Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Newspaper: Darlene Harris is Best Option


Two candidates from Spring Hill, two more from Brighton Heights. Adorable!

The Post-Gazette supported the mayor's proposal, but Mrs. Harris and a group of her colleagues nonetheless deserve commendation for their resourceful development of a suitable alternative, although it unfortunately now is stalled in a fresh standoff with Mr. Ravenstahl. (P-G, Edit Board)


Seems the writers are not worried about Parking Authority bond indentures being an issue, or our budget perhaps already having been wrung more than dry (UPDATE: and the resultant "capital budget crisis"), or the specter of our pension fund not having met its takeover-avoidance threshold upon further review in September. Yet if the administration resists budget implementation for these reasons or for any others, it will be rolling the political dice on how Pittsburgh responds to a more public dispute and a more visible mess of uncertainty.

10 comments:

  1. Harris completely exposes the real agenda of the so called progressives. She is anything but progressive, but they support her without fail. She is a career politician who displays absolutely zero progressive qualities other than opposing the Mayor. While many ask what the Mayor stand for, it seems that to get the support of alleged progressives you don't have to stand for anything other than being against the Mayor. Darlene brags about dishing out tax payer money to get votes. She has no clue about anything financial and tell me again about her accomplishments?

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  2. This is a strange set of criticisms to be all stuck in one comment. For starters, are there actual progressives to vote for in any local elections? It reads like some committee member read a tea party news letter and decided they could wing it.

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  3. Prevailing wage and maybe "living" wage law, anti-drilling, gay pride etc., asphalt recycling, you wrote about "being against the mayor" but if we call it being "privatization averse" -- this is a litany of Progressive red meat. Dishing out tax payer money to get votes is what distinguishes her from Lenin. When they talk about the "nanny state," she is the one who floats down with an umbrella and installs security cameras. Now in terms of accomplishments, well, here's her side of the story.

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  4. "When they talk about the "nanny state," she is the one who floats down with an umbrella and installs security cameras."

    Good one, Reichbaum, lol.

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  5. Dog and cat adoption info mercials was not mentioned as the crowned star accomplishment for DH.

    She was Northside Public Safety founder and we all know that place just smells of safety and cash.

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  6. It may have been written in a distant keyboard,

    I don't think Harris, Dowd, Peduto, Shields, or Rudyak are all evil folks bent on political shenanigans to gum up the works. I think, for the most part, they are earnest and well meaning have the best interests the city at heart. ....

    So we all agree Kraus is evil.

    Giggle.

    I do think that they try hard and have good intentions. But the folly generally wins. Their influence and purpose is next to nothing.

    When you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there.

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  7. where did rest of my comment go?? Also meant to include Kraus in with the others with good intentions.

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  8. Here goes again. Sorry did not copy my original text and it is not appearing in the comments section – so I have re-entered my comment and did the best I could from memory.

    I think Darlene Harris has done a good job for her council district and the City of Pittsburgh.

    She listens to her constituents. A case in point is the Lemanna deal that would have torn down the historic Workingmen’s Savings building at the corner of Madison and East Ohio (aka ARC House). She originally supported the project, but when residents came out and opposed tearing down this historic structure, she changed her position and backed its nomination as an historic building. Turns out this was for the best, as the developer was having financial difficulties of his own.

    See Trib Review: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_665557.html

    Then we move to her attempts to get some much needed capital and project dollars for neighborhood commercial areas in her district. After a couple of years of the URA blowing off community requests, she reprogrammed dollars (and got 8 other votes on Council to do so). Of course, when the administration tried to sneak an amendment to put those $$ back in the URA coffers, she called them out.

    See Pgh Comet: http://pghcomet.blogspot.com/2010/05/darlene-decries-sleazy-ura-legislation.html

    Further adding intrigue to all of this stuff is the fact that the URA has held up the Gateway project in East Allegheny (1/3 of the 800 block of East Ohio Street near corner of East Street and East Ohio Street). This project calls for new construction on the site of the old NS Christian Health Center, and the renovation of 2 adjacent older buildings. However, the project was pulled from the URA agenda back in the spring or summer of 2010. No reason has ever been given and the project remains on ‘hold’. The community organization owns all but two of the mostly vacant and blighted buildings. (The URA owns the other two vacant and blighted buildings). Thousand pass by this intersection every day and come away with a terrible impression of East Ohio Street. Perhaps the Comet can interview someone at the URA as to why the project was stopped.

    I underestimated Darlene Harris when she was first elected. She has turned out to be an advocate for the Northside and of its improvement. I don’t think that she, Shields, Peduto, Kraus, Rudyak, Lavelle, or Dowd are out to gum up the works for political gain. They are people of good intentions that work to make the city a better place.

    I find it amazing that the Mayor refuses to meet with the PRESIDENT of City Council on a regular basis. And that, when questioned about his reasoning for not doing so, the Mayor throws out disparaging comments that impugns the PRESIDENT of City Council.

    See Trib Review: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_732776.html

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  9. I just wrote a long involved comment to the above for which Blogger Could Not Complete the Request for no earthly reason. I don't remember installing this software that so consistently prevents me from sending and publishing things that are clearly ill-advised, but I love it. We'll see if it kicks in again when I reframe my comment as part of a post this weekend.

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  10. Never doubt that Darlene Harris' intentions rest solely with the present and future of the City of Pittsburgh.

    She is a hardworking grandmother, serving in the only paid elected office she has ever had, even though she has been volunteering and working hard on behalf of the communities for decades. Founding member of the Northside Leadership Conference!

    Many citizens think that Councilors can simply order City workers to clean up trash, tow an abandoned car, or remediate a landslide. If she did have the staff to do all that, believe me it would be done, and never fast enough for her. However, City Councilors do not have direct authority over the City departments. Council legislates, including laws, resolutions, budgetary matters, etc.

    As for the Parking Authority bonds being an issue, the Authority's debt is not yet due, and is not overly burdensome. The only reason the executive branch wanted to pay it off as part of that privatization deal was because the deal could not happen unless the Authority was debt-free.

    Council and the Controller (ten of our elected City officials) worked together to find the comfort zone at the end of 2010, in which the City took on no new debt, and did not raise parking rates to the Mayor's proposed exorbitant levels, and provided a method to keep the State from taking over the pension fund.

    Darlene Harris led that thrashing out of an acceptable course of action.

    The leadership of the City must work together for any policy or plan to become functional.

    Ten of the eleven are on board.

    One is sitting in the corner refusing to play nice, trying to get his yes men elected so he doesn't have to play nice.

    Please research candidates well before voting.

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