Routine Maintenance does not need to take 3 every year. Oliver Bath House request is denied.

A few weeks ago, Mayor candidate, Patrick Dowd, was on 11th and East Carson, just one block from my home in the Historic South Side. He was putting the price tag on the garbage can and talking about waste. Okay. Whatever. I wasn't that excited.

Waste to me also means, "lost opportunities." That's classic Pittsburgh waste. That's what I've come to hate as much as anything.

Doing nothing is wasteful.

The bible parable says it is a sin to put a candle under a basket. If you have a talent, and bury it in the backyard, you've done wrong. You all know the story and get this message.

Not calling 9-1-1 when you see a crime is not as bad as doing the crime, but it is wrong as well.

When Patrick Dowd was in the South Side to talk about waste, I wanted him to talk about what can't be seen as well. He did say that the high costs and self-promotion implied with the price tag on the garbage can is just the 'tip of the iceberg.' I'm hungry for a mayor and a city that gets to the deeper stuff right now.

From hockey hell

The South Side, in this hockey crazy time, has a closed indoor ice rink. This has been a long-standing talking point of mine as it represents so much of the folly that we face on many different fronts. The South Side ice rink (Neville Rink) was once a home ice for practices to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And, the NHL All-Stars once came to town and held a practice skate there.

From playground - usa

The rink was run to the ground in its last years of operation without the due oversight from the city. I complained about that when Gene was our councilman and the chair of the Citiparks Committee. The terms of the contract were constantly broken and without enforcement from the city. Enforcement is another big concept typically.

The rink has been a dark hole in the center of the neighborhood.

We pushed for community partnerships at meetings. We pushed for a RFP by the city. And, we even got the city planning folks to let a Request for Proposals. Pat Ford kicked me out of a meeting at 200 Ross Street to talk about the community process there.

From hockey hell

The Hockey Hell story took another turn as the RFPs were all rejected. The facility would have been re-opened at no cost to the city, with private money. And the city couldn't deal.

From hockey hell

When I ran for city council, we talked about the closed indoor ice rink, the only indoor ice rink in the city other than Mellon Arena about 50 times in community forums and meetings. It was always a point of discussion. One of the other candidates wanted to turn it into a Public Works garage. Another candidate wanted it to be the home for the Zone 3 Police Station.

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

Today, the ice rink is a great example of city waste. It is in a park with a padlock. The rink is closed, and so too is the entire PARK. The whole lower park is locked.

From hockey hell

Next up, the Oliver Bath House.

The only indoor swim pool operated by Citiparks is also on the South Side, just one block from where Patrick Dowd talked about the $1,010 garbage cans. The city had 31 outdoor pools, but only one that it owns and operates that is indoors, hence with year-round capabilities.

But, the Oliver Bath House is closed once the outdoor pools open. It is closed for most of June, all of July and all of August. It won't open until after Labor Day in September.

In my professional opinion, and I'm a Certified Pool Operator, a Certified Aquatic Manager and a swim coach and pool manager from 1976 -- there is not need to have the pool closed for so long for routine maintenance.

This is the way things have been for the past 10 years or so. The pool always closes. It is the way they do things.

In the summer of 2009, the area elementary school, Pittsburgh Phillips K-5, is making plans for summer school. Phillips will be a regional site, so kids from other schools (Whittier and Knoxville) will also blend in to get academic help for 19 days in the summer. The summer enrichment program ends July 17.

It would be great to get a group of students in summer school to have a good experiences with fitness, swimming and aquatic sports as part of their summer school afternoons. This becomes a public health concern as well.

The following letter was delivered.

---

April 24, 2009
Pittsburgh Phillips K-5

Dear Mayor Ravenstahl,

As the principal of Pittsburgh Phillips, K-5, I want to express our desire to inquire about the possibilities of utilizing the pool at the Oliver Bath House for
our Summer School students. Our school enjoys an extensive partnership with Citiparks and its recreational leaders that has lasted many years. We have talked about the possibility of adding a swimming component to this year's summer school schedule. Since the daily time frame is short, the only option that would be logistically possible for us is the Oliver Bath House. We could walk from Phillips to the Oliver Bath House each day, saving money and time on buses.

We have met and discussed this option with the folks from Citiparks but our effort to secure permission to use the pool has been unsuccessful. I am wondering if there is a possibility that you could assist our efforts to secure this enrichment experience for our children.

Summer school lasts from June 22, 2009 -- July 17, 2009. We would like to have access to the pool from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM during that time.

Mark Rauterkus, a Phillips parent, certified lifeguard and swim coach with Phillips Elementary, is helping on this project. We will also supply whatever additional lifeguard(s) are necessary to comply with regulations.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Rodney Necciai, Principal

---

From hockey hell

Mayor Ravenstahl's policy boss, Gabe M, had a full briefing on this matter. Luke had plenty of time to look like a hero at career day in the school. Furthermore, I talked in a casual way with a few members of Pittsburgh City Council on this matter, including Patrick Dowd. His office now gets to see this blog posting.

We need city and school cooperation. That is something Patrick Dowd could deliver as he was on the School Board and he was the chair of the Urban Youth and Recreation Committee as a member of city council.

We need to deploy our facilities so we can do good works. I was there when the Dem Party Leader, Mayor Tom Murphy, closed the Rec Centers and all of the swim pools.

The routine maintenance for the Oliver Bath House can happen after July 17, 2009.

Finally, this request isn't for my kids. My youngest is about to finish at Phillips. They are in older grades. And, this request is for kids invited to summer school by being in an academic realm of 'below basic.'

---

Update: Within an hour, on May 14, I got this message from the Dowd campaign:

Unfortunately, Patrick's schedule is jam-packed through election day so
we're not going to be able to do an event for this. I would recommend contacting
Councilman Kraus if you can.

Best,

Eric Parrie

Bruce Kraus and his staff are very aware of the swim pool's closing to the school children and denied request to the principal. But, this is a MAYOR"s decision.

This statement, one that I love, is printed within the Dowd for Mayor campiagn literature that arrived at our house yesterday in the mail. It sounds great.

3) Expand opportunities for children. On the School board I led the charge to cut waste and put resources into classrooms. And it's working. As Mayor, I'll continue cutting waste to free up resources for education and after-school programs that get kids off the streets and into constructive activities.

Deeds, on the other hand, give me an empty feeling.

PURE Reform - Parents United for Responsible Educational Reform

The bottom line in a complicated matter:

PURE Reform - Parents United for Responsible Educational Reform: "As a result this question will reveal little about whether there are other options respondents would prefer, given complete information and a wider range of choices.

Yes, the survey results are sure to reveal little.

The survey is a facade. The questions were loaded. The best answers can't come from that cloud of options.

The people of Pittsburgh are sure to prefer the choice that includes sensible, coolaborative leaderships.

Pittsburgh needs an educational vision. It must be articulated. It must be debated openly. It must be tweaked and those adjustments need to be clearly understood and visible.

Mark Roosevelt has failed in unfurling an educational vision. His "for all" part is a joke, as in 'Excellence for All.' Sure, there are spots of vision with the opening of a botique school or two. But, even there, the vision is delivered without the collaboration, debate, and adjustments.

The consultants are here and hard at work so as to put another barrier between administration and the parents / taxpayers. The consultants are here to conduct a fishing outing in a quest for the missing elements of leadership and vision.

Who do I support in the May 09 Mayor's Race?

It was asked at another blog, 'Who do I endorse' for mayor in the closed D party primary. Well, I'm a Libertarian and as such, I do not get a vote in the May primary.

All in all, I love some of the replies of Carmen Robinson and her experience as a lawyer, police officer, and women seem most refreshing. But, I don't see her day-to-day energy out on the trails. Proof.

Patrick Dowd is GREAT on paper, but in practice, he has left me empty most often.

I've encouraged those I've talked to to vote for one of the above -- and I expect my wife will do as such. Plus, I also make mention that there are two others who are running for mayor as Indies. It would be GREAT for this city to have heated election(s) in the fall for city offices.

IMHO, this PRIMARY race for mayor is going to be very, very close. Much closer than the status quo minded assume. City residents are smarter than most seem to think.

Dowd's statement / bewilderment about "NO WORK ORDERS" yesterday for the Public Works Department got him some votes, for sure. And, he earned those votes without his typical fanfare. Sadly, Dowd's style squashes much of his substance in overall effectiveness in moving supporters to his ranks.

The Pittsburgh Comet not able to tape a League of Women Voters candidate event

Shame on the League of Women Voters.

The Pittsburgh Comet I do wish I could show you footage of these remarkable events -- however, the League of Women Voters ruled that I might film the proceedings only if all three candidates agreed to it.

Bram, don't ask. Just do it.

Have you been to jail for justice?

Really, that stinks.

Businesses Balk at Pittsburgh Promise Program

Policy Brief An electronic publication of The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy
May 13, 2009 Volume 9, Number 28

According to a Tribune Review report, the Pittsburgh business community has not warmed to the Pittsburgh Promise program. This is the program that plans to offer college scholarships to virtually all graduates of Pittsburgh’s high schools. So far the Promise fund has garnered only $51,000 from businesses while most of the contributions have come from the usual liberal foundations in the City. Foundations that never miss an opportunity to waste money on will of the wisp, do good efforts, especially if they involve public education.

Apparently, the business community has not been convinced of the efficacy or usefulness of bribing parents to stay in Pittsburgh – or attract parents to the City — as a way to increase enrollment in the miserable failure that is Pittsburgh’s high schools. And little wonder. Years of spending vast amounts of public money as well foundation gifts on enormous numbers of programs with precious little to show in return in terms of academic achievement undoubtedly has created considerable skepticism about whether it is advisable to keep propping up this failure with ever more money.

Whereas liberal foundations have the luxury of frittering away money on hopeless causes, businesses, especially in these difficult times, simply must be more level headed and rational about where they put limited resources. After all, firms in the City are already paying taxes to fund the egregiously expensive Pittsburgh Public School District --currently $20,000 per student annually—which continues to have huge percentages of high school students scoring well below grade level proficiency on statewide exams. Given the poor return on investment on their tax money, why would businesses want to waste more money trying to fix the system?

Nominally, a major goal of the Promise plan is to stop the slide in enrollment and begin to turn it around. Enrollment has fallen precipitously in recent years and is forecast to continue dropping. The question businesses must ask is “How does pouring more money into trying to prop up this expensive, poorly performing system benefit y company?”

Firms need a sufficiently well educated and skilled workforce that can help their business thrive and succeed. If they donate some of their limited resources to the Promise program, they may eventually benefit if some the recipients get degrees in disciplines they can use. However, this is a high risk strategy with a low probability of paying off for the firm. Instead, corporations are more likely to spend money on education programs for current employees through either tuition reimbursement programs at area colleges or through training and certification rograms. These two options provide a more direct payoff with a much lower downside risk than does contributing scarce dollars to the Pittsburgh Promise.

Moreover, companies already have high quality alternatives available for helping students get a good education. For example, they can donate to the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese’s Extra Mile Foundation, which provides scholarship aid to needy
children so they can attend one of the Diocese’s Extra Mile Schools in the City.
Companies can also participate in the State’s Education Improvement Tax Credit,
a program that provides a 75 percent tax credit for donations to a non-profit
scholarship or educational improvement organization. The percentage increases to
90 if the business makes the same donation for two consecutive years. The tax
credit is limited to $300,000 annually per firm. Still, the program is very popular as indicated by the fact that the state’s legislatively established annual limit for the program is completely met each year. Indeed, there are calls to expand the current annual tax credit limit.

In short, there are far better places to invest than the Pittsburgh Promise for companies wishing to allocate funds for the purpose of improving education in the region.

If the Mayor wants to attract corporate and business money for educating Pittsburgh’s children, here’s an idea he should try. Establish a scholarship program that will allow City parents to choose an alternative school for their children—be it religious or private. Then see how that plan fares in raising money compared to the Promise plan. It might even lure some of the more sensible members of the foundation community away to support a program for Pittsburgh’s students who would like a choice other than the public schools but cannot afford it.

To be blunt, why would a rational parent opt to keep a child in a failing school district for nine or ten years, robbing them of chance at a good education, if real alternatives to the public schools were available and affordable? Protecting the public school system as it is—and is likely to remain given the powerful groups who are in charge—is a fool’s errand.

And here is the best part of a scholarship funded choice plan. Competition from such a program could force City schools to improve or fade away altogether. That has happened in Milwaukee where public school performance has improved in the years since the voucher program was introduced there. This is a clear win-win situation that businesses should support whole heartedly.

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

Please visit our blog at alleghenyinstitute.org/blog.
If you have enjoyed reading this Policy Brief and would like to send it to a friend, please feel free to forward it to them.

For more information on this and other topics, please visit our web site: alleghenyinstitute.org

If you wish to support our efforts please consider becoming a donor to the Allegheny Institute. The Allegheny Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible. Please mail your contribution to:

The Allegheny Institute
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Pittsburgh, PA 15234

Thank you for your support.

Is the mayor corrupt? Absolutely says Patrick Dowd on KDKA Radio

KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin is a friend of Luke Ravenstahl and Dan Onorato. So, he hated to hear and baited the question to challenger Patrick Dowd.

My instant message to Griffin, who said he has heard no rumblings in law enformcement realms of 'corruption' on the part of the Mayor follows:

If the mayor's office was clean -- then do you think the state would have TWO sets of OVERSIGHT Authorities in town watching every move of the city officials?

Proof of corruption on Grant Street is in Act 47 and ICA.

Another bit of PROOF of corruption is the hush money paid, still to this day, to Pat Ford, with a contract that does NOT permit statements from him nor the mayor.

Poem by Geri Ann called "Mark" for my 50th birthday

Mark

You are the bedroom at the back of the house, the heaps of junk
and Rum Rum cars that exploded from a little sectioned box
tipping out of the corner of your closet.

You are the back yard, shouting out to Chicky and Colin catching balls,
knees and elbows spinning out to grab the next fly.
And that large patch of dirt where grass didn't have time to grow.
That warm dirt, softer than the powder
sprinkled on Vanilla Angel donuts after orchestra on Sundays.

You are Rose Avenue, up for a neighborhood game of Release,
defining back yards and boundaries between telephone poles
convincing Mom and Dad to let us stay out,
even after the street lights came on.
You are those hiding places, under Rhododendrons
where no one is ever found.

You are a chipped tooth, the word "Leftovers!" called before dinner,
and the pounding floor boards under the weight
of acrobats and wrestling matches, even with Mom.

You are canon balls, Fireballs, and Crazy Relay Day when the whole team
swam like dolphins, and windmills, and upside down butterflies.
You are the one who'd still try to win, no matter how ridiculous.

You are the Pennsylvania mountains. And the arm that grabbed me
to say "Look down!" before I jumped over a fifty foot drop.
You are also the bus ride in D.C. and the finger that pointed
to someone asleep on some steps, bundled up in a homeless coat
who said, "Look at everything. And keep looking.
We'll never be here again."

You are all the letters, countless as the stars,
missing from your spelling words. And all the pages
from all the books you printed. You are the monster press
spewing out paper to bind in your South Side basement.
And all the boxes and all the piles of books ready to ship out.

You are the South Side, the shops, the horns, the Beehive, the neighbors,
and Mabel's store across the street filled
with stale Clark bars and ketchup.
You are the rooftops and fireworks every summer.
A ricochet off high rises and burst of sparks
glittering down the Monongahela.

You are the last quarter I had. The one I used to call you
from the Greyhound Station to pick me up in the middle of the night
home from an interview when I didn't get the job.
You didn't say anything. You are the "It doesn't matter"
in situations like that, because you're my brother.

You are the son who bravely trumpets forth and carries our family name,
Rauterkus.
No matter how hard it is to pronounce,
no matter that it's all stripes and checkers,
or that it comes clumsy with trips and blinks.
You wear it like the Thunderbolt,
the oldest wooden roller coaster
climbing the highest hill in Kennywood.

You are the speed on the way down,
as everything inside lifts up into your ribcage
and through your rumbling, airborne heart, midflight.

---

My little sister, Geri Ann McLaughlin, wrote the poem when asked by my wife for a suprise 50th birthday party with some friends and family at Kennywood.

Officially, I turn 50 on May 16th, Saturday. That day includes a swim meet in Monroeville's JCC (the boys are in that) and a wedding. Great fun.

Invite to PPS Facilities Planning Sessions

Like this matters.

Invite details.

Churn looks like this -- not progress

"In the mid 90s, the building underwent a $1.5 million renovation to become Pittsburghs only International Youth Hostel. After experiencing a downturn in international travel following 9/11 the hostel was closed on October 31, 2003.

Can we turn the old police station into a Youth Hostel?

How about if we turn South Vo Tech into a Youth Hostel?

What about Fifth Avenue High School into a Youth Hostel?

What about Gladstone?

Perhaps not the entire building, but a part of it.

The weenies that ran the old Youth Hostel ran it into the ground. That $1.5M investment was lost and it is more than sad.

The second floor of the facility houses one of three state-of-the-art fitness rooms for use by not only Zone 3 officers, but all City police officers. The other two are on the Northside and in Highland Park. Because the fitness room is on the second floor, Nautilus equipment is used instead of free weights. The floor has been reinforced and covered with a special surface to soften the surface and help deaden the sound. The fitness facility is available 24-hours for officers on all shifts.

So we have nice workout areas for the police -- but can't get either the South Side Bath House -- a swim pool already paid for and operational to open so that the kids in summer school have a place to workout in the afternoons. Nor can we get Warrington Rec Center's pool to open.

Party Games - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper

Party Games - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper For a town led by 'good old boys,' Pittsburgh seems to have created a surprisingly youthful crop of politicians for the May 19 Democratic primary. In the races profiled on the following pages, you'll find numerous candidates who aren't even in their mid-40s yet. That makes them practically adolescents, in Pittsburgh-politician years.

All three candidates for mayor think marijuana should be illegal. All three are sorta old fashioned in that stodgy belief. The war on drugs is part of the problems and helps to drive many of the killings of the kids on the streets of Homewood and The Hill District.

Santonio has nobody to endorse.

Nor do the older folks who would have great comfort in their final weeks and months of life with the use of medical marijuana. And, medical marijuana's legalization is before the PA House and Senate now.

I'd hope that the City Paper, of all places, would take a 'younger view' at the issues and size up these spring chicks for being so old-school on this front.

OpenOffice.org has a significant upgade now available

The OpenOffice.org Community is pleased to announce the general availability of OpenOffice.org 3.1, a significant upgrade to the world's leading open-source office productivity suite. Since OpenOffice.org 3.0 was launched last October, over 60 million downloads have been recorded from the OpenOffice.org website alone. Released in more than 90 languages and available as a free download on all major computing platforms, OpenOffice.org 3.1 looks set to break these records.

Thanks to all community members who have helped make this release possible. Users of previous versions of OpenOffice.org were asked to vote for their 'most desired' new features, and this wish list helped shape the new release. The new release also includes a feedback mechanism where users can opt-in to supply feedback automatically to the developers about how they use OpenOffice.org.

The biggest single change (half a million lines of code!) and the most visible is the major revamp of OpenOffice.org on-screen graphics. Techies call it anti-aliasing - users just appreciate how much crisper graphics are on screen. The improved look extends to other subtle changes, such as: how images display when they are being dragged, how selections of text are highlighted, and even adding the ability to overline text.

New core features include:

Writer (word processing)
* Improvements to comments: reply feature now supports 'conversations'
* Further grammar checker integration
* Outline levels within paragraphs for complex documents

Calc (spreadsheet)
* Hot hints for formulae, with new and improved formulae available
* Improved sorting
* More performance bottlenecks removed
* The zoom slider added to the status bar
* Rename sheets with a double-click

Chart (graphics engine)
* Flexible positioning of axes for scientific and educational users
* Flexible handling of "missing" data points

Impress (presentation)
* Font size buttons

Base (database)
* SQL syntax highlighting
* Easier deployment of macro applications

Internationalization and Localization
* Improved support for bidirectional scripts
* New locale support

Behind the scenes, OpenOffice.org also now has a more capable file locking mechanism, enabling users to share files safely in a multi-user, multi-platform environment.

The guide to new features is available here:
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.1/index.html

Download OpenOffice.org 3.1 here: http://download.openoffice.org/

Read our Press Release:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/OOo/31/prweb2388264.htm

The Bike Pittsburgh Blog Archives � Bike the Vote! Pittsburgh’s Democratic Mayoral Candidates Answer Questions from BikePGH

Of course cycling is a political issue.

The Bike Pittsburgh Blog Archives - Bike the Vote! Pittsburgh’s Democratic Mayoral Candidates Answer Questions from BikePGH: "Cycling is a political issue."

Just yesterday I sent out a tweet that Rev. Ricky Burgess, city council district 9, was against the bike lane on East Liberty Blvd. He would have worked hard to stop it too, so he said. Because, the people in his district do not use the bike lane, so he thinks.

I'm not saying that the bike lane is done well -- or not. But, I reported that interesting fact. It is fair to say that he is a politician that can be hostile to bikes.

Next, onto the comments from the blog.....

Buc home runs to benefit city parks - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Dogs around the city are barking for joy.

Buc home runs to benefit city parks - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Every time a Pittsburgh Pirates batter hits a home run, a city park gets a tree.

That's the idea behind a partnership announced today between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Too bad the kids don't get a coach rather than an obstacle for their play spaces and fields.

By the way, I'm anti trees when it comes to putting them in open spaces, such as on the practice field next to the moved Schenley High School, where the soccer and baseball teams could have practiced prior.

It is crazy how the Pgh Parks Conservancy fixes up a lot next to a park on two sides but chooses to do nothing within the park itself.

These are RAD parks too. The RAD parks have lots of money.

Get your own store by clicking to a new service

What I'm selling isn't that important. But, do go set up your own new store to sell your stuff online.

College Bills

http://kdka.com/video/?id=57065@kdka.dayport.com

Edits to a mission statement for male involvement in PPS

I've edited a handout from last-night's meeting and made some changes. So, how does this draft sound?

M.E.N.N. = Meeting Education's Needs Now

M.E.N.N. Mission
To assist and facilitate school success through a variety of male aimed initiateves that promote overall parental involement and continuity within the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) District.

PPS' M.E.N.N. facilitates meaningful male involvement in students' lives in school, home and the community.

We believe and work to insure that children are happier, healthier and better students when positive male role models are active and engaged.

The 2010 goals for M.E.N.N.:
- Create a blueprint for consistent male involvement that benefits all students.
- Create belief statements among the steering committee and M.E.N.N. participants.

TV Show on City Cable, PCTV 21, Public Access, about Take Your Father To School

Mark Brentley, Sr., Pgh Public Schools board member and candidate for Pgh City Council in the May 2009 primary, has a TV show that includes, this month, snips of the 2008 Take Your Father to School events.

Air dates:

May 6, 9 am
May 8, 11 pm
May 11, 10 pm
May 14, 3 pm
May 16, 9 pm
May 18, 5 pm
May 19, 9 am
May 21, 3 pm

This year's event is Friday, May 22, 2009, at all Pgh Public Schools.

We also stand in for those who don't have a dad in school that day, for whatever reason. Dad's are positive role models in the child's life -- being the actual father is not necessary.

Did you hear about these 8 who were arrested?

Yesterday morning, eight doctors, lawyers and other activists stood up to Senator Max Baucus.

And the private health insurance industry.

And the corporate liberals in Congress.

The eight activists demanded that single payer - everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital - be put on the table.

And as a result they were arrested.

And charged with a so-called "disruption of Congress."

The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Democracy Now and National Public Radio all carried stories about the protest.

C-Span carried it live.

And it was widely disseminated on the Internet.

Baucus crafted a hearing to kick off the health care debate in the Senate yesterday where 15 witnesses would be at the table to discuss health care reform.

The insurance industry was at the table.

The Business Roundtable was at the table.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was at the table.

Blue Cross Blue Shield was at the table.

The Heritage Foundation was at the table.

And corporate liberals like Andy Stern, Ron Pollack, and AARP were at the table.

But not one person who stood for what the majority of Americans, doctors, nurses, and health economists want - single payer - was at the table.

Not one.

When I heard about this corporate line-up last week, I called the office of Senator Baucus.

And politely asked that, as a matter of fairness, a single payer doctor be allowed to testify.

I was told - no way, Ralph.

The deal is done.

So, yesterday, at 10 a.m., the Baucus Eight, led by Single Payer Action and other single payer groups, took to the Senate Finance Committee.

And directly and respectfully confronted a room full of corporate lobbyists.

And corporate controlled Senators.

And again asked that a group of doctors who were in the room to support Medicare for all be allowed to testify.

The answer again - no, no, and no.

Remember what Senator Richard Durbin said last week?

Durbin said that the banks "own" the Congress.

To which we might add - the health insurance industry and the drug industry own the Senate.

Faxing, writing, and e-mailing is not getting it done.

Enough is enough.

Time for action.

This is a winnable issue.

But the American people need to focus on 535 members of Congress.

And get mobilized.

Single Payer Action is at your service to get the job done.

So, donate now -- $8, $18, $80, or $800.

To honor the Baucus Eight - who all wore black yesterday in memory of the more than 20,000 Americans who - according to the Institute of Medicine - die every year from lack of health insurance.

And to fuel a citizen action movement that will deliver single payer to the American people - sooner not later.

Together, we can break the corporate stranglehold on Congress.

And deliver health care for all.

Single payer.

More comprehensive. More efficient. More humane. More peace of mind.

Let's get it done.

Onward to single payer, Ralph Nader

Half Marathon Course, slated for Oct 25, 2009

Hey running mates: http://www.spiritofpittsburgh.com/index.html

Time to consider that Republican write-in effort for mayor: Pat Ford

Perhaps we can get a write in campaign for the mayor's race for Republican voters?

We now open nominations from the floor of the blogosphere.

Consider, Pat Ford.

For some, PAT could be Port Authority Transit, and Ford could be the auto company. Merge the two together, whatever.

Consider, Mark DeSantis. I'm sure he'll get some votes.

Consider, Kevin Acklin.

Consider, Dok Harris.

Consider, Luke Ravenstahl, or Patrick Dowd or Carmen Robinson.

If Patrick is less of a candidate because Carmen is on the ballot in the primary, splitting the anti-Ravenstahl vote, then let's have a do-over. But, the general election ballot in November might have four or more candidates. You never know.

Consider, Tom Ridge. Some are talking about Tom Ridge for US Senate in 2010. Why not have him get onto the ballot for the Rs for the Pgh Mayor Race in 2009 -- just to re-build his base. Perhaps he can help install and monitor the homeland security cameras that Luke just purchased.

Pittsburgh Council approves reforms; Peduto pushes for more

Bravo!

Pittsburgh Council approves reforms; Peduto pushes for more: "Pittsburgh Council approves reforms; Peduto pushes for more

Libertarian Party joins lawsuit challenging PA Election Code

Lawsuit filed to protect electoral process and secure voters’ rights

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org

For Immediate Release: May 5, 2009

Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at Media-Relations@lppa.org or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org

Harrisburg, PA – On behalf of the Libertarian, Constitution and Green Parties of Pennsylvania, the Center for Competitive Democracy (CCD), a non-partisan,
non-profit 501(c)(3) legal advocacy group(http://www.competitivedemocracy.org/) has filed suit in federal District Court challenging the constitutionality of the Pennsylvania Election Code.

The lawsuit specifically challenges provisions that authorize courts to order candidates to pay litigation costs and fees to private parties who challenge their nomination papers. The lawsuit also seeks to require elections officials to count and certify write-in votes as required by the election code.

“Making minor party candidates pay the costs of validating their nomination papers while using public funds to subsidize the major party nomination process makes a mockery of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection,” said Mik Robertson, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. “The interest of the government is to secure voters’ rights to choose their elected representatives, not limit those choices.”

The lawsuit, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania, et al. v. Cortes, et al., No. 09-1961, was filed in response to a judgment ordering a 2006 Green Party candidate to pay more than $80,000 in litigation costs to private parties who challenged his nomination papers, and by Pennsylvania elections officials’ routine failure to count write-in votes.

The lawsuit asks the court to hold Sections 2872.2 and 2937 of the Pennsylvania Election Code unconstitutional. Section 2872.2 requires minor party candidates to submit nomination papers to gain ballot access, no matter how many votes the minor party won in the previous election. Section 2937 authorizes private parties to challenge those nomination papers, and authorizes courts to order the candidates to pay their challengers’ litigation costs and fees. The lawsuit also seeks enforcement of Section 3155, which requires elections officials to compute and certify valid write-in votes.

In 1972, the Supreme Court declared in Bullock v. Carter that states may not require candidates “to shoulder the costs” of conducting elections by charging filing fees without providing a non-monetary means of gaining ballot access. In Pennsylvania, however, these candidates cannot gain ballot access unless they submit nomination papers..

Constitution Party of Pennsylvania, et al. v. Cortes, et al. has been assigned to Judge Thomas Golden. CCD is expected to file a motion this week for preliminary injunction to suspend the fees already assessed pending the outcome of the action.

The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania and the United States. More than 200,000 people across the country are registered Libertarians, and Libertarians serve in hundreds of elected offices. Please visit www.LP.org or www.LPPA.org for more information.

This is very important stuff.

I went before a judge in Harrisburg in 2006, the same time that this was unfolding in another court room. It happened to me too.

As the judge entered the court room, there was the order, "All rise..." I did. But, I never sat down.

"Your honor, ..." I asked without delay. My list was with a handful of points, each taken in turn. One was to this exact measure.

I wanted to have the assurances from the judge, a guarantee of sorts, before we took another step, that I would not be punished and penalized for defending my rights to be on the ballot. I wanted to know if the judge was going to give me a bill or order court costs to be paid by me. I wanted that intimidation to be removed from the realm of the possibility.

The judge said "No." He would not rule that out as an outcome.

So, the PA judge could both toss me off the ballot and pick an amount for a fine to slap upon me as well. My liabilities were great.

In the other matters, I too was at a great disadvantage. I was on thin ice, to say the least. Every one of my requests were denied.

So, I entered into evidence the papers that were served to me with the proof that the PA Senator's office, District 42, was used in connection of this political case of the highest political gain. The papers had the fax number of the PA Senator's office on them -- clearly an ethical violation from Senator Wayne Fontana and/or his office staffers. Then, after that evidence was booked by the clerk, I got a final bit of clarification and then told the judge that I would not be seeking a continuation of the proceedings as it was most prudent to pull my name from the ballot.

As a tip for all elected officials: Don't use your public office for political gain. That's what got Jeff Habay into jail.

Sports questions are sure to be asked of school board candidates

Wednesday May 6, 2009, at 7pm, Pgh Public Schools Board Candidates Forum at Chatham University's Eddy Theater (Woodland Rd) include a topic I'm excited about.

How much should diversity factory into further school restructuring?

What do these candidates think about consolidating high school athletics, the City League with the Western PA Interscholastic Athletic Association?

There are plenty of folks who think as I do about this issue.

People move out of the city because of what happens and what does NOT happen in the schools in afternoons, evenings, nights, weekends and summers.

Today we'll be going to South Side's Cupples Stadium for the boys track meet for kids in grades 4 and 5. Thursday is the girls meet. This is one of the few times each year my son gets to use the field and track in a facility just two blocks from our house. The stadium, the field, the track is closed to us except as spectators (and then it is without season tickets and other community engagement opportunities) for the other 363 days a year.

Friday the school will have a field day. That is the second and last time he'll get to be there unless he becomes a varsity athlete for soccer (just championships) or football (over my dead body). And, the cheerleaders and band get to use the field too.

The practice at the sites of WPIAL fields is much different. Generally, senior citizens walk the track at these fields even when school is in session. Not in the city, however.

PPS School sports need a major overhaul, urgently. Then we can talk about keeping families in the city.

From china - bike

History & Happy May 5th

Heavy, or, not? You decide.

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 80,000 jars of the condiment including 12,000 jars scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

Meet school board candidates

The seat for Pittsburgh Public Schools, district 1, is open because Randall Taylor is not seeking re-election. Hence, one of these three folks is sure to win the primary in the D and R races.

League of Women Voters launches candidate site

League of Women Voters launches candidate site: "Candidates for office can get their message online free of charge, and voters can bone up before the May 19 primaries, on the League of Women Voters' new SmartVoter Web site."

Visitor to Pittsburgh and last to begin the Pittsburgh Marathon

Titusville, PA, native, Penn State Undergrad, rugby player, lawyer. Girl chaser, race director, traveler, fund-raiser, clerk for judge, one-time newbie runner, book author.

The audio in the convention center isn't great. Sorry.

Parks are in the news again

Great. We're talking about county parks again. Not since the killing of geese has parks been such a talking point.

Goddard State Park's gas wells may be first of hundreds: "Goddard State Park's gas wells may be first of hundreds
Where mineral rights are privately owned, Pennsylvania officials can't prevent drilling"

Meanwhile, coaching, raising our kids, learning how to play well with others, teaching, fitness and family time are in the back seat -- if considered at all.

An Audit of the Federal Reserve is pending. Perhaps Lamb should run for the US Senate afterall.

As we reflect on President Obama's first 100 days in office, the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street and the just passed budget, a staggering $3.4 trillion boondoggle, I wanted to share some good news with you.

As I write, H.R. 1207, my bill to audit the Federal Reserve, currently has 110 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. This piece of legislation is perhaps the most important of my career, and I thank you for your continued support in sending me back to Congress to fight for it.

A broad coalition of Representatives has joined with me in supporting your right to transparency at the Fed. For example, Rep. Tom Price (GA), head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA), former head of the liberal Progressive Caucus, have both cosponsored the bill. Americans from all over the political spectrum are demanding an audit of the Federal Reserve. And with good reason!

Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has operated without sufficient transparency or accountability to the American people. In fact, current law specifically excludes the Fed from audit or real congressional oversight. No government agency has such an utter lack of sunshine.

The Federal Reserve has created and dispersed trillions of dollars in response to our current financial crisis. Of course, I am among the most outspoken critics of the bailouts, but Americans across the nation, regardless of their opinion of the TARP program, want to know where that money has gone and exactly how much has been spent.

H.R. 1207 will open up the Fed's funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility to Congressional oversight.

Additionally, audits could include discount window operations, open market operations, and agreements with foreign central banks, such as the ongoing dollar swap operations with European central banks.

By opening all Fed operations to a GAO audit and calling for such an audit to be completed by the end of 2010, the H.R. 1207 would achieve much-needed transparency of the Federal Reserve.

Times are tough, and we continue to hear a stream of bad news. But I will continue to stand up for you in Congress and fight for our American traditions, to protect our Liberty and for an Audit of the Federal Reserve.

Thank you again for your support. I could not continue my fight without you.

In Liberty,

Ron Paul

Excellence for All meeting with Mark Roosevelt

Parents meet with PPS' Mark Roosevelt, earlier this week.

The big topic seemed to be summers. New data shows that kids from different economic conditions have different levels of academic progress throghout the summer months. The children from the poorer settings slip in terms of schooling progress, ending the summer behind in benchmarks from the end of the prior school year. Meanwhile, other kids (with more wealth) with stronger enrichment opportunities still continue to grow in those benchmarks throughout the weeks of the summer.

Go figure.

Last summer, for instance, I took my boys to China and we soaked up the Olympics. Here is Grant in a Beijing sports store that simulates the Water Cube. Before we departed for our summer vacation, we spent two hours a day for two months crafting and editing wiki pages on the various athletes and countries with my Olympicpedia Cyber Camp at a commercial computer lab / cafe.

Go figure again.

From Beijing - sports play

The meeting was held at Frick Middle School:

Ammon Rec Center in The Hill District, re-opens after $600,000 spruce up

A for Ammon! P-G coverage.


They had a party, rally, ribbon-cutting of sorts with sporting superstars and politicians this week up in The Hill District, home of Ammon Rec Center.



They painted the place, put in a new floor, got weight equipment (so I understand). It does look good.

The "A" on the old floor, shown above, is used as a graphic on my wiki, "A for Athlete." The new "A" is blue -- and it had a carpet and podium covering part of it -- so I can't make a simple contrast.

The line up of superstars was long. The men and women were all great athletes -- and still are in the case of #45, D. Blair. However, they all have had a rich life in terms of being helpful to others in recreational and sports leadership. Many are teachers and coaches. All had wild stories.

The program was long. The sound was bad. But, here it is from my camera.



Of interest was the women speaker who said that sports are a way to get a college scholarship and a means to an end. She stressed over and over, "Earn your degree." (at :51.37) Next to speak was All American hooper, #45, Pitt sophomore, D. Blair. He is pulling out of college early, without his degree, to play in the NBA. Was there an exception to her rule and mantra?

Deep into the program, after about a 30-minute introduction, hear from Pitt's coach, Jamie Dixon. My gosh, that was the longest intro ever.

At the end, #45 speaks too.

I hope that Citiparks got good photos of the clebs and had a better sound source for the podium. It might run on cable TV too. That would be nice.

We love the Ozanam Program.

From Public Art

From Public Art

One of the big new attractions of the fix-up is yet to hit home, pun intended. The baseball field is getting a make over too. The Josh Gibson Foundation helped pay for the re-investment.

The swim pool is a gem as well. It is a 50-meter tank, and only the 2nd in the city. I swam there a few times last summer. More programs there, with my help, are very possible. Time will tell.

From Public Art

Speaking of multi-sport and basketball, check out this playground in Amsterdam. The basketball hoop is built upon the framework of soccer goals. To be sure, those are not regulation soccer goals, but rather team handball goals. Clever.

In China, we saw lots of kids with basketballs and lots of courts. Notice the kids on the bike have a basketball in a bike basket. (Click for a larger image.)

From china - bike

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

Courts outside of a university campus. Wonder where the kids at Pitt and CMU and DU go to play basketball? Are there any playgrounds for them to hoop in the open air? Or, is their only option a trip to the food court and ride the merry-go-round?

Our city playground nearest to my home looks like this:

From playground - usa

The problem is routine maintence. They need to spend $600,000 on a total face lift as the facilities are left to weather year after year.

The Ammon situation is a bit different. That rec center was closed by Tom Murphy, when he was mayor. They all closed for some period. Then Ammond would be turned over to a next-door church to operate for a number of years. But, the church is more into saving souls and less into saving sports facilities -- so the facility was given back to the city. Hence, the re-opening and urgent needs to fix up.

I love this image from Beijing 2008 and Adidas. It shows the sports hero, a women basketball player, running in for a lay-up and the people of China are there for support -- holding her up higher and being the support for the hoop as well.

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

ACORN, Maryellen Hayden, speak about forclosures

I'm not able to make heads or tails out of these two rants from ACORN delivered to City Council this week.

I do understand that stonewalling is a huge problem in the city. I hate it when people don't call you back. I hate it when the public officials lack simple curtosy.



If anyone can explain the plan from ACORN, then I'd like to know. Use the comments below.

We need -- and we all should want -- assessment buffering

I posted this message in a thread at Bram's blog about the property tax mess.

First the conflict: It was stated by a respected guru of sorts, in part: "IMHO, only the most mild form of buffering would pass judicial muster based on this ruling." Then it was stated by the same person, later, in part: "I think any form of buffering is made pretty difficult if not impossible by this ruling."

Bingo.

The perfect buffering method would work -- citizen appeal, political will and power, court blessing and constitution adjustments.

With assessment buffering, no property owners are ever left in the past -- as is always the case with a base year method.

I understand that the fight to gain the assessment buffering option for counties is big / "difficult" -- but it is much more simple and productive than the boondogle Onrato (mainly, recently) has planted for everyone for years.

The assessment buffering solution has one objection of the 'It can't be done' flavor / done deal / shoot the messenger flavor.

The 1, 2, 3, 4% solution is far different. When a property is 200-percent or 300-percent off the mark, it would take a lifetime to get to what is fair, even with 4% increases.

With assessment buffering done well, and much different than that other hokie keep the rich richer hoodwink attempt, all properties are spot in in 3 years. Math = 1/3 of difference each year for 3 years.

Technical Content to various reforms before City Council

Thanks to City Council staffer, Dan Gillman: Note that some of the amendments have been changed. These are how we introduced them.

01 15 09 Mayors Proposal AMENDED.doc viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddznxj6h_628f469rtgr

Peduto amendments: viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddznxj6h_629hnmb2kdh

No bid contracting legislation: viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddznxj6h_630kbfmp3hq

Lobbyist legislation for City of Pittsburgh: viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddznxj6h_631hfzmnrfv

Contact Lobbyist Disclosure Act: viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddznxj6h_632hs8j5gg8

FAQ for all reform bills: publicly viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddznxj6h_633d8rs68fb

---

Campaign Finance Reform FAQs

Q) If I am running for City Council, how large a donation can I accept from an individual or a PAC?
A) You can accept $1,000 in the primary and another $1,000 in the general election from an individual. You can accept $2,000 in the primary and another $2,000 in the general election from a PAC.

Q) If I am running for Mayor or Controller, how large a donation can I accept from an individual or a PAC?
A) You can accept $2,000 in the primary and another $2,000 in the general election from an individual. You can accept $4,000 in the primary and another $4,000 in the general election from a PAC.

Q) Do these limits apply to me if I run for countywide office, statewide office, or a judicial position?
A) No. These limits only apply to people running for City Council, Mayor, or Controller.

Q) What happens if a wealth individual runs in the campaign against me?
A) If a person declares that they will spend more than $50,000 of their own money in the race, than your limits are doubled.

Q) What information will the online database contain?
A) The City Controller will maintain an online database that contains all campaign contributions as well as all contracts awarded by the City, all TIF’s approved by City Council, and all other applications of public dollars approved by City Council.
No Bid Contracts Reform FAQs

Q) Does this mean the lowest bidder automatically gets the bid?
A) No, the lowest responsible bidder wins the bid. Responsibility can include previous experience working with the City, expertise, etc.

Q) Do all contracts have to be bid?
A) No, a contract valued at under $30,000 does not need to be competitively bid.

Q) What about professional services that are specialized like engineers, architects, and lawyers? Will this reduce the quality of services we receive?
A) No, RFPs can include specific criteria so that the best specialized professional services can be received at best price.

Lobbyist Registration FAQs

Who qualifies as a lobbyist?
Anyone who spends more than 30 hours in any consecutive three-month period, with at least one direct communication with a City official or employee, for the purpose of attempting to influence municipal legislation on behalf of any other person.

Q) Are there exceptions to this?
A) Yes. Anyone who is not paid, but just volunteers time for a cause is not required to register. Also, any public official does not have to register.

Q) What does it mean to register?
A) A lobbyist must annually register with the City Controller and provide details of the company that they work for and the clients they represent.

Q) Does it cost anything to register?
A) Yes, there is an annual registration fee of $100

Q) What is the punishment for failing to register?
A) A person who knowingly this law can receive civil penalties of up to $2,000. If the court determines that a violation was intentional, the court may order that the defendant be prohibited from acting as a lobbyist.

Q) How does this registration handle nonprofits?
A) People representing non-profits that receive public funds to serve indigent persons are not required to register.
Lobbyist Disclosure FAQs

Q) What is the purpose of this legislation?
A) This legislation requires any company responding to an RFP to publicly disclose in their RFP response whether or not they have paid any fees to cover lobbying, finder’s fees, consultant fees, etc.

Inside Beltway: Tinkering with pending campiagn finance law in Pittsburgh

My letter to City Councilman Bill Peduto, as a result of discussions about the pending campaign finance laws slated for Pittsburgh:

So, the mayor's office is not warm to the idea that those who enter city races with millionaire status are dealt with by a doubling of limits imposed upon others in the race. The mayor wants to NUKE all limits, it seems.

My suggestion is to increase the limits from 2-times to 3-times as a counter offer. Go to 4, 5, and 10 if you must. But, even at 5 times the limit ceiling -- it is much better than NO LIMIT AT ALL.

Finally, I'd love to see all the bills and that FAQ so they can be posted on the web, either my blog or wiki. Can you send me copies of all that apply?

IOC opposes moves to restrict news coverage - More Sports - SI.com

In the title bar to this blog, I call myself a "non-credentialed Olympic photographer." This is an important issue then.

IOC opposes moves to restrict news coverage - More Sports - SI.com: "The International Olympic Committee is concerned that moves to restrict media coverage of sports events will erode free speech, former IOC vice president Kevan Gosper told an Australian Senate hearing Wednesday.

Hey, Australian Cricket dorks, take that bat and put it where the sun doesn't shine -- and upload the photos.

From china - bike

City making plans for Allegheny riverfront

City making plans for Allegheny riverfront: "Toward that end, the city Urban Redevelopment Authority has hired Perkins Eastman to conduct the $350,000 master plan. It intends to hold three community meetings over the next year to gather input.

A 10- to 12-member steering committee that includes representatives from the city, the URA, Riverlife, companies like Buncher, and community organizations will oversee the effort. It will hold its first planning meeting today. An advisory committee also will be formed.

Is this another hand-picked, authority, without minutes, without accountability, without democracy, without spectators?

What's the name of this advisory committee, exactly? I'd like to add it to the list.

It makes me think of the aborted Fifth & Forbes plans for downtown.

And, was there a RFP for the selection of the firm, Perkins Eastman?

Who is on the 'advisory committee?' Names please.

Pittsburgh 'legends' help reopen Hill rec center

Fun.

Pittsburgh 'legends' help reopen Hill rec center: "Some of the greatest names in Pittsburgh basketball history began their careers in some capacity at the Ammon Recreation Center on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District, and yesterday many of them gathered for two reasons -- to be honored as 'Ammon legends' as well as to celebrate the reopening of the historic building.

The building, which had been run by the city of Pittsburgh until 2004, had been kept open by a cooperative effort of a number of groups and spearheaded by Macedonia Baptist Church until last year when a lack of funds forced it to close its doors.

But thanks in large part to the efforts of Pittsburgh Parks and Recreation Director Duane Ashley and Councilwoman Tonya Payne and with the blessing of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, $200,000 in funding was secured within the budget to remodel the building and open it once again."

Stay tuned, to this blog, for video of the evening's events.

Crime, safety major topics at mayoral forum

Golly. I want to see this quote on tape. Youtube, anyone???

Crime, safety major topics at mayoral forum: "Mr. Dowd said an overnight holding facility is 'not what I would call a great way for the police to get connected to the youth culture in our community.' Rather, the city needs a 'truancy center' to hold youth during the hours immediately after school, when, he said, most student-age crime takes place.

So, Luke Ravenstahl wants to sweep young people without sins into police control just because of the time of night. Meanwhile, Patrick Dowd wants to sweep young people into police custody because of the time of day.

I'm in favor of the police sweeping criminals and evil doers off the streets, day and night, regardless of age. That is where all the attention of the police should be devoted -- and the innocent should be left for others, such as human service providers.

Pittsburgh may begin issuing permits online

Oh my gosh. This is very expensive. Very, very expensive.

Pittsburgh may begin issuing permits online Pittsburgh may begin issuing permits online
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

City residents and businesses would be able to get zoning permits and other government approvals over the Web -- instead of cutting through bureaucracy Downtown -- under a $1.3 million proposal submitted by the Ravenstahl administration today.

The mayor's office is proposing a contract with San Ramon, Calif., tech firm Accela to provide Web-based permitting for the city. The firm was one of nine bidders for the project, which would take 12-18 months to complete. Council begins debate next week.

Permits should be online. The process should be as easy and effective as ebay too.

However, the cost seem way out of place.

Furthermore, I want to know if this is an open-source application. If it isn't -- I'd reject it fully.

Government should only invest in open-source software solutions.

Running Mates -- Marathoners -- Check in here!

If you're going to run the marathon, relay, half, whatever -- check in with the comments with your name and/or bib number and we'll try to give some extra energy to you along the route.

Mike Sally, fellow dad and South Sider, as well as ex-swimmer, sends along this email:

Hello:

As many of you know, I have been diligently training to participate and finish the 2009 Pittsburgh Marathon. May 3rd is just about here. While this is not my first marathon, its is the first one that I have seriously trained for and set a goal beyond just finishing. I have one more training run left and then its rest is history - a short run on Saturday - and yes - race day!!

It would be great if all of you could support me along the route. While I understand some of you are far away or perhaps are close and have previous engagements, and cannot attend, in any event it would be great for you to get me a shout of encouragement along the route course if you are able to do so.

Thank you for supportiing me during the long winter (for Pittsburgh standards - I understand up north, it was really cold!!) and I look forward to reaching my goal!

See you on May 3rd!!

http://www.pittsburghmarathon.com

Michael Sally

I'm not in the race this year. We've got a major conflict with church that morning and have known about it for nearly a year. Sorry. Perhaps next year.

So, you running? Tell us! Hit the comments here.

Just after mile 11, the Phillips Elem School community is going to provide a water table. East Carson Street will be buzzing -- more so than the uphill stretch of the Birmingham Bridge leading into mile 13 in Oakland.

moot wins, Time Inc. loses - Music Machinery

moot wins, Time Inc. loses. Music Machinery: "This morning Time.com published the final result for their annual TIME 100 Poll. Time reports that the new owner of the title ‘Worlds’s most influential person, is moot’. What TIME doesn’t say is that their poll was so totally manipulated that the results of the poll are not an indication of who is the most influential, but instead they stand as a monument to Time’s incompetence."

Diversity in Aquatics

Check out the Spring 09 issue of the American Red Cross’s Aqua’zine. This season's issue features DAP Co-founders Shaun Anderson and Jayson Jackson (pages 7 & 8).

http://www.diversityinaquatics.org/AquaZineSpr09.pdf

Aqua‘Zine is a publication for aquatic professionals that is written and distributed by the reparedness and Health and Safety Services Division of the American Red Cross and its publisher, StayWell. Copyright ©2009 by the American National Red Cross.

Visit Diversity in Aquatics at: http://diversityinaquatics.ning.com

An outsider, Robinson gets into the fight for mayor

Must read:

An outsider, Robinson gets into the fight for mayor 'I've come full circle,' she said. 'I've seen the system. It's not broken. It's a good system. But our focus is in the wrong area. We spend too much money and time responding to crime instead of preventing it.'

Rather than reform, more often we need to replace the people who are in there are not doing a good job. Then, we can review and perhaps re-tool.

The last thing we should strive to do is reform with the folly makers in office -- as then we'll be much worse off than when we started.

Reform can turn into deformed.

I like what Carmen Robinson is saying. I love the underdog.

Kites For Kids - Welcome

From texture - misc.

Let's go fly a kite. A perfect pre-marathon activity, if you are covered with sun screen.

Kites For Kids - Welcome Kites for Kids is Saturday, May 2, 2009
* 10 am – 5 pm
* at the Carnegie Science Center

I understand that they'll be flying -- or trying to fly -- kites on the river off of boats. I always wanted to do that from my canoe.

In Beijing, kite flying a long-standing recreational activity. The older men do it and use a bike wheel like take-up spinner for the string, often framed in hand-made wooden cases. While there in August 2008 for the Olympics, the city had put out an order that there would be no kites in the sky -- due to security concerns. The kites could have jammed the surface to air missles, I guess.

On a number of instances, we were able to see the 'kite police' come to tell people that they'd not be able to fly the their kites. Those suckers get airborne too -- very, very high.

From Beijing - sports play

We are hoping for good weather on Sunday, without any wind, so we can play with these birdies -- hardly a kite -- at Schenley Park.

Dates this week with candidates, including Dok

Harris for Pittsburgh is excited to share with you three chances to hear Franco Dok Harris speak publicly with the other candidates.

*1. Tuesday, April 28th at 7PM: Dok will join the other mayoral candidates on the topic of Community Safety. Please come out and hear Dok's position on public safety, gun violence, and how to keep our city secure. It's at the Kingsley Association, 6435 Frankstown Avenue (at East Liberty Blvd).

*2. Wednesday, April 29th at 6:30PM: PUMP is having a candidates forum and has invited Dok Harris to speak briefly - come hear what Dok has to say about entrepreneurship and retaining young professionals in Pittsburgh. It's at McConomy Auditorium, located in the University Center at Carnegie Mellon University

*3. Thursday, April 30th at 6PM:* Come watch Dok at the *Stanton Heights Community Organization's "Meet the Candidates" Night. It's at Sunnyside School, 4801 Stanton Ave.

On Friday morning, Mayor Ravenstahl will be at Phillips Elementary School on the South Side, where Grant still attends, at career day. That isn't an open event, but will give some extra time to make some points about kids and closed recreational facilities.

I like the reform packages headed to city council this week. Hope to see them passed.

This was a letter I just sent to city council at the urging of Bill Peduto's email blast:

In the past, I called for a public hearing when Bill Peduto first called for campaign finance reform. This was when Bob O'Connor was still on council.

Back then the plan from Bill seemed to fight pay-to-play by starting campaign finance reform. The real issue was no-bid contracts and it is GREAT to see that faced straight on -- with legislation about no-bid contracts. Frankly, the $30,000 limit is a lot higher than I want. NO bid contracts are not necessary, IMHO.

The database of givers and takers is a no-brainer. It should be done already. And, with the help of a couple of you we could begin TRANSPARENT PAC ACCOUNTS with a local banker. That would not require any extra work on the part of gov workers, even the controller's office personnel.

Finally, the Ethics Hearing Board is broken -- because of the people on the ETHICS HEARING BOARD. They won't do anything and considered cutting meetings by half and closing them to the public. If I was on the Ethics Hearing Board -- or if there were others there -- such as a Libertarian or two -- then that reform would get done (to use a campaign slogan).

Bill Peduto wrote to me after he got his copy of the note above saying:

You were instrumental in getting us to this point in ending no bid
contracts for all not just contributors and you said it from the beginning. The $30,000 limit is the same as the rules governing council approval. If Duane Ashley needs to hire a clown for a rec center anniversary, we shouldn't require an rfp and council approval. However, we will need to work on the rules for pre-selected contractors under $30,000 - more work is always needed.

Chatham Univ Athlete Awards and Water Polo Coach

Banquet talks about the Chatham University sports teams and the specifics from the water polo and swimming coach, Mike Meyers:

I made this video and injected a few film snips. Enjoy.



Same clip from Viddler.

Sad passing

Collegiate Water Polo Association: "Ian Johnson peacefully passed away at his home in Naperville, ILlinois in the early morning of Sunday April 26, 2009 after a long hard fought battle with cancer. Ian would be 22 in June."

Thread for Swine Flu and other vaccination articles:

From running mate, Dave Powell:

Hi all - I'm posing this to the message board, there have been some email requests re: swine flu, and I think that it's best to carry this on the Message Board instead of filling up mailboxes.

I don't like to spread some of the rumors around the Internet, and will try to provide mostly source material and allow you all to make up your own minds.

One issue is that logic dictates that this sort of combo-virus really shouldn't occur in nature...that doesn't mean that it *was* engineered of course, but the issue warrants investigation. I haven't seen any definitive articles on this yet (too early probably), but will post when available.

One of the other big issues I've seen is that vaccine maker Baxter erroneously allowed/"was caught" live Avian flu H5N1 virus in with human H3N2 strains. Their manufacturing plant in Czech Rep. caught the error. Apparently some middle-range nobody worker saved us all from a possible real-time mixing (called re-assortment) of the two viruses in a public host, which apparently is one of two ways pandemics result.

No real US MSM coverage that I've seen...

All I've seen so far is links about when Bayer sent HIV-tainted medicine overseas when found to be defective:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/22/health/main555154.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg-52mHIjhs

any other links are welcome!

Of course, Baxter isn't really talking because of "trade secrets":

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html

The lack of investigation says a lot...oh but hey, who better to give the contract for the vaccine for the current swine fly vaccine? You get three guesses, but you know you'll only need one:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-baxter-swine-flu-27-apr27,0,3579388.story

I'll post one of the comments from the TorontoSun article that says it all about the MSM reporting:
"And recently Baxter released a flu vaccine that contained live avain flu. But thats probably not worth mentioning." Diko - Australia

Even liberal bloggers are freaking out (also contains links to more conspiracy-oriented articles for those interested):
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Still-Think-They-re-Not-Tr-by-Mr-M-090305-202.html

I don't exactly see evidence of foul play, but nor do I see any enthusiasm to get to the bottom of things.

Again, my aim here is not to alarm, but to seek facts which nobody in the MSM seems interested in.

-DaveP

PS: for the truly geeky, an .html version of a .pdf fas.gov report on the 1976-77 doubling of swine flu immunizations, that had the side effect of 500 debilitating nerve disease Guilian-Barr Syndrome:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:o5sU9IJIWOIJ:www.fas.org/ota/reports/8112.pdf+1978+swine+flu+Guilian-Barr&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Sharene Shealey for Pittsburgh School Board District 1

Tell me more!

Sharene Shealey for Pittsburgh School Board District 1: "Who is Sharene Shealey?

A successful environmental engineer who attended Pittsburgh Public Schools (“PPS”) before studying at Howard and Carnegie Mellon Universities on full scholarship, a mom of two PPS elementary school students, and an active participant in the school’s Parent Student Community Council."

Former Schenley star signs with Marshall - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Way to go DeAndre Kane!

Former Schenley star signs with Marshall - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The up-and-down recruiting saga of former Schenley basketball star DeAndre Kane is over.

Kane, the leading scorer in Western Pennsylvania as a high school senior, signed a national letter of intent to attend Marshall.

Kane went to 13th grade, a prep school in North Carolina. Why in the world can't we have a prep year option, a 13th grade, in our city -- as part of the new Pittsburgh International School, the IB School?

We could. We should.

Principal of Milliones resigns for family reasons

There is more to this from my point of view:

Principal of Milliones resigns for family reasons: "The principal of the Pittsburgh Public Schools' university-partnership school is resigning.

Sito Narcisse, who joined the district about a year ago and oversaw the opening in August of Pittsburgh Milliones in the Hill District, will leave at the end of the school year for family reasons, district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said yesterday.

Dr. Narcisse said he's leaving because his wife, Dr. Zania Narcisse, has accepted a residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12, a highly touted part of the district's high-school improvement campaign, operates under a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh. It opened with about 130 ninth-graders with plans to evolve into a school for grades six through 12.

'We've made a lot of progress,' Dr. Narcisse said.

I understand that the principal got in some trouble for giving us a tour and having me along with the video camera. Unreal.

So, a month later when a tour of Pittsburgh Peabody was held -- no video cameras were permitted. Homeland security was the excuse.

Pittsburgh Public Schools lost a good principal who had done the right things by me in terms of being open.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for another example with a email that came to me from a top administrator. I don't blog about it yet as it resides in a cooling off period.

Meet Mark Brentley, candidate for Pittsburgh City Council

Clips of only Mark Brentley, Sr, from the Uptown Partnership community meeting on April 22, 2009.

NRA files suit to overturn Pittsburgh's stolen gun law

Told ya.

NRA files suit to overturn Pittsburgh's stolen gun law: The National Rifle Association and four individuals filedsuit today against the city of Pittsburgh, its city council and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to overturn legislation passed in December that compels gun owners to report the loss or theft of their firearms to law enforcement within 24 hours of becoming aware that the weapon is missing.

Ignorance is bliss.

Fly a flag and do it with purpose

PRESS RELEASE For immediate release

For more information, contact: Dr. Al Graham (412) 460-1166

Mike Ference, The Brand Shop, Inc. (412) 233-5491 FAX: (412) 233-4765, E-mail: Ference@icubed.com Web-site: TheBrandShopInc.com

Fifth annual flag party, plants the seed for patriotism

West Mifflin, PA – April 24, 2009 – Plans for the fifth annual red, white and blue flag celebration – honoring our country’s birth – is being finalized by Dr. Albert Graham, West Mifflin Chiropractor, school board member and neighborhood flag raiser. What has come to be known as their family red, white and blue trademark – the American flag – is the result of the Graham’s annual July 4th celebration.”

Graham and his cohorts hope to take the promotion to the national level. “Every local television station has covered the event. Local radio and TV celebrity, Marty Griffin, from KDKA twice invited me on as a guest on his morning radio talk show, I told his listeners how we honor or soldiers and how we celebrate the fourth of July in West Mifflin. The event made the front pages of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Trib Media daily newspapers and several weekly and monthly publications did feature stories,” Dr. Graham proudly states.

“This is our five-year anniversary and we want to make it bigger and better than the last four years combined,” Dr. Graham predicted. With the help of local leaders, almost one-thousand flags were planted on West Mifflin lawns last year. “This year we hope to double that amount and expand into other Mon Valley towns,” says Dr. Graham.

Contributions to purchase flags came from State Senator Jay Costa, State Representative Bill Kortz Allegheny County Councilman Bob Macey and West Mifflin Mayor John Andzelik. Dr. Graham looks forward to their continued support and hopes to secure corporate sponsors, media sponsors and more volunteers to spread his rendition of a star-spangled-bannered-community throughout the Mon Valley.

“As a veteran of the armed services, my family appreciates what our men and women have done in Iraq and all over the world. We hope when West Mifflin residents awake on July 4th and see the American flags waving in their yards, they will feel the same way,” Graham proudly points out.

In the meantime, the Grahams continue to solicit family and friends for additional help. Besides his wife Cathy and three sons Matthew, Joshua and Ryan, plenty of friends and relatives from the West Mifflin area participate in the flag-brigade every year. “There’s not a better way to teach patriotism, than to live it,” says Cathy Graham, a teacher in the West Mifflin Area School District.

The flags used in the promotion are all USA-made. Anyone who would like to follow Dr. Graham’s lead and display 8 x 12 American flags may contact Dr. Graham at his office in the West Mifflin Borough building near the county airport at 412-460-1166.