Archive for June, 2008

From today’s Harrisburg Online: Andrea Robinson is charged with producing the 2008 Democratic National Convention as an icon of environmental political correctness…the Wall Street Journal tells of her travails trying to find a supplier for 15,000 “fanny packs” made from organic cotton, by union labor in the United States…fuggedaboutit…Denver Democratic Mayor promised the “greenest convention...
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An article in the Wall Street Journal from a year ago illustrates how the proliferation of casinos is not the answer to our public revenue problems. This excerpt from today’s Harrisburg Online demonstrates how the credit crunch is further stunting the anticipated windfall: A Sub-Prime Mess of Another Sort??…construction workers and others are preparing to...
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ProgressPittsburgh has made the Pittsburgh City Paper. Today’s City Paper has an article about DraftChelsa2009.blogspot.com and mentions our poll at the end of the article. I thought it would be interesting to keep track on how the votes are going. Hopefully some city paper readers will visit ProgressPittsburgh and vote. Here are the...
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CityLIVE! Series Getting There… from Here: Transportation Solutions for Our Region Speaker: Sanjeev Shah, Steven Bland, Chelsa Wagner New Hazlett Theater July 24, 2008 6:30 p.m. Is the auto the most convenient and efficient way to move people around our region? Can new technologies and policies help unite the region and contribute to our urban vitality? Can we...
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There’s a guy in Youngstown, Ohio, named Phil Kidd who leads a community organizing movement called Defend Youngstown but he also works for city government there and what’s remarkable is that he runs another blog to make his work activites public: 44503 LIVE. This guy actually submits his time sheet to the world. Now,...
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Many a Pittsburgh resident has seen the sad shape of Pittsburgh’s Uptown (a.k.a. Soho) neighborhood today. It’s sprinkling of old buildings awash in a sea of parking lots. And all of those parking lots are owned by one man, Sal Williams. Many a community advocate has been puzzled and stymied by this accumulation of...
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http://nullspace2.blogspot.com/2008/06/parsing-primary.html by Chris Briem So, I suppose it’s time to parse the primary data a little bit more. The problem with looking too deeply at the results from April is that there isn’t anything to really compare the voting patterns to. The obvious comparison to the spring 2008 primary would be results from the spring 2004...
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MEDIA ADVISORY: Monday, June 16, 2008, 6:30pm, Press Conference Pittsburgh Board of Education 341 S. Bellefield Avenue – Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Save Schenley Advocates “Speak Truth to Power” CONTACTS: Tim Stevens: (412) 758-7898 and Kathy Fine (412) 361-7904 Visual for Press Conference: Large Poster with Report Card that show grades for the School District Administrators, School Board,...
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The news is a few days old, but Tim Murphy, who represents Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, is one of 14 Republican members of Congress refusing to endorse John McCain.  Maybe he’s hoping that we will forget his unwavering support for the George Bush agenda and for John McCain’s 100-year war. Remember this oldie from Tim Murphy? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwh-OCFCOTc Murphy’s opponent in...
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Today, Governor Ed Rendell signed the recently passed smoking ban into law (link). The state-wide ban will take effect in 90 days, or on September 11, 2008. Get ready to breathe easy.
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Finally, after much to do, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has passed a smoking ban. A compromise bill, devised by a Conference Committee of House and Senate Democrats and Republicans, passed the House last week and passed the Senate yesterday on its second consideration. The new bill bans smoking in public places but includes a...
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On Tuesday, June 3rd, Pittsburgh City Council passed a bill to implement local campaign finance reform (article). On Monday, June 9th, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl vetoed that bill (article). An attempt today to override the veto failed in Council (article). Campaign finance reform, at whatever level, is a mechanism that levels the playing field for political...
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The emails have been flying this morning about the new blog on the scene – http://draftchelsa2009.blogspot.com.  Maybe this anonymous blogger was inspired by our post last week about the mayor’s race.  With just about 11 months to go until the 2009 primary election – many Pittsburgher’s are wondering if someone will challenge Luke Ravenstahl...
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Pittsburgh is featured in a recent series on grist.com. I think that this article provides a very fair assessment of Pittsburgh’s “greenness”: The Smoky City has become a poster child of sorts for urban revitalization, although it still hasn’t achieved the eco-notoriety of larger metropolitan areas. As home to the nonprofit Green Building...
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