The Paths of Resistance

Would it then follow that climbers take the hard way, but have their ups and downs?
Is it necessarily an advantage to prefer a steadier path,
even though you may never see anything from the top?   Credit - Wikipedia

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

        - Robert Frost, from The Road Not Taken

One recent evening I awoke from a nap on the living room sofa to find my wife surfing for something to watch on TV. 

She was using the cable remote to go channel by channel, individually. She watched for a few seconds until apparent disinterest, disgust, or boredom led her to the next channel. This seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time, so I asked her about it. In hindsight, I'm not sure that this was a good idea.

"Why aren't you using the channel guide?"

"I need to learn how to use the remote this way."

"But the channel guide is faster."

"Just because it's faster doesn't mean it's better. That's one of the differences between you and me."

Leslie has had to fight her way through barriers created by class, race, and gender for everything she has achieved. I have not had those problems.

Beyond those fundamental facts, circumstance and choice have shaped the life journeys that have brought us to this same place together. Those journeys have rarely enjoyed similar physical or ideological terrain, save that we were born and grew up in the same town.

These experiences shape our approach to the challenges of everyday life, whether in work or at home. I've often chosen the simplest (or easiest) way to an acceptable solution - what is known as the path of least resistance. Leslie bristles at this approach sometimes, and I can't say that she's wrong. 

My life has been deeply involved in following the development of technology, and leveraging it for benefit in both my personal and working lives. Considering the advancements of the last 25 years, it's been quite the ride.  

How we ride even has it's differences. Leslie and I can both drive cars with manual transmissions, but she prefers and has chosen a car with a stick. She feels she has more control of the vehicle, and that shifting keeps her more attentive to what's happening on the roadway. In this age of distracted driving, that's a persuasive argument.  

Another argument has been made in many corners that the speed with which life moves for many nowadays is detrimental to its inherent quality, including information and services that are available "on demand". This is best demonstrated by a large segment of the general public's obsession with the capabilities of today's smartphone. 

Finance is the art of passing money from hand to hand

until it finally disappears.

- Robert W. Sarnoff

Another example of this is the way that the world engages in commerce and exchanges money. Banks encourage their customers to sign up for direct deposit and online banking, touting not only its convenience but also to help justify having less human tellers at branch offices. One can easily move funds from one account to another, and spend money with a click, or a swipe or tap at the vast majority of retail outlets that accept credit and debit cards. 

I have learned that this ease and transparency of moving wealth seems to have the effect of lessening the cognition associated with the act itself. There seems to be more of a tendency to spend money that you don't necessarily ever see or touch.

Leslie resolves this for herself by physically depositing checks in her bank account - if she needs to make transfers, she does it at the bank. When she pays bills, she writes checks or pays cash - in person. She uses a debit card only for small purchases, and carries a limited amount of cash.

She has structured her life so that it's more difficult to spend money frivolously. This is something I am slowly learning from, but also requires the same level of discipline, which has admittedly been tough. 

I have always been averse to financial risks associated with investing, and generally anything involving Wall Street. This is magnified by the fact that most retirement plans involve risk associated with investing in these markets, which in light of the recent financial crises sounds akin to staking a high roller at a casino with your life's savings.

As a result, those investments I do have are designed to provide slow, steady growth while reducing the impact of market volatility when possible. Kind of like the illustration above. 

I am confirmed in my division of human energies.

Ambitious people climb, but faithful people build.

 - Julia Ward Howe 

There are as many differences in how Americans lead their individual lives as there are ways to make a living and raise a family in this great nation. This includes how we as citizens exercise our freedom to worship, and how faith affects our decision-making processes.

I got quite an interesting perspective on choices and faith from a guest preacher at our church this past weekend. She dove into the admonitions contained in the 1st Psalm, which go something like this:

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

She then expanded upon this psalm as it relates to our world and society - There are no "shades of gray". Righteous OR wicked - there's little or no middle ground to be had.  Wickedness includes those who are focused on their own self-interest, having "no real grounding in the truth beyond themselves". She went on further, expanding on the concept of self-sufficiency, which she claimed was both rooted in wickedness and "culturally desired" in this country and others. 

She related how those with a foundation in faith are like a kite attached to a string. The kite needs the resistance provided by the string to obtain lift, and remain airborne. Without the string, the kite will drift briefly with the wind, and then fall. 

I'm wondering about the choices we make in this regard - to climb, to achieve more and more, to move our worldly lives faster and faster to keep pace with a race we cannot hope to win. I am reminded of the myth of Icarus, who ignored warnings not to fly too close to the Sun, and as a result watched his wings of wax fail him.

All the while we leave behind, or pay short shrift to, those things that take time and genuine work to achieve. The essential simplicity of maintaining a home, raising children to honorable personhood, or just sitting on the porch holding your loved one's hand - these are examples of what we may be ignoring as a society that reaches for too much, and is gradually losing the ability to care for itself.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,

every hill and mountain shall be made low,

the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord

shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. 

 - Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I am increasingly disturbed by the way that our society is being divided into factions, especially in our recent political discourse. This seemed to be most glaringly displayed by Mitt Romney's comments about the "47 percent" that he speculated would vote for President Obama in a few weeks, because they believe in a culture of entitlement, on government dependency.

Post-Gazette columnist and Sewickley-area resident Reg Henry addressed this concept with an eye on both "sides" of this battle in a recent column. He conceded an important point to start - 

When conservatives warn about a culture of dependency, they make a good point. People who live off entitlements often become lazy, non-productive and out-of-touch. It's a fact. I have seen it myself.

He then expanded upon this concept with those who benefit from wealth not part of a so-called "entitlement" program: 

If you are no longer doing your own sweating, and depend on others sweating for you, the moral danger is the same as if you were on a government program. And in a sense you are, because conservative politicians have been devoted to satisfying your every whim for lo the past 10 years, so that any wealth redistribution that has gone on has only sent more wealth your way. And what have you done with your good fortune? Not made a whole lot of new jobs, that is for sure.

A friend on Facebook in Colorado simplified this nicely:

When we make statements about "all Republicans" or "all liberals" or "all Libertarians" or "all Democrats," we are barbarically hammering complex personalities into cramped pigeonholes. This action disrespects others, distorts the positions of ourselves as well as our opponents and minimizes the possibility of persuasion. 

Only a Sith deals in absolutes. 

 - Obi-Wan Kenobi

A lot of us out there, and right here, aren't listening like we should. If we were, we might be able to tune out the drone of excessive consumerism, polarized discussions on talk radio and elsewhere, and just spend some time looking around us to all we truly have, and should spend time cherishing and nurturing instead of trying to just accumulate more. This may also be a time to take stock of whatever faith you purport to espouse, if any.

Chances are you'll find that even among all of the talk about one way being the polar opposite of another, there are plenty of residents along the entire curve of the political and social spectrum whose beliefs, circumstances, and humanity cannot be distilled into the 30-second sound bite, or an easy answer in a televised debate. 

We work hard - a lot of us have never taken a government handout, but sure are interested when politicians talk about messing with the ones that we were always told would be there for us at retirement. 

And guess what? Despite what we have on our balance sheets, we are still all in this together. As autumn comes upon our area, take a walk through your neighborhood and remember that.

Here's to finding the paths of best resistance. 

Have a good week ahead.

Construction Communication Confusion Causes Consternation

Typing tremulously about time-consuming traffic tumult. Author apologizes for annoyingly ample alliteration.

If you traverse the greater metropolitan Sewickley area on a regular basis, you already know that there's a lot of construction going on. This is happening primarily on the valley's "main drag", Ohio River Boulevard, but other projects affecting other roadways have had a mildly annoying impact on traffic from time to time. 

Still, on an average workday with average traffic flow, how long should it take for a motorist to travel the roughly 5 miles between the Beaver County line and the intersection of Route 65 and Beaver Road, at the Glen Osborne /Haysville traffic light? What would you consider to be a minimum reasonable time to accomplish this, whether you took Beaver or the Boulevard?

My wife and I both met with significant challenges last Friday afternoon when trying to drive through this area. Leslie, trying to get to her job in Robinson, elected to take Beaver to get past the usual bottleneck at the SewickleyBridge, on her way to access Interstate 79 at Glenfield. 

It took her 22 minutes to get from Leetsdale to the Haysville light. That's an average speed of a little over 12 miles per hour. Her progress, while already impacted by school traffic, was impeded further by the closure of Beaver Road near Osborne Elementary School. 

I spoke with her while she was on the road, and she expressed frustration with not knowing about the closure. I was kind of surprised myself. With her information in hand I then set out for Neville Island via Route 65, perhaps hoping against hope to get through the bridge backup in time to make it to my destination within 30 minutes.

Fat chance of that. 

Another thing we already know is that living here means road construction - and lots of it. Cursing PennDOT under one's breath likely rivals fantasy football, eating, and sex as something people do most around here when they're not working or sleeping. Even I succumbed to this on Saturday afternoon, when a backup for scheduled construction on Route 28 south extended my commute home by a little over an hour.

I freely admit that "Penndot sucks" appeared on my Facebook page. I apologize for that.

I really didn't have a valid beef about this, however, because I knew about the closure ahead of time. I just thought I'd give it a try anyway, and couldn't get off of the ramp into Etna in time to circumvent it. 

As much as we can't stand having to deal with all of this construction, at least PennDOT does attempt to keep the general public and local officials apprised of their plans, even if their timing is less than fortuitous. Witness the surprisingly candid comments of Sewickley Manager Kevin Flannery when work was announced to pave the bridge approach during the weekend of the village's Harvest Festival.

While the work was later postponed until after the event, it did happen last weekend, and by all accounts was the mess that everyone had anticipated. This coming weekend brings the 'overnight' paving of Route 65 through the heart of Sewickley. Based on the reported plans for traffic management, going across Sewickley Heights (Merriman Road to Scaife to Fern Hollow to Little Sewickley Creek) to get around sounds attractive by comparison.

Still, the efforts by PennDOT District 11 and its PIO, Jim Struzzi, need to be recognized for the timely and comprehensive way that they get the word out about upcoming projects, so that commuters and shoppers alike can prepare and plan for what's coming.

Which leads us back to that pesky closure of Beaver Road in Glen Osborne. 

It was distressing to me not to have had any inkling of this closure. I follow the local media rather closely, and could find nothing announcing the closure on any of those websites, or the sites for Sewickley and Glen Osborne municipal government. The only online mention that I could find was on the Quaker Valley School District's site, with an alert for Osborne Elementary parents. 

So at the beginning of this week I tried searching for answers. As the project that is closing the road is part of maintenance to water and sewer lines that are part of Sewickley Borough's system, I contacted Borough Manager Kevin Flannery. He stated that to the best of his knowledge, Glen Osborne Mayor William Boswell had sent a letter to all borough residents advising them of the closure. 

So those who live or go to school in Glen Osborne had received some sort of official notification about the closure. What about the rest of us?

I posed that question to Glen Osborne Borough Secretary Diane Vierling, whose office sits in the Sewickley Borough Building. She stated that all public notification was bring coordinated by the Sewickley Police Department. Reached on Monday afternoon, Police Capt. Richard Manko stated that to his knowledge the department had "made every effort" to convey ample information to the public, including signage in the business district directing motorists to use Chestnut Street to access Route 65. He could not confirm if any press release had been issued regarding the closure.

At that point I could still not locate any media coverage. Sewickley Patch Editor Larissa Dudkiewicz, along with office staff at the Sewickley Herald, could not recall a release passing through their in-boxes.

It was therefore not surprising to see the closure covered by Patch on Tuesday, and in today's Herald, especially when both outlets conveyed that the work will impact Beaver Road for several months. 

Months.  

There is no doubt in my mind that this construction is appropriate and necessary to maintain critical infrastructure. Is it therefore reasonable to assume that the work had been planned for some time, and that motorists using this stretch of Beaver Road would like to have known this before the project commenced? 

Can government at all levels assure that information such as this, affecting the general traveling public for a lengthy period, can be conveyed in advance, as other government entities have made a part of their routine operations?

Let's hope so. In the meantime, Godspeed in finding a way to get there from here.  

                                                                  

The opinions expressed in this weblog are solely my own as an individual and private citizen, and do not represent the opinion or policy of my family, my employer, or any other private or public entity.

(Note to Leetsdale Borough employees - feel free to make use of the above text if you need to.)

Sign O' the Times - The Pa. Edition

Over the years that I've been blogging, I've taken note on several occasions of signs and other forms of large written expression that are interesting, unique, outrageous, or challenged in terms of spelling or grammar. Most of these were from locations in Colorado. I coined these posts "Sign O' The Times" - you can review some of the previous posts and pictures by clicking here. 

Since returning to the Pittsburgh area, I've been collecting similar examples of signage silliness, but since I haven't been as frequent with my writing here as I was out west, the collected pictures have piled up a bit. 

There are some regular displays of humorous signs in the Sewickley area. The best-known come from the marquee-style sign in front of Marroni's Lounge on Route 65 in Leetsdale. The bar regularly documents these on their Facebook page - it's worth checking out. 

So without further adieu, here are several other examples of impromptu,deliberate, or unplanned noteables in the world of getting your visual message across. Enjoy..

This kind of spontaneous humor and creativity always catches my eye. Now if only the Caped Crusader could spell 'restaurant'. Then again, he doesn't need to..he's Batman. From Five Guys Burgers and Fries in North Fayette. 

The manner in which many elected officials in Pennsylvania emphasize their name over their elected office seems best illustrated here. What is more important - which arm of the government has inspected the gas pump, or the name of the person in charge of that particular department? 

No...really? It's for windows? I was worried that someone might try to use it for their MacBook Pro..

This is the "on special" price? Must be some really special lemons there. I could eat lunch somewhere else for the same money..and did. Then again, you have to consider where you are.
No, it's not a county fair somewhere - it's the China Palace in Sewickley.

So good they haven't changed it in a long time. In this day in age, I wonder how many kids look up from some type of device to actually see this, however. From the Dairy Queen on Babcock Boulevard in Ross Township - best enjoyed after a round of miniature golf at Kniess' across the street.  

A recent visit to Boston Market revealed this little gem on the table where the salt used to be. I can understand the need for some to restrict their intake of sodium, but do you really think that making people get up and walk for it is going to reduce how much salt people choose to use? Not to mention it's a bit nanny-ish.

The Leetsdale Giant Eagle had some unique ideas of what constitutes 
"Young Adult" literature.
 It pretty much runs the gamut, don't you think?  

It seems that every workplace that has a refrigerator needs a "fridge nazi" to enforce the proper cleaning and disposal of lunches long forgotten. Mine is no exception. 

This Brighton Heights eatery had a unique perspective on the traditions and significance of the Lenten season. 

A thrift store in Coraopolis seems to be a little conflicted about the status or existence of their public facilities.
 Pay no attention to the man in the reflection..

An oldie but a goodie - This pair of signs along southbound Route 65 in Sewickley may be symbolic of the disconnect between PennDOT and local officials. The state put up the sign indicating  that White Avenue is approaching on the right - it's likely that Sewickley put up the No Right Turn sign after making White Ave. a one way street in the opposite direction. This was probably done to prevent motorists from accessing Chadwick St. to circumvent traffic at the bridge.  

Turning toward current events, this is a two-for-one spell-check special. Can you spot them?

Judging from the sign at the Leetsdale VFW, this year's annual craft fair and festival in Henle Park will have a slightly different theme this year. I'm trying to imagine the events that the "treasurers" will be conducting - perhaps a bean (counter) bag toss, with bags from Citizens Bank and beans from Azul. Or maybe a Credit Default Swap Meet, sponsored by Libertas (formerly Hussey) Copper and their new owner, Lynn Tilton. Better yet, how about a "Take the Money and Run 5K", brought to you by Goldman Sachs?

The latest edition of the signs posted in front of homes adjacent to Quaker Valley High School, part of the ongoing campaign of the fledgling Concerned Taxpayers of Quaker Valley. What pearls of wisdom can we expect next from this group? Stay tuned...

Have a great weekend. 

While We Were Out - The Events of August

The dog days of this warmer-than-usual summer have yielded somewhat to pleasant sunshine, lower humidity, and cooler evenings. Some people may not welcome the gradual transition into autumn that these conditions portend. I personally welcome it - the past month, with the exception of one week, has felt unsettled and a little anxious for some reason.

That one week, Leslie and I spent on the road. The trip was refreshing and felt longer than usual - perhaps this is attributable to not really being under a great deal of time pressure to accomplish what needed to be done. 

We traveled to Cape Cod, then Brooklyn, and drove home across rural northern Pennsylvania. We spent quality time with friends and family, ate in an authentic diner, explored thrift stores and antique malls, saw lots of classic cars, and rode three vintage carousels.

We spent an hour and a half on a Sunday afternoon trying to drive across Manhattan to get to New Jersey. We partook of the most comprehensive bill of fare to be found in Coudersport, PA at 9 PM on a weekday - Sheetz. We dodged crazy truckers along a fog-shrouded Interstate 80 near Clarion. I'll have more to say later. 

In the weeks following our return, I've noticed a few things going on that are worth mentioning and commenting on. Combined with the upcoming election, some of these could make for an interesting next few months.. 

Several Trees Lost in Sewickley

Peebles Street at Beaver Street, Sewickley, circa 2010.
Credit - Google Maps

Leslie and I were helping to organize items for next month's flea market at St. Andrew's Church in Sewickley when we noticed a whole lot of open space where several large old trees used to be. These trees lined Peebles Street adjacent to where the new Village at Sweetwater condominiums are being built. 

I was curious as to why a total of 6 large trees would be felled in such a way - was this related to the condo construction, or did other factors contribute to their demise?

A voice message left for Sewickley Borough Manager Kevin Flannery brought a quick reply. All of the trees taken had fallen victim to disease, to one degree or another. According to Flannery, one tree was being held up largely by its 2 to 3 inch thick bark, the bulk of the tree's innards being completely rotted away.

The intersection today, with trees gone
and new condos going up.

A loss of mature trees like this is tough, especially in a place like Sewickley, where tree-lined streets are part of its distinctive, Victorian-era charm. All is not lost, however - Mr. Flannery stated that new oak trees are slated to be planted as replacements sometime around November, which is apparently the right time to do these things.

It's a shame that these trees had to be lost, but as many communities in the area have known for many years, the effects of disease, root stress, and air quality take their eventual toll. Maybe I'll be fortunate to live long enough to see the replacements approach a more majestic form in kind to their predecessors. 

Thanks to Kevin Flannery for his prompt response to my inquiry.

Lots Happening in Leetsdale..I Think..

The last couple of council meetings in Leetsdale seem to be indicative of continued conflict from within borough administration as to how and by whom the borough should be operated day-to-day. At the July meeting, council approved the settlement of a wrongful termination lawsuit by former junior clerk Sandra Bajsec.

At the same meeting, council tabled from consideration a proposal to advertise to fill the position of Assistant Borough Secretary, a position similar to Ms. Bajsec's that would provide continuity in borough operations, as well as an avenue for succession planning as long-time Borough Secretary Elizabeth Petalino approaches retirement.

According to Ms. Petalino, no action was taken regarding the vacancy at the August council meeting either. There was, however, plenty of discussion about the current workload Ms. Petalino has been recently saddled with, including numerous open records requests filed by former councilman Michael Bajsec. Quoting the Sewickley Herald report on the August meeting:

Because she has been so swamped, Petalino said she hasn't been able to use any of her four weeks of vacation, and has accrued 167 hours of overtime since Jan. 1.

"I am prioritizing what has to be done," Petalino told (Michael) Bajsec.

Early last week I posed the following questions in an e-mail to Council President Joe McGurk and council members Melanie Dunn and Linda Michael, who comprise the Finance Committee that oversees human resources issues:

What is the current status of this vacancy? What factors caused the proposed advertising for the position to be delayed? Considering the Borough Secretary's reported workload and overtime hours, how high of a priority is filling this position relative to the efficient conduct of daily borough operations?

After follow-up phone calls, Mr. McGurk replied Tuesday via e-mail:

The reason Council took the position of Assistant Borough Secretary off the agenda is due to Council being undecided regarding what positions will be filled in late 2012 and Calendar year 2013. Elizabeth Petalino will be retiring in 2013. We expect that by the end of this year we will know in which direction we are headed. In the meantime we have a skilled Borough Secretary with 20 years experience who is capable of handling the workload albeit while requiring her to work some overtime.

As I've written previously, I'm concerned with the operations of a municipal government hinging upon one solitary, though highly qualified, human being. Leetsdale Borough has seen significant internal tumult regarding whether or not it needs a full-time borough manager. The council that hired one, and changed the status quo of borough operations, tainted the process so badly with politics and procedural chicanery that the concept of professional municipal management may have a credibility problem here.

In the wake of the current council's reversal of those changes, Ms. Petalino's workload and overtime this year have been impressive - the equivalent of an extra month of work to keep up. One wonders not only how this translates to efficient operations, but also other factors related to Ms. Petalino's upcoming retirement. Does Ms. Petalino have a pension coming? How will this significant bump in compensation translate to the amount of her monthly pension when she retires? What is the long-term financial impact on the borough (if any) as a result?

There are lots of questions and discussion forthcoming, but perhaps Liz Petalino crystallized the issue best herself. Quoting Sewickley Patch: 

“What if I get hit by a car? What if something (happens),” she said.

Liz Petalino got to use some of that well-deserved vacation time last week. She took the whole week off, and the borough offices were closed as a result. This is a little disconcerting to me. Government at all levels needs to be accessible and responsive to citizens, at a minimum during the business day. 

Perhaps Mr. McGurk and his colleagues are trying to keep up with other borough business. Well, we did elect them to do this for us. I just think we elected them to be accountable, transparent, and responsive to concerns as well.

I don't know how that happens without an authoritative presence handling day-to-day operations consistently, while providing for continued operations in the event "something happens". I hope that council keeps this in mind, and reaches consensus on a strategy soon.

QV vs. Homeowners - Round 2?

Tina Vojtko has taken off running as the new Communications Director of the Quaker Valley School District. Along with announcing an upgrade to the district's website, Tina has been doing a great job of getting information disseminated for the upcoming school year, generating weekly e-mail updates, and writing press releases.

Ms. Vojtko wrote one release in particular early this month about the traffic study being conducted by an engineering firm, in response to the ongoing citizen outcry concerning the perceived targeting of several Leetsdale properties by the district for expansion of parking and traffic management measures at Quaker Valley High School. I explored the issue at length in a previous post.

Ms. Vojtko included the following paragraph that seemed to set the tone, or underlying purpose, for the press release:

The traffic flow behind the school and especially on Beaver Street during arrival and dismissal times is a safety hazard that must be addressed. This problem is longstanding and there are no simple solutions. As H.L. Mencken wrote, “For every complex problem, there's a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”  

Leetsdale Council President Joe McGurk is a busy man. Aside from his other responsibilities, his property is one of those allegedly being eyed by QV for acquisition to accomplish the aforementioned traffic management goals. He appears to have taken a point position in the controversy, which has morphed into not as much a property battle as a disagreement over strategy and use of taxpayer monies. 

With the district trying to frame the debate in advance of the traffic study's release, Mr. McGurk and other concerned citizens sought to re-energize and perhaps re-purpose their efforts as well. At a community meeting earlier this week, those interested and involved became the fledgling Concerned Taxpayers of Quaker Valley School District - a group that, by name only, seems to expand their scope to all manner of district projects and operations. Judging from some of the comments to the Patch story, there's lots to be "concerned" about. The future looks interesting..

While I was browsing at a church thrift store in Massachusetts earlier this month, a book on the sale shelf jumped out at me. When I opened it to a random page, I was presented with another quote from H.L. Mencken, "The Sage of Baltimore", admired by journo school students and non-college graduates alike. The quote is perhaps applicable to the controversy at hand:

Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.