The Saga of a Crosswalk - or Why I'm Blogging Again

It's been over 3 years since I last wrote a post for this blog. Some really exciting things have happened in the meantime:

• The North Shore Connector was finished and has been very successful.
• Property Assessments finally happened again in Allegheny County.
• Gay marriage became legal in Pennsylvania.
• The Great Allegheny Passage was FINALLY completed.
• I created the Knoxville Incline Overlook Park in an old vacant lot.
• Bill Peduto was elected Mayor of Pittsburgh - about as important at the local level as Barack Obama being elected President of the United States.

A couple of not-so-great things: 

• The Brown T Line to Allentown is still not running - but The Hardware Store and the Hilltop Alliance are generating some great energy for Allentown, and I expect good things to happen there.
• We still have the PLCB and no tax on Marcellus Shale gas - but Corbett is on his way out the door.

And what drove me to blog: 

• I've been trying to get a crosswalk painted since May, and it's still not done. 

Some History:

May 14: I submit the request to repaint a barely there crosswalk on Twitter

https://twitter.com/illyrias/status/466579294815518720

July 7: I follow up multiple times on twitter and am told that the intersection is scheduled for painting. 

https://twitter.com/Pgh311/status/486539963987918848

July 22: Still not done, but I'm told it will be done in the next 5-7 days!

https://twitter.com/Pgh311/status/491657160481591296

August 19: Still not done, but I'm told that the project is still scheduled but that: "Equipment failure resulted in delay" https://twitter.com/Pgh311/status/501739023686467584

September 9: Still not done. No response. https://twitter.com/Pgh311/status/509358322542448640

October 6: Since it's getting late in the season, and @pgh311 is no longer getting updated information, I reach out to my city councilman's office.

Kraus's office follows up and informs me that the city traffic engineer claims this crosswalk was never city maintained, and they have no record of it, so they will not be painting it. I call the office and to clarify and let them know that this is a standard city crosswalk with curb cuts and city signs to call attention to the crosswalk. 

October 9: After following up with the city traffic engineer, Kraus's office informs me that the work-order has been forwarded to the line striping crew and back on schedule with a new ticket #413410.

October 24: Still not done. "I heard back from the painting foreman today and she assured me that your crossing is on the list to be painted. Her words to me are that this will be taken care of literally as soon as they can get a truck over there."

December 10: Still not done. 

What Next? 

Will I start trying again in the Spring? Or will I give up? Will someone else in the area re-start the same process all over again? 

In the meantime, I've also watched the attempts of @southsideslopes to get wooden forms removed from a set of steps. I've followed along with the requests of @moarhops to get a construction sign removed from a sidewalk. Why is it so hard for these "little" quality of life issues to get addressed? 

Funny how there are a lot of big awesome important things on these lists, but the only one that's gotten me up excited enough to write a blog post in the past 3 years is a simple crosswalk. It really is the "little" things that make constituents happy or angry on a daily basis, and they are just as crucial to our success as a city as the big things. I can only hope our city government learns to take this to heart (from top to bottom) before we all give up.

On Blogging

When I first moved to Pittsburgh in 2006, I knew almost no one that lived here. I read all the news I could about my new city, and what I learned made me excited, angry, and enthusiastic. In 2007, I started blogging. By nature, blogging is a great outlet for frustration. It also ended up introducing me to many great Pittsburghers through Podcamp and Blogfest.

But nowadays, when I'm angry or excited, I'm more likely to turn to twitter, or to rant it out over a beer with a friend on the South Side.

I will continue to blog here once in a while, and I will leave the blog up indefinitely. This isn't my joyous return to regular blogging. Instead, it's my public admission that I do not blog regularly anymore.

Thanks for reading!

All Hail Lenzner

On March 27, Port Authority of Allegheny County will cut routes, frequencies, buses, and drivers from their payroll in an effort to survive.

Private bus company Lenzner Coach Lines is taking up the slack for one route. They are paying Port Authority for the ability to offer reduced service. There will be no free senior and student rides. There will be no discounted disability service. There will only be 4 roundtrips per week day with no weekend trips. You will have to reserve an entire month's worth of trips to step on the bus. If Port Authority offered that service for the bargain-basement price of $3.25 each way, there would be riots in the street. But Lenzner will be charging $5.00 each way and make a profit. Yes, Port Authority, people would rather pay higher fares than not take the bus.

Of course, the Port Authority brought in only $93 Million in operating revenue (i.e. fares) in 2010. They had $397 Million in expenses. Employee wages and salaries alone accounted for $143 Million. Yes, current fares don't even cover current employee wages. That doesn't include employee benefits (like the costly pension system) which were an additional $126 Million in 2010. These are astounding numbers which actually tell you that fares mean very little in the grand scheme of things.

The state helped out significantly by dropping $184 Million in the bucket last year. The county offered a relatively piddling $27 Million on top of that. With the cost of pensions continuing to explode (a $13 Million increase just last year), reading these numbers seems pretty bleak. Port Authority is not sustainable even if it could triple its fares and not lose any riders. State government led by Governor Corbett would rather just shut their eyes, plug their ears, and ignore the problem.

It's easy to blame Port Authority's runaway expenses. But if you think Port Authority's expenses are ridiculous, keep this in mind:
PennDOT alone has a budget of $3.8 Billion, which is completely independent from the Turnpike budget, and the thousands of Pennsylvania county municipality road budgets.

So in short, Port Authority needs to make these cuts. There is no knight in shining armor stepping in to pony up 10% more in funding every year just to cover increased pension obligations. And in 10 years, I won't be too surprised to learn that Lenzner is operating more and more of our bus lines and light rail. We've brought this on ourselves by blaming Port Authority and shutting our eyes. I just feel bad for Grandma.

My advice to Lenzner? Don't start offering any of those pesky pensions.

The City That Banned Gas Drilling

Anecdotal impressions of Pittsburgh may be changing, and we have City Council to thank for that.

I was in Buffalo, New York over the weekend where most people I talked to hadn't been to Pittsburgh yet and didn't seem to have many impressions of this city 3 1/2 hours South.

Yet shopping in a local fashion store, I heard something new to me. "You're the city that banned gas drilling." Well, yeah, back in November, the city of Pittsburgh did ban gas drilling within the city limits, dismissed as a token effort by most around these parts. But up in Buffalo, one business proprietor says that inspired other cities to realize they could do the same thing. Buffalo enacted their ban last month after Pittsburgh paved the way.

Now that's a legacy we can be proud of.

Social Media & The Super Bowl

Every year, there is a media circus surrounding the Super Bowl along with inane bets by mayors and Governors of the involved teams. There is also always a viable economic benefit for restaurants, hotels, and stores in the host town as well as the home teams cities.

This year, however, social media has extended the reach of Super Bowl fever.

Ways for the lay-person to get involved!

1) Help out local Boys & Girls Clubs and get a sneak peek of the Coke ad airing during the Super Bowl. If 10,000 people cheer on Pittsburgh through Coke's site, then the soda magnate will donate $25,000 in addition to $1 per each "cheer".

2) If you donate to Penn Future, you are joining the EnviroBowl 2011 helping to improve Pittsburgh's air quality. That's a little more important than the Bud Bowl of past years.

3) If the Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl, head on over to the Carnegie Museum of Art to see Boating on the Yerres by Gustave Caillebotte which will be temporarily loaned by the Milwaukee Museum of Art.

4) And before the Super Bowl on Sunday night, why not stop by WYEP's annual Alternative Souper Bowl to enjoy some local music and help out a local homeless shelter by donating non-perishable goods?

If we as a city are going to spend so much time and effort cheering on a football team, we might as well do some good while we're at it and show off our philanthropic side.

Dedicated Funding Streams 101

You may (like me) have spent the last week gorging on Christmas treats and entertaining travelers stranded in Pittsburgh because of the crippling East Coast snowstorm. However, Pittsburgh City Council has been spending their holidays coming up with last-minute solutions to avoid a potentially disastrous state take-over of the city's pensions at the end of the year.

The latest political buzzword is "Dedicated Funding Stream." The idea is as old as dirt, though. Many of us set aside money every paycheck to contribute to our 401Ks. That's a simple dedicated funding stream. Instead of getting your whole paycheck, plopping it into one big checking account, then deciding how to divvy things up, you set aside a fixed percentage every month to your future retirement that you can't change without lots of annoying paperwork.

Allegheny County's Drink Tax
Back in 2007, County Executive Dan Onorato and his council passed the extraordinarily controversial Drink tax, dedicating 10% of every tipple consumed in the county to pay for the County's share of Port Authority expenses. Now, when it's time to pay Port Authority, the Council doesn't have to slice a piece of the budget pie - that money is already set aside.

City Council's Proposal?
Pittsburgh City Council wants to dedicate future parking rate increase profits to funding the Pittsburgh pensions. I, for one, am a fan of this method. Much like we don't sell our house and put the profits in our 401K and hope for the best, just to get all our savings wiped out in a bad market downturn, we regularly contribute to our future, exercising "Dollar Cost Averaging." If you need an extra reminder why plopping a giant wad of cash onto the problem doesn't fix the problem, you need to only look back to the year 1998 in Pittsburgh. That's when then-Mayor Murphy sold over $250 Million in bonds to shore up the pension fund. All that money has since disappeared in stock market dive after stock market dive while the city continued to contribute the minimum amount possible each year.

What's Next? Will Harrisburg also jump on the dedicated funding stream bandwagon? One can only hope. As it stands now, the Pennsylvania state legislature can barely pass budgets on time while it attempts to divvy up its giant general fund. Most of the time, Port Authority gets the shaft. Let's take the control out of the hands of selfish state legislators and add some transparency to the budgeting process instead of last-minute shady deals to pass the budget. Heck, maybe the Federal government could even learn some lessons here? If I can manage my own budget, surely our governments with their teams of Ph.D. degree-holders and economists should be able to as well.

Downtown Parking Thanksgiving

Mr Benter of the Benter Foundation got fed up with searching for parking downtown, so he directed his foundation to spend $175,000 to develop ParkPGH. Currently, the application-website tells users the availability of parking at 8 downtown garages in the Cultural District.

In January, ParkPGH will add a ninth location, the parking authority garage at Ninth Street and Penn Avenue. At that point, the system will encompass 5,300 spaces -- 25 percent of Downtown garage capacity.

If I'm doing the math correctly, that means there are 21,200 parking spaces available in downtown parking garages.

The system potentially benefits 2 million annual Cultural District visitors and about 150,000 daily Downtown commuters.

So we have 21,2000 parking spaces available downtown for 150,000 daily commuters. That means the vast majority of downtown workers park elsewhere and walk or take public transportation downtown.

On Tuesday night, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission narrowly voted to bail out Port Authority with an extra $45 Million they had lying around - on the condition that Port Authority still implements some cuts in March. When Port Authority enacts its slightly less catastrophic 15% compromise service cuts in March, at least all those stranded downtown workers will be able to watch the parking garages fill in real-time on their iPhone.

And to make it a parking trifecta this week, Pittsburgh City Council is fast-tracking a plan to lease our parking garages and bail out the city's own pension fund. The good news? The garages will only be leased for 40 years (instead of 50) and the city will be eligible for profit-sharing from the garages. The bad news? They're still leasing the parking meters and giving up control over parking throughout the city and not ultimately solving the city's long-term pension woes.

So in summary, thanks to Mr Benter for actually getting something done. Thanks to the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission for stepping in where the state repeatedly refuses to tread - even if the money comes with strings attached. And thanks that I'm not a Pittsburgh City Councilor stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Bye-Bye Buses, Hello Bikes

Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC) is planning record cuts in bus service largely due to a reduction in state funding this year and going forward. With a new conservative Governor-elect, Port Authority funding is likely to only continue its decline at the state level and our illustrious local officials seem perfectly content to face the demise of public transportation while claiming it's not their problem.

But all is not lost. There's no time like the present to start biking in Pittsburgh. Next Fall, thanks to a final grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, all Port Authority buses will be equipped with bike racks. Currently, about 80% of the buses have bike racks. While your local bus stop (and entire line) may be cut, at least you can reliably bike between home and a further away bus stop. Perhaps it's Allegheny County's long-term plan to reduce its obesity rate which is sitting significantly higher than the national average? Personally, I'd prefer a tax on sugary drinks. A Carnegie Mellon University study last spring showed that a 1% county tax on the drinks would cut usage by 8% and generate $54 Million annually. If we can put the alcoholic drink tax toward Port Authority, why not share the burden with our sugar-guzzling friends? After all, obesity causes more deaths than just drinking alcohol.

But it's not too late for the state to at least restore some of its previous funding and stop shirking its responsibility. Go to keeppghmoving.com and make your voice heard.

National Do-Not-Flyer List

Throughout the country, we are giving folks more rights in preventing blatant abuses of privacy. Since 2004, you have been able to sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry - preventing telemarketers from bothering you. We have laws for Junk mail - where unless you are a paying customer of a company, you have the right to remove yourself from their mailing list. The Can-Spam Act of 2003 attempts to prevent spam from flooding our email inboxes (though it has some implementation issues.)

However, spammers and their ilk will continue attempting to flood us with unwanted garbage in every avenue possible. The latest attempt in Pittsburgh? Two anti-abortion activists have sued the city in an attempt to overthrow the anti-flyer law enacted to reduce litter. Where are they getting the money for this lawsuit? Pat Robertson.

"Kathleen A. Ramsey of Ross and Albert A. Brunn of Pittsburgh want to distribute leaflets they think will influence the results of the election. They are represented by the American Center for Law & Justice, an organization founded by evangelical preacher Pat Robertson."

Prepare for pictures of dead fetuses (preview if you have the stomach) to flood your car windshields in the coming months. It's not enough that abortion protesters feel the need to harass women seeking affordable health care at Planned Parenthood. (See some horror stories from last year's 40 days for Life.) For the next month, they will also have the legal right to leave garbage on your car. I recommend that you find the anti-abortion van and plaster it with pro-Sestak flyers.

I want to put my car on the Do-Not-Flyer List. Maybe in another few years?

Step Trek 10

Pittsburgh Steps, originally uploaded by cjette.

This Sunday, head on down to the South Side Slopes for some stair walking good times. With multiple routes around the South Side Slopes, you'll get some exercise, sneak peaks into some gorgeous churches, and fantastic views of the city. This is the 10th Anniversary of Step Trek and promises to be the best one yet. For more information, see the official Step Trek website!

$452 Million is TOO Much Money

After weeks of waiting, the final tally has come in. The city needed a minimum of a $300 Million bid for the parking assets in order to pay off the existing parking authority debt and boost the pension fund up to 50% funding.

The city got an offer of $452 Million.

For weeks, city residents were told that these over-arching changes were required. There was no way to separate the parking garages from the parking meters. Every adjustment the administration made to the proposal would highly risk our ability to be competitive. We needed to "keep the deal attactive to potential bidders."

And then what happens??? We end up with way too much money.

So what do I say? Put the project back out to bid for just the parking garages. Give the 7 pre-picked firms the option of re-submitting bids for just the garages. After all, the Metered Parking System Agreement is already separate from the Parking Facilities Agreement. I'm willing to bet that we can get $300 Million for the facilities alone.

Leasing our parking meters for 50 years is simply ridiculous. Letting someone else control where and how much our parking meters cost will be deadly to local businesses and future development. There is free-market competition for the parking garages and the ability for 3rd parties to build more. When it comes to parking meters, there is no such thing.

What about Port Authority's quest for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which would greatly improve our transportation options in certain corridors but could require elimination of some parking meters? If the parking meters are leased, that becomes an added expense to the project. The city should control its roads. Lease some profitable parking garages downtown, but don't sell out our roads.

Or do you really trust City Council and the Mayor's office with a $150 Million bonus?

Or we can wait until Friday when City Council's study of the parking situation comes to light.

Whatever the case, we know now that either the Mayor had no idea what the parking garages are worth (and still doesn't) or his office was perfectly willing to bully the city into giving away way too much power. Seriously, it's going to cost $2 per hour to park in the struggling neighborhood of Brookline but we're supposed to be happy that the Mayor saved our free Sundays?

3 Important Announcements for this Week in Pittsburgh

1) Today (Tuesday), the parking lease proposals are due. 7 Firms were given the opportunity to submit their bids by 4PM today. Run on over to nullspace to make your proposal guesses now!

2) Thursday, we learn once and for all whether the Civic Arena will be imploded. Who am I kidding? They'll decide to implode it, and then we'll be in for another round of appeals from the "Re-Use the Igloo" folks. Perhaps their best argument so far has been this image:



3) Podcamp Pittsburgh is this weekend. To sweeten the pot, buildasign.com has given me 50 bumper stickers to dole out to my Pittsburgh-crazed groupies. Since I don't have groupies, anyone I see at Podcamp will be eligible for a PghIsACity-themed bumper sticker (while supplies last.)

Made my signs

The Steelers Are Coming

A new CMU Miller Gallery exhibit, "Whatever it takes", hopes to gain new insight on the Steelers phenomenon highlighting outlandish fans near and far. The exhibit opens this weekend. If you've always been looking for a good excuse to check out this gallery, now is the time. Also, if you have a Steelers tattoo or a special game-day ritual, they want you to become part of the exhibit.

Like most fans, I wear my jersey on game day, and I strive to watch every game, from walking through a snow storm to watch the game at a Steelers bar in Massachusetts to catching snippits of a game in a bar in Argentina with "buffalo wings" that resembled chicken cacciatore. This Sunday, I'll be heading down to the South Side stopping in wherever there's a good crowd, but I can still get a seat. And this Friday, I'm hoping to check out the Immaculate Reception, the CMU gallery's cleverly titled opening reception.

If you've managed to miss it, check out "Yinz Luv da Stillers" below whose work will be featured at the Miller Gallery.

How Many More Hospital Visits?

Why did the chicken cross the road?
Or why did Justin McFadden cross West Carson Street around 2AM 6 days ago?

To get to the other side.

What happened to Justin McFadden? An off-duty, impaired (read: drunk) Kennedy police officer hit him. Remember kids, buzzed driving is drunk driving.

Justin McFadden is now in the hospital with 6 broken ribs, a neck fracture, and a spleen injury. He had blood clots in his brain and collapsed lungs. This was no mere brush with a vehicle. This was a serious collision.

What does the un-biased Tribune-Review have to say about this? They quote a random passerby:

"That's the worst place on that road to cross because the jersey barrier blocks everything, and you wouldn't see anyone until the last second"

And you know what a sober, alert driver does, when they see someone in the road at the last second? They swerve out of the way and crash into a jersey barrier rather than slamming into the pedestrian. By quoting this garbage in the paper, the Trib is almost justifying this near-murder by a drunk-driver saying that the young man shouldn't have been in the street. Yeah, there'd be no drunk-driving accidents if folks just stuck to crosswalks.

And the police officer that hit him and may or may not have left the scene and not reported the crime? He's sitting off-duty receiving pay yet to face any charges. We can only hope that next time he's out drinking, he calls BeMyDD.

Justin's father says:

"I just feel like if I was the one who hit someone, I'd be in jail right now"

And I can't help but agree.

Councilman Kraus versus the South Side

Love him or hate him, Pittsburgh City Councilman Bruce Kraus cares about his South Side constituents. Since he was elected, he has made it his crusade to stem the tide of violence, disrespect, and litter in the South Side. Earlier this summer, he organized the "Sociable City Forum" bringing local leaders and bar owners together. Last year, his intern created the following document: "INVITING, SAFE, AND COHESIVE: A PROPOSAL FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SOUTH SIDE USING RESPONSIBLE HOSPITALITY PRACTICES" This proposal outlines the many ways the South Side could be better handled. But unfortunately funding is an ever-present issue in the city, and none of these recommendations have been implemented.

This past weekend, we had a stark reminder of why it's so important to make changes on the South Side. After getting into a fight with a bouncer, a bar patron opened fire wounding the bouncer and two bystanders. This is unacceptable. Stories like this are why I try to leave the South Side craziness before all hell breaks loose at closing time. Every Friday and Saturday night I've been on the South Side, I've experienced drunken belligerence and fights - though thankfully no gunshots yet. This behavior is unacceptable. Are we going to wait until 4 people get killed?

But our Mayor keeps pushing this off on Councilman Kraus as a minor district problem. Moreover, it seems the Mayor's office is turning a blind eye to Kraus's efforts.

Ms. Doven [Mayoral Spokeswoman] said Mr. Kraus "hasn't brought us anything by way of recommendations, solutions, a white paper" and questioned his willingness to work with the mayor's office. She said previous enforcement blitzes on the South Side yielded only temporary improvements.

Mr Mayor, perhaps if you read your mail, you would have opened your personal invitation to the South Side Sociable City Forum. Or perhaps you could go to Councilman Kraus's web-page on the city website where he outlines the above goals. Or maybe once a week, you could read the newspaper which regularly highlights Kraus's attempts at legislation and change in the South Side. Since being elected, Kraus has managed to get laws passed to increase fines for open alcohol containers and created a fine for public urination.

Perhaps money collected from these fines could be funneled directly back into the South Side police presence? Whatever the case, you can disagree with his tactics, but you can not disagree that Councilman Kraus is willing to work on this vital issue.

Designated Drivers to the Rescue

Anecdotal evidence walking in the South Side on a Friday night says that people in Pittsburgh have a major drunk-driving problem. But what do you do when you're drunk and you're out with your car? A new company aims to take away one pathetic excuse for the drunk drivers. You (or your concerned friend) call 1-877-U-BMYDD. For a reasonable fee, they will drive you and your car home. You can also reserve their driving services ahead of time on their website. But if you are the type of person to get smashed with your car, you're probably not planning ahead, are you?

Now, we just have to convince Pittsburgh drivers that they shouldn't be driving drunk. This week, there is a state-wide push to crack down on drunk drivers.

"Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials said drunken driving increases as the summer comes to an end. According to records, last year there were more than 450 alcohol related crashes in Pennsylvania on the weekends surrounding Labor Day."

How about they "crack down" every weekend on the South Side? Of course, it's hard to have effective checkpoints when even the cops drive under the influence. But it's promising that BeMyDD is expanding to Pittsburgh after successfully launching in 3 Ohio cities. According to Men's Health, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus are all doing better than us at addressing drinking with ranks of 73, 72, and 83 respectively, but Pittsburgh's ranking of 59th means there are a lot of cities with a lot more work to do. This is one list that I'm glad we're not topping.

Ridgemont Rejects New Residents

I'm going to preface this post by saying I know nothing about this City Vista development other than today's news snippet in the Post-Gazette.

"The project initially involved nearly 500 residential units and 26 acres -- 10 of those in the City of Pittsburgh. After complaints from the city's Ridgemont residents, the plans were revamped to include only Green Tree at this time. Developers may revisit plans to expand City Vista into Pittsburgh"

But let me get this straight. A developer wanted to build a cross-city-border development in 10 acres of the city and one neighborhood turned it down. How about we raise taxes on Ridgemont residents since they clearly don't want an influx of property taxes and new resident wage taxes into the city coffers. Maybe they're not being taxed enough?

Let's look at the census assessment of Ridgemont:

Its population as of the 2000 census was 530 people. Down from 590 in 1990 and 884 in 1940. Of its 223 housing units, only 2 units were vacant which is an impressive statistic. Of those units a mere 26 (or 11%) are renters. Sounds to me like Ridgemont is fine with the status quo. They don't want any renters invading their peaceful neighborhood.

I understand that not every development is worthwhile, but when your neighborhood is losing population and your city is struggling, it is the time to welcome new housing stock. Let's hope when the developer comes back and wants to expand again, Ridgemont has the common sense to work with the developer.

Pittsburgh Council Wants You

Last week, Pittsburgh City Council wandered around to Downtown, South Side, and Oakland for public hearings. Monday night, they will visit the North Side to share their side of the pension woes and the mayor's attempt at a stop-gap fix at the expense of the citizens.

As it currently stands, Mayor Ravenstahl is ready to give away the bank to the highest bidder. That means tripling most parking meter rates over the next 4 years, meter enforcement till 10PM everyday including Sundays. That means no more free ride in city downtown parking garages.

I attended last week's South Side hearing to voice my opinion and listen to others. The resounding responses? 50 years (the intended lease agreement length) is a very long time. One of the plan stipulations is that the City of Pittsburgh will pay the lessee if a parking space is out of commission for 22 days in a year. One speaker aptly asked "What if we had locked into a plan 50 years ago?" We'd be paying some company a fee for not using those covered-up trolley lines if you ask me.

Residents also fervently proclaimed that leasing the parking garages is bad business. The city is selling low right now because the city is at a disadvantage. And what is the lessee going to do? Make a steep profit off of higher rates that we've been too afraid to implement ourselves for fear of driving away business. Why not raise the rates, put the profit towards the pensions, and cut out the middle man? Pittsburgh City Council is leaning towards a plan that will issue a bond to increase the contents of the pension fund and retain control over the parking situation. They would continue to raise rates, but since the city would still ultimately be in control, they could respond to suffering businesses and residents if the rates became too unwieldy. That sounds like good business to me.

So why am I telling you this? In order to pull off this coup, 5 city council members need to stand up to pressure from Mayor Ravenstahl and our Harrisburg Legislators. City council is only willing to do this if we insist on this plan. So let your city councilors know that you support them standing up to Harrisburg and Mayor Ravenstahl. Let them know that it's bad business to hand away our assets and lose control of our streets. Will this still mean increased parking rates? Yes. But it also means that the increases will be with the success of the city in mind - instead of a big conglomerate that just wants to profit off of our residents in a time of need.

Pittsburgh is Farming

Pittsburgh is a city, but almost as soon as you leave the city limits, the area becomes farmland. This is one of the unsung wonders of our city, supplying our farmer's markets with plentiful and reasonable fruits and vegetables all summer long. This weekend as part of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) annual farm tour, over 20 farm opened their doors to visitors. I managed to visit 5 of those farms.

At Shenot Farm on a quintessential hay ride, I learned they are collaborating with Penn State to practice mating disruption throughout their farm. This is a method of reducing insects without pesticides. They hang little pheromone tags on peach trees and apple trees to confuse the insects while saving money and our fragile environment at the same time. Soergel's mega-orchard is also using this method.

At Pound's Turkey Farm, I was surprised to learn that not only do they raise turkeys and cows, but they also grow most of the feed that these animals consume. I learned first-hand that turkeys are curious creatures that follow people around and like to play with toys, and I even got to hold a baby turkey in my hand. Maybe it will be my Thanksgiving dinner?

Over at Jamison Farms, I was transported to Ireland. Sheep roam the hillsides, and John Jamison will talk your ear off about his lamb and why Americans tend to reject this delicious meat. He's convinced many chefs of the greatness of his lamb including the ones at Legume and Sonoma Grille locally. You can also buy direct from the source and try your hand at cooking this delectable lamb at home.

All of these farms are less than an hour from downtown. Of course, you don't need to leave Pittsburgh's urban environment to see agriculture in action in Pittsburgh. Burgh Bees is a pioneer in urban community apiaries with a test site in progress in Homewood. Recently, Dan Onorato announced "Allegheny Grows," a plan to turn county land into urban farms and community gardens. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates have caught the farming bug. Their Pepsi Refresh Project is to create yet another urban community garden - in Homewood.

You can talk about a lot of great things in Pittsburgh, but this summer, the thing I'm most thankful for is our connection to the earth. Pittsburgh's next #1 ranking should be city with the most opportunity for sustainable urban living.

Steve Bland Not So Reluctant

On June 14, I blogged that Steve Bland CEO of Port Authority, was "reluctant to raise the $2 base fare for Zone 1 because that would hurt its lowest-income customers and affect routes that are the most cost-effective." Instead, he threatened to raise suburban bus fares upwards of $7 one-way.

Who protested? The lowest-income customers who are busy putting food on their table? Or the downtown workers from the suburbs who can afford an increase the most? The results are pretty clear. Both zone 1 and zone 2 fares are going to raise by a whopping $0.25. In case you're not keeping track at home, that's a 12.5% increase in fare for the lowest-income customers who were already paying their way. The customers out in the suburbs will only see a 9% increase.

Not that the suburbanites are getting off easy in this highly probable round of cuts.

Among the 50-plus communities that would be left with no service are East McKeesport, Franklin Park, Glassport, Hampton, Indiana Township, Liberty, Marshall, North Versailles, Pennsbury Village, Port Vue, South Park and Wall, and the city neighborhoods of Banksville and Spring Garden. Service to the Edgewood Towne Centre and Robinson Town Centre shopping complexes would be abolished, the agency said.

But honestly, why does the Port Authority continue to subsidize suburban living when city dwellers are over-paying their fare share (and then some)? This is yet another case of poor judgment for the Port Authority. If the Port Authority unveiled a plan to charge the actual cost for each bus route (since they now have that data), people would be unhappy but they would understand the logic. Instead, we have unfair, illogical bus fare increases and radical service cuts insuring that everyone is unhappy.

Obviously, Port Authority wants us all to be angry and yell at our state legislators to restore funding for public transportation (which you should). But if Steve Bland is just playing a massive chess game with the state legislature, I'm afraid he's going to lose, and the lowest-income customers will be the biggest losers. So go contact your state legislators, and while you're at it, give Port Authority a piece of your mind.