Pittsburgh 1984....Or is it? Part II: Out for Justice

Right after I posted my last little Pulitzer piece on more cameras in the city, another article came out: Check it out here.

Long story short, the city wants to put cameras on street cleaners to capture no-good illegal parkers on the streets. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before people start bitching about 1984, invasion of privacy, bla bla bla.

The Radical Middle has picked up on it, and while I understand his sentiment, that for a mayor who doesn't want to be followed around by the media (as if that wasn't part of the job or something) he sure does want to know what the residents of Pittsburgh are doing via camera.

Like I said, I understand the sentiment, but disagree at the same time.

First, to understand this argument you will have to remove your tinfoil hats once again.

Done? Ok, good.

Now, Before people start bitching about their rights being infringed upon, think for just a quick second what this is trying to accomplish. It is true that it's illegal to park on streets during cleaning day. This technology would be placed on street sweepers to enforce this ordnance. I could see someone's complaint, say, if the city said, "we want to more effectively enforce illegal parking laws and we will therefore be putting cameras in your car." That is what I would call an invasion of privacy. To install city owned cameras on city owned street cleaners to enforce an established city ordnance is what I call clever thinking, NOT an invasion of privacy.

Second. Everyone hates government employees. Most of them are Union, overpaid, and often lazy. Now we have a plan, to help make enforcement of a city ordnance more cost effective and efficient by reducing the labor and logistics costs of enforcing this ordnance, and people will want to bitch. People, as a general rule want to jump all over the government at any level when there is perceived money wasting going on (myself included). This time the city wants to increase efficiency and decrease costs, but yet I would be willing to bet that there will be a lot of pissed off tinfoil hat wearers who, once again, wrongly feel that their rights are being infringed upon.

You may now replace your tinfoil hat on your head.

This is Why Part II

"He ain't (expletive) comin' down, and I ain't waitin' all day for him," she told a colleague, crew chief Kim Long, at the dispatch center. "I mean, what the (expletive), this ain't no cab service."

Those words were uttered by someone charged with helping injured and sick people. Those words constitute a dereliction of duty. As a result of the attitude displayed by the person who spoke the above phrase and several others a man died.

Let’s go over that one more time, an AMBULANCE FUCKING MEDIC, whose job it is to save peoples lives and help those in health related distress was too goddamn lazy to do their JOB and someone died.

Unacceptable! Snow or no snow, you are NOT a taxi service, you are supposed to be the difference between life and death for some people. I guess these EMS workers WERE the difference.

Why am I so pissed about this a month+ later? Because the “punishment” was handed down yesterday. The worst offender got 5 days unpaid leave….ohhh that stings! I challenge someone to explain to me how a light slap on the wrist is acceptable when a man died because of this person’s LAZY, and holier than thou attitude.
Oh that’s right, they’re in a Union. An organization where standards are low, and substandard behavior is not only ignored, it’s defended vehemently (The head of the paramedic union has vowed to fight the suspensions).

Once Again, Calm Down!

Back from a several day snow shoveling extravaganza! I still love the snow and have yet to see the actual end of the world.Apparently the rest of Pittsburgh does not love the snow, and may actually think that they have seen the end of the world. If you can’t pause for a second to admire the beauty, or to throw a snowball, or to make a snow angel, you may just be a grumpy asshole who needs to re-evaluate how happy you are in your life.


There are quite a few hilarious nuggets in the past few days’ daily papers. My personal favorite came in today’s Post Gazette. I knew that the mayor was fighting a war on several fronts, snow, potholes, garbage, and anal leakage, I think.
Well the casualties from the war on snow are apparently piling up. The best quote of the article comes from a parking meter reader union shop steward, with the typical union flair for the over-dramatic:

“They’re not getting the training they need to be shown how to properly shovel snow…They’re not getting trained in how to lift 50-Pound bags of salt. One’s already down (BAHHHH!!!!)…and I’ve got more wounded (again, BAHHHHH!!!!) people coming in.”

Holy shit, they’re under fire! Those downtown snipers are rough, I know. I don’t want to belittle these people who are probably busting their asses, but really, do we need a block of instruction on how to shovel snow and how to lift things? Not to mention the over the top combat reference. It’s as ridiculous as it is hilarious.

I can’t wait to see the spaz-fest that happens tomorrow after we get our next 10 inches.

This is why.

You wanna know why in my extremely humble opinion Unions have gone off the deep end and did a long time ago? Among other things, this.

I don’t harbor any crazy feelings about Unions the way Repbublicans do, calling them socialist organizations and whatnot. I am all for protecting the worker from the man, but honestly, you don’t want to hold firefighters accountable for their actions? Bla Bla Bla, innocent until proven guilty, I got it, but there is a clear pattern of misconduct being reinforced by a lack of accountability. Shit, I can get drunk, break into someone’s house, and get caught all while maintaining my employment….sweet.

These people don’t deserve to garner all the benefits of continued employment while under criminal investigation. If they’re innocent, awesome, back to work, but not before then.

I think Unions have more in common with their right wing foe than they both would be willing to admit. Both cling at all costs to the status quo, and both have a penchant for name calling and back biting.

As much as I dislike little Luke, I have to call it like I see it. I like the tough stance he is taking, these shysters can’t continue to think that their foolish actions outside of work should not affect their employment, especially when you, me and every other resident is paying for it!