Declaration of Principle

The Pittsburgh Comet will be the organ of no party or clique, but will honestly endeavor to be the exponent of what its conductors believe to be the Spirit of Pittsburgh. It will deal frankly and in good humor with persons and with parties, endeavoring always to keep in view that moral element which transcends all persons and parties, and which alone makes the basis of a true and lasting prosperity. It will not rank itself with any sect of anties: but with that body of men and women which is in favor of Freedom, Harmony, Civic Progress, and Honor, whether public or private.

Cribbed in substantial portion from The Atlantic Monthly, h/t Andrew Sullivan.

Thank you for joining us. See you on Sunday.

Enjoy!!!!!

We at the Comet respect the authoritah of Comedy Central. So we pass along this rumor, now with alleged-multiple-blind-sourcing, from their blog:

Vice President Cheney is stepping down. Condoleeza Rice is stepping up. And so, she is weighing a presidential bid in 2008 after all.

Comedy Central's blog previously broke the Rumsfeld resignation, and they sound deadly serious about this one.

You heard it there, first. Because of us.

What Is With That Guy?

Yesterday we saw a P-G Perspectives piece by Eloise McDonald, president of the Oak Hill Residents' Council. She argued against switching Oak Hill developers mid-stream, by awarding the contract for higher-end Phase II development to different interests than those already responsible for lower-income Phase I.

Her rationale was that without access to the Phase II payoff, the Phase I developer would be unable to maintain their property over time. The original plan was a mixed-income, sustainable community, but this new scheme, she claimed, would result in segregated haves and have-nots.

A fine, cogent argument, we thought. Oh, this is how she framed it:

"If we change developers, as housing authority Chairman Dennis Regan has demanded, the current Oak Hill community will be permanently locked into a low-income existence."

That was yesterday. We learn today from the P-G that Dennis Regan quit the Housing Authority. Yesterday.

We thought we had heard somewhere, "That man no longer works for the city." Today's article, in fairness, has Authority Executive Director Meachem assuring us, "He hasn't been involved in any [authority] activities since the time the mayor suspended him. None. Zero."

Still, this brings a new kind of significance to Ms. McDonald's pointed urge that we "follow the money" to see who benefits from switching Oak Hill developers.

Amazingly, Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle opined that Regan's resignation from the housing authority "comes on a sad note, because I thought he was doing a wonderful job."

What Hath Redd-Up Wraught?

Clearly, there's an arms race afoot as to who's tougher on bad landlords.

The P-G's Rich Lord today reports on Councilman Bill Peduto's plan to focus on three small, troublesome student housing zones in and around Oakland. He would require owners of those properties earn a "Certificate of Livability," or cease charging rent.

John Kostelac of the Pennsylvania Landlord Legal Defense Fund claims that singling-out those three zones is illegal and unconstitutional.

Yesterday, Lord wrote of Mayor Ravenstahl's proposed "fight-blight toolbox" for compelling owners to do something about vacant properties.

When some property owners warned a growing "anti-landlord climate" could drive them away, the Mayor replied, "Those that don't comply with the regulations, quite frankly, we don't need them in our community."

Absentee, negligent, "slumlords" are an easy target: voters see the problem, understand it, and have little sympathy. The problem in crafting any solutions is enforcement over time, which means money and follow-through.

Peduto Getting Younger by the Minute

Do you get spam from the Pittsburgh League of Young Voters? So do we. Here's an item that grabbed our attention:

Three (3) members of its Executive Committee are stepping down to work on the Peduto campaign. (Press release) That's 20%.

We are already familiar with campaign manager Matt Merriman-Preston, of Chelsea Wagner renown.

He is joined by Lindsay Patross, co-founder of IHeartPgh, finance director for Georgia Berner for Congress, and one of Pittsburgh Magazine's reigning "40 Under 40."

The third is Dan Lavelle, veteran of Councilman Sala Udin's office, which is all we could find on a quick Google search.

Their committee resignations are temporary. The release states, "While Matt, Lindsay and Dan remain committed to the work of the League of Young Voters, we all agree that it would be a conflict of interest to simultaneously serve on the Executive Committee while working as a paid staffer for a political campaign."

We have long puzzled over neautrality issues in regards to the Pgh League of Young Voters. During the mid-term elections, they seemed quite "in the tank" against Republicans. Comet readers are by now familiar with our national politics. Yet we thought an organization in their position wouldn't want to so brazenly alienate young conservatives.

Everybody Loves Michael

Deep, deep, deep within the Rich Lord P-G article on the nomination of Fire Chief Michael Huss as public safety director, we learn this:

"Even Mr. Ravenstahl's mayoral rival, Councilman William Peduto, has previously suggested that Mr. Huss should get the job."

The blurgosphere would have us believe this is the understatement of the century. You know where to look. The Comet reserves judgement.

In this case, we feel an enterprising traditional-media reporter might make some great hay -- substantive hay -- evaluating this notion. Just make certain you have the towing capacity.

Dan-O: On Q

First the substance.

Host Chris Moore allowed county exec Dan Onorato to lead off with news of new airport area development and projects elsewhere. He trumpeted new warehousing, shipping, and transportation capacity. This is actually pretty awesome, since Allegheny County has been soft and softening in the transpo / warehousing and wholesale trade sectors, and we'll need that economic diversity if we're going to become flexible, and attract innovation. (We spent 20 minutes struggling through the Allegheny Places Economic Trends report, so we're experts now!)

On the new Penguins arena, he pledged that not one cent would come from city or county taxes, which was somehow news to the Comet. So we must ask: really? Or just sort of technically?

My fave moment occured during this arena part, on why local taxes are off the table: "First of all, the city is in financial meltdown -- or, ah, was, we're coming out of that..."

He made a decent case for the controversial Mon-Fayette Expressway, allowing that it's only worthwhile if they bother building ramps near all those old mill towns.

He took a beating on buses, of course. He kept reassuring us the County is still writing the same $25 million annual checks to PAT, and stresses this remains the only dedicated funding available. He was also very frank that North Shore Connector could have happened at a more ideal time , but insisted its better than nothing, and reaffirmed his goal to send the "spine-line" out to Oakland, very next thing.

Now on to style.

We wanted to avoid writing a mash note to Dan-O ... but we won't. There's a reason nobody is running against this cat.

Onorato has the ability to be on top of every policy detail, without losing that "I'm a human being" quality. He conveys great excitement and importance about planning and budgetary matters, just like we dissect the Steelers' rushing game. Most importantly, he avoids the habits of glibness and pablum, or of obviously sidestepping questions. Yet he does manage to stay on safe, constructive ground.

Sometimes he gets a little too excited -- he forgot to show sympathy for a desperate transit rider -- so he could still stand to age another 5-10 years. But we are quite bullish indeed on this man's future.