Less Than Meets The Eye In The Friendly Skies

Chris Briem, proprietor of Null Space, headlines a link to a glossy layout on Pittsburgh: "Delta Does Da Burgh."

All Delta did was sell advertising space for an airline magazine "insert" (in which even the "articles" are paid advertisements) that reflects nothing about Pittsburgh so much as its appetite for purchased publicity. Had Wilmerding sent cash, Delta would have published a 16-page tribute to the Airbrake Grill, the Station Brake Cafe, the Wilmerding YMCA and Wilmerding Renewed Inc. (with a sidebar featuring fun facts about the genuinely great George Westinghouse, left).

If a few local law firms and corporations want to underwrite insipid applause for Jeff Romoff, Jim Rohr and the (looking-for-tenants) Bakery Square project, that's their call. Pouring taxpayer and foundation dollars into such vapidity, however, is silly -- and standard operating procedure for the ossified, self-aggrandizing, counterproductive local power structure.

UPDATE: Why waste money on puffery purchased from Delta? Getting mentioned at Infinonymous works! Just look at Wilmerding!