PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Heads Up to Bus and Trolley Riders
by Stephen Donahue Monday, Apr. 21, 2003 at 4:23 PM
sdonahue412@hotmail.com 412-361-3022 or 412-802-6542 4618 Carroll Street, Pgh, Pa 15224

The Port Authority is actually ready to terminate all weekend and nightime service!

Back in March, Governor Rendell cut the funding to operate public mass transit in Pennsylvania back to the level it was at in 1994. The General Assembly promptly and without any public comment, passed this budget. Now by as early as July 1. 2003 we could have our public transit running only on weekdays till 9 PM.

What follows is a list of the local policy makers who are messing up OUR public transit:
1. Senator Jane C. Orie, phone 717-787-6538 or 412-630-9466
2. Rep. MIchael Diven, phone 717-787-4652 or 412-306-5900
3. Rep. Mike Turzai, phone 717-772-9943 or 412-369-2230
4. Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay, phone717-783-7426 or 412-492-0270
5. Rep. John Maher, phone 717-783-1522 or 412-831-8080
6. Rep Tom Stevenson, phone 717-787-2047 or 412-571-2169
and of course the BIG GOV himself, phone 717-787-2500
Each of the above folks is responsible for the crisis we are in right now. They can vote to restore some of the funds that they cut, but the Gov is playing hard ball. Please take a little time and call each of these idiots and tell them that it is a good idea to have buses that run after 9 at night and on weekends too.

Manufactured Crisis
by Prodigal Yunzer Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2003 at 3:43 PM

One of the first faces I saw during the 2000 election Democrat lawsuit began was "Noodles" Rendell, who flew in to Florida to disrupt the orderly transition of power that characterized our nation up to that point. "Noodles" Rendell guaranteed that he would win the Pennsy Gubna election when he announced his candidacy, no pre-election polls showed Fisher even close to winning, and of course the tax eaters that bloat the Dem party all turned out to give him a big win.
So, as it plainly states in the PA constitution, one of his first duties of office was to submit a balanced budget in March. "Noodles" Rendell complained that "he didn't have enough time" to put the entire wonderful budget together, so he submitted a "draconian" balanced budget that had ZERO revenue enhancements and ZERO program growth. The GOP dominated Legislature took "Noodles" at his word and passed the budget. Did anyone expect the GOP to debate increasing funding and taxes to grow the huge Commonwealth budget? Hell no.
Evidently, the newspapers were supposed to flack for this sham, but even editors of daily papers have some shame, so they were very tepid in supporting this duplicitous scam perpetrated by the quintessential "Philadelphia lawyer" "Noodles" Rendell. Ergo, the buses were "thrown under the bus", as was mental health and other constituencies that always vote DEM but do not contribute as much as "educrats" to Dem campaign coffers.
We have a new education "initiative" that will increase teacher's pensions by 50%! How in the name of Thomas Dewey that will improve education is a question I would enjoy listening to the gangsters who support "Noodles" answer. How shall we pay for this educational "improvement:"? Why by debt, increasing the flat income tax by 35%, then kicking back some of it to tax eating geezers who are exempt from that tax in large measure.
A man who vetoes his own budget is a sleazy public sector gangster. Look at Ed Rendell and tell me why he wasn't included in the cast of "Once Upon a Time in America"? I guess it wouldn't really have been acting for him.

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by . Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2003 at 10:17 PM

Yeah whatever man.

We need to speak up about our public transportation. Especially if those in the big leather chairs want to present this burgh as a "big fancy city". We already have the shittiest cab system on earth and for a "city" to not have busses at night or weekends? c'mon

PITTSBURGH IS DOOMED
by Prodigal Yunzer Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2003 at 1:02 PM

We may have a nice convention center, a new african american cultural center in Downtown, free buses, cheap taxis, two new stadia, and full pensions for all public sector workers, but who will pay for it? The teacher pensioners? The difference between Pittsburgh and San Francisco is that SF has an ocean port. We do share the same property tax structure and Democrat leadership, but no ocean views and very little Federal government employment. Local industry was not killed off, but significantly downsized over the last 40 years. What will you replace it with? People who get $450 a week on unemployment won't jump at a training program/ job when the capitalist can hire people in Florida or Texas who get $275 a week benefits. The dream of ultraclean smart industry sounds good, but you have to remember that when we seek those jobs we compete with everyone in the world for that plum. We do NOTHING to expand the large industries in this country, and our city is one of many who are paying for the nation's clean air and water with our livelihoods. Our sole advantage here is the three rivers and the giant mills that could easily be started up with some capital formation but those businesses will pollute more than a combination clothes washer and dryer does, so its a non starter unless we change those laws as well. Or we could move a bunch of Federal government workers in here, but our senators don't hold a candle to Robert Byrd who relocated much of the Fed Govt to West Virginia in the past ten years. Federal government jobs are subsidized by everyone else in the country, unlike our well paid local and state workers. Basically we are fucked economically is my point.

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by . Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2003 at 1:43 PM

1.Pittsburgh is still the largest inland port in the USA


2.judging from the region in the Murphy era, all the corporate welfare in the world isn't doing anything to help us, so maybe we should knock it off, realise that this city never has and never will revolve around downtown and try t help the region. Having public transportation to get people to their jobs is a good thing.

Bending over backward to bring a goddamn Lord and Taylor's to downtown? Who is that helping, who's footing that bill. Lazarus downtown still has not ever been asked to pay property taxes.

And one of the reasons the mills closed was a glut of cheaply imported steel, if we worked toward fair trade agreements and not free trade agreements we could keep/creat jobs here.


I know this was rambling, but everytime i thought of one thing, another thing our city has done wrong reared it's head. Sorry

pubic trans
by Santa Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2003 at 5:29 PM

This sucks! I work downtown on weekdays and WEEKENDS!! How the hell am I going to get to work on Saturdays and Sundays? I'll lose my job. I am so pissed off. And my dad is a busdriver. He may lose his job if this new "public trans" thing passes. They are planning on laying off hundreds of busdrivers. And just a few years ago they decided to spend millions on improving the public trans image (i.e. they got new buses, new signs, new stops, new paint jobs (purple and gold), new uniforms, etc). Those goddamn bastards don't know how to budget money. In the past three years, the monthly bus pass went up from $40 to $60!!!!!!!!!! That's a $20 increase! But no one is making that much more a month, I am willing to bet. I am so furious.

The only thing worse than bad economic policies...
by Matt Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2003 at 8:31 PM

are people that don't know what they are talking about criticizing them.

"The difference between Pittsburgh and San Francisco is that SF has an ocean port. We do share the same property tax structure..." posted by Prodigal Yunzer

True, we do share the same property tax structure, but San Francisco has other revenue generating taxes that fund their loval government. For example, San Francisco does have a payroll tax like the Mayor Murphy is proposing, except it doesn't tax non-profits. It also has a "pouring" tax on alcohol of 10% that generates millions of dollars for city and county services every year. (http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_city/20021128payroll1128p2.asp)

While I very rarely agree with the mayor on anything, and his tax schemes will inevitably be all for not if he continues his low-wage retail development plans, I actually half agree with these taxes. Obviously, a progressive income/revenue based tax system would be much better, but since I don't see that happening anytime real soon, a well-targeted payroll tax that applies to larger non-profits (read: UPMC and Highmark, and the universities) might be a reasonable alternative.

"...and Democrat leadership, but no ocean views and very little Federal government employment." posted by Prodigal Yunzer

Actually, the Federal Government employs approximately 19,700 people in the Greater Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. That makes it the Second Largest employer in the area, with UPMC being the largest. (http://www.pittsburghchamber.com/public/cfm/d_and_d/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=CityCounty)

In the San Francisco PMSA the Federal Government employs roughly 21,800 people.(http://www.calmis.ca.gov/htmlfile/subject/indtable.htm)

So the Fed employs 2100 more people in San Francisco than it does in Pittsburgh. When you consider the population difference between the cities, 2100 is negligible.

Yunzer, in the world of economics, things are never that cut and dry. Try doing some actual research about the situation before you post next time.

OK Maybe I Was Wrong
by Prodigal Yunzer Thursday, Apr. 24, 2003 at 11:58 AM

I thought Pittsburgh didn't "enjoy" those Fed jobs. My philosophy is that we need to spur private capital formation in this country. I once thought that we could afford to buy everything heavy and dirty from third world countries where they would put up with the pollution. I now see that Pat Buchanan's theories might have had more merit than I first thought. I think the numbers on the inland port I saw were from 1994. This area's heavy industrial tyonnage has dropped significantly in the last nine years.