posted by Joe Polk at 9:53 AM /
How do you know who to vote for? Take the time to meet and question school board and commissioner candidates. A non-partisan forum sponsored by the Mt. Lebanon PTA Council and the League of Women Voters.
Date: October 30th
Time: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Place: Jefferson Auditorium
Labels: commission, election, politics, school board
9 Comments:
If you want to know more about the neighbors who will be making significant, long term decisions that impact our entire Community - this is a great opportunity to see them live and in person. I understand the School Board Candidates are up first, followed by Candidates for Commissioner.
Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the debate tonight because of work commitments. If anyone reading this post went to the debate, could you please let me/us know how it went? :)
+/- 85 Neighbors attended the candidate forum. In the future, with a little more planning, we need to bring the forum to the Comcast public access channels. Maybe even YouTube!
On the School Board: Cappuci, Rose and Stipanovich were impressive. Garson was unable to attend. Lots of interest by the audience questions in curriculum, the High School project and TAXES. As far as the High School goes, no candidate came out for all new construction or all renovation. Kubit made an interesting observation that one aspect of a “green” project would include re-using, to the extent possible, the existing structure – rather than dump it in a landfill and consume substantial amounts of new materials and energy to build new.
On the Commission: VanKirk presented a sensible commitment to maintaining services and amenities, while being very sensitive to the ever present tax burden. VanKirk has an obvious pride in our Community and is inspired to seek out additional sources of funds for MTL, from external sources. Raja talked of his focus on knowledge based, economic development in the Uptown area and his plan to cut Municipal taxes by 20%, without impacting services. Miller called that “ridiculous” as far as being able to cut 20% and not impact services – I would like to see the math, but right now I am with Miller (however, I have been wrong many times). Raja is very much opposed to increasing the debt burden of the Community – I am with him on this, particularly until we tidy up a few areas of the budget, set some meaningful priorities and make some fresh plans. No more rogue initiatives.
Miller demonstrated his knowledge of the political troposphere and his long commitment to public service (AmeriCorps and MTL Volunteer Fireman). Miller is concerned about the effect of the Washington Park condos on the immediate neighborhood and the increasing traffic, both around the condos and the rest of the Community. Hoon got the “deer question” (big surprise) and favors sterilization over hunting. He noted that many deer have moved to MTL to replace those “dispatched” (USDA lingo) from MTL last year. Question: won’t sterilization also make room for more deer wanting to trade up from USC? He did say we need a regional approach. Hoon is also committed to better communications between residents and Commissioners.
Reinhart came across as very approachable today and very committed to open communications as a Commissioner – he is even giving out his cell phone #. Reinhart is committed to the vibrancy of the Community and in particular the business districts. He wants first class services and facilities, but like VanKirk, wants very much to make the most of existing tax dollars. DeIuliis gets credit for being the most creative with specific ideas – I don’t think his ideas will work – but they could be launch pads for more refined thought. As a government (and private) contractor – he knows his way around local, state and federal governments and believes he can use this to MTL’s advantage. He has a particular expertise in roadways and reports ours are in excellent condition. This differs however, with the annual assessment by the Municipal Engineer who has a very long “to do” list.
The only real demerit in my book for the entire evening goes to DeIuliis. The only candidate saying he would have voted for the TIF. The other 5 candidates said each TIF must be judged on its own merit – but would not have voted for this one. DeIuliis, however, would have “absolutely voted” for the TIF. First, because the property has been idle for 35 years (not exactly true – it has been under government control and specifically not available for development until the last few years. It was purchased long ago for “future” development – it’s just that the Municipality finally decided the future is now). When I spoke with Joe afterwards, he was not at all concerned that Zamagias’ own financials indicate an inordinate Return on Equity – I agree with Joe that a developer needs to make money and should be compensated for his risk – but when public dollars are involved, certainly not more than a customary return. I think Commissioner Daley has been sharing some of Commissioner Humphreys’ koolaid with Candidate DeIuliis.
I agree that these forums could use a bit more pre-publicity, and I think Bill makes a great point that they should be re-broadcast on the public access channels. (Bill we finally agree on something)
We have the staff of high school students and the other resources at our disposal - why not use them?
On this point Bill, did anyone mention the idea of televising Commission meetings at the forum. This is something else that is long overdue.
Why stop with televising the meetings? Bring Mt. Lebanon into the 1990s: Webcast them!
Mike, I'm all in favor of baby steps. With that said, Raja did suggest that he has his sights set on making Lebo wireless, which would also be a step in the right direction.
(Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer for Andy Reinhart's campaign for 3rd ward commissioner.)
One of the central themes of Andy's campaign from the beginning has been to increase the responsiveness and transparency of our government by televising the Commission meetings in just the manner you're suggesting. Check out his website for more info: www.andyreinhart.com.
1) One or more Commissioner candidates did speak in support of televising the Commission meetings - I can't recall who - but I also can't think of one that would not support it.
2) I believe Commissioner Humphreys had no interest when it was brought up in the past - so maybe something can happen now. It most recently came up when the Municipal Building was being renovated – which would have been a perfect time to put in the infrastructure - but the Commission would have no part of it.
3) Regarding the Forums: I received a call from a resident willing to help underwrite the cost of televising candidate forums via the public access channels, if the issue is $$
4) I also have spoken with Steve Feller about televising the candidate forums - I believe we would have his support to work with Comcast on this - we just need sufficient lead time.
Televising the meetings would be great (baby steps, Dave).
Webcasting would be even better. And perhaps cheaper. The programs could be archived online, and no one would have to remember to Tivo them.
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