Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Propositions Board Comments Thread

Since transplanting the Propositions Board from periodic appearances at the Burgh Report to its continuous, current location (far right column), I have missed comments. I also am unable to determine how to add a comments feature to the current "sidebar" arrangement. Therefore, I solicit comments here -- opinions regarding the odds, suggestions concerning addition proposition subjects, outrage concerning current proposition subjects, discussion of winners and losers. If interest warrants, I will try to remember to start a comments thread from time to time.

I do not like putting the "majority of Iron City production offsite by June 1" tickets on hold, but resolving conflicting reports about whether most of the beer is already originating in Rochester has been exceptionally difficult. The better sources are indicating that Rochester is brewing more than half of the Iron City volume, but other sources insist this is not true. I am leaning toward the conclusion that most of the beer is being produced out-of-state already, but not enough to pay or cancel any tickets yet.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rudiak has better odds than anyone but Shields of being Council President? That doesn't seem right. I like Natalia and all, but Council is not going to chose anyone for president on their first day.

Infinonymous said...

The overwhelming odds favor Shields. If he is not chosen, however, that would signal a strange clustermuck of the type that generated Luke Ravenstahl. I find Ms. Rudiak no more improbable than was the boy mayor, who appears to have been picked primarily because no one believed anyone would consider him a credible challenger for the mayor's office, keeping avenues open for Mr. Peduto, Mr. Motznik and Mr. Shields.

By historical standards, her first day will be better than the average council member's best day.

Anonymous said...

Ravenstahl had been in office for a little while, and was chosen for a traditional reason, because no one took him seriously (see Masloff for an historical example). If that were the calculus, Smith would be a much more likely choice than Rudiak.

She is in an inbetween phase: not enough experience to be chosen on her merits, not worthless enough to be chosen for a lack of merit.

Infinonymous said...

I understand your point. I also believe that the coming council lineup features more grown-up/do-gooder tendencies than Pittsburgh has seen in decades. Fewer fungible cogs and more competents might change a lot of equations.

Ms. Smith? She will be one of "them" to the "us" that will constitute the majority on council, a throwback to the type of city government that spurred many of her colleagues to get involved (because it disgusted them). Her apparent ties to the machine currently associated with Ravenstahl also are likely to create distance. I doubt she will be ostracized (because I believe most of the new council members are above that), and she likely will be given a chance to stake her own positions, but her colleagues seem unlikely to entrust anything of importance to her, at least not until she establishes her positions.

Anonymous said...

Could we get odd on Ravenstahl agreeing to appear before council within the week?