Nov 28 2008
There was only one transaction listed in Saturday's weekly report from RealSTATs:
1015 Stoneville Street, by sheriff's deed, for $6,366.
On Sundays, the PG runs a "Sales snapshot" that provides summary statistics for wards within Pittsburgh, and for neighboring municipalities, based on info also provided by RealSTATs. This past Sunday, the snapshot included Homewood. You'll find it at the bottom of the page here.
You can see for yourself how Homewood compares to the other East End neighborhoods and eastern suburbs listed. I will simply point out that the snapshot lists median prices, rather than average prices - the median is the midway point of all the sale prices of all the properties that sold. That means half sold for more and half sold for less.
To put it briefly: through September of this year, 41 properties sold in Homewood for less than $8,666.
Even in a down economy, some people will spend more than that on Christmas presents; a lot more people owe more than that on credit cards.
Just trying to keep you up to date.
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Nov 26 2008
The current issue of Business Week has an interview with Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault and Nissan. The interviewer, Maria Bartiromo, does not ask the first, most obvious question ("What kind of person would want to run two car companies?) - but then, they've probably answered that in some of the multiple pieces they've done about Mr. Ghosn.
Ms. Bartiromo did ask one particularly pointed question, and I was struck by Mr. Ghosn's answer:
Are unions killing the American auto business?
Frankly, I don't think the question is unions. The question is: Do you have the flexibility to operate and be competitive? If a union helps you be flexible, then the union is an asset. If the union forbids or handicaps this flexibility to operate, then you have a problem. We have unions in France and Japan. If you can reach an agreement by which unions help you be flexible and [respond] to the market, in a certain way they become an asset.
What struck me is that Mr. Ghosn's answer dismisses the question and replaces it with a new one. What also struck me is how the new question differs from the one he was asked. The question, "Are unions killing the American auto business?" seems to assume a certain frame of mind, which views labor and management as combatants, and in which there must be good guys and bad guys. For someone with that frame of mind, the answer to the question will reveal whose side you're on.
Mr. Ghosn's question, "Do you have the flexibility to operate and be competitive?" avoids the assumptions and the animosity that can accompany that mindset and steps outside of it completely to challenge both labor and management. It is not only less combative, it is more practical. It is goal-oriented, focusing on a value (flexibility) and outcomes (operating and being competitive), rather than problem-oriented, focusing on blame (unions).
The above exchange reminded me that there are some questions that it is not useful to discuss. And it reminded me of the power that can be found simply in asking more useful questions. And I thought about Homewood, and began wondering,
What questions might be more useful than the ones we're already asking (and answering)? How can I, and how can we as a community, discover more useful questions?
To give a simple example, if we have been asking,
"Why can't Homewood have a supermarket?"
The new question could be,
"How can Homewood get a supermarket and keep it?"
(I have found that "Why can't..." can almost always be replaced with "How can..." with useful results.)
Can you think of others?
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Nov 20 2008
Greetings, all. Over the past two weeks, as I have thought about the potential impact of the Obama presidency, my mind has returned again and again to a declaration by my favorite political commentator of late, actress and comedienne Wanda Sykes (of the CBS series, "The New Adventures of Old Christine"), who said to Jay Leno months ago, "If Obama wins, we [black people] are gonna need a new excuse!"
In the 70s and 80s (perhaps even now, but less so), it became common for people to express frustration about an apparently unsolvable problem by saying, "We can put a man on the moon, but..."
Over the next few years, I predict that this phrasing will become popular: "If Barack Obama can become President, then I/you/we can do X."
That could be very empowering, by helping people to get past excuses (even good ones).
In the spirit of "no excuses."....On Oct 30, I announced a "Save Race Street" meeting on Nov. 1 at Baptist Temple Church. I attended, with perhaps two dozen other people from the length of Race Street. We agreed to work with Operation Better Block to set up Block Clubs on each of our blocks. I was named "block rep" for 7200 Race. I'll let you know how that goes.
Real Estate Watch
Homewood is simmering; all the transactions below are just from last week's RealSTATs report. Notice that there is only one foreclosure in the group:
7110 Apple Avenue, for $12,050
2041 Frankella Avenue, for $54,000
7349 Hamilton Avenue, by sheriff's deed, for $1,721
7722 Susquehanna Street, for $10,000
2018 Swissvale Avenue, for $29,000
More than a nuisance
A man was shot to death last night at Denise and Earl's bar, 7709 Frankstown Avenue. This is at least the third shooting at the bar in the past six years. On December 19, 2004, two men were injured in a shootout; On October 2, 2006, 31-year-old Jonathan Bunday was shot dead while sleeping at the bar.
Which raises the question of why this continues to happen. Even if I did go to bars, which I don't, I think I would stay away from one where people have gotten shot, and killed. But Denise and Earl's is not the only spot where people have been shot in Homewood. A search for the term "Homewood bar" on the PG Web site brings up a pathetic string of stories about the mix of booze, guns and stupidity resulting in flying bullets. Here's a sampling, from the past three years or so:
August 1, 2005 - the 7101 Lounge, 7101 Frankstown: an unnamed Braddock man receives multiple gunshot wounds.
February 7, 2007 - the 7101 Lounge, 7101 Frankstown: Rodney Poindexter, of Duquesne, is shot dead.
March 30, 2008 - Mac Can Do, Brushton Avenue: John Allen is shot dead
April 19, 2008 - Club 22/Rendezvous, Hamilton Avenue: two constables are shot; one of them, Aaron Jenkins, dies from his wounds afterward.
May 15, 2008 - Earl the Pearl's, 7200 block of Kelly Street: an unnamed man receives multiple gunshot wounds.
If I drank, I think I'd drink at home.
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Nov 05 2008
What can the Post-Gazette and I do to make "My Homewood" better?
Please email responses to myhomewood@post-gazette.com. Thanks!
See you Nov. 19.
Nov 04 2008
Barack Obama's campaign set up an office at the Greater Pittsburgh Coliseum over the weekend, and tonight, after an insanely long and grueling campaign, three hours after the closing of Pennsylvania's polls, some thirty people lingered in that cavernous space, some putting away campaign materials, perhaps half of them crowded around a conference table with a small television set at one end.
I wanted to capture some video of this group. I didn't know that in a different room, a larger television was tuned to CNN. That was what enabled Robert Kennedy (I kid you not), a volunteer from New York, to bring the news to the others: CNN had just pronounced Obama the winner.
In an instant, those thirty-something people made enough noise for hundreds, and began shedding rivers of joyful tears. Everybody began hugging everybody, and those who weren't hugging were on their cell phones, except that one of them announced, "All circuits are busy!" - the news lighting up the wires all across the country.
A few minutes later, it was CBS' turn to concur with CNN. And a few minutes after that, it was John McCain's turn to make his concession speech.
It's official. It's done.
Kennedy said, not to me, but to the room of people watching McCain, "This is a moment where character and policy triumphed over everything else."
Outside, drivers began honking their horns. A lady across the street stood on her steps, banging pots together. A man walked down the street, banging pots together. It was a racket, but honestly, I had expected more. But perhaps most Homewooders, like those folks in the Coliseum, were busy hugging and weeping.
I was more than a little tempted to go out and act a fool myself.
And now it is past midnight, and Barack Obama has made his first speech as President-elect. I am proud. And I am hopeful. Whatever else happens, this has been a great day. A joyful day.
I've been thinking a lot lately about Douglas Turner Ward's "Day of Absence," and I feel kind of obligated to say this to my fellow citizens...don't be surprised, don't be even a little bit surprised, if a whole lot of your Black co-workers don't show up tomorrow. When I asked my friend at Staples if he was going to work tomorrow, he just laughed. Some of us may call in sick, some of us may tell you that our third cousin twice-removed died, some of us may not say anything at all. But don't be surprised.
As for me, I'm going on vacation, to return November 19. I look forward to reading your thoughts about what this momentous day will mean for Homewood, not to mention the nation. When I get back.
Until then, be well.
Nov 04 2008
My tenant asked for a ride to our polling place, Bethesda Presbyterian. We got there about 6. Again, while there were several people inside, there was no long line.
By 7, there was a crowd of a different sort at the intersection of Frankstown and Homewood Avenues. Some two dozen Obama supporters spread among the intersection's corners, the largest group standing in front of the KFC with a large "Obama-Biden" sign, chanting Obama's name and shouting encouragement to passers-by. One of them used a megaphone, the others relied on plain old lungpower: "You still have time to vote!" - along with "Honk for Obama!", then as the final hour wound down, "Honk if you voted!"
There was a lot of honking.
At 7:30, a half-block from the corner, at Homewood House, a seniors' high-rise that serves as the voting place for the 13th Ward's 2d district, poll worker Judy Long was taking a break on a bench in the rear courtyard. Things had quieted down from earlier in the day.
"For us, this is the best turnout that we've ever had," she said. "And so many young first-time voters. The brothers - I'm real impressed. The mothers were even bringing them."
Besides residents from surrounding blocks, some 75% percent of Homewood House residents had voted, she said.
Despite widely-expressed concerns about voters still being in line when polls closed, there was no sign of a last-minute rush at Homewood House. Nor at Belmar School, where the only people left at 7:45 were the volunteers. In midafternoon, they said, the school gym was filled with voters, and there was a line across the playground, a "fabulous" turnout. The final tally of 801 voters was "60 percent or higher" of the three districts - 3, 4, 5 - served by the school, they said.
At 7:55, the workers at Baptist Temple were closing their books and turning off their machines. As at other locations, there had never been an overwhelming crush, although at midafternoon there might have been as many as 10 people waiting outside. But even without an overwhelming crush, they logged 296 votes, nearly twice the norm of 150.
Qadira Daniels echoed one of the themes of the day: "We've had more young voters this year than I've seen in ages."
Nov 04 2008
Like other places I've visited so far, the Homewood Carnegie Library at Hamilton and Lang looks deceptively quiet. No queue of people snaking out the door and up the street. Just Pamela Moore, registration clerk at the Homewood-Brushton Branch of the Community College of Allegheny County, emerging from the building after coming down during her lunch hour to vote.
Besides voting, she has encouraged others to do so, in her own way.
"I'm telling students if you don't vote today, I can't register you," she says with a laugh.
She voted for Barack Obama. Asked what she thinks an Obama presidency would do for Homewood, she grows thoughtful.
"I hope it can help to bring the communities together with unity. We need it so bad. There's a lack of communication in the community ... I hope he can bring everybody together as one. We're not all on the same page."
And then another laugh: "No dream is impossible."
Inside, Marguerite Bryant, who has worked the polls for "maybe 20 years," says that today's turnout so far has been "excellent."
"This has been three times as great as last year, or even May," she says.
She is not certain how many first-time voters have come in, but "there are a lot of young people, which I am very proud to see. They are turning out very well. I was surprised."
"A lot of them turned out for the May primary, and have since turned 19 instead of 18," she says with a laugh.
Mary Savage, Homewood's flower lady, is also working the polls today, and agrees with Ms. Bryant's assessment that the turnout has far exceeded the norm.
"I thought we would have a lot trouble, but we're not," she said.
Like Ms. Bryant, like my friend at Staples, like the stranger at the Chinese restaurant, Ms. Savage is all smiles, and I can feel myself catching the infection, yielding to the belief that this is a day to cherish.
Nov 04 2008
I went to Staples in East LIberty, and a friend of mine who works there spotted me.
"Did you vote?" he asked. I said yes, and returned the question.
"Early this morning, before coming to work," he replied. "I believe it's done!"
He was beaming.
I stopped for Chinese food, and as I waited at the restaurant counter, a fellow customer, Black, about my age, wearing an Obama pin and cap, asked me, "Did you vote?"
He had a couple of inches on me, and more than a few pounds, so I was glad that I could honestly say "yes." I felt sure that I didn't even need to return the question.
While we waited for our orders, he told me about his mother, who, when she first saw Obama four years ago, said, "That boy's gonna be all right."
He spoke about how proud she would be to see this day, except that "She's no longer here."
So perhaps it was as much for her as for himself that he said, after we received our orders and started to go our separate ways, "It's a joyful day!"
Nov 04 2008
My wife and I stopped at Bethesda Presbyterian Church to vote, on the way to dropping her off for an appointment. There was no line outside, but the polling area inside, at the rear of the church basement, accessed from Fleury Way, was more crowded than usual. No backlog, just a steady flow. But then again, they had five voting machines set up.
In previous elections, there have been two.
Anonymous worker: "People are coming in wheelchairs and with walkers."
Nov 04 2008
In the basement of Baptist Temple Baptist Church, 21 folding chairs are set up, most of them occupied. As voters enter, they give their names to the poll workers, then take a seat to wait, rather than going directly to one of the three machines. The backlog was created when the polls opened at 7, and the machines were not working.
"The machines weren't taking the votes," said Maria Sommo, a volunteer with the A. Philip Randolph Institute, one of several groups who have turned out to monitor polling places. Some voters left, she said, promising to come back.
"They didn't want to take the emergency ballots, because they were scared that if they took it, it wouldn't count."
The machines are working now, and the chairs are emptying out as elections judge Tonya Todd calls out the names of those waiting and they go up to vote. When John T. Smith, a slight 61-year-old with wide eyes and thinning hair, gets in line to give the poll workers his name, things are moving along smoothly.
Smith, who cleans vehicles for the Pittsburgh Transportation Co., says that he is changing his party affiliation from Democrat to independent because he is tired of "the rhetoric of either side... the backbiting."
"Obama promised there wouldn't be any retaliation" during the campaign, Smith said, but "neither he nor McCan had no control over their people in the primaries.
"What control would either one of them have once they got in that position (the Presidency)?"
He gives his name to the poll workers, they give him his voting card and he goes to the center machine, where another volunteer divides the card, giving him back the small stub. Smith does not need the help that some others will in using the machine; he has voted here for 16 years.
Who was the new independent's choice for President?
"Oh, Obama, definitely," he said. But with a caveat: "You can make all the promises in the world, but you've still got the Senators and the Congressmen. If they don't help him out there, all the ideas he have won't go through....hopefully, there will be change."