More Tech-Burgh rankings

Just looking at this now... but last month the Milken Institute came out with a report that ranks Pittsburgh 46th among regions as a technology pole. Ho hum. Not top 10 or even 20... but not 300. Also not much movement in recent years it looks like. For more see: North America’s High-Tech Economy: The Geography of Knowledge-Based Industries

Helping Nurses

Over the weekend I had some interesting conversations with local nurses about the quality of care, and nursing care in particular, at local health behemoth UPMC Health Systems. This morning, I read that new PA legislation took effect last week that bans mandatory overtime for nurses. That sounds like a win for both nurses and patients. For all of the region's current pride about "eds and meds" driving the new Pittsburgh economy, and for all of the related celebration of regional "innovation" (on the one hand), and for all of the bleating about the sheer scale and wealth of UPMC (on the other hand), I don't read much about UPMC and innovation, especially in health care administration. That's not a surprise. If UPMC is a monopolist, then as a monopolist it has little reason to innovate. But that failure to innovate -- the fact that the Pennsylvania Legislature (no model of innovation itself!) intervened to force a change in practices -- is a disappointment. Maybe I've missed an important story. Is that right? I've dealt with UPMC as a provider and insurance carrier for many years. The care has been fine, but the administration has been mediocre. I had a lot of contact with Kaiser Permanent in Northern California before I moved to Pittsburgh, and I was (and am) impressed with how that organization was run. Here and there, most recently in The New Yorker, I read stories that hold Kaiser up as something of a model of an efficient health care enterprise that delivers high quality care. Am I right that UPMC is a laggard on the first part of that equation, at least? I'd rather be shown to be wrong.

Pittsburgh Social and Business Entrepreneurs - Near and Far

Two links of interest from Austin, Texas - a place that just doesn't look or act like Pittsburgh, but that is full of interesting people and a lot of great music. "Learning from the Town of Steel," a blog post from back in May about some great not-for-profit resources and organizations that Pittsburgh has - and that Austin envies. Not all of the observations hit equally close to the mark, but it is always interesting to reflect on our assets from the perspective of a true outsider. "Capital Factory," an Austin-based start-up accelerator (thanks for the link, Jia) that's interesting because of the free stuff that gets offered to portfolio companies: Free basic IT infrastructure for email, website set up and hosted on Google Apps Free office space at Tech Ranch Austin or co-working space at Conjunctured $1,500 in free hosting from Rackspace, Mosso, Slicehost, and JungleDisk Free company formation and legal documents by Wilson Sonsini Free brand development and logo (if needed) by Clutch Creative Free help with your financial plan from vcfo and The Accounting Group Free banking from Square One Bank Free recruiting support by American Workforce Free press support from Porter Novelli Free presentation training Free software from Microsoft BizSpark Quibble with the details ("there's no such thing as a free lunch"), but on the whole this represents an impressive amount of partnering with local professional services firms, and an impressive amount of investment on their part in local entrepreneurs. Is there any comparable program for entrepreneurs in Pittsburgh -- one that offers free stuff, especially free, top-drawer legal advice, as part of the deal? None comes to mind, but maybe I've missed something.

The Mayor's Bad News for Pittsburgh

The little brouhaha over appointments to Pittsburgh's Stadium Authority and Zoning Board of Adjustment portends bad things for the City. It's not just that by making personal loyalty a sine qua non of service on a city Board, the Mayor echoes the worst traits of government at any and every level (and indirectly questions the integrity of all remaining Board and Commission members. Well done!). It's possible, in theory, to align loyalty and competence in personal appointments. Here, though, the Mayor shows that he just doesn't care about the competence side. When the G20 leaders show up, will they find a more or less new, gleaming, recovering city - with a musty, old-style city government at its core? My earlier Oreo cookie metaphor for Pittsburgh takes on an additional life. Impressive on the outside, mushy and forgettable on the inside. Specifically: From Pittsburgh's Zoning Board of Adjustment, out go Alice Mitinger and David Toal. From Alice Mitinger's law firm website: She is a member of the firm's Land Use, Environmental, Energy & Public Law Practice Group, which focuses on real estate development, environmental, construction and regulatory practices. Ms. Mitinger has had significant experience in zoning and land use litigation, and has appeared before municipal governing bodies and zoning hearing boards throughout Western Pennsylvania. Her appellate practice has included cases before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Pennsylvania Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts. David Toal has his own office, so there is no website, but he is co-author of a book on Pennsylvania zoning and land use law. In come Kirk Burkley, a lawyer whose law firm biography praises his experience in the areas of "bankruptcy, financial restructuring and creditors’ rights," and S. Manoj Jegasothy, also a lawyer, who is an experienced trial lawyer, with cases covering the gamut of "breach of contract claims, creditors' rights for large corporations, misappropriation of trade secrets, antitrust issues, declaratory judgments, defamation, tortious interference, breach of non-compete agreements, tenure issues, and insurance disputes, as well as a myriad of personal injury issues." In other words, on a Board whose mission is "to hear appeals to consider granting variances or special exceptions to the Zoning Ordinance," the Mayor has replaced two people with abundant relevant expertise with two people with none. Kirk Buckley and Manoj Jegasothy may be fine people and fine lawyers, but neither one got the job because he has relevant professional experience. My informal sense is that the minefield of "ordinary" land use law is even more hazardous than is typical in Pittsburgh, for both developers and neighborhoods alike. It's a step backward for Pittsburgh to have a non-expert board that rules on zoning appeals.

Don't Cross the Mayor

I made a brief and uncommon foray into local politics the other day, when I joined the chorus of criticism over the changing of the Board at the Stadium Authority, as the Mayor clashed with former chair Debbie Lestitian over plans for the North Shore. The Mayor's office has confirmed the common reading of those events: Debbie Lestitian exercised independent judgment, and for that she was removed. I don't know Debbie Lestitian, so in that case I'm going solely by what I read in the media. I can add a personal observation, however, to today's coverage of city boards and their members. Debbie Lestitian isn't the only person being pushed aside; Zoning Board of Adjustment member Alice Mitinger hasn't been reappointed. Is this a case of Lestitian-like retribution, given that she wrote the opinion that concluded that the city's approval of the Grant Street electronic billboard was improper? That opinion that produced a 1-1 vote on the Board, which the Court of Common Pleas just held properly put a stop to construction of the billboard. (Did anyone put a copy of the ZBA's opinions online? Bram, at the Comet, has the ZBA opinion -- see the second image.) The Mayor's office says "no": Ms. Doven sought to make a distinction between the zoning board moves and the decision to end Ms. Lestitian's tenure on the stadium panel. "The mayor didn't agree with Debbie's decisions on the board," she said. "He has a vision for development on the North Shore and she doesn't agree with his vision, so it shouldn't come as a surprise." "I wouldn't make a similar point about the [zoning board] changes," she added. Here's my supplement. I don't know Debbie Lestitian, but I do know Alice Mitinger. While she needs no defense from me, I'll note that she is skilled, smart, accomplished, and independent -- precisely the sort of individual that the Mayor should want to continue to serve the City. That's partly because she's committed to serving and serving with integrity, and she has done so already. It's also because inviting people of that caliber to serve the City speaks well of the City itself, as a place and as a government that isn't afraid of what intelligent, committed citizens have to say -- whether or not her not being re-appointed is payback for the billboard affair.

Pittsburgh and International Sport

Having repeatedly criticized the Post-Gazette for failing to give any meaningful coverage to meaningful international soccer football matches -- a problem that I've attributed to the paper's unwillingness to stir the region from its general lethargy when it comes to international affairs -- I need to dole out some deserved credit. The paper gave great space and art to the unexpected success that the US Men's National Team enjoyed in the Confederations Cup, now about to conclude in South Africa. Of course, hockey season is over, and football season hasn't begun, so professional sports in Pittsburgh are suffering the summer doldrums that we've come to expect. The PG needs to put something interesting in print. And the paper is running wire service coverage; no one on its sports staff knows anything about soccer (if they do, they're not writing about it). And the prominence of the coverage owes more to bandwagon jingoism than anything else. When the US got unexpectedly bodyslammed by Brazil earlier in the tournament, the paper carried a note, but nothing significant. Still, I'll take what I can get, and maybe this bodes well for the rest of the summer. It would be nice to see more attention in the local media to international dimensions of this about-to-host-the-G20 summit city. When I'm writing about soccer here, I'm writing about it partly because I'm a fan, but partly because of what it says about the region. Right now, the indicators are modestly positive. As a fan, I'll make a prediction for Sunday's final. I've seen the US play Brazil, in person (1994), and I know that the Americans can bring it when they need and want to. But don't be distracted by Kaká and the samba offense. The Brazilians are fierce in the back, even if they sometimes lack discipline. The US scores first, but Brazil scores last. O Jogo Bonito 2, Americans 1.

Ambitious? You Be the Judge.

From a recent Silicon Valley news report: To call Michael Madison ambitious is an understatement. His goal for the next five years is simple — to dramatically change the venture capital landscape forever. I'd better get started.

The Californication of Pittsburgh

Bill Toland's recent Diapora Report focused on in-migration of Californians. The Golden State is falling apart, almost literally, and its middle class is seeking greener pastures elsewhere. Bill writes: We've sent tens of thousands of Pittsburghers to California over the past 25 years, but lately, the inflow-outflow has become more balanced. From 2000 to 2006, we sent 2,200 Pittsburghers to the Los Angeles metro area, and they sent us 2,300 Californians in return, according to IRS data. That's partly because we're running out of people to send, but maybe there's more to it than that. When I moved here with my family 11 years ago, I had the clear sense that I was part of a California out-migration (virtually all of the families in our pre-K program vacated the state within a couple of years of the kids starting elementary school), and as I met California ex-pats in the Pittsburgh region, there were inklings that we were part of a First Wave. Now, from that report, it sounds like there is a Second Wave well under way. But as the numbers grow, so do expectations. With Californians, will Pittsburgh get Californication? The "New Girl in Town" column in Pop City asks: what kind of amenties could Pittsburgh use? The answers -- a public market, a "living wall," a "global newsstand," a destination downtown -- sound vaguely little Pittsburgh could do to make itself a little more like San Francisco or Seattle. (That's not a complete surprise; the New Girl and her family chose Pittsburgh after living in San Francisco.) In a couple of respects, that's fine. First, I'm for anything that brings a broader international sensibility to the region, and/or brings visibility to its existing international communities -- especially the non-European communities. I'm not waiting for anything like this to happen overnight, however, and a global newsstand is a non-starter in any case. Out of Town News in Harvard Square escaped closure earlier this year by the skin of its teeth. If times are tough for printed international news in Cambridge, then they don't stand a chance in Western PA. Second, I'm for dreaming big and pushing the envelope. If Californication brings a more robust "why not?" sensibility to Pittsburgh, I think that's great. The broader point is that even in terms of amenities that we'd like to have more of in Pittsburgh (as opposed to, say, transparency, accountability, and fiscal sanity for local government, which are necessities that Pittsburgh truly needs), I wouldn't put "make Pittsburgh more like Seattle or San Francisco" at the top of the list. It's fine to think "why not?," but San Francisco and Seattle aren't models for me (sure, SF and Pgh both have hills, cable cars, and boy mayors, and Seattle and Pgh both have hills and company-town histories, but there the similarities largely end). Instead, I'd put "infrastructure" at the top of the local list -- public safety and public transportation being two of the most important -- so that the great people who already live and work here can make the most of the opportunities that they should have. Let Pittsburgh become Pittsburgh. As a prescription, that's really vague, so let's make it concrete: Before we imagine building a public market, let's help Karen Lillis find a safe place to live and way to travel around the city. Illustration: Californication, by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Mt. Lebanon and Today's Sign of the Pittsburgh Apocalypse

It's rare that anything happening out in Mt. Lebanon, PA warrants attention in the broader Pittsburgh Burgh-o-sphere, but recent happenings are just that odd. Earlier this week, the Mt. Lebanon Commission voted 4-1 to authorize a $2 million general obligation bond issue, with a 20-year maturity, to pay for street and sidewalk maintenance. Apparently, Mt. Lebanon's regular budget just doesn't have the funds to pay to maintain all of its streets. Over at Blog-Lebo, which stands watch over things Mt. Lebanon, the commenters thoughtfully point out that this deal is even more bizarre than it might seem initially. Most of the interest on the bonds gets paid toward the end of the bond, but it accrues throughout. Translation: the interest here is huge -- but deferred. Why mention this here? Because I wonder whether Mt. Lebanon might be a canary in Pittsburgh's economic coal mine. I don't know why the Commissioners decided not to live within the town's ordinary budgetary means. To the best of my knowledge, none of the streets or sidewalks in question is dangerous or in need of repair that is so urgent that we can't wait to pay for repairs in the ordinary course. The fact that Mt. Lebanon decided to put the bill on the taxpayers' proverbial credit card suggests that tax revenue may have fallen to the point that Mt. Lebanon can't afford to pay all of its ordinary municipal bills without going further into debt -- and high interest credit-card style debt at that. (Too bad Mt. Lebanon couldn't really put the tab on a rewards-earning card!) If Mt. Lebanon is struggling to pay its bills -- Mt. Lebanon, which much of Pittsburgh loves to sneer at for its high living -- then there may not be a lot of cheering about the prosperity of the region as a whole by the time the G20 rolls around in September. If I'm right, then undoubtedly there will be local Schadenfreude to spare. But Mt. Lebanon won't be alone. Of course, I may be completely wrong. Instead of being cash-poor, Mt. Lebanon may have gotten advice about how to fund municipal operations from the same folks who brought us the overheated, overleveraged housing-and-CDO market. Or the Commissioners voting for the bond issue thought that the taxpayers of Mt. Lebanon are paying just enough attention to see "street repair" and "no upfront cost to the taxpayer" in the same equation and think that nothing is amiss (or worse - that things are fine!) -- while hundreds of thousands of dollars in needless interest expense goes flying out the door over the life of the bonds. Maybe this is just the usual we-get-the-lousy-local-government-we-pay-for that Pittsburghers have gotten accustomed to. Or maybe Mt. Lebanon's tax revenue is declining - but other areas of Allegheny County haven't or won't see comparable declines. If you're keeping score at home, you might be aware of the fact that the Mt. Lebanon School Board is finalizing a project to replace the aging Mt. Lebanon high school facility. The construction budget (that is, the tab for the taxpayers)? Whatever the amount of money that the Board is legally authorized to spend without asking the taxpayers to actually vote thumbs up or thumbs down on the project -- which is to say, somewhere in the neighborhood of $110 to $115 million. The School Board has to be thinking that if they put that project to a vote, the taxpayers of Mt. Lebanon would vote it down; that's another big bill for the government credit card. The Municipality of Mt. Lebanon and the School District are separate entities, but the bloody taxes get squeezed out of the same human stones. I know that lots of Post-Gazette staff (even continuing Post-Gazette staff) live in Mt. Lebanon and I know that a lot of them (including the Mt. Lebanon residents) read this blog. Here's a story idea: Test the hypothesis. How are municipal economies doing around Southwest PA? Is Mt. Lebanon an outlier, a canary in the coal mine, or neither? [Update Wednesday June 24: A resident went to the videotape, as Warner Wolf might say. The mystery in Mt. Lebanon thickens.]

Metablogging: How Will Cities Respond?

I put this up just for Bram and a few others, maybe for a few of the recently retired journalists in town... Governing has some thoughts and links titled: Microjournalism: How Will Cities Respond?