Feeling Kinda Friday

Everybody's gearing up for the big game around here, and the news front is pretty quiet here if you don't care that Ben got caught stretching and more snow is falling.

A chink in Cranberry's armor has appeared though. I'm not too sad. I find that there already enough malls in the area that I avoid like the plague. But I've also never actually gotten off the highway in Cranberry. It's not too surprising that PennDOT is taking the blame in this failure.

Does PennDOT actually want Western Pennsylvania to fail? Between closing the major artery to Oakland for a year to planning mass devastation to Route 28 to now preventing a new shiny mall in Cranberry, it sure seems like it. There has got to be a way to reconstruct Route 28 without literally shutting down parts of this major artery for 6 months. Crawling through rush-hour traffic on Route 28 last night, I day-dreamed about a commuter rail on this artery. Instead, we'll be spending our stimulus money on wreaking havoc on commuters while we build more lanes. Thankfully, I work from home, so it's hard to get too angry. My ire is mostly reserved for the nearby evils like the Department of Public Works.

This whole post is feeling like a day-dream. I guess it's the lull before the Super Bowl storm.

Go Steelers!

Bullsh*t

"City sources" say there will not be a parade if the Steelers win the Super Bowl - or as Mind Bling says - WHEN the Steelers win the Super Bowl.

Why? You ask.

"Concerns are that the cost would be a budget buster and the parade would cause safety issues."

Bull Shit.

Onorato, Ravenstahl, and Rendell are willing to take time off to fly down to Tampa?

They're willing to hold pep rallies and have a Terrible Tree? They're willing to make terrible bets and change their name?

But no parade?

Indianapolis had a parade in 2007.

The Giants had a parade in 2008.

And no Steelers parade?

Bull shit.

If it's a money issue - ask for a $1 donation from everyone that shows up. The quarter million should cover it.

Safety issue? Give me a break. Too many people downtown? If only that was a regular problem. Oh, no. They had to arrest 34 people last time or 0.0136% of the attendees. Sounds like a manage-able crisis to me.

Or maybe RavenSteelerstahl thinks that only elected officials should celebrate a victory?

Bull shit.

Snow Days

When does Lamb get to run for County Executive? Can't he run for mayor? I seriously love this man. He performs audits on the snow plowing in the city. How cool is that??? Of course, this is on top of his audits for Pittsburgh City Council and emergency services and who knows what else.

Not too surprising he found that lots of streets in the South Hills get the shaft because they simply don't exist in the plowing routes. Whoops. He did acknowledge (and I've seen first-hand report of this) that the city's new smaller-fleet is addressing some of the issues for these smaller streets. For instance, my street was plowed during the last storm - all the way down to the bottom - within 12 hours of the "storm" starting.

However, there is no two-way communication within the Department of Public Works. As far as I can tell, one calls 311, makes a snow removal request, and the request goes into the void of the DPW. If you call back, they make another request. This "strategy" back-fired for me 2 storms ago when the salt truck neglected to make it all the way down my street. It took them 5 days (and many 311 calls, emails, etc.) to return.

The jury is still out on this "storm."

Do You Want a Pepsi With That?

Forget those funky bike racks that litter the city of Pittsburgh pretending to be works of art. Instead, Councilman Peduto says we should have ads on our bike racks. That's how you know that biking has hit the mainstream.

Next, we'll have McDonald's billboards on our bike-ways.

And then we'll have the Consol Energy state park with ads on the trail markers.

When does the commodification stop?

Seriously, though, if the city can get "free" bike racks attached to its parking meters. I guess that's cool. Though I have to wonder about a plan that's intended to bring more advertising money into the Parking Authority just in time to lease the parking authority and meters. And are we just one step away from metered bike parking?

Even In Cloudy Pittsburgh

When I drove through the countryside of cloudy Germany this summer, I was amazed to see that almost every barn was littered with solar panels.

Imagine looking up to the slopes from the South Side flats and seeing every other rooftop lined with solar panels. It's almost as iconic as a windmill atop Mt Washington - and probably easier to get the permits. (Of course, you wouldn't see the panels because they would have to be south-facing, but it's still a nice image.)

The only way this happens here or there is through tax breaks and subsidies. Can the city of Pittsburgh afford those tax breaks? Don't be ridiculous.

In reality, though, thanks to a Federal grant, Pittsburgh will have a solar water heater being installed in a firehouse by next fall. We do have a solar cell manufacturer in our backyard. And we do have a workforce that needs a break from being re-educated to draw blood. However, we will need to push Obama to keep up with solar tax credits and more if my dream is to ever become a reality.

Unfare To Me

The Port Authority needs to hire someone to work on their marketing. You don't say this:

A fare increase "in line with inflation" is likely Jan. 1 in any event, he [Steve Bland] said.

In the next 18 months, Port Authority will be unveiling the results of their big study to streamline the bus routes and make them more efficient and profitable. Yet "in any event", we can expect a fare increase???

Give me a break.

However, I'm really excited to see these new plans introduced. There has been an extremely thorough investigation of all of the existing bus routes in Pittsburgh with some very practical recommended results. My favorite? Run the 28X every half hour. People getting off a flight shouldn't have to worry about looking at a schedule and meeting the bus at 9:42.

I'm sure there's going to be some major kick-back on a major re-routing of the bus routes in this city. I only hope that Port Authority sticks to their guns and actually implements the new plan without some major compromises. It would help if it got some local leadership support to push it through.

The Price Of Tea In China

Why should we be excited to be in the Super Bowl?

After the Olympics were in Greece, tourism sky-rocketed for that beautiful country. The recent Olympics held in China did more for opening up the world to the wonders of China than any marketing campaign ever could with athletes walking on the Great Wall and reporters sampling food in the markets.

These national and international events are not just about the sport. I remember in the 90s when the Super Bowl was held at the New Orleans Superdome and all-of-a-sudden Massachusetts was flooded with recipes for Jambalaya and Gumbo. What did that have to do with football?

The spotlight is on Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Tampa right now. Bask in the glow. Promote yourselves.

Why would the New York Times be writing articles about Pittsburgh?
Why would a St Louis beer program come on yelp to ask about Pittsburgh beers?
Why would the Miami Herald write an article about Pittsburgh?

The Steelers are in the Super Bowl.

We, as a city, have a symbiotic relationship with the Steelers. From the guys who freeze their asses off selling black-and-gold everything at the Strip to the head honchos that own the gazillion parking spaces adjacent to Heinz Field. The Steelers make money. We make money. We get publicity.

Why not embrace it?