Phew

This morning I breathed a giant sigh of relief. The Democrats have managed to cobble together a health care plan that passed the House. To see how this plan affects you, check out this handy-dandy health care tool from the Washington Post.

Also, the folks that hired a plane to fly around Pittsburgh this weekend informing voters to tell Representative Altmire to say "No" on abortion funding missed the memo that Rep. Altmire had already announced on Friday that he would be voting "No" on the health care vote. But they've convinced me to vote "No" on gratuitous plane flights causing extra pollution in the air.

Representative Altmire may believe that a majority of his constituents opposed the health care reform bill but judging from the vigil outside his home this weekend and the sit-in staged by Steel Union workers, he has lost some votes.

Representative Mike Doyle (mine) voted for the health care reform. For more information on the bill including local effects, see Rep. Doyle's website.

Increased PWSA Smarminess In the New Year

Maybe you, like I was, were busy around the holidays. Maybe you, like I did, let this little snippet of PWSA (Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority) news slip by:

Board member Patrick Dowd said better news is the introduction of optional insurance that will be added to customer bills as of Jan. 1.

"It's the best news of the day, of the year, perhaps of the decade," said Mr. Dowd, chairman of the authority's finance committee and a Pittsburgh city councilman.

So the best news of the decade may be that Dowd and the rest of the PWSA board gave some crafty insurance company a whole slew of free customers with no work on the private company's part? Every year, Dominion People's Plus sends me paperwork on their extra gas-line insurance plan, and every year, I throw away the paperwork. That's my choice. This time, I have to go to a website and click a link to opt-out. Not cool. If people want insurance, they will opt-in. In good news, you still have the next 6 months to opt-out and receive a refund on any insurance payments you've made.

The real questions? How much of that $5 goes to the PWSA bottom line? Who has a nice cushiony job lined up after his board tenure? When can I expect an audit of this insurance company from Michael Lamb that discovers that this plan is making money hand over fist?

And most importantly, what was wrong with the old warranty system (which didn't pass along any fees to the end-user)?

The new insurance will replace the current warranty system that pays up to $6,000 for repairs or work that could cost as much as $28,000 for a customer with deep sewer problems, Mr. Dowd said.

Or does anybody agree with Dowd and want to convince me why this is the best news of the decade? I'm really curious why I should be happy about the PWSA shirking the responsibility of covering the old warranty system and effectively trying to raise my bill by 15-20% as a user who ranges from 1 to 2 thousand gallons per month. Perhaps the person who agrees with Dowd is the one person who had to cough up $28,000 in the past decade? But does that really mean we collectively should be ponying up $5 Million per year (83,000 customers at $5/month)?

And if this blog post hasn't swayed you on the scariness of the PWSA, check out the latest Pittsburgh City Paper article, "Water Torture."

Open Book Pittsburgh

Over at the City Paper Slag Heap, Chris Potter recently highlighted Open Book Pittsburgh, which I was entirely ignorant of. It seems like a pretty cool site put forth by my favorite City Controller, Michael Lamb, to enlighten us on all sorts of money passing through our local government's hands. My first cursory search was for the big bucks - any city contract over a million dollars.

The latest multi-million dollar contract?

A $3 Million contract for AON RISK SERVICES CENTRAL, INC. to cover risks associated with the G20.

3 Questions

1. Can Pamela's get a piece of that? Or was the city only covering its own behind at the expense of our local businesses?
2. Is this going to get reimbursed? And where will the reimbursement show up in Open Book?
3. What kind of deductible do you have when your insurance premium is $3 Million? I hope it's pretty low.

So, yes, Open Book Pittsburgh is a great concept. But I find that right now, it creates more questions than it answers.