[Pittsburgh] kudos to my council rep

Back in June we had a big storm, and a large stretch of sidewalk along my route to my synagogue became covered in a thick layer of dirt. After a couple weeks passed without the now-packed-down dirt being cleared, I left my first polite note. (No one was ever visibly home when I was walking past.) Time passed, and summer rains turned that packed dirt into occasional mud deep enough that you really couldn't walk through, especially if wearing nice shoes, and even if it weren't that deep, it would still be slippery. I left another note -- referencing the first one, but still polite.

Time passed with no action. It was dry for a while. Then fall came and with it more rain. A few weeks ago when I tried to walk around the mud, by walking on the strip of grass by the sidewalk, I found that that was too swampy too, and I had to walk in the street. The combination of night and rain makes it hard for me to see stuff like this; I found out the grass was unsafe by slipping and nearly falling. If I had trouble I can only imagine what the elderly are going through. So I wrote to my city councilman, Doug Shields, through the council web site.

Friday night the sidewalk was clear. Gloriously clear! It rained this weekend and I didn't have to care. I have now sent Mr. Shields a nice thank-you note. (I'll probably never find out whether city council caused the owner to fix it or just sent workers over. As a taxpayer I care, but not enough in this case to stir the pot.)

vet visit

Tonight was check-up night for the cats.( Read more... )