Pittsburgh's real problems (gay, districts, lobster)

[tommygoat]

Right or wrong, Democrats will ALWAYS be a better party for the middle/working classes, both in Pittsburgh and the country as a whole.

Except - Most Dem candidates believe in an open border policy that is detroying our country.... push 1 to procede in English.

[RockLobster]

In Pittsburgh's case I truly believe that DeSantis is the best choice given his game plan for attacking the financial chaos Pittsburgh is in. And for small buisness he is the only game.. And I agree, DeSantis needs to be seen as a regular on the street type.
The below is taken from 'The Pittsburgh Comet'

Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The DeSantis Plan for Financial Recovery

Setting aside the public safety plan, this one is the Big Kahuna.

This one is supposed to explain how Pittsburgh will save oodles of cash, without letting garbage pile up on the streets.

Let's take a look at some provisions, and make some snap judgements.

DeSantis Will Reduce Spending by 1% Annually.

“I want to instill a culture of efficiency and lead a new age of innovation in City government. Some will say it cannot be done, but any Mayor who cannot streamline 1% of fat annually out of a city budget should not be your Mayor,” added DeSantis.

That all depends on what is fat, what is gristle, what is savory tenderloin, and what is bone. Will we be finding out below?

DeSantis will seek to amend the Home Rule Charter to impose a cap on the growth of spending. Under this cap City spending could not grow more than the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for the Pittsburgh region, plus/minus the percentage change in Pittsburgh’s population.

We love the seriousness. We love the urgency. But even still, amending the Home Rule Charter seems a little dramatic. Why not just promise to submit budgets that are under that threshold?

Mr. DeSantis also pledges no layoffs while he is Mayor. However, he does recognize that 21st Century City government does need to get leaner, and he will reduce the size of City government through attrition. He will implement an across-the-board hiring freeze for all non-essential City personnel.

You would think this would set some city employees' minds at ease.

In addition, Mr. DeSantis will aggressively tackle excessive workers’ compensation and overtime costs ... In his first two years as Mayor, Mr. DeSantis will take action to reduce these expenses in half, saving the City more than $23 million a year. This is the same amount of money that DeSantis previously pledged to add to the City’s pension plans.

That's your issue, gents.

This would offset the money DeSantis wants to funnel from the nonprofits and the casino, directly to our pension debt -- which Ravenstahl maintains will jeopardize city services. Now DeSantis would plug this gap through reducing certain employee benefits.

We knew we weren't going to get out of this with some pain. From everything we've heard it's workers comp and overtime that really is the culprit when it comes to the city budget.

Implicit in this is that he intends to take on ... dun dun DUN ... the UNIONS. Pittsburgh's public-sector unions are said to be the toughest and most demanding in the country. As much as it pains the Comet to sound anti-labor chords -- well, it's not anti-labor at all. It's pro-City.

“It makes absolutely no sense for the City and County to both maintain their own Law, Information Technology, Parks and many other Departments,” said DeSantis.

The consolidation of these, and many other, duplicate functions would conservatively save the City taxpayers $10 million a year, when fully carried out.

No objection. No objections from most people, actually. We're not talking about dissolving Pittsburgh, here. Turf wars and special relationships be damned.

The DeSantis administration will immediately begin to auction all properties that are not being used to provide government services.

Good luck finding buyers for most of them. We're all for getting the city out of the business of real-estate speculation -- and kudos to DeSantis for suggesting it -- but we imagine there is a more deliberate manner of easing out of the market than this.

New City employees will be placed in a defined contribution plan.

This is another biggie. In other words, although nothing will change for current employees, new employees won't get health care and pension benefits without kicking back something from their payroll (like many of us).

Again -- how do you feel about sacrifice? It seems like DeSantis is rounding down all the rough edges he possibly can -- but he is serious about finding savings and scaling back.

Which is interesting. In national politics, it is George W. Bush that insists we can meet our national challenges without calling upon us to make any sacrifices. Without commenting on the DeSantis Plan, what "tough choices" has Ravenstahl made to steel us for the coming budget crunch?

Beginning in the fourth year of his plan, Mr. DeSantis plans to reduce the real estate, wage and payroll preparation taxes to attract new residents and businesses.

Hahahahaha. Even we don't think we're gonna get four years out of this bloke.

Our Knee-Jerk Recommendation: Let's take the savings, accept the sacrifice, enjoy two years of tough love from DeSantis, and then see where we stand.

[guylocke]

Except - Most Dem candidates believe in an open border policy that is detroying our country.... push 1 to procede in English.

I am about as democratic as they get and I agree completely. I wish very much the democrats would take a tougher stance on protecting our borders. That really bothers me, but I get past it, cause it's certainly not the defining aspect of a party.

[PApisces]

Originally Posted by tommygoat

Except - Most Dem candidates believe in an open border policy that is detroying our country.... push 1 to procede in English.

I agree with you on this. Trust me, Texas is one of the frontlines of the INVASION, so I know full well the impact of illegal invaders. What's worse is they all now have an "Attititude" here. It used to be they'd smile and wave; now they give you the evil eye. It did my heart good to see that Veteran cut down the mexican flag in Nevada(I think) that was hanging above the US Flag.

I am so sick and tired of having to listen to/read spanish EVERYWHERE! I think it's impossble to buy a product that isn't labeled in English AND spanish. I wonder how much of THAT cost is passed along to us?

On a lighter note, I called PennDot the other day to discuss my upcoming License transfer and registration. The recording said: "To hear the instructions in a FOREIGN language, press 1".

[guylocke]

I am so sick and tired of having to listen to/read spanish EVERYWHERE! I think it's impossble to buy a product that isn't labeled in English AND spanish. I wonder how much of THAT cost is passed along to us?

Yep, it sucks. I believe someday in the not too distant future this will change. English should be the official language of this country and Spanish should be stripped off of everything and people shouldn't be allowed to be American citizens if they can't speak the language or at least are learning the language. France can do it!! Lots of other countries do it, so can we!! Everything in France used to be in French and English up until a few years back. They are preserving their national language and stripped all the English out. I say good for the and I am an English speaking person!! Don't even get me started on "English Second Language" developments in public school systems.

[JoeP]

Except - Most Dem candidates believe in an open border policy that is detroying our country.... push 1 to procede in English.

"open borders" are not destroying our country. The politicizing of every Federal agency by this admininstration is. This administration's incompetent war and foreign policies are. Letting companies hire illegals and get away with is. Letting corporations control everything... media, healthcare, the military, etc etc (there's another word when corporations control the country) is destroying our country.

Not protecting our ports and chemical/nuclear plants is a major problem, but vague BS phrases like "open borders" are not.

[JoeP]

I am so sick and tired of having to listen to/read spanish EVERYWHERE! I think it's impossble to buy a product that isn't labeled in English AND spanish. I wonder how much of THAT cost is passed along to us?

Wow it must be awful in Canada and Europe. Oh how do they live.

And oh to have press one for English. Otherwise, customer service is excellent, especially when talking to India.

[PApisces]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Wow it must be awful in Canada and Europe. Oh how do they live.

And oh to have press one for English. Otherwise, customer service is excellent, especially when talking to India.

It's not simply the reading of the additional language that is frustrating. It's the attitude of "entitlement" that has fostered it. They come here illegally and expect US to cater to THEIR needs, the cost of which to us be damned.

Heck, even the new Mexican President says that we ought to be ashamed of the way we are treating Mexican citizens! LOL You would think that his remarks would warrant SOME kind of response regarding our sovereignty from the President or anybody in DC.

Your "open borders" comments are dead on as well. The openness of our borders are only a fraction of the security issues in the US today. I am not sure if it was on discovery channel, but, I saw a show where they went and hired illegals to build a 20 foot section of fencing exactly like they are currently proposing in TX and AZ. They then seperated them into 3 teams of 2 men. One team was to go OVER the fence, one UNDER the fence, and the final team THROUGH the fence. All 3 teams compromised the fence in less than 5 minutes flat! To truly control the border we need to severly punish employers that hire them and landlords and family members that harbor them.

Our food supply is in constant danger, I could smuggle a small army into the country unnoticed in cargo containers, it took us 5 days to get to LA to help the Katrina survivorsetc, etc. Yet, the Bush administration feels the greatest threat to our country lies in Iraq. Yea, right.

[guylocke]

Otherwise, customer service is excellent, especially when talking to India.

Are you joking? I have to talk to people in India almost on a daily basis and most of the time it is painstakingly awful. About 50% of the time I simply demand to talk to someone who can speak proper English and then I can actually get things done. The Indians aren't particularly rude or anything, but there is actually a big problem going on right now in out sourcing. It's getting more expensive!!

Imagine that, after all this time being paid practically nothing, the Indians are realizing their skills are worth more than they once thought. There is soooooooo much turn-around in companies in India because they just keep jumping ship to the next American company that will pay them a few pennies more that they have to keep re-learning everything and can usually help on one. It's a real problem.

In fact, there are companies that are "outsourcing" to certain places like Mississippi where the locals will do the same job for American minimum wage and won't quit every 2 weeks and it's actually saving companies money.

How crazy is that?? And sad...

[JoeP]

Are you joking?

yes.


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