Author: p2wp

Councilman Doug Shields will convene a community meeting on Thursday, July 7, 2011 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Greenfield Senior Center (located at 745 Greenfield Ave.) regarding development at the church on Beechwood Blvd. and Boulevard Dr. in Greenfield.  This meeting is open to the public and will focus on possibilities for this site.  Residents will be given the opportunity to provide input on what they would like to see at this site.

While an application has been submitted to the Planning Commission from developer Rich Costanzo, his application will not be the focus of this meeting.  Councilman Shields and representatives from the City’s Law and Planning Departments will be present to answer questions.

Primary 2011 Candidates and Endorsement List

A few years ago someone asked me where they could go to see a list of all of the candidates and the endorsements – to my knowledge – that list didn’t exist.  We have been trying to compile that list over the past few elections and this year we have a pretty good master list of candidates and endorsements.  We even have some fancy color shading so you can quickly look at this and see which candidates have the most endorsements.

While this is not a list of every candidate on the ballot today (we are just volunteer bloggers ) – we tried to highlight the races that would be of interest to the most number of readers.

Endorsements included in this table:

• Post-Gazette
• P2pac
• Planned Parenthood
• Allegheny County Democratic Committee
• Allegheny County Labor Council
• Teamsters
• Steel City Stonewall Dems

Are there other organizations that endorse candidates that we should include in the future?  Please leave a comment and let us know.

The last column on this table is a list of election night parties – if you know of other events that aren’t on this list – please just leave a comment and we will try to update this through out the afternoon as well.

Another important resource for today is the Polling Place Locator (h/t to Pgh Comet for sharing the link)

Image by mwhaling via Flickr

March madness is a day away – we thought it would be fun to set up a little bracket challenge and invite our fellow bloggers and hopefully some local elected officials and candidates to join in the fun.

Set up your bracket here - http://progresspittsburgh.mayhem.cbssports.com/

Group Password = progresspittsburgh

Spread the word and encourage your favorite local polticos to join too!  Brackets must be submitted by Thursday at Noon.

Each person can enter up to 3 different brackets.

Related articles

• March Madness at the White House: President Obama’s “Very Conservative” NCAA Bracket (blogs.abcnews.com)
• NCAA Bracket 2011: How To Fill Out a Winning March Madness Bracket (bleacherreport.com)
• NCAA Bracket 2011: Everything You Need to Fill out Winning March Madness Bracket (bleacherreport.com)
• Obama Bracket 2011: Obama’s NCAA March Madness Picks (nowpublic.com)

This year the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club has a new twist on their annual fundraiser.

They are inviting anyone who is interested to submit a video to their progressive film contest.  First prize is $300 and there is no fee to enter.  The contest is open to anyone who would like to enter.

Key Dates:

• Info Session – Sunday, March 13, 2011 – 1pm @ the Squirel Hill Library
• Entries Due – April 9, 2011
• Screening and Awards – Sunday, April 16, 2011 – Schenley Park Skating Rink (Facebook Event)

All of the details are available on this flyer - 2011 14WIDC Video-Media Contest Flyer3

We are working on putting together a big list of all of the local (city and county) offices on the ballot for the 2011 and what candidates are running for office.

You can check out the list here: http://progresspittsburgh.net/elections-primary-2011/

This is a work in progress and we will be updating it as we can. What elections and candidates are we missing/

If you can include a link to their announcement that would help too – please leave a comment on this post.

From the BikePGH blog and newsletter…

In 2010, the City of Pittsburgh installed about 5 miles of bike lanes and sharrows, mostly in East End neighborhoods.  These lanes were a welcome addition to the emerging city-wide bike lane network, and showed that the City was serious when, upon receiving the “Bronze Bike-friendly Community” status, Mayor Ravenstahl proclaimed that there will be “25 miles of new bike lanes and sharrows in two years.” (more…)

Ken Gormley, author of The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr, a New York Times bestseller
Sunday, January 30, 2010 from 1:00 to 3:00
Carnegie Mellon’s Gregg Hall (aka Porter Hall Room 100)

KEN GORMLEY – FEATURED SPEAKER AT 14th WARD CLUB 47th ANNUAL MEETING

Duquesne University School of Law dean and best-selling author Ken Gormley will speak at the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club’s annual meeting, Sunday, January 30, 2010 from 1:00 to 3:00 at Carnegie Mellon’s Gregg Hall.

Prof. Gormley will discuss his latest book, “The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr”, a New York Times bestseller chronicling the scandals that nearly destroyed the Clinton Presidency. It is due out in paperback February 1.

The Washington Post and Janet Maslin of the New York Times named “The Death of American Virtue” a Top 10 book of 2010, and Prof. Gormley has been interviewed about the book on NBC’s Today Show, The Charlie Rose Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, NPR’s Fresh Air, and hundreds of television and radio shows in the United States and worldwide.

With more than 18,000 registered Democrats, the 14th Ward is the largest ward in the City of Pittsburgh and second largest in the state.  The Ward includes all or part of Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, North Point Breeze, Regent Square, Park Place, and Swisshelm Park.

The Club, which is not affiliated with the Democratic Committee of Allegheny County, formed in the mid-1960s. It is the oldest, continuously operating independent Democratic club in the country.  More information on the club is available here.

Presented by the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh and Carlow University’s Political Science Department

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Agenda

• 8:15 – Registration and Breakfast
• 9:00  - The Decision to Run
  • Making that Personal Decision
  • Political Party Representatitves
  • Local Government Academy
• 9:45 – The Process of Election
  • Discussion of Forms
  • How and When to File
• 10:30 – Running a Successful Campaign
  • Campaign Management
    • Organization
    • Fundraising
    • Internet Campaigning
• 11:45 – Workshops with Elected Officials

Click on the flyer for more info

To reserve a space call 412-2614284 or email info@pgh.lwv.org

Pittsburgh, PA Resume & Job Search Tips Workshop

When: Saturday, November 6, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Where: Onorato for Governor Offices, 213 Smithfield Street, 2nd floor, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222

Contact: Alexandra Acker Lyons (alexandra@democraticgain.org)

Registration Information: Online registration is available until: 11/5/2010

Register for this event »http://www.democraticgain.org/events/event_login.asp?id=130339

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If you are looking for your polling location just enter your address below.

Thanks to the New Organizing Institute for the gadget.  You can embed a polling place locator on your blog – gadgets are available here.

Election Day is November 2, 2010. If you are going to be away on election day you can vote by absentee ballot.

The last day to request an absentee ballot is October 19, 2010. Absentee ballots have to be processed and sent via snail mail so the process happens before election day.

The form to request an absentee ballot is available here http://www.alleghenycounty.us/elect/absentee.aspx

If you are unable to download the application you can call (412) 350-4520 to have an application mailed to you.

Send the completed ballot to:

Attn: Absentee Voting Section
Division of Elections
Allegheny County542 Forbes Ave., Room 601
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-2953

Sustainable Pittsburgh in collaboration with Pittsburgh BRT Forum Collaborators

Monday, September 20; 8:00 am – 4:00 pm; Duquesne University – Power Center Ballroom, 1015 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA

To register send full contact information to: info@sustainablepittsburgh.org (SPACE IS LIMITED.)
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org/3ELinks/08_26_10%203E%20Links.html#article2

No fee to attend. (more…)

This screenshot from the Post-Gazette today shows quite the contrast in approaches between two of our elected officials.  I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves.

[Ravenstahl scolded over library funds]
[Rudiak aims to boost public input on projects]

We noticed this little widget on the side bar of The Digging Pitt blog (a great blog about art and transit in Pittsburgh) for Streetsblog.net – some of the articles looked like they would be of interest to the Progress Pittsburgh community. About  Streetsblog.net …

Bringing together the best of the nation’s bloggers on sustainable transport, smart growth and livable streets, Streetsblog Network is a place where we can learn from each other and move the discussion on these issues forward.

(more…)