Customers must have a clear say in PWSA’s future
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority is in crisis. Again, customers of PWSA have to question the safety of their drinking water, worry about rising water bills and hope the city will find a way to fix PWSA’s problems quickly.
On Monday, consulting group Infrastructure Management Group presented its initial findings to the mayor’s blue-ribbon panel on ways that PWSA could be restructured or privatized. It concerns me that IMG’s founder, Steve Steckler, was a key architect of the Reagan administration’s privatization efforts.
So far it appears that the only way we as residents can provide input into these future plans for PWSA is to comment on a website that it will create. While I understand and agree with the need to bring in experts from other cities that have had similar woes, it is absolutely critical that Pittsburgh residents who are most affected by PWSA’s problems have the opportunity to voice their concerns and desires. This is especially important when taking control of the authority away from Pittsburgh residents and giving it to a private company is one of the options IMG outlined (“Options Offered to Save PWSA,” Aug. 29). On that issue, we were very glad to see Mayor Bill Peduto reaffirm his stance that privatization of PWSA is off the table.
We need all hands on deck to fix PWSA’s problems, and that includes of the residents of Pittsburgh. We are a major stakeholder, and we deserve to have a say in what happens to our city’s water.
TOM HOFFMAN Conservation Programs
Coordinator Pennsylvania Chapter of the
Sierra Club Point Breeze the civil rights of individuals and repeatedly acting in contempt of court, he bastardized the awesome power of his office for political favoritism and vanquished the individual protections of the Constitution.
The timing of his act was as cowardly as the act. Millions of Americans were facing a natural disaster sure to affect their lives for weeks and perhaps years to come. Apparently bolstered by his 34 percent approval rating, the president found the perfect time to announce this spineless act in hopes people would forget about it by Monday.
Mr. Trump has long held obvious contempt for the judiciary, citizens of color and, as we now know, for the law and spirit of the Constitution. The lesson our children can learn from Mr. Trump’s pardon of Mr. Arpaio is that criminal behavior that carries the Trump stamp of approval is fine with him and he will exercise his power to pardon because he can. This is moral corruption in its purest form.
The frightening thing is that we now know that our deepest fears are true; we know what he will do. We can predict that he will pardon those who broke the law in support of his candidacy, and perhaps he will pardon even himself. Witness the American imperial dynasty disguised as a democracy and Emperor Trump has ascended the throne. BETH LEWIS Edgewood
When Congress begins tax reform in September, some of its members will push to increase the eligibility age for Social Security to 70 and use means-testing for Medicare. On a Sunday morning news program, I heard Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say, “We plan to privatizeMedicare.”
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An article in The Atlantic by Priscilla Alvarez, “House GOP Budget Plan Cuts Medicare and Social Security,” said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney “defended his support for raising the eligibility age for Social Security to 70 years old and said he continues to back means-testing for Medicare.”
An Associated Press article, “Trump’s Tax Overhaul Plan Has Aggressive Timeline But No Details” (July 31), stated, “Americans for Prosperity is having its state chapters call lawmakers this summer to encourage support for the [tax] overhaul. Separately, the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs, is sponsoring a multimillion-dollar radio and TV ad campaign.”
Don’t let this campaign rhetoric fool you. Some people in Congress want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Once programs are gone, they’re not coming back. LINDA CASNE
Scott