Occupy Pittsburgh Now - Free Press For The People - July/August 2012 the same date that PAT’s new budget, incorporating the 35% cuts, will be adopted for the new fiscal year. “We’re still hopeful,” said Ritchie, who pointed out that although the new budget would be adopted June 30, there was still time for an agreement to be reached, since cuts would not take effect until September 2, 2012. But he added that the closer it came to that September date, the harder it would be to turn the ship around. “You start laying off employees, you print schedules. We could probably change things up to a week before. But the human and financial cost goes up as we get closer. People’s lives will be drastically affected by that point,” he said. “It’s in everyone’s interests to get this resolved.” Contact Gov. Corbett and demand he take action to save Pittsburgh’s transit system: (717) 787-2500 or [email protected]. PNC Evicts Family From Home While Holding Economy “Town Hall” By Don Carpenter and Jeff Cech Members of Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Occupy Pittsburgh shut down the May 18, in the Heinz History Center, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette invited readers to attend intersection of Fifth Ave and Wood St. at rush hour - Photo by Jeff Lantz a PNC panel discussion on “Issue No. 1,” Fixing the Economy. Two bankers, an academic economist and a New York Times reporter were moderated by the executive director of the By Jeff Cech Post-Gazette, David Shribman, who served as the Skipper aboard this three-hour tour. Protests for Public Transit have escalated over the last several months from mic checks at Purely a for-show pleasure cruise, this panel of upper-class white folks explained how bad Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT) events, to marches, rallies and now to civil the economy is and how good it is that banks can continue to profit in spite of it. disobedience to raise awareness of Pennsylvania’s underfunded transportation system. Skipper Shribman took questions from the audience by way of text message. Judging On June 8, 11 protestors sat down for public transit, and blocked traffic at the intersection from those OPN and others at the event sent to him, most didn’t make their way into the of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street. A crowd of over 200 demonstrators rallied on the sidewalk staged discussion. as police gave a warning and then began arresting those engaged in civil disobedience. Occupiers in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis flooded Shribman with questions regarding a After the arrested protestors were taken away, police proceeded to demand that certain family and their home, which at that very moment was being raided by sheriffs and protestors on the sidewalk disperse. The protestors formed a picket line marching up and hired goons in Minnesota. They didn’t answer these questions, perhaps because the PNC down the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue. Normally by “moving” in this way, police are satisfied. Financial Services Group Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Stuart G. Hoffman, Instead, they threatened to arrest all those that remained, and the demonstration was was on the panel, and PNC Bank was ultimately responsible for forcing this family from their abruptly shut down even though energy was still very high. home due to a computer error by the bank itself. One of the protestors, Paul O’Hanlon, escaped arrest because Pittsburgh Police did not This isn’t the first time PNC has foreclosed on a family under questionable circumstances. have a vehicle equipped to handle wheelchair access. Instead he was issued a summons. In March, the Federal Reserve said it was fining several major banks, including PNC, for He said that it was the only time he was ever glad the city failed to provide equal access for “improper foreclosures,” and the bank’s 2012 first quarter profits were down mainly as a the handicapped. result of the lawsuits it’s dealing with stemming from these illegal foreclosures, which have Late in the night about a dozen supporters of the arrested protestors gathered and sang resulted in thousands of families losing their homes through no fault of their own. Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up during the guards’ 1:30 a.m. shift change. More For those who don’t know about the Cruz family, in 2005 they invested in their American than 24 hours passed before they were freed, late in the day on June 9, although all will Dream by purchasing the home they hoped for since before immigrating to the United face charges of disorderly conduct, obstruction of highways or public passages, and failure States from Mexico City. to disperse. The hearing for all 12 is scheduled to take place August 8. While working to find a solution, the past due penalties started stacking up, and in Everyone knows by now that if a funding solution doesn’t come out of Harrisburg, PAT February 2012, PNC Bank gave the family 48 hours to leave behind their America faces the largest round of cuts in its 48-year history. In September, roughly one third of the Dream and drop the keys in the mail. bus lines will vanish and more than 500 employees of the Port Authority, mostly drivers, will Instead, Alejandra Cruz, 26, who saw her parents struggle to first own their home lose their jobs. and then to keep it, dropped the keys In previous years the drivers have made tremendous concessions in their contracts to into the hands of Occupy Homes in reduce the cost of labor, PAT has streamlined operations, and Allegheny County has Minnesota. imposed new taxes to support transit. The Pennsylvania state government under Tom Occupy Homes MN stood watch over the Corbett is the only group that has still to give up a single thing. Cedar Ave property around the clock, A study by the American Public Transportation Association indicates that ridership is up all across the country. In the first quarter of 2012 PAT ridership grew 6.2%, placing them over keeping sheriffs coming to enforce the the national average growth of 5%. They’re operating at their best ridership-to-buses ratio eviction at bay 3 times throughout the ever, a strong indicator that locally drivers as well as management are working harder and month of May. more efficiently. The group reached out to Occupy PAT Pittsburgh to negotiate with PNC, since spokesperson there aren’t any PNC branches in Jim Ritchie notes Minnesota. that talks among In May, members of Occupy Pittsburgh state, local and spoke with PNC executive Dan Taylor, transit union who assured them that he would look officials continue into and take care of the matter. PNC did and Local 85 of the Amalgamated call the Cruz family, but they missed the Transit Union call. Calls to PNC bank from Alejandra (ATU) is in Cruz have not been returned. At 3 a.m., contract talks sheriffs in Minnesota once again tried to with the authority, enforce the eviction and were stopped with its by Occupy Homes MN. PNC’s Stuart G. Hoffman settles in for his agreement 3-hour tour - Photo by Tom Jefferson Continued on Page 2 expiring June 30, Members of the “Transit 12” being arrested - Photo by Jeff Lantz. Occupy Pittsburgh Now - 1 Occupy Pittsburgh Now - Free Press For The People - July/August 2012 Another “Shell” Game Taxpayers to Pay Oil Co. $136,000 per Job for 25 Years By Mel Packer “cracker” plant. The PA legislature passed an amendment to our ancient In March 2012, it was announced that Shell Oil Company Meanwhile, Shell’s 2011 profits rose to almost $31 billion, Oil and Gas regulations in February 2012 called Act 13, had decided that it would construct its new gas “cracker” 52 %, due to higher energy profits. What could our region do which strips local municipalities of any authority to regulate plant in Beaver County, specifically on the site of the now with that $68 million? We could restore many of the gas drilling/processing and has so angered some state closing Horsehead zinc smelter near Monaca. education cuts/teacher layoffs, or fully fund our public transit residents that many local governments are now suing the Shell was heavily courted by the governors of Ohio, West for next year, preventing 500 layoffs and massive route cuts, state to overturn this law. Virginia, and Pennsylvania as construction of this plant could etc. And while Tom Corporate (a virtual employee of the mean 5,000-10,000 construction jobs during the plant’s Or why don’t we just put up a standing offer to pay any fracking industry) continues to tout PA as the “Saudi Arabia” construction and a continuing work force of about 300 to unemployed worker $100,000 a year? It would be cheaper of the natural gas world, more and more deposits are being 500. and they’d then go out and buy consumer goods, new found all over the world and the price of natural gas is so For those who don’t know, “cracker” plants in the gas low, drillers are sometimes choosing to cap off their wells industry operate to break natural gas from Marcellus Shale until prices go up (if ever). into ethane and other components to be used primarily in the At the same time, massive pipeline developments must plastics industry. To put it bluntly, this plant will use the proceed or the gas cannot get to processing plants or natural gas produced by the already environmentally liquefied natural gas ports for export overseas where the disastrous fracking process to make more disposable plastic price is higher.