Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Housing
Fig. 1. The old Hazelwood library branch. It has been replaced with a new branch on Second Avenue. Photograph by author, May 1, 2020.
Add to the list of things Pittsburgh isn’t doing to benefit its residents:
“The biggest slum landlord in the city of Pittsburgh is the city of Pittsburgh,” said Rev. Sam Ware, the executive director of Building United of Southwestern PA (BUSP), a faith-based nonprofit focusing on affordable housing.[1]
Many blighted properties are now owned by the city of Pittsburgh, which isn’t doing a damned thing about the vast majority of them. Other cities are doing better:
Two months ago, the city of Toledo announced it would use $3.3 million in federal dollars to match a nearly $10 million grant to tear down about 1,000 properties, in partnership with the Lucas County Land Bank.
In Flint, Michigan, the county land bank combined $16 million in stimulus money and other grants to unveil a $43.5 million initiative to knock down 2,000 blighted structures.
Pittsburgh’s city council, on the other hand, directed just $2 million toward demolitions — and data from the City Controller’s office shows the city has spent just $1.6 million of that money, leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars untouched.
So far, of the thousands of structures owned by the city, just 67 have been torn down [at an average cost of $45,000 each] in the last three years. . . .
The city has completed just over 200 demolitions since 2019, and most were not owned by Pittsburgh.[2]
I’m still wondering where Pittsburgh’s money is going.
Michael Korsh, The city of Pittsburgh’s wasteland of unsafe, abandoned homes,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 3, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2023/02/03/pittsburgh-abandoned-homes-lots-city-owned-blight-violations-condemned/stories/202302050056
Work
Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
Abha Bhattarai and Maggie Penman, “Restaurants can’t find workers because they’ve found better jobs,” Washington Post, February 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/03/worker-shortage-restaurants-hotels-economy/
Gilead
Police White supremacist gangs
Fig. 1. Photograph by Lorie Shaull, April 1, 2021, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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Megan Guza, “Activists seek Pittsburgh police changes after Tyre Nichols’ death in Memphis,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 30, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/30/pittsburgh-police-tyre-nichols-stop-and-frisk-pretext-traffic-stops-tim-stevens-black-political-empowerment-project-bpep/stories/202301300065
Justin Vellucci, “Pittsburgh police staffing shortage at ‘tipping point,’ officials say,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 31, 2023, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-city-council-tackles-police-staffing-pay-in-special-meeting/
Megan Guza, “Officials look for answers to Pittsburgh’s police staffing shortage,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 1, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/31/pittsburgh-police-bureau-staffing-levels-recruitment-officers-retirement-union-allegheny-county-safety/stories/202301310109
Mark Belko and Megan Guza, “Gainey pledges to triple the number of police officers Downtown to address safety issues,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 2, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/02/02/pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gainey-downtown-public-safety-police-allegheny-county-executive-rich-fitzgerald-public-works-violence/stories/202302020094
David A. Graham, “The Stubborn Pathology of Police Culture,” Atlantic, February 3, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-department-scorpion-unit/672932/
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023
Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Tara Palmeri, “McCarthy’s Horse-Trading Nightmare,” Puck News, February 2, 2023, https://puck.news/mccarthys-horse-trading-nightmare/
Abortion
Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
In answer to a previous question, it appears a proposal to deny that the Pennsylvania constitution protects abortion rights has been dropped from a package of constitutional amendments Republicans are seeking to put before voters, at least in the state senate.[3] At least in Pennsylvania, they appear to be listening to voters.[4] Other states, however, not so very much at all.[5]
- [1]Michael Korsh, The city of Pittsburgh’s wasteland of unsafe, abandoned homes,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 3, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2023/02/03/pittsburgh-abandoned-homes-lots-city-owned-blight-violations-condemned/stories/202302050056↩
- [2]Michael Korsh, The city of Pittsburgh’s wasteland of unsafe, abandoned homes,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 3, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2023/02/03/pittsburgh-abandoned-homes-lots-city-owned-blight-violations-condemned/stories/202302050056↩
- [3]Marley Parish, “Relief for child sex abuse survivors passes Senate as part of constitutional amendment package,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, January 11, 2023, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/relief-for-child-sex-abuse-survivors-passes-senate-as-part-of-constitutional-amendment-package/↩
- [4]Samantha Melamed, “Voters cited abortion as a key issue in Pennsylvania’s first election since ‘Roe’ was overturned,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/election-day-pennsylvania-abortion-reproductive-rights-voters-20221108.html↩
- [5]Abigail Tracy, “Republicans Are Only Getting Sneakier With Their Antiabortion Proposals,” Vanity Fair, January 30, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/republicans-post-midterms-antiabortion-proposals↩