?

This is a game at JumpCut. The video asks, Where am I?

The correct reply has not yet been left on that groups page.

This post is dedicated to those in Hays and near Mifflin who have been without water, given all (now 10 or so) their water main breaks. Do you think we'd ever see man-hole covers and craftmanship like this around our streets and sidewalks?

Bits&Bytes: CMU kids ponder city-wide wi-fi

Noodle heads noodle behind closed doors:

Bits&Bytes: Comcast unveils higher rates after FCC eases rules A group of Carnegie Mellon University students are putting the final touches on a report considering what a citywide Wi-Fi Internet access could mean to Pittsburgh, but stops short of telling the city what to do.

'It's not our job to say what's best,' said Jon M. Peha, an associate director of CMU's Center for Wireless and Broadband Networking, whose class of about 21 undergraduate and graduate students spent the fall semester doing the work free of charge.

The report, likely to be released to the public sometime in January, sought to present scenarios estimating how much a citywide Wi-Fi Internet network might cost, what one or multiple Wi-Fi providers could expect to earn from each neighborhood, and how city government and services might use the Wi-Fi network.

The class presented its analysis to an invitation-only panel that included city Councilman Bill Peduto, telecom attorney and former city Councilman Dan Cohen, a representative from Verizon and technology nonprofit 3 Rivers Connect. The class is tweaking the report before making it widely available.

There are trade-offs to blanketing the city with Wi-Fi, Dr. Peha said. 'Some parts oft he city are probably profitable' for a Wi-Fi provider but to bring Wi-Fi to the whole city would require additional financial resources, he said.

This is what I've been saying all along. The effort to make the city covered with robust wi-fi is going to present some places where there will be profits and other places where there will be losses. Downtown's might and density is a cherry. One should NOT give away the cherry of the region. The cherry needs to go out as the rest of the city gets coverage.

The Pgh Downtown Partnership picked the cherry in the wi-fi landscape. The next move for city-wide wi-fi is stalled. No doubt: "The wi-fi to the whole city would require additional financial resource." Darn you!

I still think that the downtown wi-fi plan that was to hatch by the All-Star Game (but didn't come on time) was a bad deal for the entire city. I am proven correct -- still.

I'd love to see the report and give it my serious feedback. It might be better to have me address it with my sharp insights and skeptical peer-review, before it goes out to the world.

Call to Flip Side -- ends in a quick click

Happy Festivus Eve.

Headline in today's Tribune Review: "Pens start looking out of town." Exactly!

The Pens should move off The Hill. Move to an Allegheny County destination. Build the new arena near the airport.

The prior caller said, "Show me the money." That isn't ideal. Rather, we've got to guide the conversation into "Show me the upside." There is no room for expansion into other ventures if it stays on The Hill.

Build out an Olympic Village complex with a new arena. Insert RMU grad housing. Set a new vision with room to grow.

The small minded broadcasters said, "The location decision has been established." click.

Going down this pathway, then, the location decision is out of state. The location decision is UP IN THE AIR. Put all options on the table. Pick a place with big upside. Pick a place that people can get to, in their cars, near their homes, near the airport, with room for expansion.

flower currency

flower currency A Hippyesque Post-Hippie Approach To Changing the World

A project to explore a value exchange system, created and owned by children, to enable artists to collaborate on the creation of interdisciplinary art works.

Judge Puts Allegheny Co. Smoking Ban On Hold - News

Judge Puts Allegheny Co. Smoking Ban On Hold - News Judge Puts Allegheny Co. Smoking Ban On Hold
Injunction Stands Until April

On the 12th day of Christmas, Another water main break.

Another water main break repaired in W. Mifflin Another water line in the West Mifflin area developed a leak last night, but this time Pennsylvania American Water Co. reports that it was able to make repairs quickly.

ThePensblog.com comes up with a solution to the new arena funding problem

Funny.

ThePensblog.com: 2. The 'Shoeless Joe Jackson' Initiative

This would be tough for us to execute because we hate to see our Pens lose. However, our plan is to contact the Pens and have them throw the rest of their season; losing every game while keeping an eye on the spread and the over/under for every game. Pens fans everywhere bet against the Pens for the rest of the season. $290 million dollars. New Arena.

I love it as gambling was at the root of the fussing. Use gambling to get the arena back on track.

There is a vote under way too. And, I picked a whinner!

Clever.

Come To the Island of Misfit Reformers!

Crank Up the Radio; Pick Up the Phone. Stream.

Join activists Russ Diamond and Eric Epstein as they fill in for two of talk radio's greatest assets in Central Pennsylvania during the holiday season!

Russ and Eric fill in for talk radio host Bob Durgin on WHP 580 AM from 3:00 - 6:00 pm on Friday, December 22, Tuesday, December 26 and Wednesday, December 27, 2006. The Bob Durgin Show’s toll-free talk line is 1 800 724 5801.

WHP 580 website

The fun continues with The Gary Sutton Show on Newsradio WSBA 910 AM from 9:00 am - noon on Wednesday, December 27 and Thursday, December 28, 2007. The Gary Sutton Show’s toll-free talk line is 1 800 357 0910.

Listen to the Gary Sutton Show live on the internet. Link to the The Gary Sutton Show

Call in and talk about reform issues, the future of responsible government in Pennsylvania, or whatever else is on your mind! One never knows where the conversation will lead with these two at the helm.

Dates, times and pointers are on the Google Calendar of Mark Rauterkus and Running Mates.

Bill Toland casino chat transcript

Bill Toland casino chat transcript We must not forget our third new arena in the area paid by the state. The Peterson Event Center. The cost over runs alone could have paid a large chunk of the new arena. Why did Pitt not look to combine a multi-use arena with the Pens at that time? They would have had more seatting than the Pete.

FYI: I was against Pitt's building of The Pete on its present location as a basketball only venue. That was a bad deal.

Pitt should have kept Pitt Stadium for one game a year, Akron, etc. And Pitt Stadium was used around the clock for practices for many sports teams and even the band. Pitt Stadium could also have been conditioned to hold graduate housing on an upper ring.

Pitt's new basketball facility should have been able to do ice too. That should have been built at Pitt's new River Campus, down Panther Hollow - in Hazelwood -- at the foot of the Parkway East and perhaps one end of the Mon Valley Toll Road.

More Pitt buildings, such as more graduate student housing, and the UPMC Sports Fields could have been put back on campus. Then they'd have spaces for intramurals and such.

By the way, Bob O'Connor loved those ideas. I delivered them to city council in 1999ish.

Another idea that has merit to speak of again, but not mine, comes when talking about the new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers, but the Pens were left out. A guy had a great vision of building PNC Park on top of a sunken ice facility. The same footprint would hold both the baseball and hockey venues.

The baseball field is the roof of the hockey facility. Much of the stands and fan infrastucture can be shared. That would have been great.

Today, I guess we could still flood the ballfield and play outdoor hockey with the red line about the pitchers mound.

Wooden Nickles, from running mate, Mark C (again)

At the Allegheny County LPPGH Holiday Party (12/20/2006) one of our speakers, Johannes Ernharth (a past LPPGH chair and financial planner), spoke about some of the deep financial problems facing the country.

He mentioned that it's now illegal to take more than some set amount of change out of the country and that it's illegal to melt our coinage for the value of the metal.
That's the sad result of a money policy that inflates our currency and, thus, drives up the apparent value of most everything else in terms of that inflated currency.

FYI, here is an interesting web site:
www.coinflation.com

It shows the value of our coin money based on its alloy composition and the current value of metals. Note that even that today's lowly penny (largely zinc) is now worth less than the equivalent amount of zinc and copper. At this rate, can we expect wooden nickels sometime after the 2008 election?

Mark

PS -- If you didn't hear about illegal coin melting read this:

http://www.coinflation.com/turn_off_the_smelters.html

Johannes Ernharth digs in his pocket, for a wooden nickle perhaps. On the left is Chuck M, recent chair of the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party and on the right is Harold, a long-time leader among the Allegheny County Libertarian movement.

PA Government on the hook for past is greater than the present

Keystone Politics :: Pennsylvania Politics, PA Government, Harrisburg Gossip Preliminary calculations put the price tag at $33.8 billion during the next 30 years -- a figure larger than the Pennsylvania government's entire budget for the current year.

Here comes an advance thought. New idea alert.

Every retired municipal employee and benefit holder who lives outside of Pennsylvania should have checks cut by 90-percent until this issue is resolved.

A retired teacher, firefighter, policeman, lawmaker -- whatever -- who worked in PA and gets a PA pension but now lives in Florida, or anywhere outside PA, should get notice that the amount is going to be cut by 90% by next year. Else, move back to Pennsylvania.

Help me think this through....

Gettysburg's anti-slots group rejoices

Another reason to cheer:

Gettysburg's anti-slots group rejoices : The Morning Call Online ''I just don't think this is the place for it,'' Blanc continued. ''This is history, not gambling. I just think it would have taken away from the history of Gettysburg.''

There might be a theme here.

In life, decision are generally made to either preserve capital or grow capital. You are either playing defense or offense.

The best offense comes when there is no defense.

In Gettysburg as with the situation in The Hill and at Station Square -- there were clashes. Opposition had mob appeal. Traps were set. Perhaps there was wisdom when choices were presented. Why go there when you can go elsewhere and have a clear pathway.

Uncertainty and doubt came with the Gettysburg site. Best to avoid it.

Keystone Politics dishes out some gifts of note

Keystone Politics :: Pennsylvania Politics, PA Government, Harrisburg Gossip For Pittburgh’s mayor, Luke Ravenstahl… we give a box of “Just for Men”, because we know the graying process is going to start early for you.

The Burgh Report hits a home run

Do read his posting. Then ponder my reactions below.

The Burgh Report most of the nicer, newer ones - were built by private interests and are run for a profit.

Exactly.

Developers are not falling all over themeselves to build and maintain a public arena in Pittsburgh because everyone has pointed to them to locate the facility in the city. The city is not the ideal spot. Not now. Not in this marketplace. Not with our traffic, our demographics, our footprints. The scale and the potential make the central location (be it North Shore, Hill, or even Strip) a mega risk.

However, once the ties to the space are cut and all locations in the county are considered -- then the upside becomes much more obvious. The project has real merit if it comes somewhere else and not in The Hill.

Land in the city's core is just too tight. Expansion is too much of a headache. The infrastructure is old. The roads are going to need more than a redd up around the facilities.

More can be done elsewhere.

No one has stepped forward with a plan for a privately financed, state-of-the-art arena project because everyone has worn blinders concerning its location. The arena does NOT need to be on a bus line.

How many people take the bus to the circus?

How many people take the bus to a Pens game?

How many people take a bus HOME from a Pens game?

How many season ticket holders walk from Crawford Square to see the Pens play more than 30 times a year?

No one would dare, is right. Why dare the investement for a city with a government that is on the brink. Why dare build a parking structure when parking taxes yo-yo. One year parking tax is 35% then it is 50%. Now it is to go to 45% and next year 40%.

One year parking is made free for all downtown spaces in December. The next year it isn't. And when it is made free, they decide the day before.

Central services from rodent control to lids on dumpsters can present a quagmire of red tape from week to week.

Rodeos are out. Scalping of tickets is only by those who can stand on their heads. T-shirt vendors have to grease the undercover inspectors. SMG, blah, blah, blah. There are hundreds of reasons why serious players choose to sit on their hands.

People vote with their feet. And investment flows like water and avoids uphill challenges.

Governement does stand in the way. Your blog posting is right on the mark.

Why not us? Because we can't think again. Because we choose to only use half our brains. Because we allow the media to set an agenda. Because power aims to sustain its power. Because the status quo is far too sacred. Because those who rock the boat are called names, such as 'naysayers.'

We need to be open minded. We need to get out of the little boxes and little labels. We need wide-open discussions, thinking and sustainable conversations where criticism is not just tolerated, but welcomed.

We need to be able to spot 'lockstep boosterism' for what it is -- and brand that as evil.

FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) must be squashed in high level public sector circles. When FUD is the best tool deployed by those in control, we need to yank them from their seats. And if they don't go, we need to a revolution.

We have one-party rule in the city. And in the county when another party is present, they are without a dime's worth of difference. Generally, the powerful elite in Pittsburgh, both D and R, have a corporate agenda that hates community and challenges.

blip.tv has a new utility to ease the uploading of video clips

Problems loom large however. I'm getting continual error messages and the files are not uploading. The message comes as 95% of the file seems to upload and then a dialog box shows.

blip.tv (beta) UpperBlip is a downloadable program that lets you publish many videos to blip.tv all at one time. You can drag files into it, add titles and descriptions, and upload them all at once!"

My site: Rauterkus.blip.tv