It's where Kennywood is

A while ago, Jason over at Tube City discussed what he perceived was the shabby treatment that Kennywood Park has received at the hands of the West Mifflin Borough government. Here is an excerpt:

I don't think that local government should be in the business of real estate development (for more information, see also, "City of Pittsburgh, bankruptcy of" or "City of Pittsburgh, failure of Fifth and Forbes"), but I have to wonder if better zoning and traffic and infrastructure improvements along "Kennywood Boulevard" would attract some private investment.

To put it another way: Since 1999, West Mifflin has collected $3.5 million in tax revenue directly from the sale of tickets at Kennywood. Does someone from West Mifflin care to show me the $3.5 million in zoning code changes, tax incentives for commercial development, and improved signals and lighting on Kennywood Boulevard that have been made in that period of time?

Or is the borough balancing its budget (including the cost of that spiffy $2 million three-story municipal hall on Lebanon Church Road, formerly a taxable privately-owned office building) on the back of its only tourist attraction and one of its few claims to fame?

I may be way off-base here. Perhaps there are more costs to the taxpayers of West Mifflin caused by Kennywood than I'm aware of. Perhaps West Mifflin is acting solely in the best interests of its taxpayers. As a West Mifflin taxpayer myself, I sure hope so.

Jason raises some interesting points. I don't believe that governments should coddle large employers, but nor do I think they should exploit them. Personally, I don't understand why West Mifflin wouldn't want to spruce up the corridor leading into Kennywood. Think of the thousands of people who drive into the community each year to go to the park, and think of the impression of West Mifflin they are left with.

My wife and I grew up in Westmoreland County, and we know that many people there regard Kennywood as something of an oasis in the midst of urban decay -- a perception that I suspect is not limited to the hinterlands. Is that really the image West Mifflin wants to project?

It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world

Jason and Pat Buchanan are in agreement, and I don't think either one is too pleased about it. Seriously, though, what has become of our foreign policy when Pat Buchanan is a voice of reason?

The road to ruin

Our friends at the Tube City Almanac doubt that the Mon-Fayette Expressway is going to do much good for the Mon Valley:

In fact, I have a strong feeling that all the Mo-Fo will do is move people further out into mostly-rural places like Union Township and Nottingham Township. Suddenly you'll be able to work in the Golden Triangle and live in Gastonville, just as I-279 made it practical to live in Wexford or Cranberry.

But as far as I can tell, I-279 hasn't helped Pittsburgh's North Side at all --- and I don't think the Mo-Fo is going to provide much benefit to the communities it passes through.

I couldn't agree more. I've previously blogged on this issue here, here , here and here.

Don't blame me, I voted for Swann

Gee, I wish I had written this:

My point, and I do have one, is that the state has never even tried to cut expenses. There has been no "belt-tightening" anywhere! The first response to any cash shortage in Pennsylvania is always "soak the taxpayers."

An editorial in the Daily News on Wednesday called the 1 percent sales tax increase "the least objectionable of (Rendell's) proposals." Statewide, the tax would go to 7 percent. (Sales taxes in Allegheny County would be 8 percent to account for the Regional Asset District fund.)

But according to this table, state sales taxes in Ohio are 5.5 percent. West Virginia's are 6 percent on all purchases except food (5 percent). Connecticut's are 6 percent. Left-wing, liberal, tax-and-spend New York levies a sales tax of only 4 percent. In Massachusetts --- that's "Taxachusetts" to Republicans, you know --- it's 4 percent.
. . .
I don't know about you, but I find a sales tax increase highly objectionable under these conditions. It's suicidal for Pennsylvania to raise its sales tax to a rate higher than nearly all of the other Mid-Atlantic states. (Except for New Jersey --- their sales tax is 7 percent. Hooray for us --- we'll be as bad as New Jersey!)

And that brings me to the final news item that caught my eye this week --- the Quinnipiac University poll that shows Fast Eddie with a 61 percent approval rating --- an all-time high.
Perhaps the survey sample was comprised entirely of Rendell's family and cheesesteak vendors in Philadelphia. They sure didn't ask me. I would have a hard time pointing to one accomplishment of the Rendell administration, other than the highly dubious achievement of legalizing slot-machine gaming.

When Rendell won re-election last year --- against a Republican candidate whose qualifications were weak and whose campaign was weaker --- I hoped that winning a second term would embolden the governor to take some stronger stands to reform state government.
Let's just say that the first two weeks of Rendell's second four years in office do not fill me with optimism.

Full disclosure: The rabble-rouser who wrote that is a good friend of mine, despite the fact that he clearly has a bad attitude. He also demonstrates on a regular basis that you can actually use a blog to commit journalism. But there are a few things he leaves out in his discussion of the governor's odious plan to raise the state sales tax. Like the $6 million in state aid that the governor gave American Eagle to move its headquarters from one part of Allegheny County to another. Like the $4 million so the Steelers can build an amphitheater on the North Shore. Or the $30 million so PNC can build an unnecessary office tower Downtown.

And don't get me started on the Penguins.

Pardon me, Mr. President

I've always accepted the conventional wisdom that Gerald Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon was, in the long run, the best thing for the nation, but Tube City makes a persuasive argument otherwise. (And my wife, who has better things to do with her time than opine on a blog, also has been trying to set me straight.)