TAKING A LAP IN THE PITTSBURGH 250


from mt. washington to grant street. and back again.

When I first came to Pittsburgh in August of 1987, the city was just 229 years old. The Pirates were rebuilding, the Penguins had a young star and team on the rise, a high-profile, the downtown skyline would soon see another high-profile skyscraper, the South Side was the hot place to be, the city had just been named America’s most livable, and the mayor’s office, about to be emptied by untimely death, would soon be filled by a surprising and unconventional city council president. Sound familiar?

I love the city even more now than I did then. So much of what's so wonderful about this place -- the people; the natural beauty; the arts, the sports, the history; the big-city advantages in the small-town packaging -- has stayed the same. One thing that hasn't is its leadership. To my eye, and especially to my heart, it's gotten much, much worse.

These thoughts came to mind when Pittsburgh Post-Gazette OpEd/Forum Editor Greg Victor invited me -- after last week, you'd think he'd have learned -- to take the next lap in the paper's extensive Pittsburgh 250 coverage. I ran with them. And I'm only now looking back, both to thank him for the turn and to tell you that, today on G-1, you'll find The View From on High written by a guy from down low, someone who lives and loves and believes in Pittsburgh. Someone who, to paraphrase David L. Lawrence, knows its leaders will not be infallible and without human error, yet urges them always to work, and to do the best that is in them.

Posted: Sun - February 3, 2008 at 05:00 AM          

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