City, get the wild South Side under control

So another shooting by a suburbanite outside of a South Side bar ("Man Faces Charges After South Side Shooting," Aug. 30). No constructive response from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl or his administration. Is it going to take someone getting killed before someone, anyone, does what needs to be done to rein in the out-of-control partiers and their more than accommodating "hosts," i.e., the bars on Carson Street?

Mr. Mayor, please spare me the "We can't do anything more about it; it's Harrisburg's responsibility to control the liquor licenses" line. How much of your political capital have you spent trying to get Harrisburg to do something? How much do the bar owners or their minions contribute to your effort to get re-elected?

Why isn't the city setting up checkpoints at either end of Carson Street, 18th Street and the Birmingham Bridge on a regular basis to curtail the drunks? Why doesn't the city enforce the existing parking code when it comes to outsiders who park by stop signs, fire hydrants, crosswalks or in physically disabled parking? When is enough going to be enough?

DAN MATHEWS
South Side

Disrupting sleep

Saturday morning -- yes, it happened again at 2, 3 and 4 a.m. -- bands of young people running up and down Sarah Street on the South Side, yelling their heads off and disrupting my sleep. At 3 a.m., one group ran through my yard. I put the light on and did not recognize any of them, but they were college-age.

At 68 years old with a variety of health problems, I don't need this aggravation. I'm glad police Chief Nate Harper and Councilman Bruce Kraus are taking an active part in meeting with the bar owners to try to calm things down on the South Side ("Broader Police Effort Pledged for South Side," Sept. 3). But it's going to take a lot of work.

DOLORES HART
South Side

Don't ruin nightlife

This is a response to "Councilman Kraus Demands Change for South Side" (Sept. 1) and the PG online poll "South Side Nightlife Scene."

I am a 23-year-old young professional who has lived on the South Side for only two years but visited many times before that. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I lived in the South Side Slopes, where one of my roommates was once held up at gunpoint immediately after exiting a bus a block away from our house. Since then I have moved to the inner-South Side Flats and have never felt safer.

Tons of Pittsburghers and out-of-towners flock to the South Side every weekend for its nightlife scene. With all those inebriated visitors, of course, you're going to have a few bad apples who cause problems. Walking Carson Street on a Saturday night, there are multiple cops on each block posted outside bars and patrolling on motorcycles and in cruisers.

How does Councilman Bruce Kraus expect to crack down on violence any more than that? I feel bringing more city muscle into the scene will only degrade the South Side experience for everyone else, without making a dent in these isolated incidents that spring up at a moment's notice.

Every day I read stories of shootings and murders in other Pittsburgh districts; these are not escalated confrontations between two drunken partiers; these are gang killings that happen so often it's almost commonplace. Clean up the areas that need it, and leave our South Side alone.

NICK KOPCO
South Side

Hold the fireworks

The University of Pittsburgh's homecoming week revelry will be next month. A fireworks display originating from Mazeroski Field has been a continuous part of past events. How does Pitt get permission to ignite firebombs from that field?

The adjacent city-owned, tree-filled hillside and nearby homes could easily catch on fire. Also, there are numerous hospitals in the Oakland neighborhood. Must we wait for a tragic death to occur before university and city officials initiate action to end that misguided activity?

CARLINO GIAMPOLO
Oakland

Pot for pain

In response to Dr. James P. Richardson's opinion about medical marijuana ("Marijuana Debate," Aug. 30 letters): Has the doctor ever sat by a dying patient's bedside after he has sent him or her home? You can pump people with opiates, but then they can't eat, sleep, move or even drink. Or you can go out, get a plant, smoke it, and eat, drink and have time to say goodbyes!

Some specialists get a lot of money to pump people with drugs. Don't worry, doctors, you'll get paid if they legalize marijuana.

Everyone is so afraid of marijuana. Be afraid of the people who have pain and are taking 12 pain pills a day -- and getting behind a wheel with legal prescriptions. And there are a lot of them! People, look around.

SONA MADERA
Dravosburg

Review the record

If the PG fact-checked its letters to the editor, the one written by Robert Walsh ("Liberals and Taxes," Aug. 28) would never have seen newsprint. Mr. Walsh repeats the tired canard that cutting taxes improves economic performance, which leads to increased tax revenues that in turn reduce the federal deficit.

An examination of the past 30 years shows how wrong this thinking is. Under the two presidents who cut taxes (Reagan and George W. Bush) deficits soared. When the top tax rate was slightly increased (under George H.W. Bush and Clinton), deficits dropped and we even saw surpluses when Clinton left office. Plus it was under Mr. Clinton that we had the flourishing economy to which Mr. Walsh refers.

And let's not forget that it was under tax-cutter George W. Bush that the economy "flourished" so well that he was the first president to ever have a net-zero job growth record and left the economy in its worst shape since the Great Depression.

So given this history, why on Earth should my fellow Pennsylvanians send Pat Toomey to the Senate when he supports this misplaced policy on tax cuts for the wealthy and its supposedly positive effects on the economy and deficits?

Conservatives seem to think that if you repeat something often and loud enough, it will become true. But the facts and historical economic record are not subject to their bluster. If conservatives ever recognized this, perhaps we could return to having a rational policy debate in this country and see incomes improve for all Americans, not just the wealthy.

BILL SOTA
Upper St. Clair

The conservancy's plan to build cottages is deeply disappointing

Not all members of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy agree that the New Cottages at Fallingwater ("Fitting in With Fallingwater," July 24) should be built.

The conservancy's mission as stated on its website: "protects and restores exceptional places to provide our region with clean water and healthy forests, wildlife and natural areas for the benefit of current and future generations."

In an Aug. 9 press release, the conservancy announced the purchase of a 25.5-acre addition to the 5,100-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve surrounding Fallingwater. The press release stated, "WPC considers its acquisition to be critical to the long-term protection of the reserve with the focus on maintaining the pristine quality of the Bear Run watershed ... ." WPC purchased the parcel because the owner wished to build a home there.

Now we learn the conservancy plans to build not one but six cottages on the reserve, just a few hundred feet from Fallingwater and, most assuredly, within the Bear Run watershed. Not only do I question the environmental impact of this construction on land the conservancy has pledged to protect but wonder why the cottages are necessary at all. If additional housing for guests is needed, should not the conservancy be a good neighbor and refer the guests to the various lodging venues available a short, scenic drive through the Laurel Highlands?

Over the last several years the conservancy has expended millions of dollars preserving Fallingwater, admittedly a gem, and rebuilding the Fallingwater guest parking lot. Now proposing to build new housing units, perhaps the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy should change its name to Western Pennsylvania Construction Inc.

My wife and I have been WPC members and supporters for many years and have volunteered in various capacities. We care deeply for the conservancy and applaud its land conservation efforts. Reading of the plan to build cottages at Bear Run Nature Reserve on land specifically acquired for watershed protection and reforestation is deeply disappointing.

JAMES F. SPROWLS
Stahlstown

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