Campiagn Finance Reform Bill held for 12 weeks

Bill Peduto's half-baked bill about campaign finance reform was held for 12 weeks. It seems Bill has hand picked a group of citizens to make a better plan and law. Meanwhile, three on council spoke well to the list that Bill put on the table. The list was weak -- to say the least.

The list didn't include me.

The list has some nice people. Some people I know well and work with including Evans Moore of PIIN, Celeste Taylor (a community star in many ways), the League of Women's Voters leader who gave me props at the public hearing, and Mike English of PUMP.

The list was read and not made public by Bill. I'll make it public as I pry it out into the open.

Sala U., Alan H., and Gene R., each on council, raised serious questions to Bill's move by putting that list together so as to exclude others who are on the inside of this issue and have first hand knowledge.

Bill Peduto makes another fumble on this important issue. Sure, Bill took the ball and ran like the wind -- down field for 30 zig-zaged yards. But then he fumbles. With fumbles along the way, this is no gain. Making a fumble is a worse outcome.

Thomas Jefferson Think Tank to cover Health Savings Accounts

Update: I've been invited to make a brief presentation at the FEB meeting of the Thomas Jefferson Think Tank.

These guys and gals hold fine gatherings. I think I'll be at the public hearing in the Gold Room to speak out against the TIF at Deer Creek. But, perhaps this is your cup of tea? If you go, ask them to invite me to the Feb meeting to speak about the PA Senate race and the special election.

A key feature of President Bush's 'Ownership Society' is the Health Savings Account feature of the 2003 Medicare bill. HSA's give you more choices and allow you greater control over your medical care and expenses. In addition, they also allow you to accumulate any unspent amounts in a 401k like investment vehicle. Learn all about HSA's and how they apply to you and your family. Is this more government control in your life? Or less? Is this another step to socialized medicine? Or a step away?


Come find out!

For a lively, fun, and informative discussion, bring a friend,
your questions and opinions and join us at:

SILVIONI'S RESTAURANT 2125 BABCOCK BLVD

(ONE MILE FROM THE MILLVALE EXIT OF MCKNIGHT ROAD NEXT TO THE EVERGREEN FIRE HALL)

WEDNESDAY, January 5th. 2005
***DINNER (Optional - Please arrive and order before 6:45 PM)*** DISCUSSION WILL START AT 7:15 PM

THE THOMAS JEFFERSON THINK TANK MEETS MONTHLY TO PRESENT AND DISCUSS ISSUES. WE ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY POLITICAL PARTY. EVERYONE IS WELCOME REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PERSUASION.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone that believe
would be interested in attending.

RSVP OR QUESTIONS TO RAY HORVATH PHONE 412-630-9292 Badray531 - at - cs.com

Last night's social gathering: Drinking Liberally

Great time. Seems that the event is going to be a weekly gathering, each Tuesday at Finnigan's Wake on the North Side, near to PNC Park.

Well done John!

Got to talk with a half-dozen fellow bloggers. Got to re-meet a slew of others from all around the area.

I'd say the first gathering was a smashing success with 55 or so attending. To fix Pittsburgh, one beer at a time, well -- not since the chart room has there been such a spark. That comparison is mine, not that of the organizers. The connect was to the once popular Ground Zero meetings at the now closed pub, the Chart Room, in the Fifth & Forbes district.

Tonight's meeting: Democracy For Pittsburgh is at Mario's South Side

Perhaps I'll see you at this event. I'll be there, just after I give public comment in the County's Gold Room about my objections to the TIF at Deer Creek. We don't need subsidy retail plans in eco treasures.

I'm on the agenda, and I'll be quick. Next month I'll air out a few more items and issues.

DemocracyForPittsburgh - January 2005 Meetup

Agenda

6:00pm Happy Hour/Dinner
7:00pm Announcements
* Janis Williams, Trip to DC to demand challenge to election results
* David Tessitor, The Pittsburgh Open Government Initiative: http://www.openpgh.org/
* Matt Preston, Pittsburgh VIE: need data entry help
* Ed Dobson, Flood Aid report
* New North Pittsburgh Meetup Group (Baden, PA): http://dfa.meetup.com/731/
* New Organizing Meeting: January 12, location TBA. Please sign up if interested.
* Upcoming Event: Inaugural House Parties: January 20

7:15 pm Watch video from DFA: 'How Democrats and Progressives Can Win: Solutions from George Lakoff'
7:40 pm Discussion and exercise
8:00pm Special Guests about Pittsburgh Mayor's race:
Bill Peduto and Mike Lamb scheduled to speak. Also Mark Rauterkus, time permitting.
9:00pm?
Wrap-up (stick around as late as you like)

Steelers give slumping Pittsburgh a boost - Article in Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com City faces financial woes reminiscent of the 1970s, but resurgent football team offers relief. By Sara B. Miller | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

PITTSBURGH – It was the 1970s, and Pittsburgh's steel industry was on the decline. Mills would begin shutting down one by one along the city's three rivers.

Nice general story.

Sabina Deitrick, associate professor of public and urban affairs at the University of Pittsburgh gets the A+ for the day with this graph.

Already the city has shut down recreation centers and swimming pools and laid off workers. "People are going to notice it. And it's only going to get worse over time."

Exactly. It is going to get worse before it gets better.

Pittsburgh Mayoral Race: Ricciardi Bows Out Of Crowded Field

ThePittsburghChannel.com - News - Pittsburgh Mayoral Race:Councilman Alan Hertzberg won't seek re-election, but is thinking about a run for mayor.

Follow-up.

Traffic update and radio reports from the Wabash Tunnel

Yesterday was the first real rush hour for the Wabash Tunnel in outbound directions. Our drive at 4:45 pm was without another soul -- forward or back -- for the entire distance of the tunnel.

It felt like a ghost tunnel.

Rush hour is brewing all around the city, but not there.

We should be blasting traffic reports on the radio from the Wabash Tunnel.

My suggestions:

1. Drop the HOV (2 or more people needed at certain times) requirement all the time. I love car pools. But, I hate waste. If it becomes used in the future, put the HOV restrictions back into effect.

2. Make the other lane open to bikes, peds, blades and parents pushing stollers.

This makes is a nice short cut if you want to walk or jog from Brashier High School to downtown. Or, if it isn't being used, it might be nice to run in the tunnel at lunch hour if you worked in town.

The Wabssh Tunnel would make a nice TRAIL addition. It always could have been a trail facility. Tom Murphy can't even open up the HOT METAL Bridge for peds. That is another high priority that I saw years ago.

Let's think again. The Wabash Tunnel was last ueed ago some time ago -- like when this TOWN was run by REPUBLICANS. Hey, we can open the Wabash Tunnel -- and perhaps that opens up the ghost of political parties of the past and future as well.

Finally, if I'm elected mayor, or I should type, when I'm elected mayor, we'll hold the block party and gala within the Wabash Tunnel. That's the January venue and place to be for an all-night party in 2006.

We can't allow for big expenses to occur within the city and the county for things like the Wabash Tunnel. We're burning money. We're not able to do the things we need to do and are doing the wrongheadead -- and won't get ahead.

Report on sewage

Report on sewage to be released A National Academy of Sciences report scheduled for release this week will make recommendations on how hundreds of municipalities in 11 counties can cooperate to halt the sewage pollution that is fouling southwestern Pennsylvania's rivers and streams.

A major component of the report will address how that cooperation could trim millions from the estimated $10 billion cost -- $3 billion in Allegheny County alone -- of repairing aging, broken sewer systems that spill raw sewage every time it rains and threaten the region's public health, environment and image.

Pittsburgh's dance with the rivers is an often pondered issue. But, really, this river and city connection is more like a fad that comes and goes with the wind.

Mayor Murphy's claim of making riverfront development is more like a joke and less than truthful.

Okay, we've got the Convention Center. It faces the river. I has an under floor level water treatment that costs more than all the swim pools in the city -- and it broke last year. It has no functional purpose.

Okay, we've got Heinz Field -- by the river and with a city-scape view, if you can see around the massive scoreboard.

Okay, we've got a Jail Trail, but that's hardly a river's edge thing as it is squeezed between the bluff and Parkway East.

Then again, there are some blueprints for a re-do of the Mon Warf and the bypass by the parkway again. Might as well try to connect that to the Mon Valley Toll Way, but that's another story.

These efforts along the river net a letter grade of "D+" at best in my book. We can do much, much more. And, before we do the expensive things along the edge of the rivers, besides the new jail, we need to make sure our water gets to where it should and our waste doesn't mingle along the way.

We have serious infrastructure problems. The Democrats in town and in the county have been doing their best to ignore these serious problems.

Let's look for that report as it comes. Let's not ignore important elements -- such as infrascructure. Sure, it isn't sexy. But is is mandatory.

Our wants and our needs are not the same. Mature people understand those distinctions.

Study: Blog creation, readership grew in 2004

Study: AP & PittsburghLIVE.com: "'Blogs have been around for several years, but because of the coverage in the political campaign, a lot more people became aware of the idea of blogging and certainly went online to read blogs,' Rainie said."

If you want RSS feeds of this blog, we got em. You can also subscribe to the blog and its comments via an email subscription.

2005 Political Environment, Stu Rothenberg via Tim C.

Thanks for these notes by Tim C. He tunes into some C-SPAN coverage and puts up a recap. See the comments.

Nov 04 was a 'status quo' election.

Hertzberg won't seek another council term

Hertzberg won't seek another council term: "Councilman Alan Hertzberg announced yesterday that he will not seek a fourth term representing the city's western neighborhoods."

Another bites the dust.

I like Alan for a number of resons, personal and professional. He's a swimmer, triathlete, lawyer (and there are few on council), has put forth the idea of reform for the Pittsburgh Development Fund. Alan was in the the Mayor's plan and was on the URA Board. But, then he fell out of favor and was punished by the mayor. He was taken off the board and I suspect given the silent treatment for the next couple of years.

On the other hand, Alan was going the wrong way on WE-HAV. And, I can't figure out why. He didn't, to my knowledge, stand to defend the program and the entire endeavor.

The wild card in this move is his ambitions. Alan could make a decent candidate for Mayor. His name has been tossed into the discussions. Alan might need a break from office -- but he'll be back. Alan isn't like Dan Cohen or Barbara Burns, both former city council members who have worn out their times in public office and won't be back in any great capacity.

Finally, it is great to see the on-time announcement of Alan's intentions. It isn't early, nor late, just right as it should be. That resignation shows good respsonsibility and duty on his part.

Now the race can begin in earnest in the district. I love it. I want a race. I would love to see a few good people kick into high gear and awaken the area's political hunger. That area has been alive already to some degree. But, it is now okay to kick it up a notch or ten.

Bill said: We're not done -- but you've been fired! My Cable TV rant.

A C-SPAN for city governement. A nobel idea that wasn't done. Yes, we need an open governement system. I was ranting about that element within the ICA plans months ago as soon as it was in the released plan. December 31, 2004 came and a deal didn't. The city's cable TV department has been chopped. Three are out of work. Some remained.

Bill Peduto went on and on and needed to thank City Council at the end of the meeting. He mentioned that everyone got together and tried to make it happen. But Bill, it didn't happen. Mayor Murphy got personally involved.

Others in the administration, Rodney A., and Dale P., really tried to keep the department whole. Sure.

Theme: Whole not holistic.

We do need to struggle to get the cable TV department to function well and in the best interest of the residents. But, when you can't advance an agenda that makes so much sense, you all need to look in the mirror. More effort. More sweat. More heavy lifting.

Not only did I rant about the melting cable TV department months ago, but I tried to help. I nudged PCTV into the fray. On another front, I called Penn State University. I got PSU interested in the city's Request for Proposals. That was mandated by the oversight board. I talked to PSU officials and they were interested in getting a tour of the station and facilities. TV folks at PSU wanted to meet with the present employees. They had technical people that were going to come from State College. This was all on less than a week notice too.

I called dozens of others beyond PSU, from private operators to others. But, most wouldn't want to waste their time after hearing of the opportunity. Talk is cheap. But partnerships with real equity and investment with Pittsburgh's public leadership is just too risky and insane.

The city's RFP wasn't well advertised. It wasn't part of a press release. It was mentioned within the city's web site, but again, more advance PR was needed.

Here is another problem with the city-owned and operated cable TV department. KDKA TV doesn't care. The commercial broadcasters might find themselves at odds with the public / government station efforts. News at 11, I won't hold my breath. The diss-connect widens.

So, Penn State calls, wants to help, wants to do the discovery and due diligence. Guess what. PSU is denied. They are told "NO." The city officials won't grant them a tour. Can't says the mayor's crew. They really know how to apply the brakes.

That's execution. That's the shaft. That's the blame.

Furthermore, I (Mark Rauterkus) kept my nose out of the process as best I could when it came to dealing with Tom Murphy's administration. I didn't taint the dealings. I could only instigate efforts and bring people knocking to the door of the mayor's office. But, the door slamming in the face was for others who get city pay checks to do.

The act of entertaining the private bids as part of the RFP to operate the staion was nothing but a joke. The private sector didn't fail -- but -- the bosses in the city did. The employees didn't fail either. But, more could have been done. More still needs to be done.

Where are those public notes? Twanda Carlisle of City Council went to meet with Dr. John Thompson, Superintendent of Pgh Public Schools. She was flanked by three employees. They gave a great presentation that won over the support of Dr. T right away. Where is that presentation? Put it on line.

You say that the deal is off -- for now. Well, now is the time to redouble the efforts to have OPEN Government in the planning stages. There were too many things going on behind closed doors. How ironic as we need the telivision to shine the light on the meetings -- but we have to fight the fight in the darkness.

Here is an idea -- do a TV show on the TV station. Put the interview with Dr. T and the city council member and the three employees -- on TV. Let's all watch.

It took six years to merge 911 servies among the city and the county. I dare say it is going to take years to do TV and media services. And, for something complicated like EMS -- decades.

Pittsburgh is dead in the water and the ring-leader Bill Peduto is heaping praise and high tanks for jobs that are incomplete. Thanks for floundering. Folly and failures leave us empty.

My tough love suggestion to you today -- hold the next meetings in the studios with a live TV stream. Start by getting Dr. Thompson to the front of the camera. Let's here what his offer was and is. Where are those letters. Back track. Publish. Be open yourself.

This is a time for reflection. The image isn't good. To move forward, you have to be honest about where you've been.

Dan Onorato seems to be the fall guy. But, when I talked to County Council's Brenda Fraiser -- back before Labor Day -- she was a "NO." She knew what was what. She wasn't willing to support the program. Dan Onorato knows about the cable TV operation as he has been on city council. He knows how things operate. He sees the blatent self-serving, self-promotion and lack of objectivity in the extra programming that runs on the cable station.

It is a bad show to see the continual replays of Gov. Ed Rendell standing next to Tom Murphy with a three-foot cardboard check for state handouts (pork) about Frick at Sommerset. Then Rendell says he has not heard of ANYONE -- and he stresses N0BODY -- who has lost faith in Pittsburgh. Nobody is pulling up stakes he said. Nobody has tossed in the towel -- his words. He's standing on a slag dump for subsidized rich housing. He's not getting around. Gov Rendell is telling me he is out of touch.

I expect to see the miss-placed priorities from Tom Murphy. But, it rots the mission and the purpose of the cable TV division when they are run like a rented mule as a toy of the administration. Watching the state-sponsored TV in China is quite a bit like watching the staged city cable TV shows in Pittsburgh.

That, for what its worth, Bill P., is NOT what happens at C-Span. To have that C-Span vision, you'd have to leave something behind. What is trash in the present and recent past needs to be jetisoned. Call it what it is. Build up an ounce of respect and trustworthyness. Sanction the slop and NUKE it from the air. Be critical when needed -- and the needed times are frequent if not continual.

Dan Onorato does not want to play the role of a sucker and BAIL OUT the city's cable TV department. An expansion of same old same old is just more pain in the future.

To move this forward, as I hope it goes, you need to offer a self-study that is critical of where you've been. These workers might be brilliant -- but the outcome has been a lot of brilliant and trashy spin in un-objective programming.

Bounty Hunter oversight from Walko -- meanwhile we're 100 police officers light

Democratic State Represenative, Don Walko, of the North Side is pushing for new state requirements of Bounty Hunters. Jango Fett, watch out. You're not welcome here much longer.

Who are some bounty hunter characters from the movies or TV from wild west settings?

The PA Senate Judiciary Committee had a new law in committee a couple of years ago. It didn't go anywhere. Walko is in the house committee and he aims to push for the re-introduction of new measures.

The plan is to make the bounty hunters follow some extra rules set by the judges and the courts. What exactly, I'm not sure. Rep Walko, please share the details.

The matter has come to the front burner as two bounty hunters recently were in the course of their jobs in the North Side and shots were fired with rubber bullets -- and the fugitive died. Alleged. This hasn't been put to court. The DA is investigating.

One guy is dead. He jumped bail. He was in Pittsburgh hanging out and had been in trouble elsewhere.

We are to the point now where we should be empowering bounty hunters. Let's invite them to Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania. Let's not make it more troublesome for the guys who are working against trouble makers.

Mine is a tough on crime stance. Walko's isn't.

A woman small business owner in Oakland was robbed and on the TV news the other day. She begged for more police on the streets and slammed Pgh's Chief of Police, Robert McN, by name.

The city council president, Gene R., was on KQV's live line (Jan 4, 2005) and was asked about the police force strength directly. Interview host asked, "Do you think the people of Pittsburgh should feel safe now that the police force is at 800 rather than 900?"

Gene said, "Absolutely not." Gene then went on to talk about the quick need and support for the two new classes of police recruits that are to be trained and hired this year.

There is another example of the trend: Too little and too late. Now the force is too small. The new hires are coming too late.

Meanwile, in Harrisburg, our State Rep wants to make it more difficult to get the bad guys off the streets. Putting more red tape and burdens before the small business people who are helping bring bail bond skippers before the judges is wrongheaded.

Furthermore, this situation comes without any update as to how short we are in terms of police cars. What's happening at the shop now? And, the Citizens Police Academy is gone as well. I want to restart the Citizens Police Academy, and make it pay for itself. It could be a revenue source!

We could ask Plex, #80 for the Steelers, for the first donation to restart the Citizens Police Academy. On Sunday, while he's on the road wiht the team, three alleged theives hit his home and take some $65,000 with other goodies. Thank heavens for our nebby neighborhood ways -- as they were caught.

Keep up the good work neighbors. Go out of your way to watch out, make calls, and stay aware.

Ken's LTE gets a reply -- buzz about city conditions in poltical circles

Some noise is hitting the papers in recent weeks about candidates for mayor and the opportunities and fitness of the city's Republicans.

Letters to the editor, 01/03/2005RINO watch

After reading Ken Heiss' Dec. 28 letter, 'City Republicans,' I now more than ever understand the Democrat's death grip on the city of Pittsburgh over the last 70 years. Here we have a Republican chairman in District 2 who doesn't even believe in his own party. I always thought it was socialite Elsie Hillman who ran the Republican Party of Pittsburgh into the ground. But it seems the RINO (Republican In Name Only) forces are deeply entrenched throughout the city.

I live in Butler County where we actually stand up for our party and its platform. We know we offer a better choice of government and are not afraid to stand behind it.

I grew up in Allegheny County and I am ashamed of what Pittsburgh has become under Democratic leadership. Politicians chased me as well as many others north to escape the impending fall of the city. Now that it's happened, all the Republicans can do is act like their counterparts. If you can't govern, then get out of the way and let someone else who can.

TIM HABERMAN from Prospect

I don't want to PILE ON and heap more critical remarks to Mr. Heis or the City GOPers, but something must be written.

I have to say: I tried. I joined the Republicans. I joined the fight for the city with them. I know in my heart we need to do better than what we got now and what we've had in the past.

We can't give up. We, in this regard, stands to mean those who favor dissent. Churchill said, NEVER give up. Good advice for Pittsburgh too.

But, we can change our party registration. I did. I am now fighting under the party flag of LIBERTARIAN. I hope to make more friends with this more. I hope to keep old friends with this move. I hope to be even more friendly with Dems because of the move to Libertarian too.

We got a lot to do in the city. I'll not only help others, but hope to welcome your help in this campaign and battles yet to come.

Ken's article was published and the word I heard from some others was we (GOPers) are weak because of weaklings.

I'm not weak. I can't walk in that shaddow. Nor am I able to live under the shaddow of the Dems either.

Ken's letter found in the PG:

City Republicans

The Dec. 6 editorial "The Next Mayor: Is It Time for a Republican to Lead Pittsburgh?" is on target. However, the city Republican Party is weak. We have a severe case of city non-acceptance along with an environment of political apathy.

A Republican candidate would need more than a good platform. He would need an NFL pedigree or a magic wand to capture the hearts and attention of our voters in the city of Pittsburgh. He would have to have shoulders broad enough to accept the blame that would be heaped on him from the corner into which the city government painted itself.

The candidate would have to form a much stronger bond of trust with state government and he would have to have an acceptable, honest plan for the union rank-and-file that would constitute a fair solution their leadership could accept.

So far Act 47 and its oversight panel have been a way for Pennsylvania to drag its feet and punish our city in the name of political posturing because Pittsburgh (or any other city) can't support our one-party city along with our suburban neighbors on our property-tax driven safety budget. Perhaps if the mayor's next act in this administration were to drop the keys to our city on Gov. Ed Rendell's desk, state government might then see what a difficult task we have here.

We need a Republican candidate who likes Democrats as much as he likes Republicans -- maybe even more. I don't think the average Pittsburgh voter will accept that easily.

Good candidates do not grow on trees. Perhaps Lynn Swann will loan us one of his interior lineman as a city of Pittsburgh mayoral candidate.

KEN HEISS, Mount Washington

Editor's note: The writer is the city of Pittsburgh District 2 Republican chairman.

Ken hosted a half-dozen meetings about this very topic a year or so ago. I asked for a copy of the outcome documents. Notes, minutes, position papers are nice, IMHO. Well, I was told everything is in Ken's head.

I spoke at one meeting. My message to the 20 or so gathered had to deal with each getting five new GOPers each week for the next 60 weeks. That goal was about outreach. That mission would have generated 6,000 new party registrations for the city's GOP ranks. It was do-able, affordable, and significant.

I called for that as a course of action. I had in the past generated more than 100 new GOP re-registrations in the city in a course of a month. Been there, done that -- and know what's what in terms of work and investement.

Guess how much support my comments generated?

Research requested: Could this be true? Dysan Development is who?

Carl Sutter, 412-922-5668 (his phone # published with permission of course) asks some questions and sets the stage on a puzzle. Things like this happen too frequently. Can some here, smarter than me, dig on this and get report back on the finding. Post to the comments or email or call.

Seems Dysan Development, LLC is a PA firm. How do you find out who's there? Is there DBA database somewhere with PA State? My searching at www.inventpa.com and www.state.pa.us were fruitless.

Seems that a property in the city, 60 Greenway Drive, in Sheridan section, was sold July 17, 2004. It went from one owner to the West Pittsburgh Partnership for $1. Assessed value via the County website was $560k. Then on the same day it went to the new owner for $100K. And, the new owner might be a board member at the West Pittsburgh Partnership.

Humm... I'm not saying its all true. But, who can deny it or provide details?

Thanks for your help and clarifications.

Wiki vs. Blog < Discussion < Conceptmapping

Martin, another like me who needs an editor, is in tackle mode it seems with his new wiki about concept mapping. I love concept maps and want to marry them to the Platform.For-Pgh.org. But, I'm still searching for the right inspiration and utilities.

WikiVsBlog < Discussion < ConceptmappingPersonally, an analogy I've come to like is that wikis make space to represent the complex, ever-changing ball of concepts whose definitions continually accumulate opinions and whose relationships get reconfigured as the communities' shared language explores, teases apart and agrees on what is happening in their subject matter. By definition it is incomplete: never will everyone agree.

So if wikis are conversation tool, aimed at finding agreement, then by contrast, blogs are presentation. They are authoritative, statements of fact often presented in diary form. They get presented once, and each makes an independent stand in history. Sure, many people comment on the opinion stated in a blog, but those opinions will remain forever as comments, each separated and unintegrated in a silo kept away the speaker's opinion.

Real Estate & The Arts -- and invite plus a false-god reaction

From an email from, Andrew W. Thornhill,
thornhillontour - at - hotmail - dot - com

You are invited…

For the last ten years I have paid close attention to the proliferation of real estate successes based on close ties to the cultural community.

These ventures have been public and private, from individual structures to entire neighborhoods. As more and more professionals see the benefit of close associations between smart developers and the arts, I assume there will be even more interesting strategies to observe.

After a recent review of the amount of data I have gathered over these years, I have acknowledged that this could be a forever-growing file. So, to prevent absolute chaos, I am using these older stacks to create a better research routine.

My intended result is a book on the subject of positive cooperation between the winners in the land use planning, developer, architecture and builders world and the loftier planes of the creative artist, living environments, presentations spaces and cultural workers.

To narrow this wide arena, I’m starting with a Table of Contents for the book. The very innocent section titles are: National, State, Regional, Municipal, Neighborhood, Spaces, Buildings, Organizations, Trade Groups and Companies.

Based on this simple grid, I have started on my first outline. With this completed outline in hand, I will host a planning meeting on January 6th, 2005, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Our meeting will begin at 3:00 PM and end at 5:00 PM. Please join us if you can.

The setting is unique. We’re in the Carnegie Library - Homewood Branch, Meeting Room 2. The address is 7101 Hamilton Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. if you need directions, call (412) 731-3080. This newly refurbished building is now one of the more beautiful monuments to knowledge in Pittsburgh. Take a look at www.carnegielibrary.org.

I am writing to see if you would care to send information describing your project or to suggest other opportunities for the book. After reviewing the materials, I will surely have questions and will get back in touch.

Let me know if this would be of interest to you – or if you would like to attend the January meeting. Other meetings will be scheduled for groups and in cities across the country. Let me know if you have suggestions.

My next step will be to secure partners and sponsors.

Sounds interesting. At first blush I'd love to point out the fact that the arts generally make an interesting discussion point, but I'm not easily sucked up in the hype.

The kings of the past always had a tight relationship with the arts. Court jesters, court artists, and other artistic statements were often made at great expense and held in great value. But, so what. I don't want to live in a kingdom.

I'm a former publisher with my own indie small press. I never once got a "grant" or was on some sponsorship trip. He ends his note as the next step is to secure sponsors and partners. That's not the way to go. Make the book, author it, edit it, craft the messages, then sell it. Produce a product. Take it to the marketplace. Go into production, either with your own investment of ink, paper and glue -- or get a publisher to publish it and accept an author's wage. Investors and customers are not the same as "sponsors."

Even in Communist Poland, or in Ancient China, there have been great artists investements -- while the people suffered.

I'm one who values the arts in the time of Jefferson and Franklin. Make folk art. The French and the Eurpoeans thought little of America in our early ages. Rather, we were busy building wealth, industry, products and growth with liberties and a united group of states.

Don't get me wrong. I love the arts. I love making music and supporting the arts. I loved being part of a group of voluteers for PCTV's show, The ART of NEWS. Great value resides in these efforts from my perspectives. But, arts don't hold the key to real estate successes. Not even close.

Chad's Vo-Tech U posting and our interactions

A management prof at CMU with a nice blog that does not provide interaction raised some points about the role and purpose of education -- and the job quest.

I'd rather take the conversation to another blog space, but need to put it here, for now, as a public posting depot. Sorry if you're confused. My mentions are in part open-ended questions.

So, my offline email to Chad, the professor includes:

What about the "gear heads" who are at CMU doing things like RED STORM? Have we come full circle?

What about the lack of Pgh Public School's VO Tech high school?

Pittsburgh is a place -- as is CMU -- where we are great at building thing. Management is nice -- but the real value isn't from management -- but from the outputs / outcomes.

(I'm getting under you skin, Mgt. Professor... to kick up some chatter.)

I think a good scholar is also a good hire -- employee. But, isn't it a good scholar one who can organize his/her thoughts, paper-trail, resume.

And, what of life-long learning? Don't we really want to teach students at Universities not what to think -- but how to think and discover and continue to evolve themselves for decades to come. So, it is good for "know thyself" and good for quick interview and assessement to know what is with and about this other person.

Okay -- finally -- what about my resume? What about my thinking out loud in a blog format? What about the confidence that I hope to rally with the blog efforts? So, as a candidate, I need to build my 'resume' and my 'campaign.' Then the voters decide to hire me or not come election day.

So, we are doing a dance. I don't find that "harmful" -- but an extention of a more holistic way to approach the crafting of our lives.

As I blog, I rant about XYZ -- whatever. I'm sure I write things that others don't agree with. I go out on a limb. I'm not always "endearing" as some politicians might want to play it much closer to the vest. They don't want to fail or be a turn-off. But, that play it safe mode isn't the type of leadership that pittsburgh needs at this critical time.

Today the purpose isn't to reach agreement with everyone. But, it is to allow for public thinking, problem solving, building interactions, building relationships and pumping up respect among all sectors (or as much as possible).

Mine isn't a 'guarded management style.' For the grass-roots to thrive -- it has to be out there and wide. Bottoms-up and all.

In the end, back to the posting of yours -- I don't have much of a problem with the advice from the teachers at Dayton. I think it is more of an invite to be modern, up to date, self-documented, and highlighting the self evolution.

I'll post this on my blog --- and might cause deer in the headlights reactions from readers, but let's see.

Ta.

Elsewhere

I like to visit and post at blogs elsewhere. Some of my words posted recently at the blogs of others are in the comments section.

If you know of other blogs and comment areas on the net that would appeal or call for my comments, I'd love to see those pointers too.

Merger mania sweeps Midwest - part two - quotes and replies

As expected, the coverage from the PG is long on hype and absent on what I wanted to accent.

Not a merger mania (hype) word about Illinois and its Park District model. That's what I want to see covered by the PG or Trib or Pittsburgh Business Times.

What of the industrialized corporate farms that have nearly eliminated the family=owned farmstead? We just get to hear how Omaha is booming -- but not why. The outward migration from the country is a serious trend that has devistated small towns to nothingness. By the way, the exodus from the country makes the population decline in Pittsburgh much worse than reported upon.

The farm mergers have been a way of life for some decades, so much for the wide-open and fertile.

Merger mania sweeps Midwest: "In the old industrial Northeast, with its tightly packed neighborhoods and shuttered mills, city-county mergers have been mostly just talk.

In the wide-open, fertile Midwest, however, the movement toward metropolitan government has been as fast and furious as a hay baler in dry weather.

The merger action has been particularly hot in the Kansas-Nebraska-Iowa triangle, among a set of cities that are all within a 200-mile radius of each other.

Yes, the voters in Des Moines and surrounding Polk County, Iowa, rejected a merger last month for the second time in 10 years. Details like this shouldn't take away hype from the story.

My school of thought differs from that of the PG and some of the others in Pittsburgh on these two important matters. The quoted expert there says the key is a consortium of community leaders as an essential action to boost a region's economy. Note the economy element. If you feel it is okay for the local or regional government to make the economy prosper, then you go about on these wild goose hunts. Some say it is all about the economy stupid. But, the government is NOT what I want to see as a driver to our region's prosperity and economy. Governement's role isn't to FIX the economy. That's where and why we've had a lot of failures. Our purpose and priorities are goofy. So, we look for keys that are just as goofy.

Downtown retail stinks. So, Mayor Murphy and the URA want to make a new downtown shopping mall. Make others give up their properties -- by starving the area of police and street sweepers. Then take what isn't sold with eminent domain if necessary. Then build a few shopping sites with tax abatements and grants. Government solutions to the rescue for a market place flutter. Then we have mounting failures on past failures. The poison in the system gets toxic. Then a TIF is needed to build in Shadyside for Giant Eagle (Lunar Square).

The other huge headache on my part that makes me different, "The successful consolidations are guided by civic elites." Gulp. The elites are the key -- for some. Not me.

All the king's horses and all the king's men can't fix Pittsburgh again. The effort here must go far beyond the lifting that is capable from the well-heeled ladies and gentlemen with 401Ks and prior corporate-welfare deals. The overlords and Elsie Hillman types are in over their heads here. They've driven the city into a deep ruts.

The professors concluded that civic leaders must clearly convey the same message that former President Bill Clinton did in his first campaign for the president: "It's the economy, stupid."

There is that quote. I'm ranting on the first read. How about that. But, that's wrongheaded. The government is NOT the best suited to fix the economy. It is stupid to do Lazarus deals. It is stupid to do Lord & Taylor deals. It is stupid to expect prosperity because we merge the city and county. The city is so broke it is stupid for the county to want these headaches. The County is busy putting out its own fires and it would be crushed if it had to absorb the debt of the city and the city's woes.

Civic leaders decided it had to stop. They looked for the cause. "They saw bickering between the city and county over planning and zoning and economic policy," said Thurmaier, who was hired, along with Leland, as a consultant there. "They decided if there were one government, there would be one economic development policy and plan," he said.

This makes for another scary theme.... merge to stop the bickering. Gosh. The elites don't like bickering. Here is an idea along the same lines. Only have one child, and then you'll never have siblings bicker. Let's make a law like they have in China. Just keep the first born and abort the other kids. Then we can all get along like never before. Duhh.

The loss of dissent isn't what we need. That is what got us into the mess at the outset. We need not only other opinions and ideas to shine and be considered -- democracy is messy. But, we need choices among our locations. Edgewood can flourish for decades while Wilkinsburg can rot as the later was full of corruption.

Give us one government and we're setting sail in one ark and choosing to go without any lifeboats. I want diversity. I don't want to force conformity.

These are great benchmark's of community and civic progress: Today, Kansas City community leaders point to several tangible examples of the unified government's success in economic development: construction of a $250 million NASCAR track, a 400-acre commercial development across the street, an indoor water park and a new minor-league baseball stadium.

Perhaps the problem in Des Moines should really be called a VICTORY for the citizens and a problem for the elites.

Merger supporters had hired a consultant -- redflag -- ELITE expert who knows best -- way better than the citizens in their own communities.

Seems like these voters in Des Moines were smart as the voters asked themselves if they wanted to lose their sovereignty for $2.5 million in efficiencies. Sixty-five percent said no in November. A vote in 1994 went the same way. How much is sovereignty worth? Ever hear of "Give me liberty or give me death?"

Many have paid and are still paying for their liberty with their lives. I don't want to forget nor minimize those advances. Those men and women don't lay down their lives because of unity in the economic development office nor new NASCAR tracks. The saga of failing to focus on economic development until too late is really a failure to focus on economic development at all.

This is a framing issue. Why frame a loss of sovereignty on econimic development at all? Because the elites have nothing else to stand upon.

Des Moines, saga had another problem. The proposal failed to win support from key civic leaders, including the Polk County sheriff, a former city councilman and a former state attorney general.

That list is very lame as to a lack of key civic leaders: sheriff, one former councilman and one former state attorney general. Perhaps, more than 60% of the people account for more than those three scapegoats.

There is a breath given to parks in the article. How about a feature article on significant annexation powers.