Monday, September 25, 2006
Reporter Takes Cheap Shots At Transit Critics
The transportation reporter for Pittsburgh’s “liberal” newspaper chose to take a cheap shot at the overwhelming majority of people in western Pennsylvania who recognize the North Shore tunnel project as a complete waste of tax dollars. In Sunday’s edition he writes, “extension of the light-rail system to the North Shore has become the new whipping boy for opponents still yapping about the necessity and cost of PNC Park and Heinz Field.”
What arrogance. PNC Park and Heinz Field were shoved down taxpayers’ throats after they clearly rejected using tax dollars for the new stadiums in the November 1997 referendum. A Plan B was rapidly put in place and, with the arm-twisting of the Governor, the legislature agreed to spend $150 million to build the new facilities. This despite the fact proponents of the stadium tax and elected officials repeatedly told voters before the referendum that there was no Plan B.
Before the referendum when it was suggested by the Allegheny Institute that the RAD money be used for the new stadiums the response was that the RAD money could not be used for major new construction. Regional Asset tax dollars are now being used to service bond debt issued to build the stadiums. The deception and duplicity by officials has been nothing short of breathtaking. No wonder people are still “yapping”. They were callously and arrogantly ignored even after they spoke loudly in the referendum.
To further illustrate his lack of command of simple analysis, the reporter says we should be happy to have the North Shore money because compared to projects in New York, San Francisco and Seattle; the Pittsburgh project is relatively cheap on a per mile basis. The reporter does not bother to tell us how many passengers the other systems are forecast to carry. It is a virtual certainty that the connection between Long Island and Manhattan or the Second Avenue subway will carry dozens of times more riders than the ginned up numbers for the North Shore Connector.
If a “reporter” is going to editorialize in a belittling way against those he disagrees with, that reporter should show that he has command of the facts and understands them in their proper context.
What arrogance. PNC Park and Heinz Field were shoved down taxpayers’ throats after they clearly rejected using tax dollars for the new stadiums in the November 1997 referendum. A Plan B was rapidly put in place and, with the arm-twisting of the Governor, the legislature agreed to spend $150 million to build the new facilities. This despite the fact proponents of the stadium tax and elected officials repeatedly told voters before the referendum that there was no Plan B.
Before the referendum when it was suggested by the Allegheny Institute that the RAD money be used for the new stadiums the response was that the RAD money could not be used for major new construction. Regional Asset tax dollars are now being used to service bond debt issued to build the stadiums. The deception and duplicity by officials has been nothing short of breathtaking. No wonder people are still “yapping”. They were callously and arrogantly ignored even after they spoke loudly in the referendum.
To further illustrate his lack of command of simple analysis, the reporter says we should be happy to have the North Shore money because compared to projects in New York, San Francisco and Seattle; the Pittsburgh project is relatively cheap on a per mile basis. The reporter does not bother to tell us how many passengers the other systems are forecast to carry. It is a virtual certainty that the connection between Long Island and Manhattan or the Second Avenue subway will carry dozens of times more riders than the ginned up numbers for the North Shore Connector.
If a “reporter” is going to editorialize in a belittling way against those he disagrees with, that reporter should show that he has command of the facts and understands them in their proper context.
