Bordering on the Bizarre

Over the last few weeks my family and I have been adapting to a change in my status at work. It's mostly good news - I am now full-time, but am also working a different shift, and serving an area of Allegheny County with which I am less familiar. Like anything else, it's a learning experience.

One thing I have learned from nearly 30 years of doing this kind of work is the effect of boundary lines on how people live their lives - what type of services they receive, where their kids go to school, how much things cost, how well they are informed, how much freedom they really have. 

When I lived in Colorado, I commented extensively on the manner in which cities out there grow by annexation of the unincorporated territory that makes up most of the counties in the state. Boundary lines in this environment changed frequently, dramatically, and sometimes with curious consequences - one example is available here.

In Pennsylvania, most of these boundary lines are much older, and in many cases seemingly cut in stone. In the nearly two years that I've been back, I've noted several examples of how these lines create situations and conditions that approach a different kind of boundary - that distinguishing common sense from what is often something less. 

Every so often I'll highlight one of these quirky situations, and try to dig deeper to figure out just why - from a historical, traditional, or political standpoint - we did this to ourselves.

What's in an Area Code?

An aerial map of the Leetsdale area, with Area Code and County boundaries added. Leet Township, Leetsdale, and Bell Acres are divided between the 412 and 724 area codes.
Credit Bing Maps / John Linko

The amount of telephone numbers that we attach ourselves to has proliferated along with the age of wireless telecommunication and portable computing. Where once we had a home phone number and a work phone number, we now have mobile phones for multiple family members, fax machines, pagers, and even multiple residential lines - all placing a significant demand on the finite numerical resources within a 10-digit telephone number system.

Since the implementation of direct dialing of long distance calls in the late 1940's, the allocation of area codes and phone numbers has been accomplished via the North American Numbering Plan, or NANP.

The administrator of the NANP is responsible for receiving and reviewing requests for telephone numbers by the numerous types of telephone service providers that have proliferated with technologies such as cell phones, Voice over Internet Protocol phone service (Vonage, MagicJack), and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers, or CLECs, that compete with the Incumbent carriers, or ILECs, which are in most areas the legacy phone companies that have evolved from the breakup of the Bell System in the mid-1980's.

Verizon is the ILEC for the Sewickley area. Comcast/Xfinity is an example of a CLEC.

When the amount of local exchange numbers began to approach exhaustion from all of these requests for exchanges and number assignments, the NANP administrator began the process of assigning new area codes to places where this number growth was occurring most rapidly - that being major cities.

Shortly before I moved to Colorado, the 303 area code that stretched across the state was truncated to serve just the Denver area, replaced in areas outside by the 970 area code. Just three years later, demand for numbers required the assignment of another area code in Metro Denver. Administrators there decided to overlay 720 on top of 303 - this meant that your new neighbors across the street could have a different area code, and that dialing 10 digits for local calls was the new normal for using the phone.

That same year, 1998, brought the division of the 412 area code, which served all of southwestern Pennsylvania. Numbering administrators here elected to separate the new 724 area code from 412 along existing geographic boundaries that separated different local phone exchanges.

This was by media accounts at the time a contentious transition, especially in Pittsburgh's northern suburbs and in Moon and Crescent Townships, where the 457 exchange was placed into 724. This created an an issue with emergency services access, as Allegheny County had yet to implement 9-1-1 service county-wide. 

A current map of Pennsylvania area codes, showing the 878 area code overlaid on 412 and 724.
 Credit Whitepages.com

At the same time, NANP administration also assigned an overlay code - 878 - that would cover both 412 and 724 for future assignment. The map above shows the current state of area codes in Pennsylvania.

In the Sewickley area, portions of Leetsdale, Leet Township, and Bell Acres Borough had always been split between the 741 (Sewickley) and 266 (Ambridge) exchanges. The division of 412 and 724 meant that these communities would now also be split between two area codes.

Reviewing maps of the exchange boundaries makes it pretty simple to see why the Fair Oaks section of Leet Township and that part of Bell Acres along Big Sewickley Creek Road were included in the Ambridge exchange. When telephone service started, and lines were strung from central offices to various pockets of population, the closest central office was typically the one that neighborhoods were connected to.

Ferry Street at Beaver Road in Leetsdale, looking west toward Route 65 and the Ohio River. The area code boundary follows this street, across 65 and the railroad tracks, all the way to the river.
Credit Google Maps / John Linko

However, the 266 boundary takes a decided dogleg south along the eastern border of Leetsdale to Ferry Street, where it then follows Ferry west to the Ohio River. This makes for some interesting observations, as shown in two of the illustrations above. Walking along Broad Street north of Ferry, in area code 724, it's kind of strange to look east at the houses along Myrtle Hill Road in Leet Township, which is in area code 412.

Yes, they had to draw the line somewhere..but why there? 

An 1877 E.L. Hayes and Company map showing the town plan of then-unincorporated Leetsdale, circa 1877. Ferry Ave. (now Ferry St.) shows as the southern boundary of residential development. Aside from the railroad tracks and Leetsdale Station (which today houses Red Cap Cleaners), there is very little west of the tracks today that resembles the residential areas depicted. The brickworks, purchased by the Harmony Society in 1888, would be just north of this area along the river.  Credit David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

There are no clear-cut answers, but there are plenty of clues, some of which are provided by those who painstakingly maintain, and make available, historical artifacts and documents.

Part of this includes maps of Leetsdale dating to 1877 (shown above) which display residential plot plans and street layouts showing Ferry Street being the southernmost boundary of the fledgling town's development at that time. This may bolster a theory that there was little organized development south of Ferry Street when the first telephone lines were being run.

Other maps from this same time period show the town of Economy, now known as Ambridge, and the influence exerted both within and outside of that community by the industrial, economic, and religious engine known as the Harmony Society.

The same E.L. Hayes and Co. map showing Economy (now Ambridge), with shading and annotation showing the influence of the Harmony Society. Also shown on the map are Fair Oak (the Fair Oaks section of Leet Township) immediately adjacent, followed by Leetsdale, and across the Ohio River the village of Shousetown, now known as the Glenwillard section of Crescent Township. Credit David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Founded in 1805, and lasting just 100 years due to their unflagging resolve in following the doctrine established by their founder, George Rapp - which included celibacy - the Harmonists exerted considerable influence in the development of various industrial enterprises along the Ohio Valley and in Beaver County.

In the mid to late 19th century, the remaining Harmonists, becoming impaired by dwindling numbers and old age, began to diversify their operations by acquiring failing industrial concerns outside their immediate area, and hiring outside help to run them. One of these enterprises was an existing brickworks in Leetsdale. 

Steam drier at the Harmony Brick Works in Leetsdale, circa 1898. The site is now occupied by the Leetsdale Industrial Park. Credit US Army Corps of Engineers

The Harmonists sold their brickworks and surrounding land to James Oliver in 1902 for real estate development. Leetsdale, along with her southern neighbor Edgeworth, incorporated as boroughs in 1904.

According to a 1906 map of the borough, Oliver intended to develop the brickworks site for residential land, with streets named after the Presidents. Only Washington Street remains of this intended plan - the remainder of the site eventually became the location of Bethlehem Steel's Leetsdale plant. 

The original brickworks was excavated during an extensive archaeological dig in 2002, prior to the site's re-development as the Leetsdale Industrial Park.

So it would seem that the combination of an early town development boundary, combined with an industrial presence that connected early Leetsdale with what would eventually become Ambridge, drove the placement of telephone wiring that would link the Ambridge area with part of Leetsdale Borough to this day.

It's probably also why Leetsdale has a Rapp Street.

Does It Really Matter Anymore? Yes...

It can be argued, depending on how involved one is with technology, that area codes are rapidly becoming an anachronism of sorts nowadays. There are plenty of ways to associate yourself with an area code of your choosing, whether through dropping landline telephone service in favor of a mobile phone, bring your old number along using Local Number Portability, or use a service such as Google Voice.

Just last week it was announced that the 878 area code was being tapped for the first time to address the approaching exhaustion of numbers in the areas served by 724. The Post-Gazette report also quoted NANP administrators as estimating that there were sufficient number resources in 412 to keep the assignment of 878 numbers there at bay for an estimated 5 years.

It may be fair to say that just as industry drove the shaping of telephone boundaries over 100 years ago, the growth of another industry - the one dealing with natural gas exploration - may be driving more changes today.

Irrespective of what happens down the road, it's really important that we as communities keep track of where we've been. I now regret those moments in elementary school when we collectively groaned at the prospect of yet another field trip to Old Economy. Not anymore... 

There are several other examples I've found of how history, development, population, and politics have created boundaries, relationships, and ways of doing things that seem crazy on the surface. 

I'll be exploring these in the coming months - if you know of something that fits, or have more to add on our local history, I'd love to hear about it.

Blogito Ergo Sum..

Roughly translated, "I blog, therefore I am". Or am I? Exploring the recent newsworthy notion that we are not all that 'special', and how this relates to the unique narcissism of the information age.

My goodness, it's July already.

As expected, last month's commencement season was not without its share of surprises. My last post, which was in part about school district policies for participation in these activities, was still in the completion stages when David McCullough Jr., a teacher at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, stepped to the podium at that school's commencement ceremony. 

Mr. McCullough, one of 5 children of the historian and writer David McCullough, raised numerous eyebrows, though not as many hackles as anticipated, with a humorous, yet impassioned speech that made the same point several times to the Wellesley Class of 2012:

You are not special.

While the initial context of this statement might seem like outright blasphemy to those of us Pittsburgh area neo-boomers who were raised on Mister Rogers, the focus of Mr. McCullough's remarks (and I really recommend reading the whole thing) seemed to be on those who took this concept and ran with it like crazy - think Fred Rogers on steroids. "Here comes Mr. McFeeley with a very special delivery".  For example - 

If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.  In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality — we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. 

We have come to see them as the point — and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.  No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it…  Now it’s “So what does this get me?”  

Credit: Emmanuel Chaunu

Mr. McCullough's observations point to an increasingly disturbing trend that I've seen not only in our society, but in myself as well. We're often content with doing things just enough to make it look good, or worse, seem more concerned with how something is perceived instead of how it really is. 

Controlling the message is often more important than solving the problem. How things work (or don't) in the real world is often secondary to how it will be perceived in the virtual representation of those involved, be it a blog, social media, or another type of media presence. Another contributing factor to the confusion is how much of the gory details can be compressed and/or excised to fit within the 140-character limit of a tweet. 

I don't feel it appropriate to let everyone know where I am, or what I am doing or thinking all the time. I have a Twitter account, but its use is infrequent. I won't go anywhere near Foursquare, and haven't even ventured a look at Pinterest. 


I am fairly active on Facebook. I use it to stay connected with friends and family, and share things I find or have sent to me by others. 

My wife sees these things, adapts those that she finds useful to her specific needs, but largely dismisses the nature of these changes in our society and culture as being too fast and superficial for anyone's own good. As someone who has embraced these capabilities, and the information and communication that is instantaneously available as a result, this sometimes puts us at loggerheads over the amount of time spent at the laptop, or looking at the smartphone.

She's got a point. In deference to her, this is one reason that I don't post as much as I used to. I'm too dedicated to being comprehensive, to not just gloss over a topic, or liberally populate my posts with references to other people's work.

Interfacing with the virtual world is merely a tool for information gathering and connecting us together. It does not replace genuine accomplishment, true understanding of the viewpoints and feelings of others, or the inner peace and joy that one can find in the arms of someone they love. It does not replace satisfaction with the essential joys or needs of life - no matter what some researcher at Harvard has to say about it. 

I am a news junkie, have been since long before there was an Internet. I'm interested in what is going on around me, and how it relates to the challenges of daily living. Combined with my radio hobby, this has provided me with both a career and avocation, along with a skill set that can be useful in certain situations. 

I've been following the multiple large and destructive wildfires burning in various areas across Colorado. This is perhaps one of the greatest contrasts between here and there, that being the sheer scope of the disaster and the property loss involved. The total area burned in just one of these fires equates to nearly 20 percent of the land area of Allegheny County. Never mind comprehending it - how do you deal with it?

This is a mental exercise at the core of my profession, which at times occupies a few too many of my remaining neurons to suit some people. 

Leslie and I recently watched the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank. I thought about what may have motivated Miss Frank to so diligently write of the experience of living in hiding, and of her own changes as a human being, with the presumed intent of the writer for no one else to ever see it.

Considering the volumes of words that have been written about the Holocaust, the impact of this one small volume speaks much to the power of a singular voice, one powerful experience, to alter our perception of history forever. Apply this concept to today's millions who now leave their electronic footprints, images, and opinions for all to see in the form of social media, blogs, and other online fodder, and it's easy to see the potential for lots of diamonds in all that virtual "rough".

Anne Frank was special. 

Numerous other writers, scholars, and philosophers across history have documented their observations in a similar manner. One contemporary example isEric Hoffer. "The Longshoreman Philospher" was a voracious reader, and also a habitual note-writer. Hoffer's personal, daily writings were undertaken with a notebook that Hoffer reportedly carried most of his waking hours.

These volumes numbered over 130 when Hoffer died in 1983 - they are currently archived at Stanford University, and have been largely unexamined. Hoffer, who was self-taught and did most of his reading and studying at public libraries, did what many other informal learners do to keep track of what they find out, or what they think about. One wonders how Hoffer would leverage today's Internet and library resources to accomplish a similar end.

Eric Hoffer was special.

As one blog pointed out rather well, these types of "learner's journals" can be invaluable even in the electronic age. Data storage methods of the recent past seem to have gone the way of the 8-Track player:

If you had an early TRS-80 (computer) from Radio Shack, and stored all your journal entries on its cassette drive you’d be hard pressed to access any of it now just 25 years later.

Indeed - a lot of my files from the 80's and 90's are on 3 1/2-inch "floppy" disks. Those drives are hard to come by nowadays. I have lots of stuff on paper that is admittedly more accessible to me. This includes several volumes of notes on graph paper - the little squares facilitate both page organization and doodling.

With the advent of the Internet, the ability to store and retrieve data "in the cloud" has made it easier to access and reference this kind of collective work without the risk of loss due to fire or other physical disaster. Nearly 6 years of blog posts are easily referenced - including one from last year that paradoxically extols the virtues of real books versus the electronic variety.

If the weblog is for me the repository for most of my recent writing, then Facebook serves as my learner's journal. At least for now.

A line from the Mister Rogers remix keeps popping up in my head - 

Imagine every person you meet is different                                                  

from every other person in the world

You got it right there, Fred. The discovery of the person within is just as important. 

As the second half of 2012 begins, I'm trying to focus on improving those tangible, precious things that transcend this virtual representation of the same.

There are relationships to nurture, to try and make the most of every day with those around me. To give these people the full measure of my attention when I'm with them. 

There are books to read, ones that smell of dust and decaying paper - some are those trade paperbacks that fit so well into my hand. 

There are tasks to complete, many related to the enhancement of living space, the removal of clutter, and other essential tasks that have too often been pushed around by procrastination. As an old classmate said once, this can be fun - just wait and see.

Enough fun for now. It's time to get organized, and for me this means lists of tasks, steps, and plans, all on paper, not in a smartphone. There are still plenty of graph paper notebooks laying around to get this process off the ground.

I guess this is a Declaration of Independence of sorts. Not that I was dependent, just a little too distracted.  

Siri, initiate self-destruct sequence. Just kidding...

Have a great Independence Day holiday.

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..

The Notes in My Back Pocket

Lately I've been collecting little snippets of news items and personal things that I find interesting or noteworthy. I write this stuff down on paper and tuck it into one of my back pockets, where they sit until I get the chance to sit down and write. While somewhat archaic in the age of smartphones, it's a system that seems to work, and gives me a sense of tactile nostalgia for things at a slower, more simple pace.

I pulled several pieces of paper out of my back pocket today. The items I wrote down all deserve some mention in a timely fashion, so without any more of a lead-up, here's some stuff that matters, at least to me:

Persistence, Humility, Vulnerability

The sermon at our church on August 7 has been on my mind ever since. Our pastor introduced us to Chapter 18 of Luke's Gospel. The virtues listed above are among the key points of this chapter, as illustrated through several parables.

I just found an excellent template and outline for a group bible study that encompasses, and has helped me make more sense of, what Luke 18 says about human behavior in contrast to the teachings of Christ. This particular chapter has some serious lessons about this. For example:

William Barclay states "(i) No man who is proud can pray; (ii) No man who despises his fellow men can pray; (iii) True prayer comes from setting our lives beside the life of God."

If you're so inclined, grab your Bible and follow along with the Lost Pine outline. Enjoy a little journey inward, maybe.


Memories of Growing Up in Sewickley

The link above is for a Facebook group started by Sewickley native William Gittins, who now resides in Jackson, Miss. I went to high school with a couple of his brothers. Since its start a few weeks ago, it has amassed over 1200 members and creates a tremendous online time warp if you spend too long reading the myriad recollections of many who called the Sewickley area home for some part of their lives.

Sewickley Patch picked up on the phenomenon earlier this week, and spoke with Mr. Gittins for a story they ran about the group. It's still going strong, and will hopefully also serve as a means to educate current residents about what it was like to grow up here.

A memory that popped into my head while writing this was the existence of at least 3 hardware stores (Hegner's, Sewickley Hardware, Sickeler's) in downtown Sewickley. There's something ironic to that, considering that I work for a big-box home improvement place now.

If you grew up here, and haven't checked this out yet, you should. Make sure you don't have to be anywhere for a couple of hours first, though. It's a true testament to the power (good or bad) of social media.


London Calling

The title of one of my favorite records from the early 80's, if not of all time. The Clash continued the activist tone of their previous two albums, but the album is also more polished and tempered somewhat to make their music and message more accessible. Perhaps this why my son likes this record and the band as well.

During the recent riots that tore into several London neighborhoods, songs from this record were going through my head, particularly The Guns of Brixton:

You can crush us, you can bruise us, but you'll have to answer to...

While on the surface the recent unrest in England may be similar to the anger and angst expressed by the punk movement of the 70's and 80's, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to some of the destruction. Young people burning down their own neighborhoods for sport, or because they are bored, disaffected, or the product of a dysfunctional society. London's burning with boredom now..

All kinds of little theories pop up in my head when I read about this, and then are quickly dismissed as nonsense. One theory sticks around, though - is there a correlation between lack of self-respect and and initiative and what we saw in London? Is that all part of the equation? Do we not see this as much in the US because we have these qualities in comparative abundance, or because we are better controlled?


BART!

Speaking of control, there has always been much discussion of the influence of wireless communications and social networks on the ability to rapidly mobilize people into action. From the Arab Spring to the G-20 protests right here in Pittsburgh, Twitter and other systems have been used to get people moving and taking direct action, whether for good or ill.

A recent action by San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system has raised the hackles of activists and regulators alike. Seems that as a part of preparations for protests over the shooting of a homeless man by BART police, BART administration shut down access to wireless networks through its subway tunnels.

Access to communication systems is important to life in these modern times, whether it be as part of an international commerce engine, or just a way for families to keep in touch. Arbitrarily shutting down these systems as a means of quelling dissent, or the lawful expression of ideas in a manner uncomfortable to some, is a 21st century affront to the First Amendment, and needs to be dealt with as such.

BART was wrong. This reminds me of a retail cashier rule, expressed as an acronym, with some Luke 18 and Simpson-esque connotations:

LISA - Look InSide Always.


'Gasland' Comes to Sewickley

A year ago last week, the acclaimed documentary 'Gasland' was shown in Grand Junction, Colorado. Josh Fox, the film's Director, was on hand for the screening to field comments and questions. I wrote about this at the time because I was living there, and also lamented the absence of a local media presence to publicize and report on the event. Granted, it's a much smaller media market over there.

Tonight at 6:30, the film gets a screening at the Sewickley Public Library, albeit without Mr. Fox in tow. The publicity has been fairly robust, at least online, and it's a good bet there will be an interested crowd at the library this evening.

Regardless on which side of the drilling debate you may fall, the film is worthwhile
because it helps to document the activities of the drilling industry would otherwise not see the light of day. I've seen enough of the effects to the environment, and on society and culture, to know that jobs and money are great but are not all sweetness and light. We have enough of an industrial past here to (hopefully) remind us of that.


Time to persist on some house projects. Have a great day.

Tone Deaf Public Radio

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and had a radio on a lot of the time. From early childhood through adolescence and into young adulthood (when the police scanner got a hold of me), my memories seem filled with what was on the radio. This included a LOT of time spent listening to the public and community radio stations at the lower end of the FM dial.

When I wrote in February about the impending merger of WDUQ with the parent of WYEP, I expressed relief that the license and ownership of the station would remain in the hands a community non-profit, already well-established and conducting themselves in a very competent manner. I also said at the time, "WDUQ's popular jazz music programming will likely remain one of the benchmarks of the station's presence in the area".

Essential Public Media, the folks behind the operation of the "new" WDUQ, would probably say that this promise has been fulfilled. Unfortunately, following what appears to be the trend elsewhere, a lot of the programming that made WDUQ and other stations a special place is being relegated to HD radio and Internet streaming. The prime spectrum - the analog FM signal on 90.5 - is being turned into essentially a full-time network affiliate of National Public Radio, save for Saturday nights.

The management of WYEP made a very comprehensive and eloquent case for the transition, going so far as to have a PR firm write the announcement to make sure their message was articulated properly. How corporate of them.

While WYEP's management is correct in their claim that Pittsburgh is one of the last major media markets without a full-time NPR news and information outlet, how they're going about accomplishing the feat of putting one in place feels awkward. It's almost as if they are Clarice Starling and their audience is Hannibal Lecter; the 'ham-handed segue' won't do.

As was expected, those who love jazz on the radio are not pleased, and I don't blame them. For me, the best place to listen to jazz is in the car on a late night drive from one place or another, holding the hand of your loved one as you cruise down the road. Unless you want to retrofit your vehicle with an HD set or stream it through your smartphone, that quiet joy is lost, especially when the music is part of a local music scene that you can plug yourself into as well.

HD Radio and Internet streaming does not equate to universal access. Until it does, jazz in Pittsburgh should remain free and widely accessible over the analog public airwaves.

If the online outcry is any indication, there will be a lengthy period of discord over the manner in which the removal of jazz from these free public airwaves is being accomplished. Those who have been most vocal have said that a healthy compromise somewhere between the 100 hours of jazz being aired on 90.5 now, and the 6 that is currently planned for, would be fine with them. Their plea does not appear to be intractable, even in spite of an effort to boycott membership in both stations. Why does WYEP's silence in response seem that way?

I haven't been living here full-time for that long, but in WYEP's actions I see similarities in how public and community radio has evolved in Colorado, where I came from. Colorado Public Radio maintains a statewide network, broadcasting two stations across most of the state; one with classical music, the other with NPR news and information, much like WDUQ is slated to become. This constitutes a sort of "top layer" of public radio coverage. The secondary layer is made up of smaller, community-based stations with a lot of volunteers helping to run things. Stations such as KAFM and KVNF keep the "Community" in Community Radio.

That was the idea behind WYEP back in the early 70's. The spartan confines of 4 Cable Place in Oakland were alive with off-the-wall music and ideas. I also spent some time as a volunteer at WDUQ in my late teens. I remember the sense of professionalism and pride, especially on the part of other volunteers.

Nearly 40 years after its inception, the evolved form of those early years in Oakland is now poised to assume control of the region's pioneer in public radio. Many critics have pointed out WYEP's tagline, "Where the Music Matters", and have tried to level accusations that the station is behaving to the contrary in its dealings with WDUQ.

From the sound of the rhetoric, the management of WYEP has made up its mind, and is not inclined to listen to the pleas of jazz fans around the area to keep more of this music on analog FM. The deaf ear they appear to have turned to the complaints is not in keeping with a community media resource, and has fueled too much speculation along with the bad feelings.

Perhaps they just think that the spectrum is too valuable to continue to commit so much airtime to what they may perceive as a "niche" audience. If that's the case, their approach is antithetical to their origins. Perhaps they have truly forgotten from whence they came. Too bad.

In an attempt to gain additional perspective on this, I tried to contact Larry Berger of the Saturday Light Brigade, which began on WYEP in 1978 and left the station in 2003. The program is now broadcast on a network of college radio stations anchored by Carnegie-Mellon's WRCT, as well as online. Larry did not reply to my request for comment about his program's departure from WYEP, and I don't blame him. He and his staff are moving forward very well.

Aside from the loss of jazz programming on WDUQ, it's also unclear whether the new ownership will continue to operate the Radio Information Service for the visually impaired, which transmits on the subcarrier of 90.5. Those answering the phone at both WDUQ and WYEP today seemed unable to commit to the future of this service, which for those using it is much more essential than other forms of public media. Let's hope for a smooth transition and seamless continuation of this vital resource.

My experience in Colorado showed me that the business model for non-profit media is changing. Survival in this climate of economic and technological change has required some fundamental altering of the way these organizations think and operate, and that did not sit well with some that had been involved at KAFM for many years.

So now with WYEP, WDUQ, and WQED forming the 'top layer' of public radio in the Pittsburgh region, one wonders where the smaller innovators in public radio are, to continue to make radio accessible to the varied communities and neighborhoods that make this area what it is. The presence of robust college stations such as WRCT and WPTS will certainly help, as may the recent enactment of the Local Community Radio Act and the potential for Low Power FM station development in places like the Pittsburgh radio market.

Let's hope for more understanding and compromise as the transition approaches, and for new opportunities to innovate and serve to become available.

Have a good rest of the week.

File Under 'Cart Before the Horse'

The Post-Gazette reported Wednesday that State Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne Co.) got a bill through her Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness committee (an interesting combination there) that would require energy companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale to:

• Draft and file Emergency Operations Plans with local emergency response authorities
• Post this and other emergency information at drilling sites, so as to be easily referenced by personnel when needed
• Ascertain the Latitude/Longitude (GPS) coordinates of all drilling sites, and assure that wellsite personnel, responders, and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are aware of them.
  

This is an excellent idea, although I'm wondering out loud how such a set of requirements did not exist previously via existing rulemaking or legislation. It's not as if drilling, mining, or other heavy industrial activities in rural areas haven't occurred here before. Something that Sen. Baker's office put in their press release may explain this a little better than I can:

"It is extremely important for the gas industry to coordinate emergency response plans with first responders and state and local officials," Baker said. "This issue is too important to leave up to voluntary compliance."

Is 'voluntary compliance' with rules and requirements that may change by municipality, the norm or the exception? Let's hope it's the latter, and that the full Senate, House, and Gov. Corbett will show the same enthusiasm for this bill. Something like this should have been in place before a single drill bit breached Pennsylvania soil in search of gas from the Marcellus Shale. It seems long overdue.

In a related matter, the Post-Gazette also committed much ink in this past Sunday's edition to the plight of rural Pennsylvanians without adequate mobile telephone service and broadband Internet connections.

The P-G's story focused on Sullivan County, where many components of public service delivery systems risk being overwhelmed with activity related to drilling, and things that 9-1-1 operators in many areas take for granted, such as GPS coordinates for calls received from mobile phones, are non-existent in the majority of circumstances.

The influx of personnel and capital from energy companies will likely help foment a more rapid deployment of these capabilities; the private sector seems more flexible and responsive to issues and opportunities than the public sector when it comes to these kinds of issues. That is the essence of capitalizing on what the Marcellus has to offer. However, without adequate safeguards and planning contingencies that Sen. Baker's legislation would likely help provide, what is the potential cost to the region's quality of life?

I should probably state here and now that I am not opposed to drilling - that is an unrealistic stance in a country, and a region, largely built on this type of activity. I am opposed to allowing it to proceed without a strong, responsive, efficient, and empowered system of checks, balances, and meaningful enforcement. These efforts too often seem to always be playing catch-up and politics with what is really going on in the field.

Speaking of what's going on in the field, Sewickley Patch reported yesterday that the drivers of at least two large trucks were cited recently for being overweight on municipal roadways. This may be just the beginning of a trend when there's frack water to be hauled to wellsites...

Let's hope that Senator Baker's bill is the first step in a better direction, and that those improvements in access to technology in rural areas that may be a consequence of energy development do not come at the price of the communities themselves.

Also, please remember those that have paid the ultimate price for our freedom while you're enjoying this Memorial Day weekend. I'll be working, but remembering as well, and not just about that.

Until next time...