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PrintWith its political choices, this region reeks of stagnation
I have never been more glad not to be a Democrat or more sad to be a resident of the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Pittsburgh will continue to be stagnant not just because of job loss and young professionals leaving, but as a result of the lackadaisical political atmosphere.
After the city's near-bankruptcy and the implementation of Act 47 in overseeing city government, the voters of Pittsburgh seek direction from the "true son of Pittsburgh" who was president of City Council when the foundation for the trouble we now have was laid ("O'Connor Wins Easily," May 18).
Allegheny County wisely voted to consolidate row offices for greater efficiency and to de-politicize the departments. However, the sheriff's office is saved because of the great political influence of the current sheriff, whose office, incidentally, is under federal investigation with a grand jury looking into allegations regarding fund-raising.
And finally the third-highest vote getter in the Democratic primary for the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court is Tom Flaherty, a career politician who only seven years ago passed the bar examination and has yet to practice law. Fortunately, his lack of legal experience is compensated for by what he calls his "track record as a public official who has been in the forefront of issues that impact individual rights and the rights of groups" ("Woodruff Wins on Both Parties' Tickets for Court Seat," May 18). I am sure the judicial system will benefit from a background of a rights-oriented partisan Democrat rather than a judge with actual legal expertise.
The Democratic political machine that has had a stranglehold on the Pittsburgh metropolitan area for decades is still alive and well, which is a tragedy for the region. We need fresh ideas and dramatic change to fix city government solvency, rectify property tax problems, attract businesses to the region and keep young people. This will not happen if the status quo mind-set is maintained.
I am leaving the region to attend graduate school in the fall. It is most likely in my best interest not to come back because the problems plaguing the region will only be worse due to cronyism and blind allegiance to the Democratic Party.
PATRICK L. COLLINS
Upper St. Clair
The wrong club
It is time for Pennsylvania to do away with its antiquated and unfair closed primary system. I am not a Democrat; I am not a Republican, so under Pennsylvania's primary system, I barely exist. In this election I could vote only for the two ballot issues. I couldn't vote for a single candidate for any office.
When I went to the polls May 17, I took my 7-year-old daughter into the booth with me. As we looked at the levers, I explained to her that voting is one of the most important rights and duties that we have as Americans -- that we had family members who died to preserve that right.
"Then why did you only push those two on top? What about the other ones?" she asked.
I answered the only way I could that she would understand: "I'm not allowed to vote for the other stuff because I'm not in the right club."
I'm not an advocate for abolishing the party system, but it's time that Pennsylvania recognized, as other states have, that the major parties don't speak for everyone. As the major parties become more and more controlled by their most extreme members, Americans of moderate political views are being alienated and marginalized. These Americans, like myself, who feel that neither major party represents our interests, are completely left out of the process of choosing who will govern.
When I told my daughter that my voting choices were limited because I don't belong to the right club she responded, in typical 7-year-old fashion: "That's dumb." Out of the mouths of babes ...
MARC A. BOOKER
Plum
Going 'green'
We at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh appreciate the call to action laid out by Teresa Heinz and The Heinz Endowments ("Taking on the Toxins," May 8 Forum).
Children's has been partnering with The Heinz Endowments from the earliest stages of its environmental health initiatives. We are committed to becoming one of the first (if not the first) "green" pediatric medical centers in the country. Green for us includes purchasing healthier sources of energy and introducing comprehensive recycling practices.
These steps are all tied into the planned design for the new Children's Hospital, now under construction in Lawrenceville. We expect to receive national LEED certification for our environmental practices, but that is only the beginning. Our commitment to environmental health extends to courses of action throughout the hospital and our interaction in the region.
In partnership with The Heinz Endowments and Carnegie Mellon University, the hospital is working with experts from Carnegie Mellon's Department of Architecture to develop rigorous green practices at our current facility in Oakland. We will take them with us to the new Children's Hospital when it opens in 2008.
As Teresa Heinz wrote, "We do have the power to change." We couldn't agree more.
ROGER A. OXENDALE
President and CEO
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Oakland
What benefits?
Regarding the letter "Our Plan Will Yield Significant Environmental Benefits" (May 17): Hazardous fuels treatment? Is that what they call the logging of pristine forests these days?
Despite what former timber lobbyist Mark Rey, now under secretary of natural resources and environment with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, claims in his letter, the Bush administration's repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule does not provide environmental benefits. The only benefit to allowing new development in the National Forest System's roadless areas will be that derived by the timber and mining industries.
Mr. Rey is extremely misleading when he suggests that a repeal of the roadless rule is necessary to ensure "appropriate hazardous fuels treatment and firefighting." The rule already allowed for road building to prevent forest fires. The main thing it prevented was the road building necessary for new logging and mining in some of the country's last wild places.
ARTHUR STAMOULIS
Director of Government Affairs
Clean Air Council
Philadelphia
Air perspective
Congratulations to the Post-Gazette for attempting to put some perspective on the misleading and exaggerated "State of the Air" report released by the American Lung Association ("Is Air Pollution Monitor Warping Results?" April 28). The report itself lists Pittsburgh as the fourth "most polluted" U.S. city. As the PG properly points out, this is based on only one of the 12 pollution monitors in Allegheny County (this one is in Liberty Borough) and ignores lots of other data reflecting the real air quality throughout the county.
Maybe the Lung Association doesn't care about perspective, but the rest of us should. Allegheny County has improved its air quality so dramatically over the past 25 years that it is now considered an international model of environmental improvement.
Among the federal government's national standards for air quality, Allegheny County is in full compliance with all but the two newest standards and, even for these, the county is close to compliance. For example, the oft-cited Liberty monitoring site recorded an exceedance of the 24-hour standard for fine pollution on a total of four days in 2004 -- not perfect but hardly cause for "most-polluted" status.
Just about everyone involved in air pollution control in the Pittsburgh area recognizes that there are still improvements to be made, including reductions in upwind emissions that we import from adjoining states. But characterizing the entire area as among the "most polluted" is environmental demagoguery on the part of the Lung Association.
JOE DUCKETT
West View
Editor's note: The writer is an environmental engineer.
Pennsylvania should allow these wine shipments
Notwithstanding the views of Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Chairman Jonathan Newman on the recent Supreme Court wine shipment ruling ("Court Lets Wine Flow More Freely," May 17), Pennsylvania should now permit all wineries to ship directly to consumers.
If the Pennsylvania Legislature decides to ban all direct shipments to consumers, it will be following the typical backward thinking that is standing in the way of a growing economy in this state. The free flow of commerce is better for a state in the long run.
Moreover, consumers want direct shipping. And while we are on the subject, Pennsylvania consumers do not benefit from those awful state liquor stores. The difference between the atmosphere of a decent wine store and that of a Pennsylvania state liquor store is the difference between having a nice bottle of wine with dinner and drinking cheap liquor from a brown paper bag.
ELLYN S. ROTH
Schenley Farms
