Category: default || By jt3y

I think I speak for many Mon-Yough residents when I say that we're happy that Pittsburgh city officials are getting all of the bad press right now.

In fact, there's been a shocking lack of shoddiness from our local governments lately, but that doesn't mean that competence has broken out everywhere.

So, despite popular demand, it's time for another installment of that copyrighted, award-seeking Tube City Almanac feature called "Good Government On The March!" This time, we cast our sights on fine examples of public service from across the county!

. . .

Dateline: North Bittyburg! That's where your humble correspondent lives. He recently received a letter that caused his heart to sink. It was in an "official use only" envelope from Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein, and proclaimed that it had "important tax information" enclosed.

Egad! Had your editor's property tax assessment gone up --- or was it being appealed?

No! Treasurer Weinstein was merely writing to say that your correspondent's county taxes had been paid by the mortgage company. Back in February, in fact. Of course, the letter arrived in mid-September.

Your humble correspondent already knew the county taxes were paid. He receives a statement from the mortgage company every month, and back in March, that statement noted that the real-estate taxes had been paid.

Of course, even if he hadn't, your humble correspondent could have looked up the information, for free, on the county's website.

Still, it was kind of Treasurer Weinstein to have his staff take the time to send a colorful, laser-printed letter to your humble correspondent --- at taxpayer expense, of course.

So your correspondent did some quick calculations. It cost 29 cents to mail this notice, plus the cost of the envelope (about 2 cents, but the printing probably adds 1 or 2 cents), plus the color laser-printed letter inside (about 12 cents, according to Hewlett-Packard), plus the labor to print, fold and send the letter (about 42 cents --- figure two minutes, at about $13 per hour, since administrative assistants in Allegheny County start at $2,083 per month).

Put more simply, that adds up like this:

Postage: 29 cents

Envelope: 3 cents

Letter: 12 cents

Labor: 42 cents

Total: 86 cents

There are 360,036 owner-occupied single-family homes in Allegheny County. Since I presume that every one of them got one of these letters, I would estimate that sending these letters cost the taxpayers $309,630.96.

County Treasurer John Weinstein's office is one of only four row offices that wasn't eliminated in 2005.

Only a cynic would point out that Mr. Weinstein will be running for re-election next year. How convenient that all of the 360,036 owner-occupied single-family homes have received helpful reminders of Treasurer Weinstein's name! That's what we call ... Good Government On The March!

. . .

Dateline: East Liberty! That's where Maria of 2 Political Junkies is encouraging progressive voters to turn out this Sunday to support a progressive candidate to leadership of the state House.

The candidate is a noted government reformer, state Rep. Mike Veon, Democrat of Beaver County.

Maria notes that Representative Veon is rated as "good on environmental and conservation issues."

Your correspondent wonders if he'll be driving to Sunday's events in his state-funded 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, which according to Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley of the Trib Astonisher, costs Pennsylvania taxpayers $650 per month, plus $157 per month in insurance.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited gets about 15 miles to the gallon, according to the EPA.

(Far be it from your correspondent to criticize anyone else's gas mileage --- his sleek, gray, V-8 powered Mercury is not known for its delicate thirst, though it does get better mileage than a Jeep Grand Cherokee.)

In fact, the mileage of a Jeep Grand Cherokee does sound pretty "good" from a conservation standpoint, especially compared to, say, a jet airplane --- which Representative Veon used last year 70 times at the taxpayers' expense, to the tune of $23,000, according to Erdley and Bumsted.

The event on Sunday is at the Shadow Lounge. I hope Representative Veon can afford the drinks there, since the state General Assembly repealed the pay raise (he was the only state representative to vote against the repeal).

Well, he sure sounds like a progressive to me ... and another example of ... Good Government On The March!

. . .

Finally, Dateline, Findlay Township! Your correspondent greatly enjoyed himself last Saturday at a special party to celebrate the opening of the six-mile "Findlay Connector," the first segment of the planned "Southern Beltway" that would connect Pittsburgh International Airport with the planned Mon-Fayette Expressway (or as the Angry Drunk Bureaucrat calls it, "the MoFo Excessway").

Alas, I might not get to attend any other such parties. It seems that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has run out of money for the Southern Beltway and doesn't know where it can find the funding for the remaining $3.5 billion.

For now, the Southern Beltway connects Route 60 with U.S. Route 22. The new Findlay Connector will provide a quick way to get from Champion to Bocktown, thus bypassing that terrible congestion on Potato Garden Run Road.

Boy, not a day goes by that I don't hear someone saying, "Gee, I wish there was a quicker way to get from Champion to Bocktown." The Findlay Connector sounds like an excellent use of the tolls that people pay to use the Turnpike ... and yet another example of ... Good Government On The March!