Transportation blog points to Glenn's recap from SEPTA and PA's top court

Transportation Glenn reports with a recap of transfers in Philly.

Situation on saving Schenley and getting better high school reform

From Nick Larda:

Good evening everyone. My name is Nick Lardas. I am a resident of Oakland and am here to speak again as concerned parent, taxpayer and voter.

I came to ask you to stop spending on engineers and consultants to implement the current High School reform program until it can be more thoroughly studied and to save Schenley High School at Schenley High School.

One month ago without a complete plan in place and without allowing for public input, you voted, despite the protest of taxpayers and students, to proceed with spending money to dismantle Schenley High School and Frick Middle School, two of the most successful schools in Pittsburgh and to recombine them into three experimental 6-12 high schools. The only reason given for putting 11 year olds in the same school with 18 year olds is to reduce the school to school transitions from 2 to 1. You used as a major part of your argument justifying your decision that Schenley required $65-$80 million for asbestos abatement and restoration work which the school district could not afford and instead would spend about $50 million to create your experimental schools. You bolstered your argument with the claim that the plaster at Schenley was loosing its adhesion on a large scale.

Three weeks ago you posted on one of your many web sites limited information from the architects and engineers you hired to study Schenley High School.

I’ve reviewed that information and as a civil engineer who runs a restoration contracting business have come to a different conclusion than you have.

* The plaster is not experiencing adhesion failure throughout the school. It is failing where it was damaged by water leaks.

* The partial remediation/restoration option is the best value for the school district and will cost between $37.8 & $42.4 million depending upon whether you include air-conditioning or not and will upgrade the school for the next 30 years. There is no justification for the more expensive restoration if the money is not there.

* Asbestos abatement and demolition combined constitute only between 5 and 15% of the total costs depending on which option you look at.

* The renovation work needed at Schenley comes as no surprise to the board. The ventilation system was shut over 12 years ago and has yet to be fixed.

Of the letters and reports from October 2007 only one is based on actual materials testing. Wiss, Jenney, Elstner Associates made a visual inspection of the school and tested actual plaster samples. Page 6 of their report they states “The water penetration likely resulted in damaging the interior plaster finishes, some of which may not have been identified and repaired”. On page 7 referring to the plaster repairs of this past summer they state “It is likely that the current repair program identified the majority of damaged plaster that existed for some time” In other words, when your roof leaks or a water pipe bursts it damages your plaster ceiling and wall. If you don’t fix it eventually it falls down. Once you go around the house and find all the damaged plaster and fix it, it will stop falling down. There is no emergency.

Since the new reports show no fact based information that anything about Schenley’s physical structure has changed drastically since Astorino’s 1/31/06 Schenley High School Evaluation Study, I would like to point out some of conclusions scattered throughout that report.

On page one of the Asbestos Risk Analysis section they state “The plaster, overall is in good to excellent condition”.

One page 4 of the asbestos abatement section they state “However, if the capitol budget is limited, the alternative of minimal ACM remediation/removal, enclosure and encapsulation should be pursued”.

Your own reports show there is no sudden emergency and that Schenley can be restored for costs well below your alternative schemes.

Schenley High School & Frick Middle School work. For the sake of our children you cannot afford not to fix Schenley. Fix Schenley the building. And spend the savings to improve the programs in Schenley High School & Frick Middle School.

Respectfully Submitted by: Nicholas D. Lardas

Luke is against direct kickbacks to those who didn't ask for them

Luke leaves at the end.

Community Master Plan --- you won't be qualified to write it about your community!

PM Update: I'm glad to see other bloggers have found this video too.

They are hungry at the European Short Course Championships: Lazslo Cseh Downs Second World Record in IM

I.M. Hungry.

Lane 9 News Archive: European Short Course Championships: <font color=red>Flash!</font> Lazslo Cseh Downs Second World Record in As Many Days

Posting splits of 54.93, 1:54.24, 3:02.97 on the way, Hungary's Laszl Cseh became the first sub-4:00 man in the event as his 3:59.33 knocked more than a second off his global standard of 4:00.37 set in Trieste in 2005.

This gives the US Men, such as Phelps, some competition. The world is swimming very fast in advance of the Olympics. It is going to be an interesting year for international swimming.

Locally, best of luck to the swimmers who are in the annal Pitt Christmas Meet. It started today and goes throughout the weekend. Many of the region's top swimmers participate.

Best wishes for Coach Jay and the team in Somerset who is also hosting its first big prelims and finals meet there. I tried to get Jay to consider some interesting twists to that meet format -- some we picked up from New Zealand Swimming.

I'd love to see us do Adam & Eve races. That is a two-person relay based off the results of the 50-free. The fastest boy finalist is coupled with the 8th (if in an 8 lane pool) fastest girl. Second with seventh and so on. Kids from different teams mix it up in the same relay. Kids decide who goes first, boy or girl. Then one race in each age group is held. Prizes were given as well.

Pittsburgh being considered for Amsterdam flight, group says - Pittsburgh Business Times:

Pittsburgh being considered for Amsterdam flight, group says - Pittsburgh Business Times: Pittsburgh International Airport is 'on the short list' of airports under consideration for a direct flight to Amsterdam to be operated by Northwest Airlines/KLM alliance, according to a local group focused on air travel.

My wife and I expect to go to Amsterdam, for the first time ever, this May.

Letter to Editor: Real ID (ouch) and Ron Paul (yes)

Mark Crowley, fellow Libertarian, of Plum, wrote:

I had a LTE today (12/13/2007) in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review urging support of bills in the PA legislature to not implement the Real ID.

This was my fifth LTE on this general topic that I've submitted to assorted newspapers recently, but it's the only one to get printed. I suspect none before were printed because they didn't respond to something written in the papers. Right now the Real ID is below media radar.

I think this one was printed because today the Trib also chose to print an LA Times story where Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff said we need the Real ID. The Trib's front page below the fold story was titled, "Chertoff renews call for national ID." I think this getting printed has more to do with dumb luck than persistence.

Mark

PS -- I'm 2 for 2 on Ron Paul LTEs. I never dreamed Real ID LTEs would be that ignored more than ones about Ron Paul!

---

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_542472.html

Stop Real ID


In 2008 Pennsylvania begins implementing a federalized driver's license mandate called the "Real ID" that will include personal and biometric data linking us to government databases.

Like gun control, it will penalize innocent law-abiding citizens with higher fees and taxes, more bureaucracy, greater inconvenience, increased privacy risks and questionable security. Criminals and terrorists will work to exploit the ID's false sense of security.

Negotiations are also under way to share database access now among future participants of the North American Union and NAFTA Superhighway.

South Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire and Montana have rejected Real ID. There's hope that Pennsylvania will too.

We must urge our state legislators to reject Real ID. In the House ask your state representative to support H.B. 1351. In the Senate, ask your state senator to support Sen. Folmer's anti-Real ID legislation (bill number not assigned yet).

Act soon. If you're not worried about identity theft and illegal immigration now, wait until Mexico's bureaucracy has your personal and biometric data.

Mark Crowley, Plum

Open Source Geeks at Schools, take note

Open Administration for Schools 2.50, an open source, web based, school administration package is now available from:

http://richtech.ca/openadmin/

This version has many new updates, features, etc. outlined below:

1) Single Site SSL - OA will now run on the Apache SSL server to give encrypted communication between web browser and server. As a result, it has been updated to run as a single site per school (since SSL precludes the use of easy virtual sites).

Andy Figueroa, besides figuring out how to do it, and testing the results, has also written the docs for a clean debian/ubuntu server install for this.

2) Fee System - improvements to make this system more useful. It's still a baby in developmental terms. It has a new outstanding fees report with family totals; an additional receipts field to simplify transaction structures and rewritten payments and invoice scripting.

3) Transcript system - a new transcript system that can generate multiple page per student transcripts (with identical cool looks as previously).

4) Report Card system - a new rewritten report card script that has even more configuration options and now has a GPA setting. The code has been rewritten to make it more flexible (and configurable).

5) Rewritten student enrollment scripting to allow better looking editing and to support the 18 additional student fields. It also has a new 'Clone' function to clone other family members to speed up student enrollment.

6) Rewritten pdf generation reports to support alternate language characters (normally Spanish or French) in generated pdf's. This makes use of the input encoding module of LaTeX.

7) Pop up calendar for date entry on Attendance and Main pages (from the dynarch.com folks) (and scripts updated to support this)

8) A new Custom Staff Report (analogous to the custom classlist report).

9) Beginning support for alternate paper sizes rather than just letter paper (ie. A4) as used by schools outside of North America. It is an additional configuration option in master configuration file (defaultpapersize).

10) New single field reset system (called 'bulk updates' on the Start/End of Year page) to reset a single field in all student records, etc. This replaced the large number of separate scripts.

11) And other fixes and improvements to improve the code and better support languages other than English.

Les Richardson, Open Admin for Schools

Holiday Music from home made musicians in recent concerts

Proud dad warnings:

From Violin-Holida...

Erik and Grant, my kids, are both visible in this photo. The gathering is with musical children and adults from the Pittsburgh Music Academy while playing at PPG's Wintergarden.

Click images below to hear the sounds and watch the video. Hint: Hi-Def playback not required.

Jolly Old St. Nick and into Oh Christmas Tree View Video

At another concert, at Frick Middle School, Erik played with the strings.

Frick Middle School - Frosty The Snow Man - Strings

View Video

And for something more difficult, and not about the holidays, it is off to the races with William Tell...

William Tell ... Frick Middle School Strings - December concert, 2007. View Video

A few of the Pittsburgh Frick 6-8 musicians just after their strings concert. Erik Rauterkus, grade 7, is the one with the red tie.

From Violin-Holida...

Underdog

Plus, there is a tea party too!

Pittsburgh and the NFL nation turned its eyes to New England last Sunday evening for football. Well, it happens again this weekend -- but for something much more important -- politics and the leadership of our nation in the White House.

They are brewing some big ideas to share at a tea party in Boston for this weekend. I wish I could be there.

Heavy:

Official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers - NEWS

Official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers - NEWS What is the key to defeating the Jaguars?
Red zone efficiency
Control the line of scrimmage
Contain Taylor and Jones-Drew
Protect Roethlisberger

The key to beating the Jags this Sunday at Heinz Field is not listed on the quiz/survey now running on the Steelers home page. The key to winning the game is, "Score more points."

There are two very important keys to life: First is, "Show up." Second is, "Score more points."

We are not sure that Big Ben is going to 'show up' as he didn't practice the past two days due to a shoulder injury.

Hope he takes it easy and keeps "the clear" and "the cream" in the trainers locker. Would hate to see these footballers acting like they play baseball. (giggle)

We love Charlie Batch too.

Create Debate | Gather.com - wonderful framework

Create Debate | Gather About Create Debate: Join the open dialogue with the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates! There are no time limits, no mediators. YOU ask the questions. They give answers about the future of America. And we all can explore this unique format for presidential debate.

http://America.Gather.com/k/jz6FVIsITxUhEHcJBC4FBggGCgs=/

Create Your Own "best of" Category! - "Best of" categories and winners created by our readers - Main Feature - Main Feature Extra - Pittsburgh City Pa

Create Your Own "best of" Category! - "Best of" categories and winners created by our readers - Main Feature - Main Feature Extra - Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh Category: Best political party Winner: Libertarians

The American Entrepreneur - Reasons why Onorato should move to the private sector

The American Entrepreneur - Newsletter Articles SIX REASONS WHY DAN ONORATO SHOULD NOT BE GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA

The headline grabs. The article continues.

Are you ready for some football? Grant and I are going to Sunday's game. His birthday gift.

My second son, Grant, has always wanted to go to a professional football game. He gets his wish on Sunday -- as his 10th birthday gift. He turned 10 on Dec 4. That's when we told him about the tickets.

Mom purchased the tickets from a friend / season ticket holder (or some connection) via work. Nice.

Word is that the seats are up high -- and under the roof if should rain.

I'm not too sure what we can bring into the game. Camera, binoculars, seat pillow, stadium blanket, pockets stuffed with a few snacks sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly). Is that okay?

I know that umbrellas are NOT allowed.

Tips, suggestions and other insights are welcomed.

Any tailgates out there that could float an invite our way? Post-game tailgates?

We might take the Gateway Clipper from Station Square -- as we can walk to Station Square. I had thought about hitting the brunch at the Hard Rock Cafe before the game. But, we've got a church gig / pageant.

And when is the game? Is it a 1 pm kickoff?

I remember going to a game with my dad at 3RS when I was little. The Steelers got their buts kicked -- as was generally the case. But that day, they were playing the Green Bay Packers. We left early and went to the Hilton Hotel lobby to get some player autographs of the visiting team. Bart Starr was one of my favorites. He went an entire season and only tossed 4 interceptions, I think. We saw Ray Ray Nitzke Nitzke. In street clothes, he could blend into the crowd.

After the game we walked up the stairs and over the Ft. Pitt Bridge. There was a swell of people heading out of the stadium and to those steps -- and for a few minutes, my feet didn't touch the ground. I was amused. Not scared. But felt very small -- among the fans.

The Pittsburgh Comet on the RIPPING of Civic Arena snd the new White Elephant

The Pittsburgh Comet Carl Redwood, Chair of the One Hill Coalition, underlined Frazier's point in commenting that there were no drawings of the view from the Hill District. 'Only walls and fences.'

The Hill gets the DUMPSTERS.

Don Carter has been a front man for the big guys for many years.

Null Space post says it (City Paper) was "Rigged"

Null Space: Best Political Activist
CP: Bill Peduto
Me: Doesnt Rauterkus get an honorable mention for setting some record for running in more local elections than anyone in history.

I made my comment on his blog.
The other consideration -- the Libertarians got a mention for best political party.
But, what gets my goat is that the best political activist section had N/A in third place.
I also gave comment at Bram's blog, PghComet.

Tea Party 07 - Ron Paul for President Mass Donation Day

Tea Party 07 - Ron Paul for President Mass Donation Day Please join us this December 16th 2007 for the largest one-day political donation event in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each, creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000.

Mark DeSantis on the radio with Ron Morris, Thursday atfternoon, 1360 AM

The following comes from an email blast of Ron Morris, the American Entrepreneur. I'll do my best to listen and chime in via TalkShoe. That is a wonderful experience and interface to interesting conversations. Hope JBinc and Travis and the others are there too!

Tomorrow, December 13, 2007, and Friday, December 14, 2007, Ron Morris
will fill in during the afternoon drive shift, from 3 PM to 6 PM, on the flagship station of "The American Entrepreneur" radio program, AM News Talk 1360 (WPTT).

As with many of the other "pinch-hit" appearances Ron has done on AM News Talk 1360, these shows will be a break from the business-oriented discussion that Ron features on "The American Entrepreneur" on Saturday mornings.

On Thursday, Ron will talk with one of Western Pennsylvania's biggest newsmakers in 2007, Mark DeSantis. DeSantis has become familiar to many over the past 12 months thanks to his run for the Mayoral office
in the City of Pittsburgh, a run that culminated in defeat last month at the hands of incumbent Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

While DeSantis has appeared on the air with Ron prior to the election to discuss his campaign strategy, he'll join Ron on Thursday to discuss (for the first time) his "day job". That being his role as President and Co-Founder of Mobile Fusion, a South Side-based tech firm that specializes in producing ISR technology (that's "intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance") that acts as the "eyes and ears" of military forces that are about to embark on dangerous, often deadly, areas. The technology that Mobile Fusion produces is essential to modern-day warfare, where "the enemy" is more undefined than ever before.

Thursday's interview will provide a unique insight into the role that "Mayor DeSantis" would have walked away from had he won last month's election.

Plus, Thursday's show will feature a look at an ever-changing industry that has made local headlines within the last few days.

With the ongoing breaking news surrounding the sale of Kennywood Amusement Park to Parques Reunidos, a Spanish-based operation, many questions have been asked about what it all means. Joining Ron to help answer some of those questions, and to discuss the amusement park industry as a whole, will be Dennis Spiegel.

Dennis is the President of International Theme Park Services Incorporated. (ITPS). ITPS is a Cincinnati-based theme park management and consulting firm that has worked with over 450 theme parks worldwide in terms of all aspects of the implementation of a theme park, from design to construction, and all points in between.

Having worked with both Kennywood Park as well as Parques Reunidos during his 40-plus year career in the amusement park industry, Dennis is more than qualified to discuss the "big picture" implications of the sale to the region.

On Friday, we'll take a look at the "business" of art, specifically the work of a locally-based artist whose work has been lauded and recognized throughout the world.

Alan Smith is the business manager for the Burton Morris Studios, a Pittsburgh based company featuring the works of Burton Morris, one of the foremost purveyors of the "pop art" movement in the 21st century.
Alan will discuss the role that the studios play in the modern-day artistic community in Western Pennsylvania, the United States, and the world.

Also, we'll take a look at Apple's latest salvo in the "computer wars" between themselves and Microsoft, the Mac OS X "Leopard" operating system.

Joining Ron to discuss the Leopard is Silicon Valley computer industry analyst Nathan Brookwood. Nathan is the founder of Insight 64, a tech consulting firm based specifically on the computer industry. Nathan
will talk about what separates the Leopard from previous Macintosh operating systems, as well as from the Microsoft Vista platform released earlier this year.

In the ever-changing computer industry, an informed consumer is the best consumer and the one least likely to make a buying decision he or she will regret in the long run. If you're looking at getting a Mac for the holidays, or to start the new year, listen to Nathan Brookwood's analysis before pulling the trigger on that deal.

-Plus, both days will feature great "open discussion" with Ron on a variety of topics (not just business). Interested in sounding off on some of the latest goings-on with City and County government?

Wondering what's going to happen at the University of Pittsburgh now that Steve Pederson's back at the helm of the Athletic Department?

You can talk about it with Ron on Thursday and Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on AM News Talk 1360 (WPTT), as well as via interactive podcast on TalkShoe.

Go Ron Go! Bring your A-Game, as usual.

Kennywood's open

Theory to ponder: Kennywood's pending sale was pushed over the edge because of the new Allegheny Drink Tax.

Blame Dan Onorato.

Blame the Dems on Allegheny County Council, plus the one R who is on his way out.

A top official spoke to the county council about the drink tax a month or so ago. He said that the move of the IC Light concert venue from Station Square to Sandcastle was 'on the rocks' because of the drink tax. He thought it might not 'wash.' He gave a stern warning.

I'll look for the video later.

The present owners may have just had enough. The park charges a RAD tax to its customers. Meanwhile, that RAD money goes to the county and then flows directly to Kennywood's local competitors, and I don't mean Six Flags.

The upside: Perhaps the new owners will have the cash to install that monorail it owns and is in storage and send the line from Kennywood, its parking lot, to Homestead and Sandcastle.