Slots suppliers will be taking from taxpayers

Thanks for the March 2 story "Familiar Faces Bid to Be Slot Suppliers." It has always been unclear to me why Pennsylvania had to have one or more middlemen to buy slots from the manufacturer to supply casinos in Pennsylvania and handle maintenance, especially when in every other state with casinos, the manufacturers supply the casinos directly and handle all maintenance directly.

Now I understand. Pennsylvania needs "distributors" to provide income (a cut of the action) to make a few fat cats and politicians richer and to have a way to provide jobs for those who have connections (hangers-on, relatives, etc.).

These distributors will, of course, get a "commission" for providing this unnecessary "service," which will come out of the casino's profits and which will surely decrease the profits that the state is supposed to share. Therefore, the taxpayer is providing this income to the distributors since it represents money not available for tax reduction.

It's all business as usual in Pennsylvania.

HERBERT BLACK
Eighty Four

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Essential paper trail

I serve as a judge of elections. To ensure the sanctity of our votes, it is imperative that all electronic voting machines have a voter-verified paper trail ("County Will Buy Sequoia Voting Machines," Feb. 28). Without a reliable paper trail, there is no way to be certain that our votes have been correctly recorded and counted.

Florida and Ohio have made a mockery of the election process. How anyone who cares about the United States and what it stands for could have been party to such shams is beyond me.

Pennsylvania must truly be a keystone state and stand firm to the principles of the United States, one of which is the sanctity of the vote. That can be assured only with voting machines that have a voter-verified paper trail.

JANET JAI
Highland Park

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Joint ventures

The Feb. 25 front-page article "Big Plans for Lot Next to PNC Park" also speaks to the need to finalize mass transit plans for the North Shore.

The popular appeal of PNC Park is in large part attributable to its integration into the urban fabric of Pittsburgh. The use of adjacent properties for commercial, residential and recreational use will add further to that appeal and will make Pittsburgh destinations livelier and more prosperous.

As parking areas are used for higher forms of development, however, alternative transportation options are a must. The public already has demonstrated that a ferry trip, bus ride or walk from remote parking can make for a more robust ballpark experience. A direct transit connection will make access and urban design still better. Getting rail transit north of the rivers will be a huge step forward, and could be the first step toward future rail extensions north and to the airport.

Development plans such as those envisioned in the Feb. 25 article are great news for our region but must be pursued jointly with transportation solutions.

ART GUZZETTI
Franklin Park

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Going too upscale

The planners for the city of Pittsburgh are not looking at reality. Lazarus and Lord &Taylor should be proof that Pittsburgh does not need more expensive stores Downtown. What we ought to be doing is something radically different.

Bring the people to town who can revive the city ... the commuters who use public transportation. Bring Wal-Mart to Downtown. Bring in stores that people who ride the bus would want to come to. We're the ones who can revive the 'Burgh. We love this city and are tired of seeing boarded up buildings. We don't want to shop at expensive stores. We just want to be able to shop conveniently.

I feel that including the regular people of the city in any plan to revitalize it would be instrumental in turning around the city. When I go to Downtown, I'm tired of eating at fast food places, and I'd be thrilled to see a King's or an Eat'n Park in town.

The people who have cars don't want to pay expensive parking fees in town when they can go to The Waterfront or to Ross Park Mall.

Consider us. We can turn the city around.

JEFF DUMM
Highland Park

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Executive ethics

I applaud the column by Clarke Thomas on how the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon and other local institutions are investing in business ethics programs in their respective business schools ("Business Ethics: Not an Oxymoron," March 1).

While his article focused almost exclusively on business schools, Mr. Thomas might also have mentioned a major initiative in ethics and accountability housed at Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, which focuses on training public sector leaders.

The Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership at GSPIA promotes ethical leadership and accountability in public life, especially government and nonprofit organizations. It sponsors a faculty development program to help infuse ethical reasoning into all of GSPIA's core courses.

Also, this year the Johnson Institute and Pitt's School of Information Science sponsored a public lecture series with national experts addressing such topics as ethics in national security (when dissenting views turn out to be correct), government secrecy in the information age (the domestic surveillance controversy) and how to ensure accountability when government contracts with outside vendors and providers of public services (the current controversy over management of major U.S. ports).

Finally, the Johnson Institute promotes cutting-edge academic research on ethical leadership by sponsoring an annual "best paper" award for both established scholars and students. More information can be found at www.johnsoninstitute-gspia.org.

Business schools are not the only place training the leading executives of tomorrow.

KEVIN KEARNS
Associate Professor and Director
Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership
University of Pittsburgh
Oakland

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Fitness challenge

Regarding the March 1 editorial "Get Active: Pittsburgh Has Nothing to Lose But Its Flab": We are always looking for that motivation to get up from the sofa or put down that doughnut. Last May, quite a few Pittsburghers from local organizations found that motivation and formed teams to develop healthy habits during the 1st Annual Working Hearts May Community Challenge. They competed to score points by being active for at least 30 minutes a day, eating the right servings of fruits and vegetables and adding whole grains to their diet.

Working Hearts was launched by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation in 2002 and is a coalition of more than 70 local organizations dedicated to raising awareness of heart health by promoting strategies focusing on physical activity, nutrition, screenings, stress management and smoking cessation.

Physical inactivity and poor nutrition are two of the major risk factors associated with coronary heart disease and are controllable. A recent study reported in Health Affairs of 10,825 employed adults found that obese employees tend to be absent from work substantially more often than employees with appropriate weight levels.

Sign up now for the 2nd Annual Working Hearts May Community Challenge at workinghearts.org. Registration is free.

PAT SIGER
Chair
Working Hearts Coalition
Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Downtown

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Upper St. Clair school directors are exercising fiscal restraint>/STRONG>

There have been a number of letters recently concerning the cancellation of the Upper St. Clair International Baccalaureate program, mostly from irate parents who have been getting a free ride thanks to the rest of the Upper St. Clair taxpayers. I, for one, am glad that this program has been cut, and I fully support the school board members who voted for the cut ("Upper St. Clair Kills International Baccalaureate Program," Feb. 21).

Public schools should be in the business of providing a good quality, but basic, education to the children of the district. Public schools should not be about providing a program that duplicates existing programs (AP and honors programs), that benefits a small minority of students (only five students will get an IB diploma this year, and only 17 juniors are in the diploma program) and costs a significant amount (between the $85,000 quoted by parents and the roughly $200,000 quoted by the board).

The newly elected school board members openly ran on a campaign of fiscal restraint, and I am glad they are making good on their promise. With all the talk of property tax reform, most people forget that the best way to lower property taxes is to cut school expenses. The majority of Upper St. Clair voters feel this way, and the parents of IB students should get over it.

TOD PIKE
Upper St. Clair

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