Bruce Kraus raves about his trip to San Francisco. Worry reasons here.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/04/welcome-to-san-francisco-please-smile-for-your-police-scan.ars

Bruce Kraus raves about his trip to San Francisco. Worry reasons reside in ideas in this news.

Civic Arena: Petition and its easter is just around the bunny trail!

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

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From: Melissa McSwigan <melissamiller28@yahoo.com>

Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:35:54 -0700 (PDT)

To: <melissamiller28@yahoo.com>

Subject: Civic Arena: Petition

After the Sports and Exhibition Authority and Planning Commission voted to demolish the Arena this past summer/fall, Eloise McDonald of the Hill District nominated the Civic Arena for local historic designation. Preservation Pittsburgh and Reuse the Igloo co‑authored the nomination.   To date, the Historic Review Commission and Planning Commission have both rejected the nomination even though the Arena clearly meets several of the preservation ordinance criteria, only one of which needs to be met in order to qualify. Thus, the final decision on the nomination rests with City Council (vote could happen in May or June).   Demolishing the Civic Arena will have environmental, economic, and aesthetic impact, and once it's gone it can never be brought back. Why should we tear down this marvel of modernism only to build something ordinary on the site or, even worse, use the area for surface parking? We believe a re-purposed Arena as part of the Lower Hill redevelopment could be an exciting centerpiece and a renewed icon for Pittsburgh.  It could be a win-win situation for all parties –the Penguins, Hill residents, and the region at large.     Despite the odds, there are still reasons to be optimistic.   But we could really use your help by:   -Signing the following petition to government officials at the local, state, and federal level (including City Council): http://www.change.org/petitions/reuse-the-igloo-pittsburgh-civic-arena#opt_new=t&opt_fb=f     If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.     Best,   Melissa McSwigan Board Member, Preservation Pittsburgh     For further information, please visit: http://www.reusetheigloo.org/

Dave mixes sports and politics in a movie

Chuck Half wrote in an email that landed here:

Thank you for expressing your opposition today to a Special Exception being granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) for a social club with liquor license at 2214 E. Carson Street. Clearly, the will of South Side property owners, residents, businesses, and community organizations is to be granted a reasonable legal voice in zoning and permitting business options in the South Side. The ZBA will be making a decision based upon its very limited sphere of influence within 30-days.

Mayor Ravenstahl has supported this specific concern since March 2009 when he instructed the Law Department to defend any court action challenging the City’s 2007 Ordinance limiting the number of liquor licenses in a Pittsburgh Local Neighborhood Commercial (LNC) Zoning District. His agreement to support your wishes evolved from lessons learned during 15 meetings of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for the South Side (MACSS).



In mid-March 2011, PA’s Commonwealth Court upheld the decision by Allegheny County’s Court of Common Pleas reaffirming the unlawfulness of City of Pittsburgh’s “liquor saturation” ordinance. The ordinance was judged to be “an infringement upon the power of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB). The Pennsylvania Liquor Code vests the PLCB with exclusive power to control and regulate the business of dispensing liquor in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. By limiting the number of restaurants with bars in the area surrounding East Carson Street, Defendants [Planning Department and City Permitting Process] are impermissibly seeking to regulate the business of dispensing liquor in the areas so designated in the ordinance.”

Does the PLCB have too much power and impact in determining the balance of businesses in our South Side neighborhood? What do you want? Should the PA state government be operating wines and spirits stores in our neighborhoods? Should a robot kiosk be selling you wine in a grocery store? Should you be able to purchase beer, wine, and liquor in a single location? Should a South Side neighborhood improvement district (NID) be allowed to assess each restaurant with bar a fee based upon occupancy, or gross revenues, to pay for additional police protection, parking enforcement, and neighborhood cleanliness? Are any of these questions inter-connected?

Mayor Ravenstahl has requested, and the City’s Law department has agreed, to carry forth an argument of appeal of this anti-South Side decision to the PA Supreme Court. Until an appeal is officially filed by the City, however, any zoning applications and permits for restaurants with bars to the East Carson Street LNC can not be delayed. When the appeal is submitted, and until a PA Supreme Court determination is made, the liquor saturation ordinance will, again, be temporarily in effect. If the lawyer side of you is interested, go to http://www.pacourts.us/OpPosting/Cwealth/out/11CD10_3-18-11.pdf

Chuck Half

South Side Comminity Representative, and City Performance Manager - PittMAPS

Office of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

512 City-County Building, 414 Grant Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

412.255.0819 -office

412.287.2650 - mobile

chuck.half@city.pittsburgh.pa.us

I did NOT go to the public hearing nor make comment about this issue.

What does the city do well?

One slide in Bill Peduto's presentation says, "Best Practice Review: City does some things well." Really. To speak the concept, even many times, does not make it true.

What, exactly, does the Pittsburgh city government do well? Why not list them in the presentation?

City government does not keep track of its finances well, at all.

City government spends too much, as shown by the pension liability. Perhaps the inverse could be made to be true in that the city is GREAT at over-spending on workers who don't work for the city any longer. The city is great at trading votes for political favors: political paving, jobs and patronage, firefighters contract details, etc.

The city had been really good at giving away TIFs and other tax breaks in super creative ways. Remember how clever they were with the hotel developers at Bakery Square and "air rights" so as to not use the ground floor of buildings to skirt union employees.

To be fair, I do think that the city does a fine job at trash collection.

Here is Bill's slide show:

City finance-update-4-12-11-5yr-planb

View more presentations from Mark Rauterkus.

Before you talk about Barry Bonds, read up about jury nullification

This is a great place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

Pgh Public Schools parent meeting April 28th

Hello Parents - Please join Superintendent Dr. Linda Lane for a discussion on the 2011/12 budget and beyond!  This truly affects every family…don’t miss this one – bring a friend!

EVENT:   Excellence For All Parent Steering Committee

DATE:     April 28, 2011

TIME:      Dinner to be served at 5:30p.m.

               Meeting runs from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

            *Childcare is available*

WHERE:  Barack Obama Academy of International Studies / Schenley

               129 Denniston Avenue  

   Pittsburgh PA 15206

TOPIC:    $$$ Budget $$$  Please join Superintendent, Dr. Linda Lane, CFO Mr. Pete Camarda, and Title program coordinator, Mrs. Tamiya Larkin, for an all things budget conversation including:

·         The governors proposed cuts in education spending

·         An overview of it’s impact on the District’s finances

·         A look at the overall district budget

·         Site-based budgeting process

·         Title 1 budgets and parent involvement set aside  

                

RSVP: IMPORTANT: Please e-mail Wanda Spencer at wspencer1@pghboe.net to let her know how many are attending, including children. 

                

The Excellence for All parent steering committee is about parents from every school receiving information and engaging in two-way conversations with the Superintendent and other staff members so they can become more effective in helping their student succeed.  This comes along with the burden of helping other parents become more involved so their children can benefit from their involvement.

We need your help in reaching out to parents in your school or other schools.  Please share information with them.  Please recruit other parents to become a part of this group as well.  Remember we are looking for 1 to 4 parents from each school.

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday, please remember to RSVP

Mark A. Conner

Director of Family and Community Engagement

Pittsburgh Public Schools

341 S. Bellefield Avenue, Ste 359

Pittsburgh, PA  15213

Phone:  (412) 622-3941    

E-mail:  mconner1@pghboe.net

parent hotline: (412) 622-7920

Sports Headline: Lucky to get zero. These guys got ripped!

I love the sports reporting abroad. Here is annalysis of a rugby game between my old home town of Christchurch / Canteberry Crusaiders of New Zealand and South Africa's Blue Bulls. The Bulls are defending champions from last season. Those Bulls didn't do so well, it seems.

I get a kick out of the tone of the reporting. (pun), all within a single article:

+ Lucky to get zero
+ No threat of All Star players. All teams have their best players get lifted for stints on national teams. That's a good thing, generally.
+ Guys throwing away their names.
+ thrashed
+ Darkest day
+ thrashed
+ pathetic performance
+ unable to catch, unable to tackle, unable to think
+ showed about as much heart as a French soldier during the opening weeks of the Second World War.
+ Players have completely lost the plot.
+ Simple ease of making mistakes.
+ Senior players can't point fingers after his own poor effort
+ Not showing enough courage and passion.
+ display a shocking inability to master the basic skills of the game.
+ we could not keep hold of the ball
* It’s nice to read about a new living room set or a snazzy garden from a player in family magazines, but to gain respect from fans, you should as least be able to catch a ball and wear your jersey with pride. This characteristic is absent among the current crop of players.
+ did not belong on the same field.
+ Best ever example of simply cannot perform worse.
+ half-hearted attempted tackles
+ it was one-way traffic.
+ one handling error after the other halted them from posing any real threat
+ harsh reality: urgent introspection from every member is surely required.

Full article:

Bulls lucky to get zero

Pretoria - The one positive the Blue Bulls Company should take from yesterday's woeful Bulls performance is that they probably won’t lose any players for the Currie Cup competition.

It is incredibly hard to envision them producing any Springboks for the World Cup if they keep on performing like they did against the Crusaders.

The Crusaders thrashed the (current) champions 27-0.

It is not often that you see guys throwing away their names in 80 minutes of rugby like we saw yesterday, which is probably the Bulls' darkest day in recent Super Rugby history.

You would have to go back to 2005, when they also scored zero points (against the Higlanders), to find a more pathetic performance like the one in Timaru yesterday.

The Bulls were unable to catch, unable to tackle, unable to think, and showed about as much heart as a French soldier during the opening weeks of the Second World War.

Yes, they were lucky to get zero.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke simply cannot continue ignoring the reality of the performance from some of his players.

Pierre Spies, Wynand Olivier and Fourie du Preez, to name a few, have completely lost the plot.

And, if they want to have any chance whatsoever against the Reds next week, Ludeke has to make some drastic changes.

Every player makes mistakes, but the simple ease with which players like Spies and Olivier knocks the ball on, is simply unacceptable.

A clearly frustrated Victor Matfield admitted that those mistakes are unacceptable, but he could hardly point any fingers after his own poor effort.

Chris Jack taught him a lesson at lineout time, and his own handling error just after halftime resulted in the second Crusaders try at a crucial juncture in the match.

But, this is their problem. The senior players are not showing enough courage and passion and display a shocking inability to master the basic skills of the game.

"Not once could we build phases, simply because we could not keep hold of the ball," Matfield complained afterwards.

It’s nice to read about a new living room set or a snazzy garden from a Bulls player in family magazines, but to gain respect from rugby fans, you should as least be able to catch a rugby ball and wear your jersey with pride.

Unfortunately, this characteristic is absent among the current crop of Bulls.

However, one should not take away anything from the Crusaders, who currently play top-notch rugby, even without the likes of Dan Carter and Ritchie McCaw.

Sonny Bill Williams is the all beast he’s been made out to be, and the disregard he showed for the Bulls defence to score his team’s first try, shows exactly just how much better he is than the Bulls centre pairing.

The Crusaders completely dominated their opponents in every aspect of the game.

The Bulls simply did not belong on the same field.

If there’s ever been an example of one team giving it as good as they’ve got, and one who simply cannot perform worse, then yesterday’s match was just that.

Williams’ try, after he easily broke through half-hearted attempted tackles by Morne Steyn and Wynand Olivier, and three penalties from flyhalf Matt Berquist, gave the Crusaders a handy, though not unassailable lead at halftime.

Matfield’s blunder though, resulted in a try by Israel Dagg, and after that it was one-way traffic.

The Bulls tried to get momentum, with guys like Zane Kirchner, Francois Hougaard and Dean Greyling giving their best, but one handling error after the other halted them from posing any real threat to the Crusaders line.

The Bulls only chance for points came in the first half, when Morne Steyn missed a penalty.

This is the harsh reality for a team, where urgent introspection from every member is surely required.

And Bruce Kraus thought I gave him a hard time. Ha.

Meet the four Dem Party candidates for nomination for Pittsburgh City Council, District 3. March Debate Videos

From my camera to your brain, thanks to the efforts of the South Side Community Council and the Brashear Assocation, from March 2011.

Each of the 12 parts has the replies from the four candidates, with one miss due to a different camera angle need. The order is mixed among the four with each question.

My opinions are being curbed in this blog post.

Hint: The Viddler video server software is especially valuable as mini-notes can be put into the video along the timeline button. But, to leave a note, you'll need to use a Viddler account and log in.

Part 1: Opening statements:



Part 2: Two problems, quality of life, and realistic solutions:



Part 3: Proposed Neighborhood Improvement District, NID:



Part 4: Saturation of bars on the South Side and the failed attempt to restrict them:



Part 5: Cooperation and relationship with the mayor's office:



Part 6: Cooperation with East Carson Street Business Owners:



Part 7: Best asset of the South Side and its protection:



Part 8: South Side Slopes and Flats distinctions:



Part 9: Parks plans:



Part 10: Bad boy city employees:



Part 11: Keeping tax incomes in the South Side:



Part 12 and conclusion:

Your comments are welcome as part of this blog posting, or at Viddler.com, or best of all, within the timeline of the videos. Click the bead that scrolls along the horizontal timeline and insert your tidbits. Then those remarks show up for others to see as they watch.

Feel free to email this URL to others to have them check out the videos on the Pittsburgh group at Viddler: http://www.viddler.com/groups/pittsburgh .

The direct link to this blog posting is: http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2011/04/meet-four-dem-party-candidates-for.html  .