Peduto appointed to board of national environmental organization (Pittsburgh, Liberty: neighborhoods, maintenance)

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Well if the city residents felt his priorities were out of whack they wouldn’t vote for him. If you are going to say there isn’t even a viable opposition candidate, that is on the republicans or even democrats to find someone to run against him.

The only opposition I see against Peduto is in the comment sections of news articles and message boards like this. It never shows up at the ballot box, the one place where it counts the most, so I would say the general populace is satisfied or disinterested, but we really don’t know which it is. As a city resident, I am satisfied.

I am satisfied too. With the water, what do you expect him to do, call every company in America to come here that installs pipes and have them all fixed tomorrow? Too many people think solving issues which have been building for years can be solved with some simplistic and fast fix....

[SteelCityRising]

City resident. I am also satisfied.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I am satisfied too. With the water, what do you expect him to do, call every company in America to come here that installs pipes and have them all fixed tomorrow? Too many people think solving issues which have been building for years can be solved with some simplistic and fast fix....

How about not the city’s arguably most important service become one of the worst in the country under his watch? When the issue came up in Flint Michigan people were ready to crucify everyone from the governor down to city council for their ineptness in allowing the situation to reach the level where it was a danger to resident’s health. Here it’s apparently satisfactory for the city to have leaded water & to find a guy who has direct oversight ability of the PWSA for nearly 2 decades to be without fault. Strange.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by UKyank

How about not the citiy’s arguably most important service become one of the worst in the country unde his watch? When the issue came up in Flint Michigan people were ready to crucify everyone from the governor down to city council for their ineptness in allowing the situation to reach the level where it was a danger to resident’s health. Here it’s apparently satisfactory for the city to have leaded water & to find a guy who has direct oversight ability of the PWSA for nearly 2 decades to be without fault. Strange.

It’s extremely strange and the standards to which he’s held by some are surprisingly low.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Statistically speaking, city kids are actually at greater risk for lead exposure through paint in old homes than they are from the water. The PWSA situation is bad, but it's not nearly at the level of what happened in Flint. People who choose to live in Pittsburgh understand that the city has problematic infrastructure, and so as a group city dwellers tend to be people who are ready to deal with it. In general most aspects of life in the city have been improving over the past few years, which is why people who live here tend to have a positive sense of it. People who specifically choose to live in new construction suburbs because they don't want to deal with old infrastructure understandably feel more strongly about this specific thing, but that's okay. Pittsburgh has its pros and cons, and Peduto has his pros and cons too, but generally speaking a lot of us like it here and are happy with the way things are going.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by RogersParkTransplant

Statistically speaking, city kids are actually at greater risk for lead exposure through paint in old homes than they are from the water. The PWSA situation is bad, but it's not nearly at the level of what happened in Flint. People who choose to live in Pittsburgh understand that the city has problematic infrastructure, and so as a group city dwellers tend to be people who are ready to deal with it. In general most aspects of life in the city have been improving over the past few years, which is why people who live here tend to have a positive sense of it. People who specifically choose to live in new construction suburbs because they don't want to deal with old infrastructure understandably feel more strongly about this specific thing, but that's okay. Pittsburgh has its pros and cons, and Peduto has his pros and cons too, but generally speaking a lot of us like it here and are happy with the way things are going.

Everyone that lives, visits, eats, drinks, travels to the city, etc..., deals with the water issue and not everyone has the same standards to it. It’s a major problem that should have been addressed.

Could be wrong but didn’t City Paper actually report the issue and only then was the problem recognized by the powers that be?

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by RogersParkTransplant

Statistically speaking, city kids are actually at greater risk for lead exposure through paint in old homes than they are from the water. The PWSA situation is bad, but it's not nearly at the level of what happened in Flint. People who choose to live in Pittsburgh understand that the city has problematic infrastructure, and so as a group city dwellers tend to be people who are ready to deal with it. In general most aspects of life in the city have been improving over the past few years, which is why people who live here tend to have a positive sense of it. People who specifically choose to live in new construction suburbs because they don't want to deal with old infrastructure understandably feel more strongly about this specific thing, but that's okay. Pittsburgh has its pros and cons, and Peduto has his pros and cons too, but generally speaking a lot of us like it here and are happy with the way things are going.

As a city resident I guess I have higher expectations for both urban living & city leaders? Never had to worry about drinking poisoned water in the uk with infrastructure much older than here so not sure why Pittsburgh should get a pass along with its leaders..

As to the other point we actually don’t know whether lead exposure via paint here is a greater risk then the water as there was never a requirement to test the water when a child was found to have lead poisoning until this year. The percentage of Pittsburgh homes that have had their water tested for lead has also been small in general thus the available stats on actual exposure is low not to mention the city doesn’t even know which of its own pipes are lead. One star we do have is that child lead levels in Allegheny county have been decreasing over the past 5 years but have been increasing in the city over that time.

I will continue to place the blame on the leaders that directly had power to oversee the deterioration of the water supply authority & did absolutely nothing to addrsss the issue until the EPA forced its hand. Who knows what future issues we will all have to deal with due to the effects the neurotoxin has had on the city kid’s & all the negative developmental effects that result (which Peduto lied about btw in March when he claimed zero children in the city have been poisoned by the lead in the water).

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by RogersParkTransplant

Statistically speaking, city kids are actually at greater risk for lead exposure through paint in old homes than they are from the water. The PWSA situation is bad, but it's not nearly at the level of what happened in Flint. People who choose to live in Pittsburgh understand that the city has problematic infrastructure, and so as a group city dwellers tend to be people who are ready to deal with it. In general most aspects of life in the city have been improving over the past few years, which is why people who live here tend to have a positive sense of it. People who specifically choose to live in new construction suburbs because they don't want to deal with old infrastructure understandably feel more strongly about this specific thing, but that's okay. Pittsburgh has its pros and cons, and Peduto has his pros and cons too, but generally speaking a lot of us like it here and are happy with the way things are going.

You're correct - lead paint is a greater risk. But the issue with PWSA isn't just with lead in its water - the infrastructure is crumbling. And how many boil advisories have been issued recently?

I live in Etna. I don't live in a 'new construction suburb', or a place with new infrastructure. And my water authority does a much better job than PWSA. And my public works and police do a much better job than their colleagues in the City do.

Originally Posted by erieguy

Everyone that lives, visits, eats, drinks, travels to the city, etc..., deals with the water issue and not everyone has the same standards to it. It’s a major problem that should have been addressed.

Indeed. I don't think the restaurant industry, for example, is as willing to give Potatohead and PWSA nearly as much of a free pass as some of the posters here are.

Originally Posted by UKyank

Never had to worry about drinking poisoned water in the uk with infrastructure much older than here so not sure why Pittsburgh should get a pass along with its leaders..

As to the other point we actually don’t know whether lead exposure via paint here is a greater risk then the water as there was never a requirement to test the water when a child was found to have lead poisoning until this year. The percentage of Pittsburgh homes that have had their water tested for lead has also been small in general thus the available stats on actual exposure is low not to mention the city doesn’t even know which of its own pipes are lead. One star we do have is that child lead levels in Allegheny county have been decreasing over the past 5 years but have been increasing in the city over that time.

Water was tested in the past when a child was found to have elevated blood-lead levels. And lead exposure is a greater risk here from paint than from water.


Since the thread has shifted to discussion of lead (as opposed to my criticisms of Potatohead's leadership - here are some resources that may interest other members:

Allegheny County's new lead-testing regulation for children takes effect New Year's Day | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ACHD - Lead Exposure in Allegheny County

http://www.achd.net/lead/pubs/pdf/taskforce-report.pdf

http://www.achd.net/lead/pubs/pdf/5-...ment-Guide.pdf

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Water was tested in the past when a child was found to have elevated blood-lead levels. And lead exposure is a greater risk here from paint than from water.

I should clarify, from my understanding, until the end of 2016, water was only tested when a child was found to be poisoned at a level if 15 µg/dL or higher; lower then that did not necessitate testing.
Don’t know if that’s the norm but overall I do know Dr. Marc Edwards of Flint fame gave Pittsburgh very low marks for both its current water situation & it’s testing as well as it’s officials claims & response to the mess.

[PghYinzer]

Water issue aside, as that is a known and verifiable issue....since when is the public works department failing at their job? I am in my 13th year in Pittsburgh, and street repairs and maintenance (including plowing) has never been better in those 13 years. I also find extremely quick response to any 311 requests that I submit.