Pgh Public Schools begins "book club."

Have you read a good book lately?

Here is another great parent involvement activity.

Join us Monday January 12, 2009 for the first meeting of the title 1 parent book club. Read a good book, network with other parents and family members and get more involved. All are welcome

Location: cafeteria, administration building (Oakland) 314 S. Bellefied Ave Pgh. PA 15213. Date and Time: Monday January 12, 2009 from 6:00 to 7:30 Please RSVP to Mark Conner at mconner1@pghboe.net or call at 412-622-3941.

Scrub your speech of these phrases, Mr. Roosevelt and PPS Administrators

The Tribune Review has the expression in the paper again today, "We looked at the data, ..."

Wave the red flags. Time out. Wash your mouth out with soap.

Last night I was at another meeting in the east end hosted by the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. brass. Three school administrators were given the curtosy of an extended introduction and speaking time and I heard these same phrases again.

The PPS (Pgh Public Schools) Administrator said, "We want to bring the numbers to the table." She was convinced of a certain course of action because she was privileged to have seen the numbers, the data, the research. She was hopeful that the numbers could be shared with others who are "at the table." Then, once their facts were spilled, the table would be on-board and see the light.

A third verse of the same theme boils down to an evaluation of the work and outcome suggestions of a special community task force. About 30 members of the public were hand-picked, names still not released to the public, for guidance. These folks formed a task force to make a suggestion as to where to put the long-term home of the district's I.B. program. The I.B. program had been harbored within Schenley High School, which was dismantled last year.

The data that the I.B. long-term site selection task force was able to wrestle with has not been released. Who was on the task force wasn't released yet. And the work product, the meeting minutes, the in-depth decision justifications and any hint of financial impacts -- all are still under wraps.

I don't want the data to be revealed to those who are 'at the table.' I want it to be revealed to everyone everywhere.

I don't want to hear how the district administrators have access to findings and raw performance measures yet the people who pay for the schools do not.

Often, those numbers are not released because they are embarrassing. Frankly, what is more embarrassing is trying to make fixes to the district while having heads in the sand. The behaviors we've come to expect within the schools and within the planning process is atrocious.

It is unforgivable that the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation has to ask for the results of a community task force that includes more depth than what is read in the Post-Gazette. The questions should not even need to be asked. The insights and details should have been posted to the web all along. Agendas, minutes, attendance at meetings, presentations, facts, figures, costs, projections, historical graduation rates, numbers of certified teachers, costs of additional faculty education, timelines for training, space figures at schools, busing costs, new renovation costs, re-sale projections, etc., etc., etc.

I'm sure most of this has been thought of by someone. Well, I'm not sure, but I give them the benefit of the doubt.

I want to see it. And, I want everyone to see everything.

We don't know how many kids went to classes at the ALAs (Accelerated Learning Academy) as the school year started two to three weeks before the other schools. What was the August 1st attendance in 2008 and 2007? Now we hear the school year at the ALAs is going to shorten. Why? How successful has it been so far?

I don't need to know WHO was in class. I need to know how many were there, how many were to be there, and for teachers too. And, reports as to the effectiveness of these extra school days, by date, needs to be a measure that is revealed.

These few examples are only the tip of the iceberg.

How much is paid each year to Microsoft for software licenses? How much is going to be paid for proprietary licenses with the Science and Technology Jr./Sr. High? How much will be saved by using OpenOffice.org and Linux?

Who was on the High School Reform Task Force? Where was that group's work product. All of that went out the window by they way when the asbestos excuse was found at Schenley. A group had meetings for nearly two years and nothing of those meetings was able to be release nor implemented.

What about the budget for the Pittsburgh Promise?

I'm not asking for new audits. I'm asking for an open process. And, the way that is done in our modern time is with the internet. It goes deeper than a few PowerPoint slides as well.

Some months ago I spoke to this same theme with the school board when I heard that the PARENT DASHBOARD system was being scratched. This had been a valuable tool for some parents with some teachers for some kids as they could see homework assignments and class attendence -- nearly real time. But, the district pulled the plug on that window into the schools. (Go figure.)

Rather, a new, beefy, whiz bang system, developed in-house, was being rolled out. It would be able to grade tests and measure classroom, school, grade and district results -- more than just an individual score. It was in beta testing and was fast as lightening -- and those on the school board were prohibited from seeing it. They were to authorize it, but they were not able to evaluate it.

The elected school board members were kept in the dark. And, by-and-large, they were okay with that. It is worse than being a back-seat driver -- as they were being stuffed in the trunk. Meanwhile, the citizens are not even in the car. We're getting out of the way, happy it doesn't mow down our kids as they walk to and from school.

I don't want to hear, ever again, about the data that the district sees that is hidden from what anyone anywhere else can see.

Healthcare Reform update from Molly Rush

PUSH is planning a statewide conference in Pittsburgh in March, 2009. You’re invited to be on the planning committee to work on site planning, the agenda, speakers, outreach, media, fund-raising, etc. We need you!

Contact Dr. Scott Tyson TysMar@aol.com;

Bob Mason bmasona@gmail.com or molly.rush@verizon.net.

PUSH MEETS ON THE SECOND MONDAY OF THE MONTH AT 6:15 P.M. AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH, MOREWOOD & ELLSWORTH, SHADYSIDE. PLEASE ATTEND.

The next meeting is on Monday, January 12th.

Start the 2009-2010 School Year AFTER Labor Day

The Pure Reform Blog has been busy in recent weeks with talk about Pittsburgh Public Schools. That's nice. Check it out.

I posted this there, just now.

No school should be scheduled to start until after Labor Day. PERIOD.

In August, it is just too hot.
In August, we've got family time and vacation time.
In August, we've got summer jobs.
In August, we've got an economy to run.

Bring the teachers back, if you must, before Labor Day. But keep the kids out of school.

Furthermore, the numbers of those who did attend school in August have always been kept as a 'secret.' There wasn't any learning going on as the classrooms were way to vacant to begin to address new topics with the kids. The kids didn't show up.

And, the district didn't report the numbers of those that did and didn't show up anyway.

The idea of August school failed, like I knew it would.

201 Million Students to study Open Source Technologies in schools

A breakthrough in curriculum change for 201 Million students and adoption of Open Source Technologies in schools has occured in Indonesia. Ministry of Research (RISTEK) has adopted MySQL and OpenOffice.org as the recommended open source software for database and for document processing.

I wish the new Pittsburgh Public School devoted to Science and Technology would make the same statements.

If you are not sure what OpenOffice.org is all about, check out these recent trade articles that stack up OpenOffice against what Microsoft has.

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http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24734388-39525,00.html

OpenOffice is an open-source software outfit responsible for a bundle of productivity software that competes with the Seattle company's great cash cow, Microsoft Office. It does almost everything MS Office does but, unlike the Microsoft product, it's free.

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InformationWeek: Review: Open-Source Office Suites Compared

Bit by bit, the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) monopoly on office productivity applications is receding -- and one of the most important ways this is happening is through the proliferation of open source productivity suites. The most obvious example is OpenOffice.org, now in a landmark third release...

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Datamation: The Future Facelift of OpenOffice.org

"The mission statement: Create a User Interface so that OpenOffice.org becomes the users' choice not only out of need, but also out of desire." With these words, the Renaissance project was launched last week with the goal of giving the popular free office suite a face lift.

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tbusiness.ca: OpenOffice upgrade gives free office suite wealth of new features

OpenOffice.org is a powerful productivity suite--including tools for word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows and more--with one major additional feature: it's free.

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Macworld: Review: OpenOffice.org 3

OpenOffice.org is a powerful productivity suite–including tools for word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows and more—with one major additional feature: it’s free.

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CRN : The 10 Coolest Open Source Products Of 2008

The popular -- and free -- open source productivity suite hit its milestone 3.0 version in 2008, making it more clear than ever that its functionality and compatibility with Microsoft Office (including OpenOffice Impress, which is PowerPoint compatible) make it a force to be reckoned...

Did city look the other way?

This stinks.

Did city look the other way?: "Those owners, Peter Karlovich and Steven Herforth, hold political fundraisers at their Mount Washington home, including one for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in May 2007. When the Bureau of Building Inspection threatened to close the club, they appealed to Council President Doug Shields, and then to the mayor's Chief of Staff Yarone Zober, who connected them with city lawyers.

After talks with the club, the city lawyers told building inspectors to let it stay open pending discussions that never occurred."

Scrutiny comes because a guy died, not because you live in a big house.

The Pathetic State of the Pittsburgh Public School District

Policy Brief
An electronic publication of
The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy

January 6, 2009 Volume 9, Number 1

Problems for the Pittsburgh Public School District continue to mount. For the current school year enrollment is 26,649, declining more than 1,600 students from the previous year. Moreover, the District recently issued a forecast indicating that its high school enrollment would drop from just over 8,000 to about 6,000 by 2014, a further decline of 25 percent. Compounding the District’s problems is a report of higher than normal absenteeism among its faculty.

Instead of instituting meaningful reforms that have a chance of turning the Pittsburgh Public Schools around, the District plans to launch a recruitment campaign for younger students. The District apparently believes parents of young children can be impressed with what Pittsburgh Schools have to offer and believe a recruitment campaign targeting the parents of children in kindergarten and pre-school will be the remedy. The problem might be that these parents are all too aware of what the District has to offer—poor academic performance.

The president of the school board is confident the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship program will help reverse the sliding enrollment figures. To help spread the word of the Promise, the District has sent out mailers to families whose children do not attend Pittsburgh Public Schools touting the benefits of the program. As we wrote in an earlier Policy Brief (Vol., 8, No.69), the Promise, now two years old and having issued its first scholarships, has yet to deliver on the assertions it would reverse the enrollment trend or lead to improved academic performance. In fact, since the program was launched in late 2006, enrollment has dropped by more than 4,000 students.

Furthermore, as we pointed out, the Promise has also not raised academic achievement among its students. Latest scores on the state achievement test revealed that only 53 percent of 11th grade students scored at the proficient level on state reading levels and only 44 percent scored at grade level in math. At many of the District’s high schools the fraction of 11th grade students reaching proficiency struggles to reach 20 percent—hardly the material the District will put on recruitment posters, but certainly information that will scare off parents of prospective students.

The District claims it is losing students to charter schools and to suburban districts. To combat this problem, they will also work on making the schools more customer friendly by sending clerical employees to customer-service training seminars and creating a welcoming environment for visitors in District buildings. They haven’t released a cost projection for these projects, but this is an unnecessary expense for the cash-strapped District. It’s very doubtful that many parents of school-aged children would be willing to look past poor academic performance to improved customer service as a reason to enroll their children in Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The District is concerned that the drop in enrollment will cause overstaffing as a falling student count will leave them with excess teachers. That is a problem because getting rid of teachers even with declining enrollment is very difficult. And the state will not reduce its funding just because enrollment is down. That policy epitomizes all that is wrong with government financed and managed education.

Adding to the public relations woes of the District is a recent report showing that 6.5 percent of teachers call in sick on Fridays. By contrast, the national average call out sick rate for Fridays was only 2.3 percent in 2007 making Pittsburgh Public School teachers nearly three times as likely to call in sick as the national rate. Worse still, the absenteeism report revealed the highest rate to be on a Tuesday after a Monday night Steelers’ game. State and local taxpayers are shelling out $5 million for the abuse of sick leave policy. What kind of example are these teachers setting for their students?

To compound the negative image the call out rate creates, the union defends the heavy absenteeism by noting the teachers don’t get vacation days. This defense qualifies for the award as the most pathetic rationale ever dreamed up. Teachers work 190 days a year compared to the 240 or more that most people put in. Moreover, they are eligible for twelve sick days and two personal days during the year. Sick days not taken accumulate and are paid out in a lump sum at retirement. Teachers do not work most holidays when school is not in session. Then of course they are off much of June, July and most of August. And they get pay and fringe benefits as if they were full time, 250 day-a-year workers.

This absenteeism behavior and the defense offered for it, along with the right to strike, the work rules and the virtual impossibility of firing a teacher for inadequate performance combine to create a workplace disaster from a management and taxpayer point of view.

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh’s school board is equally complicit in the dysfunctional situation. One school board member offered the excuse that some teachers might be “burned out” or “frustrated” or alternatively the absentee problem could reflect an administration problem. Board member excuses for excessive teacher absenteeism reflects a District that is probably beyond repair let alone improvement—all this for a mere $20,000 in annual expenditures per student.

Dramatically falling enrollment and chronic high teacher absenteeism are just two of the hallmarks of a district in dire straits. Parents who care about their children’s education can see very clearly what the true picture is and they will want better for their children. Taxpayers should demand better returns for their expenditures. The problem is that the situation in Pittsburgh schools has been bad for so long that the Board and the teachers are not even embarrassed by these latest revelations and others regarding poor test scores.

On the other hand, Mayoral and Council candidates who are serious about changes that will slow the outflow of people and tax base from the City should address the awful condition of the school district. The people of Pittsburgh deserve better.

Frank Gamrat, Ph.D., Sr. Research Assoc. Jake Haulk, Ph.D., President

Please visit our blog at http://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/blog.

If you have enjoyed reading this Policy Brief and would like to send it to a friend, please feel free to forward it to them.

For more information on this and other topics, please visit our website: alleghenyinstitute.org

If you wish to support our efforts please consider becoming a donor to the Allegheny Institute. The Allegheny Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible. Please mail your contribution to:

The Allegheny Institute
305 Mt. Lebanon Boulevard
Suite 208
Pittsburgh, PA 15234

Thank you for your support.

My reactions are pending. Much to do today.

Pittsburgh Promise is not for a PPS graduate now at Ohio Northern University

Teresa Ankney - Fix PA: "[edit] Pittsburgh Promise is not for everyone

January 2009 in the Post Gazette [1]

Last Sunday the Post-Gazette published an article regarding the Pittsburgh Public School's attempts to recruit new students ('City Public Schools Taking Steps to Stem Declining Enrollment,' Dec. 28, 2008)."

The Pittsburgh Promise needs to be a gateway to success, not a weight to insist upon parochial thinking. Our kids need to soar, high, far, and where ever they choose to go. They'll come home if home is a place where they know they'll not be cheated and lied to.

Another poll

That's a Wrap: Change.org Ends Round One of Ideas for Change: The first round of Change.org's Ideas for Change in America contest, to which techPresident is a partner, has wrapped with about 250,000 total votes. The second phase launched this morning, and participants have 10 new votes to confer upon their top ideas. This round will run through the 15th, and the results will be presented to the Obama administration at the National Press Club the next day. In an early lead with 398 votes is "Pass Marriage Equality Rights for LGBT couples nationwide" (an idea, you might notice, that Obama opposes). Asked what happens if, say, legalizing marijuana is the top item, Change.org managing editor Josh Levy* tells me this: "Then we work with our non-profit partners to build a social movement around that idea, and try to actually get it done."

Mcall.com: Capitol Ideas with John L. Micek Blog

Pay to play hits Richardson from New Mexico and looks to entangle PA Governor, Ed Rendell too.

Mcall.com: Capitol Ideas with John L. Micek Blog: "Rendell Has Ties To Firm That Won New Mexico Contracts.

MLK Rally invite

Rally on Martin Luther King Day 2009 on Monday, January 19 at 12:00 pm. MLK & Economic Justice Rally with North Side United at Calvary United Methodist Church is slated for Monday, January 19 at 12:00 pm to 3 pm.
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=42872179405

RootsCamp Pittsburgh, January 24, 2009 - at the United Steelworkers Building, 5 Gateway Center

I'll be there. You can attend too.

Thanks for signing up for RootsCamp! Here's a quick update.

More than 30 people have now signed up, and dozens more have said they will come but not yet signed up. Still, we know we have plenty of room for more at this point.

We can comfortably accommodate 200. So if you know of someone who you think should attend but who may not yet know about RootsCamp, please invite them. Here's the link to the main RootsCamp Pittsburgh page: http://rootscamppittsburgh2009.pbwiki.com/

As you probably know this is a self-organizing conference. The attendees decide what they want to talk about. We have a "Proposed Sessions" that we can use to throw out some topics that would be good for the breakouts. Click on that link from the main page linked above and suggest some topics.

Thanks again, folks. There is much to learn from each other from this past election, and RootsCamp is going to be a great opportunity to do that. We can't wait to see you there!

Michael Morrill

Executive Director

Keystone Progress

610-568-0469-office

mike@keystoneprogress.org

www.keystoneprogress.org

Pittsburgh homicides jump 28% as other cities see declines

Bad news.

Pittsburgh homicides jump 28% as other cities see declines The number is unofficial and could fall to 73 when the bureau reclassifies some deaths as accidental or justifiable, including three police-involved shootings. But even the lower figure makes 2008 the city's bloodiest year since 1993, when there were 83 homicides. The number also represents a 28 percent increase from 2007, when the city recorded 57 homicides.

The bureau's clearance rate for homicides -- those where an arrest was made or a case was otherwise solved -- went down from 75 percent in 2007 to about 49 percent for 2008.

Allegheny County as a whole had 120 murders in 2008, up from 98. The record, 125, was set in 2003.

Miffed Schenley students 'making do' with digs

Miffed Schenley students 'making do' with digs: "Becca Ridge, a senior from Highland Park, said the Advisory and Activity period instituted this school year is of little use to clubs because students have the period at different times. Some students reportedly leave early rather than sit through an activity period at the end of the day.

The district had a different take on the A&A period, saying it turned into a study hall when students showed little interest in offered activities."

Pennsylvania Conservative: New Release: More Proof of PA Homosexual Politicians Pushing Their Agenda

Bruce Kraus watch. He's in this press release, FWIW.

Pennsylvania Conservative: New Release: More Proof of PA Homosexual Politicians Pushing Their Agenda During the first half of 2008, newly elected open homosexual Pittsburgh Council member, Bruce Kraus, wrote, introduced and got passed a domestic partner registry. On April 10 Mr. Kraus testified against the Marriage Protection Amendment during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Pittsburgh.

Peabody High School on Chopping Block.

For everyone's insight. My comments are being saved for another posting. This was covered by the P-G today.

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FIRST PITTSBURGH PEABODY COMMUNITY AND PARENT STAKEHOLDER MEETING ANNOUCEMENT
(Two Meetings-Same Agenda-Same Day-
Pick Your Best Time-Attend One Meeting)

Time: First meeting- 8 am Second meeting- 6 pm
Date: (Both Meetings On) Wednesday, January 7th
Location: BGC Community Activity Center, 113 N. Pacific Avenue

Below are two recent news articles focusing on the work of a site selection committee for the Pittsburgh Public Schools International Baccalaureate program. (Please also read the letter from the BGC to the Superintendent -- attached and below.)

As you can see the site selection committee picked Pittsburgh Peabody. Pittsburgh Peabody with its rich history of educating high school age youth presently has 500 students attending the facility.

The Bloomfield Garfield Corporation is not aware of any broad based Pittsburgh Peabody parent and community stakeholder group planning process occurring prior to the announcement.

In order to ensure full Pittsburgh Peabody Community and Parent Stakeholder input into whatever Superintendent Roosevelt and Board of Education plan evolves the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation is forming a stakeholder working group.

We ask that join us on January 7th to learn details on what is being proposed. Our goal is also to identify an ongoing stakeholder group that will provide input to the Superintendent and the Board of Education as to what is best for the students at Pittsburgh Peabody and our region.

PLEASE SEND A REPLY EMAIL AND LET ME KNOW YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING.... Call with questions...

Rick Flanagan
Bloomfield Garfield Corporation
Cell 412-913-4360


Peabody best site for IB program, panel says
Friday, December 05, 2008
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A 30-member site-selection committee has unanimously recommended the Pittsburgh Peabody building as the best permanent home for the International Baccalaureate program for grades 6 through 12 in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The district today released the recommendation, which calls for the building to be ready for the 2012-13 school year.

The recommendation noted the district's location near public bus transportation and the fact the building would need fewer renovations than some other buildings.

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IB school program may move to Peabody

By Rick Wills TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, December 6, 2008

A committee is recommending that Pittsburgh Peabody high school become the permanent home of the district's rigorous International Baccalaureate program starting in the 2012-13 school year.

The program could bring hundreds of new students to Pittsburgh Peabody, which enrolls about 500 students but is expected to have a student population of less than 200 over the next five years.

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The International Baccalaureate Programme offers students a chance to earn college credits. The program teaches subjects through an international perspective. It had been housed at Schenley High School until the district closed Schenley in June, 2008.

A 6-12 International Baccalaureate program was created in the Reizenstein school in East Liberty. However, the cost to make needed upgrades to Reizenstein has been estimated at $50 million, and the district has been looking for a new site for the IB program.

Peabody, which is located in East Liberty, was selected by a 30-member site selection committee, which presented its recommendation this week to schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt. The committee is made up of parents, students and alumni from across the city.

"I thank the committee for their work, time and thoughtful deliberation," Roosevelt said in a statement issued Friday evening. "Their recommendation will inform the work we are currently doing to restructure our high schools."

Roosevelt and his staff are expected to provide a recommendation to the school board in the next few months.

The site selection committee looked at six schools -- Connelly Vocational School, Reizenstein along with Langley, Oliver, Peabody and Westinghouse high schools.

Peabody was selected as the best option. Its East End location is convenient to many students in the program, and few building renovations will be needed. It also is close to public transportation, the district said.

For the next three years, the IB program will remain at Reizenstein Middle School.

Rick Wills can be reached at rwills@tribweb.com or 724-779-7123.

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Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation
5149 penn avenue
pittsburgh, pa 15224
phone 412-441-6950 fax 412-441-6956
http://www.bloomfield-garfield.org



December 26, 2008
Mark Roosevelt
Superintendent
Pittsburgh Public Schools
341 S. Bellefield Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Dear Superintendent Roosevelt,

The Bloomfield Garfield Corporation (BGC) appreciates your empowerment of a Pittsburgh International Baccalaureate program stakeholder group that recently released it proposed plans to move the International Baccalaureate program to Pittsburgh Peabody. The Board of Directors of the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation (BGC) is now asking for you to engage a community and parent leadership working group made up of Pittsburgh Peabody stakeholders.

The Bloomfield Garfield Corporation has already begun to identify community and parent leadership to join the working group. This leadership group will review the proposed International Baccalaureate program proposal, gain additional broad based community and parent input, and appropriately respond to the Pittsburgh International Baccalaureate proposed plan. The Bloomfield Garfield Corporation will act to organize and convene this stakeholder group.

Presently, the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation is asking that the Pittsburgh Public School Schools take the following action:

1) To the address above, send a copy International Baccalaureate program plan and a roster list of the decision makers on the plan. An emailed copy would be welcomed.
2) Please send copies of all the meeting minutes of the Pittsburgh International Baccalaureate program meetings.
3) Assign one or more of your district administrators to work in collaboration with the BGC on matters relating to the BGC newly created Pittsburgh Peabody Community and Parent Stakeholder Group.

As always, the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation seeks to support your restructuring plans. The work of the BGC/Pittsburgh Peabody Parent and Community Stakeholder group will permit the varying stakeholders to feel a sense of pride and ownership over whatever restructuring plans are finally approved by the Board of Education.

Please send an email to me with the name of the administrator who you have assigned to engage the BGC on this matter.

Sincerely,


Richard Flanagan
BGC Youth Development Director
Email Rflanag@aol.com
Cell 412-913-4360

Transparency Symposium | Commonwealth Foundation

Transparency Symposium | Commonwealth Foundation: "Opening Pennsylvania Government:

Transparency Symposium

Drug raid nets 10 arrests, heroin cache

Drug raid nets 10 arrests, heroin cache: "Police said they had been tipped by residents in the neighborhood who complained about drug trafficking in Elliott."

Polar Bear Swim, 2009

Original post from 1/1/09

I'm grasping for activities where I can still compete with Erik -- and win. The cold water is a great equalizer.

R, our lead off swimmer, like this was a relay, is next to me. She is still wearing her t-shirt. I'm in the green swim cap with the black Speedo robe. Erik, with grey hat and head down, is next to Rene and Mike, (Running Mate, dad, ex-college swimmer at Duquesne) is behind Erik at the far left of the frame.

The middle of the Frick relay - T, M, Erik.

The action gets hot. T in his leap. M and Erik on deck. The big guys, Mike and I are anchors.

Photo shows Erik in the water and on the way back to the wall.

Did he take a breath after his flip turn?

T and B scramble to the new year ahead.

Four photos from Greg Blackman. Thank you.


We did it! After the jump I'm putting on my shoes and can't feel my toes.

Photo from a cell phone on the edge of the Mon about 9:31 AM on January 1, 2009. Thanks Mike.

We passed out an invite that said to arrive at 9 am, jump in at 9:30 and depart by 9:31. Seems I wasn't too clear. There was some question about that minute when people were required to stay in the water. Wrong. you don't need to stay in the water for a minute. You don't even need to get your head wet. Sorry if I wasn't so clear. Our gang, mixed in the crowd, was all in and out in less than a minute.

None of us signed the official book, by the way. We waited in the line for 20-minutes or so, but then got ready for the jump.

Elsewhere:

Pittsburgh Polar Bear Club Takes Annual New Year's Day Plunge Into Icy Mon River - kdka.com: "Pittsburgh Polar Bear Club Takes Annual Icy Plunge"

City's stale times in 2008

Effectiveness is NOT like this.

City's fresh start in '08 had some stale times: "The year 2008 started with a fresh council, a mayor with a mandate and a Valentine's Day pledge of partnership in Pittsburgh's halls of power. It ended with debate over who in city government can most accurately count to 10.

A recap from me: City council has been so fruitless, that they are not worthy of my regular rants. I've not gone to Grant Street as frequently in recent times as they've been overflowing with folly of a hopeless style.

The public safety director can't be happy with the number of deaths on the streets and the rate of un-solved crimes and un-engaged witnesses. That is nothing to be happy about.

The city is cleaner -- redder, perhaps -- so they say.

How can Doug Shields, city council president, be a critic when he is part of the problem for so long. That's what gets me mad.

The proclamation of pledges to improve governance in Pittsburgh was a stage show that the media swallowed hook, line and sinker. It was a get-out-of-trouble card for many months. It was a way to spin in place without doing much of anything.

Four couples-- just four couples -- signed up for the domestic partner registry. That is what folly looks like. That is ineffective. That is nothing to be proud of. That isn't helping quality of life in the city. People are not going to move to Pittsburgh, nor stay, because of that groundbreaking council act. Even if 40 couples had signed up -- what benefits would be earned other than an opportunity to save $15 per year with the purchase of a family swim pool tags.

Congress on Neighboring Communities -- say what?

Isn't that what the PA Senate is for? Or, wasn't that what I proposed when I ran for city controller -- a citizens' handle for Grant Street. Or, rather, isn't that what I proposed with the development of a Pittsburgh ombudsmen.

Then there is the SWPC, Southwestern PA Planning Commission. Plus, there is the evil Allegheny Conference. Hold a meeting at the Duquesne Club. Or, hold a meeting with the ACDC, Allegheny County Dem Committee.

I'd love to see a Congress on Neighboring Communitys called the Pittsburgh Park District. But Dan Onorato insured that little would be done there by tossing a bone in the form of town-hall meetings and putting some of his VIPs onto a new nonprofit board for parks that has yet to amount to much, if anything.

The theme -- a lack of accountability for action. And, sleeping watchdogs that allow the nothingness to linger.

The hard talk on Grant Street is encouraged such as with the Shields "pack of lies" statement, whenever talking about studies. They can really kick up a big cloud of huff and puff when the outcome is only going to sit on the shelves and won't be revealed for months to come and is really just a "pay-to-play" contract at its root.

Lag time isn't 'hang time.' Furthermore, to use another basketball illustration, lag time is not marked with hustle, teamwork and hyper passing to get the open shot. Lag time is more like a 4-corner offense when basketball was played without a shot clock. The game would end up with a score of 3-0. The only thing tested was patience and the game clock. Nobody wins.

Rich Lord's article overlooked the rash of water pipe breaks. But, they've been quiet, it seems, in the fall. Quck, everyone knock on wood and keep up with the low-flushing policy.

The snow clearing fleet got revamped but what of the automated route system? Political patronage for paving and plowing is ... where ... LAGGING?