Bright Lights, Big City

So the North Shore casino is looking for jumbotrons? And the city has an obnoxious legal battle with Lamar over electronic billboards?

I know I'm not the only one to think that some zoning compromise could come out of this if the right people sat down at a table together. Otherwise, the city is just asking for trouble (from Lamar) if it approves the jumbotrons on the North Shore.

Personally, it all sounds rather garish to me, but we are talking about a casino - a casino which stands to save taxpayers loads of money on property taxes if we're to believe Rendell and the Meadows hype.

According to the Rivers Casino website:

"Whether you prefer the exciting atmosphere of our gaming floor or the tranquil surroundings along our riverfront esplanade, our facility will be a premier destination for residents and visitors alike."

Their rendering of the casino is clearly of the tranquil side. They forgot to mention the light and noise pollution of traffic arriving at all hours and flashing electronic billboards. Who is that designed to appeal to? The greedy business owners who can't get enough?

Pittsburgh Cooling

Since November, US Steel and their contemporaries have been idling workers and plants around the region. Then, at the beginning of April, US Steel announced that they were putting the brakes on remodeling their Clairton coke plant. Bad news for area construction jobs and just as importantly bad news for the environment.

While it's widely acknowledged that Pittsburgh has drastically improved its air quality since the 50s, we still struggle with bad air quality reports. In 2006, 2007, and 2008, Pittsburgh ranked at the bottom of cities, especially for short-term particle pollution. The improvements at Clairton (one of the worst offenders in the area) were intended to take a big bite out of our low ranking.

However, there is a bright side in all this idling. Without these plants running, and thousands of workers driving to them every day, Pittsburgh's air quality is improving. So, get outside. Walk to the unemployment office or your free classes at CCAC and breathe a little easier today. You may not be employed but at least you'll live longer.

Taxing Time

According to the Post-Gazette, federal tax returns filed by internet are processed in one day instead of 4 weeks. Talk about efficient. You can file your state taxes by internet or even by phone (if your return is easy). Yet, here in Pittsburgh, the city is in the taxes stone age. We can submit questions to mayoral debates by youtube and coming soon, we'll be watching city council meetings on the web, but to file our taxes and make estimated payments, we're limited to paper filing. Personally, I filed my state and federal taxes a month ago (before I left for Peru) and I got nearly instant notification that my returns were processed. I'm still waiting for a potential response from the city of Pittsburgh. I mailed the check and many forms and crossed my fingers.

With all the talk about efficiency and modernization in this city, how about an online filing of city taxes? I know all the information makes its way into a computer eventually (or should). Let's cut out the middle man who has to type it all in. The federal government has realized the cost savings of electronic filing and we should, too. "... e-filing also helps to hold down government costs. It costs the IRS $2.80 to process a paper return vs. 35 cents to process an electronic return." That ends up to being less than the cost of the stamp you'd use to mail in your return. Assuming the costs are similar and our more than 300,000 residents file taxes each year, then that works out to a potential yearly savings of $735,000 (300,000 times $2.45) . Even if only half of city residents file taxes, I could write the software for a lot less than that and give it away for free. I'm waiting for the day that consulting job pops up on the city of Pittsburgh's website, but I won't be holding my breath.

It's About Time

Heinz ketchup - 57 varieties, originally uploaded by Leonid Mamchenkov.

Today, Vermont joined the ranks of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa to pass laws legalizing gay marriage in their states.

Now is the time for Allegheny County to get off their butts and pass their pending law making it illegal to discriminate against gays and lesbians in the county. This legislation has been pending in County Council since November. In March, State Representative Frankel re-introduced a state-wide bill to prevent discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgendered people. It'd be pretty sad if this passes while the Allegheny County ordinance languishes. This is not an issue that will just go away. You know the tide is turning when Iowa jumps on board.

Of course, I see this as yet one more reason to live in the city of Pittsburgh, a city which passed their anti-discrimination ordinance before I moved here. In addition, just last year the city created the domestic partnership registry, a benefit for both heterosexual and homosexual couples in the city.

So, what did the big tomato say to the little tomato falling behind? Ketchup! That's a metaphor that citizens of Allegheny County should understand.

Tread Lightly

Does Michael Lamb want to put the Pittsburgh Promise up for sale? He wants to ask the state assembly to tax non-profits in the city of Pittsburgh. (Why hasn't anyone done this before?) However, this is clearly a fine line to walk. UPMC is to Pittsburgh is like China is to the USA. We're indebted to them and vice-versa, but ultimately at this point, they hold a lot of the cards.

Over the next 10 years, UPMC, the region's uber-employer, has promised to donate a ton of money to the Pittsburgh Promise, but from the beginning they have been threatening to withhold their generous contributions if Pittsburgh pursues taxing non-profits. However, UPMC theoretically has the ability to pull its money out for any reason - the bad economy, sinking profits, a bad night's sleep. US Steel's recent pausing of work on the Clairton coke plant is as harsh a reminder as any that corporations often break promises. Taxes are a lot more reliable. And theoretically, there's nothing stopping the city redirecting tax money towards the Pittsburgh Promise. Of course, as long as Ravenstahl is in office, I expect any extra money to be diverted towards trash cans.

Less Waste in a Bad Economy?

After recent glowing reviews from the New York Times to Cleveland, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette appears to be picking up the happy Pittsburgh glow.

Latest breaking news? We ranked 14th least wasteful city. Of course, this ranking is out of 25 cities, which puts us (barely) in the bottom half of cities, or 12th most wasteful city. To put that into perspective, Detroit comes in at number 13.

Clearly, we'll never beat New York City in terms of public transportation usage, but there are a few things we should improve on to crack the top ten.

1) More library usage. We have a great resource in the Carnegie libraries and some of them rival Barnes & Noble for atmosphere, yet somehow Pittsburgh ranked 18th in library usage. Save some money, and visit your local library the next time you want something to read or watch. If you do this, and you realize, you're saving oodles of cash while feeling better about the environment, take Brian O'Neill's advice and give a little back to your library.

2) Less driving. We ranked 25th out of 25 in terms of driving instead of walking when you're going less than 2 miles. Spring has arrived, so get out of your car and put your walking shoes on. If you start walking more, you might even find you look better in a bathing suit this summer.

3) More energy efficient light bulbs. As a city, we came in at a fairly respectable number 15 in this category, but it's a joke to switch over to LED street lights, while we don't even change the lights in our home. Manufacturers are practically giving these bulbs away now. With their new styles and wattage options, there's no excuse for you to not have energy efficient light bulbs in every room of your house. Here in Peru, every light bulb is energy efficient. They're not doing it to save the environment. They're doing it save money. So stop whining about your electric bill and change your bulbs. I literally cut my electric bill in half last year when I switched out most of my bulbs.

Kudos to the Post-Gazette for a positive headline. Try it again the next time unemployment rates re-surface. At 6.5% for February, Allegheny County is well under the state unemployment rate (7.5%) and the national rate (8.1%). The 7-county region falls in at 6.9%. Yet the latest headline for the Post-Gazette regarding unemployment? "Local jobless rate increases at fastest pace since '80s"

In summary, don't get too happy about our environmental progress, and keep those jobless rates in perspective.