Tube City Almanac

November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Category: Good Government On The March || By

There was something besides football this week? Really? Oh, all right.

Several people, including City Councilor Paul Shelly, note that County Councilor Bob Macey, D-Dravosburg, was on the side of the angels Tuesday when he voted against the decision to restrict searches on the Allegheny County real-estate assessment website.

Good on Councilor Macey for taking that stand!

Alas, nine of his colleagues on Allegheny County Council went ahead with the bone-headed move anyway, voting to take away your right to search these public records by the names of the property owners.

Proponents claim that police officers and others have been targeted for harassment by bad guys who've searched for their residences on the county's website. Perhaps they have, although no one presented any proof.

And if you go to the Allegheny County Courthouse or many school district and municipal real-estate tax offices, you'll still be able to search for property owners' names. That hasn't changed. So the bad guys will still be able to get that information.

All county council has done is made it a little harder for average, taxpaying citizens to find out which properties are owned by whom.

Yes, you can still search the website for specific addresses. But now you can't type in the same name and find out what other properties the same company or person owns. That's useful information if you're trying to find out what properties a slumlord owns --- and we have several of them in the Mon-Yough area.

It also makes it harder for you to find out whether your elected officials have paid their property taxes. As local real estate broker Phil Marcus told the Post-Gazette, "we need more transparency in government, not less."

Boo on Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato for backing this change, and boo on the nine county councilmembers who voted for it, including District 6 Councilor Joan Cleary, who represents Clairton, Jefferson Hills, Pleasant Hills and neigborhing areas in southern Allegheny County; and District 8 Councilor Dr. Chuck Martoni, who represents Swissvale, Braddock, North Versailles Township and other communities in eastern Allegheny County.

Mr. Onorato, Ms. Cleary and Dr. Martoni: The taxpayers of Allegheny County own these public records. We ought to be able to search them as conveniently as possible. Shame on you for restricting them.

. . .






Your Comments are Welcome!

I’m pretty sure Bob Macey is not on City Council…. :) I knew who you meant.

I’m also sure that he made a good vote!

Have a good weekend.
Paul Shelly - November 23, 2007



Hrm. Everyone’s an editor.

Would you believe I just wanted to see if you were paying attention? No?
Webmaster - November 23, 2007



Nice try. Sorry. I’ve been coaching a lot of hoops lately and as much time is spent correcting as instructing.

I’ll chalk it up to Serra giddiness on your part.

On the subject of hoops, watch out for my Tigers this year, as if that were something new….
Paul Shelly (URL) - November 23, 2007



Chalk it up to “diarrhea of the computer, constipation of the brain.”

And since I fixed the error, no one knows what the heck we’re talking about.
Webmaster - November 23, 2007



Maybe this conversation will encourage people to tune in earlier to our blogs to catch our mistakes rather than read the sanitized versions that endure in cyberspace….

Perhaps we should collaborate on an article about the 1981 WPIAL championship team. They were loaded. They had a coach named Bowen and a tall athletic kid with curly locks (long since gone) named Bowen who became a Parade All-American taking the snaps.

I graduated that year from McKeesport after avoiding enticments (basketball)from our other high school. I can discuss all the kids who left MASD in pursuit of a football dream…Not that Catholic high schools recruit mind you … :)

Serra pulled a major cout de ta in 1981 by recruiting a Duquesne flash named Jeter away from Central Catholic (did they need the Pope to sign off on that one?) who was the final missing link. An interesting side note was that his father was the Principal at Clairton, a school that was Serra’s best competition in their Conference and for the WPIAL title that year. Combined with Cory Pettiford, they made up the fastest backfield I’ve seen at the high school level, regardless of classification. I think Jeter put up more touchdowns on kick returns than Serra’s opposition scored the entire year.

I believe that Coach Smith took over the reigns at the Port in 82 or 83, the Exodus ended and Serra football dropped to the lower tier of Class A ball.

I worked under Rich Bowen as a basketball coach at Elizabeth Forward. He is a class act and top notch coach. I wonder if we can recruit him to McKeesport if and when Smitty ever retires? I’d call it returning the favor.

Good luck to your “iggles” at States!

-Paul
Captain, McKeesport Tiger Basketball, 1981
Paul Shelly (URL) - November 24, 2007



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