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Councilwoman Rudiak and the snow preparedness task force continued their probe into the events of February 2010 at a meeting yesterday and both the Post-Gazette (‘Snow preparedness meeting proves pretty stormy itself’) and Tribune-Review (‘Pittsburgh Councilwoman criticizes lack of communication’) reported a contentious atmosphere. Makes you wonder why a task force looking objectively at data and interviewing people about a government [...]

Councilwoman Rudiak would like to know what you think about how the city responded to the record snowfalls we experienced this year. She’s trying to piece together the events that led to the unfortunate circumstances a lot of us found ourselves in when we couldn’t move our cars or walk the sidewalks for weeks. If [...]

There is a public hearing this evening at the Onala Club (1625 W. Carson Street) from 6-9pm if you’d like to make your opinions about the proposed strip club known. If you haven’t been following news coverage about the club, here’s the brief (read the full Post-Gazette article about it here): 2008; Marquise Investments asks for city’s approval to [...]

A little over a year ago, a request for an occupancy permit for a strip club on Carson Street was rejected unanimously by the City Planning Commission. That would have been the end of the story save for the fact that Pittsburgh City Council failed to hold a public hearing on the matter, which led Judge James of the [...]

If your comments and e-mails are any indication of the larger population, most people are directing any anger they have about the City’s response to this winter’s snow storms at the Mayor. I think this simplifies a complex issue, but I’m just reporting what we hear here at 15211. Although yesterday someone did send an [...]

I have been unabashedly supportive of Patrick Dowd and still was last night as he conceded graciously to Luke Ravenstahl. I walked away from the gathering at the Church Brew Works not defeated, but with a renewed vigor to stay engaged in local politics and keep an open mind for the general election in the [...]

With a little help from the Post-Gazette, we’d like to arm with you some information in preparation for voting tomorrow. We’ve tried to provide links to all of the candidates’ websites so you can do as much reading as you deem necessary. Not sure where a candidate stands on the issues that are important to [...]

Yesterday, a few Pittsburgh City Council members met with Act 47 coordinators and it’s our understanding that this week they will be presented a proposal for a 5-year plan to get Pittsburgh out from under the Act 47 cloud. Council members will hash out the details and come to a vote as early as June. [...]

UPDATED 2PM: Sometimes, I skim instead of read. And when I do, I misinterpret, which is exactly what happened with my analysis of the information about state grants reported on by the Post-Gazette. Thanks to the 15211 readers who correctly stated that Gov. Rendell expects the state capital budget grants to attract $476M of private [...]

UPDATED 04/14/2009: According to an article in the Post-Gazette this evening, the mayoral debate for tomorrow has been postponed. A debate scheduled for last Monday, April 6, on WPXI-TV was also called off after the three fatal Pittsburgh Police shootings. The next — and now first — debate is scheduled for Monday, April 20, on [...]