Construction Creates Chopper Confusion, Communication Challenges

The greater Sewickley area, with the Hospital and its most recent medical helicopter landing zones indicated. (Bing Maps)

On a quiet Sunday afternoon last October, I was doing some household chores when the unmistakable hum of rotors overhead shook the house. I knew the sound – a light twin-engine helicopter, most frequently used locally for EMS purposes. Not having heard the fire department across the street responding anywhere, I turned on the scanner and jumped in the car.

What was happening should be a fairly routine occurrence for any community that has a hospital such as Heritage Valley Sewickley. Interfacility transfers from smaller hospitals to larger facilities with specialized capabilities make up the lion’s share of the air medical transport business in this region. A helicopter had been summoned to transport a patient from the Sewickley hospital to a specialty facility in Pittsburgh.

This is a more complicated process than in most communities; Sewickley is one of only two full-service hospitals in Allegheny County that is not served by a licensed heliport (the other is UPMC McKeesport). Typically, the use of this type of Landing Zone (LZ) requires a Police, Fire, and EMS response - scene safety and security issues need to be addressed, and an ambulance is needed to transport the helicopter crew to the hospital, and bring them and the patient back to the aircraft. 

The radio traffic revealed a lot. The helicopter was circling Quaker Valley High School’s stadium, but was telling its dispatcher that all they saw was an athletic event. They could not make radio contact with anyone on the ground. The helicopter’s dispatch directed them to the field at the Sewickley Valley YMCA, across Blackburn Road from the hospital. Upon my arrival there, families were playing soccer together, but nothing indicated that the field was to be used for emergency purposes.

I found the collected public safety resources of Sewickley Borough assembled at the Quaker Valley Middle School, awaiting an aircraft that never came. The STAT Medevac chopper elected to land at the Valley Ambulance Authority headquarters, across the river along Route 51 just south of the Sewickley Bridge.

Construction activity at the Middle School had just begun in earnest; I heard additional radio traffic that indicated that the Middle School, which apparently was the "regular" LZ for the hospital, was not going to be available for use because of the work going on. I chalked up the confusion to this logistical uncertainty, and figured that the powers that be would have it straightened out in short order.

However, two similar situations occurred during the third week of January. On the first occasion the helicopter elected to land at Valley Ambulance again. The following day, the landing occurred at Osborne Elementary School.  I thought it necessary to look into the situation a little further. What I found presented an opportunity to learn more, and perhaps identify some issues that may need to be looked into down the road.

Aerial view of Heritage Valley Sewickley, with the YMCA and its soccer field across Blackburn Road. 

(Google Maps)

When I lived in the area before 1995, helicopter landings for patients at what was then Sewickley Valley Hospital were relatively infrequent. When those landings did occur, the LZ of choice was the soccer field at the Sewickley Valley YMCA, as illustrated.

During 1993 and 1994, controversy ensued about the lack of a heliport at the hospital, along with issues related to noise and safety as it impacted residents of the neighborhoods surrounding both the hospital and the YMCA. I contributed my own opinion at the time, which was that if the hospital intended to fly people out of their facility, then they should work toward building a heliport on their campus.

I wondered why the YMCA was apparently no longer being considered for landings, and found two public servants willing to shed more light on the subject. Cochran Hose Company Chief Jeff Neff stated that the YMCA field has become "tighter" for landings due to the facility's expansion encroaching upon it, and the field's location against a wooded hillside. When the "Y" added a row of parking to its lot south of the field, the decision was made to use the Middle School field along Ohio River Boulevard as the "official" landing area. Sewickley YMCA Executive Director Trish Hooper did not respond to a request for comment.

Chief Neff also stated that he had received an e-mail from "someone on the medical side" indicating that until the work at the Middle School was complete, all landing zones for patients being flown out of the hospital will be established at Valley Ambulance's headquarters. This landing area is located between Route 51 and the railroad tracks, in a largely industrial area. Sewickley Borough Manager Kevin Flannery, who has been directly involved in the planning efforts to establish an acceptable designated landing area, confirmed Chief Neff's statements. When asked about any community concerns regarding more recent arrangements, Mr. Flannery stated that his office has not received any complaints in recent years.

Landing Zone at Valley Ambulance Authority headquarters along Route 51 in Moon Township.

Acceptance by the community is but one of a two-pronged approach to the problem of where to establish an area to land what is, for many areas, a critical means of accessing emergency care. According to Frederick V. Peterson Jr., Vice President for Emergency Management at the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania, the state has "strict licensure criteria" that govern exactly where and how a heliport is constructed, maintained, and monitored, including assuring that the landing area is "sized to accommodate the size of the aircraft that intend to use it". Mr. Peterson added that an unlicensed LZ designated by a hospital for patient transfers may only be permitted a certain number of landings before attracting some type of regulatory attention. 

As you would expect, the government has lots to say about heliports. The FAA has published detailed guides with recommendations on heliport design, and one of the nation's foremost authorities on fire safety and emergency preparedness has just issued updated standards for the nation's heliports, most of which are owned and/or operated by hospitals.

In Pennsylvania, evaluating and licensing heliports falls under the purview of PennDOT, and its Aviation Division. Spokesperson Erin Waters characterized her agency's approach to an unlicensed hospital LZ this way:

While we evaluate heliport situations on a case-by-case basis, in general, if the hospital's stated "intent" is that the designated site will be used approximately four times a year then no licensing action would be required. The municipality may have local zoning requirements that must be met as well for this "infrequent" use. Upon owners' request, we would be willing to review sites. We work to facilitate a cooperative relationship with aviation stakeholders.

The amount of use that LZs get in the Sewickley area would appear to fit that profile. When asked about any concerns that the Quaker Valley School District had regarding the use of their property for this purpose, Dr. Joseph Marrone, Director of Administrative Services, stated in an e-mail:

Safety which has been addressed by all concerned.  The other is disruption to the teaching and learning process.  The use of the fields is very infrequent, a few times a year.

Another factor to consider is the role that Heritage Valley Sewickley plays as the closest hospital with an Emergency Department to Pittsburgh International Airport. In the event of a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) there, or anywhere proximal to the Sewickley area, how would the lack of a licensed heliport impact the hospital's ability to receive and/or manage patients? 

According to Knox T. Walk, EMS Manager for Allegheny County Emergency Services, the impact would be negligible. "No hospital destinations (specific to the severity of a patient's injuries) are written into the Airport MCI plan", Mr. Walk stated. This is designed to prevent any particular hospital or group of hospitals, i.e. trauma centers, from being inundated with victims it could not handle. Given the hospital's proximity to Pittsburgh and its trauma centers and other specialty facilities, Mr. Walk added that he thought it "doubtful" that helicopters would be used to transport patients from Sewickley Hospital in an MCI scenario.

Considering that it takes me about 20 minutes, absent rush hour traffic, to get into downtown Pittsburgh from Leetsdale, one can see very quickly the validity of Mr. Walk's assertions. In addition, our area is served by one of the county's largest and most competently run EMS agencies. The availability of rapid ground transport, combined with the direct traffic routes and drive time at emergency speeds, literally makes a helicopter trip from Sewickley into Pittsburgh more time-consuming in comparison.

With these factors in mind, why are any patients flown from our area hospital? This is where incident-specific circumstances and patient care issues begin to muddy the clearer waters we seem to have explored thus far.

It's been reported that some of these most recent helicopter trips involved the transport of pediatric patients or premature infants. The specialty centers that receive and treat these types of patients often send their own personnel and equipment with the helicopter to effect the patient transfer. These "specialty teams" help to assure that the patient receives specialized care at the earliest opportunity, and helps the referring hospital meet its obligations under federal law to effect the transfer with "qualified personnel and transportation equipment", which the referring hospital may not have or be able to spare.

In some cases, the hospital receiving the patient is the one that makes decisions on the mode of transport. This appears to be the case with one of the recent landings; according to Mr. Flannery, the staff at Heritage Valley Sewickley were not aware that a helicopter was being sent. In the early 90's, a medical helicopter with a Children's Hospital transport team responded for a child in distress at the Edgeworth Commons outpatient surgery center, landing in the parking lot with little or no prior notification to local Police, Fire, or EMS. Incidents such as this helped to create the emphasis on a coordinated, multi-disciplinary response to help assure proper coordination and protection of patients, responders, and community assets.

So where was the ball dropped here? As it is so often in many, if not most jurisdictions across the country, problems arise when essential communication pathways are under-utilized or ignored. Something as simple as the lack of a common radio frequency for contact between ground responders and the aircraft continues to hamper air medical responses, and diminishes their effectiveness when time to definitive care is a factor.

A change in the availability of an infrequently-used landing area - recognizing that change, identifying an alternate contingency, and communicating it to all stakeholders in advance of a pressing need - these are all things that I have encountered in my years in EMS, air medical, and public safety communications.

I would have preferred to obtain a greater perspective from what would appear by all aspects to be the key local stakeholder, but attempts to secure a statement from, or an interview with, a representative of Heritage Valley Sewickley were unsuccessful. J. Daniel Murphy, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, stated in an e-mail that he tried to obtain a statement for a week after my initial call, but didn't have any luck.

Mr. Murphy referred me to Mr. Flannery at Sewickley Borough, who seems to be the official most responsible for assuring that some form of communication took place across multiple jurisdictions, institutions, and disciplines. Multiple messages left for representatives of the region's air medical service providers,  STAT Medevac and Life Flight, also went unanswered.

It seems that we as citizens, and especially as health care consumers, are faced with an escalating risk-versus-benefit equation when it comes to managing the type of health care services we seek out, receive, and are able to reasonably afford. As these concerns continue into this presidential election year and beyond, it's my hope that we can have some assurance that the community's public safety net - and that includes hospitals and helicopters - will all be on the same page about what is needed, how to get it here safely, and how to make sure the community's risk profile is not impacted negatively by a lack of coordination or communication.

Be safe out there.

The Bus Is For All Of Us

Public transportation is on my mind. 

With regard to this topic, I must temporarily digress back to Grand Junction, Colorado for a moment.

Residents and business owners around the location of the proposed Greyhound station and Grand Valley Transit transfer center in the 24 1/2 Road and Patterson Road area are correct in their assertions that the proposed location is not a good one. They're just right for all the wrong reasons.

Recent reporting in the Daily Sentinel seemed to indicate that the basis for most of the complaints is rooted in classism, NIMBY, and/or financial self-interest. Not mentioned is the questionable appropriateness of a regional ground transportation hub so far removed from the centers of commercial activity and education, as well as the seats of government and location of essential social services.

As a property owner in the Downtown area, I continue to be amazed at the lengths that some will go to attempt to artificially gentrify this area and the surrounding neighborhoods. When the homeless shelter was moved from Downtown to North Avenue, did the homeless leave Downtown with it? How many of us honestly believe that flinging the Greyhound out will do the same?

I'm driven to recall the very first GVT transfer point, when the service was first instituted nearly 12 years ago. The former parking lot at 12th and Orchard, owned by the former Mesa State College, seemed a logical choice, and appeared to function well until the College's expansion plans forced a relocation.

Now that Colorado Mesa University appears poised to expand its campus all the way to 7th Street, an opportunity presents itself to re-establish a connection between the University and the remainder of the Grand Valley through development of such a transportation hub in the heart of the North Avenue multi-use district that the City has worked so hard to plan for.

A combined Greyhound / GVT transportation center on the CMU campus would serve all manner of people coming to Grand Junction to work, access government services, and learn. These people would find access to these services and facilities to be much more efficient than trying to reach them from the west end of town, and CMU students would have easy access to buses across town or across the state. Win-Win.

City and County government leaders, who do not have the authority to prevent CMU from doing what it wants with their property, should nonetheless consider expending some political capital in trying to convince CMU administration of the potential benefits of such an establishment. Groups who represent potential stakeholders and beneficiaries of such an arrangement, i.e. CMU's Associated Student Government, should also be discussing this and getting involved.

Regardless of some inaccurate public perception about those who utilize public transportation, these types of facilities should be considered for the benefit of the entire community, irrespective of social or economic status. I feel bad for those who look at the area and its needs with such narrow vision.

Best wishes to those tasked with bringing improved local and regional public transportation to a reality.

Public Loss, Private Pain

'Michael' left us yesterday.

With no notice and little fanfare, the small tree that graced the right-of-way in front of our house in Leetsdale was unceremoniously removed. After contacting the borough office, they quickly owned up to being responsible - Public Works Director Doug Ford stated that he removed it because it was "obviously dead", and that they would be replacing it with another come spring.

Leslie was somewhat upset about this. The tree was planted by the borough 5 or so years ago, when her younger daughter Michaela was still alive, and naming every tree, bush, and plant in and around the yard. She named the tree Michael. Leslie thought for sure that the tree had bloomed over this past spring and summer, and questioned how anyone could really say a small tree like this is "obviously dead" in the dead of winter.

I conveyed her concerns to Mr. Ford, along with an admonition that he could have at least left a note on the door. He was unconvinced about the tree's viability, but seemed mildly sympathetic to my concerns about communicating with citizens.

In reality, you can't fault the borough. They're just doing a job and providing a service. They had no idea about the sentiment associated with this particular lowly tree, and if it was dead, it needed to be removed. Like so many other impacts of this life, one's ability to absorb the shocks, learn from them, and move on is part of what defines life itself. As one friend on Facebook has brought to my attention of late, "Sooner or later you have to give up all hope for a better past".

Even with this in mind, however, I cannot personally begin to fathom the anguish of losing a child. All I can do is draw on what I know from my own life, and try to be as supportive and loving as I can. I got to see my own son over the New Years' weekend. After returning to Colorado, he promptly ate it while snowboarding, and found himself lamenting the Steelers' fate at the hand of Tim Tebow from the waiting room of Community ER. Luckily, he is making a steady recovery from the effects of just a pinched nerve.

The last several weeks, which encompass the passing of one year into another, seem fraught with all manner of stress points - political, personal, presidential, predictional. If the Mayan calendar is to be given any credence at all, and the possibility of apocalypse is upon us, will Mel Gibson direct it? 

Leslie and I watched the movie Soul Surfer last night - based on the true story of a champion teenage surfer whose faith and courage helps her to transcend the effects of a devastating injury. I'll take that kind of attitude and self-confidence into the abyss any day of the week.

In the course of life and work I encounter many whose lives are dealt tragic blows, and at the same time are thrust into the public perception - for a moment, sometimes longer. They must try to pick up the pieces as best they can, often with the cameras rolling.

Before Christmas, the line of duty death of East Washington (Pa.) police officer John David Dryer was tragic enough without the revelation that he was also a dedicated and respected veterinarian, who operated his own clinic in Washington proper. Leslie thought she had heard of him, but had never met him. 

As a volunteer firefighter and Game Commission officer as well, Dr. Dryer's commitment to service extended above what American society seems to think is a citizen's call to duty these days. His passing and legacy were something that touched us beyond the normal measure.

There are fundraising efforts afoot to honor Dr. / Officer Dryer's memory, and provide assistance for his special needs son. Please consider lending your assistance.

During one recent shift, I answered three 9-1-1 calls from three separate people who found loved ones deceased. It’s my job to get the most critical information – where are you, what’s the problem – in a calm, dispassionate way, while still conveying an attitude of compassion and caring toward the caller and their plight. It’s a delicate balance to maintain, especially with hysterical callers or other out-of-control situations.

People who work in public safety have reactions to these kinds of situations just like any human being does. There are specialized resources available for them to help deal with what is known as Critical Incident Stress. Over my career, acceptance of these resources has penetrated some of the cultural and social barriers that permeate these disciplines, and that’s a good thing.

Still, nothing can really prepare you for dealing with the death of someone close to you. From both a professional and personal level, the loss of co-workers and family members hits the hardest, and all of us need help at times. Inevitably we must all find our own path through the five stages of grief - hopefully a healthy path - until we come out a more "human" being on the other side.

Making this kind of transition all the more difficult is when ambiguity and confusion about a person or set of circumstances clouds the path by which we navigate our feelings. Another friend on Facebook offered me some sage advice in this area:

One way I put situations into perspective is to view them as if I or my family was inserted into them and ask myself how would I react...how would I feel...etc. It is a very sobering way of corralling my emotions.

Such seems to be the case with the untimely and tragic death of Charles "Chaz" Buswell, age 19, on January 5. Mr. Buswell's public life was a turbulent one in recent months. You can read more about this here.

Mr. Buswell chose to post a final farewell to family, friends and others via Facebook. While his page has since been taken down, his final post is still available here.

His family chose to observe and mourn his passing privately; I will not attempt to embellish any of these circumstances with any feeble efforts at analysis, or attempting in vain to achieve an earthly understanding of this tragedy. Such an understanding feels to me to be one for each individual and their God, "whatever you conceive Him to be".

Still, as many young people search for answers and understanding in their lives, and many in the public safety and criminal justice communities try to make sense of and learn from cases like John David Dryer's and Chaz Buswell's, there is a need to rely on each other, and on those who have trod the path before us. 

All I know is that if my family were inserted into these circumstances, I would want to try to spare others the same pain and anguish, with the knowledge that the God I believe in did not mean for us to feel alone and helpless, or to isolate ourselves.

I'll conclude with a clip from a movie that is one of my most recent favorites. I got it for Christmas - thanks, Gianna. While not the most technologically savvy or visually stimulating scene, it is by far the most significant - for me.

Leslie told me that she did not want another tree planted in front of the house.

Maybe they'll at least let us hold on to Michael's stump for a while.

Holiday Potpourri

I hope that everyone has had a blessed holiday season thus far.

It's been a somewhat hectic few weeks. Over the course of that time, I've been trying to catalog those stories, observations, and ideas that made for short stops on the bullet train of my attention span.

Like a simmering pot of subtle fragrances designed to provide a pleasant ambiance, these numerous topics of interest have presented themselves to me as a fragrance, an odor, an olfactory metaphor that stimulates the thought process in some way - either memory, contemplation, or an emotional response.

While not all connected to the holiday season (and not all subtle or pleasant), they are no less topical and appropriate to the time of year, as well as our immediate future:

Pine Boughs, Warm Shortbread, Melting Candle Wax

It's been many years since I celebrated Christmas in this area, but it was still good to see luminaria lining Thorn Street in Sewickley as well as adorning other locations. There is a certain comfort to tradition and ceremony, whether as part of a religious community or as someone who exercises their formidable kitchen skills for the benefit of family and stranger alike. Lots of homemade cookies are comforting to the psyche if not the waistline.

As I picked up the spent bags from outside of the house on Christmas morning, I was reminded of the last few years in Colorado, when the luminaria I placed in front of the houses on my block seemed to be a unique addition to the usual holiday decorations. I continue to cherish both the simplicity and profundity of the message that is symbolized by a bag, some sand, and a candle.

Brine and Benzene

A couple of significant developments in the continuing controversy over fracking:

• For the first time, the EPA identified fracking as the cause of groundwater contamination.
• Colorado passed and is set to implement new rules regarding disclosure of the contents of fracking fluid. The new rules are being touted as a model for the rest of the country - a model that Pennsylvania seems to have particular need of.

I normally try to resist making comparisons to Colorado and Pennsylvania, especially in terms of government and politics. However, chemicals and groundwater know not what state boundary they are flowing underneath, and contaminated water is just that, no matter where the humans that have to use it happen to reside.

Considering the revelation that the energy industry is employing public relations personnel with a background in military-style counterinsurgency tactics, it's more important than ever to get to the truth, and assure that the government charged with serving citizens understands that truth, and does their job accordingly.

Chalkboard Dust and Musty Textbooks

Back in 2009, I wrote about some of my memories of Mount Gallitzin Academy in Baden, upon the announcement of its closure. Now the sounds of schoolchildren will again fill those tall, old hallways and classrooms, thanks to the recent state approval of the Baden Academy Charter School. It's noteworthy that the school's approval at the state level was unanimous on the part of the charter school appeal board, overturning a unanimous disapproval (twice) by the local school board, Ambridge Area.

I don't know what to think of the whole charter school concept, especially as it relates to the local experience. What I know is what I see - many school districts experiencing much more difficult times in terms of declining enrollment, dwindling tax bases and state subsidies, and constant if not rising infrastructure and personnel costs. Many see merit in the ability to establish a school and receive public money for it, and the government oversight appears to be fairly robust.

Still, some of the methods with which many local charter schools are getting their message out and their faces in the public eye - such as high-profile advertising and corporate-style sponsorship - seem disingenuous to me as both a parent and taxpayer.

Nonetheless, I wish the school and its students the best, along with the ongoing mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who will rent their building to the school. As an overview on the school's website states:

The former Mt. Gallitzin facility offers superb classrooms in a safe, serene setting. Decades of successful education attest to the practicality of the facility as a desirable learning environment.

Can't argue with that.

Stale, Moldy Bread in these SOPApillas

It's been heartening to see how much coverage the mainstream media have been giving to controversial legislation of late. One particularly odious bill is the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. This bill is part of a continuing effort to place restrictions on the flow of information in an effort to combat copyright infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods online.

Proponents of the bill are those whose profits and livelihoods are tied to entertainment product - the MPAA and RIAA, and the AFL-CIO among others. The bill's opponents include the bulk of the Internet community, including Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, and on and on.

The core premise of the bill is to create an Internet blacklist - to facilitate the wholesale censorship of information deemed to "infringe". The bill infringes, all right - not only upon individual liberty, but free enterprise as well. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an excellent overview of the subject matter, as well as links to take action.

As it happens, Politico reports that corporate support for SOPA and it's Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) appears to be eroding in the face of continued vocal opposition and at least one boycott of the largest domain name provider.

SOPA puts over-reaching "protection" of a lucrative industry ahead of the fundamental rights of citizens.

New Car Smell

The National Transportation Safety Board has gone on record advocating for a complete ban on cell phone use while driving.

From a personal standpoint, I believe that texting while driving is dangerous. I'm also uncomfortable with trying to manipulate a phone while behind the wheel. This includes trying to hold the phone up to my ear.

I have a Bluetooth headset, and my phone has voice dialing. I believe that I can safely engage in a conversation with both hands on the wheel and eyes facing forward. The vehicle manufacturers that have incorporated Bluetooth hands-free into the sound systems of their cars would appear to feel the same way.

A complete ban on cell phone use while driving seems to me to have the same kind of government over-reach that SOPA does. Enforcement of such a law would also be difficult in my mind, especially if expanded to the entire spectrum of distracted driving.

A CBS News consultant and former NTSB member took this one step further, implying that the current board "missed the boat" by ignoring additional technology advances, such as frontal collision avoidance systems, that could help to mitigate accidents regardless of any inattentive behavior on the part of the driver.

I Love the Smell of Asphalt in the Morning

Sometimes there's nothing that can be done to prevent or protect yourself from life's pitfalls, whether on the roadway or not. One faulty valve on a truck loaded with liquid asphalt can really ruin your day (and your car) if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now it seems that the Nov. 22 spill along 40 miles of the Turnpike has damaged so many vehicles (including a couple of luxury models totaled) that the insurers are throwing up their hands or attempting to deny coverage, for which they're being sued.The driver of the truck apparently decided to leave the area after the State Police told him to stay so his truck could be inspected - a big boo-boo on top of everything else.

This is another example of how tenuous the nature of travel is - how dependent it is upon due diligence, attentiveness, and an attitude that is rife with a lot of patience - especially around here. This was brought home to me on the way back from work this past Friday, when a flatbed semi loaded with drilling rig assemblies, followed by a large tanker truck full of something (fracking fluid?), passed me inbound on the Parkway East.

Fresh Sausage

Thinking about this topic, I was reminded of the quote that is attributed to German chancellor Otto Von Bismark (1815-1898):

 "There are two things you don’t want to see being made—sausage and legislation."

That being said, it seems that there are similar goings-on in my former home and my current one that warrant some attention. Both have to do with the bumpy road of transition.

It seems that the City Council in Grand Junction, Colorado elected to force the resignation of City Manager Laurie Kadrich...just in time for Christmas. Ms. Kadrich, who held the post for five years, cited  “fundamental philosophical differences between me and City Council" as the reason for her departure.

Ms. Kadrich was a fine City Manager. She was the last one I had the pleasure of working for, and even after my departure from the City's employment she was accessible and straightforward, even in the face of disagreement.

Mayor Tom Kenyon was quoted in the Daily Sentinel story as stating, “The city manager has a lot of authority, but they have to remember they have seven bosses".

When some of those seven bosses change, the dynamics and priorities often change as well. This is something that is about to happen in Leetsdale. With not just the current Borough Manager, but the position itself, under threat of termination by the council members-elect, the future of the borough's day-to-day operational structure remains unclear, even if the stated intent of the incoming council members is not. 

The transition has already begun to impact those operations. Sewickley Patch reported that a sitting Council member questioned one incoming member's request for reimbursement from the borough for classes she and the other three newcomers are taking in preparation for their new duties.

These classes comprise the Newly Elected Officials Course, offered by the Local Government Academy, located on Pittsburgh's North Side. The academy has been in existence for over 25 years, and serves as a clearinghouse for training and information to help those elected and/or employed in the field of local government succeed on behalf of the citizens they serve.

It's a good idea that these incoming council members have this kind of baseline training. I personally don't have a problem with the new Council members requesting reimbursement from the borough - just so that request is accompanied by a copy of a certificate of completion. The course is scheduled to conclude on March 10.

Here's looking forward to that, and for more good tidings into the new year. Until then..

Public Recordings, Recorders, and Records

All censorship exists to prevent any one from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. 

All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. 

Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.  

                                                                           - George Bernard Shaw

Over the last 25 years, incidents of local, national, and international significance have been made more so by the increasing availability of portable recording devices.

Whether as part of a mobile phone or other platform, when combined with Internet access and ubiquitous social media networks these compact devices collect and disseminate information in a manner that has literally changed the way the world is perceived and governed.

Most recently, the so-called 'Arab Spring' and the Occupy Wall Street protest and its various offshoots across the country have demonstrated the power of instant messaging and video to document activities and mobilize citizens to action.

Issues have arisen locally and in other parts of the country concerning the recording of public safety and other government personnel in the conduct of their daily activities. The issues involve not only the practice of recording these personnel in public, but also the availability of the official recordings of their activities, and/or the 9-1-1 calls that precipitated them.

Here are some examples of how these activities affect us as citizens:

Your Right to Record the Police

From Long Island to Leetsdale to Las Vegas, this past year has seen public servants finding themselves on the wrong side of both the law and public opinion when confronted by a citizen with an audio or video recorder, and attempting to stop the recording. A recent federal court decision may put to rest any hint of ambiguity about the public's right to record public officials in the exercise of their official duties, including those in law enforcement.

The case involved Simon Glik, a Boston lawyer who recorded some questionable handling of an arrestee in 2007. He was himself arrested for doing this. The charges against him were dropped, and Mr. Glik successfully established in court that the attempt to prevent him from passively documenting the actions of the police flew in the face of our most fundamental liberties.

Here in the local area, law enforcement seems well aware of a citizen's right to record them in action, as well as a citizen's responsibility not to unlawfully interfere with police activities or jeopardize safety at the same time. Law enforcement training and legal bulletins, including this one, are getting the word out to police agencies about these rights and responsibilities, on both sides of the badge.

There are several online examples out there of how to record police, and how not to. A good overview is available here.

Pittsburgh CopBlock: Monitoring or Meddling?

Organized monitoring and recording of police activity has its roots in the time of the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, when home video cameras were becoming an affordable reality for many. The first of many "Copwatch" groups was organized in 1990 in Berkeley, California. Their message and mission is clear:

Berkeley Copwatch is based on the idea that WATCHING the police is a crucial first step in the process of organizing. We do not attempt to interfere in police activity or to resist police misconduct physically. It is our hope that, one day, mass outrage at police and government violence will increase to a point where fundamental change in the nature of policing becomes inevitable.

As the years and technology have provided a means to instantly transmit video over the Internet from any number of small devices, some concerned with the behavior of their local police have taken this concept and tried a different approach.

Copblock.org states that it exists in part to:

"..highlight the double standard that some grant to those with badges. By documenting police actions – whether they are illegal, immoral or just a waste of time and resources – then calling the police stations involved (ideally while recording and then later sharing your conversation), we can work together to bring about transparency and have a real impact".

This national organization has several affiliates, including one locally. Pittsburgh CopBlock has taken the strategy of the national organization one precarious step further - engaging in direct action that appears designed to elicit, or perhaps provoke, an emotional response from the officers involved. You can check out one of these activities here, and several more here.

Sewickley Patch, Beaver Countian, and other media have attempted to cover the local Copblockers and their activities, some of which have run them afoul of the local law. This occurred most recently in Leetsdale at Magistrate Robert Ford's office. The national CopBlock group has taken issue with some of this news coverage.

CopBlock Pittsburgh's efforts thus far consist largely of attempts to antagonize local law enforcement - by local I mean mostly Ambridge and the Quaker Valley departments - instead of calmly documenting their public activities in non-confrontational ways. Cops have to eat like everyone else - why go after them in a convenience store?

Despite the counterproductive nature of their rhetoric and tactics, I believe that Pittsburgh CopBlock has a valid point to get across, especially as it relates to our rights as citizens to document the activities of public servants. They're just going about it in a way that will serve only to isolate them in the larger arenas of public discourse.

Police officers have a very difficult job. I like to believe that the majority of them perform their duties with a healthy balance of respect for citizens, while possessing a situational awareness that sometimes makes it necessary to use force and aggressive tactics to mitigate a threat to themselves or others.

I also believe (but don't like to) that there are police officers out there that exceed the boundaries of both their authority and responsible conduct as a public servant. Citizens such as Simon Glik, along with excellent bloggers such as Carlos Miller, have demonstrated and brought attention to this on several occasions. The most recent affront to reasonable police actions, on the campus of the University of California at Davis, embellishes the point even further.

Perhaps CopBlock will consider joining the efforts of Copwatch, the ACLU, and others who seek to assure that police do their jobs within the boundaries set by law, while continuing to assure that their own behavior is protected by those same laws themselves.

The Official Record - Your Right to Know

Pennsylvania is one of only six states where the official recordings of 9-1-1 calls and public safety radio traffic are confidential, unless an agency or court decides that their release is in the public interest. These recordings and other information were specifically exempted in the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law of 2008.

Computer and written logs that provide information on response times are public, however, as is information regarding 9-1-1 callers, their phone numbers, and location information. This was reaffirmed by Commonweath Court in February of this year, reversing a lower court decision after a reporter filed suit to obtain records in York County.

In response to the Commonwealth Court decision, in March State Rep. Joseph Hackett (R-Delaware County) introduced HB 1174, which would specifically exclude the information about callers to 9-1-1 and their geographic location.

The bill was marketed as an attempt to protect crime victims and witnesses from possible retribution from the release of this information. It gained the immediate support of the bulk of the emergency response community and crime victims groups alike. With this support, and perhaps the looming approach of their summer recess, the state House unanimously passed this bill at the end of June, and sent it to the Senate.

The bill has remained in the hands of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee since then, perhaps in response to fairly loud voices in opposition to the bill. This includes the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, expressed through the editorial pages of its member newspapers, including the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review. The Trib seemed to sum up these concerns best when it wrote:

"We can't support them unconditionally if they hide from us this critical information about their work," says Trib legal counsel David A. Strassburger about first responders, speaking on behalf of both newspapers and the public...The Senate must not fall for this rollback of transparency masquerading as aid for a victimized group.

If there is a true, genuine concern that criminals, abusers, and stalkers will resort to showing up at a police station or other government office to obtain this information through a Right to Know request, then build amendments into the law to specifically exclude information related to certain criminal cases from release without a court order.

Otherwise, the media and general public should have the ability to obtain information on how their public safety agencies respond to requests for assistance. A big part of this is being able to independently assess response time data to all areas of the communities that these agencies serve.

This information can also provide insight into additional resources requested to an emergency scene, how long it took those resources to arrive, and the appropriateness of the resources requested. This is important to assure that the most proximal resources needed for the job are the ones being requested and sent.

HB 1174 will allow government agencies to withhold much of this information.

As a public safety professional for most of my working life, I strive to make sure that the job I am doing can be held up openly before the public as an example of conscientious, professional service. I believe that accountability and transparency trump what seems to me to be an over-reaching effort to "protect" crime victims and witnesses. I also believe that there are those who seek the same "protection" whose aim is to conceal from the public examples of less than professional 
service.

In the process of researching this bill, I requested comment from the ACLU of Pennsylvania regarding their take on it. Legislative Director Andy Hoover responded, "At the moment, we have no position on this bill but will continue to monitor this legislation and offer our input when appropriate".

As this bill has a potential direct impact on the ability of citizens to independently assess the accountability of police and other public servants, I would think that some kind of analysis and positioning on the part of the ACLU is well overdue, especially since police accountability is one of their stated priorities.

Contacting your state senator, and encouraging them to closely evaluate these factors when considering whether to support or oppose HB 1174, is definitely a good idea.

Why Does This Matter?

If you're interested enough to have read this far, then you're probably someone who values their ability to question government, assemble peaceably to voice concerns collectively, document the response of public servants, and not be subject to violence or criminal prosecution as a consequence of those actions. You can even deliver a relatively anonymous screed to a talk show host, or express your feelings responsibly online, and feel confident of your freedom and safety.

You can thank the Bill of Rights, and those like the ACLU who make it their mission and passion to defend the liberties granted under it. You can also thank laws that make government activities part of the public record, and prevent attempts at secrecy in the large majority of those activities.

We all have an obligation as citizens to be responsible stewards of these freedoms - not to take them for granted, not to set them aside just because someone thinks we should. 

One of the linchpins of a free society is a strong and vibrant news media. The media needs to have the tools at their disposal to report to the citizens, and as a consequence encourage public discourse and the means by which citizens engage in participatory government, whether as a public servant or an informed member of the electorate. 

With that in mind, enjoy your freedoms, and your week ahead.

Extreme Customer Service

I hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.

The season of celebration and bustle that marks the arrival of high holy days for numerous religious denominations is upon us once again. I'm remembering more and more about how much Pittsburghers, like so many others across the country, are largely creatures of habit; Thanksgiving means family, turkey, and football, and with it the associated travel across the region or the nation.

The roads were not as busy with rush hour traffic on the way home from work Wednesday afternoon, but there was sufficient congestion caused by what seemed to be drivers appearing to be unfamiliar with the nuances of navigating the Pittsburgh area in a vehicle.

As those of us from this area know, finding your way through the Burgh can be as much an intuitive exercise as it is a cognitive one. These factors often confound the cool, electronic mind of the GPS receiver, and those wide-eyed, weary travelers who depend upon it.

That being said, be careful out there this weekend. Many of you will most likely be planning on attending services at the many temples of what I like to call The First Church of My Stuff.

In recent years the high priests and priestesses of the retail industry have elected to begin their convocation of cash earlier and earlier on their highest of holy days, Black Friday. Unfortunately, many of them ran out of zero-dark-thirty time to be the first to offer that bauble or gadget at a ridiculously low price.

As a result, some businesses are commencing their annual assault on the debit and credit accounts of consumers on Thanksgiving Day itself. Perhaps retailers are betting that the warm, fuzzy, comfortable feeling generated by the combination of l-trytophan and carbohydrates will help to set aside any trepidation about spending too much.

Caught in the middle of this morass of humanity are those who ply the retail trade - myself included - and those who are charged with answering requests for emergency assistance on holidays and every other day - hey, that's me too.

I'm working as a Cashier this weekend. Over the course of 2 years in 'big box' retail, I've been formulating some general rules based on my individual experiences, which those handling checkout duties can use to help them deal with the everyday realities of the profession:

Murphy's Laws of Retail Cashiering

1. The customer approaching your register will have their cell phone ring as they arrive, and will endeavor to carry on two independent conversations simultaneously.

2. The most time-consuming, complex, and/or tedious transaction will occur approximately 2 minutes before the end of your shift.

• A corollary to Rule 2- The customer involved with that transaction will have many questions, asked in an English that is for them a second language - a distant second.
  

3. The majority of legible UPC barcodes will be presented to you at an angle of between 180 and 359 degrees from the location of your scanning device. The remainder will be illegible or not in the SKU database.

4. The smallest items in a cart to be unloaded and scanned will be scattered randomly, and located underneath several sheets of cement board, plywood, drywall, or a combination of similarly sized and weighted goods.

Despite these challenges, in order to be successful in serving the customer you have to be prepared to calmly deal with all of these situations, and the numerous other complications that arise with the job. I've managed to deal with this kind of stress by remembering a few things:

• Each customer gets as much time and attention as they need - one at a time.

• The customer is not always right, but the customer is always the customer.
  

• It's not about life and death here. It's about stuff, plain and simple.

Of course, in my other job the last of these tenets doesn't apply. It can be about life and death - in many circumstances. There is one rule I know that applies very well:

Murphy's Law of Random Synchronicity
Emergency calls will randomly come in all at once.

I won't get into the debate about when to call 9-1-1 - the news media seems to have a handle on that - but there are some things that citizens can do to help 9-1-1 operators provide access to critical services as quickly as possible:

• First and foremost, know where you are. There are 130 municipalities in Allegheny County. A post office does not count in most cases - places like Wexford, Gibsonia, and Allison Park exist only in terms of where to send the mail.
  The Sewickley zip code (15143) is used in all or part of the following municipalities:
  Sewickley, Edgeworth, Glen Osborne, Sewickley Heights, Aleppo Township, Glenfield, Haysville, Sewickley Hills, Leet Township, Bell Acres, Franklin Park, and Ohio Township.
  Depending upon where you are and the services you need, there are six different places that could be involved in the process of delivering those services. The more you know and can provide to a call taker, the quicker they can be mobilized.
  Technology only goes so far, especially when using a wireless phone, or phone service that uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), such as Vonage or Magic Jack.
  If you're on the road, know which road you're on. Try to remain cognizant of the last exit, mile marker, or intersection. Take note of businesses or other landmarks. If you have a GPS unit, know how to obtain your Latitude and Longitude from it.
  

• Stay calm and speak clearly.
  

• Be sure to listen carefully and answer all of the call taker’s questions to the best of your ability.

• Do not hang up until the 9-1-1 call taker has obtained all of the information that is needed.

Customer service in 9-1-1 also differs from the retail environment in that the greatest impediment to effective service delivery can often be the customers themselves. As a public safety communications professional, I have attempted, succeeded greatly, and at times failed to address these challenges to the satisfaction of customers, both internal and external.

I mention this because relationships with internal customers - co-workers, field personnel, and managers - are at least as important as the essential interaction with those external customers in need of services. That's a common challenge with any workplace, but even more so with the critical nature of public safety operations.

As the perceived demands of the holiday season begin to intrude upon us, I'm looking forward to remembering what this season really represents, along with the rigors of mastering an old job in a new setting, and hoping for success on the multiple fronts I've mentioned above. Above all of this is my wife and family, both here and across the country. Is it any wonder why the holidays carry with them more stress than joy for a lot of us?

Enjoy the weekend and the season ahead.

Municipal Miasma - The Pain is in the Process

I've been a citizen of Pennsylvania (again) for just 8 months; it's taken me some time to re-acclimate to the way things are done across the myriad layers of government at work here.

Something that is hastening this process is my getting back into the business of public safety communications. I've been in training for the last month. One thing I've been learning is the nuances of dealing with 130 separate municipalities, some who dispatch themselves and others who are a mix of being dispatched by the county 9-1-1 center and other municipalities or public safety agencies.

One quick example; there are five municipalities in Allegheny County where depending on the type of resources you need (Police, Fire, or EMS), three separate dispatch centers will be involved. Four of these five communities are in the Quaker Valley School District. In case you were wondering, Edgeworth is one of them.

More about that later. Today I'm interested in the recent election results, and their potential impact on my own community, Leetsdale. If you need to see a timeline of what has been reported about the recent history of borough government, check out this overview from June by crisis communications expert Dan Hicks. He's got some interesting things to say about the whole Penn State situation as well.

Voters this past Tuesday followed the entreaties of four candidates who banded together under the name Concerned Citizens of Leetsdale, and elected three of them to four-year seats and one to a two-year seat.

This action gives these four citizens (Melanie Dunn, Joe McGurk, Linda Michael, and Jeff Weatherby) a majority on Council come January. According to statements made by the candidates to Sewickley Patch and other local media, they intend to waste little time in undoing some of the current Council's actions over the last couple of years.
This will largely center around the following:

• Eliminating the positions of Borough Manager and Junior Clerk.
• Re-creating the position of Borough Secretary/Treasurer.
• Promoting the current Senior Clerk to the re-created Secretary/Treasurer position. This employee, Elizabeth Petalino, served in this capacity previously until Council eliminated her position in 2010 and created the position of Borough Manager.
  

One question I had for these candidates at one of their get-togethers before the election had to do with Ms. Petalino, whose demotion, along with what could best be described as a unique recruitment process for Borough Manager, seemed to be the primary focus of the Concerned Citizens campaign.

My question related to succession planning; who, if anyone, would be prepared to take over in Ms. Petalino's stead if there were no Junior Clerk or Borough Manager? Mr. McGurk stated that a part-time person would likely be hired to learn the duties of Secretary/Treasurer, with the intent of eventually replacing Ms. Petalino upon her retirement.

I should mention here that the current Junior Clerk is Sandra Bajsec, wife of councilman Mike Bajsec, whose term will be ending in January. Ms. Bajsec's seemingly imminent departure appears driven more by a need to assure that all vestiges of her husband's influence are eradicated from borough operations, than any effort to streamline those operations and/or reduce costs. It sounds as if the councilmembers-elect know they need someone like a Junior Clerk - they just don't want her.

At this point I'm struggling to look at this from the perspective of positions and processes, which is what I'm accustomed to. The bulk of my government work experience, at least in the Human Resources arena, involved a formal recruitment and assessment process, conducted in a way that assured all qualified applicants a fair shot at being hired.

Pre-employment testing, an interview with several stakeholders, and a thorough background investigation (including a home visit) were the norm for positions in public safety. This process was exhaustive and needed to be, considering the significant access and responsibilities being entrusted to the successful candidate.

One could assume the same things would apply to recruiting and hiring someone to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of a municipal government. Then again, I am trying to compare what I knew from Colorado with what exists in Pennsylvania.
I promised I would not dive into those comparisons, so I must turn to what is here and now, and try to understand what may be the short tenure of Leetsdale Borough Manager Paul Scimio.

I've spoken with Mr. Scimio only a few times. In those interactions I found him engaging, articulate, and somewhat excited about his work. How he actually ran the borough's daily operations is something I can't speak to. He did, however, at the October 13 meeting of Leetsdale Council, when he endeavored to highlight some of his accomplishments during his one-year tenure. These include:

• Reviewing and consolidating borough insurance policies, saving money.
  
• Changing borough phone service from Verizon to Comcast, saving money.
• Spearheading the refinancing of the borough's bond indebtedness, resulting in a savings of $108,000 this past year.
• Helping to coordinate the resolution of an addressing conflict on a borough street, shared with Leet Township, that was affecting public safety response.
  
• Securing an insurance settlement for a damaged police vehicle.
• Putting forth an insurance claim for the loss of trees in Henle Park.
• Securing a private donor to help pay water bills at the Henle Park Splash Pad.

It has also been stated by some in the business community that they appreciate the ability to be able to access someone in borough government who can act as a point person for their concerns, direct them in the way of navigating the necessary processes, and basically be the face of government operations on a daily basis.

However, additional questions about the borough's actual needs begin to raise issues that transcend the personalities and politics that seem to have dominated the controversy up to this point, and impacted the processes in ways that citizens last week appeared to have collectively deemed unacceptable.

According to a publication from the Governor's Center for Local Government Services, "More than 80 percent of Pennsylvania’s municipalities have populations
under 5,000, a size generally accepted as the point where full-time municipal management becomes feasible". Leetsdale has a residential population of about 1,100.

A Post-Gazette story after the May primary elections took this a step further:

Issues beyond population have to be weighed, as well. For example, Leetsdale has about triple the number of people working within its boundaries as residents, due to a pair of industrial parks, a copper mill, Quaker Valley High School and a shopping center.

As I've written previously, Leetsdale is perhaps the most dynamic of the 11 boroughs and townships that make up the Quaker Valley School District. The influx of workers, students, and material goods in and out of the borough, and the various layers of government that provide essential services to them, is of sufficient complexity that it requires someone of authority to be readily accessible, research and respond appropriately, and report comprehensively to the citizens and their elected officials.

How the new council addresses those needs will say a lot about exactly how much Leetsdale is poised to make changes in its operating philosophy.

In a Sewickley Herald article from August 2010, Councilman Bajsec was quoted during a council meeting as saying that the process of advertising for the Borough Manager position for one day in the Beaver County/Allegheny Times was due to a desire "to allow people 'familiar' with the borough to apply". Perhaps the true intent was to exclude anyone not possessing that 'familiarity', which appears to be centered on having grown up in Leetsdale, or lived there for a lengthy period of time.

Regardless of Mr. Scimio's experience, competence, or performance over the last year, the circumstances surrounding the creation of his position and his ascendancy into it has tainted those accomplishments, and created sufficient cause for concern among citizens as to precipitate the results of last week's election.

Nonetheless I believe that Leetsdale, like its nearby counterparts, needs a competent and experienced Borough Manager. This needs to be someone with sufficient educational and professional credentials, who can look at the borough's operations from a fresh perspective, not necessarily one steeped in the strong tea of the status quo.

Positions and processes need to be more important than personalities and politics.

That being said, all we as citizens can do is hope for the best from our newly elected officials. For me that includes thinking outside the traditional boxes, among those being the man-made lines that serve not only as municipal boundaries, but also at times barriers to more effective and responsive governance for all of us.

Best wishes to our new soon-to-be council members, and for those already on council that will also be charged to effectively represent the citizens of Leetsdale.

Have a great week ahead.