For as long as I can remember, drivers on the parkway east were greeted each December by a Christmas tree. Last year it was announced that the tree would not be up this year however the center pole remains, which I am now declaring to be Pittsburgh’s Festivus pole!
Bedford Avenue (downhill side) between Crawford and Mario Lemieux Drive is closed, Mario Lemieux Drive is closed and tons of busses are parked all over the place.
Drive elsewhere if you can!
I was going to save this post for Tuesday, but I figured better to get it out there and maybe someone can show me the error of my ways. I really hope there is something that I am just not understanding or seeing. Please correct me! Settle in folks, this is a long one:
First, raise your hand if you thought the drink tax was going to be used for the Port Authority? [Raises hand]. So were we duped? Here’s what we were greeted by yesterday
Since their enactment in 2008, Allegheny County’s taxes on alcoholic drinks and car rentals have done virtually nothing to ease the Port Authority’s chronic financial problems.
Here’s why: The new taxes were intended to help the county’s budget, not the Port Authority’s.
The taxes are generating less than $2 million per year in extra revenue for the authority while producing $30 million to $40 million windfalls that county government has used to avoid raising property taxes.
Well now. Then what about all of these:
Example one:
The Republican from Upper St. Clair said today the current levy is bringing in more revenue than the county needs to provide local matching funds to help support Port Authority buses and light-rail trains.
Example two:
The tax has brought in $80 million for Port Authority operations.
Example three:
He proposed the drink tax and a $2-a-day tax on car rentals last year to fund the county’s $30 million subsidy of the Port Authority
Example four:
Given a choice between Allegheny County’s 10 percent drink tax or higher property taxes to fund Port Authority, Chris Pfefferman will choose the former. “Keep the drink tax,” said Pfefferman, 43, a Baldwin Borough homeowner who runs a Downtown newsstand.
Example five:
This morning Common Pleas Judge Judith F. Olson set the date for arguments over an injunction that would prevent the county from spending its drink and car rental tax receipts on anything other than transit.
Example six:
In what Allegheny County officials said was a massive blow to this year’s budget, a judge ruled yesterday that excess receipts from the county’s drink and car rental taxes can only be spent on the Port Authority.
Example seven:
County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, in the meantime, pledged to oppose efforts to defeat the tax, which was enacted along with a $2-per-day rental car tax Jan. 1 to raise about $30 million for the Port Authority.
Example eight:
In Act 44, they said you can have a drink tax and a car rental tax,” Onorato said. He said he faced the prospect of raising $30 million to $40 million more in property taxes for transit, and “I campaigned on not raising property taxes.”
Said Wagner, whose family owns a tavern: “There is no correlation between getting a drink and paying for the Port Authority.”
That is just what I quickly found. Were we all confused? Was the entire county lied to? Was there some kind of crazy math going on? Are we all suckers?
I was thinking it might have been the wording that the tax was used to fund the county’s contribution, but then there are quotes from judges saying excess money had to be given to the Port Authority, so that kind of cancels that out.
Well, maybe we are all suckers. We know that the math was all kinds of messed up. After all, it brought in so much money to begin with, they apparently didn’t know what to do with it all, hence the court battles saying that the money had to go to the Port Authority. The difference between 10% and 6% is a lot more than even the accountants thought it was! Imagine that!
Now, believe it or not, that is actually not the main focus of the article, just a quick aside into the crazy math that has been plaguing us, and continues to haunt us.
Yesterday, we were greeted with the news (which also apparently surprised even Steve Bland), that the Governor found $45 million that he wants to give to the Port Authority. Awesome! PAT has a $47 million hole to fill, so only having to find an additional $2 million really should not be too bad, or could at least be manageable.
Wrong! See, $47 million fixes everything for the year. $45 million, on the other hand, only fixes everything until June.
Wait…what?
Yes, there is overhead, and I’m sure running a huge transit agency is tough work, much beyond my brain to be able to do it. But really? Something seems way off about this. I’m calling it Voodoo Math.
And I think we’re all being suckered again.
Today’s post is sponsored by Giant Eagle, who I know what they were going for, but it really came off as creepy:
As you’ve probably heard, Borders will be closing three local locations, including Monroeville. That is where the National Novel Writing Month east write-ins have been held. We would gather in the cafe, people watch, be amazed at the random electrical outlet up at the ceiling (we called it the spiderman plug) and work on crafting great novels.
Now however, we’re going to need someplace new, so I’d like to ask for some suggestions. Barring in mind that I’m not actually in charge, I’m just trying to help out our Municipal Liason (who is awesome by the way, I’ll be writing about her awesome blog probably next week). Here’s what we need in a location:
- Ability to seat about 10 people (we usually get about that many on the weekend write-ins, and about half that during the week). We’re not the biggest write-in location, but we’re dependable six or seven write-ins a month
- Two electrical sockets. We bring our own surge protectors/power strips. We’ve learned that lesson from experience.
- Wi-Fi. You know, for research… And I wrote my book in Google Docs last year, so it was nice to just write in the cloud.
- Caffeine. Totally optional, but we’ll buy food and drink from the location we’re in, and probably whatever else is for sale (I usually left Borders with new books to read)
- A fondness for strangeness. We wear funny hats when we write, it helps with the creative process, and allows us to find each other easier. So when you see me come in wearing a Viking helmet, Mad Hatter hat, or something else equally odd, you’ll know we’re there.
Barnes and Noble is an option, although they have a smaller seating area, and the last few times I was there, their Wi-Fi was pitiful. We’ve used the Panera in Penn Center in Wilkins, and that was a good spot (plus, unlike the Panera in Monroeville, the staff is friendly and gets my orders correct).
But I guess I’m kind of interested to see if there is some place off the beaten path, I know we had tried to set up some write-ins in Oakmont last year, but I don’t think that ever got off the ground. We’re generally fairly quiet, bring in business (as well as publishing the fact that we’re at your location a lot), and I can even get you a cool “Write Your Novel Here” window cling to hang up.
So, any ideas?
Remember when I posted about Conflict Kitchen and how they needed our help on Kickstarter? I like to think I really helped. That story got passed around by a bunch of people, even Bill Peduto (Thanks, Bill!), and they made their goal.
Now here’s the deal. I gave money because it’s a really awesome project that I wanted to support. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, that’s what charity is for, to help others. However, I gave a specific amount because of what the backer gifts were. I love music, and am interested as to what contemporary Iranian music is. I also really wanted to read the facts and see the layout of the food wrappers, since I wasn’t able to get down during Kubideh Kitchen.
But still, I have not seen any of those. I’ve tried contacting both Conflict Kitchen and Waffle Shop, but to no avail. Maybe they’ll read this and maybe I’ll get my stuff. I sure do hope this is resolved.
The new manager (at least I think she’s a manger) working here tonight is really, really loud. She’s at the far end and I can hear her around the corner and through my headphones. Also, four of the five of you wearing jerseys are wearing 43, and that’s pretty awesome!
Nerve is reporting on a new “study” by FourSquare about the rudest cities, and Pittsburgh comes in forth. I put study in quotation marks because it is not clear how this was measured:
So really it reads more like a list of the cities with the most expletive-worthy locations — positive, negative or otherwise.
Well, at least we’re not $&#@ing Manchester.
May I suggest that you follow the Pittsburgh Zoo on Twitter:
This also allowed me to use the “Charlie Sheen” tag. I feel fulfilled.
And I love it!
Whoever is in their social media department deserves a raise:
See the rest of the series here and my post about their awesome Twitter feed here.
Sadly, it looks like someone in a legal department had a hissy fit. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
