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Lol not sure what that means. I just know change comes whether people want it or not. Like yourself and a few other posters are fearful of change. That is certainly reflected in a lot of your posts. Afraid to be alive.
I can guarantee I’ll never have to work again, the weather will be fabulous tomorrow, the beach will be there when we go, I have the best of both worlds in where I choose to live, you’ll still be complaining about boomers for your shortcomings, etc… Always love your assumptions as change doesn’t bother me in the least…and LMAO at afraid to be alive. It’s great to be alive, especially having the ability to do whatever I choose.
Be better for those that live in, work in, visit, etc…, if Big Ed could clean up the violence in the city that continues to get worse.
Periodic maintenance of city infrastructure is required. Not only will the bridge be structurally sound it will also be lit with state of the art LED lighting. The 7th and 9th street bridges will get the same treatment. Temporary inconvenience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyovan4
The three bridges are County infrastructure, not City.
You seem to be under the impression change is always good. I hardly think so. Have you been downtown lately? Do you remember 6 years ago downtown. Do you feel change is so great when I school you like this? If so, why?
Change can be good or bad. Dopey people will say, "clutching pearls" or whatever makes them feel smart. Smart people will look at each change and decide if that is good or bad. Get it?
I don't see good changes right now. Teen black crime is insane. You like that? Why?
What is good now? What makes you feel our leaders are doing a good job? I think they suck.
I want change for sure. In a better direction. Why? I don't want to live under a dictatorship. That is where we are headed. You can't see it because you don't know world history well enough. I do!
Enjoy fantasy land. Ignorance is indeed bliss.
Here is what I gather from reading your posts. This is my impression of you…
I am afraid of people of color.
I am afraid of change.
I am afraid of the future.
I am afraid of liberals.
I need the government to solve my mental problems.
I need soothing. Tell me what I want to hear.
I am afraid of getting old.
I am afraid of dying.
I’m afraid of living.
Give me a Time Machine so I can live in the past when I thought and felt things were better.
So afraid that you created a fantasy of a dictatorship. I’m not even sure what that means or how you got there. You don’t think leaders are doing anything, but yet you don’t want to live in a dictatorship. It doesn’t even make sense. You are all over the place and confused. But you think the government is going to solve your mental problems. That’s what I gather.
Quote:
Originally Posted by erieguy
I can guarantee I’ll never have to work again, the weather will be fabulous tomorrow, the beach will be there when we go, I have the best of both worlds in where I choose to live, you’ll still be complaining about boomers for your shortcomings, etc… Always love your assumptions as change doesn’t bother me in the least…and LMAO at afraid to be alive. It’s great to be alive, especially having the ability to do whatever I choose.
Be better for those that live in, work in, visit, etc…, if Big Ed could clean up the violence in the city that continues to get worse.
I really find that all hard to believe. To me you are a very fearful person. Afraid of the dawn of a new day. Very similar to GG as your impression isn’t far off. If you were truly happy you wouldn’t be here posting endlessly. I think you are really afraid of leaving your house and having a crime committed to you. It’s really sad to watch. For somebody that claims in this post life is so great, every other post looks like a cry for help. Like you need a hug and somebody to soothe you.
City data and negativity consume you. Another person afraid of living. The government isn’t going to solve your mental issues.
LOL, you really nailed down his writing style - right down to capitalizing the u in CommUnity!
I'm curious as to why you think the city wouldve been better off if Peduto had been re-elected?
I couldn't stand Peduto. I think that he was a self-aggrandizing clown, that wanted to show that he was basically the great white Progressive Messiah. He loved his Twitter, and gallivanting off to conferences, and chasing the next new trendy idea so that he could read about himself in some Buzzfeed listicle.
Give away the farm to Amazon, without public debate or disclosure? Litter the streets with the Scoobi mopeds and the Spin scooters? Demonize the police? Do a terrible job at snow removal? Focus on pet projects like bike lanes? Allow developers to climb under his desk and fellate him while pouring gas on the fire of gentrification in the city (and thus displacing folks like you)? Pander to the interests of CMU while kicking the white working class residents of The Run to the curb? He was a complete moron, and he was arrogant and pompous - he represented only the interests of the wealthy neighborhoods of the East End who elected him.. he was the Mayor of Shadyside, Point Breeze, Regent Square, and Squirrel Hill.
Gainey.. I actually had very high hopes for Gainey initially. I thought that he would actually be an old school Democrat and focus on the interests of the ignored working class people of this city, instead of being an elitist Progressive Democrat like Peduto. I suppose that I also hoped that he would be realistic and have the street cred (not only being black, but having had family members impacted by gun violence) to put an end to the demonization of police by liberal Pittsburgh. He has made some changes - he's not blowing every tech company that comes into his office while giving them blank checks to do whatever they want in the city, like Peduto did. Nor is he gallivanting around the world trying to raise his personal profile, like Peduto did. In the few snow falls that we've had, his administration did seem to do a much better job at clearing the streets than Peduto did. Unfortunately, he really hasnt done much other than that. And the public safety situation has rapidly spiraled out of control on his watch.
Peduto and Gainey were both East End clowns who were two sides of the same coin. Peduto is the clownish mayor of Point Breeze. And Gainey is the clownish mayor of Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar or of Homewood.
Usually I like your posts very much, and its been interesting to see your perspective shift so profoundly over the last several years. But I really do gotta ask, as I disagree, why you think Peduto wouldve been better for your neighborhood than Gainey is?? I really cant imagine Peduto caring at all about a poor white neighborhood on the North Side.. he demonstrated time and again that he didnt care about anything south of Carson Street, north of General Robinson Street, or west of the Duquesne Incline..
Personally I believe that the city would be served better by a mayor removed from the East End Centre of the Universe of the Peoples Republic of Pittsburgh. A Mayor Theresa Kail-Smith would be very interesting to see, as she always seems to be one of the most reasonable members of Council. Of course institutions like the 14th Ward Democratic Club will never allow that to happen though.
Very curious to hear your reply to all of the above, hope youve been well and that work is going better for you
What I admired about Mayor Peduto was that despite coming off as condescending, pompous, elitist, etc. he still did have a vision and did set out specific goals and ideas and attempted to achieve them. People may not have approved of his vision or his goal or his ideas, but at least he had them and undertook an effort to accomplish them.
1.) He earned my support initially by saying one of his top priorities would be to curtail the city's decades-long population nosedive and work to grow the city's population by 20,000 under his tenure. Did he do that? No. The population continued to decline and is likely still declining under Mayor Gainey to the point where we'll be around 295,000 at the 2030 Census. Nevertheless he did try. He was notoriously pro-developer (especially Walnut Capital). I am also pro-developer because I feel like the only way to make housing more affordable for everyone in the long run is to build a TON more housing so that there is a glut in supply that leads to falling rents for all. I'm a very YIMBY (Yes In My BackYard) person and am happy to see new residential development on its way to my neighborhood. I already lost respect for Mayor Gainey when he sided with NIMBY's in Oakland to scale back the height/density of Walnut Capital's proposed redevelopment project in the Halket/Boulevard of the Allies/Coltart area. I also lost respect for him when he let Virginia Flaherty and her merry band of Boomer NIMBY's in Shadyside scuttle Mozart's plan for a new residential mid-rise along South Aiken Avenue as being "too dense for Shadyside" (already a very dense neighborhood) without voicing his support for the project. For someone who seemed to be all about racial equity and racial justice in housing in terms of affordability and availability he doesn't seem very pro-developer/YIMBY (or is just too stupid to realize that the only way to keep poor Blacks in their homes in this city is to increase the supply of available housing overall).
2.) Complete streets/bike lanes. I realize you, Fat Lou, erieguy, etc. don't like bike lanes. That's fine. I do. I like the idea of not having to worry about making sure I have a four-foot safety barrier between my passenger side sideview mirror and a cyclist as I go to cross a double-yellow line on a busy road to pass them because they are already out of my way in their own dedicated lane for their own safety. Mayor Peduto was instrumental in expanding the city's cycling infrastructure, and he was also a proponent of "complete streets" (i.e. traffic calming measures, lane reductions, etc. ) to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. I have not been impressed by the amount of cyclist- and pedestrian-improvement projects I have seen undertaken thus far in the first 14 months of Mayor Gainey's administration.
3.) "Selling Pittsburgh". Many of you conservatives mocked Mayor Peduto for prancing around Europe preaching about the virtues of Pittsburgh, but I personally gained respect for him for that. A big job of being mayor is advocacy for your city and salesmanship. Him going to Europe to speak to corporate interests there about opening a US HQ's in Pittsburgh and/or factories here was a good thing, in my opinion, to at least get us on the map for the future consideration for foreign companies to bring good-paying jobs to Pittsburgh. What salesmanship has Mayor Gainey done thus far? He doesn't even care enough about this city to attend regional bridge funding allocation meetings or to send a proxy in his stead. Dude just seems a lot lazier than Mayor Peduto to me, and that's NOT fine when the city seems to be on a sudden decline with violence, addiction, and homelessness rising after years of the city seeming to be on the mend.
4.) Transparency. Yes, Bill Peduto Tweeted---a lot. His Chief of Staff, Dan Gilman, preferred Facebook and posted a ZILLION times per day about their joint schedules, their joint projects, their joint visions, upcoming city events, upcoming city business openings, etc. As a Facebook dude myself I really gained a lot of respect for Dan Gilman (and at least liked that most of Bill Peduto's Tweets seem to cross-post automatically to Facebook). Ed Gainey has not only a Chief of Staff but ALSO has a Deputy Mayor---which is something Bill Peduto didn't need (saving tax dollars). Additionally, NONE of the three of them are very active on Facebook and rarely detail their upcoming plans or visions or events. It's almost as if the Gainey Administration is intentionally trying to "hide" their own incompetence by ignoring social media. Like it or not the majority of city voters have either a Facebook or a Twitter, and those who don't generally learn about things when their friends will be like "I saw on Facebook that Mayor Gainey is going to Seattle to try to lure a Boeing factory here".
5.) Pro-Police. You can "haha" all you want, but Bill Peduto GREATLY expanded the police force under his tenure and made this city feel generally safer. His issue was "waffling". He somehow lost re-election because he eventually sided too much with protestors to lose the respect/votes of the police and their families as well as side too much with the police to lose the respect/votes of the ACAB East End crowd. Now we have a mayor who has had about eight months to select a new police chief but has failed to do so. Now we have a mayor who knows we are nearly 100 police officers under budget (with more resigning/retiring weekly) but who also offers no concrete plan or vision on how to replenish them. Now we have a mayor who thinks leading prayer marches with old Black ladies through Homewood will somehow convince Black 15-year-old males in Marshall-Shadeland to stop shooting each other. Now we have a mayor who shrugs and blames gun manufacturers and the inaction of the Federal government and Congress as to why he can't do anything to try to curtail violence in our city. Bill Peduto's big blunder was Antwon Rose Jr. I still remember when that story broke. Despite being in EAST Pittsburgh Borough his ACAB East End troupe began Tweeting at him to make a statement. When he replied with "Be advised that is East Pittsburgh---not Pittsburgh" they starting eating him alive. Instead of just taking the heat he idiotically elected to take OWNERSHIP on social media of Antwon Rose Jr., which led to the ACAB crowd protesting all over OUR city and requiring OUR tax dollars to fund police overtime while East Pittsburgh BOROUGH didn't have to deal with anything.
So we're just going to have to agree to disagree. You hated Peduto. I liked him (but didn't love him). I currently dislike (but don't hate) Gainey. I will be watching VERY closely who he selects to be his new police chief. If he just picks a Black female from within our existing ranks I will lose full respect for him since we have already spent almost $100,000 to hire a search firm from California to conduct a NATIONAL search, which has led to this long delay in having a police chief. At the moment I just find the Gainey Administration to be incompetent, at best, and lazy, at worst.
I mean I was so tired of hearing all the old-timers in Marshall-Shadeland whining about how much the neighborhood sucked that I went out and started picking up litter along Brighton, California, Marshall, the 65 ramps, Shadeland, and Woodland VERY visibly almost every fair weather day. There is now a movement starting up here because I inspired others to also come out and start cleaning their own blocks as well. Our last monthly clean-up of Woods Run had record turnout of about 20 people. THIS is what you do when something needs done. You just get on out and DO IT. You don't sit around pontificating and cogitating and forming committees to look at having meetings to request RFP's to look for search firms to hire consultants to discuss thoughts, prayers, and CommUnity. Ed Gainey may have inherited a city starting to head downwards under the end of Bill Peduto's watch, but he has done the bare minimum thus far to turn things around. I can't respect him for that, and people deserve what they voted for.
Last edited by SteelCityRising; 03-06-2023 at 04:41 AM..
Reason: Typos
Here is what I gather from reading your posts. This is my impression of you…
I am afraid of people of color.
I am afraid of change.
I am afraid of the future.
I am afraid of liberals.
I need the government to solve my mental problems.
I need soothing. Tell me what I want to hear.
I am afraid of getting old.
I am afraid of dying.
I’m afraid of living.
Give me a Time Machine so I can live in the past when I thought and felt things were better.
So afraid that you created a fantasy of a dictatorship. I’m not even sure what that means or how you got there. You don’t think leaders are doing anything, but yet you don’t want to live in a dictatorship. It doesn’t even make sense. You are all over the place and confused. But you think the government is going to solve your mental problems. That’s what I gather.
I really find that all hard to believe. To me you are a very fearful person. Afraid of the dawn of a new day. Very similar to GG as your impression isn’t far off. If you were truly happy you wouldn’t be here posting endlessly. I think you are really afraid of leaving your house and having a crime committed to you. It’s really sad to watch. For somebody that claims in this post life is so great, every other post looks like a cry for help. Like you need a hug and somebody to soothe you.
City data and negativity consume you. Another person afraid of living. The government isn’t going to solve your mental issues.
Two or three years ago, if I would have asked you how I should conduct my life, would you have shrieked, "STAY IN YOUR HOUSE!!! DON'T GO OUTSIDE!!! OH MY GOD, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!" All over a virus that isn't exactly the bubonic plague? You just parrot left-wing talking points, and those were the left-wing talking points of that time, so I'm sure that you would have.
Are you another one of these people who say that we need stricter gun laws in this country, but that anyone who talks about gun violence is just being fearful? Because that makes perfect sense, obviously.
What is this change and new day that you're talking about? How about some specifics? We're talking about American cities here. After enjoying a brief renaissance, I'm betting that the American city is going back to what it was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Everything old is new again.
Fundamentally, Pittsburgh has two different kind of mayors.
On one hand, there are people like Lawrence, Caliguiri, Murphy, and yes, Peduto. Those who are drawn into office with "big visions." They may or may not be effective in implementing these visions, and some of their decisions can have pretty negative consequences, but ultimately they're not as concerned about being popular as they are in reshaping the city into something else.
On the other hand, there are people like Sophie Masloff, who just want to focus on constituent services and be popular with the electorate.
I think it's pretty clear Gainey is a Masloff. He doesn't have a grand vision for the future of Pittsburgh, he just wants to balance out the complaints of the various factions/interest groups within the city and have everyone be as contented as possible. This isn't a bad thing necessarily; it also means avoiding any of the potential big/bad changes you get under the "big vision" kind of mayor. But people ought to lower expectations on the kind of change possible.
Well said, SCR. On the bike lanes, I may a bit of an outlier there, as I just ride recreationally, but yesterday, I took a slightly different route after Point Breeze, taking 5th, to Hamilton, to East Liberty, to N. Negley, to Stanton, and then up through Stanton Heights (nice climb). I don't need some fancy bike lane, with dividers, but I do like to have a few feet to bike safely at the side of the road. In any event, this whole route, basically down into Lawrenceville had (basically) safe bike lanes, and I appreciated that. Probably the only potentially "sketchy" part is coming down the hill back to Lawrenceville, where bikes can, technically, take the whole lane, and where I thought some cars were going too d-m fast.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I was on Thomas through Point Breeze, and I think that, on 5th, between Thomas and Hamilton, there are technically no bike lanes, and that would not be a place I would feel safe riding. However, at this point, I just took the sidewalk until I got down to Hamilton.
I don't ride a bike at all, yet as a motorist I still understand that cyclists are LEGALLY ENTITLED to share the roads with motor vehicles, and they are also LEGALLY ENTITLED to utilize the full lane if appropriate for safety. I don't mind the minor inconvenience of having to wait a few seconds to safely pass a cyclist without inconveniencing opposing traffic in the process. I DO mind the major inconvenience of being tailgated by someone who wants me to unsafely pass aforementioned cyclist WITHOUT making sure there is a proper four-foot safety buffer.
Just yesterday while driving northbound on Shadeland Avenue I actually pulled over. I was driving 30 in a 25 zone in what is a residential area with a LOT of children. That wasn't fast enough for the person tailgating me, so I pulled over, and he zoomed by at about 45 miles per hour. I would not feel comfortable with stopping distance/reaction time at 45 miles per hour if a child ran out into the street in front of me, and I am surprised how more and more motorists just don't care about anyone but themselves. It's no wonder I pay almost $100/month for insurance on a 2013 Honda Fit.
In any event I don't "hate" Mayor Gainey. I am just unimpressed so far and would like one of his supporters to help "sell" me on why he is better so far than Mayor Peduto. So far with Mayor Peduto being an average mayor overall I don't see Mayor Gainey's performance being above-average.
You seemed to care, as you were the one who first mentioned that it is "city infrastructure".
It is city infrastructure on a city street but maintained by the county. I’m trying to understand your motive. Are you still furious? If so, get over yourself and move on. Life is short.
There does seem to be a lot of anger on this sub-forum anymore.
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