Real Quick: Mayor Ravenstahl's Ravenstahl Phone

We are in the midst of a major dissertation on potholes.

We just keyed in this long "sidebar" of a conversation that occurred immediately following Mayor Ravenstahl's pothole news conference. Considering how much there is to say about potholes, it needed to be edited out the piece.

But we'll gladly present it to you now to keep things moving along.

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After the news conference, we asked city operations director Art Victor about complaints we had heard at a candidate forum in Elliott regarding the city's 311 line, or Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's Response Line. He referred us to Wendy Urbanic, the city's 311 Director, standing right next to him.

A couple of folks in Elliott complained aloud that you call 311, they record your complaint and you get a tracking number, you don't hear anything for weeks, you call back and they say they've lost your tracking number. We asked Urbanic how often, if ever, that is known to happen.

"Oh, very rarely," she responded. She said on occasion an operator will enter a number, and "computers crash -- usually mid-call", but that happens only "occasionally -- very, very rarely."

She said that if there has been a higher incidence of complaints about 311, that's a reflection of the "huge increase in the volume of calls made" -- due to increased awareness of the 311 line, not due to the existence of more things to complain about.

We inquired about the vintage of the computers 311 is using. "No, the computers are pretty new," Urbanic said, but they will crash "sometimes". Another plausible explanation, she said, is "Frankly, sometimes people take down the tracking numbers wrong" -- transposing digits or the like.

Or...

Sorry about the commercial, and the overwrought window. It's worth it.

City Lawyers Still Stymied by Pat Ford's Old Department

For actual advice column, see Cat's Call.

"I don't know what to tell you. The thing should be over by now," city Solicitor George Specter said on Monday. "So I'm going to send [commission staff] an e-mail, saying, just conclude the hearing, and treat it like any other application." (P-G, Rich Lord)

Why did it take a year?

"I told them way back when to proceed," he said, referring to his April e-mails. "And for some reason, they never concluded it." (ibid)

Wait, what's going on?

But when West Coast sign firm Liberty Pacific Media and Washington, D.C.-based Capitol Outdoor Inc. met with former city development czar Pat Ford and, briefly, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on Nov. 1, 2006, they were told that there would be no problem with permits, according to testimony at a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing on the sign. (ibid)

Billboards, again? Why?

Advocates for the historic district just want process followed. (ibid)

Wrong town, wrong time.

"SWAPTIONS": The Water Authority Bond Scheme

In addition to the blistering statement mayoral challenger Patrick Dowd released to government officials and to the public yesterday, as well as his press conference, he also circulated a little slide show and some correspondence.

Let's examine some of it. Our comments will appear in italics after each slide.

NOTE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE: Slides #3 and #6 are the sexy ones.

SLIDE 1:

Not much to look at here. Aside from "children".

SLIDE 2:

Whatever. Looks like a cover page.

SLIDE 3:

WHAT??? That's not good. I don't own any Water Authority bonds. I pay water bills, or at least I do through my monthly rent. Is that really the fundamental distinction? Am I really on the hook instead of willing, clear-eyed investors?

I inquired with the Dowd campaign if he could clarify how exactly this distinction exists. I received no response as of press time.

SLIDE 4:

Okay, okay, just don't call me a loser.

SLIDE 5:

Variable rates mean the interest we pay depends on the market. It's a gamble. If the market does well, it's a good deal. If the market does poorly, we can get really soaked.

Mayor Ravenstahl defended the deal yesterday by saying it was the "the best available at the time" (best looking to him), and nobody knew the markets could come down. Spoken like someone who hasn't lived through or had cause to notice any bear markets, and by someone who doesn't do his own homework. The "experts" at the investment banks were looking out for us, after all.

At the critical juncture, Controller Michael Lamb warned the City about this, and we are now aware he was far from alone. But to no avail.

SLIDE 6:

Yeah, baby! Eckert Seamans called this financial vehicle swaptions, and advised Pittsburgh's oversight bodies explicitly against them. I like how our "remarketing agents" are churning the butter.

SLIDE 7:

Yeah I don't have that much money, at least not since Lehman Bro.'s went down. My portfolio took such a beating!

SLIDE 8:

In which Patrick Dowd calls out Mayor Steelershizzle as a reckless tool of unscrupulous businessmen. It should be noted that not all of these firms participated equally: Dexia Credit Local bowed out of the affair with the following statement:

While this comes as a difficult decision for the bank to make with our customers, the recent disruptions in the market lead us to the necessity of implementing a reduction in the amount of our market exposures at this time.

Pittsburgh had no such option. In fact, because of this, its market exposure went up.

SLIDE 9:

Okay so we actually have TWO major problems. Number one is variable rates. Number two is that we allow our financial institutions to make endless "transactions" on our behalf, piling up almost as many associated fees in one year as we had in the previous twelve.

Way to go, establishment!!! I'm sure you are really enraged that Patrick Dowd is "grandstanding" on this issue and bringing this unfortunate state of affairs into light. It's terribly rude and uncouth of him.

SLIDE 10:

Um, okay. $20 million up-front to perform this fanciness. I'm sure that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. really needed the money.

SLIDE 11:

The fact that P-Diddy called for an audit was widely reported, but as to his whole "Call for Action" we are a bigger fan of...

"How do we get out of this situation?" Direct and to the point.

It appears from my understanding of the plan that we are locked in until about 2047. That is unfortunate. The Comet suspects that eventually, after a frank and open discussion, Pittsburgh is going to reach a consensus that ultimately we will have to plead that these financial institutions hornswaggled us (I'm sure we can find something legitimate), and push for a settlement.

What we should not do is sleepwalk deeper through the deal because it's embarrassing to anybody who was implicated in it. Let's take politics out of it and confront the situation head-on. There are hands-off individuals who might rather unfurl a little blue-ribbon commission to look at it, and report back in 6 or 9 months time ... but let's just call ourselves the commission for once. This is a matter of great public import and immediacy. The political climate to confront investment banks has never been better.

Tuesday: It's On The Streets

People are most likely to buy newspapers when sports teams win championships, when politicians get elected, or when one's own name is in the paper.

Today's news falls short on those counts -- for most of us -- but all the same I have the feeling that for some political junkies, today's edition of the Post-Gazette in particular offers a unique glimpse at a quietly pivotal moment in Pittsburgh history.

Pivotal enough that in years ahead you may get a kick out of rediscovering it in a trunk, hauling it out, smelling it, and exclaiming, "Ah .... the Liquor Control Board was under fire back then, too! Do you remember the Liquor Control Board, Brittney?"

So that's all I'll mention about the Post-Gazette today. Buy one.

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The Regional Equity Monitoring Project needs volunteers to monitor governmental activities (meetings, etc) whose charters operate with a stated commitment to providing equal opportunity. That's most of them. Join them at the Phase 2 Monitor Training Session on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m (see website).

Phase 2 appears to be about encouraging the federal stimulus money to make it where it's truly needed, and about holding our leaders' feet to the fire. I notice that REMP is also getting on board with the Public Square Project for obvious reasons.

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NullSpace likens the Water Authority bond situation here in Pittsburgh to something that blew up in Jefferson County, Alabama. And has some thoughts on same. For a little more background into the Alabama situation, revisit our Sciortino dossier.

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The Pittsburgh Hoagie clearly has great instincts for when it's time to hit the Google. That or he maintains files on everybody interesting.

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Don't let my Michael Lamb piece totally get buried.

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And now, gaze upon the face of destiny:



NEW CUMBERLAND - A new executive director of the Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle (BDC) was introduced at Thursday's Hancock County Commission meeting.

Patrick Ford, who hails from Hardy County in West Virginia's eastern panhandle, stated that he is looking forward to his new position as executive director. (The Review, Jen Matsick; h/t ADB)

Excellent that he's back to doing what he does best. Hopefully the BDC (h/t NS), like any responsible regional development organization, will send Mr. Ford to execute only the very highest-quality of missions.

Excellent that he's still sort-of around here -- but considering the circumstances, excellent that he's not really around here. I can't imagine how one could live in the same city or county as the Ravenstahl administration and be contractually compelled not to disparage it.

Excellent that he's earning again -- but it's worth pointing out that although Ford hasn't worked for the City or the URA since April of last year, we are continuing to pay him his old salary through June of this year, because he is titanic. So for spring and early summer, he's going to be cashing two paychecks.

Knock on wood. For the first time in what seems like a long while, our former URA director / Department of City Planning superdirector / Parking Authority chairman / Housing Authority chairman appears to be accountable to somebody!

Comet Twittcast

Speaks for itself.

The link to that one can be found HERE.

I can relate.

Mayor Presents "Blueprint" **

Just got back from a noon press conference. Mayor Ravenstahl's "Blueprint for Renaissance III" contains eleven points, each of which states a fairly vague goal or principle.

Item number one on the to-do list is, "Solve our legacy costs crisis".

The full plan will be available shortly on Luke for Mayor. *-UPDATE: Issues.

After an extended opening statement, the first two media questions pertained to a Patrick Dowd campaign blitz launched earlier this morning.

Dowd accused Ravenstahl of supporting risky variable rate bond swap deals at the Water & Sewer Authority, which are exposing city ratepayers to "enormous and unconscionable risk", the only apparent beneficiaries of which are the "hand-picked firms that made the transaction possible."

When asked for comment, former City of Pittsburgh Finance Director Jim Turner said, "When I was a young man in my 30's, I too was impressed with Wall Street and the corporate jets and the wining and dining that goes along with bond issues -- but I quickly learned that far too often, complex deals like this are driven by investment banking fees which is why I have become a strong believer in simple fixed rate bond issues..." (Dowd press material)

Ravenstahl said in response that this is a very "complex issue" that will be addressed in a separate press conference today at 2:00. In response to the 2nd question, he just said curtly, "Two o'clock". The remainder of the press inquiries had to do with his "Blueprint" and other matters.

The P-G's Rich Lord asked about Blueprint Item #5, "Enhance government services through efficiency and ultimately a City/County merger". What examples did the mayor have of his "getting it done" in this regard, and what is the time frame for getting it done?

The Mayor's response was that he is working diligently with Harrisburg to get the question of full-on City/County consolidation on the ballot. He did not hold forth on any topics related to increased service efficiencies or functional, intergovernmental collaboration. It was all about the Hail Mary.

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MORE ON THIS STUFF: Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review, Tribune-Review, Post-Gazette, KDKA, KDKA.

THIS IS ALSO GOOD: Tribune-Review.

THE HARRIS ROLLOUT: KDKA, P-G, WTAE, WPXI.