posted by Mike Madison at 1:03 PM /
The most recent Mt. Lebanon mtl magazine arrived in the mailbox the other day, and it includes an item worth blogging about: How Are We Doing? As the new year dawns, a broader comment is timely.
The magazine solicited reader feedback last year, and while most of the comments seem to be positive, there were some critics. To the magazine's credit, it reported some of the negatives. For example: "How could you in all intellectual integrity ignore any references to the school district's secret buyout of the Chief School Administrator?" The magazine has a defensible response: "[W]e will not address the school superintendent's buyout -- we are not investigative reporters . . . ."
Since the magazine constitutes a major piece of the marketing material that our local real estate agents use to sell Mt. Lebanon, the position that "we are not investigative reporters" limits the magazine's portrait of the town. If newcomers are relying on the magazine, it's not easy for them to appraise Mt. Lebanon realistically.
Herewith, therefore, a list of feature stories for 2008, topics that mtl magazine might engage but that are more likely to get attention at Blog-Lebo:
Demographics and culture
1. Gay and lesbian couples and families in Mt. Lebanon.
2. Racial and ethnic diversity in Mt. Lebanon: What community groups are doing to attract non-white newcomers.
3. Keeping up with Peters: Why live in Lebo when you can live in Washington County?
Money and taxes
4. The Mt. Lebanon School District: really best in the region? A realistic appraisal of educational quality.
5. Decoding the budgets: The real (and hidden) costs of running the Municipality and the School District.
6. Costs and benefits of public safety: What the citizens of Mt. Lebanon need vs. what they pay for.
Economy
7. High rent and vacant space: Office space in Uptown Mt. Lebanon.
Environment
8. School transit pollution: The environmental costs of driving your children to school every day.
9. Dogs on the run: Off the leash in Bird Park.
10. LAN parties, Rocky Horror, and other phenomena of Funky Town: The Tie-Dyed Mt. Lebanon undeground goes mainstream.
The magazine solicited reader feedback last year, and while most of the comments seem to be positive, there were some critics. To the magazine's credit, it reported some of the negatives. For example: "How could you in all intellectual integrity ignore any references to the school district's secret buyout of the Chief School Administrator?" The magazine has a defensible response: "[W]e will not address the school superintendent's buyout -- we are not investigative reporters . . . ."
Since the magazine constitutes a major piece of the marketing material that our local real estate agents use to sell Mt. Lebanon, the position that "we are not investigative reporters" limits the magazine's portrait of the town. If newcomers are relying on the magazine, it's not easy for them to appraise Mt. Lebanon realistically.
Herewith, therefore, a list of feature stories for 2008, topics that mtl magazine might engage but that are more likely to get attention at Blog-Lebo:
Demographics and culture
1. Gay and lesbian couples and families in Mt. Lebanon.
2. Racial and ethnic diversity in Mt. Lebanon: What community groups are doing to attract non-white newcomers.
3. Keeping up with Peters: Why live in Lebo when you can live in Washington County?
Money and taxes
4. The Mt. Lebanon School District: really best in the region? A realistic appraisal of educational quality.
5. Decoding the budgets: The real (and hidden) costs of running the Municipality and the School District.
6. Costs and benefits of public safety: What the citizens of Mt. Lebanon need vs. what they pay for.
Economy
7. High rent and vacant space: Office space in Uptown Mt. Lebanon.
Environment
8. School transit pollution: The environmental costs of driving your children to school every day.
9. Dogs on the run: Off the leash in Bird Park.
10. LAN parties, Rocky Horror, and other phenomena of Funky Town: The Tie-Dyed Mt. Lebanon undeground goes mainstream.
Labels: happy new year
2 Comments:
Sounds like a great place to have a "topic of the month" so to speak.
I was quite disappointed that they didn't have more (any?) articles on the candidates for council/school board. Maybe it goes back to the superintendent buy-out. They may not be set up for "investigative" reporting, but these are issues important to every resident of the city and to simply ignore them is irresponsible.
Who is the magazine for anyway? The few hundreds of potential Mt. Lebanon newcomers, or the 33,000 Mt. Lebanon residents? Well, its paid for with our tax dollars--I would hope that it's for us!
My suggestions to the list would be:
11. "Don't tase me bro" - a look at changes (if any) to the police department's taser policy following the 2005 use of a taser on a 66 year old
12. Public relations - Why Mt. Lebanon feels the need to spend $838,000 on public relations when other successful communities spend nothing
Here are a couple story ideas:
13. Mt. Lebanon "blights" property and quadruples property value.
14. School District diverts school taxes to make another 1/2 Millionaire.
The home at 421 Kenmont was recently sold (11/09/07) for the Zamagias development for $500,000. The property was previously purchased in 1995 for $78,000 and had an assessed market value of $121,000. See the reported sale at the county website: http://tinyurl.com/2bukp5
No problem with a homeowner selling property for what the market will bear! However, the inordinate rate of return on the Washington Park project created this new wealth, not normal market forces.
That is where the schools come in: without the unwarranted multi-million dollar tax diversion from the School District (via TIF), Zamagias Properties may not have afforded the property.
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