I've tried to work up a good head of outrage over the new book by U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Spanish Inquisition), but I just can't any more.
Also, I'm somewhat constrained by the fact that I haven't seen his weighty tome, nor do I have any intention of buying it. Thus, I'm left to comment on other people's interpretations of what the good Senator has written. That some how doesn't seem fair. (Forgive me. As a couch-potato moderate-leftist, I'm still constrained by a sense of fair play.)
Based on what I've read about the book, however, I take it that Santorum has repeated several things that he's said before. Namely, that people who can't afford to go to college shouldn't go to college; that there shouldn't be public education; that women should not work outside the home; and that "feminists" and "liberals" are responsible for society's ills.
What is Santorum saying that he hasn't said before? Or that other prominent neo-conservative pundits haven't said before? Why are people shocked, shocked to hear these things?
A little personal anecdote, if you don't mind: When Santorum was running for the Senate the first time, I was in college. He had recently uncorked several statements similar to the ones above; I seem to recall that in particular he had called for the abolition of the federally-guaranteed student loan program and the elimination of Pell grants. As someone who was in college through the grace of the financial aid office, the federal government and McKeesport National Bank's loan officer, I was offended.
I was drawing a weekly cartoon for the college paper, and I uncorked one about a Senate candidate named "Rich Sanitarium" (my rapier-like wit was as leaden then as it is now) visiting a small, working-class town, spouting some of this nonsense about education, and being hooted off of the stage by the locals.
That semester, the college Republicans had successfully agitated for a weekly talk show on the campus radio station, which was great fun to listen to, because it was slightly to the right of Torquemada and Louis XIV. We used to tune in at the newspaper office and hoot at the radio in derision. Well, lo and behold, that week the guest was none other than Rick Santorum, and the hosts read my cartoon to him. And the good congressman went after me, on the air. (Not that this was a terrible thing, because the radio station's signal barely made it out of the parking lot.)
Now, the radio station was right across the hall from the newspaper in the student union, so I went over, introduced myself to the board operator, and he put me on the air. I don't remember exactly what I asked Santorum --- I seem to recall it was something about a Tribune-Review story out that week that rated him one of the "least effective legislators" --- but I do remember one of the hosts grabbing me by the elbow and hissing, "Shut up. This is our show, and we ask the questions. If you want to ask questions, get your own show." At that, I walked out, and back across the hall to the newspaper office, to general applause and backslapping.
Anyway, my point --- and I do have one --- is that none of what Santorum has written is new. He's been on the record as holding these kinds of views for more than a decade. His conservatism is not that of Eisenhower or Goldwater or Nixon, who held that government should stay out of commerce and people's personal lives, but could do some good for society. Instead, Santorum's conservatism is that of the pre-1900's, which views that life is a case of every man for himself. If you can't swim on your own, then you can sink to the bottom, and tough luck for you --- don't expect society to help.
Santorum is always depicted as a devout Catholic, but as a product of 13 years of Catholic education, I'd say his social views are more Calvinist in the mold of Calvin Coolidge.
Pennsylvanians have twice sent Santorum to the Senate, knowing full well his stands on the issues. Ron Klink was a rather colorless candidate in 2000, but he didn't want to dismantle the public education system. Harris Wofford was a magnificent civil rights advocate, and was trounced in 1994.
Perhaps before Pennsylvanians point figures at Santorum, they should take a good look in the mirror. You should have known what you were getting. Why are you so surprised at what you got?
...
In other, happier political matters, state Rep. Marc Gergely checked in at the Almanac on Wednesday to say:
Kudos to the Tube City homepage. As a frequent visitor to the site I enjoy the discussions. I'm pleased to give you the inside scoop on the new name for the 15th Street Bridge. In the early-to-mid '90s, state Sen. Albert "Buddy" Belan kept in the transportation budget the over $15 million that was needed to re-build our bridge to Liberty, Lincoln, Port Vue and beyond. Bud was a supporter of the Mon Valley in all aspects and so to his memory the 15th Street Bridge will be renamed the Albert V. "Buddy" Belan Bridge. I amended language into a Senate transportation bill and (it) was passed on Sunday. I know this is not the biggest issue of Commonwealth politics at this time, but I think (it's) of direct interest to the Mon Valley. Good luck, I enjoy the Almanac and I know that many times we will agree to disagree.
As if to prove the point made by yesterday's Almanac --- that people in the Mon-Yough area don't appreciate Kennywood --- there was a letter to the editor in the Daily News last night complaining about the prices. Sigh.
You know, Kennywood isn't a utility or a public park. It's a business. And I have to wonder if any of the people complaining about the prices at Kennywood have priced tickets at Geauga Lake, Hersheypark, Cedar Point or any of the other parks within a half-day's drive of Our Fair City. (Geauga Lake's ride-all-day price is $24.95, a little less than Kennywood's $28.95 price. You can also use a Kennywood ride-all-day pass to get admission to Sandcastle on the same day. Cedar Point's is $44.95 and Hersheypark's is $39.95.)
Anyway, at least one of my predictions was correct --- Kennywood is buying the old Union Railroad shop property under the bridge at the southwest corner of the park. The details of how the park intends to use the land remain to be seen.
Kennywood is also asking for tax relief, especially from local taxes. In 2003, West Mifflin increased the amusement tax from 50 cents to 5 percent per ticket. According to the Post-Gazette, Kennywood's taxes now make up almost 12 percent of West Mifflin's revenues.
Former state representative and current West Mifflin Councilman Richard Olasz Sr. argues that the borough views Kennywood as "a golden goose." Isn't that what I wrote yesterday? It isn't often that I find myself on the same side of a political issue as Mr. Olasz, but he's right. Kennywood does strain certain government services, especially police, and especially during the evening hours when the park closes --- try to get a car down Hoffman Boulevard at 11 p.m. on the night of a big school picnic or Italian Day --- but 12 percent seems a bit excessive. How much does Century III Mall contribute, for instance?
Meanwhile, the state General Assembly has approved an average 16 pay raise for itself, which according to published reports would make them the second-highest paid legislators in the country, after California. The new pay scales, which also cover judges and members of the governor's cabinet, are tied to federal salaries for comparable jobs. For instance, state representatives are going to be paid 50 percent of the salary of a member of the U.S. House, plus an annual cost-of-living allowance.
Alert Reader Arden asks if there isn't some way to tie state legislature pay to the mean annual wage in Pennsylvania --- which is $35,780 --- say, by making legislator pay an even multiple of that average. (One is tempted to suggest that the multiple should be "0," but that's not very nice.) Arden suggests that citizens should rally and get a referendum on the ballot to amend the state Constitution.
The problem is that under Article XI of the state Constitution, amendments have to be approved by the General Assembly. There is no provision to amend the Constitution via a referendum. (And to digress for a minute, I'm not sure that there should be. You could end up with an endless stream of confusing, contradictory propositions being placed in the ballots all of the time, as in California.)
Now, do you really think anyone would vote to potentially lower their own salaries?
Legislators argue that they deserve to be compensated at a level commensurate with the amount of work that they do, and I have no argument against that. I know of a few who I truly admire, because they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to answer constituent questions and meet with other political leaders, and are constantly on the road somewhere. But I also know of a few who got elected and immediately vanished until the next primary election.
So how much should a legislator be paid? I'm not sure. If you go to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can look up the average wages for various occupations in Pennsylvania. There aren't many that are being paid more than a state legislator's new minimum salary of $81,000.
Some of the occupations that make more than the new minimum for Pennsylvania state legislators include air-traffic controllers ($97,120), surgeons ($167,860), general practice doctors ($132,590), podiatrists ($91,360), dentists ($109,660), optometrists ($90,350), lawyers ($100,790) and physicists ($91,840).
Legislators will make more than architects ($64,330), electrical engineers ($71,530) and pharmacists ($77,610), among others.
Some of the occupations that will now have comparable salaries to state legislators in Pennsylvania include sales managers ($84,020), operations managers ($88,420), nuclear engineers ($81,650), computer scientists ($87,640) and epidemiologists ($82,930). (You may think that being a state legislator isn't rocket science, but you'd be wrong. Aerospace engineers, according to references (1, 2) I was able to find, make anywhere from $59,520 to $97,250 per year.)
Managers in general have a mean salary of $79,060 in Pennsylvania, and if you can view state legislators as managers of a sort, then a minimum $81,000 doesn't seem that outrageous. On the other hand, it's my tax money, dagnabbit, and Pennsylvania isn't exactly known for its low taxes.
It's also worth noting that 79 members of the House and 23 senators voted against the pay raises. I couldn't find a breakdown by name of how various legislators voted. As soon as I do, I'll post the votes from the Mon-Yough area.
So what say you? Leave your comments below (and keep 'em clean, please!).
Suddenly, this is turning into the Kennywood blog. (Which is better than when it was the Paul Winchell blog for a few days there.) The One and Only Roller Coaster Capital of the World is preparing a big announcement about major park expansion plans, the details of which are to be unveiled today.
A news release from Kennywood stated only that the park has purchased a 23-acre site and a former industrial area, or "brownfield," for redevelopment. Kennywood apparently is in the process of purchasing the old Kmart shopping center on Hoffman Boulevard, which the park has been eyeing for some time.
Early speculation among the Almanac's informed sources is that the brownfield is the old Union Railroad shop at Thompson Run, which abuts the park on the southeast. What exactly Kennywood might be doing with that property is unclear, since it sits in a ravine and wouldn't be that conducive to adding rides.
More speculation involves an expansion of the rides into the pay parking area, with a monorail or pedestrian bridges connecting both sides of the park across Kennywood Boulevard. (Sources tell the Almanac that Kennywood actually purchased a monorail from the "Dutch Wonderland" theme park a few years ago, and has it in storage.) We'll know for sure in a few hours.
Kennywood also has been buying up houses along Shadynook Avenue and Valeview Drive --- two little streets to the northwest of the park --- for several years now. In part, that was to buffer the park from complaints from residents who disliked the noise and lights from the rides and games. (One has to wonder about people who move next to an amusement park and then complain about the noise. Isn't that like buying a house next to the airport and complaining about the airplanes?) It's possible that the park is going to expand that way, as well.
All of this makes sense; Kennywood hasn't made a major capital investment since remodeling the Steel Phantom a few years ago, and even that didn't add anything new to the park, it merely renovated an existing space. The last time that new rides and attractions were added was with the creation of Lost Kennywood, and that was nearly 10 years ago.
Kennywood is a great, underappreciated attraction in the Mon-Yough area. Pittsburghers appreciate it, but I think people in the neighboring communities either take it for granted or even resent it a little bit. Like the man with the goose that lays the golden eggs, they seem to think as if they can kick Kennywood around and tax the living daylights out of it, but that Kennywood shouldn't demand anything in return.
It amazes me that despite this sometimes contentious relationship, Kennywood continues to be a good neighbor; park executives are involved in all sorts of community and civic organizations at every level. One suspects that if Kennywood were owned by, say, some big multinational company, and not by the same families that have owned it since 1898, that it wouldn't be such a good corporate citizen.
(In the interest of full disclosure: I worked for Kennywood, part-time, for six years, including one winter, so I'm biased.)
No matter what Kennywood does, however, to expand, the bigger question is what does the surrounding community plan to do to keep the park healthy? Driving to Kennywood takes a visitor down one of the worst-looking corridors in Allegheny County. Across the street from Kennywood are two abandoned fast-food restaurants; Kennywood Boulevard itself is a string of muffler shops, bars and marginal businesses like a coin-operated car wash.
You get to Kennywood either via Homestead (which takes you past the junkyard at the end of the Rankin Bridge); via Duquesne (past the remains of the U.S. Steel Duquesne Works, still rusting away 20 years after the plant's closing); or through Swissvale and Rankin.
I haven't been to Cedar Point lately, but I've been to Kings Island, and I can assure you that you don't approach that park by driving past miles of dilapidated, decaying structures. And yes, I'm aware that Kennywood is eager to get the Mon-Fayette Expressway built, in hopes that it will make it driving to the park easier and more pleasant --- but it could be another 20 years before we see the highway completed. Why should we wait that long?
Kennywood can invest all it wants, but that investment is going to be futile if the Mon-Yough area doesn't get its act together. The park doesn't exist in a vacuum, and unless the expansion plans include a giant protective plastic bubble and pneumatic tubes to shoot people there from Pittsburgh International Airport, it needs the cooperation of the elected officials to improve the Route 837 corridor to make it more attractive and more useful. That requires tax incentives for businesses to locate along the corridor, coordinated zoning and planning efforts, better traffic signals and signs, and increased code-enforcement.
Such improvements wouldn't just benefit Kennywood, of course --- they'd improve the whole valley, all year around.
Instead of waiting around for maglev, slot machine gambling, or the Mon-Fayette Expressway, the Mon-Yough area needs to capitalize on the assets that it already has. Kennywood's expansion plans present a perfect opportunity to make a lasting improvement on the region --- will we seize it?
I forgot to mention I'm taking yesterday off. Ahem.
Happy Independence Day, too, one day late. Or, happy P.T. Barnum's Birthday, if you prefer. Speaking of a sucker born every minute, my house sits on top of a hill, which provides me with views of the fireworks in Our Fair City, Downtown Picksberg and Kennywood, at least on a clear night.
But when it comes to fireworks, I'm inclined to remember what the late Chet Smith supposedly said about the NBA: "If they were playing in my front yard, I'd close the blinds." You've seen one, you've seen 'em all, is my attitude toward fireworks.
Thus I thought Brian O'Neill's Sunday column in the Post-Gazette was particularly amusing:
I made myself go see "Land of the Dead" all for one inside joke.
Pittsburgh's own George Romero, who is to zombie pictures what Van Gogh was to sunflower paintings (and mangled ears), has this gimmick in his movie: The walking dead, or "stenches," stop their insatiable blood lust only to watch fireworks.
That knowledge allows the heroes in the film to go around in a big armored truck, sending up "sky flowers" and foraging for food while the zombies stare stupidly upward at the displays. ...
Anyone who has spent a summer in Pittsburgh knows the mouth-agape, skyward look that strikes almost all of us when the fireworks go off, which happens only every time it gets dark. So it seems anyway. As my friend Sean Cannon of Shaler has said, Pittsburghers would flock Downtown for free rectal exams if fireworks were promised afterward.
The city managed to clear out shops and an office building to make room for a new Lazarus department store, built with $50 million in public funds, but Lazarus did not live up to its name. It has shut down and left a vacant building. Meanwhile, the city's finances are in ruins, and businesses and residents have been fleeing the high taxes required to pay off decades of urban renewal projects and corporate subsidies.
Yet the mayor still yearns for more acquisitions. He welcomed the Supreme Court decision, telling The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that eminent domain "is a great equalizer when you're having a conversation with people." Well, that's one way to describe the power to take people's property.
You are on an archived page of Tube City Almanac.
Click the banner to return to the front page; or click here to visit Tube City Online.
Published weekdays (usually), except holidays (and when we have something better to do) at McKeesport, Pa., by Tube City Online LLC, P.O. Box 94, McKeesport, Pa. 15134.
Opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent those of any organization. No warranty is given or implied for the information and opinions contained herein; the reader uses that information at his or her peril.
Except where noted, all contents are copyright © 2003-2008 Tube City Online LLC, a limited-liability company chartered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. No content from Tube City Online may be reproduced in whole or part in any digital or print publication without express permission, except that short excerpts may be used with attribution in commentary or for critical purposes.
Tube City Online is edited by Jason Togyer, member National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, American Radio Relay League and National Radio Club.
Also, objects in Tube City Online may be closer than they appear. If Tube City Online is swallowed, seek professional help immediately. Stop use of Tube City Online if condition persists or worsens. Tube City Online is produced in a facility that also includes Peanuts. Do not expose Tube City Online to open flames and keep it out of the reach of children. Do not back up, as severe tire damage may result. Not responsible for lost or stolen articles. Tube City Online is still not a significant source of saturated fats or Minnesota Fats.
