Thursday, May 11, 2006

Free D.C. event for student journalists

On Friday, June 2, "The Nation" and CampusProgress.org will co-host a FREE Student Journalism Conference at the Center for American Progress in Washington D.C.

Student writers will have the opportunity to come together for a day of conversations, workshops, panels, and trainings featuring numerous "Nation" editors and writers, including Katrina Vanden Heuvel, David Corn, John Nichols, Liza Featherstone, William Greider, Eric Alterman, Laura Flanders and Victor Navasky, among many others.

Registration is free including meals. A limited number of travel stipends are still available. Both undergraduates and graduate students are welcome.

The application deadline is May 15.

For more information, http://www.alternet.org/nationinfo or, to apply, http://www.alternet.org/nationapply

For progressive journalism, Kristina Rizga, Editor, WireTapMag.org

Online Journalism Awards: Entries Start May 15 to June 15. The entry form is not yet online, but will be available shortly.

Honus & Me -- a great audio from SLB -- and the 10-year old meets a neighbor

Pittsburg....

This is a great listen about a play now at City Theater -- on the South Side. Everyone should give it a listen. And, I love the SLB with Larry.
Brigadier Briefings report:

Last night, we enjoyed the debut of City Theatre's "Honus and Me", a magical and fast-moving play with great Pittsburgh connections -- past and present -- that the whole family will enjoy. For an audio preview and ticket information, visit http://slbradio.com/slb/citytheatre.html.
Click that link (above) already.

Greedy - that word fits.

Cass wrote from eastern Pa to point out a new poll.
Did you see this poll that shows when asked, Pennsylvanians most often called the state legislature "greedy?" It's a big deal, especially since those polled weren't given multiple choice answers - they came up with the word on their own. Other words used to describe them include “crook,” “poor,” and “corrupt.”

IssuesPA/Pew Poll Shows Pennsylvanians

Dissatisfied with State Direction

Pennsylvanians Have Mostly Bad Things to Say About the State Legislature

May 10, 2006 (Harrisburg, PA) – A new IssuesPA/Pew poll shows that close to half (49 percent) of all Pennsylvanians are dissatisfied with the direction of the state, compared to just 43 percent who are satisfied with the state’s direction. These are the most negative ratings recorded in an IssuesPA/Pew poll since August 2004. These results also show the widespread nature of the dissatisfaction – reaching more than 50 percent in four of the six regions in the state; only one month ago, dissatisfaction was over 50% in only one region.

The poll also shows that rising gas prices are one factor behind Pennsylvanians’ growing dissatisfaction. Mentions of high gas/fuel prices as the most important problem facing the state have doubled in the past month (13 percent now versus six percent in March).

Views of the Legislature

When asked for a one-word description that best describes the legislature, the largest number of Pennsylvanians (69 respondents) said, “greedy.” Though the top ten list of responses includes some positive or neutral words like “good,” “okay,” and “fair,” most have a negative connotation such as “crook,” “poor,” and “corrupt.”

Only a quarter (26 percent) of Pennsylvania residents feel they can trust the legislature to do what is right just about always or most of the time. Nearly seven in ten (67 percent) feel they can be trusted only some of the time or never.

Pennsylvanians’ negative perception of the legislature might carry over into this year’s elections, as two-thirds (66 percent) of voters say that an incumbent state legislator’s vote on the pay raise should be a very important issue in this year’s legislative elections

“The well-reported furor over the Legislative pay raise appears to be having a lasting effect,” said Larry Hugick of PSRAI. “Pennsylvanians express low confidence in the state legislature as whole but have more positive opinions of their own state representatives.

Education

Education has emerged as a key issue in the 2006 elections. Most voters (85 percent) say that making sure high school graduates have the skills they need for college or a career will be very important in determining their vote in the gubernatorial and legislative races this year. Eighty-one percent say that making sure children have a similar opportunity for a quality education regardless of where they live will be very important. Voters were asked to rate the importance of 30 different issues this spring. Only one other issue – providing health care for uninsured children – was rated “very important” by 80 percent or more of the respondents.

Across Pennsylvania, most residents (56 percent) agree that financing education should be the responsibility of the state government. However, a similar majority (53 percent) want local school officials to be in charge of ensuring that public schools provide a quality education.

Gubernatorial Race Still Wide Open


The poll asked Pennsylvania voters about their chances of voting for Ed Rendell and Lynn Swann in the November gubernatorial election. Based on their responses to two questions, three in 10 (30%) voters are likely to support Rendell, another three in 10 (29%) are likely support Swann, and four in 10 (40%) are classified as swing voters, not strongly committed to either candidate. The new poll shows more voters on the fence than the March 2006 poll; the number of swing voters has increased by six percentage points.

Other Findings

Three in four (75 percent) voters statewide say the candidates’ positions on how to best control state spending will be very important to their vote.

More than two-thirds (71 percent) of voters say the candidates’ positions on how to best provide a tax system that is fair, adequate and pro-growth will be very important to their voting decision.

About half (52 percent) think the issue of helping cities and towns solve their financial problems should be very important.

Most Pennsylvanians (63 percent) do not think local communities without their own police department should be charged a service fee for state police protection.

Residents have many reasons for disliking local property taxes. Even numbers of Pennsylvanians (21 percent) say their main complaint about property taxes is that they make home ownership unaffordable and don’t specifically take household income into account.

In terms of reducing the property tax rates, the two least acceptable alternatives are expanding the state sales tax base (27 percent) and increasing the local wage tax (25 percent).

More than a third of Pennsylvanians (38 percent) think that conditions affecting their region’s economic performance have gotten worse in the past four years.

“There are a number of issues that matter to Pennsylvanians, and many of them may be important factors in the 2006 elections,” said Steven Wray, Project Director of IssuesPA and Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Economy League’s office in Philadelphia. “The candidates’ positions on taxes, jobs and education may be key in deciding what could be a very close race.”
More pointers and details in the comments.

Rip-off: As seen on City Council! - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Rip-off: As seen on City Council! - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Got yourself a councilmatic yet?

What? You don't yet own this amazing appliance that conveniently slices, dices and easily purees facts and opinions for insertion into hastily complied research?

That's understandable, I suppose. They can be expensive. Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle spent $28,795 on hers."

Locals Lead with Logic from Lessons Learned

Firms' familiarity breeds attempts - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 'If you look at what's happening Downtown, local people are making it happen,' O'Connor said. 'Any investor is welcome, but local people seem to be the ones coming up with the best ideas.'
Of course the locals are going to be the ones best suited to fix our problems.

Pittsburgh has had a great fall. The locals along with the king's men and king's horses have to be engaged with the rebuilding.

The ones that come up with the best ideas come from anywhere and everywhere -- really. In an open-source model -- that can be locals, but it can be anyone under the sun. Every comment is taken.

So, we have a core of prime developers -- but we still need to have that public process.

I'd love to see that contract being let from the URA to Urban Design Associates as to what is going to be expected from the strategic plan.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

City seeks advertising dollars -- sooooo, Les Ludwig Won!

Les Ludwig was a candidate for Mayor in the Dem primary in May, 2005 -- just one year ago. He talked constantly about this very topic -- art-advertising income.

Do more with Les.

His idea took root more than a year ago on the County Council. Now it is getting serious attention on City Council's agenda.

Les Ludwig MUST be put onto this 'task force.' Les really extended the conversation on this front and he has to be included. And, if I was Luke Ravenstahl, I'll give Les a big, public pat on the back and make him the first official appointment to this committee. And, give him special emeritus status too.
City seeks advertising dollars, sponsorships The City-County Building will not bear a corporate logo, and Schenley Park won't be renamed for a bank, but the City of Pittsburgh is preparing to solicit advertising dollars.

City Council today unanimously approved Council President Luke Ravenstahl's legislation creating a committee to look into selling ads on city buildings, ballfields, street furniture, cable programs and Web pages, as well as other means of reeling in corporate dollars.

City fires Weed and Seed coordinator

John T, a guy I know from being out and about in the community, like he is, got terminated today. The reasoning is unknown in the paper -- and with me.

Weed and Seed hit a bump in the road a bit in recent times. The prior director was terminated in the first hours of the new administration. I think that went down as the police boss was also let go, or around that time. But, then, John T. kept onto his job and might have picked up additional duties.
City fires Weed and Seed coordinator: "Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor's administration has terminated the coordinator of the city's Weed and Seed program. A mayoral spokesman said the program would continue to operate while the administration seeks a new coordinator.

The terminated coordinator, John T. Tokarski Jr., 49, of Hazelwood, started with the city in 1994. "
Weed and Seed is nice. But, my approach calls for Weed, Seed and Flourish. When do we ever get aroud to a HARVEST if we are always doing the weed and seed things?

There are too few programs in the city that are built to FLOURISH. We want our kids to soar. I want the buddies of my children to be able to soar too. We need to have a framework in the schools, parks, and neighborhoods where excellence is expected. That means we need more than 'lifeguards.' We need 'coaches.' We need programs that push and pull our kids.

I want my children to be in gangs. But I'm not talking about 'street gangs.' I want them to engage in gangs that are positive experiences.

A band, orchestra, swim team, and other efforts are 'gang-like' -- but -- postitive. That is the missing leg on the chair in the past approaches with our city.

Let us 'Create Literate Olympians Here.' That's the point of CLOH.Org, one of my hobby sites. That is a theme I'm wiling to sing and dance about for hours.

Do weed. Do seed. Fine. But let's also be sure that the entire forumla for success is established --- FLOURISH.

John, you did good work. You did a lot of time in duties where you had to make chicken soup and you only got chicken droppings to scratch about with.

John, you did a good job of survival and influence when Tom Murphy was in office too. I hated Tom Murphy's acts and the crew that was around him -- but -- for you.

John, let me know what your up to next.

Council clears way for PNC tower work to begin. I would have raised questions and voted NO

When I ran for city council -- just months ago -- I mentioned this tax break for PNC many times. I always talked about it. Meanwhile, the others on the campaign trail generally did not -- except for two others.

Jeff Kock, the eventual winner of the race, never mentioned tax breaks. He didn't have much to say about how the city council people always vote to give away our public money to big projects that fail to help the city and fail to make good financial sense.

Jeff Kock must have been told how to vote on this tax break by others -- such as the mayor.

I'd love to lobby new Mayor, Bob O'Connor, and get him to VETO the TIF to PNC. It is something that was hatched by Tom Murphy and Ed Rendell. The state (Pennsylvania) already gave PNC $30-million for this same building. That was a 'grant' and that is also illegal, but that is another story.

O'Connor won't veto this building.

Build the darn building -- but do it on its own merits with its own money -- not taxpayer funding.

The PNC Plaza is getting more than $1-million per floor. The citizens and taxpayers are getting robbed.

Council clears way for PNC tower work to begin City Council gave final approval to an $18 million subsidy for a new PNC Financial Services Group tower planned for Fifth Avenue.
I would NOT have voted to provide this Tax Break to the rich corporation. I would have voted to protect the taxpayer money -- not give it away. I would have voted to keep the funding in the schools, not help the profits of a downtown based business.

Furthermore, I would have been on council giving serious questions to those on the URA, the mayor's office, PNC, and others about this deal. I would have attacked the reasoning from every angle. I would have made a case as to how the $18-million could have been spent in other ways.

I worry -- why do we give money to build a hotel downtown when places like The Hilton -- are not performing as they need to perform. And, why undercut that long-time business with a subsidy to bring in another competitor. Next up -- see more requests for money to be spent on hotels downtown to prop up the others.

When things are not fair -- people walk away. The Hilton, Doubletree, Mariott, Wm. Penn and others from downtown to South Side to North Side -- can all smell the foul stentch of bad deals.

City Council Member Bill Peduto voted no on the deal. He was the only one. Good for Peduto. But, Peduto endorsed Bruce Kraus in the city council race I was in recently. Kraus would have voted WITH the TAXBREAK and NOT with Peduto. Kraus is all about doing big corporate welfare deals too. Kraus is a Chamber guy. Kraus would not have stood with Peduto in opposition on things that really mattered.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Britain targets improvements to reach medal target in 2012

The Brits are turning on the heat in various sports and with various athletic programs in the years to come. Come on -- get 4th!
SI.com - Olympics - Britain targets improvements to reach medal target in 2012 - Tuesday May 9, 2006 1:17PM... Cycling, rowing, sailing, equestrian and modern pentathlon regularly deliver medals for Britain and will have to 'consolidate on their success.'

Archery, boxing, canoeing, judo and badminton have a 'sporadic track record' and will need to increase their medal totals, he said.

The BOA is also targeting other sports where Britain is weak, including weightlifting, wrestling and water polo.

Meanwhile, London organizers said they will embark on a 'road show' across Britain to promote the games. The tour will begin in London on July 6 -- a year to the day after the city was awarded the Olympics -- and run until July 27, exactly six years before the opening ceremony.

Also Tuesday, a public hearing began into the forced relocation of businesses from the Olympic park in east London. Olympic organizers have about 86 percent of the land needed for the complex, but dozens of businesses are fighting eviction.

The London Development Agency has issued a 'compulsory purchase order' covering 306 hectares (756 acres) in the Olympic precinct."
In other news, eminent domain acts are an important next step in getting access to the land for the Olympic venues in East London.

Perhaps we could write new eminent domain laws in PA -- or elsewhere in the USA -- that pledge no eminent domain, UNLESS it is for the Olympics. Maybe not.

Bubble sport for the Brits.

Olympic racquet -- not always about a racket.

Blog Quiz:
Guess the sports of the Modern Pentathalon? (See comments for answer.)

Developers pass -- but this isn't any 'bid' -- it is cronism, plain and avoidable

Of course developers are going to walk away. They are voting with their feet. People leave when things are not 'fair.' People depart when there isn't a 'square deal.' People don't want to be part of a hand-picked dance.

This is business. And, this is business with public officials and public assets. We should have called for a comprehensive public participation process.. We should be doing bids, sealed bids. We should have accountability with a set of specifications. We should make up our mind as to what fits, what is ideal, what we are willing to provide. Then we should accomidate all suitors.
Developer may pass up bid - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Developer may pass up bid for Fifth-Forbes job

By Andrew Conte, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Yet another national retail developer appears to be losing interest in Pittsburgh's main retail corridor after spending months studying ways to bring the area back to life, Mayor Bob O'Connor said Monday.

Madison-Marquette, based in Washington, D.C., would become the fourth suitor to pass on remaking the area since 1999. A company spokesman declined to comment.

'I don't think Madison-Marquette is interested any more in the project,' O'Connor said.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Must read for all musicians and lovers of music -- Extra! Online, May 5, 2006

Extra! Online, May 5, 2006 Strike up the band ... safely
UPMC helps protect the hearing of Pittsburgh’s young musicians
See the article, now, before the URL changes.

Extra, a UPMC newsletter: Features Catherine


Students don goggles to guard their eyes while in the chemistry lab. On the football field, no one participates without wearing a helmet and pads.
It only makes sense then, says UPMC’s Catherine Palmer, PhD, for school districts to take steps to protect student musicians from a danger they face each time they tune up for a rehearsal.

Biker Event - open the tunnel

Bike lanes are needed too -- along with the tunnels.

Tunnel for pedestrians in Xian, China. The people can walk in a safe way under the ten lane road -- without stopping the flow of traffic. Most of the tunnels have ramps build in along the steps that allow for the pushing of bikes to join the walkers.
BST Event The Somerset County Rails-to-Trails Association (SCRTA) invites you to join the Light at the End of the Tunnel Celebration on Saturday, May 27th from noon to 3 pm at the Western Maryland Railway Station, Meyersdale, PA.

Trail rides, refreshments, entertainment, displays, and activities are planned for visitors of all ages. A grand opening ceremony will take place at 2 pm.
This is great progress. Soon the Pittsburgh to DC trail is going to be a real deal.

This September there is a 'World Clinic' for ASCA (swim coaches). It would have been great, given the price of gas, to be able to bike with 10-20 other swim coaches in the region on a three day trip to DC for the event.

I do like to push the functional benefits of biking -- not just the recreational ones. I think we need more bikes for everyday work and everyday travel. That means bikes get to take the place of cars. Bikes need bike lanes on busy city streets for commuters and travel to school.

Ticket to freedom with content contributions

My photos, such as this (click for larger view), are being organized and in the hopper pending a full release into the public domain, or a similar license as being discussed now. We need to be able to chunk blocks of knowledge freely. We need to extend conversations and global understandings. We need to have the rights and liberties to have the elements come together. And then the experts are going to be the ones with the best insights and glue.

The Wikipedia universe and free content efforts are getting a facelift, again, with a new, needed, trusted '''free and open content license.''' It looks very good.
The free culture movement is growing. Hackers have created a completely free operating system called GNU/Linux that can be used and shared by anyone for any purpose. A community of volunteers has built the largest encyclopedia in history, Wikipedia, which is used by more people every day than CNN.com or AOL.com. Thousands of individuals have chosen to upload photos to Flickr.com under free licenses. But - just a minute. What exactly is a "free license"?

In the free software world, the two primary definitions - the Free Software Definition and the Open Source Definition - are both fairly clear about what uses must be allowed. Free software can be freely copied, modified, modified and copied, sold, taken apart and put back together. However, no similar standard exists in the sphere of free content and free expressions.

We believe that the highest standard of freedom should be sought for as many works as possible. And we seek to define this standard of freedom clearly. We call this definition the "Free Content and Expression Definition", and we call works which are covered by this definition "free content" or "free expressions".

Neither these names nor the text of the definition itself are final yet. In the spirit of free and open collaboration, we invite your feedback and changes. The definition is published in a wiki. You can find it at:

http://freedomdefined.org/ or http://freecontentdefinition.org/

Please use the URL http://freedomdefined.org/static/ (including the trailing slash) when submitting this link to high-traffic websites.

There is a stable and an unstable version of the definition. The stable version is protected, while the unstable one may be edited by anyone. Be bold and make changes to the unstable version, or make suggestions on the discussion page. Over time, we hope to reach a consensus. Four moderators will be assisting this process:

  • Erik Möller - co-initiator of the definition. Free software developer, author and long time Wikimedian, where he initiated two projects: Wikinews and the Wikimedia Commons.


  • Benjamin Mako Hill - co-initiator of the definition. Debian hacker and author of the Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 Bible, board member of Software in the Public Interest, Software Freedom International, and the Ubuntu Foundation.

  • Mia Garlick. General Counsel at Creative Commons, and an expert on IP law. Creative Commons is, of course, the project which offers many easy-to-use licenses to authors and artists, some of which are free content licenses and some of which are not.

  • Angela Beesley. One of the two elected trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. Co-founder and Vice President of Wikia, Inc.


  • None of the moderators is acting here in an official capacity related to their affiliations. Please treat their comments as personal opinion unless otherwise noted. The Creative Commons project has welcomed the effort to clearly classify existing groups of licenses, and will work to supplement this definition with one which covers a larger class of licenses and works.

    In addition to changes to the definition itself, we invite you to submit logos that can be attached to works or licenses which are free under this definition:

    http://freedomdefined.org/Logo_contest

    One note on the choice of name. Not all people will be happy to label their works "content", as it is also a term that is heavily used in commerce. This is why the initiators of the definition compromised on the name "Free Content and Expression Definition" for the definition itself. We are suggesting "Free Expression" as an alternative term that may lend itself particularly to usage in the context of artistic works. However, we remain open on discussing the issue of naming, and invite your feedback in this regard.

    We encourage you to join the open editing phase, to take part in the logo contest, or to provide feedback. We aim to release a 1.0 version of this definition fairly soon.

    Please forward this announcement to other relevant message boards and mailing lists.

    Thanks for your time,

    Erik Möller and Benjamin Mako Hill
    Years ago, I fell in love with the DSL, Design Science License. It was a copyleft type of license that has since had its plugged pulled. See the digital dust at DSL.CLOH.Org. Then came the Creative Commons licenses. I've been tending to just put my stuff into the ''public domain.'' Perhaps this effort will bring new energy and clarity -- as well as hope.

    Sunday, May 07, 2006

    Pin headed approaches to leadership from politician elsewhere on real democracy

    This was sent in as a Letter to the editor with the Baltimore Sun:
    Does Mayor O’Malley really favor democracy? Are ballot access barriers a good thing?

    Around 1 pm on Saturday May 6 2006, I was volunteering at the Libertarian Booth at the Towson Town Festival. The Libertarian Party is the 3rd largest party in the U.S. and has been operating for over 30 years. Like all states, Maryland’s electoral system is controlled by the Democrats and Republicans, so that to have candidates on the ballot, the Libertarian Party must turn in 10,000 valid signatures every 2 years to stay on the ballot. This repeated effort of course saps strength from other projects we might undertake, but of course that is what many career politicians want.

    In any event, Mayor Martin O'Malley was walking past the Libertarian booth, and I asked him to sign the petition, making it clear that signing does not mean he endorses the party nor is he obligated to vote for any libertarian. He said he is ‘with another party’ and could not do that. [Two of his entourage took the same position, but two others signed.] As he briskly walked away, I asked if he was afraid of competitive ideas or and felt democracy had its limits. He shouted back that if Erhlich signed he would sign – to which I inquired if he only does what Erhlich does.

    Does the mayor’s face to face response reflect the type of person we should have in Annapolis? In city hall? In a homeowner’s association?

    When the public's ability to have alternate candidates available to them is limited by games like ballot access, should politicians be forced to simplify the system and give up their personal fiefdoms?

    Steven Sass

    p.s. I have since been told that Governor Robert L. Ehrlich DID in fact sign our petition when we last encountered him – about 4 years ago, AND at that time we actually had a candidate, Spear Lancaster, ON THE BALLOT, running against Mr. Ehrlich

    The Code Breakers - FOSS - and story from an online post

    The post that follows in the 'comments' section, click to read, is about a new documentary from BBC about Free and Open Source Software, FOSS. I hope to see it.

    Blog Burst and coverage in newspapers

    P-G coverage of a blogging trend.
    Tech Briefly: 5/6/06 The Web sites of dozens of newspapers are starting to feature outside blog postings on travel, health and other topics in a further blurring of the line separating traditional and new media.

    The travel section of the San Francisco Chronicle's site, for instance, had a box in the middle Wednesday with such posts as 'The Intricate Architecture of Barcelona' from the RealTravel blog.

    The posts supplement the Web journals, or blogs, maintained by the newspapers' staffs and come from Pluck Corp.'s new BlogBurst service, which collects postings from about 1,000 blogs and distributes them to newspapers, mostly for online use.

    Saturday, May 06, 2006

    Ride of Silence - might get started in Pittsburgh

    Back wheel of my 3 wheeled bike.
    ::Ride of Silence:: Join cyclists worldwide in a silent slow-paced ride (max. 12 mph/20 kph) in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.

    Why does this site exist?

    To HONOR those who have been injured or killed

    To RAISE AWARENESS that we are here

    To ask that we all SHARE THE ROAD

    THE RIDE OF SILENCE WILL NOT BE QUIET
    On May 17 at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn't aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.

    In 2003, Chris Phelan organized the first Ride Of Silence in Dallas after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was hit by the mirror of a passing bus and was killed.

    The Ride Of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride. There is no brochure, no sponsors, no registration fees and no t-shirt. The ride, which is being held during Bike Safety month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for those who have been killed or injured.

    I think it would be great to have a local silent ride. I hope a lead organizer goes for it. The weather is going to be perfect for a bike ride on the 17th.

    Can a few "local connections" be made in terms of fallen ones -- injured or hurt -- on our roads on bikes?

    Shame on Preston, the Paygrabber. Vote for Gainey

    24th district challengers hope for clean sweep of incumbent - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Preston, 58, of East Liberty, voted for the pay raise July 7 and accepted the money early as unvouchered expenses. The General Assembly voted to repeal the pay raise in November, but Preston acknowledged he has not returned the money he collected.
    With role models like this, it is no wonder we get others who spend public money in private ways.

    Friday, May 05, 2006

    Fort Pitt Museum strategic planning

    The Fort Pitt Museum (a state museum) is engaged in a strategic planning exercise in which it is gathering information about the museum and its environment, how it is perceived, and how it can do a better job serving the community. The Museum wishes to convene a one-hour "focus group" composed mainly of 5 to 10 downtown residents and others who might be considered among its "neighbors."

    This meeting will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, May 11.

    Individuals who are interested in volunteering should send an email to donnneal -at- yahoo -dot- com as soon as possible but no later than Wednesday, May 10.
    Feeding fish.