Obituary

Leo Cat

?? – April 25, 2007

Leo Cat, dearly loved by some and quite frankly feared by many, died on April 25, 2007. He is survived by his owner who will miss him terribly.

Leo’s precise age is unknown but it is assumed he lived a long life; it is a very comforting fact to know that he lived a good one. He spent his first 10 or so years happily sitting on his first owner’s lap, watching television and keeping him company, terrorizing the neighborhood in his spare time. Dogs, other cats, the mailman ….. all feared to cross the path of this big bruiser. But their fear was unwarranted and quite silly as Leo the Lion was a “live and let live” kind of guy. If you behaved yourself and respected his space, Leo would greet you with a rub of his head, his big heart purring loudly. Trouble only ensued if you approached him in some other disrespectful manner.

His first owner died of pancreatic cancer in 1999 and that’s when Leo Cat came to live with his present owner … the daughter of his first owner. Leo developed pancreas problems of his own in 2000 when he was diagnosed with diabetes, needing insulin shots twice daily since that time. Sadly and ironically, Leo also developed pancreatic cancer which ended his life as well.

Leo loved to eat. Shrimp was his all-time favorite. He had a life-long addiction for watching television which broadened to include the computer monitor. Watching birds, squirrels and other backyard critters occupied his days as he got older. He always loved hearing his name because that’s when he got a glint of the realization that he was something separate, individual and unique. He went ga-ga if you told him he was a “good boy”. He'd prance about so excited as if he knew what a big compliment that was. He purred himself to death when his long hair was brushed. And no matter how good or bad he felt, no matter how late the hour was, he always, always met his owner at the door when she came home.

Leo spent his last day home by the window snoozing under the effect of pain meds, but looking out to the goings-on in his backyard every chance he could get. He ate the teeniest bit of shrimp because the tumor was pressing in on his stomach. His owner brushed him constantly and told him he was indeed a very good boy. In fact, he was held and brushed right up to the moment the euthanasia injection ended his pain. “Good boy” was the last thing he heard.

Leo Cat … a really good boy with a very big heart. He will be sorely missed. There is already a huge, empty spot by his owner's front door.

Editorial

Naming Rights n@

Our mayor has displayed an infuriating habit of plastering his name and likeness on anything and everything Pittsburgh. Whether it moves or not, whether it’s animal, mineral or vegetable, whether he was involved or even born at the time ….Mayor Ravenstahl proudly slaps his name and/or likeness on the object in question. The Garden Theatre’s new marquee, bearing his name and therefore implying his accomplishment, is just the latest example. The City’s fight with the Garden started back in 1989 and by my calculations, the mayor was just 9 years old at that time. Hardly old enough to impact dealings with the Garden one way or another.

So it was with great surprise that I read today's Post Gazette article about Mayor Ravenstahl’s coup in securing a cost-saving, single-provider health insurance and wellness plan for the city. He is to be heartily congratulated; this is really good work. But I’m confused by the name of the wellness plan. It’s called “City Fit – Wellness at Work” and I’m stunned the mayor didn’t insert his name here as well. “City Fit – Ravenstahl at Work” would be more in keeping with the mayor’s proprietary attitude toward our city and everything in it. And besides, his name seems more appropriate here than on the Garden’s marquee display.

Investigative Report

Lost Slots License But Won $2 Million Consolation Prize

CLT Efficient Technologies Group …. Who Are They?

After a blink-of-an-eye RFP bidding process, CLT Efficient Technologies was awarded a multi-million dollar energy consulting contract with the City of Pittsburgh. Under the terms of the contract, CLT will guarantee savings of $542,000 a year to the city’s light bill. The city will in turn pay that savings to CLT for the first four years, but will retain all future year’s savings once CLT is paid off.

What a lucky break for Pittsburgh. Considering the city’s RFP went out at the end of the year, giving interested companies only a couple of weeks to respond, and considering the bid deadline was during Christmas Holiday…. It is no wonder only two of the eighteen Pennsylvania firms licensed to do such work actually applied.

So who is CLT? How were they able to put together a winning bid in lightening speed at the 11th hour of the 12th month during Christmas no less?

CLT’s founding investor is Charles Zappala, uncle of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappalla, Jr. and brother to a former Chief Justice of the PA Supreme Court. He was a contributor to Bob O’Connor in 2004 and is an investor/businessman who’s been involved with a wide range of area companies and projects. He’s had some hits and he’s had some misses.

One fairly big miss involved $215 million dollars, Ohio’s Bureau of Worker’s Compensation (BWC) and MDL, an institutional money management company where Zappala was a Shareholder and Director. Seems the worker’s compensation fund monies were invested in one of MDL’s high-risk funds which tanked, leaving Ohio’s Inspector General none too pleased about the loss. In addition, MDL used the BWC funds as collateral to borrow an additional $5 Billion or so (yes, that’s with a “B”), which it then lost.

Closer to home and closer to the present, Zappala chaired the Regional Asset District (RAD), but subsequently resigned that post to partner with Forest City Enterprises which was vying for the slots license to be awarded for the City of Pittsburgh. Again, Mr. Zappala’s timing was just a tad off on this one too. Forest City lost out to Don Barden’s Majestic Star on December 20th, 2006 when the state awarded Pittsburgh’s casino license to Barden instead of Zappala and Forest City.

Coincidentally, just a few days later, the bidding time for Pittsburgh’s energy consulting RFP would close and Zappala’s CLT would be the lucky company to win that bid. Now it’s hardly the billions of dollars associated with the high-stakes world of gaming or worker’s compensation fund management. (Could they be one and the same thing?) But a couple of million dollars is nothing to sniff at no matter what your net worth. It’s certainly a suitable peace offering, certainly a respectable consolation prize. A real “win-win” situation for everyone involved.

New Garden Theatre Opens Under New Management

Ravenstahl Double-Feature Premiers Opening Night

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s name and image are popping up everywhere across the city. The familiar “hands-on-hips” visage started out on billboards and appeared at least once on every page of the city’s web site. The famous mug quickly spread to the sides of police cars and buses, park benches and building facades. Even many Pittsburgh landmarks and institutions have been re-named in the mayor’s honor, the “Ravenstahl Regatta” and “Boulevard of Ravenstahl’s Allies” among them.

Pittsburgh now comes one step closer to joining the ranks of Hollywood and other entertainment Meccas with the outstanding Ravenstahl-riddled double-feature premiering this week at the New Garden Theatre on the North Side. The red carpet event is expected to be attended by city, county and state dignitaries as well as other regional movers-and-shakers.

Last Ethics Board Member Nominated

Motznik Looks Worried

Ethics Board Nominee Penny Zacharias appeared before city council Wednesday to answer questions and to describe her excitement at being able to serve the city in this capacity. If approved, Ms. Zacharias will be the fifth and final member appointed to the board, and as such, should precipitate their long-awaited first meeting and activation.

Council members were unusually quiet and reserved, making few comments and posing fewer questions. Bill Peduto noted that Ms. Zacharias was an attorney and that the board could probably use a bit of legal perspective in their efforts. He also expressed his hope that the board could remain “autonomous” as they proceeded with their charter.

Councilman Jim Motznik, on the other hand, seemed to be sweating bullets at the far end of the table. “Just remember to keep an open mind”, he finally implored Ms. Zacharias. “Sometimes things seem one way to one person, and another way to another person. And then you realize that one person thought the other would think something that they didn’t think and that’s why they maybe did something they didn’t intend on doing during the process of moving forward. Just so that you keep these things in mind and keep an open mind as you move forward.”

Motznik was quick to add to his rambling entreaty that he had nothing to fear from the Ethics Board’s long-awaited activation. He continued, however, to sweat bullets sitting next to Ms. Carlisle who refused to make eye contact with anyone, even the perspiring Motznik.

Garden Theatre Boasts New Marquee

Mayor Wins Contest


The city’s contest for a Garden Theatre marquee slogan has come up with an unlikely winner … Mayor Luke Ravenstahl! Scores of city residents submitted slogan ideas for a catchy phrase to attract new developers to the former porn theater. But Ravenstahl’s clever jingle, “No Longer For Adults, Luke Ravenstahl Moving Forward” came out on top.

“I’m honored to win this competition, but I want to make it perfectly clear that Denny Regan had no part in influencing the results”, the mayor told a group of reporters. The mayor’s detractors were not worried about the role Regan did or did not play in this contest. Rather, they were concerned that his name appearing on the theater marquee would give him an unfair advantage in the upcoming mayoral election. But the mayor was quick to remind the media that he is uncontested in both the May Primary and the November General Election. “It was a gamble”, the mayor said. “But I talked it over with my campaign advisors and we didn’t think I would lose any votes over this. After all, who else are people going to vote for?"

Editorial

And Our Sympathies Go To ……

Waking up each day in Pittsburgh is always an adventure and maybe that’s why we all love it here so much. It’s simultaneously exhilarating and disconcerting to grab that first cup of coffee and walk out the door armed with the knowledge that anything, absolutely anything could greet you. Anything, absolutely anything could happen.

It could be a water main break that floods Downtown. Or sink holes swallowing cars. Or falling bridges/buildings that sometimes miss killing people, and other times they don’t. Maybe it’s Everyone’s Grandma Mayor Sophie who has decided to move the 4th of July to the 3rd so as to save city overtime pay for police. (Couldn’t she have picked a holiday to move that didn’t have the date as its name?) Or who could possibly forget the spectacle caught on tape of a councilman being chased on foot by the press because of city gasoline he allegedly pilfered. But my absolute favorite, however, has to be the press-conference-from-another-dimension whereby Fire Fighters Union President Joey King tried to explain how Mayor Murphy was guilty of offering him a bribe but he was not guilty of accepting one. How could that be? Because Joey didn’t realize that the $10 million or so in contract goodies that Murphy was offering him, in a darkened back room of some restaurant on the Southside, in exchange for votes, was in fact a bribe! The gall and temerity of that performance, in my opinion, still surpasses even the shake-down attempt by Hill District “leaders” of last week.

But of all the embarrassing, infuriating, enraging moments this city has seen… Why has the Twanda Carlisle debacle tugged at my heartstrings so? Maybe it’s like one of those movies where the actors are so bad and the plot is so thin that you find yourself averting your eyes because it’s just too darned embarrassing to watch any longer. Yes, it’s been horribly embarrassing….. except I can’t decide whom I should pity the most.

Should it be Twanda who doesn’t seem to realize that 17 counts, hefty fines and a prison sentence is not an occasion to smile?

Maybe I feel sorriest for her lawyer who seems to have only two possible defense options, both even sorrier than he is. One posits that someone other than Twanda could have been responsible for the 60 or so cash deposits to her personal bank account. As mortifying as that option must have been to verbalize with a straight face, the other has something to do with Don Imus. Something no one quite understands as of yet.

Should our collective pity go to Twanda’s mother who initially uttered the “Imus” word in the first place?

I truly don’t know, Pittsburgh. Do you? If you do, let me know. Set me straight. So I can get up in the morning, grab my cup of coffee, and look forward to the new Pittsburgh adventures of a brand new Pittsburgh day.