Progress Pittsburgh

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is continuing to keep Pittsburgh in the national spotlight.  The Charlottesville, VA paper, The Daily Progress, has published and OpEd about the $1,000 trash cans.

By THE DAILY PROGRESS
Published: February 28, 2009

Now, some city officials may want their names associated with playgrounds, or schools, or parks, or museums.
Luke Ravenstahl wants his name linked with garbage.

The mayor of Pittsburgh is spending $250,000 to buy 250 trash cans – each and every one featuring his name.
Ah … did we mention that it’s also election season?

That’s right. Mr. Ravenstahl is up for re-election this spring.
His spokesperson says there’s nothing wrong with spending city money to spread the mayor’s name around. He wants people to know his administration is responsive to their needs.
Besides, trash politics is apparently a tradition in Pittsburgh. Three previous mayors have had their names placed on garbage cans.

Gives the phrase “dirty campaigns” a whole different meaning, doesn’t it?

Image by wallyg via FlickrCongratulations to Paul Roden and Valerie Leuth from Tugboat Print Shop. Their work has been selected for the Manifest Hope Exhibit in Washington, DC. Click here to see their finished print.

About Manifest Hope:

Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The MANIFESTHOPE: DC Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists who use their voices to amplify and motivate the grassroots movement that carried President-Elect Barack Obama to victory.

The Manifest Hope exhibit was first opened in Denver and includes works by Shepard Fairey. Click here to see more pictures from the exhibit.

More »

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI was just reading the latest email from Michael Moore about bailing out the big three automakers – I like that he offers an alternative to the bailout, I don’t know if it is the right alternative but it is helpful to see some alternative ideas discussed (I am including these ideas below).  The first point in his suggestion is about transportation.  This made me think about the MonFayette Expressway.  There is a notion from the Mon Valley that we must build a super highway to the Mon Valley or business will never thrive there.  So lets do some brainstorming – what are some alternatives to building the Mon Fayette Expressway?

So what to do? Members of Congress, here’s what I propose:

1. Transporting Americans is and should be one of the most important functions our government must address. And because we are facing a massive economic, energy and environmental crisis, the new president and Congress must do what Franklin Roosevelt did when he was faced with a crisis (and ordered the auto industry to stop building cars and instead build tanks and planes): The Big 3 are, from this point forward, to build only cars that are not primarily dependent on oil and, more importantly to build trains, buses, subways and light rail (a corresponding public works project across the country will build the rail lines and tracks). This will not only save jobs, but create millions of new ones.

2. You could buy ALL the common shares of stock in General Motors for less than $3 billion. Why should we give GM $18 billion or $25 billion or anything? Take the money and buy the company! (You’re going to demand collateral anyway if you give them the “loan,” and because we know they will default on that loan, you’re going to own the company in the end as it is. So why wait? Just buy them out now.)

3. None of us want government officials running a car company, but there are some very smart transportation geniuses who could be hired to do this. We need a Marshall Plan to switch us off oil-dependent vehicles and get us into the 21st century.

More »

And we are off… I have been getting phone calls and emails from around the globe asking what is happening with the Presidential race here in PA.  So far, nothing to exciting – just some door knocking.  This looks like the first major candidate event to head to Western, PA.

On Tuesday, March 11, President Clinton attends a “Solutions for America” event in Washington, meets with voters at a Canonsburg senior center, and attends another “Solutions for America” event in Center Township later in the day.

Both “Solutions for America” events are free and open to the public.

President Clinton will be in Erie, PA on Wednesday, March 12. Additional details forthcoming. 

• Tuesday, March 11
  • 12:30 p.m. EST – President Clinton Attends “Solutions for America” Event
    • Washington and Jefferson College, Henry Gymnasium
    • 60 South Lincoln Street (on the corner of Chestnut), Washington, PA
  • 2:00 p.m. EST
    • President Clinton Meets with Voters
    • Canonsburg Area Senior Center
    • 30 East Pike Street, Canonsburg, PA
  • 4:45 p.m. EST
    • President Clinton Attends “Solutions for America” Event
    • Center High School
    • 160 Baker Road, Center Township, PA

Last week the New York Sun published an editorial, The Next Philadelphia?, that basically says the future of Pittsburgh hinges on this mayorial election.

Pittsburgh is a cautionary tale for many American cities. It can either go the way of Detroit or become a comeback city like Philadelphia and Baltimore. Its future, as defined by either Mr. Ravenstahl or Mr. DeSantis, could provide a roadmap for how economically depressed cities can recover.

This article was also published in the Tribune review so local readers may not be aware that this converation about Pittsburgh is occurring on the national level.

There is also a letter to the editor of the New York Sun, that points out Ravenstahl’s “pattern of deception.”

I do not fault the mayor so much for doing these things, but for the pattern of deception in which he has engaged when questions have been raised about his whereabouts.

In the New York incident, press questions about whether the mayor took such a trip were initially met with stonewalling.

He responded to a reporter’s question by stating that he had not taken this trip, only owning up to it after it became evident that the press had the goods. He also stated that he did not recall where he had dined or where he had spent the night.

In an instance in which the mayor was golfing during an important meeting, reporters were told that the mayor was engaging in “important city business.”

Later, to the mayor’s embarrassment, this “important city business” was disclosed to be a golf outing.

The mayor has demonstrated a pattern of deception when he is cornered. This is what I find most troubling about him.

Pittsburgh’s many problems have been brought about by corrupt one-party rule, which has extended from the 1930s through the present.

This is not they type of publicity Pittsburgh needs.  The mayor can do what he wants on his own time.  But his “pattern of deception” is creating a very bad public picture for the city of Pittsburgh.

Anyone attend and like to comment on the highlights?
Apparently Pittsburgh has received 2.5 million dollars from Surdna to bring people back to city neighborhoods. Surdna’s 2007 grantees are listed, several Pittsburgh orgs among them, but I couldn’t find this particular grant – or on the web in general.
Conference coverage here…

The presendial campaigns are coming to town.  Sorry about the last minute notice of this event – there was some confusion about if Edwards was actually coming to Pittsburgh.

John Edwards is traveling to 11 cities and towns in 3 days to shine a light on the continuing injustice of poverty in America.

What: John Edwards discusses his plan to end poverty in America

RSVP here: http://johnedwards.com/r/22512/839072/

Whats Happening:
HR 811 – the Voter Confidence and Increased
Accessibility Act could come to a vote in the next 2 weeks

H.R. 811:

• Paper Ballots — ALL voting machines must produce a paper ballot
• Audits — ALL voting machines must be audit-able
• No Secret Source Code — ALL voting machine vendors MUST make the machines’ software available for inspection
• Ban on Wireless Devices — Prohibits wireless technology in voting
  machines

Why Do I Care:
In 2004, thousands of votes were literally lost because voting machines did not have paper ballots
What You Can Do:
Call your congressperson. in Pittsburgh, Call Mike Doyle 202-225-2135 and tell him to Vote YES on H.R. 811.

Want More Info:
Then, after you call, sign up for Democracy Campaign updates and alerts on your cell phone. The Democracy Campaign is going mobile, and you can join the campaign by signing up to receive text message alerts and updates on your cell phone. We’ll let you know when the Holt bill is coming to the floor for a vote, and we’ll let you know when your activism will have the most impact on other important bills and initiatives to help protect voting rights and the integrity of elections. (And we’ll text you only when it’s urgent.)

https://www. kintera.org/ site/apps/ ka/ct/contactcus tom.asp?c= feIJKQMEF& b=2905607

So, of course, I wasn’t gonna drop the $200 to attend this thing, but now that I’ve crashed the event after the dessert course is served to find the two people I need to talk to, I’ve set my butt up on the now-empty stage.

Jason Alexander is getting mad requests for autographs; I’m going to ask him to sign one “to Cramer”, and once I whipped open my little laptop, I’ve had three rich, DC, sitting-right-up-next-to-the-front_stage-with-Jason types say to me – both of ‘em, and I quote, “TELL me you’re blogging right now! You are, right???”

So I am here blogging from the Gala Awards Event

Jacon Alexander + DC Leftie Elite (I think George Soros is sitting right in front of me, dunnno, hard to tell, but he’s with the Democracy Alliance consultant dude). I recognized George Kostanza from across the room from behind because of the male pattern baldness.

Something here screams The Progressive Movement.

A number of groups and people from Pittsburgh are in Washington DC this week for the national Take Back America Conference.

The Pittsburgh League of Young Voters is there. Check out their take on the TBA conference on the league blog.

NPR ran a story this morning about Kyle Corbin, the newly elected 18-year-old mayor of Union, OR.  No word on how or if he’ll be having to balance his new mayoral duties with, like, schoolwork, or anything; but the story does highlight some of the awkwardness of having to clear interviews with his mom first.

Apparently Union, OR (pop. 2,000) has had some vicious political scuffles in the past year or so, and Kyle’s new-kid optimism seemed like a better alternative to perpetuating a catfight among the town’s entrenched interests.

I’m a little curious about campaigns like that, where people run as total outsiders as an alternative to business-as-usual.  In the end, are these kinds of mayors able to get anything done?  Do they work effectively with the incumbents in the city/borough council?  Are they able to reach out to neighboring mayors and other local government, to bring about real change?  Watching our current young mayor intrepidly navigating the turbulent waters of entrenched interest makes me think, alas, maybe some real experience really IS a prerequisite to effective governing.  I dunno.

Nevertheless it’s encouraging to see an example of an 18-year-old with the patience and stomach for the bullsh-t inherent in municipal politics take it all on.

Pittsburgh can expect to get plenty of TLC from 2008’s presidential candidates once the nominees are picked, but since when do we get any pre-Primary love?

Tom Vilsack announced his bid for the Democratic nomination in his Announcement Event Tour, which includes stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh
December 2nd
10:30am            Meeting with 14th Ward Democratic Committee
                         6th Avenue Presbyterian Church
                         1688 Murray Ave
                         Pittsburgh, PA

Pennsylvania’s 2008 Primary is scheduled for April 1, which puts us near last in the agressive Primary schedule, and makes our opinion on Democratic nominee nearly irrelevant, but because of his ties to our city (or for whatever reason), Gov. Vilsack has decided to pay us a visit.

Nods out to Philly’s John Laumer for this post in Treehugger, referencing a Chicago Tribune  article on Wisconsin’s “Big Bang” plan to keep young people in the state after they attend college there, at least for 10 years.

Students would get four years of reduced or free college tuition in exchange for staying in Wisconsin 10 years after they graduate…That’s the plan, known as the “Big Bang,” from a special state commission that looked at daunting economic projections and decided last week it was time for a “Hail Mary” approach to stave off an era of serious decline in the Dairy State”.

Apparently other states are considering the same.

But what I like about the post is that it goes beyond mentioning this, but cites a number of things (and asks for us to add to/subtract from the list) that make staying in a place worth it– things that make places sustainable.

I like the idea, and I like the list. What do you think?

I’ll be anxious to see how many young people came out and voted locally, and what impact it had. But in Senate races in PA and across the country, they appear to have played a role in swinging things– and turnout was up over 2002.

The following from Rock-the-Vote via Rolling Stone:

Among voters 18-29 years old, here’s how they cast their votes in the key Senate races. The first column is for Democratic candidates, the second for Republican.

Virginia 52% 48%
Rhode Island 65% 35%
Pennsylvania 68% 32%
Ohio 57% 43%
Missouri 49% 48%
Montana 56% 44%

I am especially interested in this since so much effort locally has been going and went into voter registration and GOTV in the 18-29 year old demographic, and also because there continues to be so much doubt about the importance of the group. I realize the above numbers tell us nothing about how many young voters actually came out, nor what percentage of total voters they comprised.

It’s not like we haven’t had plenty of warnings about the lack of security of electronic voting machines. Well, now this. It seems “Illinois Ballot Integrity Project — which bills itself as a not-for-profit civic organization dedicated to the correction of election system deficiencies” last week successfully hacked into the Chicago voter file database, with 1.35 million voters in it.

Here’s a little excerpt to put all of our minds at ease:

A nefarious hacker could have changed every voter’s status from active to inactive, which would have prevented them from voting, he said.

“Or we could’ve changed the information on what precinct you were in or what polling place you were supposed to go to,” he said. “So there were ways that we could potentially change the entire online data base and disenfranchise voters throughout the entire city of Chicago.”

“If we’d wanted to, we could’ve wiped the entire database out,” Wilson claimed.