Shopping Spree with Tour Bus to Wilkinsburg

Get on the bus, Gus. Call Tonya's office if you live in the Hill District and want a tour of the grocery store.

Mayor's veto on 2008-0154 hits council and the take home cars are ...

Rev. Burgess, on city council, pushed to nix the take home cars. The veto vote came after a letter from the councilman to the mayor was put into the record.

It would be good to have that letter published. Pointers welcome.

Existence of 'unofficial' take-home cars could complicate stricter city rules: "A city of Pittsburgh public works vehicle is parked nightly on Salisbury Street in Arlington, across from the home of Streets Program Supervisor Jeff Koch, a former city councilman.

A city-owned 2002 Chevy pickup rests behind the Stanton Heights fire station, a block from the home of the construction supervisor to whom it's assigned. A 2007 pickup and a 1999 GMC Jimmy settle every evening in the Moore Park parking lot in Brookline, the home neighborhood of the public works supervisors who use them daily.

They're unofficial take-home cars, or take-almost-home cars, not included on the lists of vehicles City Council and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl have wrestled over for weeks. Their existence may complicate a move toward firm rules on the use of city cars, an issue that is the subject of a veto override vote set for today's council meeting.

Yesterday's broken leg of Darlene Harris' mother kept her out of council chambers. Go figure. Her vote would have been necessary to over-ride the veto.

The mayor won that round with a veto proof margin.

Another fruitless tail chaser from Kraus

Tom's Diner is going to be open 24-hours a day and they still want to keep their decorative fence bolted into the sidewalk for the outdoor tables for patrons.

Beyond the expansion of hours, Penny (owner) and her business is finishing the move into three storefronts.

Last year this sillyness hit council when Jeff Koch was on council. Well, this didn't sit well with the challenger, Bruce Kraus. Kraus got the seat. To the victor's go the spoils -- so it seems with him. The present aim is to heap hassle upon local business and cause a fuss about little of merit.

Folly looks like this.

It flows from some more than others.

So, Kraus wants the rope to be pulled off of the sidewalk at the close of business. But, now that the place is going to be 24-hours.

Another law department opinion is needed. Perhaps the opinion will come before this volcano of an issue comes to a head.

We need railings to corral sillyness that spews from council chambers.

Doug Shields mentioned that the Pgh Downtown Partnership is pushing for standards.

Tonya Payne said she'd abstain, breaking a personal preference. When asked by Kraus if he could resolve any questions she has, she said it would take too much time.

Kraus won the vote. The business owners get the shaft from the city, again.

Dan Onorato now backing Barack Obama - Change We Can Believe In - Berks County Democratic Committee Spring Fling

Barack Obama : : Change We Can Believe In | Event | Berks County Democratic Committee Spring Fling Berks County Democratic Committee Spring Fling (Meeting)
Join Berks for Obama in showing support for our candidate at the Berks County Democratiic Committee Spring Fling

Featuring Guest Speaker: Allegheny County Executive Don Onorato
6:00pm, April 18, 2008 Social Hour
7:00pm, April 18, 2008 Dinner
Riveredge Restaurant 2017 Bernville Road, Reading, PA 19601

Tickets are $40

So, Dan Onorato is speaking at a spring fling in eastern PA at an event that is PRO Obama.

Everyone in the eastern part of PA needs to know that Dan Onorato is on the same side as Gov. Rendell and Onorato is supporting Hillary Clinton.

Camp appeals ruling keeping rafts off Yough

Camp appeals ruling keeping rafts off Yough A Christian camp booted off the Youghiogheny River now is making waves in Commonwealth Court.

This is nuts. I hope that the camp gets to access our river.

Jury "Deadlocked" -- fitting end to case for the Dr. C. Wecht

KDKA Radio reports that the jury is 'dead locked.'

How fitting.

http://post-gazette.com/pg/08099/871436-100.stm

City school board warned to cut budget

City school board warned to cut budget: "More budget cuts are coming to the Pittsburgh Public Schools, officials warned last night, raising new questions about what the district will do about under-used high schools and capital projects.

The sky is falling.

Clarification needed: What is a "utility cost?"

I'm sending an email to the P-G reporter, Joe S.

Is that the overall cost of the building? Is it the cost of heat, light, water? Is it the cost of capital elements within the budget? Are teachers, administrators, building support people part of this 'utility cost?' Or are just some of those expenses included?

The district in recent years has closed 22 schools and eliminated hundreds of positions, many through attrition. But to put the district on solid financial footing for the long term, Mr. Berdnik proposed a 10 percent spending cut in 2009, another 10 percent cut in 2010 and 3 percent cuts in years after that.

"Part of our challenge continues to be to right-size district staff to enrollment," Mr. Berdnik said, meaning the district still has more employees than needed.

Mr. Berdnik also repeated an earlier warning that capital projects are straining the district coffers.

The latest alert comes as parents lobby for a renovation of Pittsburgh Schenley, which Mr. Roosevelt proposed closing at the end of the school year because he said the district could not afford $64 million in needed renovations to the Oakland building. Mr. Roosevelt said the remarks about capital projects were not directed at Schenley supporters but were intended to urge board members to be "cautious" about spending.

Pgh Public Schools needs to cut staff because so many families are cutting out of the city. The population decline happens because parents are NOT happy with the life in the city, and at the city schools.

The value of the city education while living in a city home is fleeting. Hence, the families with the ability to depart often do.

Cuts are needed because QUALITY has been cut.

The fix is not more cuts. The real fix has to do with doing a better job with the kids and with the families and with the volunteers so people stay in the city, learn, feel safe, have solid expectations that life can be trusted and people can thrive.

Just as the Brimingham Bridge failure was known 20 years ago and nothing was done about it -- same to with this school saga. The inspectors knew that the bridge had troubles. Yet nothing was done. Recently, life came to a crawl -- making a living hell for everyone from miles around when the bridge was closed. Today the bridge is only at one lane in both directions.

They ignore problems.

Staffing isn't the real problem of Pgh Public Schools. The real problem is what happens in and around our schools in the school day and beyond. The problem is the 10,000 students that are NOT there because they departed in recent times.

The closing of Schenley High School is another signal that 500 families are going to depart the city. Schenley's closing is stupid and Mark Roosevelt's fault.

ESPN - Phelps falls asleep on tower, still wins 400-meter individual medley - Swimming

ESPN - Phelps falls asleep on tower, still wins 400-meter individual medley - Swimming: "Phelps said while he was stretching on a lower dive platform he apparently dozed off, preventing him from qualifying for the 400 free.

'I was kind of stretching, so ... you could say I was stretching,' he joked. '[Coach Bob Bowman] always gives me a hard time about not stretching. I was holding that stretch for at least 10 or 15 minutes. My legs were definitely stretched.'

Townhall.com::How 'Community Organizers' (like Obama) Created the Subprime Crisis::By Jerry Bowyer

I'm not happy with Hillary for advancing the concept of our president, GWB, boycott the Olympic opening in Beijing at 8 pm on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008.

Townhall.com::How 'Community Organizers' (like Obama) Created the Subprime Crisis::By Jerry Bowyer How 'Community Organizers' (like Obama) Created the Subprime Crisis

So let's get the punches in to both of the D party candidates.

Sen. Clinton wants Bush to boycott Olympic ceremony - Monday April 7, 2008 3:03PM

Clinton just lost my vote. But, I don't vote int eh D-party primary.

SI.com - More Sports - Sen. Clinton wants Bush to boycott Olympic ceremony - Monday April 7, 2008 3:03PM: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling on President Bush to stay away from the Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing this summer.

City Solicitor George Specter's Latest Legal Opinion Just In: Homestead Strike Was Illegal

Carbolic Smoke Ball: City Solicitor George Specter's Latest Legal Opinion Just In: Homestead Strike Was Illegal: "A long-awaited legal opinion from the office of the city solicitor is in: The Carnegie Steel Company acted appropriately when it looked workers out of its Homestead Works in June of 1892.

Campaign Finance Reform gets attention in post agenda meeting in city council chambers

Bill Peduto's long awaited campaign finance reform bill took another step today with a post agenda meeting in city council chambers. It was put onto the city cable.

Bill Peduto said he'd put a 'hold' on the bill if he had the necessary support to offer a 'clean money' alternative. That's code for public financed campaigns.

Humm...

I'm not sure where this is going to go.

Pointers from the MSM expected shortly.

Trib news:

Proposal sets limits on political donations in Pittsburgh
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

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Pittsburgh isn't among more than two dozen major U.S. cities that cap the amount a person can donate to candidates at $5,000 or less.

The city has no limit on individual campaign contributions to City Council and mayoral candidates -- but it should, said Councilman Bill Peduto, who portrayed himself as a case in point during a hearing Monday on campaign finance restrictions he has proposed to city lawmakers.

"When I ran for mayor last year, I received a donation for $50,000. The most presidential candidates can receive is $2,300," Peduto said. "For a City Council member running for mayor, the sky's the limit. There's something inherently wrong with that."'

Peduto wants to limit annual, individual donations to City Council members to $2,500; mayoral and city controller candidates would be capped at $5,000.

story continues below



Limits in other cities range from as high as $3,400 on council members and the mayor in Detroit to as little as $270 on council members and $200 on the mayor in San Diego.

Under Peduto's proposal, those who donate the maximum would be prohibited from receiving no-bid contracts from the city. Candidates would be prohibited from raising more than $250,0000 (mayor), $100,000 (city controller) or $75,000 (council members) in non-election years.

Tim Potts, co-founder of Democracy Rising PA, attended Peduto's hearing to emphasize that unchecked campaign fundraising inhibits democracy.

"You don't want someone going in with a huge war chest that makes it nearly impossible for anybody else to compete," Potts said of non-election-year fundraising.

Potts said state lawmakers, for example, spend an inordinate amount of time fundraising. Forcing politicians to stick to smaller goals could reduce time they spend not doing their jobs.

Councilman Jim Motznik said fundraising doesn't stop him from listening to constituents.

"The amount of time I spend with my people and residents who aren't in my district ... doesn't depend on whether they gave me money," he said.

Peduto's legislation doesn't specify penalties for those who don't follow the caps. It leaves that to the city's Ethics Hearing Board.

Peduto said he's willing to negotiate to lower or nix the off-year election limits and amend the legislation to lower the individual contribution caps to $1,000 for council and $2,500 for the mayor and controller.

Even those changes would help Pittsburgh shake off the yoke of pay-to-play politics, said Barry Kauffman, director of Pennsylvania Common Cause, who attended the hearing.

Only 11 states, including Pennsylvania, do not have some form of statewide campaign finance reform, Kauffman said.

Finding the five votes on the nine-member City Council could be difficult.

Peduto doesn't have the votes yet, said Council President Doug Shields.

"As the old saying goes, 'When you've got the votes, vote; when you don't, talk.' Right now, we're talking."

Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or 412-765-2312.

9000 PCs in Swiss schools going Linux only | Education IT | ZDNet.com

9000 PCs in Swiss schools going Linux only | Education IT | ZDNet.com 9000 computers in Swiss schools have been dual-booting Windows and and Ubuntu for some time now in anticipation of guidelines from the Switzerland’s Department of Public Instruction, whose motto is “Long Live Free Software.” The Tribune de Geneve featured a story on Friday about the elimination of dual boot capabilities in all of these machines and a migration exclusively to Linux (the original story is available here in French or here in English courtesy of Google’s language tools).

Beginning this September, all 9000 computers will run only Ubuntu and free and open source software.

Sri Lanka marathon ceremony bombed, 14 killed

SI.com - More Sports - Sri Lanka marathon ceremony bombed, 14 killed - Sunday April 6, 2008 7:55PM: A suicide bomber attacked the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka's capital Sunday, killing a government minister and 13 other people, authorities said. Dozens were wounded.

The torch relay has had its trouble keeping on track. The news above is much worse.


View Larger Map

Sri Lanka is an island south of India.

Baseball, MLK, Clemente and throw-back swimming

A valued sports journalist, Dave Zirin, posts the following, fitting for this blog on the opening day for the Pittsburgh Pirates home season.

This piece was posted on sportsillustrated.com’s home page this past weekend. As always, please consider posting comments at the below link.
In struggle and sports,
Dave Z

http://edgeofsports.com/2008-04-06-334/index.html

Common Bond for Uncommon Men: Roberto Clemente and Martin Luther King
By Dave Zirin

As we remember the 40th anniversary of that dark day of April 4th 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down in Memphis, it's worth recalling the reaction by Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star Roberto Clemente.

Clemente was devastated by the news of King's assassination but didn't suffer in silence. Instead, he led a charge to prevent the Pirates and Astros from opening their season on April 8th, the day before King's burial. He convinced his teammates on the Pirates, which included 11 African Americans, to stand with him. Opening Day was moved to April 10th, and Roberto Clemente had put sports in its proper perspective.

It might seem odd that Clemente, a proud Puerto Rican national, would have led such an extraordinary action. But Clemente, who had a passionate belief in social and economic justice, considered King a personal hero. He had even met face to face with Dr. King, spending a day together on Clemente's farm in Puerto Rico.

David Maraniss quotes Clemente's feelings about King in his 2005 biography of the Hall of Fame outfielder:

"When Martin Luther King started doing what he did, he changed the whole system of the American style. He put the people, the ghetto people, the people who didn't have nothing to say in those days, they started saying what they would have liked to say for many years that nobody listened to. Now with this man, these people come down to the place where they were supposed to be but people didn't want them, and sit down there as if they were white and call attention to the whole world. Now that wasn't only the black people but the minority people. The people who didn't have anything, and they had nothing to say in those days because they didn't have any power, they started saying things and they started picketing, and that's the reason I say he changed the whole world..."

Clemente's affinity for King and the civil rights movement was rooted in his own experience with racism in the United States. Clemente played from 1954 to 1972, years that saw profound change in both Major League Baseball and U.S. society. His career spanned the entirety of the black freedom struggle from the Montgomery Bus Boycotts to the urban ghetto rebellions; from Rosa Parks to the Black Panthers. Being raised in a proud Puerto Rican household did not prepare Clemente for the racism he encountered in the U.S. Even as a dark-skinned Puerto Rican, Clemente never knew of the existence of racism before coming to the U.S. mainland. He would tell reporters that he learned that dark skin "was bad over here."

The first half of his career, the Pirates held their spring training in the still-segregated south. The Pirates' spring games were in Ft. Myers, Florida, which even by the standards of 1950s Florida was deeply segregated. Years later, Clemente's only memories of his first spring training consisted of eating on the bus with other players of color while his white teammates dined inside at both fancy restaurants and greasy spoons.

For someone who had never heard of Jim Crow, these were painful times. Clemente's friend Vic Power, a highly skilled Puerto Rican player for the Kansas City Athletics, was dragged off his team's bus one spring by the local authorities for buying a Coke from a whites-only gas station. Speaking together later, Clemente seethed at the humiliation, feeling it as if it were his own. Power tried to calm Clemente down. His approach was humor. Power liked to tell the story of a waitress telling him, "We don't serve Negroes," and responding, "That's OK. I don't eat Negroes."

But Clemente just couldn't handle it that way. In Maraniss' biography, Clemente was quoted thusly: "They say, 'Roberto, you better keep your mouth shut because they will ship you back.' [But] this is something from the first day I said to myself: I am in the minority group. I am from the poor people. I represent the poor people. I represent the common people of America. So I am going to be treated like a human being. I don't want to be treated like a Puerto Rican, or a black, or nothing like that. I want to be treated like any person."

Clemente had a profound social conscience and drive for justice, colored by a belief that he would die before his time. This came to pass when he died on December 31, 1972 after he boarded a ramshackle plane, attempting to fly to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua with 4,000 extra pounds of relief materials. His wife Vera remembered, "He always said he would die young -- that this was his fate."

Dr. King shared this personal fatalism. On April 3, 1968 King gave a speech saying, "I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land."

We aren't yet at any kind of promised land, but Clemente and King both helped chart a path in the right direction. It's critical to remember them not as superhuman icons, but as ordinary people who sacrificed to do extraordinary things. As the Black Panther Party newspaper Panther Speaks wrote in their obituary of Clemente, "It is ironic that the profession in which he achieved 'legendry' [status] knew him the least. Roberto Clemente did not, as the Commissioner of Baseball maintained, 'Have about him a touch of royalty.' Roberto Clemente was simply a man, a man who strove to achieve his dream of peace and justice for oppressed people throughout the world."

[Dave Zirin is the author of "Welcome to the Terrordome:" (Haymarket). You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com. Comment on this article at www.edgeofsports.com]

Meanwhile, not too far from Forbes Field, in Oakland, but high on the hill, they are about to do a fix up of a past decision and rehab a swimming pool, Trees Hall at Pitt. In the last meet, held later this month, the swim distances are going to be 55-yards. This is what the Pitt coach posted in an email:

Trees Pool, April 26-27- The Dan Mazzei Spring Sprint Challenge

A Renovation Celebration Meet!

The LAST 55-YARD meet! Join us April 26-27 (Saturday and Sunday).

The Dan Mazzei Spring Sprint Meet will have a special “twist” this year.

We will be celebrating the renovation of Trees Pool at the meet and will be commemorating the last 55-yard meet ever run at Trees Pool!

All of the events will be run in the 55-yard “Commonwealth” distance. We will have the 55-yard free, the 220 Yard IM, and the 110 Freestyle, just to name a few.

Join us in the fun. We will ask coaches and teams to dress in the style of the 60s for the meet.

The 60s- The time of Flower Power, Long Hair and Bell Bottom Pants.

The time of Paisley Shirts and Platform Shoes.

The time of Afro Hair and Just a lot of Hair.

The time of Beach Jams and Jellies and Striped Racing Suits.

Trees Pool was one of the last 55-yard pools built in the USA. Completed in 1962, the 55-yard long-course distance pool at Trees was the “Commonwealth Distance” swum by the US, England and in the Commonwealth of Great Britain. 55-yards is about one foot longer than the now dominant 50-meter course used all over the world as the “long course” Olympic distance.

Trees Pool has been the site of at least one AAU National Championship. At that meet in 1964, a then new American Record-holder Donna deVarona (of NBC sports commentating fame) swam at Trees pool to defend her National title in the Individual Medley.

The renovation of Trees Pool will take about four months and is scheduled to be done by September 1, 2008. They will include a new pool surface, all new tiled decking, a new one-meter platform for 1-meter springboard diving, new deck heating, and a new stainless steel gutter system and pool circulation and filtration. The pool will also be shortened to 50-meters.

We are excited about celebrating the almost $2 million renovation at the Dan Mazzei Meet .

Sign your team up today for the fun! The meet entry is on the AMS Web site!

Thanks!

Chuck Knoles and the Team Pittsburgh Staff and Pitt Staff

I don't know the history of the building of the main swim pool at Trees Hall and the 55-yard length. I sorta expected that the builders did NOT have a metric ruler, so the 55-yard distance was used instead.

In other meets, a bulkhead is sunk into the water to shorten the pool. It holds the touchpads and starting blocks just fine. In the same line of thought, I sorta wonder if the meet is being held at 55-yards this year because the bulkheads, bulky, wooden, and dust-gathered, were tossed already. They would have been in the way. Lots of materials and prep work has already begun at the construction site.

What other 55-yard swim pools were built in the US and around the world?

In New Zealand, there are plenty of 33-meter swim pools. New Zealand has cut times for nation meets and records and conversion charts for 25-meter, 33-meter and 50-meter lengths.

I got to coach for a semester at Baylor University in a swim pool that was 33-and-a-third yards in length.

I hope that the upgrade at Pitt's pool goes well. Too bad they decision to upgrade Pitt Statdium didn't go as I had hoped.

Word on the street -- before the fur flies fling from ballots

Prediction: The Clinton supporters are going to 'steal the election in PA' They've got the skill and seasoned pros (snicker) in the trenches to sway 10-15 percentage points. They will be cunning. The idealists, (Obama supporters) if not prepared, will go down. Vote counts won't even be necessary.

Florida was so bad in the past that their votes don't even count this cycle.

Pennsylvania is as bad if not worse than Florida.

The surge for Obama is going to have to go into overdrive in Pennsylvania to counter the ruthlessness of the old-guard vote counting tricks from the less idealistic and more realistic camp.

Army Is Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq - New York Times

Army Is Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq - New York Times Army Is Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq

Sure, there are serious mental health issues with the returning soldiers.

But there are plenty of physical health problems too. Many of these folks are not being killed on the field of battle when confronted with the bomb blasts. Their eyes, ears and brains (central processing) are gone.

These men and women won't be able to work again. The injuries are life changing, of course. The cost to the individuals is steep. The long term cost of the wars are high.

The United States needs to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

How this as about a Constitutional Amendment: US Soldiers should NEVER serve a second tour of duty.

420 (cannabis culture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not part of this "culture." However, as a Libertarian, I'm all in favor of the legalization of drugs.

420 (cannabis culture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "420 (cannabis culture)"

The Pgh Bloggers Guild is sending up some smoke as to a new PR effort among our blogs about 420 on 4/20 (April 20).

Fine.

A new Google Group has been established too. Pittsburgh Bloggers Guild | Google Groups: "Pittsburgh Bloggers Guild"

Perhaps you missed the Pittsburgh guy, speaking at Pitt, while running for President of the US

I have some new videos. Here is the first peek.

North Side residents want to send gangs a message - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Note: Kraus has floated another balloon that is made of lead.

North Side residents want to send gangs a message - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The U.S. Postal Service warned that doing so is illegal.

'We cannot allow anyone but our own maintenance crews to service our boxes,' said postal service spokesman Tad Kelley.

The words "total failure" are at the tip of my lips.

Back-channel!

Or, another way -- ask for forgiveness if you are so strong in your convictions.

Send the US Postal Service a bill for the boxes already painted.

Act on your convictions. Then we can talk about 'illegal.'