Local News In Brief

State Funds Used to Revitalize Upper-Middle Class Neighborhood

“Last night, officials cut the ribbon on a $737,000 revitalization project along Washington Road [in Mt. Lebanon], designed to add a touch of parkland and performance space to the businesses, offices and residences Uptown.” (PG, 10-2-10)

The Commonwealth contributed $341,809 in Department of Community and Economic Development grants to help pay for this project that includes the building of a new pavilion and the creation of more parkland. Taxing the citizens of Pennsylvania during a recession to pay for a pavilion and more parkland in a well-to-do suburb is an unmistakably immoral action and illustrates how a good chunk of taxation is used to subsidize the middle and upper classes.

State Requires Sprinklers in All New Homes

“The cost of a new single-family home could increase by several thousand dollars in Pennsylvania if a building code requiring new homes to be outfitted with sprinkler systems is allowed to take effect.” (PG, 9-25-10)

Forcing all homes in the Commonwealth to be built with sprinklers is nothing more than a sop to the sprinkler-system lobby – an actual lobby represented by the National Fire Sprinkler Association. Sprinkler systems may increase fire safety but many items on the market increase safety in some way and it is not appropriate for the government to simply pick one at will and mandate its purchase.

Judge Rules Against Citizen Police Review Board

Senior Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick sided with Pittsburgh police and city officials in ruling that state law bars them from releasing unredacted records of G-20 arrests.

The Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board, which voters established to investigate complaints against city police officers, said it needs the documents to complete an investigation of incidents that occurred during the meeting of world leaders a year ago. (Trib, 9-24-10)

What too many people forget is that police are public employees and, like any employee, must be held accountable to an employer. As the employers of police, the citizenry has a right to review their conduct. This is nowhere more important than in the case of the G-20 when police, acting in the best interest of world leaders rather than the best interest of Pittsburghers, militarized City neighborhoods.