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Curfew Center

Pittsburgh delays action on proposed curfew center: "Pittsburgh delays action on proposed curfew center"

What is the cost-benefit break down of a curfew center in Pittsburgh?

Cost $500,000 for the first year. Picked up only a few kids in the past.

Look at city streets and see kids 10, 11, 12 at 11, 12, 1 and 2 AM. It is part of a deeper problem in their lives. Not criminalize. Goal of police is to address needs.

Say what?

Where is the packet of information?

RFP, 3RY, Arrests #, victimization, age groups, time spans of day, etc.

Learned about previous mistakes. Changed type of facility. Looks like a residential home, not a jail. Changes in policy and warnings. ??

Want to implement curfew ordinance but can't without the curfew center.

Proposal concentrates on other things in the day. Police are going beyond with a drop-in center, outreach, counseling.

Identify kids that need intervention! OMG.

What happens in year 2? (Kraus question about renewal of contract.)

$500K is a lot of money. Will review statistics. Enforcement. Placements happens. That 3RY does track the kids. What? They won't wait for young people to come in -- I guess they'll go out and nab and nag the youth.

Accountability model has 5 point system to measure affects. Permanency. Number of families. How to value. Looking to increase level of social functioning. Deterred from making at risk decisions. Education another metric. Not engaged in education when out of school. Follow-up 30, 60, 90 days. Concern of safety and life skills. Linking them.

Additional info is a resource index by type, just delivered today.

Have a continumem of services. Run a drop in and homeless center in Strip District. Yadda, yadda about all the other good things they do -- but way beyond the curfew center. You have to go to where they congregate. Not to be a night facility only. Intend to be a broad program.

It will be a program we will all be proud of.

Age group we are targeting is 16 and under, I think.

None from the mayor's office is at the discussion for this major policy discussion. Sheilds want to get to the thinking behind the program. Wants to know about the research of effectiveness and data. The police were asked to prepare the RFP, not a body of work. Others are higher up -- make the decision.

Curfew centers are not wise, IMHO.

Reduce crime and victimization. Address the needs of the kids. Get them in touch with the contacts that they need.

Nothing on gang suppression.

Shields: Curfews are popular. Sound wonderful. Public expectation is not

Numbers of 46 in 1996. Lesser in 97.

A public education opportunity. Accomplished by the outreach efforts. A different level of engagement.

Shields says you don't need a curfew nor curfew center to intervene. Curfew center is 16 and under. So, getting that age group needs to happen in the wee hours of the day??? Golly.

Every paper Doug Sheilds looks at does not support the curfew center. It is a feel good program that is politically smart where the people eat it up and it shows no benefit at all.

This is about a RFP response.

We've had no money. Nada. Loose bit of $500,000 that would be good to target at youth. But, not to curfew center. Not even marginally effective.

Crime stats show that juvenile crime, under 16, it is 10:30-11:30 am or right after school. The crime in that age group disappears in the late hours.

Truancy center is different and what 3RY is getting at.

Shields want to nix it. Put the $500,000 in parks and rec and do an outreach program. In the past, the police didn't do the outreach as it was a nuisance to them. Police say it isn't my problem and not what I need to focus on. Rather, worry about 18, 19, 20 year olds on the street.

Policy without analysis is folly. FOLLY. There is one of my favorite words! Thanks Doug. Finally, who took the biggest hit in the city's crisis? The kids. They saw reduction in crossing guards, closed pools, closed rec centers. Gone. My kids wants to see money invested in kids -- not in a curfew center. I'd rather open rec centers and help agencies. Not the suspension of civil liberties.

Jim Motznik will support the bill. The old numbers were a failure. But what was then and what will happen is much different. We are not able to pick up those kids on the street. There is a need for the curfew center? Sensitive matter. In the past it was jail-like. Police would give warnings. Give more warnings. Didn't work. Now there is no warnings.

Theresa Smith has lots of concerns. In the past, it was in the West End. It was not successful. The ones that needed to be picked up were 18 and older. So, the police couldn't pick them up. The community resource list is missing lots of names too. That is a lot of money. Not one rec center in West. What is the role of CYS? Lots of un-clarity. For me, parenting is huge. Work with the parents. Address them. Otherwise, putting a band-aid on the problem.

Darlene Harris asked lot of questions then. Still. How many hold? 24 over night. Undetermined number in the day. Bed capacity is up to 24. Don't think 24 is going to be necessary. Will take kids home if parents can't get them.

Policy is still under review. Command staff and FOP need to make input and get cheif's approval. City council does not have to worry about the police policy. City Council won't have a say, other than NOW, at the purse string level.

D. Harris wants to know what the policy is before voting. Good go! Policy is in step with the ordinance.

Police hand-off to curfew center after de-brief. Hungry? Phone numbers?

I would like to eliminate the curfew ordinance. That can be done by an act of city council. Darlene wants to see something more well rounded, for 17 year olds, for truency. I want to see something evaporate. A truancy center is not a curfew center.

Patrick Dowd talks about the amazing history of 3RY, of 129 years. Facility is already obtained. Would open in June. Lot of work has already happened. Mayor said it would be opening and city council had not approved it. The 3RY contract is for 1 year and then a review occurs and all bets are off. Burn the mid-night oil.

The RFP got only 2 bids. But only 1 qualified bidder.

They don't know how to anticipate the "demand." Depends upon the police.

What about crime reduction? Well, they'll look at interactions with services. This is public safety document not a youth policy effort. This is being billed as a curfew center that is going to reduce crime. Few crimes are with those ages and very few at those times.

Want to provide healthy alternatives and preventative measures. So, don't do a curfew center. Do recreation.

Homeless of youth in city? Trend lines? Population growing? Data is in the shadows of city.

Dowd: This should not be done by the city by itself. Use county, school, 3RY, and surround the kids. The others are not part of this RFP. Before we authorize this, we need to talk more clearly about the roles of others (school district, county) in this. Wants more people plugged in that is going to put kids in the center.

Dowd sounds like a 'no' vote.

Tonya Payne: What is the intent of the bill? Was there an increase in numbers of violators since we closed the old center? Perhaps there was some chatter in the community for it. We probably should be looking for collaboration with county. Often the actors are not from the city, but outside the city.

The $500,000 should be spent proactive to open rec centers and hiring more youth in summer. That's the track I want. Payne is perplexed about why they are down this path. Look at doing a public hearing. Hear from the administration. Where is Director Huff?

Great suggestion. Hold a public hearing. Holding for a vote for other long-winded comments.

Ricky Burgess: We have an ordinance on books that can't be enforced because we don't have a curfew center. The line-item is in the budget. Some $300K or more is just in the housing component of the yearly contract.

I'm interested in an engagement center for the youth. We need a 24 hour place to call to get social services. Wants to mold the curfew center into a youth engagement center with links to a complete, total program. He is not sure how to carve this out. Willing to offer his services to craft this. The curfew center is only one of the components.

We need a curfew center PLUS. Case management, educational concerns. Part of this can be shifted to the day part. Adjust it for social services.

Wants a public hearing. Wants to craft something that will be more effective for that population.

Bill Peduto: Yadda, yadda. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Peduto thinks it might help way into the future. Would be willing to vote YES for this right now.

Bill Peduto's accountability level will come one year later.

A public hearing is going to come.

Doug Shields is going to get exercised about this because there is no data to support the curfew. We put more analysis in how to tear down a house in Hazelwood than we put in to the decisions on care for our youth.

Nonsense to couch this as a curfew center.

Don't embrace the idea of a failed policy of a curfew in America.

Talk ends about 1 pm.

Technology Leadership Institute: Teachers

Looks like a great program for high school kids in the city.

Technology Leadership Institute: Teachers: "TLI is an opportunity for your student to get a head start on their career in computers and technology. Is your student interested in Web design? Robotics? or Computer Programming? Then TLI is for your son or daughter!

My son has swim practice to 9:15 am. So, he has a conflict. Oh well.

Getting geared up for the weekend trip to Bloomington

Why the $15K for a review of Water Authority Bond Deals was foolish and nothing about 'knowledge is power.'

City council voted 6-3 to not spend $15,000 to hire an outside firm to conduct a review (call it audit, investigation, whatever) of the recent bond dealings of the Water Authority.

I'm fine with that vote. But, I'm not fine with some of the thinking and statements that swirled around this topic. Time to flush.

Bruce Kraus said "Knowledge is power." That's funny.

First of all, city council does have power. But, power does not come with a $15,000 audit by some dis-interested party. Power, instead, resides upon the votes that empowered the water authority to advance with such deals. Months ago, council voted to enable the authority to extend its life which empowered them the opportunity to enter into bond deals with serious questions.

The power is in the vote. The power needs to be applied at the correct time. Power does not linger in a re-do.

Council needs to deploy its power, as keepers of the purse strings, in wise measures when the votes are cast. Council fumbled its chance at power when it entertained Don Walko, D, state rep and water authority board president, as he pulled the wool over the eyes of council then.

Want to talk about power -- let's talk about J.P. Morgan and other finance types who conduct these bond deals. They are able to steal by the millions from the public treasury. They can't be taken down by a $15,000 audit from some disinterested firm. Never go big game hunting with a pea shooter. That's not smart. It isn't powerful either.

The plain English explanation of these deals might be nice. But that isn't going to trip a giant in the slightest.

If that firm wants to work again in the finance sector, it isn't going to pick a fight for $15,000 fee with J.P.Morgan.

Furthermore, if the audit did provide real investigative eureka moments, it would be called 'spin' and would be discounted.

If you want power, turn to the controllers -- for the city, county (perhaps) and state. They have audit powers. And, they are the ones that are to review the dealings of government. Council is to legislate. Controllers audit.

If more muscle and power is necessary, then investigate with the state attorney. The subpoena has power. Call for that. When people steal money from the government, they should go to jail -- or worse. In China, the bureaucrats that cheat the system are killed. France gave the world the guillotine. Those are not the tools of power for Pittsburgh's city council.

The bottom line isn't passing a bond deal. The bottom line isn't complicated bond deals with windfalls by the millions. The bottom line is going to jail. Fix expensive mistakes with jail. If you want to look out for the public interest, even after being hoodwinked, the math that aids the interest of the taxpayers money should be part of the settlement of damages. There is the real bottom line.

Bram wrote in a comment thread on this topic that he does NOT care that the Council should have caught this the first time around. Plus, he does NOT care that it would be better if our Controller to do it. Jeepers. You should care. Purpose matters. Watchdogs need to stay awake and care. I care that we don't have over-reaching members of city council who stretch so much that they remain meaningless for decades to come.

Memo to Council: Get it right the first time. Don't squander your power. I knew that this was a sour deal from the get-go.

Memo to Council: Let the controller do audits.

Memo to Controller: Get moving already.

Memo to Jack Wagner, State Auditor: Hello!

Memo to Tom Corbett, State Attorney General: Hello!

Memo to voters: Don Walko isn't to be trusted and shouldn't be a judge.

Memo to gov reformers: All authority board members should be held accountable with retention votes as a regular part of our charter's framework, until the authorities are liquidated in full. (Pun alert.)

BBC - James Reynolds' China: China's Olympic venues now

BBC - James Reynolds' China: China's Olympic venues now: "China's Olympic venues now"

When are those high school musicals? And, what is the capital of Texas?

Debate meltdown

I'm a big fan of having 'running mates.' Running mates help in many ways.

For instance, running mates can help you get to the finish line in a marathon. Hope all in a cool down stay healthy leading into the Pittsburgh Marathon. Taper time.

Running mates can also help as attack dogs so as to raise issues that are best said by those who are not the top-of-the-ticket candidate. Both Patrick Dowd and Luke Ravenstahl need running mates when jabbing about the lack of debates and the sorry efforts of rescheduled opportunities -- or not.

Humor clip from Hulu, the #2 video site on the web, behind only YouTube, shows Saturday Night Live and President Obama's return to the White House after his trip to Europe and elsewhere.

The 250 isn't over yet -- not until we says its over.

Washington County woman drowns in Fla.

Washington County woman drowns in Fla. Authorities say a tourist from Washington County, Pa., has died while scuba diving with her husband off Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

The Broward Sheriff's Office says 58-year-old Mary Darnley, of Eighty Four, was diving with her husband Saturday morning when the pair began to swim to shore. She never made it. Other nearby divers found her body floating in the water. She was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital.

Debate details

The League of Women Voters is partnering with the PA League of Young Voters and KDKA-TV to present a televised mayoral debate on April 15th at 7:00 PM. The public is invited to submit questions in a video or a written formatin advance of the debate.

To do so go to the KDKA web site below:

http://kdka.com/formsection?fid=969642

Steel-City Stonewall Democrats is having a Debate Party in conjunction with the above debate at 6:30 PM at There Video Lounge, 931 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

Come Watch the debate.
Free Pizza http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=91091553447&ref=mf

Baseball. He's back!

How many games out of first are the Pirates now?

Remember how we were told that PNC Park would turn around the losing ways of the Pirates?

Remember how we were told that it would be impossible to buy single game tickets to PNC Park -- and that every game for years would be sold out?

Those were the days.

Going to a college or high school or sandlot game is still a much better proposition for my sporting interests. There, a local team almost always wins.

Trivia question: The photo of the field show in the posting is where? Bonus Q: What's its significance?

Verona man drowns in athletic club pool

Verona man drowns in athletic club pool The Allegheny County medical examiner's office will perform an autopsy on a Verona man who drowned in a swimming pool at the Downtown Athletic Club of Pittsburgh yesterday evening.

The office identified the man as Lorenzo Williams, 38, of Verona.

Paramedics were called to the athletic club at 1 Bigelow Square near Mellon Arena about 7:30 p.m. on reports of a man drowning in a pool. Homicide detectives were also notified.

Kiva.org co-founder visits CMU on Monday

I'm going to pull my 8th grade son out of school to hear this lecture at CMU.

The Heinz College's Institute for Social Innovation is pleased to welcome Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva.org, the world's first peer-to-peer online microlending website, to Carnegie Mellon's campus on Monday, April 13 for a public lecture. Jessica will be speaking on microfinance and microlending, and her experiences with Kiva.org. If you have an interest in microfinance, international development or social innovation, this opportunity is not to be missed.

Monday, April 13, 2009
12 to 1:30 p.m.
Hamburg Hall room 1000
4800 Forbes Avenue, Carnegie Mellon's campus
Lunch will be served.

Please RSVP to social-innovation@andrew.cmu.edu

Jessica Jackley is a co-founder of Kiva.org, the world's first peer-to-peer online microlending website. Kiva lets internet users lend as little as $25 to specific developing world entrepreneurs, providing affordable capital to help them start or expand a small business. Kiva has been one of the fastest-growing social benefit websites in history, connecting hundreds of thousands of people through lending across over 150 countries.

Jessica first saw the power, beauty and dignity of microfinance while working in rural East Africa with microenterprise development nonprofit Village Enterprise Fund on impact evaluation and program development. Sector-agnostic about social change, Jessica has worked for public, nonprofit, and private organizations including the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Amazon.com, Potentia Media, the International Foundation, World Vision and others.

Jessica's work with Kiva has been featured in a wide array of media and press including Oprah, the Today Show, CNN, BBC, NBC, ABC, PBS, NPR, the WSJ, NYTimes, the Economist and more. Jessica speaks widely on microfinance and social entrepreneurship, and serves as a director on several boards related to microenterprise development, including Opportunity International.

Jessica holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with Certificates in Global Management and Public Management, and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from Bucknell University.

Jessica is a trained yoga instructor, avid surfer and poet.

Erik's service project at our church, Sunnyhill.org, with his classmates in this year's "Coming of Age" program was a fundraiser for a Kiva.org account. They raised than $1,000 from our church with the help of a designated offering.

Erik also works with his middle school student government and they devoted some efforts to Kiva.org as well. The 'profits' from a dance went to Kiva.org.

The beauty of the Kiva.org efforts is that the funds are invested into various small business ventures (entrepreneurship) in the present. However, the funds are returned so that in the future, additional investments can be made by those to follow. So, other 8th graders at our church will be able to monitor what has happened and re-invest, if not re-double the efforts, in years to come. Same too with the International Studies students.

A few years ago, TalkShoe.com folks put together a 24-hour telethon of sorts to benefit Kiva.org. Erik and I co-hosted an hour of that show.

Our biggest introduction to micro-credits came with a former minister at our church, David Parke.

Schenley's Spring Musical for 2009 is Return to The Forbidden Planet

Show dates are April 23-25 and Apr 30-May 1 and 2! The show will be held at Peabody High School in the auditorium. Tickets are $7. See Ya There!

Last year, we went to the musical at Schenley and it rocked.

We also went to the CAPA musical. Details about that are welcomed too.

Tweet your postal code - E-Democracy.Org

Great, great, great idea.

Tweet your postal code - E-Democracy.Org: "Take the #LocalDay Pledge Now to Spread the Word, by Tweeting:

* On May 1 join me on #LocalDay and tweet your neighbors using your Postal/Zip Code - http://e-democracy.org/tweetlocal

Then follow 'localday' via Twitter for updates."

Some comments at Pittsburgh Comet to Anonymous. Hoppy Easter

The Pittsburgh Comet: Last Week's Financial Fireworks, Part II

I said 'pussyfooting,' in part because Councilwoman Darlene Harris bemoaned Lamb's delay of an Animal Rescue audit.

'Conspiracy' confirmed with Dowd's desire for an outside agency audit via an RFP, NOT by Controller Lamb himself -- so it would not delay OTHER PENDING AUDITS.

BTW, I'm not trying to get elected. Ds Walko, Dowd, Motznik and Ravenstahl plus Peduto (unopposed) are seeking election wins. Smith and Payne seek votes too, FWIW.

Hoppy Easter, Anonymous.

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I don't argue with the math.

To use your example, would you get in a position to owe $400,000 on a house that still needs like $4 TRILLION to fix (ever hear of the rain water run-off problem that hasn't been addressed) and is worth about $40,000?

I argue with the value delivered in light of the price paid in the past considering the costs yet to occur.

I also argue about the delivery of good governance by those in office today as well as in the past.

You should win the argument about the math. Must suck being a bean counter in a time without any beans yet great hunger.

The greater goal is for good government with purpose, not good math by those who deliver folly.

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Even More in the thread:

Bram Reichbaum might have posted in part:

People seem to be missing that this is not a resolution tearing up and burning the bond deal, nor is it a resolution declaring Patrick Dowd a hero and a genius. It's an audit to explain to us the risks and the likely outcomes of that bond deal.

Mark - This is the first time I've heard it alleged that Michael Lamb is lazy and incompetent. I shouldn't dismiss it out of hand, because I'm not a financial whiz and maybe Mr. Lamb is simply charming as he gives off an air of credibility.

(Also ... the 3rd party isn't being asked to "govern", it's being asked to perform a financial analysis. I don't see how this is philosophically abhorrent.)

However, I don't see that these are important differences. If we could get a full accounting of the bond deal tomorrow by kidnapping executives at JPMorgan and tickling them, I would be in favor of that. I don't care that the Council should have caught this the first time around, I don't care that it would be better if our Controller to do it. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, and knowledge of that bond deal -- if it can be discovered that our vendors misrepresented its terms or otherwise failed to maintain minimum standards of due diligence -- gives us the power to rescue ourselves from that deal.

That's the bottom line. Figure out how to get out of the bad deal, if we need to. That's why I want the audit on my desk tomorrow, when it might be used in concert with those efforts presently coming out of Erie, Butler and elsewhere. It's worth a measly $15K to potentially save the City tens or hundreds of millions. That's a lot of swimming pools. Why not let the City find a way to go back and fix its expensive mistake? It starts with an audit.

Jeepers. This is so far off the mark I should devote a whole new post to it. But, it is Easter and I'm on the bunny trail.

I second the motion that Bram should find the bond deal executives and tickle them. This would be productive even if one blogger gets some giggles.

The bottom line is not for legislative branches to figure out how to get out of bad deals. The bottom line for those who would manage and conduct bad deals with government funds is jail time. In China, it is worse. In historic France it is the guillotine.

Bad finance deals with public money need to be investigated by State Attorneys, DAs, prosecutors, high ranking public officials with investigative powers, controllers even. Then, as findings reveal goofy deals, political hay can be harvested and champions for taxpayers can be made.

A hero's birth would not hatch from $15k third party audits of disinterested contractors hired by a legislative branch.

First, the audit is going to be suspect. It will have its spin. It will be discounted.

Second, the audit firm, with its $15k pay day, is not going to tool the bond finance folks who steal by the millions. That firm will want future jobs, I imagine.

How about we agree to settle on the subpoena process?

More to come about knowlege and power.

Six day school week suggested

The US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, called for a six-day school week. He also wants year-round classes, higher pay for teachers, better paid for better teachers and more choices for parents to send their kids to any school so long as the parents are handing their kids over to the schools.

There are many days when I do a better job teaching my kids and their friends than the schools. Those days are often on the weekends and summers.

I understand that I'm not a typical parent. But come on. What do you think the education secretary is going to say.

He wants more, more, more.

I want better, better, better.

We need responsible, motivated, engaged, and thoughtful.

The quote in the paper, Page A3, Trib, April 8, says, "I will do absolutely everything to get myself in the middle of that conversation."

Bingo. That is the key. The education secretary, Duncan, should get in the middle of the conversation rather than getting onto one side of it so as to tug the kids out of extra experiences and into more school time.

Meanwhile, we've got for the first time (perhaps ever) in Pittsburgh Public Schools a week-long spring break. No school this week. None.

I wonder when my wife, kids and a couple of their buddies are going to be back from the Science Center? We've got to go to the gym and pool this afternoon.

Common Sense for Mayoral Candidates: Education Policy

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

April 8, 2009 Volume 9, Number 20

A good public school system can be, and often is, an important factor in the overall economic success of a city. At the same time, one thing is certain; bad school systems chase people with school age children away. If Pittsburgh is to reverse the decades’ long trend of population loss, the City’s poorly performing grotesquely expensive school district must stop being a deterrent to the City’s prosperity. However, unlike other City issues, education does not fall under the Mayor’s purview and there is little the Mayor can do directly to control or affect the schools since the District is a creature of the Commonwealth and has an elected Board to govern it. Nonetheless, the Mayor can use the “bully pulpit” powers of his office to lead the charge for changes that can redound positively to the education of Pittsburgh’s children.

We have described and analyzed the Pittsburgh Public School District and its problems on numerous occasions. The District is plagued by rising expenses, poor performance, and declining enrollment. On a per pupil basis the District’s general fund expenditures are currently above $20,000 a year, among the very highest levels in the state. Philadelphia spends less than Pittsburgh at $15,000 per pupil while the state average is just over $13,400. Pittsburgh’s per pupil expenditures are even further out of line when compared to other cities around the country such as Charlotte ($9,000), Houston ($8,000), and Omaha ($9,000).

Latest scores on the state achievement test (PSSA) 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 several of the District’s high schools the fraction of 11th grade students reaching proficiency falls below 20 percent. With scores this low, very few families with school-aged children will consider moving into the City unless they can afford private school tuition.

In an attempt to combat the problem of declining enrollment and to raise the academic achievement of students, the current administration in 2006 unveiled the Pittsburgh Promise, a college scholarship program for graduates of Pittsburgh Public Schools. Again, as we have documented, the Promise has not lived up to expectations for stopping the decline in enrollment or boosting lackluster academic performance.

In a situation this dire with all the negative effects the schools are having on the City, it is incumbent on Pittsburgh’s Mayor to offer a dramatic departure for improving education opportunities for the City’s children. And make no mistake, that should be the priority—not the teachers’ union, not the school board and not the superintendent.

Common Sense Recommendation for Mayoral Candidates:

Work to bring choice to Pittsburgh’s education system.

The mayor could push the Board to adopt the No Excuses approach to education and push for more charter schools. No Excuses programs emphasize decision making latitude for principals in personnel decisions and accountability for performance; a belief that all students can and will learn; and an academic program that is constantly evaluated and rigorously tested. This approach has been successful in other urban school districts around the country.

The mayor can also learn from the Milwaukee model and begin a program to provide scholarships for students to attend private or parochial schools of their choice such as the Extra Mile schools run by the Catholic Diocese and the Extra Mile Foundation. The Mayor should go to the business and foundation community and raise financial and moral support for such a program. The Mayor should also invite other education organizations such as Knowledge is Power to bring their highly successful programs to Pittsburgh. The introduction of meaningful competition could be the step needed to spur significant and positive changes to public education in Pittsburgh.

All the spending, all the programs, all the efforts of many years have been unable to turn the Pittsburgh schools around. And, there is little indication that a major turn for the better is waiting around the corner. Action is needed now. The Mayor can lead the charge to bring real change to education in Pittsburgh. The parents who truly want their kids to have a shot at a good education deserve better than the current system can offer. The moral and the wise thing to do is to break the stranglehold of the public education establishment and focus on true educational reforms by providing real choices.

After all, the primary obligation of the Mayor is to the welfare of the citizens of the City, including its children. Kowtowing to the powerful special interests that waste money and cheat kids out of a chance to learn must end. The taxpayers will be grateful as will thousands of parents who currently have no choice but to put up with the status quo or move out of the City.

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

Please visit our blog at 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 web site: 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:

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Thank you for your support.

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I do not think that all charter schools are evil. That has been the feeling with many in the school district and the teachers union.

But, there are more items to mention in the content above and to explain my feelings -- often a bit different than what is promoted by the Allegheny Institute. Even along the lines of 'choice' -- there are things that the mayor and school district can do not mentioned above.

Reactions welcomed, as always, in the comments.