On Council Presidents

"I have issues with both [declared contestants], to be honest," Councilwoman Theresa Smith said yesterday. Mr. Burgess seems too close to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, she said, and Mr. Peduto seems too far away.

Councilman Peduto has shown backbone. He took a strong stance against Ravenstahl's tuition tax. However, he has repeatedly shown that when push comes to shove, he can work with Ravenstahl on issues from street lights to over-arching reform.

Let's give Peduto a chance to keep Ravenstahl on his toes and compromise when needed.

Google and Pittsburgh

Multiple choice question:

What's the #1 reason Pittsburghers move away?

a) They want to live in a sunny climate.
b) Not enough bands and music acts have Pittsburgh on their tour list.
c) They want to pay more for housing.
d) They can't find a job.

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And the answer is?

d) Jobs

Anecdotally, every person that I've talked to that left the city, did so because they couldn't find a job in the city.

Google, our potential savior, is tapping into that lack of jobs. They have expanded their operations from 2 employees to 100 in the past few years. From a software engineering perspective, Google is Mecca. When I told friends I was moving to Pittsburgh, they started gushing to me that Google had an office in Pittsburgh. But I was turned off because Google was on Carnegie Mellon's campus. Being a graduate of a different technology school, I felt I would be shunned from that club. Now, Google is taking a big step in Pittsburgh. Google is moving to the new Bakery Square development in East Liberty. Google and Pittsburgh's relationship has moved beyond the college campus boundaries and only good things can come of it. Congratulations to the folks at Google for realizing that there's more to Pittsburgh than CMU. And to those software engineering Pittsburgh ex-pats, there's never been a better time to come home.

Congratulations to Baba D's

When Toby Keith and whoever has enough money can open a bar on the South Side, then you knew Bruce Kraus's stop-gap measure of a "saturation limit" on bars in the South Side wasn't going to fly in the courts. This was proved yesterday by the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas.

Judge James found that the ordinance was illegal because the city can't create special rules for bars. The city law was "an infringement on the power of the [state] Liquor Control Board and is invalid" becasue state law reserves most power to regulate alcohol for that agency.

I completely understand why the "saturation limit" was imposed. People that live on the South Side Flats were sick and tired of people pissing on their lawns and leaving broken bottles everywhere.

But the stop-gap measure was not the solution. All limiting the number of bars did was make it more expensive and difficult to get a liquor license. It did not increase the number of toilets on the South Side. It did not increase the number of trash cans. Ultimately, it was bad for small businesses. Baba D's was the scapegoat of this law. This restaurant was denied a liquor license and fought the law. They won.

Now, maybe we can get serious, read the South Side Hospitality Proposal, and actually address the South Side's issues?

Or not.

City Councilman Bruce Kraus, who represents the South Side, has already proposed a slightly modified version of the ordinance in a preemptive effort to keep it in force in the case of a court decision like the one rendered yesterday.

Oh well.

Port Authority Police

Did you know Port Authority has its own police? In the past 8 years, they have expanded their operations to include digital forensics (2001), a bike unit (2002), and 2 canine units (2003).

For the past 2 years, this 39-member police force has been in time-consuming and money-consuming contract negotiations with Port Authority. What do they want? Health benefits just like the city and county police have. My suggestion? Port Authority stops wasting more county money and rolls this department into the County police department. Then the Port Authority officers can get the benefits they deserve. I shudder to think of all the duplication of services here between high-tech equipment, canine training, and an entire police station to say the least. How can we even begin to consider consolidating city and county services while entire police units roam wild?

"Members have the legal right to strike, though DelSole said the police had not decided whether to do so."

Of course, the big question is: Would anyone even notice if they went on strike?

Weird Pittsburgh News

3 Weird Pittsburgh News Bits that caught my eye this Friday

1) A church bought by a controversial billboard company may become a national immigration museum. Perhaps Lamar wants to clean up their bad name around these parts? Perhaps they'll move the unfinished electronic billboard to the vicinity of the church and finally clean up the mess that is the lighting of the Grant Street Transportation Center?

2) Both Russell Crowe and Jake Gyllenhall are self-proclaimed fans of Pittsburgh. Jake Gyllenhall went so far as to show off his (presumably fake) Pittsburgh Steelers tattoo. After the Sienna Miller fiasco, it's a shock to hear celebrities speak well of the city. I guess they left their hotel rooms.

3) The county and Judge Wettick appear to have agreed on a timeline to *gasp* reassess property values. This is my favorite unexpected news of the day. County Executive Onorato has been on a high horse about refusing to perform anything even tangentially related to a property reassessment, even if it's requisite to taxing county residents fairly (and is required to follow the state constitution). This about face makes me breathe a sigh of relief. But the following caveat makes me wary: "[P]roperty owners would have to pay taxes before appealing [property assessments]."

4 Tuition Tax Myths and 1 Suggestion

I feel the need to dispel some myths regarding the "fair share" tax.

1. Income tax, property tax, and sales tax are not sin taxes. Don't we still tax text books?

'Councilman William Peduto took the same tack, saying that taxes are often placed on "sin" products, like alcohol or tobacco -- but not on self-improvement. "Why would we ever tax education, where somebody is trying to better themselves?" he asked.'

2. College students are not the only ones who pay the drink tax. Many, many non-college students visit the many bars and restaurants throughout the county and share this burden. It is also important to mention here that the aforementioned drink tax is a county tax.

"Let's face it, we [college students] are the ones that pay the drink tax"- graduate student, Mackenzie Farone

3. Non-profits are not totally exempt from all taxes everywhere. Just like when I donate to a non-profit, and I can deduct that donation at the Federal level but not at the city level, cities and states (within their own laws) can decide how to tax institutions. Non-profit is simply a Federal status granted after an application to the IRS. I don't know exactly how the city of Pittsburgh's laws are worded or the state of Pennsylvania, but as far as I can see, there is nothing at the Federal level stopping Pennsylvania or Pittsburgh from enacting their own tax laws regarding non-profits.

4. College students do cost the city money. From the extra police for couch-burning Super Bowl bonanzas to the general paving of roads on which they drive and sidewalks on which they walk. Yes, college students also contribute to the city through the property tax paid on their rented abodes. But no one should claim that those benefits outweigh the city's expenses without an extensive study to the contrary. Considering that the universities would benefit from such a study if it were in their favor, and the universities are the source of every major local study, I'm going to jump to the conclusion that it would not be beneficial for them to perform this study.

For more myth debunking, check out PGH Comet. For the words of the college students, watch this video.

Suggestion:

If you owe income tax to the city of Pittsburgh, you can deduct the amount you paid on your tuition tax against your income tax. This would serve city residents in two ways. First, it would prevent any ridiculous double-taxing and calm fears of anyone working their way through college while living in the city that they will be taken advantage of. Second, it might encourage city dwellers to take a class at a local university with the inherent 1% discount. Not much of a discount, you say? Not much of a tax, I say, but every little bit helps.

Summary:

No one wants to pay taxes, but the city is desperately running out of money and is running out of methods they can use to tax because of antiquated state laws. The city would love to tax non-residents who work in the city, like New York City and many other cities, but the state of Pennsylvania won't allow it. The city would love to slap a property tax on non-profit buildings, but once again the state won't allow it. Heck. The state will probably crack down on this tax as well, but the city has to keep trying to come up with innovative solutions in a hostile environment.

What can I say? I love this city, and I don't want it to run out of money. I want to keep all of our libraries open. I want our roads to be paved and our trash to be collected, and most importantly I want all the police officers and other city workers who have put their time in over the years, to continue to have their pensions paid. So if we need to come up with creative taxes that don't further stress our residents, I'm for it. Because when it comes down to it, if it's a choice between me paying 4% on my income tax or the college students coughing up another 1% on their $50,000 per year education, you're not going to find too many residents (who also manage to pay property taxes and income taxes and county taxes and state taxes) shedding a tear for the college students.

Request:

Can someone actually figure out if this tax is legal or not, so we don't have to waste any more time debating it?

Happy Cyber Monday

In the blog world, Cyber Monday is more of a celebration day than Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day recorded the least number of hits to my blog pretty much ever, but today everybody is back and surfing the web in a miserable fit of back-to-work blues.

Ways to make the working person feel better while wasting some time today yet avoiding saving money on deals?

• Laugh at the up-in-arms college students, fighting being taxed 1% of their tuition.
• If it's raining in Pittsburgh and you forgot your umbrella, maybe someone will give you one.
• Look through the #ravenstahlrumors hashtag on twitter.
• If you must shop, get some Penguins gear on sale. After all, they've been playing a lot better than the Steelers as of late.

Go surf and celebrate.