Reflexively, I don't have a problem with this TIFF. I do wonder whether the "infrastructure improvements" are all very narrowly tailored to benefit Target and its consumers, or if they are broadly enough conceived to be of real benefit to residents. Present neighborhood residents. (P-G, Mark Belko)Which reminds us, hey!, what ever happened to this visionary project, with the bids due in a big freakin' hurry? (P-G, Rich Lord, 10/28/08)
A former School District facilities chief is suing the District, Mark Roosevelt et al for having made him a scapegoat for the inappropriate affairs and activities of others. (P-G, Joe Smydo)
UPDATE: Well, scratch my back with a hacksaw:
Post Agenda Meeting Schedule
Monday, January 26, 2009 - 10:00 A.M.
Discussion regarding Bill No. 2008-1018; the fund in the nature of an irrevocable trust, the draft defeasance agreement, and the nature of oversight in the City of Pittsburgh.
That topic is both incredibly specific and incredibly broad. I guess that makes it "incredibly ambitious". Congratulations to the Council for tackling a subject of such complexity and grave import!
BO-RING! If anybody of too much importance puts more than a half-hour's work into appealing these statistics, that's probably too much time. (P-G, Rich Lord) UPDATE: Okay Okay Okay Okay.
If anybody is interested in defending their own manifest privilege to accept free Steelers tickets, Dan Onorato shows how it's done. As a matter of fact, he's got me mulling over my position on SEA and Stadium Authority tickets (ONLY), as these are not "gifts" from anybody, and the two boards are directly relevant. But only mulling. Because seriously, you can call it "economic development", "national security", or "the ontological imperative", but are these not benefits handed out by the Steelers to their regulating Authorities? (Trib, Jodi Weigand)
Speaking of which, you all know about this, right? As hokey as it sounds, it's interaction, and it could easily evolve further. Why not appreciate it? As this will be a "Town Hall", Onorato's avatar will be required wander back and forth across the computer screen and call us "My Friends".
If the URA plan around the Target site includes making two-way streets out of that awful Penn Circle and also helps alleviate that clusterf**k of an intersection, then I'm all for it. Even if the intentions are solely for the benefit of Target, everyone will benefit.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I personally go back and forth on the idea of stores like Target and Walgreens and Whole Foods and Trader Joe's leading to a rejuvenation of that area, anything that will lead to the destruction of Penn Circle is good in my book. That monstrosity of a traffic pattern is more than an ideally-shaped metaphor for the strangulation of East Liberty, and one can only hope that the day will come when that community will have a chance at revitalization. But Penn Circle must go if that revitalization is to occur.
Yes, Penn Circle must die.
ReplyDeleteI think my first memory of Penn Circle is driving around and thinking, "Gosh! I'm never going to come back here!"
ReplyDeleteI hope the tearing-up of obstructive vintage urban redevelopment and the reconnecting of old organic thoroughfares becomes all the rage, but I'd also like it done with an eye toward pedestrians, bicyclists, dog walkers, kids with wheels in their sneakers.
My first memory of Penn Circle is nearly turning onto the busway.
ReplyDeleteGuy Costa is rumored to be interested in that school district job.
ReplyDeleteIs guy qualified? What will all those salt piles do with out guy in front of them telling us it's snowing?
ReplyDeleteOh, he's a politically connected democrat... I guess he's qualified...
I wonder why Onorato scheduled his first cyber event for 8:30am?
ReplyDeleteHow many people are available at 8:30 am ?
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ReplyDeleteReestablishing the 'h' one hundred umpteen years ago is still way more important to us today than to piss and moan over the turnstile tally at the city gates.
ReplyDeleteI cant wait for our next official census to come 'round and publish a sub 300k population for the city proper. Like a swift Irish kiss, it will sober us up for a final push. That will be the inflection point at which our struggle for another renaissance will have produced a positive gain. There will be a turn and it will be all uphill after that.
... anyone believe that?
8:30 AM was a terrible time to pick for this 1st event.
ReplyDeleteI will get up early to check this out.
ReplyDeleteThe Town Hall seemed to be a tiny bit buggy -- first it kept making me download a stream of senseless characters. Then when it stopped doing that I was expecting it to kick on at start time, but it turned out I had to refresh the screen, so I missed about 5-7 minutes. Finally, when my furnace kicks on my Internet goes down for a second (this was obviously my fault) but in this case it also caused my browser to crash (this was new). And finally, at 9:00 AM, Dan-O got cut-off in mid sentence.
ReplyDeleteSo it was a herky-jerky experience, but there was some decent content. I'll write it up later, and if they archive it, I'll provide the link. If I'm not mistaken I joined them as he was answering Illyrias's question (he was saying something about "in those cities with what you call wonderful transportation, like Cleveland, they have a drink tax and a cigarette tax) and one from Mark (I presume Rauterkus) about parks.
I had no such problems with the cybercast; in fact, it went swimmingly on my end, at least from a technological standpoint.
ReplyDeleteFrom a relevance standpoint, I find it difficult to watch something like that without having the prospective gubernatorial run cloud my perception. It seems to shroud every word he said, at least to my ears, and even if his intentions were noble in this venture, I can't get the future campaign out of my head. With every utterance, I was thinking, "How will this be used as a campaign tool next year?"
Still, I like the concept and wish it would have been longer. I feel like there were probably a lot of questions that did not get asked. Next time it should be a full hour.
P&G - PC or Mac?
ReplyDeletePC, and I use Media Player a lot, so I probably already had whatever update they suggested on that page.
ReplyDelete