Category: default || By jt3y

Protesters marched on Harrisburg yesterday to demand "predictable, reliable and dedicated" funding for public transit, according to the Post-Gazette's Tom Barnes. State Senators Sean Logan and Jay Costa, who represent the East Hills and Mon Valley, also attended.

Barnes writes that the state Legislature "can't agree on how to supply more money." For the moment, let's leave aside the idea, advanced by many, many people, that PAT spending is wasteful, and that the transit authority spends money on many projects because they're politically useful, not because they actually move people around. (And I'm looking at you, light-rail system and "par three miniature subway.") Let's assume, therefore, that the real problem really is that the state doesn't give public transit enough money, which has not been proven (at least not to my satisfaction).

I can't help but think that one of the reasons that the Legislature can't come up with a funding plan is that most of the state doesn't use public transit. If you're a legislator from Potter County, what do you care if people from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia can't ride the bus? Let 'em walk!

And frankly, the fact that the transit authorities are heavily dependent on unionized workers doesn't help their causes with the more conservative members of the General Assembly, who frankly think Henry Clay Frick was too soft when dealing with strikers.

Thus the town and country internicine warfare that characterizes all state government issues in the Commonwealth continues unabated. Is it any wonder that while other states are experiencing population explosions, Pennsylvania sits and spins its wheels? (But possibly not its bus wheels for much longer.)

A spokeswoman for the Governor, by the way, says that he's "committed to finding a permanent funding stream that's dedicated solely to mass transit."

Five bucks says it involves putting video poker and slot machines on the buses.

Bob Grom, who heads up the Heritage Health Foundation in Braddock, had an interesting op-ed in Wednesday's P-G on the topic:

I think it's about time for us to get a handle on the broader implications of this issue and quickly find a way to deal with it, for now and with an eye to the longer term. I believe that we're missing the bus in this situation, particularly as it relates to the more severe consequences of continued inadequate public transit funding on our region's economic infrastructure.

Put simply, our ability to sustain or improve public transportation affects all of us -- whether or not we actually ever board a public transit vehicle. Access to convenient and reliable public transportation is essential for the region's economic health and prosperity for many reasons, some of which aren't typically considered. ...

Bottom line: As citizens of Allegheny County, we should be greatly concerned about continued talk -- without action -- on these critical public transportation issues. If the talkathon continues, it will impair the ability of thousands of people to obtain or maintain employment, consume goods and services and otherwise live productive lives.

Heritage Health Foundation is the non-profit community health care organization that was spun off from Braddock Medical Center when the hospital was merged into UPMC, and Grom has long been affiliated with the Braddock hospital, so he's very familiar with the problems of the urban areas of the Mon-Yough valley.

In other news, Jonathan Barnes writes in the P-G that the owners of Our Fair City's People's Building --- currently tied up in litigation --- have apparently been asking around to see whether they could donate it to an Indian tribe for use as a casino.

Now I've heard everything. When it comes to stupid, moronic ideas, that one takes the cake.

It could be worse. I suppose they could be trying to fill it with water and use it as an eight-story aquarium.

Meanwhile, from the Tube City Almanac National Political Desk ...

(More national politics? Ar-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-rghhhh!)

Bear with me for a minute; this is relatively painless.

A Pennsylvania farmer and a Texas farmer meet at a convention. "How many acres y'all farm up there, son?" the Texan asks the Pennsylvanian.

"Three hundred," the Pennsylvanian replies.

The Texan begins to laugh loudly. "Three hundred acres? Hell, boy, down in Texas, I got me a ranch where if I start out in my truck at one end, it takes me all day to drive to the other side!"

The Pennsylvanian looks the Texan up and down. "Yep," he says, finally, "I had a truck like that once, too."

If you didn't like that joke, blame Salon, whose story about the President and the Texas ethos reminded me of it:

These elements -- along with its music, its movies and several other ingredients -- endow Texas with a swagger, a halo of self-congratulatory pomposity unmatched by any other state. In 2003, the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning -- to the Texas flag. Texans have internalized this maniacal self-obsession with their state. It's a concept best summarized by singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard (a native of Oklahoma), who, in 2003, released the instantaneous classic "Screw You, We're From Texas."

The story is interesting enough as far as it goes, but where the heck has Salon been all of these years? None of this is new. Heck, even that bad joke I told is so old it's got arthritis.

Salon is the very model of an urban, "hip," liberal publication. If the liberal "elite" is that far out of touch with the rest of the country, then no wonder the Democrats keep losing national elections.

Tomorrow: Big prizes awarded!