Allegheny workshops to explain smoking ban
Good luck convincing these local yokels this smoking ban is a joke. People on Topix are jumping around like it's going to save the state from oblivion, and millions are going to be pulled from the brink of a certain death! Yawn... (Friday Aug 29 | post #7)
I know what you mean. Although I love my house in the Mon Valley (our area is SO nice)...it's not like I have much of a choice. I will NEVER unload it, and I will never get another mortgage like the one I have now thanks to the mess that's going on. The real estate market is all but dead around here. At least in Mc Keesport you can unload to a Section 8 landlord! I grew up in Pittsburgh, I know what it is like. It's a shame. It's almost like there is no such thing as a working-class neighborhood anymore. Either it's Upper St Clair or da hood. Whatever happened to average??? (Thursday Aug 28 | post #22)
Proposed bicycle trail winds through 17 towns
There's a bike trail here in Greensburg. MFers will ride their bikes and run IN the street on the road NEXT to the bike trail- which has no sidewalks. Why this is, I will never understand. I work out too- I just choose not to do it in traffic, because I have common sense and NO death wish! (Tuesday Aug 26 | post #6)
Well I've done a lot of research into the history of public housing in America...for similar reasons. I wanted to know, where did all of this come from, and what made it go so wrong? The public funding movement began around the time of the Great Depression. In 1937, what we call projects today began to be constructed. They were designed to replace old "tenament " style housing. There were already large groups of poor congregating in the cities (because that's where the jobs were). There were some early programs to help this population, but the Welfare system we know today is mostly a result of LBJ's "War on Poverty." See, the thing is this- NONE of this was designed as a long-term solution. Projects were built to last 20-40 years. That's because the government assumed people would come, stay, get what they needed to better themselves...and move on. Problem is, a lot came, got lazy...and began to devise ways to stay indefinetly. I read about families who spent GENERATIONS in the same public housing communities, whose ancestors moved in when it was built 50 years ago and who only left when the darn thing was demolished!!! I have absolutely no idea why people just decided to give up on themselves. It's probably related to learned helplessness/hopel essness (Martin Seligman). JMO. Also it doesn't help that the media glorifies everything wrong with urban life- drugs, thugs, even murder..."pim p" is now a compliment! That's all very disturbing. I guess if you take a kid whose parents aren't around and allow him or her to be "raised" on this culure...it can lead them down the wrong path to be sure! Drugs also have a lot to do with the problems in ALL the Mon Valley communities. Again, drugs thrive in areas where poor people are desperate and lack hope. The closing of the mills and general loss of opportunities "broke" a lot of people's spirits. This coincided with the crack epidemic of the mid 1980s... Section 8 landlords who rent to anyone just to get a check don't help either. These landlords buy up cheapo properties in places like McKeesport and live their Cranberry lifestyle off the income, not caring who or what comes to town as a result of their landlord-ship! They can get the properties so cheap because economic downturns force people out, and also because older people die off and when their house needs sold, the kids just unload it (since they are happily living in another area, since there are no jobs here!) The development of malls versus "downtown " areas also has an impact...read about the Eastland Mall when it went in in the late 60s...the mall featured duplicate stores that were also in town...the town stores los their business and closed. Part of the price to pay for everyone wanting a suburban existence, downtown is now just a memory in all of our towns. Lots of words, curious to know if others agree/disagree? (Friday Aug 15 | post #7)
Section 8 Vouchers in Short Supply, Pittsburgh Authorities Say
I grew up surrounded by poverty, and it's my opinion that far too many of these people are using the system. When my family needed help, for one reason or another, no one ever helped us, though. We never "qualified. " Kind of grates your nerves to see the people who DO get government housing and heating subsidy and everything else walking around in sparkling new Air Force Ones because they are involved in drug dealing, when your own shoes have freaking holes in them... Because people abuse, abuse and abuse the system...now the people who really need emergency help are being sent away, told there are no more applications for section 8 being taken at this time. Where will they live? They will have to find a way. Poor people always have to find a way. I grew up extremely low-income and remained in this situation until 3 years ago(albeit without government help, no one in the Welfare office wanted to help me because I was "in college." Which is BS, if I walked back in two weeks later as a pregnant dropout, they'd be lining up to help me!) That's part of the motivation of poverty- if people are smart enough to use it for good (i.e. I'm tired of sleeping on this d*mn sofa, I'm going to go back to school and get a real job!) and not evil (hmmm how can I scam my way into free housing this time?) Everyone does deserve a chance. We all get a chance in this country. 12 years of free education followed by generous student aid for those who qualify. It's the US, not India. There is no caste system here. No one promised it would be easy, but the mere fact that someone can even have the chance to work from the lowest socioeconomic class to the highest is one of the true blessings of our society. It would be in our best interest as a country to severely limit who gets to live in "free housing." (Friday Aug 15 | post #22)
Teen arrested in stabbing death of elderly Clairton woman
Unbelievable how people who have absolutely no money whatsoever always manage to have the best lawyers when they commit a crime! (Thursday Aug 14 | post #224)
People stop caring about themselves. No one can make them care about themselves. They live for free, which is probably where the problem comes from. They don't have to put forth effort for anything- it just happens. No job? No problem- utilities, food and housing are on the way! Instead of being grateful, they become lazy. They swear in public, have no respect, trash their house, throw garbage everywhere, let animals reproduce freely, etc. Then they decide to do the one thing they always manage to succeed at- reproducing (you never see these people at the fertility clinic!) Since they already don't care about anything, they don't care about what their kids do, or what they destroy, or where they go, or how they act. They also don't care enough to teach their kids about birth control...hence the same cycle beginning again in another 15-20 years. Then they begin to take over...because normal people THINK about things like childbirth and ration the number of children we have based on what we can afford...not them! They multiply like rabbits and then before you know it, you have a neighborhood full of trashy people cause everyone else left! (Tuesday Aug 12 | post #5)
Victim Hospitalized After North Side Shooting
The same people who pay for burn treatment for meth cooks who blow themselves up...us. However if it was a normal working person sustaining this kind of injury, their mailbox would be stuffed with medical bills for the next 10 years! (Aug 4, 2008 | post #3)
Tsongas pushing to get help for vets with post-traumatic stress
So what if someone injures themselves while on Active Duty? To me, that's the military's fault, plain and simple. Some people "use" it, but more thank likely they aren't getting a whole lot of money to begin with. Most of the time they are so stingy that it's not like it's going to bankrupt the VA to treat these injuries. My friend, whose spleen was blown in half in Iraq, only gets 30% disability. Most of the "shammers " I've met get 10%, tops. (Aug 4, 2008 | post #12)
Tsongas pushing to get help for vets with post-traumatic stress
Yeah at the National Guard we have to evaluate and re-evaluate people who deployed for signs of problems. If you find a person who needs counseling, you are giving them information on VA counseling centers and then telling them the nearest one is 2 hours away! So that's a huge roadblock. I think either create more centers, or allow them to see non-VA counselors in the area. Not everyone has insurance either in the Guard, and it is a service-related injury...so the military should cover it. It's a big problem, I would say at least 50% of the soldiers have at least some problems with PTSD. The ones who have more severe problems will only get worse without treatment, or begin to use drugs and alcohol to deal with the problem (I've seen that too- lots more positives on UA since these deployments.) Many will be facing redeployment (or they are already headed back.) I hate seeing what happened after Vietnam, I sure hope we learned from that experience. (Aug 4, 2008 | post #7)
Tsongas pushing to get help for vets with post-traumatic stress
The biggest problem we have here with utilizing VA benefits in terms of counseling is that the centers which offer the service are often 2 hours away! So that is an issue, especially with the price of gas. (Aug 4, 2008 | post #5)
Emo trend in teens promotes depression chic
I don't have any tattoos visible in uniform. I joined when I was only 19 and I've since gotten the majority of my tattoos. Honestly these days no one cares. There are far too many people ETSing every single day for them to care much about tattoos. As far as dressing for my job, I've always used common sense. I won't wear tshirts unless the sleeve was long enough to cover up my tattoos. No one here even knows about 90% of my tattoos. I wouldn't say there are "no problems" here with tattoos, but I'm also not saying I want to be the one to find out by wearing a tank top to work. Personally I don't think tank tops belong in the workplace anyway but maybe that's just me. (Aug 4, 2008 | post #96)
Parents of slain pregnant woman forgive accused
Wow those parents are better people than I could be. I don't think I could forgive someone for doing that to my kid. (Aug 4, 2008 | post #2)
Teen arrested in stabbing death of elderly Clairton woman
It's just a shame. At the end of the day it's the parents who are ruining things- neighborhoods, schools, everything. If they'd take the time to raise their kids and teach them respect, things would be a lot better all around... Personally I just think they don't care where the kids are. How can you NOT know where your kid is for large periods of time??? If the kids are gone, they get to do what they want and be left alone, and that's a good enough reason to let them do anything they want anytime. If only you had to be competent to have a kid. If someone wants to adopt you have to sign away your life and have every nuance of your existence examined, but if you want to have a biological kid, all you have to do is just have one! When I lived in the inner city you'd see little kids (6,7,8) out and about at 11 at night. Some would even hang around the gas stations and wash windows for $2. You know they were doing it to buy food, too...probably because their parents were too busy using drugs to care if their children were even still alive. If that's not a disgrace I don't know what is. Kids can't raise themselves. What is frightening is that in order to develop a conscience, in order to develop into an actual human being and not a sociopath, one has to have adequate nurturing and attachment while growing up. (Aug 4, 2008 | post #217)
Emo trend in teens promotes depression chic
I know, I've been in the military for almost 10 years. Do you mean worked as a co, as in correction officer? (Aug 4, 2008 | post #93)
Like what you see?
Create your own Topix Profile
