Great leaders are those who generate great ideas

Does it really matter who wins the mayoral election? Brian O'Neill doesn't seem to think so. In his Feb. 15 column, "2 Candidates in Search of a Difference," he points out that both Democratic candidates are proposing similar ideas for the future of the city, and maybe it's not important which man wins.

Hmm, I remember these same arguments being made during the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Would anyone care to make that argument today?

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl hasn't told us his ideas for improving the city of Pittsburgh. Well, that's not entirely true, as Mr. O'Neill points out -- the only ideas the mayor seems confident in supporting are plans put forth by Councilman Bill Peduto. Mr. Peduto has a clear vision about where he wants to take the city. With his focus on neighborhood-based development, environmentally friendly policies and historic preservation, he is setting forth an agenda that will revitalize our city.

If you look at American history, our greatest leaders have been the greatest idea generators. Mr. Peduto has the right ideas for the city -- even his opponent seems to think so. We do not need a middleman mayor like Luke Ravenstahl to parrot the ideas of Bill Peduto.

KYLE ETHAN FISCHER
Lawrenceville

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It does matter

While I thank Brian O'Neill for bringing to light Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's pilfering of quality ideas from Councilman Bill Peduto ("2 Candidates in Search of a Difference," Feb. 15), I cannot agree with his conclusion that it makes no difference who ultimately wins the election in May.

Ideas are but the beginning for changes that must take place in order to save our city. The implementation of a progressive vision takes a real, original leader, as in Councilman Peduto, not a follower.

Pittsburgh has run out of time. We cannot afford to wait and "see what the kid can do."

JANEY ZEILINGER CLARK
Squirrel Hill

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Acting on this report

New recommendations to improve end-of-life care in the commonwealth are a welcome start toward making alternatives to medical intervention more a part of the doctor-patient dialogue.

Often, options such as hospice care, a time-limited benefit under many insurance plans, are inaccessible because there's no way to predict the duration of an incurable illness. Even when available, options for palliative care sometimes aren't well enough understood by patients or physicians.

In a report released earlier this month, the Governor's Task Force for Quality at the End of Life, on which I am proud to serve, said it's time to change that ("Pa. Has New Blueprint for a Better Death," Feb. 5). Among other things, the report recommended better education for physicians and payment practices that support more choices for patients.

As things stand, Pennsylvania has some dubious distinctions in end-of-life care: It ranks in the highest cohort of states for the percentage of patients with 30 or more physician visits in the last six months of life and for the percentage of those patients seeing 10 or more different physicians. It's in the commonwealth's best interests to bring down the associated costs, and it's in the interests of state residents to improve options for care.

Our region can take pride that the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Quality at End of Life (CQEL) played a key role in advancing these ideas in Harrisburg. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation plans to carry them into the community with a pilot project to increase public awareness and grants to fund physician training and continued work by CQEL.

We urge policy-makers, legislators and others to waste no time translating the report's recommendations into actions.

NANCY ZIONTS
Vice President of Programming and Planning
Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Downtown

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Grace St.'s other side

I read the Feb. 5 article "Saving Grace: City Trying to Rescue Street on Mt. Washington," and I have to say that it was eye-opening. I had no idea I lived in such a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

I am a new resident of Mount Washington and Grace Street; last April, I purchased one of the eight new townhouses constructed by Sandy L'Heureux. While I've spoken with most of my immediate neighbors (the doctors and lawyers mentioned in your article), I've also had the pleasure of meeting the other residents. I've found them to be just as friendly and neighborly as anyone else. They look out for one another, their kids play together on the street and a few have introduced themselves to us newcomers. Overall, the neighborhood has felt as warm and welcoming as any other in the city.

Your article, on the other hand, paints an entirely different picture. Drug-dealing, abandoned cars and illegal dumping were the highlights. While I'm fully aware that some level of nefarious activity is present on the street, I disagree that Grace is on some sort of downward spiral and must be "saved" before we see "hard-core blight" (when does blight become hard-core exactly?).

Had you spoken with those of us who are buying the new townhouses or those residents who have been here for years, I think you would've heard a somewhat different story -- one of optimism and general satisfaction with the progress of what we all hope will be an up-and-coming street in a great Mount Washington locale.

KEVIN GENNUSO
Mount Washington

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Political garbage

Over the past few years, discussions about global warming have taken center stage. How about this as a change of pace? Try "global-oney!"

In April 1975 Newsweek ran an article that said the world was headed for disaster due to, of all things, global cooling. Time magazine ran a similar and longer article on global cooling several months later. Both articles indicated that drastic changes were needed to change human activity or else the world would soon be a floating ice cube drifting in the solar system.

How could these so-called experts get this so wrong? Probably because there is no connection between human activity and changes in the worlds' climate. The Earth is constantly changing temperature, due to small changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun and the tilt of its rotation. Temperature fluctuations need to be looked at over long periods. In fact, most scientists agree they need to be looked at over several hundred and even thousands of years before making statements that the Earth is cooling or heating up.

The PG's editorial board has bought into the global warming theory ("Slow Burn," Feb. 6), which again is a lot of junk about nothing. The global warming rhetoric is nothing more than political garbage. Any curtailment of human activity will do nothing to change a fraction of a warming trend.

DAVID K. SCOTT
Monroeville

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Putting party first

In 1799, George Washington, a few months prior to his death, expressed his dismay about party politics in the country. "Party politics has taken over, and personal influence and distinctions of character no longer matter," he declared.

More than 200 years later, politics in Washington remain the same. The "mission accomplished" mantra for war in Iraq has long ago been replaced by "What do we do now?" The American military has begun another in a series of attempts -- a surge -- to bring peace to Baghdad.

Meanwhile, even though his strategies have proved ineffective for more than three years, members of the current president's party, many of whom criticize him in private, continue to give him a vote of confidence on matters relative to the war. The only explanation -- party loyalty.

Today, if Washington were in the city named for him, he might be tempted to chastise the Republican members of Congress who unswervingly put loyalty to the party before loyalty to the country. He might remind them that they are first and foremost Americans, not members of a political party.

STEPHEN J. VEROTSKY
Johnstown

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The state sent consumers no valentine, rather just another message to clear out

A friend told me about a great bottle of wine he had at a small California vineyard. I went online to try to order a bottle from there.

Of course, it's difficult for a grown-up to purchase wine over the Internet in this state. That's not so bad. I'm used to it by now. After all, I choose to live here with the rest of the senior citizens.

What I can't even begin to understand, however, is why the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board in its infinite wisdom decided to close its stores early on Valentine's Day! Is there another day, aside from New Year's, when just about everyone who can purchase liquor will be doing so?

I'm still in awe that as two adults my wife and I could not get a bottle of wine on Valentine's Day because the PLCB deemed it unnecessary. The stores were closed due to the weather, but the worst of the storm here was over by the time the closings were announced.

If the state wants us all to clear out so badly, just say so. Maybe it could turn it into yet one more lottery game. Keep scratchin', find three states that match and Pennsylvania will cover half your moving costs. I'll buy the first hundred tickets.

ANTHONY PISANI
Mt. Lebanon

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