The council members are talking public comment from the 100 or so community members that have turned out for this evenings meeting.
Councilman Motznick, councilwoman Payne and councilman Peduto have arrived.

Like most community meetings - people show up to talk about their individual issues. the first comment had nothing do with the budget - a resident who wanted to know what to do about water being shut off. I understand that city residents have issues but these public meetings would be productive if city residents talked about the actual budget rather than your personal neighborhood issue.

Resident 5 wants to know what the city rules are for yard sales. Again not about the budget. Thank you to councilman Dowd for offring to help resident 5 solve the yard sale issue.

City council has hit the road for a tour of district 7 and this town hall meeting at the Union Project. This is part of the budgeting process for all members of city council to tour the council districts and attend council meetings. Currently council members Patrick Dowd, Bruce Kraus, Doug Shields and Darlene Harris are at the meeting. Also seen are Dick Scrinjar and Dom Costa.

Here are just some facts covered at the meeting that seemed interesting there is a lot covered and I can’t type as fast as they are talking:
-2008 budget = 423.8 million
-20.6 % of that is debt service
-expenditures are projected to exceed revenues in 2011
-1031 miles of streets in the city of Pittsburgh
-2008 capital budget =$ 99.3 million
-170 miles of brick, blockstone and concrete streets
-400 new building condemnations each year

Councilman Dowd is now talking about poulation loss, especially in regard to the forecast that expenditures will exceed revenues in 2011.

Total Votes = 138

Federal investigators have started asking questions about a range of city of Pittsburgh and city authority dealings related to Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Pat Ford, who is on paid leave pending a State Ethics Commission review of his receipt of gifts.

At least two people have met with investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office, the FBI and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development about some accusations made against Mr. Ford and some made by him.

For more information, see the complete article.

Andrea Robinson is charged with producing the 2008 Democratic National Convention as an icon of environmental political correctness…the Wall Street Journal tells of her travails trying to find a supplier for 15,000 “fanny packs” made from organic cotton, by union labor in the United States…fuggedaboutit…Denver Democratic Mayor promised the “greenest convention in the history of the planet“…but the Convention also promises no fried food and each meal will have three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue or purple, and white…the food will be organic or locally grown…

More information is available on the convention’s website.

A Sub-Prime Mess of Another Sort??…construction workers and others are preparing to walk away from the Pittsburgh-to-be casino - Majestic Star - as the license owner - Don Barden - delayed and delayed a requirement to present a $780-million financing package to the State Gaming Control Board…contractors have not been paid for work performed in April and May…Moody’s Investor Service - the national credit rating firm - reported this week that the Mount Airy Casino Resort - the Pocono Mountain casino owned by indicted Louis DeNaples - is a “very high credit risk” according to the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice…the Philadelphia Inquirer reports Susquehanna Financial Group decided to suspend its investment rating of Penn National Gaming sending a message that a deal to acquire the Berks County gambling giant by Fortress Investment Group and Centerbridge Partners may be jeopardized…

Here are the numbers thus far…

Is the auto the most convenient and efficient way to move people around our region? Can new technologies and policies help unite the region and contribute to our urban vitality? Can we use transportation to grow the city, and the region, in the right way?

The Pittsburgh region is ripe for innovation. New technologies present exciting opportunities to move people and goods around more efficiently than ever before. Light rail, extensive riverfront trails, an efficient bus system, car sharing are all heading in the right direction. But that’s just a start. Getting it “right” requires creative planning.

Join us for a charged discussion on how to get from here … to there.

And as a bonus, because we believe that everyone should have a hand in the planning process, we’ll unveil a project which will allow everyone in the region to have a voice in the role of land use and transportation planning, whether you are an urban planner, environmentalist, architect, policy maker, transportation expert, biker, boater or skater.

Get going …. get involved! rsvp@citylive.org