I’ve been going back and forth between Pittsburgh and New York, to set up “The Blogger Show”. Even though the cities resemble each other strongly in many ways, the issues they face now are almost completely opposite. While Pittsburgh obsesses endlessly about population loss and seems to use every program of force imaginable, to make the city seem safe for the white bread suburban crowd who left years ago; New York, struggles with the insane demand for urban life and the pressure this is putting on it’s creative people as prices rise.

The whole situation is a vast tragedy. While so many New Yorkers are looking for options in other places, one the places that could have been a great one has decided(or rather a few people decided) it would rather be a parking lot for sports events than a real city.

“On Wednesday night, the author joined other thinkers at a panel discussion called “Is New York Losing its Soul,” part of the Municipal Art Society’s Jane Jacobs exhibition.

The debate centered around the city’s evolution away from its role as an haven for the arts. Rocco Landesman, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, told how many smaller Broadway theaters were selling their air rights in order to remain viable, and how many visiting productions can now only afford to stay in the city for a few days, rather than the few weeks they used to.”

To put the whole thing in perspective, New York is expected to draw in a million new residents in the next decade. What seems to be happening is an issue of pure supply and demand. Since, semi functional, safe, diverse and walkable cities with mass transit are so rare in America, the few that qualify are seeing and explosion of demand which is destroying many of the qualities that made them so attractive.

Tonight, the Pittsburgh ACLU had our annual “Voices of Freedom” event, where four of our clients take the stage to tell their stories of how they fought The Man and won. One of those clients was a teenage mom whose school tried to put her into a juvenile detention center and put her two-year-old son into foster care because she kept missing school for his doctor’s appointments. We will leave aside, for a moment, the utter ludicrousness of these proceedings, and focus on something our teen mom mentioned. According to her, in the Johnstown High School alone, there are somewhere between 50 and 100 teens who are also mothers of one or more children. (We have no information on how many are fathers.)

Now, here in Pittsburgh, some good friends of mine are attempting to get the Pittsburgh Public Schools to implement comprehensive sex education (i.e., including information about birth control). If anyone reading this still believes that the abstinence-only approach is effective to prevent teen pregnancies, I offer you the Johnstown high school as Exhibit A to the contrary.

There are a couple of really bizarre letters supporting Mayor Speedy in the Post-Gazette today. One asks that we support Ravenstahl because it isn’t his fault we are in Iraq:

I guess Luke Ravenstahl doesn’t have enough experience to be corrupt and cover his tracks like experienced leaders. Was President Bush supposedly an experienced leader whom you voted for in 2004? With the lifestyle of Mr. Bush at Mr. Ravenstahl’s age, you would have not given Mr. Bush a passing glance.

I find all this outrage over a golf outing and an SUV amusing. Where is the outrage over paying for the war in Iraq and the human cost of our youth?

I wish to assure Carol Badgley of Hempfield that I, for one, am able to contain outrage over the Iraq war while at the same time being upset by Luke’s misbehavior. Perhaps in Hempfield it is common to only be able to hold one opinion at any given time. If so, I blame the THC.

I never really thought that the brazenness of Speedy’s corruption would be considered a point in his favor.

Another writer who, I am happy to report, lives in a place where he is not able to vote for Luke says that the problem is that old people are mean:

The reason for this treatment is an obvious case of age discrimination. Pittsburgh has been a dying city for years, with the worn-out politicians and older stubborn people preventing any changes from occurring. College graduates leave the city in waves for more vibrant, youthful towns. Finally a leader comes along who has the city on the brink of a renaissance, and all those same rigid people who have held Pittsburgh down for years try to discredit Mr. Ravenstahl.

Yes, it is no doubt my advanced age that is at the root of all my problems with the mayor. He wasn’t even alive for the Steelers triumph in Super Bowl XIV, which I am sure I found very exciting but cannot remember due to having watched it at the age of five months. Nonetheless, I can smugly say that it happened a good seventeen days before the birth of our mayor.

Letter writer Armand Buzzelli Jr., being no doubt a modest fellow, doesn’t mention that he is a buddy of Luke’s from college and that his dad was one of Luke’s gym teachers.

In both of these cases we see the Ravenstahl and supporters method of argument, which is built on red herrings and lies about anyone who dislikes Speedy’s laziness and bizarre sense of entitlement. First, pretend that the thing you are being criticized for is something other than what it really is: flip-flops on the plane (which no one but me seems to recognize is absolutely disgusting), the war in Iraq, going to a concert, or hot dog receipts. Then pretend the critics are something they are not: Republicans, out-of-touch fogies, or crouching masturbators. Then claim that Speedy is doing a great job. Do not give any specific examples of what he is doing that is great, because masturbating Republican fogies might actually check and find that the Mayor didn’t actually do whatever it is you are claiming he did. Just say he is great.

I have not yet listened to the debate from last night, but the buzz is that Ravenstahl didn’t embarrass himself, which is a triumph, I suppose; DeSantis came off as lame, which is no surprise, as he is a lameass; and Ryan Scott is totally insane, which is not really a big surprise either.

Luke Ravenstahl has been working hard giving everyone reasons not to vote for him, so I thought I would take a minute to review reasons not to vote for his most prominent opponent, seen here discussing the fish he almost caught.

1. He looks like a doofus in pictures. Luke tends to look like a doofus too, but at least he has the sense to pick and choose the least doofusy photos for his campaign website. The DeSantis site is chockablock with photos like the one you see here.

2. He is a Republican, and doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

3. He is a dilettante who didn’t take this race seriously enough to start running in May when he became the nominee.

4. When he got into this race I sat down for coffee with him and he wore short pants. Perhaps he was trying to youth himself up in comparison to the mayor, but dressing up as a child is not the way to go about it. In his defense, though, his sartorial sins are far from as bad as wearing flip-flops on an airplane.

5. He will lose, but he could win some combination of the seventh, fourteenth and eleventh wards. Next year will be an extremely divisive national election, which will leave dedicated Democrats even more dedicated. The year after that, Speedy Ravenstahl will face what will, if he keeps screwing up, be a tough race for the Democratic nomination. Old school Democrats will remember that the base of any likely progressive leaning candidate (Peduto, Lamb, Shields, Dowd) went over to the side that gave us George W. Bush, Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, and who knows what other creeps and liars who arise between now and then. You can be sure that Ravenstahl will remind them. Kleptocratic, nepotistic, anti-choice councilman Len Bodack tried to use the “my opponent is a Republican in disguise” argument without any basis at all in the last primary, and he came close to winning.

6. He spends too much time talking about his opponent, which gives little sense of what he will do once he is the guy in the big chair.

7. If you are going to vote for someone who can’t win, why not go with the guy with the balls to run as a Socialist Worker?

Fritos Chili Cheese Wrap

Originally uploaded by gophotogo

In case you haven’t watched any of the local news lately, a Sonic drive in has opened in Pittsburgh. Yes, the grand opening of Sonic was major news in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Okay, I like Sonic. After watching commercials for the Sonic blast for
the past few years and wondering why there are commercials for a dining establishment that is no where near Pittsburgh I was quite intrigued about Sonic. And it is kind of funny I have talked to quite a few people in Pittsburgh (and Buffalo, NY) that were also annoyed that they had to watch commercials for Sonic when there weren’t any Sonics around.
So I finally got to check out a Sonic when I was visiting my grandparents in Florida last March. After arriving on a very late flight, my mom who is usually anti-junk food, allowed a stop for some fast-food. We were just about to pull into a Wendy’s when I spotted a Sonic and insisted she do a u-turn.
So I am here at the Pittsburgh Sonic waiting for my chicken wrap and
studying the menu. There is a lot on this menu. Including real fruit smoothies. I like to pretend that I am on health quest and I like to keep tabs on who actually sells fruit smoothies.
Then my friend points out this item - Fritos Chili Cheese Wrap.
Yes there is a Fritos chili cheese wrap. Are the Fritos really
necessary. Fritos are my least favorite crunchy type snack. So who
orders this thing? Are the Fritos chili cheese wrap lovers people who
think, hey maybe my wrap needs more cholesterol, chili and cheese just isn’t enough so throw some Fritos in there.
Maybe this is some crazy scheme to sell more Fritos. Maybe Fritos
aren’t selling so well so the Fritos people hooked up with Sonic to off
load Fritos in the chili cheese wraps. Maybe people won’t notice the
Fritos if we through them in with the chili and cheese. If you have
ordered the Fritos chili cheese wrap please comment and share your
thoughts on this interesting combination of snacks. For now, I will stick to the chicken wrap.

The very specific map known as Google Street View, represented here by a Post-Gazette mockup. Apparently they couldn’t figure out how to copy one of the real pictures either. It shows us what our streets look like. Here, for instance, is the beer distributor where I work. Here is the other beer distributor where I also work.

The Post-Gazette is kind enough to allay the fears of the nonagenarians who make up their core readership and believe that young people can perform magic with their computers and such:

Street View is not, as some might fear, real-time video. Pulling up a view of Downtown will not show people walking down Smithfield Street — the “Simpsons” episode in which Marge Simpson accidentally spies a naked Homer on a hammock got it wrong.

I want naked people on hammocks! Get to work, Google nerds!

Brief Update: As I looked more closely at this picture, I realized that the Post-Gazette graphics department seems to think that the opposite of west is also west. I guess that explains how they ended up doing newspaper art: once you fail out of cartography school, there are few other options.

Tomorrow night at the Regional History Center: Post-Gazette Mayoral Debate. The theme for most participants will no doubt be “Don’t trust anyone over thirty,” which may be a tough sell in Geriatricburgh. The ages of the participants, in the order they appear above: 48, 27, 27, 24. As someone of approximately the age of these three young jugheads, I am shocked that these young fellows are all willing to miss out on the Smashing Pumpkins show tomorrow night. In fact, given the Mayor’s track record, I wouldn’t be surprised if he forgets to show at the debate in favor of the A. J. Palumbo Center.

The extremely brief descriptions of the candidates, which were pretty clearly written by the candidates themselves or their campaigns, include this note about Luke Ravenstahl:

Pushing fresh leadership and a better city.

I know that Speedy has given up his Blackberry, but here is a note from me to him, in case he looks at the internet as, I believe, normal 27-year-olds do. Please avert your eyes for the next paragraph, if you are not the mayor.

Hey idiot: you are the incumbent. Follow that link if you are not familiar with the word. You don’t get to be they guy who has squandered his time in office on silly perks and initiatives you don’t ever intend to pay for and also run as the face of “fresh leadership.”

Those who have questions for any of the jugheads or the old geezer, e-mail Susan Manella of the Post-Gazette. I would hurry. I imagine she will not want to add anything at the very last minute.

Richmond Turner drew my attention to a story in the New York Times about our beloved child-mayor, seen here failing to own a tuxedo. Among the revelations, apparently the city at large cuts Luke Ravenstahl a lot of slack.

“I like him because the city runs,” said Eliza Wiles, 54, waiting for a bus several blocks from City Hall. Ms. Wiles added that she could not care less that the mayor was younger than her son or that Mr. Ravenstahl wore flip-flops on a plane to Los Angeles — an episode that drew criticism.

Somehow I didn’t hear about this airplane thing, but I am one hundred percent in favor of summary capital punishment for the wearing of flip-flops in public, and being an idiot frat boy is no excuse, The mayor’s punishment is worse than death, though:

For a mayor of this city, not attending Steelers games is like a Southern grandmother skipping church. But that is exactly what Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says he plans to do until the mayoral election on Nov. 5.

He says he can’t stand being “hounded by the press,” by which he must mean this episode, as I can’t imagine comfortable plebeian Rich Lord is following him around while he drinks beer with girls in Hines Ward jerseys. Whatever person the “press” takes in this instance, they are asking the important questions:

“I have a thicker skin now, but I’m also more careful now,” [Ravenstahl] said. Shaking his head, he added, “But asking whether I paid for my own seats at the Steelers game and requesting for me to show the hot dog receipts still seems ridiculous to me.”

While I have no idea who was asking Luke about hot dogs, if that person is a reader of this weblog, you can find more information on hot dogs here.

It was clever what Luke did here, by implicitly equating asking for hot dog receipts to asking who pays for the Mayor’s many perks, thus making his critics seem absurd to anyone who isn’t paying close attention.

There was also some insight into the Mayor’s excellent performance in the Great Race:

Instead of drinking coffee, he keeps his energy up with help from 12 Diet Pepsis a day. “That might be catching up with my nerves,” he said, pointing to a pile of bottle caps on the floor of his car. To clear his head he has taken up running three times a week, he said.

Nothing like a little training and a blood-stimulant concentration that rivals Studio 54 in 1982. Go “Speedy” Ravenstahl!

Not appearing were quote machine Bill Peduto or, oddly, any of the people running for mayor against Speedy. Former Steelers mascot Doug Shields pops up to share some mild criticism and snarky bastard John McIntire makes the impertinent request that the Mayor of Pittsburgh be expected to “act like an adult,” which, coming from McIntire, I think also qualifies as mild criticism.

We all feel safer now thanks to the war on the constitution, I mean the war on terror. But, who is protecting us from the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man? That’s the job of the G.G.P.S.

Mount Oliver

Overview: The tenant of this apartment contacted us because of numerous anomalies reported in her home. It was once a full house that has been renovated into separate apartments with hers being on the bottom floor.

The tenant reported cold spots, sleep paralysis symptoms, sightings out of the corner of her eye, and a feeling of being watched late at night. Over 460 pictures, 4 hours of audio/video were taken at this location with no anomalies to report.

Mckeesport

When we went out for an investigation, we are proud to say we were able to put the residents at ease. Upon testing sounds, both heard exactly what the noise was; and we confirmed it to be loose shingles on the chimney.

This was a wonderful case as we were able to put the homeowners mind at ease. They are happy they could sleep comfortably now, knowing that there was no paranormal relation to the sound that they continuously heard late at night.

Fayette

Overview: The owner of this home contacted us due to suspicious activity in her home. Cold spots, sightings of an apparition, and symptoms of sleep paralysis led her to us.

This home is on old farmland, with a new building in place. Through the interview we learned that the activity seemed to be increasing since our telephone conversation.

I was in New York for more than a week and was blogging on the New York Metroblog and learned about this exiting project. The idea is to create an open Wikipedea directory for the city of New York and then to extend it to other cities.It’s called Wikipages.

Stale data can be a problem with directories. Paper business directories are updated once per year or less,(and give coverage according to payment) while online digital directories have gatekeepers that can delay a small but important change like a new phone number, or a minor spelling change.

Using a self-managing wiki, Wikipages hopes to avoid data stagnation. The people who spot an error can fix it; business owners can ensure their information is correct, and if it is not, they can fix it on the spot. Frequent customers can help the businesses they like by making sure they are represented on our directory.

[edit] Future Plans

Wikipages plans to broaden and deepen its coverage of New York City businesses and then spread to other major cities in the USA. We see the Wikipedia as an inspiration for the type of community we would like to build–but we also hope that business owners will feel a strong sense of ownership over their business’ representation here, and will work to keep it interesting and useful for potential customers.

One of the most frustrating things about living in Pittsburgh is not being able to know exactly what, where and when everything is going on and not being able to show people all the small great things in the city, many of which die with few people knowing they are there.

Here’s an interview with the founders who I think are getting married and both live in a great part of Queens called Astoria.

Readers might notice that I was posting on the NYC blog after, I was already back in Pittsburgh. Just stop the hate, I am Bi-urban.