Author: engagedcitizen

From the PG – the city has laid out a plan to reduce the city debt.  For the people who are following this – is this plan any good or just more of a campaign promise?

“The city’s debt was climbing” before 2005, Mr. Kunka said. “But the mayor and city council have been able to reduce $125 million in principal over the last five years.”

The debt could drop much farther if the city avoids borrowing money through 2017. If it could do that, its current annual debt payment of $87.4 million would plunge to $70 million in 2018 and $30.7 million in 2019.

He said that $45.4 million that has been shifted from the city’s savings to a special account for reducing future debt payments could be used in 2012 to pay off bonds early, shaving off that much principal and $9.9 million in interest

This important bill for equality is receiving some resistance from local residents. Please call your representative to demonstrate support for the bill:

PROPOSAL/ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This legislation would amend the act of O ctober 27, 1955(P.L.744, No.222), known as the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, further providing for findings and declaration of policy, for right to freedom from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation; define “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression”; and further provide for unlawful discriminatory practices, for powers and duties of commission, for education program and for construction and exclusiveness of remedy.

Remember the big debacle last year regarding a certain LED billboard on a certain transportation center (at the corner of Grant and 11th Streets in Downtown Pittsburgh)? (See this, that, or the other post from last year.) Well, lucky for us, we have a say in the issue. As the City prepares to develop policy to regulate activity involving digital billboards, a public hearing will be held on March 11th to allow citizens to provide input.

The issues involved with digital billboards are as follows:

• Where should they be allowed? They have a greater impact on their environment than traditional billboards because they glow rather than being flat images.
• How many should be allowed? They are being used to replace traditional billboards because they bring in more revenue and cost less to operate than traditional billboards.

Please consider voicing your opinion on LED billboards on Wednesday, March 11 at 5:30 p.m. in the first floor conference room of 200 Ross Street. Think about is this way: would you want to see an LED billboard from your house?

For more information, see this post.

News outlets are reporting today that County Councilman Chuck McCullough (R-Upper Saint Clair) has turned himself for the crimes that committed roughly two years ago. As you may recall, McCullough was found to have stolen checks from an elderly client and written contributions to local political campaigns. He was already on the ballot for County Council when the charges became public and, despite a lack of campaigning, he was elected.

You might wonder, who the heck would elect a guy that stole checks from an old lady? The answer, sadly, is your neighbors. We need to hold our elected officials, our candidates, and ourselves to higher standards here in the Pittsburgh region.

This story on WPXI.

Likely mayoral candidate and City Council President Doug Shields has publicly stated that he will not pursue the highest position in Pittsburgh. The City Paper, Post-Gazette, and Trib report this turn of events, quoting from his press release:

With the encouragement and support of many people, I have seriously considered running for Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh. At this time, the right choice for me, for this Council, and for the people of Pittsburgh is to continue to serve as Council President.

The question remains as to whether any other Democrat will enter the race to challenge incumbent Luke Ravenstahl who, despite extremely good polling during his last race in 2007, has been seen to frequently falter and lose popularity among his consistuents in the last year or so.

Who SHOULD run against Luke? Can anyone WIN?

The beat cop is a much coveted neighborhood tool. Neighborhood groups across the City, beg and plead with their Zone Commanders and the Mayor to acquire just a few hours a week of such a person’s time. In an article in today’s P-G, the questions is raised, “Will Squirrel Hill get a dedicated beat cop?”

If any neighborhood needs a beat cop, it’s not Squirrel Hill. However, because the neigbors and businesses there fussed (and have a lot of money…to contribute to political campaigns) (and turn out to vote), it looks like a distinct possibility.

This is just another example of how community and economic development decision-making in this city is based on politics, not what’s best for the City. Police allocation decisions should be made on crime data. Yes, it’s that simple. And someone should tell Squirrel Hill that it’s got the safest, wealthiest neighborhood in the city and it doesn’t need a beat cop. Oh, wait, they know:

“We don’t have any big, bad issues,” said Mr. Sigal.

With the presidential election just under 30 days away and the voter registration deadline behind us – it is now 100% focus on election day. Here is a video that looks at some of the Election Protection efforts and challenges in Pittsburgh in 2004.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqSkzJ9eV2k[/youtube]

For more information about voting and voting rights in PA…

• Visit www.EverybodyVote.com
• Follow EverybodyVote on Twitter
• Join the EverybodyVote group on Facebook

(more…)

I received the following notice for a forum on city-county consolidation:

PUMP Conversation on City County Merger
Are you interested in finding out about what City-County Mergers could mean for the greater Pittsburgh community?  Having difficulty wading through the Merger/Consolidation/Regionalism discussion?  Come to this informative discussion sponsored by the PUMP Civic Engagement Committee and featuring Brian Jensen, Senior Vice President, Government Structure Program and Laura Ellsworth from Jones Day  on Tuesday, October 7th.  Networking and Cash bar begin at 6:00pm, and the presentation and Q&A begins at 7:00pm.  Bring your questions, concerns, and feedback in regards to this important issue.   If you are planning on attending, please RSVP to Erin Molchany erin@pump.org.

Note that speaker Brian Jensen works for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a proponent, if not the mastermind, of the consolidation proposal. The other speaker, Laura Ellsworth, was recommended for the panel by Mr. Jensen.

Unfortunately, PUMP will fail to provide an educational, useful, or fair forum on the issue by only presenting one side. Futhermore, the real issue is not city-county consolidation but regionalism. What form(s) of cooperation and/or consolidation are best for Allegheny County? This is the discussion we should be having. See www.regionalprogresspgh.com for more on this.

PS – If you actually want to attend this thing, it’s at Claddagh’s Irish Pub (407 Cinema Drive) at the South Side Works. Please make a point to ask tough questions.

From today’s Harrisburg Online:

Democrats outnumber Republicans by a huge margin in Pennsylvania… four years ago, Democrats had a 580,000 registration edge in the state when Kerry topped Bush by 144,000… Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 1.1-million registrations.

What does this mean for Obama?

An article in Saturday’s Post-Gazette is titled, “URA chief’s friends asked to help with legal bills.” Um, excuse me? Pat Ford, who has continued to receive his $117,875/year salary while on paid leave from his position as URA Executive Director because of an ethics investigation, is not a charity case. Heck, this guy could have been working a second job while still bringing in his taxpayer-funded, URA paycheck. In any case, he should have no trouble paying his bills.

However, if you feel sorry for Mr. Ford, who is known for making back-room deals over cigars and scotch, you can send your donation to 5188 Glenhurst Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15207.

(For the record, I’d rather pay Ford to stay home than have him in the office, undermining public process and selling the city’s soul to profit-minded developers.)

The State Ethics Board has decided not to investigate Pat Ford (article) and the controversial billboard on the Grant Street transportation center is going up.

Is this good news? These developments beg the question: what was all that fuss about? If we were going to end up right back where we started, what was the point of our conscientious Council Members sticking their necks out to protect the public interest? Do we, as citizens, want this billboard in our Downtown? If not, what are we going to do about it? How did this even happen?

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 in the history of the planet“…but the Convention also promises no fried food and each meal will have three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue or purple, and white…the food will be organic or locally grown…

More information is available on the convention’s website.

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 walk away from the Pittsburgh-to-be casino – Majestic Star – as the license owner – Don Barden – delayed and delayed a requirement to present a $780-million financing package to the State Gaming Control Board…contractors have not been paid for work performed in April and May…Moody’s Investor Service – the national credit rating firm – reported this week that the Mount Airy Casino Resort – the Pocono Mountain casino owned by indicted Louis DeNaples - is a “very high credit risk” according to the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice…the Philadelphia Inquirer reports Susquehanna Financial Group decided to suspend its investment rating of Penn National Gaming sending a message that a deal to acquire the Berks County gambling giant by Fortress Investment Group and Centerbridge Partners may be jeopardized…

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 interests. Those contractors or developers who might otherwise give large sums with the expectation of receiving favors from a successful candidate are put on the same level as those who might have less to give, such as individuals and public interest advocacy organizations.

Mr. Ravenstahl objected to the fact that the mayor would be subject to the same contribution limits as council members. “True reform would cap City Council races at one-ninth of what may be contributed in races for citywide offices,” he wrote.

The limits imposed by campaign finance reform are on the amount an individual or organization can contribute to a campaign, not on how much that campaign can raise. The issues raised in the last six months regarding corruption in the city’s development process are emblematic of the ethic promoted by an unchecked campaign finance system. This legislation is progress stymied by an administration that might have a young face but certainly does things the old way.

A better question is: what are we consolidating? The answer to that is unclear in a 2004 poll of Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project members referenced in testimony before last week’s hearing of the Pennsylvania House Urban Affairs Committee. The terms municipal consolidation and regionalism can have multiple meanings; the most important implication of this fact is that CITY-COUNTY CONSOLIDATION IS NOT OUR ONLY OPTION.

Regionalism is the governance of a large geographical area. There are several different types of regionalism, such as fiscal (e.g. tax-base sharing), functional (e.g. shared services) or structural (e.g. consolidation). All of these types of regionalism can have benefits for the geographic area(s) they serve, depending on the details of the specific arrangement.

The current proposal for regionalism in Pittsburgh is structural regionalism that would consolidate the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County governments. The practical implication of this is that the City of Pittsburgh’s government would cease to exist. This presents some concerns, mainly for City residents. First, a strategy has not yet been identified to ensure equitable minority representation in the resulting government. Second, an Urban Services District is proposed to protect the County from the City’s current pension deficit; within the Urban Services District (coterminous with current City boundaries), residents will pay something additional to fund the pensions of urban service workers (e.g. police and fire). A concern for the County is that the City’s Act 47 status may come with it and therefore transfer to the County.

The most prominent stated benefit of City-County consolidation of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County is cost savings. When we think of the top priority of our city, county or region, is cost savings the thing that first comes to mind? More often than efficient government, economic development- the creation of jobs- and population- the attraction and retention of people, especially young ones, are the topics of urgency when considering how to revive the region. What we seem to be calling for is economic growth not smaller local government. How does the current proposal promote economic development in Allegheny County? No differently than it currently does because the competition between local municipalities will still exist. This competition is spurred by differences in approaches to development such land use planning and zoning codes. This type of fragmentation actually makes the region as a whole less competitive.

This has been a problem for Louisville, which completed city-county consolidation in 2003. An important consideration when making a comparison to Louisville or other prior consolidations is that Allegheny County is more fragmented than all of them, with 130 total municipalities. Additionally, note that Louisville is the only city-county consolidation to occur in the last 50 or so years and that region faces several challenges in the wake of this change.

The Pittsburgh Region needs real regionalism. This could eventually be some sort of consolidation, perhaps groups of or even all of the municipalities within Allegheny County. However, we can get started today by pursuing functional regionalism in the form of municipal cooperation. Cooperation can result in cost savings as well as increased investment; cooperation results in more leverage for public and private investment.

We don’t need city-county consolidation, we need cooperation. We don’t need change for the sake of change, we need progress.