Public policy, tasteless & tasty
Bankruptcy experts tell the Tribune-Review that it’s unlikely the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County will recover any of the money it is owed by the promoter of this summer’s canceled Three Rivers Regatta.
That’s because LionHeart Event Group has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Government typically ends up at the bottom of the creditors’ list, says Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.
Which prompts, yet again, this question:
How could government officials be so totally asleep at the switch on this mess?
Public officials maintain they were caught flat-footed because LionHeart misled everybody about its financial wherewithal.
But the fact remains that the city and county were owed tens of thousands of dollars for unpaid security services for past LionHeart events, including the regatta.
Somehow we don’t think the “Anything That Floats Race” should have included floating LionHeart’s arrearages.
It’s rather tasteless to blame LionHeart without concomitantly questioning your own due diligence.
Public policy, of course, is serious business. But that doesn’t mean practicality can’t have a subtle and wry humorous side that sates the taste buds at the same time.
Take for instance a Post-Gazette editorial on the dangers of not regularly culling the region’s robust Canada geese population.
Simply put, “Goose feces contain dangerous bacteria” and it can leach into water,” the P-G notes in an exhortation for hunters to take advantage of state-sanctioned expanded Canada geese hunting.
“Biologists with the state Game Commission estimate there are thousands and thousands more resident Canada geese than can be safely accommodated by Pennsylvania’s habitat,” the editorial reminds.
But it also reminds, adroitly, if not wryly: “Goose meat tends to be lean so one takes a chance if the cooking method is roasting.
“Brining the meat and serving with a berry fruit sauce are good options,” it adds.
Which is almost certain to not endear the P-G to Canada geese huggers, so to speak.
That said, goose meat indeed does, as one culinary expert reminded, tend to taste like “day-old liver” if not prepared properly. The chef highly recommends goose pastrami or an apple cider braise.
Who says sound public policy can’t be tasty, too?
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).