My dream world is the American Dream for all

I am writing in response to the letters "Maybe It's Time to Replace the Port Authority" (May 30) and "Port Authority Union Members Need to Get Real" (June 24). Both suggest that Patrick McMahon, union president of the transit workers, must live in a dream world and should come back to reality.

Although I respect the opinion of the letter writers, I wholeheartedly disagree with their opinions. These letters are a snapshot of the attitudes of working-class people in the United States today. It is good that we can still debate the values of working-class people in America. But these debates serve more to divide than to unite our country. The reality is that too many families are working longer and harder, only to fall further and further behind.

We live in a country where the middle class is disappearing. Corporate America is more concerned with their bottom lines and ensuring that the top executives are highly compensated with outrageous salaries and benefits, including golden parachutes that allow them to retire wealthy. America has become a two-class country -- the rich and the poor!

So, yes, I am living in a dream world and that dream is called "the American Dream." I believe that Americans should be able to get a job that pays a living wage that enables people to afford a quality standard of living and, hopefully, be able to retire with dignity and respect.

I say that we should not be in the race to get to the bottom of the economic ladder! We are all members of America's working families and we should be working to reverse the course of our country and fighting to keep the American Dream alive.

PATRICK J. McMAHON
President/Business Agent
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85
Strip District

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Diminishes workers

I read the letters of Rosemary Kenny of Overbrook and Laura Abinader of Squirrel Hill ("Port Authority Union Members Need to Get Real" and "Cut Expenses," respectively, June 24). How easy it is to take the low road and play the greed factor, bemoaning what Port Authority employees make!

The Port Authority announced recently that it may be facing the retirement of 231 employees as of July 1. So, I suggest that instead of trying to take food off of someone else's table, Ms. Kenny and Ms. Abinader get moving, go to the Port Authority and put in their job applications. Better yet, ladies, join a union!

JOSEPH G. BRANDTNER
Beechview

The writer is a Port Authority light-rail operator.

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Illogical Pittsburgh

Only in Pittsburgh would it make sense to publish a Page One article outlining why Republicans are in election trouble ("GOP House Seats No Longer Safe?" June 22) directly above an article outlining how Democrats managed to erase records relevant to a statewide bonus pay scandal ("Veon Data Files Erased"). Only in Pittsburgh would this make complete sense to the voting majority, which has not elected anything but Democrats for nearly a century.

Only in Pittsburgh do politicians plan on holding a celebration for the near completion of a subway tunnel supported by few voters.

Only in Pittsburgh are you confounded by the mass departure of educated youth and major corporations, by the soaring crime rate, by the inability to attract new residents, by the rapidly decaying infrastructure -- and all this while your boy-mayor vetoes election reform.

How ironic -- and sad.

GEORGE BOWER
Baldwin Borough

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The city affects us all

Letter writer Philip Retenauer ("Zip It, Suburbanites," June 23) needs to calm down and realize that city politics affect the suburbanites too. Amy Lewis ("Give Mayor a Break," June 11 letters) was correct in her assessment of the news reports of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl -- they're annoying.

The truth is, what has Mayor Ravenstahl done that other mayors (here and elsewhere) haven't done? If the city opted to send him to the Penguins game with an entourage, so be it. I think I would feel the same way if I lived within the city limits.

Oh, and by the way, Mr. Retenauer, some (in fact, many) of those who live in "the utopian suburbs" you speak of commute into the city daily to go to work. So, yes, the city government affects their lives as well. Therefore, they have the right to comment about it too.

ERIC M. O'BRIEN
Ross

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Valid viewpoints

It's natural for Pittsburgh resident Philip Retenauer to resent criticism of the city's government by suburbanites like me ("Zip It, Suburbanites," June 23 letters). After all, even if Pittsburgh's government is as misguided and incompetent as it sometimes appears, how does that affect people who don't live there?

It becomes our business when Pittsburgh's politicians try to force us to pay for their spending. Every politician wants to tax people who can't vote against him. How many times did the previous mayor, Tom Murphy, push for some sort of "commuter tax" to fund his harebrained projects?

And many of us suspect that consolidating county and city governments is another scheme to get Pittsburgh government's hand into our wallets.

Another reason I sometimes comment on Pittsburgh's politics is that it often provides nearby and graphic examples of misgovernment and its disastrous results -- like corporate welfare for department stores, inflated payrolls and salaries, and promises of unaffordable pension and health-care benefits. It's worth pointing these out, if only to dissuade our own governments from committing similar blunders.

I sympathize with Mr. Retenauer's resentment, but I hope he will agree that occasionally there are valid reasons for a suburbanite to criticize his city's government.

THOMAS GILLOOLY
Forest Hills

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Change we deserve

For too long, the dysfunctional relationship between our two largest local governments has led to ineffective delivery of public services and wasted tax dollars. As we celebrate our region's past and look to its future, residents and businesses in Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh deserve better.

Building on our rich history of innovation, our region makes advances every day in technologies that help people around the world become more efficient and more productive. There is no excuse for holding onto an inefficient and ineffective county and city government relationship that is a relic of an age long gone. It is time for change.

What local taxpayers need -- what we deserve -- is the best possible approach to service delivery, built on modern management practices and the elimination of fragmented and duplicative efforts between our two largest local governments.

We need to restructure city-county government for the future we hope to create for our children and grandchildren.

JOSEPH A. MASSARO III
President and Chief Operating Officer
Massaro Corp.
O'Hara

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Can other WVU workers hope for similar treatment?

Are West Virginia University administrators held to the same disciplinary standards as other WVU employees?

If a WVU clerical worker or a faculty member falsified grades to help a dear friend's daughter obtain credits needed to receive an M.B.A., what would happen to the employee if management discovered the deceitful deed?

My many years of experience at WVU helping employees with discipline and discharge grievances tell me the clerical worker or faculty member would be fired and possibly escorted to his or her car by WVU security officers. The fired employee would be obliged to file a grievance and a lawsuit to prove his or her discharge was unjust to regain a paying job at WVU.

Is there a good reason (just cause) to fire the dean, provost, president's staff or the president? Just cause reasons commonly used to fire WVU employees include: 1) deceit, 2) fraud, 3) incompetence, 4) dishonesty in performance of duties, and 5) neglect of duty -- per West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, Title 133.

According to an investigative panel, business school Dean R. Stephen Sears authorized the falsification of the transcript of Heather Bresch (Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter).

Provost Gerald Lang 1) failed to verify the existence of sufficient evidence to justify granting credits and a master's degree to Ms. Bresch and 2) approved the dean's decision granting an unearned M.B.A. to her.

President Mike Garrison 1) allowed his staff to be involved in the provost's approval process of the dean's decision, 2) he failed to verify the existence of sufficient evidence to justify granting credits and a master's degree to Ms. Bresch, 3) he failed to adequately discipline the dean, provost and his staff for being involved in the deceitful scheme, and 4) his neglect of duty brought shame upon WVU and West Virginia.

None was fired. After much negative publicity, the dean, provost and two presidential staff members transferred to other jobs. The president plans to resign in two months. All continue to draw high salaries.

BILL WEISS
Morgantown, W.Va.

The writer is a retiree of West Virginia University.

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