Fw: WMF Nomination Form ARENA

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-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Pfaffmann <rob@pfaffmann.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:28:55
To: robadmin Home<rob@pfaffmann.com>
Subject: WMF Nomination Form ARENA



Thanks to Hal Hayes, who has been working in NYC on the TWA Terminal and brought this opportunity to our attention. The nomination text is a quick rework of earlier writing by Rob & Jeff for DOCOMOMO Rotterdam 2008 and the HRC nomination 2010.

We will fight this till the wrecking ball swings (Senator Ferlo we are ready to join you even without the Sphinxes ;)

"Pittsburgh: the Crucible of Modernism"
If we lose this fight, we will make sure those responsible for this loss are well documented on the web for posterity and future political campaigns. Like the Syria Mosque (still a parking lot we might add in the hottest real estate in the region), it will become our Pennsylvania Station.

We will then use this as the rallying cry for "Pittsburgh Moderns" a chapter of DocomomoUS that will fight on for Pittsburgh's modernist buildings not as curated objects but as useful and inspirational parts of 21st century Pittsburgh.

We will not forget.

Rob Pfaffmann, AIA, AICP
rob@pfaffmann.com
Reuse the Igloo
www.reusetheigloo.org
and on facebook groups: Reuse the Igloo

Public Transit and Private Investments - Dan Sullivan's mentions

Brian O'Neil of the P-G wrote about a Libertarian friend, Dan Sullivan:

Though hard to believe, private transit was worse
Sunday, March 27, 2011
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If ever you get to thinking an idea is new or will solve all problems, read some history.

Take public transit. (And take it quick, before your route is axed.)

Why not privatize it? The very word evokes a cleanup, like Simonizing the car or deodorizing your armpits.

But Pittsburgh had private bus service for a very long time. Only old-timers would remember the almost annual fare hikes in the 1950s, and fewer still would know that the Pittsburgh Railways Co. spent much of the first part of the 20th century in and out of bankruptcy proceedings.

Allegheny County's Port Authority took over Pittsburgh Railways and other transit lines, each with its own fare structure and no transfer privileges, in 1964 -- when these private carriers were circling the drain.

Dan Sullivan, 61, is an Oakland resident who rode the private trolleys as a kid and has been poking the powers on Grant Street for most of his adult life. But he isn't nostalgic for private lines.

A student of local history, Mr. Sullivan reminded me that Christopher L. Magee, Pittsburgh's 19th-century political boss, became nationally famous by artfully ripping off this city through the streetcar lines he owned.

Lincoln Steffens, the great muckraker, outlined that history in 1903 in "Pittsburg: A City Ashamed.'' (So many people were stealing from the city then that someone evidently absconded with Pittsburgh's "h''.)

Pittsburgh long has been allergic to a genuine two-party system, so a Republican machine ran the city then. Mr. Magee, a charming rogue in partnership with the harder-edged William Flinn, ruled all but absolutely.

"The city has been described physically as 'hell with the lid off,' '' Mr. Steffens wrote in McClure's magazine in May 1903. "Politically it is the same with the lid on.

"Magee wanted power, Flinn wealth. Each got both those things; but Magee spent his wealth for more power, and Flinn spent his power for more wealth.''

Rail, specifically the Pennsylvania Railroad, was king then. In Pittsburgh and in Harrisburg, its lobbyists distributed railroad passes to politicians. (Until Super Bowl tickets were invented, lobbyists had to make do.)

Rail barons became so adept at seizing land through eminent domain, Mr. Sullivan says, that America gained a new verb, "to railroad,'' meaning to rush something through. But the Magee-Flinn machine was too canny to just give plums away. The bosses kept the lion's share for themselves and the two men made ridiculous money.

"Magee did not steal franchises and sell them. His councils gave them to him. He and the busy Flinn took them, built railways which Magee sold and bought and financed and conducted, like any other man whose successful career is held up as an example for young men.''

Mr. Magee's Consolidated Traction Company was capitalized at $30 million at a time when the city's public debt was $18 million, Mr. Steffens wrote. Yet Pittsburghers not only tolerated this legal graft for a quarter century, they revered Mr. Magee. When he died in 1901, they began pitching in for his monument.

His memorial stands near the Carnegie Library in Oakland. Dedicated in 1908, when it attracted a crowd of 2,000 people, this bronze-and-granite tribute to Christopher Lyman Magee was one of the final works of the great sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Magee-Womens, the hospital Mr. Magee founded in honor of his mother, stands at the site of one of his old railway administration buildings.

There is a Citiparks swim pool also called Magee.

Mr. Sullivan's website, http://www.savingcommunities.org, has a long section under the heading "Private Railroads and Plunder.'' He believes "forward-thinking plunderers are recognizing that the era of the automobile is coming to an end, and want to get their transit back.''

I don't buy predictions of the car's demise, nor of any wholesale switch from public to private transit. But it's clear the Port Authority can't continue as a vital way to get around without a massive overhaul.

On Friday, the head of the transit union offered the equivalent of 13 percent in wage givebacks (with some of that diverted to the pension fund). The Port Authority board rejected that offer and decided Saturday to move ahead with the route cutbacks that take effect today.

And there's no talk of building any monuments to anyone.

He refers to Dan's website. The pertinent link is:

http://www.savingcommunities.org/issues/transportation/railroadplunder.html

This is what I will touch on at the conference in Minnesota, where several transit experts will speak on funding transit through land value capture.

http://www.cgocouncil.org/conf11.htm

Dan's Note: Our objection to privatized transit is that it consists of licensed monopolies. Truly private enterprise is either unlicensed or based on open licenses to all who can meet safety standards.


Harold wrote: I wish Brian had explained the basis of Magee's "legal graft" - one assumes it was through city and borough councils giving him bankrupted trolley and bus lines for free, rather than making him and Flinn pay the market price through a public auction, but it'd be nice to know for sure.

Navigate to this link: http://www.savingcommunities.org/issues/transportation/railroadplunder.html

The end point from Dan on the page above says: If public transportation is to function properly, it must be placed completely under public control and funded from the land values it creates. 

I support the "Land Value Tax."

But to the point of public transit, I also think that the PAT, an AUTHORITY, is wrong on a number of critical matters. First off, I don't think any authority is really under public control. The board members are appointed and are not accountable to the voters. I would love to see authority board members face 'retention votes' so that they must pass a layer of public review at the ballot box to retain their appointed positions. Last week I squeaked about this to Chelsa Wagner.

Furthermore, the public authority is too big and itself a monopoly. If we must have public transportation, allow for a bit of competition among the public entities. For example, PAT should be split into a bus company, a rail / light rail company, and then a tunnel and bridge and busway company. The third would be a physical asset company, more like a PAT Pike.

If PAT's busway, or PAT Pike, was a stand alone company, then I am sure that we'd have bikes on the East Busway and through the tunnel under Mt. Washington. I'm sure that we'd have the Presidential motorcade hit the busway for mid-day trips into and out of the city without jamming the Parkway West for a full day. And, I'm sure that the operation and maintenance of the tunnel under the river would not be seen as a wise investment as each rider would have to pay far more than $20 a trip. Plus, we'd get real transit hubs with small business development that made sense -- far beyond a few park and ride stations.

How to Design Neighborhoods for Happiness via Neal

It's been a while since I last posted, though the forum came to mind late last week when we (Shareable Magazine) published a story by Jay Walljasper entitled:

How to Design Neighborhoods for Happiness:
http://bit.ly/dIJ4NM

This is a great short post about how to design pocket neighborhoods. I hope it's helpful.

Neal

ps. more neighborhood stories and how-tos can be found on your neighborhood channel: http://www.shareable.net/tag/neighborhoods



Neal Gorenflo

About Neal Gorenflo: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/5uDGHs6vM6wnnONRLUHFXG

View full topic, share on Facebook, Twitter, etc:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/707D8Tu6BQFlKtv8EfNun2


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Losing Our Way - NYTimes.com

Losing Our Way - NYTimes.com

So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.

Flurry of Education Bills hit PA Senate

Thanks Ron C.

On March 22, the chairmen of the Senate Education Committee, Senator Jeff Piccola (R-15) and Senator Andrew Dinniman (D-19), announced the introduction of an 18 bill package aimed at providing mandate relief for school districts. The following bills were introduced:

Senate Bill 202 (Sen. Dinniman, D-19) would allow alternative certification pathways for principals and teachers; 

Senate Bill 293 (Sen. Eichelberger, R-30) would increase the thresholds for bidding contracts to $25,000;

Senate Bill 296 (Sen. Brubaker R-36) would increase the thresholds for bidding contracts to $25,000;

Senate Bill 329 (Sen. Dinniman, D-19) would suspend non-essential reports from districts to PDE in years in which state 

education funding declines;

Senate Bill 537 (Sen. Rafferty, R-44) would require a 2/3 vote by school boards to raise property taxes;

Senate Bill 612 (Sen. Folmer, R-48) would allow school districts to furlough for economic reasons and require proportionate reduction of administrators;

Senate Bill 801 (Sen. Waugh, R-28) would allow districts to bid single prime;

Senate Bill 802 (Sen. Piccola (R-15) would allow school districts to hire either school certified nurses or registered nurses;

Senate Bill 803 (Sen. Piccola, R-15) would allow districts to advertise from a menu of options including the internet;

Senate Bill 814 (Sen. Corman, R-34) would reauthorize the Mandate Waivers program and allow bidding for school construction projects both multi-prime and single prime;

Senate Bill 844 (Sen. Dinniman, D-19) would allow districts that are making AYP and showing adequate PVAAS growth be waived from PILS administrator training requirements;

Senate Bill 857 (Sen. Smucker, R-13) would repeal language that requires school districts to use increases in basic education funding for new programs and expansion of existing programs;

Senate Bill 858 (Sen. Waugh, R-28) would allow districts to hire certificated superintendents or candidates who have degrees in business or finance;

Senate Bill 869 Sen. Alloway (R-33) would no longer require school districts bordering Pennsylvania to provide transportation for students to attend out of state private schools;

Senate Bill 870 (Sen. Eichelberger, R-30) would repeal sections of the School Code that require 10 paid sick days and paid sabbatical leaves;

Senate Bill 871 (Sen. Brubaker, R-36) would suspend continuing education and professional development for teachers for 2 years;

Senate Bill 872 (Sen. Brubaker, R-36) would remove requirements for the establishment of concurrent enrollment committees and quarterly meetings;

Senate Bill 873 (Sen. Brubaker, R-36) would require the Secretary of Education and the State Board of Education to review and overhaul the PlanCon process for school construction and reimbursement.

The Senate Education Committee is scheduled to consider this package of bills on April 5.

2011 NCAA Division I Men's Championships

Fw: My underwater hockey team IN a commercial!!

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---

From: DEB RAMAGE <dramage1@hotmail.com>

Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:18:04 +0000

To: aem55@pitt.edu<aem55@pitt.edu>; Amy Ramage<amoid@comcast.net>; AndreaMcQueen<fishswimtoo@yahoo.com>; Arlene Kensinger<arlenekensinger@yahoo.com>; Barb Gutzwiller<blgutzwiller@zoominternet.net>; Ben Holtzman<benjamin.holtzman@gmail.com>; Betty Davic<edavic@kent.edu>; Bev Bradford<bbradford@camelotcoal.com>; Beverly Kerkam<beverly_kerkam@verizon.net>; <bradley.ramage@sunmed.com>; brecallender@hotmail.com<brecallender@hotmail.com>; Carol Lewis<cjpyatt@msn.com>; Carrie McDermitt<camcdermitt@gmail.com>; Char Morris<char514@zoominternet.net>; Cindy Byers<mgxb98@yahoo.com>; Cindy Reisser<crrpres@comcast.net>; Dale Wagner<mrdrwagner@gmail.com>; Dave Sherrieb<dsherrieb@indy.rr.com>; <david@relaxnow.org>; Dawn Gilson<vlangel@hotmail.com>; Dianne Gabel<di_gabel@yahoo.com>; Dianne Wagner<dikenkoda@zoominternet.net>; <dreckless@aol.com>; <ebusredos@comcast.net>; Gail Pebworth<pebwortg@wabash.edu>; Gary Torick<gwt52@consolidated.net>; Georgianne Barry<manatee7@zoominternet.net>; <gracenewstart@yahoo.com>; Grant Butson<grant.butson@lfg.com>; Gregory McQueen<c.gregory.mcqueen@erieinsurance.com>; Guillaume Besson<guillaume.besson@yahoo.fr>; Heath Wagner<hkw1973@yahoo.com>; Helen snead<helensnead122@gmail.com>; Jack Ramage<jramage@mbawpa.org>; Jack Beaulieu<jackbeaulieu@verizon.net>; Jay Ammon<jay@jayammon.com>; Jay Egar<eger@consolidated.net>; Jeff Grover<felix43@hotmail.com>; Jeff Banyas<jbanyas@zoominternet.net>; Jerry<bigmacsmlfry@yahoo.com>; <jmclaughlin@att.net>; Joe Humbert<josephbhumbert@eaton.com>; John Wagner<john.wagner85@gmail.com>; Jordan Wallace Ramage<jramage@mix.wvu.edu>; JoycePratley<jpratley@verizon.net>; Judy Wagner<jwg60@verizon.net>; JudyGoodhart<ljgoodhart@bresnan.net>; june00@zoominternet.net<june00@zoominternet.net>; karen Lucovich<klucovich@zoominternet.net>; KathyNevins Green<dksummers@ma.rr.com>; Larry Kuremsky<estates@kuremsky.com>; Len Schoettker<resist@zoominternet.net>; <lewfarm1@consolidated.net>; LindaHeery<heerys@zoominternet.net>; Linda Nath<snowbird@zbzoom.net>; LindaNeugebauer<wneug@atlanticbb.net>; Linda Schulte<lindaschulte29@gmail.com>; <mark.rauterkus@gmail.com>; Martha Smith<mas1920@earthlink.net>; Mary melick<marymelick@bigpond.com>; <matt@yanniassociates.com>; Matt Leisie<leisie1@zoominternet.net>; Max<maxwell.e.hand@gmail.com>; meyergab@verizon.net<meyergab@verizon.net>; <mgruetze@gmail.com>; MichaelKernan<mikernan76@gmail.com>; Michelle Ramage<michelleramage17@gmail.com>; Mike<mitchnd@yahoo.com>; <mkernan@planthealthcare.com>; <nettie5646@yahoo.com>; patrickandnugget@aol.com<patrickandnugget@aol.com>; patti3@zoominternet.net<patti3@zoominternet.net>; pdemarco@zoominternet.net<pdemarco@zoominternet.net>; Phil Bell<bellpb@muohio.edu>; Pohla Smith<pohla@aol.com>; pracoach@gmail.com<pracoach@gmail.com>; robert neubert<neu7@hotmail.com>; Robin Hazelgrove<robynhazelgrove@bigpond.com>; RoseMcQueen<roseandgordo@aol.com>; Ryan Mcdermitt<mcdermitt@yahoo.com>; SallyRadke<sally.radke@gmail.com>; Sam Gonzalez<samuelgonzalez2@eaton.com>; Shirley Golden<shirley25@comcast.net>; Stan Patterson<stan.patterson@poacfl.com>; Stephanie Kingston<stephanie.kingston@poacfl.com>; Steve Davis<stevejdavis@sbcglobal.net>; Susie Fleming<swfleming@verizon.net>; tessaandavie@aol.com<tessaandavie@aol.com>; Tom James<tjfirefly@aol.com>; Tom Swogger<tswogger@gmail.com>

Subject: My underwater hockey team IN a commercial!!

http://apps.facebook.com/unstoppabletour/
 
FINALLY!! Our Pine Richland Underwater hockey team is featured for FIVE minutes on this Utube/ facebook commercial just out. We helped film it last October but I couldn't tell very many till now. TOTALLY cool & so proud I didn't wind up on the "cutting room floor"!! Didn't know if they'd include a WOMAN fighting underwater with this "jock" or not!!  Love, Deb

Republican Candidates Betrayed By Their Own Party—All in the Name of the PPA | News and Opinion | Philadelphia Weekly

Republican Candidates Betrayed By Their Own Party—All in the Name of the Philly Parking Authority| News and Opinion | Philadelphia Weekly

Speaking of owning the bottom of the ocean, putting out a candle and a fire, and other insider political Libertarian views -- like ending the war on drugs.

Now that Pitt is out of the NCAA Tournament, who are you cheering for?

Might as well pick a favorite.