Progress Pittsburgh

FREE Screening of Gasland – Friday, August 27 @ Frick Park

committeegrrl — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:38:24 +0000

: Image by zeul via Flickr

Friday, August 27^th

Pittsburg, PA

Venue: Frick Park, Beechwood Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Directions at: http://www.pittsburghparks.org/frick-directions

Rain: In the event of rain, this event will be held on Saturday, August 28^th

7:00 PM: Doors Open

7:30 PM: Live Music

8:15 PM: Film Begins

9:30 PM: Q&A with Director Josh Fox and Local Organizations

There is no admission charge for this show. For more information, please visit:http://www.rooftopfilms.com/2010/schedule/57-gasland-pittsburgh-pa

The Film:

Gasland tells the story of what happened when a natural gas mining company offered Josh Fox and his upstate New York neighbors $100,000 each for the right to drill for gas on their land, and Fox thought he’d better examine what was going on before he signed away his property. This led him on a cross-country odyssey that uncovered a trail of secrets, lies and contamination.

Fox serves as the film’s emotional divining rod, wandering and wavering throughout the US, picking up on tragic tales of people, animals and places contaminated beyond repair, pointing always toward the hazardous link between “clean” natural gas and dangerously polluted water. Explaining the problem, Fox says, “Let me start at the beginning: this is Dick Cheney.” In 2005, Cheney’s secretive Energy Commission designed a bill that was able to overturn parts of various decades-old environmental-protection legislation, allowing for a relatively new process of gas drilling, invented by Halliburton. Commonly referred to as “fracking,” in this new process, the mining companies inject a cornucopia of toxic chemicals deep into the ground and explode the rock beds. Companies across 38 states are doing this with almost no oversight or regulations, often operating within feet of homes, schools, streams, wells and aquifers. An EPA spokesmen describes the legislation as “Orwellian” and “Un-American.”

As Fox chases the companies’ operations across the country, he encounters cats and horses losing their hair in clumps, men and women with sudden painful illnesses, and houses where you can literally light the tap water on fire. Cowboys and roughnecks in the far west and deep south–certainly not your granola-eating tree-huggers–decry the situation with pathos, charm and a bit of mordant humor. The gas companies deny, deny, deny.

Fox is able to explain the process and the repercussions with an easy-going verve and a dire sense of urgency. With a swelling populist love for America, Fox gets the viewer to understand the problem and care deeply. Gasland begins as a personal query about Fox’s own land, morphs into a documentary as he encounters people with stories to tell, and ends as activist rallying cry exposing one of America’s most dangerous environmental secrets.

Rooftop Films, The Fledgling Fund, and International WOW Company are proud to help expose these horrifying stories–amazingly wide-spread and consistent wherever natural gas is drilled–in the hopes that this won’t be a secret for long.

Daily Show Looks at Hydraulic Fracturing and the Film ‘Gasland’ (ecopolitology.org)
Indie Film Revelations – ‘Gasland’ Natural Gas Documentary Shows Flaming Tap Water (VIDEO) (trendhunter.com)
Ever See Flammable Tap Water?: Gasland Film Investigates Natural Gas Industry (sustainablog.org)
Television Review | ‘Gasland’: Josh Fox’s Look at Natural Gas Drilling on HBO (nytimes.com)

This Just In…City of PGH Joins Facebook

committeegrrl — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:46:04 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

Just got an email from Joanna Doven – the press secretary for the mayor of Pittsburgh.

Is the Mayor’s Office ready for this kind of technology

Here is an email about this new technology but no link to the new Facebook page? This email also came in just the text format – not the usual fancy HTML email that press releases are usually sent in.

Subject: City of Pittsburgh’s Facebook Page is Officially Published

The City of Pittsburgh’s Facebook Page is officially published. Become a fan now and help to promote the page!

Search City of Pittsburgh – we are identified as a government organization. We have a picture of the City with a banner which includes a City seal.

The City will be posting information on City related events, programs and general good news. We would be happy to consider posting positive information related to your group or organization. Just send me an email!

Building off of our plan to further utilize social media, a new City website which promotes more two-way interaction between government and citizens will be launched this summer. A sneak peak on the new format isavailable on the Facebook page. Stay tuned!

Thank you,

Joanna

Is Facebook a good tool for the City?

Is Facebook a good way to communicate with city residents? Don’t know – seems like this could have great potential for sharing important info and educating residents about what is happening in their city.

The bigger question, is the city ready for this kind of open online conversation? Most of the time the city makes it pretty difficult to find out what is happening when – and has not been quick to share feedback from citizens. For example, the city of Pittsburgh doesn’t publish 311 reports – it would be very interesting to know how many people have called in about what issues from what neighborhoods. Is the mayor’s office ready to see the type of feedback that will be coming to them from Facebook.

The Link

We think this is official city of Pittsburgh Facebook Page.

Leadership in Pittsburgh

p2wp — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:11:55 +0000

This screenshot from the Post-Gazette today shows quite the contrast in approaches between two of our elected officials. I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves.

[Ravenstahl scolded over library funds]
[Rudiak aims to boost public input on projects]

New Poll: What should happen to the Igloo?

pghgal — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:07:26 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

With the end of the hockey season there has been a lot of discussion about what should happen to Mellon arena now that the Penguins will be moving to their new home across the street. What do you think should happen to the Mellon Arena? Please add your thoughts and ideas in the comments section too.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-03

links — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:06:00 +0000

The daily beast names PA the 8th most corrupt state. http://bit.ly/atD4ch #
http://bit.ly/bQhRsA #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-27

links — Thu, 27 May 2010 07:06:00 +0000

CITY OF PITTSBURGHZONING CODE REVISIONSELECTRONIC SIGNS
WEDNESDAY, 2 JUNE 2010 @6:00 P. M.First Floor Conference… http://bit.ly/bCDzu2 #
http://bit.ly/b899tb #
from @ PghPublius – What do you think? is increasing parking fines a good idea or just a distraction from larger… http://bit.ly/97smjn #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-20

links — Thu, 20 May 2010 07:06:00 +0000

Anyone going to the @joehoeffel rally today? 5pm at Schenley Park Skating Rink http://bit.ly/clrCGP #
New ad from @joeSestak. What do you think about the Senate race? http://bit.ly/brulAN #
RT @patrickdowdpgh: Primary Election Day! If you need to find your polling place go to votepa.com #

Democratic Gain Creating State Network in PA

committeegrrl — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:40:57 +0000

One of the things discussed over election night beers and post-election day cups of coffee today – was which candidates ran good campaigns. You can have the best candidate in the world but a bad campaign will ruin their chances of election.

Good campaign staff can be hard to find – long hours and low pay means there is a lot of turn over in staffing – the good campaign staff often moves onto other projects and campaigns often reinvent the wheel.

Democratic Gain is essentially a professional organization of democratic campaign staff. Democratic Gain runs trainings and has a website full of helpful campaign information they also have a job bank for campaigns to find staff and campaign staff to find jobs.

According to an email sent earlier this week – Democratic Gain is working on setting up statewide networks. The are starting with a happy hour in Philadelpia next week. Hopefully they will do some outreach in Western PA too. More quality campaign staff could make all the difference in getting candidates elected in future elections.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-13

links — Thu, 13 May 2010 07:06:00 +0000

Will the Kagan Pick shake up the @arlenSpecter @joeSestak race? http://bit.ly/c6a0Gq #
Dan Connolley – Is an attorney who is challenging Tim Murphy for the 18th congressional seat http://bit.ly/9kdGtC #
http://bit.ly/9Fgx85 #
http://bit.ly/bxMXNp #
http://bit.ly/cCbL5L #

Dan Onorato – Confident About Election Day?

committeegrrl — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:53:01 +0000

: Image by IowaPolitics.com via Flickr

A week before election day and Dan Onorato has sent around a Facebook invite to his election night party which invites guests to “Come Celebrate with Dan as we make a big step in bringing real reform to Harrisburg! ”

Thus far 55 people have RSVPed yes for the event.

Looks like the Onorato campaing is confident about election day.

Details for Onorato’s election night event:

International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers
5 Hot Metal Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Google Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q=5%20Hot%20Metal%20Street%20Pittsburgh%2C%20PA%2015203