Pittsburgh City Council will hold a preliminary vote today on Councilor Doug Shields' legislation "that would put a referendum on the November ballot, asking voters whether they want to amend the charter to include the drilling ban that council enacted for the city last fall." Via the P-G: "In an email to reporters, Mr. Shields said Mr. Fitzgerald, the Democratic nominee for county executive; Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; Barbara McNees, a conference official and one of Pittsburgh's state-appointed financial overseers; and Richard Stanizzo, a union official and another state-appointed overseer, were "putting significant political pressure on council members" to vote down the referendum bill." (Also in the City Paper here and Early Returns.)
The email was also forwarded from Shields to at least one blog -- this one -- you can view it here.Marcellus Shale Protest (via Facebook) urges city dwellers to email City Council to vote for the referendum/show up at Council today. Via the Trib: "Increased production and higher fuel prices helped natural gas producer Range Resources Corp. drive profit up 466 percent to $51.29 million, or 32 cents a share, for the second quarter compared to $9 million, or 6 cents, a year ago." The increase in profits was credited to "outstanding" drilling results the Marcellus Shale. Via Keystone Politics: "20 Year Old Worker Dies at Fracking Site" in PA. Finally, some levity. From Gab Bonesso: "Frack Yeah!" (the movie).
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3 comments:
I know this is slightly off-topic but I would love to know more about how powerful direct democracy is in Pittsburgh. With both Dowd and Shields jockeying to put measures on this November's ballot there seems to be a renewed interest in taking a case directly to the people. But are there restrictions on this? How many signatures does it take to qualify for the ballot? Could Pittsburghers seize the Igloo by ballot initiative? Could we save the Strip's Terminal building or levy a tax on the City's non-profits? There would seem to be a great many fights that are politicians would rather let lie that easy access to the ballot could solve for this city!
I believe 10,000 signatures are needed. I'm fairly certain that you have to collect the signatures in a certain timeframe, but I'm not sure what that is.
* That may be the amount needed to get a referendum which changes the Charter.
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