This Week in Intolerable Racial Tension

c/o Vannevar

Recently-paralyzed East Liberty teenager Leon Ford Jr., his parents and many of their friends and neighbors yesterday took to City Council chambers to decry both Ford's quadruple-shooting at a traffic stop in Highland Park which led to no charges, and a perceived pattern of Pittsburgh police not valuing Black lives.

That incident is being raised in the wake of national news about the shooting death of Detroit teenager Renisha McBride on a Dearborn Heights, MI porch, in a case bearing uncomfortable similarities to the Trayvon Martin fiasco.

It reminds me of the case of DeAndre Brown of East Liberty, jailed a month for a robbery he did not commit, seemingly because detectives on his case declined to investigate his stated alibi in favor of sweating out a guilty plea.

Recommended discussion topics:

1) When a chaotic incident wounds "police-community" relations or simply race relations, how does legal liability inhibit the civic repair process? A human response to either the Ford or Brown incidents would be face-to-face engagement between officials and those affected, some argument, some give-and-take, but surely some accepting of mistakes on both sides, or at least statements of "I/We could have done this instead" and "In the future we'll bear this in mind in this manner." But when the individual officers and their union are invested in utterly avoiding liability, the City and taxpayers are invested in minimizing liability, and those affected are invested in establishing as much liability as possible, what insidious effect does that pattern have on processing those incidents and the larger agenda of mending divides? While civil litigation is indispensable to the process of civil justice, what can we do to relieve that collateral clipping of the discourse?

2) How great are the opportunity costs to a City when a full one-quarter of its inhabitants perceive, for fairly valid reasons, that they are second-class citizens upon which their City places little value? What is lost when that 25% deduces from experience that they are considered Enemies of the State and of the privileged majority? And how much would it really take to turn that around?

UPDATE: Something like the acceptance of fault described above actually happened today regarding the Dennis Henderson episode in Homewood. Check out the reaction.

Mayoral Transition so far a Grand Slam

Most 'Burghers seem enthusiastic over the new leadership and increased civic engagement.

@Toonseum
(The People is the Hulk)

The media has been thrilled over the Transition's repeated, extensive and reflective engagement over the qualifications and the integrating roles of the new suits on 5th Floor North.

Residents and stakeholders are encouraged that they are all highly-qualified, accomplished professionals, successful in public-spirited service and a diverse array (in all but age -- no 20-something whiz kids quite yet).

The New Haters, such as we've seen them, are not raising hackles. Complaints that a few of them presently reside in immediate suburbs are divisive and insipid; grousing that a few of them were officeholders, candidates, public employees or politically active (and sometimes acted in solidarity with the Mayor-Elect and his coalition!) fails to appreciate that the bridge of this ship will need to be run by persons who have been engaged with the local politics and its possibilities. Opposing viewpoints within government appear set to be strongly institutionally encouraged.

Critics do themselves a disservice by missing the forest for the trees. Remember a few weeks ago, when we were writing of biases?

Bill Peduto (politician) on FB

Here is the sum total of everything I knew about Six Sigma:

TVQuotes.net

That is satire; and there's no indication from his tweet that our Mayor-Elect is on the verge of becoming a Six Sigma "Black Belt". But if you want to envelop Peduto in a negative conversation, question the emergence of a City in which so many highly-paid "executives" with porous duties spend their days buzzwording, statistically overanalyzing, indulging consultants and distracting staff with too much of their own Scientology homework.

Yet even that can only get the reactionaries so far. Political success for the new administration will not be determined by insider optics so much as demonstrated results: in service delivery, resource allocation, civic functionality and good outcomes, one and three years out.

Cautionary notes were raised at the Council table today that diverse "faces" do not equal diversity in terms of power or dollars. True enough. But those outcomes depend partially on how well the team works and jells. Maybe our Chief Urban Affairs Officer and our Chief Education and Neighborhood Reinvestment Officer have been appointed to actually perform.

Some of their meetings will be filmed and broadcast, as well as among Departmental directors. That innovation is another cause for optimism.

The naming of an executive team was only the first pincer in a multi-pronged Transition attack. The public invitations to serve on eight transition teams is energizing people even along with the Ideas section of the Talent City initiative. And remember the whole Talent City approach to objective, transparent and rigorous overseeing and screening of job applicants. This all cultivates the optimistic civic mindset necessary to pursue change.

Today in a step that bridges the need to transform government with the reality of our civic challenges, Peduto introduced a measure to allow for the early full-pension retirements of longtime nonunion employees. Everything seems to be ramping quickly up to speed. It's the civic challenges themselves that remain the real issues; there are a lot of turkeys on the table, and we shall need to map them out soon.

BONUS: The best open advice for our Mayor-Elect arrives via Duquesne Student Media. It has been summarily approved.

With solemn pride and gratitude

Wash. Times (cropped)

Care of President Wilson, and by resolution of Congress:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples. (US gov.)

Now that's a proclamation.

Then care of history, President Eisenhower and subsequent Congressional acts:

Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. (ibid)

 Bottom-line: what are we now to do?

A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. (ibid)

Veterans Day has grown forward and outward, so how about backward and inward? Union Army Brigadier General Conrad Ferger Jackson and Union Army Brigadier General Thomas Algeo Rowley, Pittsburghers both, are each interred at Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville. Westmoco native and U.S. Army Colonel Daniel Leasure saw action in battles ranging from Secessionville to Spotsylvania. Union Army Seargent Alexander Kelly of Saltsburg, Pa. would retire to Pittsburgh after the Battle of Chaffin's Farm and is interred at St. Peters Cemetery in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. And in Arlington Heights, on the rise beside Devlin Street and another Saint Peter's Cemetery there once stood a Civil War-era redoubt named for storied US naval Captain Robert Smalls.

The City of Pittsburgh Veterans Day Parade begins at 10:30 am at Grant and Liberty, proceeds down Liberty to Wood, and finishes at the Boulevard of the Allies.

Later at 4:00 pm, Point Park University hosts a screening of short documentary The Veterans Breakfast Club followed by a panel discussion.

KDKA has assembled a short list of opportunities to acknowledge service.

The Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania seems to be a well-situated resource for local veterans of recent war.

Go! Vote! Get All the Votes!

Election Eve: Three Links to Finish the Job

Poster Workshop

Awesome prose and poetry lately...

[Peduto's] proposal comes as city council embarks on a new effort -- one that has not been well-received in all quarters -- to bridge the chasm between city council and the Pittsburgh Board of Education with a 21-member task force that will bring together city and school officials, education advocates and community members to discuss alternatives to school closings.

Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith sponsored the resolution creating the task force. (P-G, Moriah Balingit)

Since Kail-Smith's police staffing legislation has gotten a teensie-weensie bit caught up in some political conversations in still other quarters, it's worthwhile for this blog to jump on the bandwagon consensus that this citywide task force is an idea whose time has arrived.

Turf is turf and it's natural to be a little territorial, but we have already closed a bunch of schools, shuffled kids around, struggled to incorporate some new ideas -- yet it all hasn't seemed to have purchased an ounce of stability. The School Board is confronted with the most serious challenges in the region, and these will ultimately require out-the-box thinking with all hands on deck. It's surely time to open up and raise the stature of the whole education conversation. So kudos for the courage to bust open the silo, and here's hoping School Board members will engage the great opportunity.

Meanwhile...

"They like each other; both have a good work ethic. That's a welcome change," [Jim] Roddey said. "But Fitzgerald has a history of wanting to control everything. Peduto is not the type of person who will take kindly to that if that manifested itself." (P-G, James O'Toole)

Now, see? Now, there is an interesting think. Is what that is right there.

Between Fitzgerald's scrapped resignation letters idea and the Port Authority directorship hiccup, or his enormous fracking drive or his more extensive engagement with the Downtown transit doughnut concept or even the BRT, it has become clear there are aspects of Fitzgerald's own strategy that are not entirely embraced by the, uh, what would you call it -- "The Greater Peduto Community".

PotC

Unsurprisingly. As one must expect. I mean, of course.

These are two politicians with entirely different constituencies and facing entirely distinct political pressures. History shows a powerful tendency for the city's Mayor and the County Exec to think differently and then ultimately to drift resentfully apart. That pattern has not been helpful.

What these two gentlemen seem to have determined -- having bonded over confronting together a few common and worthwhile obstacles -- is to maintain an arrangement whereby they both as individuals and their respective governments can work together despite such inevitable differences.

I'm certainly far from privy to the terms of that arrangement, but if I had to guess, Step One seems to be, "Never embarrass one another." Step Two might be, "When all else is equal, joyfully help each other out." Step Three might be, I don't know, "Just be cool and focus on our respective governments' core capacities to cooperate."

This will be one of the main things to watch over the next two, four, six, eight years. It seems like they're building a sustainable, flexible, and mature foundation. Stay on it and look alive.

And finally...

Born and bred in Pittsburgh, Peduto loves the city and has dedicated his life to its betterment. And he has not simply visions of how to get the city moving but concrete plans. Witness his continuing dogged efforts to convince Slovenian LED light maker Grah Lighting to build a manufacturing facility in Pittsburgh and make it Grah's North American headquarters. It's just one of many examples we could cite. And it is the stuff of leadership. (Trib Editorial Board)

"KUMBAYA, MY LORD, KUMBAYA..."

Given the state of the opposition in the race for mayor, and given Peduto's historic embrace of conservative anathema like community benefits agreements, prevailing wage, and even subsidies under certain circumstances, the Trib could have reigned up far short of making such a positive endorsement. They did not. I would be awfully proud of this one.

Tomorrow is election day. Break a leg out there!

'Burgh Politics: A Quick Lament

Lord of the Rings

This week I made an argument that one of the lead candidates in the race for City Council District 7 has a much more reality-based and helpful approach to the City's financial recovery, thereby seeking to ensure delivery of the services and resources we all need beyond the pension crisis we all see coming.

My colleague chimed in to opine that the other leading candidate, by virtue of his background and experiences, is more likely to be active in mitigating a predictable crisis of gentrification brought upon by a massive and likely disruptive new development.

What I see reflected out there in the comments and on social media, however -- among partisans of both sides and more amiable minds alike -- is an enormous tendency to reduce all questions of ideas, qualifications and approach to that of binary identity resentment.

One candidate and all the supporters behind her is cast as cosmopolitan, the other as parochial. One as privileged elites, the other as clannish thugs. One as more interested in innovative and alternative projects, the other a champion for heightened focus on fundamentals.

And it's not new to this race. Wagner vs. Peduto, Ravenstahl vs. Peduto, Bodack vs. Dowd, Kraus vs. Koch, Murphy vs. O'Connor, Murphy vs. Wagner, we've heard all the class rhetoric before.

Is it always going to be this way? Is that just the way politics is?

I cannot separate myself from it. Before I go any further, for example, I am obliged to point out that it was Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and his cohorts, the longtime anti-elitist champion of "Real Yinzers" such as those who have represented the proud 6th Ward in Lower Lawrenceville, who was so determined for so long to grease the skids for Buncher Company's "Riverfront Landing" vision by pushing its own zoning proposal characterized by narrow river setbacks and limited public access, selling the historic public Produce Terminal for partial demolition, and providing them with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-increment financing. A decade before him, it was Wagner attempting more or less the same thing. Pointy-headed academics like Peduto and Dowd fought a lot harder to preserve the character of the Strip for its merchants and those who value its authenticity than anyone else.

But I'm letting it get away.

Pittsburgh is lousy with Democrats, and I used to think of Democrats as the folks who were not so hesitant about highly educated people, young people, the arts, new technology, new modes of transit, outsiders, treaties and alliances, or the infallibility of mathematics.

Not because that's all there is, but because Pittsburgh is not playing a zero-sum game. We're trying to retain and attract infinite sorts of different people and businesses to the City, we're trying to make it structurally more diversified and therefore stronger than it used to be or even is now. We're trying to grow the pie. And I'm not accustomed to thinking of Democrats as so wary of change.

However, it may be this is the very nature of electoral politics. Maybe these tired old costumes will be stowed away by partisans a week after Halloween. Maybe the few folks passionate about their candidates just don't have anything else with which to scare people.

But I do worry that Pittsburgh is chasing its own tail; that something ought to break so these two cultural archetypes can work together on what are clearly mutual interests. Maybe that will just take time.

City Council District 7: What District 7 residents should really be focused on...

Guest post by Shawn Carter

If you are a resident of Council District 7, the picture above represents the single largest issue that will have the single largest impact upon the future of where you call home.

It isn't about Luke Ravenstahl, he didn't seek re-election.  Or Jack Wagner, because he isn't on the ballot, either.  And for the time being, Bill Peduto, but we'll get back to him later in the story, because he earned the right to play an outsized role in this.

The only two names that matter, for the next 5 days, are Deborah Gross and Tony Ceoffe.

The picture you see above is an artist's rendition of what Central Lawrenceville could conceivably look like, in the future, according to the Allegheny Riverfront Vision Plan ("ARV").  Or, as Larryville natives call it, "the 9th Ward."

The ARV will change the Strip District and Lawrenceville, forever.  The conversion of former industrial buildings into residential uses (Cork Factory and the Brake House Lofts) and a tremendous amount of new construction and renovation in Lower and Central Lawrenceville have ignited the real-estate market and turned Lawrenceville into the "it" neighborhood.  Lawrenceville will no longer be a working-class neighborhood.  It just won't.  Developers are building $350,000 houses dahn on Hatfield Street, and they're ALL pre-sold.  Row houses that were worth $40,000 just 10 years ago are now going for $160,000.

Many new faces have made their way to calling Lawrenceville their home.  And Bloomfield.  And Polish Hill.  And the Strip District.

The working-class families who stayed in this neighborhood as it struggled to fight off crime and abandonment will sooner or later be displaced by better-educated, higher-earning younger homeowners.  Normally when we hear about gentrification and displacement we think of the Hill District and East Liberty.  The residents who will face displacement, however, don't look like the residents of the Hill.

This isn't a cultural conflict.  The older residents in Polish Hill, Lawrenceville and Bloomfield enjoy watching these younger folks bring such vitality and stability to the neighborhoods they call home.  Their only fear is being pushed out of the neighborhood.

ISSUE ONE: GENTRIFICATION

Widespread renovations of deteriorating houses and the construction of hundreds of new ones did far more than stabilize the housing market in these neighborhoods.  It sent it on an upward trajectory that has no end in sight.  Thousands of residents saw their assessments skyrocket, doubling or tripling their property tax bills because of their neighborhoods' renaissance.  And many of them are low- and moderate-income homeowners, working-class folks, many of whom are now struggling to pay their property taxes.  This includes senior citizens who saw the tax relief fought for by Patrick Dowd, wiped out in one fell swoop by court-ordered reassessment.

The only candidate to address this issue has been Tony Ceoffe.

Quoting this blog's author:

"Tony Ceoffe noted that affordable housing dovetails nicely with his recent work as a specialist at the Housing Authority, witnessing first-hand the effects on seniors of gentrification including transition to high-rises due to long waiting periods. else the care with which we must use Section 8 allocations, rather than doing it just to make the numbers work like at Doughboy Square, and the tragedy of pushing anybody out of their neighborhoods."


ISSUE TWO: "BOTTOM-UP" COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT

Lawrenceville is still a dense mix of residential, retail, commercial and industrial uses, and it doesn't come without its' share of problems.  Rt. 28 reconstruction, 43rd St. Concrete, School Bus depots and an oil refinery create no shortage of heavy truck traffic up and down Butler Street.

Many years ago, Councilman Jim Ferlo, determined to help his constituents in Lawrenceville fight the neighborhood's downward spiral, started a small but scrappy community organization.

Through the sheer determination and hard work of its members and volunteers, Lawrenceville United has been at the forefront of rebuilding the neighborhood and making it safer.

To quote this blog's author again:

"Yes, it's true. Ceoffe more often emphasizes the roles that community groups can play as partners, next points of contact, go-betweens with government..."

They believe in bottom-up development and again, Tony Ceoffe has demonstrated an indefatigable dedication to his neighbors.  So whether you live in Highland Park or the Strip or anywhere in between, I feel confident in saying you can trust Tony to work tirelessly to serve every resident in every neighborhood.

COUNTERPOINT:

I would be remiss if I ignored Deb's background in community development, the arts, and many other things as well.

To be fair, I met Deb almost 9 years ago when I was a staffer on Bill Peduto's first campaign for Mayor.  Before Matt Merriman-Preston, Bill Peduto had Deb Gross.  Many of us who are still in this profession learned about the need to manage data and integrate it from Deb Gross.  I have always had tremendous respect for her talents.  She didn't know this, but simply watching her manage Peduto's data in 2005 did more to advance my career than anyone knows, including her.

CONCLUSION(S)

1.  Tony will never shy away from rolling up his sleeves and doing the hard, unsexy, un-fun, unsung work, simply because that is who he is.

2.  The worries about Tony clashing with Bill Peduto are understandable but unlikely.  No neighborhood can reliably be well-served by the City when its member of Council is at war with the Mayor of the City.  Tony has too many friends and relatives, people he cares deeply for to allow his communities to suffer because of such foolishness.

3.  In large numbers, District 7 residents voted for Bill Peduto.  He will be the Mayor.  And, unless I missed my guess, he will make the entire City his focus.  The voters elected him to reform our government, modernize it and bring it fully into the 21st Century.

4.  The residents of District 7, for the reasons I stated above, need Tony Ceoffe in that seat, right now.

_________
The views of guest blogger Shawn Carter do not necessarily reflect those of the Pittsburgh Comet's editor and lead author. In fact they tend otherwise. Consult your doctor before starting any new exercise regimen.