Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Wednesday: What's Shakin?

Debate 2 is on WTAE tonight at 7:00.

Nothing against Sally Wiggin, Andrew Stockey and Wendy Bell, but is this not the channel that usually puts Bob Mayo, Jeremy Boren and Jill King Greenwood into the squared circle as well? The addition of local beat reporters was always a singular distinction.

Watch for the URA to come under heavier fire tonight, and for the community benefits issue to be raised already.

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Alhough Carnegie Library Executive Director Barbara Mistick and company may not be participating in Mayor Ravenstahl's carnival dunking booth community meeting in Lawrenceville this Saturday, she did meet with public officials today:

Along with Rep. [Chelsa] Wagner, other officials participating were:

State Sen. Jay Costa, state Reps. Dom Costa, Paul Costa, Jake Wheatley and Dan Frankel, City Council President Doug Shields and members Patrick Dowd and Bruce Kraus, council members elect Dan Lavelle and Natalia Rudiak, and staffers for state Reps. Dan Deasy and Don Walko and city council member Theresa Smith. (P-G, Team Effort)


They may or may not seek to tap a portion of the state's forthcoming table game revenue. It's a good thing we elected to bring these casinos to Pennsylvania about five years ago, or I don't see how any part of our civilization could have survived. This is how and why weed is going to become fully legal one day -- we'll need the money. I don't know what we'll have left after that. Prostitution, maybe? Cockfighting? Dogfighting? Bum fighting?

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Today I am thankful for the Ohio U chapter of SDS.

Mackenzie Peoples, 19, a student at Ohio University, said she shouldn't have been arrested after police ordered a large gathering in Schenley Plaza to disperse on the night of Sept. 25.

"We had every right to be a part of this," said Ms. Peoples, a member of Students for a Democratic Society.

Ten members of the group came to Pittsburgh from Athens, Ohio, for the summit. Eight were arrested, and all plan to fight the charges. (P-G, Jerome L. Sherman)


I'm not saying they're necessarily innocent of the charges, I'm saying I'm glad there is an organized block of individuals intent on not taking a deal and challenging their arrests. I wonder whether those who saw their charges get dropped already did so not because of circumstances or evidence, but because of who they are.

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I feel bad about not having mentioned the UPMC facility closure in Braddock until now.

Dorundo encouraged residents to consider going to other hospitals in the UPMC system, including those in Oakland and another six miles away in McKeesport.

Residents, however, said transportation is a problem for some in the borough of 2,700. Many are senior citizens and don't have vehicles. (Trib, Chris Ramirez)


Also:

"Not only are we losing a hospital, we have lost everything," said Jeanette Stanton, who has lived in Braddock her entire 80 years. She pointed out that the hospital's closure means the loss of the borough's only ATM and that the hospital cafeteria is currently the closest thing the community has to a sit-down restaurant. "What are we supposed to do?"

Members of the crowd were particularly agitated by UPMC's plans to build a facility in Monroeville... (P-G, Moriah Balingit)


This is clearly a done deal, and it was apparently done for compelling business reasons. I'm not sure what Braddock or anyone else can do to compensate, but it's definitely another illustration of why there's no reason to treat UPMC like some sort of non-profit or charitable outfit. Braddock doesn't need this right now, it was pregnant with momentum and this is likely to stifle a fair bit of it.

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