The band = Cansei de Ser Sexy [mildly NSFW]

Our Little List

1. We are thankful for our wild and woolly state, county, and city governments.

Each has its executives, councils, commissions and boards -- gears that fit surprisingly well, twisting and turning generally when one pays the requisite attention and applies the appropriate pressure. We are thankful for the constitutions, charters, codes and by-laws that enable us to do pretty much whatever we want as a people.

There are lots of governments in the world, and lots of democratic governments, and lots of democratic governments in the United States. The Comet is thankful that we are in these ways blessed.

2. Without comment on the federal government at this time, we are thankful for the Constitution of the United States. We are especially thankful for the Fourteenth and Ninth Amendments these days.

3. We are thankful for the Omni William Penn hotel, for Carnegie Library, for Subway Restaurants, for Brueggers Bagel Bakery, and for a few other hotspots that provide free Wi-Fi access in the Downtown area.

4. We are thankful for our present landlord, who has owned our present building for approaching sixty years, and who continues to maintain it excellently.

5. We are thankful for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

6. We are thankful for this land. Legend has it, maybe a hundred years after the first Thanksgiving, Pittsburghers were throwing themselves a party.

The party was held at "the Knoll" -- a giant gumdrop-shaped hill that was long ago removed to clear land for our stalwart Allegheny County Courthouse. The Pittsburghers gathered around their Knoll and made thirteen piles of wood -- representing the 13 colonies. They lit six bonfires to represent the six states that had ratified the Constitution. When the official word arrived from the capital, a seventh bonfire was lit for Pennsylvania -- the seventh and deciding state. Congratulations, you have a country.

The many, many Pittsburghers lit the remainder of the bonfires and danced wildly around them, beating drums and making music in celebration of their new nation. Legend has it, those Native Americans who were present at that frontier town, on business or diplomacy, turned to look at one another as though to say, "Oh my goodness. They may not know what they're doing, but we do. This land is so theirs."

Smoker and Jollification

State panel rejects 3 gun control bills.

"How many police officers have to become target practice before it stops?" he asked in an emotional voice. "I have sympathy for legislators. I know they're under a lot of pressure. The National Rifle Association is a machine, but it's time to say 'no' to the gun lobbyists." (P-G, Tom Barnes)

Problem is, the gun lobbyists can say "no" to them right back.

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Giant drill to carve LRT tunnel from North Shore to Downtown starts slowly.

Construction workers snapped photos with cameras and cell phones, but to uninitiated observers, it was almost impossible to tell it was moving. (P-G, Daniel Malloy)

Headline writers for the print edition show they're not all bad.

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Onorato acts like governor hopeful.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato says it's too early to speculate whether he'll run to succeed Gov. Ed Rendell in 2010. (Trib, Justin Vellucci)

Okay then.

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The postings on Schenley will continue until ambivalence subsides.

Objections to the intended high school reform package include doubts about the wisdom of grouping students grades six through 12 together, and fears that the plan was crafted by politicians not educators.

Call 412-622-3600 by noon today if you'd like to speak at the Special Public Hearing of the school board on Tuesday the 27th.

Our Penultimate Schenley Post?

Patrick Dowd and ourselves were exchanging thoughts on the closure of Schenley High School yesterday evening on the Burgh Report.

He brought a load of newly released data to our attention, in furtherance of what had been made public at the press conference.

For a moment, it felt like we really had him on the ropes.

We just got to suspecting that somewhere inside this 67 page document, Evaluation of Asbestos Containing Material Remediation and Encapsulation, the Roosevelt Conspiracy had hidden the secret evil truth of how to save Schenley at a reasonable cost.

Then the Admiral came out of nowhere.

Bram, all I can say is that, way back in my Navy days, I was the asbestos safety officer on board my cruiser. The one thing I learned is that, at the precise nanosecond that one does anything that might even potentially cause asbestos to be "disturbed" (let alone airborne), the costs become more or less impossible to either predict or contain. And if that's true in a 5-by-5 foot pump room with only one way in or out and built-in watertight doors, then a whole school would be a nightmare.

At the end of the day, we know that we need to close at least one high school, and probably even more than that. It only makes sense to close the one who's physical plant would be the costliest to repair.

What ... how did ... asbestos safety officer on your cruiser? How are we supposed to deal with that?

We are meeting with S.J. from the Save Schenley movement in about an hour. Unless she and/or someone else brings something heavy to the discussion, the Comet may have to bow out.

Some Things Are Going Just Fine

The headline reads Allegheny County improves air pollution permit system. (P-G, Don Hopey)

We expected an article about:

1) Dan Onorato!! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

2) We are continuing to become more business-friendly by means of not actually reading permit applications prior to approval.

We were so wrong!

The state statistics and federal program assessment run contrary to industry and development agency complaints that it takes too long to get an industrial installation permit in the county.

Emphasis the Comet's.

Those complaints have prompted county Chief Executive Dan Onorato to explore ending the 50-year-old county program and turning its permitting, monitoring and enforcement duties over to the state.

By all means, explore.

"There is not any meaningful contrast in issuing permits between the county and the DEP, either in terms of timeliness or quality," said David Campbell, chief of permits and technical assessment at EPA's regional office in Philadelphia.

Does anybody have a problem with David Campbell?

"Allegheny County does have a more complex set of sources, with coke, steel and chemical plants. It would naturally take longer to issue air permits there than in other areas," he said. "And it's not unusual for industry to complain. Everyone complains. But I've received no formal complaints about the timeliness of permitting there."

We have no problem with David Campbell.

"Responsiveness on permit applications will determine if Allegheny County manufacturers will be nimble in the global economy," said Ms. Klaber. "What we care about is that economic development and industries where there are exciting, new, clean projects are held up for no good reason, but because of red tape."

Nimble! Exciting! New! Clean! Red tape! The Allegheny Conference is having a real banner week.

"We've always maintained that our permitting times are compatible with other agencies, including the DEP," said Dr. Bruce Dixon, executive director of the county Health Department. "We continue to try to do what we need to do in the most expeditious fashion, but some of our industries are very large and their permits are very complicated.

You go ahead and take all the time you need, Bruce Dixon. You run that Allegheny County Health Department.

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Spontaneous Blogger Olympics

GOLD: The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat, for Allegheny Conference on Community Development Review 2007

China apparently has agreed to a cargo shipping route with Pittsburgh, making us a major import hub for the East, and also relieving the region of its feral cat problem.

SILVER: The Burgh Blog, for Dear sirs, PittGirl mined the archives

Hey, was Joe Pa coaching Penn State in 1919?
And a “smoker and jollification” sounds like a rocking good time.

BRONZE: Agent Ska, for Who is Dan Deasy?

It seems like he's been a pretty quiet character on the political scene.

Honorable Mentions:

The Busman gets his answer from the Ethics Hearing Board.

Null Space offers up the driest humor on the planet.

Rauterkus succinctly makes the popular case against Superintendent Roosevelt's version of high school reform -- and does so while bitterly launching a new and yet to be substantiated accusation.

F-Dzerzh gives yet another take on the Allegheny Conference -- this one through the prism of its "CEO."