With this bill, the state addresses pension stability

The Pennsylvania Senate's approval of House Bill 1828 is an encouraging sign that the commonwealth is finally addressing the problem of underfunded municipal pension plans ("Senate OKs Pension Bill Affecting City," Aug. 27). While the problem has been with us for years, there is new urgency to act.

The existing law requires municipalities to base future plan contributions on January 2009 asset valuations when markets were at their lowest. Municipalities need the bill's provisions to manage budgets and avert higher taxes and/or reduced services.

Pittsburgh would like an additional two years to solve its pension liabilities on its own, perhaps by selling or leasing Parking Authority property. That deal is far from done. Moreover, current law requires pension contributions to be recognized over many years -- the Parking Authority plan, while worth examining for the city's general fiscal health, will not rescue its pension plans.

HB 1828 phases in payment increases gradually, requiring higher payments than the Act 47 plan mandates first in 2013. While the bill will ultimately mandate higher payments, that is precisely the point -- to bring underfunded pension plans into solvency will require fiscal discipline.

HB 1828 increases municipal fiscal stability with such reforms as prohibiting spiking of benefits with excessive overtime and permitting the establishment of defined contribution plans. The private sector has already adopted such measures -- the time has come for the public sector to embrace these improvements.

HB 1828 takes major steps toward improving the stability of municipal pension plans and protecting the assets of future retirees. We heartily support prompt House concurrence in the measure.

KATHRYN Z. KLABER
Managing Director
Pennsylvania Economy League
Downtown

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To address flooding

On June 17, the Turtle Creek community learned -- once again -- that addressing chronic flood problems requires a comprehensive approach. This reality is no surprise to the many residents and business owners who have endured the physical, emotional and fiscal heartache caused by severe flood damage. Effective responses require the concerted, cooperative effort of all community stakeholders: elected leaders, business owners, nonprofit organizations and the residents of Turtle Creek watershed.

Only through watershed-wide cooperation and coordination can we address the root diseases that threaten lives and property. Short-term, fragmentary approaches to flood damage reduction place "Band-Aids" on deeper problems.

You may ask yourself: Why should we cooperate with other municipalities? What's in it for us?

The watershed inextricably links all Turtle Creek communities. By ignoring its connected nature, we may create more floods and more damage for residents and businesses in low-lying areas -- recovery costs that are paid for by your tax dollars.

In September 2008, Congress authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to study the entire Turtle Creek watershed. Without evaluating the problems threatening your communities, we cannot pursue meaningful remedies that will help protect lives and property.

In response to recent flood events, the corps has conducted meetings with town councils and residents across Turtle Creek. We want to work in partnership with you to implement measures to reduce the flood risk and enhance public health and safety.

Please contact my strategic planner, Gary Livacari, at 412-395-7577 or e-mail him at gary.j.livacari@usace.army.mil for more information.

COL. MICHAEL P. CRALL
Pittsburgh District Engineer
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Downtown

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Corporate rule

I agree with the statement in the Aug. 26 editorial "Bought by Business" that "Capitol Hill may soon be populated by the best lawmakers businesses can buy."

Will Rogers said it many years ago: "We have the best Congress money can buy."

In the early 19th century, a corporation-friendly Supreme Court gave corporations the same rights as individual citizens. In the 1870s, President Rutherford B. Hayes, a former Union general wounded five times, said, "We no longer have government of the people, by the people and for the people. We have government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations."

It's no wonder that the United States is the only industrialized country that does not protect all its citizens with a system like Medicare for the elderly.

HARRY HYMAN
Mt. Lebanon

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Lasting charisma

Regarding Ted Kennedy's death ("Edward M. Kennedy: Iconic Senator Eulogized as Defender of a Dream," Aug. 27): The Kennedy charisma, when touched, never leaves. As a child in New Castle, I had the opportunity to see and shake the hand of John F. Kennedy as he campaigned for the presidency -- a moment, a visual in time, that has stayed with me in a forever mode. Then in the early 1970s while in school in Boston, Mass., my wife, Maureen (Flaherty) Flannery, and I had the unique experience of meeting Sen. Ted Kennedy in an uncrowded forum. There were very few other people, just the senator's security (we surmised), Dad (a graduate of Harvard Medical School), Mom and my brother and his wife.

My sister-in-law had pointed him out while we were walking on the campus of Harvard University. I asked Sen. Kennedy if he would be so kind as to allow me to take his picture with my wife. Without hesitation his response with a smile was "this better be your wife." The moment -- the aura, if you will, and the all-encompassing charisma -- was, again, one of those unforgettable, forever moments.

Clearly, the Kennedy clan remains in the hearts of Americans. The funeral and the speeches, especially by the senator's sons, brought me to tears and smiles, as they did countless others. Our president's eulogy was most appropriate, admirable and respectful.

For what it is worth, we are Republicans.

HARRY A. FLANNERY
New Castle

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The sordid side

Excuse me if I shed no tears for the passing of Ted Kennedy.

In the early 1960s, I was mesmerized by the Kennedys. Being an Irish Catholic Democrat, I believed that JFK's election was heaven sent. I enjoyed reading every human interest story about the Kennedys. But over time, fantasy gave way to reality.

I learned the Kennedys bought respectability and elections with wealth illegally obtained through bootlegging and stock market manipulations; of the brothers' adultery; of brother-in-law Peter Lawford pimping for Marilyn Monroe's trysts with JFK and possibly Bobby; of Ted's cheating in college; of his cowardly conduct that cost Mary Jo Kopechne her life and that could have resulted in Ted serving the last 40 years in prison rather than in the Senate; and of his recent attempt to manipulate Massachusetts law to try to put his wife or nephew in his Senate seat after his death. (Why have elections?)

Camelot? The Kennedy legacy sounds more like "The Days of Our Lives," while America's most dysfunctional family makes the Bundys look like the Waltons. Ted Kennedy was another rotting limb on a pampered, diseased family tree.

FRANK C. NUGENT
Monroeville

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Our region must wake up to the reality of AIDS

I am writing in response to the Aug. 26 "As Others See It" editorial from The Washington Post ("AIDS in the USA"). As executive director of Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, I am compelled to reiterate the Post's first sentence: "We cannot write often enough about the terrible toll that HIV/AIDS is exacting on the United States."

PATF will commemorate its 25th anniversary this coming year -- please note that I did not say "celebrate" our 25th anniversary. When founder Kerry Stoner started this agency in 1985, he and his co-founders did not expect that PATF would still be offering its services in 2009. It was hoped that a cure would have been found by now; instead, not only are people still becoming infected each year, but those numbers are reaching epidemic proportions in many areas throughout the United States.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Bureau of Health Statistics and Research, there were 93 HIV cases diagnosed last year in Allegheny County alone -- even after all these years of educating the public. PATF implores people in this region to take notice of HIV/AIDS, to take precautionary measures to reduce the spread of this epidemic and to take action by educating themselves and their loved ones about it.

Please visit www.aids.gov to learn about national community discussions that President Barack Obama recently announced. To learn more about PATF's services, visit www.patf.org. If we don't take great strides now to support the White House's push for a national AIDS strategy, HIV/AIDS will continue to exact its toll on generations to come.

KATHI BOYLE
Executive Director
Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force
East Liberty

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