It used to be a crackhouse. Now it belongs to the government, which you might think would be an improvement. Chris Young has a story about it in this week’s City Paper:

Instead of auctioning off the apartment complex, the government is seeking to donate it to Renewal, Inc., a national organization headquartered in Monroe, La.

Officials from U.S. Probation Services and Renewal, Inc. attended a June 7 neighborhood meeting where they explained the program to about 50 East Liberty residents. According to [neighborhood activist Pat] Buddemeyer, officials answered questions, but they did not offer a written description of the plan.

Participants agreed to hold another meeting, where the program would be further discussed and eventually voted on by neighbors. Buddemeyer said that Johnson “pushed for the earliest possible date.” They agreed on June 13.

I was at the first meeting, where no questions were answered satisfactorily and Ted Williams of the U. S. Probation Service flatly refused to answer any questions in writing. In fact, he claimed that no documentation exists. Considering that this project has involved three federal agencies, possibly state and local agencies, and at least two nonprofits, that is not only a transparent and obvious lie, but one that shows a shocking contempt for the intelligence and savvy of the residents of this section of East Liberty.
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I have been thinking about this for a few months now (if you are one of my friends I am sure you have heard me talk about this). I was reading this article, Is Technology Bad for Relationships?, which reminded me of the topic. I have been noticing over the past couple of months that I don’t really make plans with friends. Everything is very tentative and requires multiple phone calls, text messages, emails, skpes to confirm. Sometime this is wonderful - don’t get me wrong - I am not complaining about this technology. This is the same technology that lets me work from almost anywhere that I can find an internet signal. With my cell phone I can work from home, the office, coffee shop.
But all of this technology also seems to make it hard to make plans with friends. When I was little, in a time I like to call BC (before cellphone) when my parents would go out to dinner they would leave a massive list of phone numbers - their friends whose house they would be stopping by first, the restaurant where they would be, the back up restaurant , etc. They made plans with another couple went to dinner enjoyed it or hated it and then came home.

I find that when I actually sit down with a friend for dinner or coffee (which means we have coordinate arriving in the same location with at least 5 calls/text/email contacts) - we are then both sitting there with one eye on the phone.
-What else might be going on tonight?
-Is so and so at this bar?
-Would I rather be at D’s with my sister than here with the person I made plans with.

Again, sometimes this is a lifesaver - if you are having a miserable time, a few text messages can get you to another location with people you might like better. But is this really a good thing? Maybe it is okay if some nights aren’t so fun, but at least you gave that person your full attention. I am sure there were times where my dad was stuck at some dinner he hated, but since it was BC (before cellphone) there was no option to send text messages to his children under the table.

I would like to think I have some cell phone discipline - I am a big fan of turning the ringer off and letting calls go to voice mail. Do we need more cell phone discipline? Should I leave the phone in the car? Does anyone else think that their cell phone has become a distraction to the conversation at hand?

Post-Gazette:

Following an hour-long meeting with police brass, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said today that the promotions last week of three police officers with domestic issues were “unacceptable” and that the procedures for approving upgrades in rank are “obsolete and unacceptable.”

“Over the course of the next two days, we’re going to draft policies and put them in place” that will define when the police chief [seen here saying a last goodbye to his loved ones before he is thrown to the sharks] can and should pass over a candidate for promotion, Mr. Ravenstahl said. “Sergeants and lieutenants are promoted now without the ability for the mayor to say yes or no, either way.”

“I let the chief know that he should have communicated that to me,” Mr. Ravenstahl said.

It is a little bit troubling that the Mayor, seen here psyching himself up for today’s meeting with his political courage coach, seems more bothered by his not being informed than by the fact of a systematic police disregard for claims of domestic abuse, but he is certainly moving in the right direction. This might be, along with his somewhat precipitous firings of just about everyone in city government, a sign that the boy mayor finally wants to be a man mayor (strange locution? No stranger than “Woman Speaker of the House”).

Of course, before the brouhaha:

There are good times in careers and bad times in careers, and I think Cmdr. Trosky would be the first to acknowledge that,” the mayor said.

And:

The promotions were approved by Mayor Ravenstahl on recommendations of police Chief Nate Harper.

And:

Is Mayor Luke Ravenstahl listening to any of this? He appointed Chief Nate Harper, who selected all of the officers for promotion. The mayor has offered no answers other than a blanket endorsement of Chief Harper’s choices.

And:

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he signed off on Harper’s decision to promote Trosky “based on a 30-year portfolio,” not a few negative incidents.

And:

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who approved the promotions, could not be reached for comment. His spokeswoman, Joanna Doven, said the mayor would not discuss the promotions or their effects on women.

“He’s not going to talk about that,” Doven said.

So, he doesn’t think that it is a problem, he supports and endorses Nate Harper’s decisions, and he isn’t going to talk about it. Until, that is, the Post-Gazette, the National Organization for Women, and the Citizen’s Police Review Board make a stink about it. In that case, no more approval, no more endorsement, no more dismissing a history of violence both in uniform and out. It is “obsolete and unacceptable.”

I guess it is better to show up late to the party than not at all.

With temperatures and humidities pegging the sweat-o-meters, the time for outdoor fun is here. Personally, I prefer the crisp bite of autumn to the stickiness of summer, but I’m led to understand that the opposite is true for most human beings.

If you’re one of those human beings, then you might find yourself wandering the streets of our fair city with your favorite monolithic coffee chain’s double frap latte cappuccino thingy bursting the bulwarks of your bladder.

Lucky for you, The Bathroom Diaries are here to help, with a handy guide to Pittsburgh’s public pots to pee in.

image of south side pay toilet by HumaneDesign

Do you have your plans set for July 7? I’m planning a bachelorette party for that night (and no, this is not an open invitation). In my planning for said event I discovered that this night just so happens to be the “biggest party night of the year.” Huh? Yeah, I didn’t believe it at first either, but 3 out of 3 local limo companies report that 7/7/07 is the busiest night of their year thus far.
“It’s 7/7/07,” said one proprietor when I dared question his authority. “Everybody wants to party that night!”
At first I thought maybe this was a scam that the limo companies pull on every gullible bridesmaid, “Yeah, honey, you better book fast, everybody’s partying on February 17. It’s the biggest party night of the year!”
Resourceful bridesmaid that I am, I did some research about the date. While I couldn’t find anything to substantiate their claims of the never-before-seen bacchanalian excesses that will be 7/7/07, I did stumble onto an article from The Columbus Dispatch about how popular that date is for weddings. Call me crazy, but a day where a lot of people in Ohio get married doesn’t exactly live up to its hype as the biggest party night of the year. I guess we shall see. One thing is for sure, I’ll definitely be out that night albeit not because of the date. Still, it’s comforting to know that when my grandchildren someday ask me if I witnessed firsthand the parties of 7/7/07, I’ll be able to say I was there. Start making plans, people!

Ruth Ann Dailey, seen here slouching in hopes that the picture will not reveal that even union wages at the Post-Gazette do not provide enough scrilla to buy sleeves, is a P-G columnist. She is also, apparently, “a gospel pianist by birth,” which is very impressive to me, as I did not know that newborns could play the piano.

Ms. Dailey (the Post-Gazette uses the honor titles, so I am trying it out when referring to their writers) has made some claims in the past that I cannot agree with, such as that Rick Santorum was trying to save America from “barbarism”. Today, however, she topped herself:

The last time I made such a public decision and attempted to explain my thinking, there was, in fact, rational thinking involved. It was a movie, “The Da Vinci Code,” that I declined to waste my money on, and I wasn’t just put off by photos of Tom Hanks’ mullet.

There were big ideas at stake then, too — the reliability of ancient “reporting,” the decision of this reporter to function only as an informed reader and the difference between historical fiction and a lie. (If a “historian” wrote a romantic thriller set in a concentration camp and claimed the camps were just high-security prisons that held no more than a few thousand people, none of them Jews, which part would be historical fiction and which part a lie?)

This isn’t exactly rational thinking: for instance, no one would ever accuse Dan Brown of being an “historian”. The amazing thing to me, here, is the implication that someone who disagrees on a minor point of Biblical “history” is equivalent to a holocaust denier. Dan Brown isn’t even someone who had the good sense to look rationally at Christianity and dump the entire “historical” flim-flam framework over the side: he just wrote a book imagining a slightly different version of it.

The Christians went after him like terriers after a rat. First Things, a magazine of Catholic Theology I used to be subscribed to, was packed with ads for books to debunk the Da Vinci Code, a novel. Why? Bolsheviks hate Mensheviks far more than they do Monarchists: authoritarians like Josef Stalin and Ruth Ann Dailey have far more hate in their bellies for those who they think should agree with them than those who they know have always opposed and will always oppose them (which would make me Winston Churchill in this analogy, except that I don’t take enough baths).

Then again, maybe I should be worried. According to her biography on the P-G website, Ms. Dailey lives in a “100 year-old shoe polish factory” on the North Side, which I assume is probably big enough to to accommodate breaking on the wheel (are her three children home-schooled? If so, this might be a fun inquisitorial project for the whole family — one of them already won an award for inquisitiveness).

I promise right now that, faced with physical violence, I will be happy to renounce whatever, and agree that your two thousand year old street preacher died, either causing the ground to shake and the dead to walk or not, depending which book you are reading, and then rose from the dead, which really shouldn’t be all that surprising, since Lazarus et multa corpora sanctorum qui dormierant surrexerunt et exeuntes de monumentis post resurrectionem eius venerunt in sanctam civitatem et apparuerunt multis. After all, I am not worried about my immortal soul, or even the meat I leave behind. Ms. Dailey has my back on that front too:

“Bodies” uses corpses of unverifiable provenance whose former occupants signed no documents of permission before their deaths. Science Center staffer Elaine Catz felt strongly enough about this — and whether such exhibits even belong in a civilized society — that she resigned.

Maybe there are some things that should never be casually viewed. Maybe there are some things that we the living shouldn’t make money from. That’s the direction my mind’s leaning, but my stomach decided a long time ago.

Ruth Ann Dailey: she will rescue you from the idea that Jesus got married (homeless street preacher, notorious vandal, wanted criminal: what a catch!) and the possible use of your body after you are done.

If this was 1863 you might be a bit concerned right now. After the amazing victory at Chancellorsville, Lee is leading his army into Pennsylvania in search of food, revenge, and perhaps shoes. The once confident Hooker is about to resign.

“On June 25, Lieutenant General Ambrose P. Hill, accompanied by General Robert E. Lee, entered Pennsylvania with the Third Corps. Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s First Corps then followed, and on June 27 the entire force was encamped near Chambersburg. Two days later the divisions of these corps began to advance toward deeper into Pennsylvania nearing the little town of Gettysburg. It wasn’t until Wednesday, July 1, when the Confederate force was strung out along the road with the advance unit beyond Cashtown and the rear still at Chambersburg.”

It’s clear that there was rush to build fortifications around the city but the actual location of a lot of them is still a mystery.

While taking in Quantum Theatre’s latest play in the repurposed Garden Theatre, I made a surprising discovery: the first Max & Erma’s was in Pittsburgh, or at least, in Allegheny City. I don’t mean these guys — I mean Max’s Allegheny Tavern, which has operated on the North Side since 1903. The present owners, who are indeed a Max and an Erma, named it Max and Erma’s Allegheny Tavern until they were forced to change the name.

I am pleased to report that whatever its name, Max’s is one of Pittsburgh’s many hidden restaurant gems. (The only reason I found out about them is that my girlfriend’s family likes to go there.) They’ve got a good selection of German draft beer (with samplers), good food, and smoke-free dining rooms. Being German, the menu’s not very friendly to vegetarians, but omnivores will leave full and happy. Even better, they’re one of those rare restaurants that advertises a discount in the Entertainment Book and then actually honors the coupon. Highly recommended if you’re ever looking for a filling but casual dinner up on the North Side.

The nature of a statist economy creates endless confusion as (which is why it’s so popular) to who has earned what and who is paying their own way. One of it’s results is that a lot of our countries most strident advocates of free markets, live a lifestyle totally dependent on vast government transfers and other expenses. Another Piittsburgh blogger has a long rant on this subject.

“The factors that have allowed people to escape and ignore the social problems in the city are cheap oil and the public subsidization of interstate roads. People bitch about the (actually very small) percentage of their tax dollars that is earmarked for social programs to help the lower classes. Yet no one ever talks about the fact that our federal government artificially depresses the price of gasoline in this country with an aggressive and costly foreign policy. It’s a vicious cycle that keeps our ecomomy wholly dependent on the rapidly failing oil paradigm.”

“And while cities can be transformed to meet the changing variables of time, suburban/exurban developent and its accompanying “car-culture” are not only unsustainable- but also so artificial and wasteful that they can’t ever be transformed into something useful.”

I don’t think it’s in anyway accidental that the period when our country came closest to having a free market was an age of dense cities, with rapidly emerging transit systems which were connected by rail lines.

Some months ago Mayor Ravenstahl, seen here instituting middle school dance rules by which female members of his administration must stand on one side of the room and males on the other to prevent cootie contamination, made “retention of youth top priority.” In so doing he “announced the formation of the Propel Pittsburgh Commission,” which would allow Pittsburghers under 35 to sit in a room together with the Mayor. It would be kind of like Tequila Willie’s, but without the music.

I applied. Between the announcement and the deadline for applications there were seventeen days, which seemed like a pretty long time to me. I still have not received my badge, so I called up the Mayor’s office to see if my application had been misplaced.

“No, we’re still in the process of selection,” Diana told me. Diana is Neil Parham’s secretary. Parham has the title “Youth Policy Manager” and is reputed to exist, although he didn’t show up for work today and appears nowhere I can find on the city’s website.

Diana tells me that the commission members will be selected sometime next month, and the first meeting will, they hope, take place in August. That is, at best we will finally see this group sit down together four months after it was made “top priority.”

If that is the standard by which the Mayor and Neil Parham judge speed of work, I suppose it is not really that surprising that they predicted it would take seventeen days to fill out a one-page form. I shouldn’t judge, though. After all, the Mayor has been very busy with his other duties.

On the up-side, I actually got an answer from someone in the Mayor’s office. After their refusal to talk to me about contraception in February and March and apparent total ignorance of the Mayor’s tax abatement plan (I talked to nearly a dozen people in both the government and Luke’s campaign in April trying to get a hold of it, and none of them even seemed to know that there was such a thing) I was beginning to worry that they had something against me. I can’t imagine why.