Yes, We Can

There's alot going on these days. And often times I'm too busy to blog.

But I find that most of what I care about at this time are the girls in my show, the students in my classes, continuing to share August Wilson with the world, reaffirming the dignity and humanity of the people in my neighborhood---the Historic Hill District, re-electing State Representative Jake Wheatley, Jr., and, oh yes, making Barack Obama the President of the United States of (North) America.

The slogan for my One Woman Show has been "Meet Dr. Goddess. Become a Believer" since the beginning (2004) because everybody has to believe in something, someone, someplace, some entity that gives our lives meaning.

Today, I believe in eight girls, in particular.
Today, I believe in my students.
Today, I believe in August Wilson's gift to the world.
Today, I believe in my neighborhood, the Historic Hill District.
Today, I believe in Jake Wheatley, Jr.
Today, I believe in Barack Obama.
Today, I believe in Michelle Obama.
Today, I believe in something, someone, someplace and some entity.

And today, I believe that I can make a difference.

And that you can too---if you believe.

Yes, we can.

We Lost the Battle, We'll Win the War

Yesterday, we had a very interesting City Planning Commission Hearing, at the end of which the Commission voted to approve the Pittsburgh Penguins' plan for the new arena in the front yard of our Historic Hill District neighborhood.

Just before the hearing began, at about 1:30pm, Mayor Ravenstahl, Councilwoman Tonya Payne, One Hill CBA Chair Carl Redwood and One Hill Lead negotiator Evan Frazier had press conference talking about how negotiations were going. It was hilarious, for so many reasons (hint: watch Tonya Payne). See for yourself.

Many persons came out to support our cause, all across the City of Pittsburgh and we appreciate that. The overwhelming majority of persons who came out wore red or put on red ribbons to signify Hill unity (full and shared representation), the right for us to speak out and be heard and the message that "We Won't Repeat the Defeat!"

We stood outside in the hallway and then a policeman came out and announced that the hearing on the Hill would begin shortly and that only the persons who signed up to speak at the last hearing would be able to speak this time because this was a continuance, not a hearing---and that the list contained only seven people. Lots of grumbling, I challenged that and the policeman told me to speak to the Chairwoman inside, which is where I immediately went when I got in the room. Unfortunately, a number of our supporters left before ever entering into the room to challenge that miscarriage of justice.

I told Chairwoman Wrenna Watson that many of us had not signed up and that I had not received my full time as the head of an organization last time. She insisted that I did receive my full time and I was not buzzed at 3 minutes. The timer lady (what would she be called, btw?) said that I was not buzzed at 3 minutes, either. Of course, I checked when I got home and I was buzzed at 3 minutes and 28 seconds. I'm going to follow up on that because . . . "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!"

More importantly (and seriously), our hero of the day was Momar Milliones, a member of the Hill Faith and Justice Alliance (the coalition of which I am a part) and one of the original persons who stood up on that bitterly cold day in January to make sure the Pens did not steamroll our entire community (including our elected officials). Momar patiently waited for his turn (as he was one of the original seven supposedly permitted to speak), immediately asked for his time not to begin and made a calm, rational but determined plea for the public, the PEOPLE to be able to speak.

The most profound moment of his speech is when he said there are rare opportunities for the average citizen to participate in a process such as this, the process was flawed from the initial sign up and that the Commissioners should do the right thing and allow the citizens to be heard.

The Commissioners voted and all Pittsburgh citizens were permitted to speak, including Sal Williams, who spoke in support of the Pens (and the 50 surface parking lots, vacant lots and abandoned buildings he owns, mostly on Fifth Avenue). Interestingly, I've learned that former Councilman, Sala Udin, tried to prevent the continued development of surface lots in Uptown and the Hill as early as the year 2000. Very interesting.

"Yo, Sal, how come you ain't got no brothers up on the wall?"

No, I never got my minutes back but I did sit there and patiently listen to everyone's comments and took pictures of all of them.

The City Planning Commission was disappointing not necessarily because they voted "yes" but because they seemed to violate or otherwise go against their own criteria---even outside of the CBA. Some of them had not seen the updated plans for the parking garage. Some of them did not understand the logistics of what they might be passing. Others felt burdened by all of the supposed amendments that would have to happen in the future---but passed the plan anyway despite their own criteria for approval (why, Commissioner Mistick?) Here is a classic example :

Commission member Barbara K. Mistick said she wasn't satisfied with the amount of parking that will be available.

The Penguins plan to build a 500-space garage that could be expanded later to 780 spaces, but the 2,400 spaces available at the 16,900-seat Mellon Arena eventually will disappear once the land is developed, she said.

"Do the math. Now you've got 18,000 seats and you're giving up 2,400 parking spaces," Mistick said.

Despite her misgivings, Mistick voted in favor of the plan along with E. Paul Dick, Monte Rabner, Todd E. Reidbord and Mary Lou Simon. Voting against were Chairwoman Wrenna L. Watson, Barbara Ernsberger and Lynne Garfinkel.

And still others, like Todd Reidbord, for example, left the hearing right in the middle of testimonies to go watch the Pittsburgh Panthers play basketball, skipped tons of important information that could have changed his vote and then return to pass the Pens' arena plan.

We also discovered that the City Planning Commission can sort of guess what the social impact of a particular development might be---even something as large as this---without a social impact study.

So, with all that said and done, we lost the battle but we will win this war.

Do not fear, friends. Nobody was really surprised by yesterday's vote.

In the meantime, an excellent review of Mindy Fullilove's "Root Shock" appears here at Null Space. This will be good for all of the people that don't understand the root causes of friction, division, crime, struggling infrastructure of organizations and problems with development in urban, African American communities like the Historic Hill District.

Get your read on.

We Won't Repeat the Defeat!: Speaking Truth To and About Power

Greetings folks,

Three important announcements where we request your attendance/participation:

1. One Hill CBA Coalition meeting Monday, January 07, 2008, Hill House Kaufmann Auditorium, 1835 Centre Ave, 6:00pm

2. City Planning Commission Hearing, January 14, 2008, 200 Ross Street, Downtown Pittsburgh, 2:00pm – Come prepared to support and to speak on our behalf for three minutes!

3. Watch our speeches from the last Planning Commission Meeting on Dec. 11, 2007:

“We Won’t Repeat the Defeat!: Historic Hill vs. Big Business”

Part I: Don Carter, Planning Consultant, Pittsburgh Penguins

Part II: Carmen Pace, George Moses, Tim Stevens

Part III: Evan Frazier, Sheila Petite, Carl Redwood

Part IV: Terri Baltimore, Rev. Foster, Bomani Howze

Part V: Marimba Milliones and Kimberly Ellis

Part VI: Rev. Glenn Grayson, Rev. Thomas Smith, Eugene Taylor

Part VII: Brenda Tate and Minister Jasiri X

A Bit of History

As many of you may know, the Historic Hill District community is in the middle of a revolution for the 21^st Century. The two major issues that have swung our neighborhood into action centered around the gaming applications for the State of Pennsylvania and the three gaming applicants for the City of Pittsburgh’s sole slots license---one of whom sought to place their casino right at our front door (and the only applicant seeking to place their casino in our neighborhood). This would not have occurred without the local nods that collaborated in thinking this would be a good idea. Due to the success of State Representative Jake Wheatley and the Hill District Gaming Task Force in informing the community and the Raise Your Hand! No Casino on the Hill Campaign (including the activist Hill ministers) in mobilizing the community to take a stand against the Isle of Capri Casino Company and the “Pittsburgh First” (Hill District Last) organization, we successfully defeated their plans on December 20, 2006, when the Category II slots license was granted to another competitor---Don Barden’s Majestic Star Casino, to be placed on the North Shore.

Today, our major point of contention is with some of the same group of persons who sought to place this casino at our front door but were granted huge public subsidy and public lands to build their new arena, also at our front door. A new arena, of course, is a totally different development from a casino, which could be much easily supported, however, the responsibility of a large, multimillion dollar corporation such as the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team (with a billion dollar owner-Ron Burkle), coupled with gargantuan public subsidy demands that we insist on proper reinvestment to the low income, working-class community that must host this arena---the Historic Hill.

Thus, in 2006, the Hill District Gaming Task Force insisted on a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in its Ten Point Key-Reinvestment Proposal given to each gaming applicant. In January 2007, a small group of individuals representing Hill residents, organizations and clergy stood in icy cold weather at the present Civic Arena to demand a seat at the table and prevent the Pittsburgh Pens from signing a lease with the City and County with little or no regard for Hill residents whose neighborhood hosts the arena. In April 2007, many of these same persons issued a term sheet with a list of demands for reinvestment (based on the points of the 2006 Hill District Gaming Task Force), followed by the creation of the One Hill CBA Coalition (with the support of City Councilor Tonya Payne), which started a community process to develop planks, asks and a “Blueprint for a Livable Hill” document that shaped negotiations for the CBA.

Unfortunately, because neither the City, County nor Pittsburgh Penguins had produced or signed a CBA or a plan of reinvestment with the Hill District community, we all had to come together at the City Planning Commission Hearing on December 11, 2007 to request that the Commission vote “No” on passing the Pens’ plan for the arena until they responded to further community concerns around planning and signed a legally binding contract for proper reinvestment.

The videos listed above capture that hearing and Part I of our testimony. We have yet to sign a CBA or gain proper reinvestment for our community, so we ask that you support our cause by writing letters, making phone calls, hitting the streets and coming to the January 14^th meeting, in particular.

Countdown to a CBA and Proper Reinvestment

This was an old post that I did not get back to but here it is now, still relevant and clarifying.

The questions are:

Will the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team (as a corporate entity, we are not talking about the players and/or fans), which has been siphoning off of the Black Hill District community for decades and benefited from the government's benign neglect of the Hill, ever give anything substantial back to the community, especially now that the corporation has received millions of dollars of public subsidy (we pay taxes, too!)?

There are two groups of representatives bodies at the table seeking proper reinvestment and/or a Community Benefits Agreement:

1. The Hill District ministers, residents and stakeholder's group - a representative body of persons who stood in the freezing cold, in front of the arena on January 28, 2007, to demand Hill representation at the table, as news media and others reported the Pens were slated to sign their lease agreement with the Sports and Exhibition Authority (SEA) and the County in order to stay in the city. And, the group of persons who presented a "term sheet" of their own in April 2007, which included a demand for a CBA as well as other forms of reinvestment, such as 30% minority employment, first source hiring, a community development fund, appointment to boards, control of our land, etc.

2. The One Hill CBA Coalition, formed in June 2007, with relative ease, particularly after this first group secured an agreement to allow for six months to engage in a CBA process. This is a worthy cause, as CBAs are popping up all across the country. However, since this would be the first time such an agreement would occur within the state of Pennsylvania, let alone the city of Pittsburgh, it was imperative that the Hill District community issue its own agenda to ensure proper reinvestment. The One Hill CBA was empowered and funded by Pittsburgh UNITED (Unions and Neighborhoods Investing in Transforming Economic Development), which was funded by a number of foundations but mostly the Falk Fund and the Heinz Endowments.

In short, Pittsburgh UNITED was slated to be a new era of a Civil Rights Movement (or maybe even a Poor People's Campaign) that would provide institutional change and ensure that a CBA would be the standard for any large development with public subsidy.

Well, let's just say that the dream still eludes us; and for many reasons that I won't get into at this point in time. However, the strengths and weaknesses of all of these groups within the importance of this entire cause will be explored as I continue to outline the happenings in the final lapses of this here hockey ring.

As of this moment, the Pens have refused to provide any funds whatsoever for the Community Development fund and have not signed off on any other plank or concern. Neither has the City. Neither has the County.

Yet, the Pens must go before City Planning on December 11th and the general trajectory of a CBA campaign is that if there is no signed agreement, the community will ask that City Planning NOT approve the plan of the developer. If there is a signed agreement, the community agrees to support the developer.

Our City Council Representative, Tonya Payne, is in the unique position of also being a URA Board member and has a 'special' relationship with the Pens. And, yet, Payne stopped coming to One Hill meetings over a month ago and there is no agreement signed with One Hill, the group she used to try to isolate and eradicate those whom she believes are aligned with her rival and former incumbent challenger, Sala Udin. She won the election but one cannot tell based on her continued paranoia and negative, divisive behavior.

Now, Mayor Ravenstahl, who just won re-election with a 10-1 margin in Black communities over his competitor, Mark DeSantis (R), definitely owes. And it goes without saying that he has a 'special relationship' with the Pens, as he flew off into the sunset on Ron Burkle's jet months ago and more recently, was treated to a charity golf game to the tune of thousands of dollars. Fine. But Pens' fans were not your swing vote and you did not have a 10-1 margin over your competitor anywhere else.

Perhaps that's why he was still campaigning in the Historic Hill District on election day. I heard he came by the Madison elementary school (now closed, btw) twice.

(thanks, Agent Ska, great work!)

So, all that to say it'll be interesting when the Dec. 11th City Planning hearing arrives; and even more interesting during the January vote.

The Hill is En Vogue

Tonight, I went to see "Off the Record VII: Blogged to Death" at the Byham Theater and found it to be rather funny. They parodied the bus transit situation, the smoking ban, Joe Hardy's marriage/s, Dan and Luke, Art Rooney (Steelers), Don Barden (Majestic Star Casino) and Bob Nutting (Pirates). And, although I hear the actor who played Don Barden is in this show every year, I find it amazing how much he resembled Barden. Plus, they did him justice in the writing:

Up yours! That's the new North Shore!

I really appreciate the lack of racism, folks. It's so refreshing, especially in Pittsburgh. I also enjoyed the satirical take on appealing to Dan Onorato on behalf of the Hill District community. I think, perhaps, I enjoyed it so much because, well, I had already done this near-exact act in my own show, "Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail, a spoken word, musical comedy (unfortunately) based on a true story". I read in the program that none other than the P-G's Casino Journalist, Bill Toland, was a lyricist for this show; and I like his writing but he and P-G Theater Critic and OTR Producer, Chris Rawson, owe me royalties, big time.

Why?

Because Rawson reviewed my show and said:

In the play, Dr. Goddess is an incarnation of the Hill -- imposing, angry, funny and smart . . . . Some [skits] have the bite of George Wolfe's famous satire, "Colored Museum." I loved the "Evita" and "Dreamgirls" parodies.

In "Off the Record VII", the Hill was a Black woman named "Shaniqua" who was, you guessed it, 'an incarnation of the Hill --- imposing, angry, funny and smart', who engaged in a "Dreamgirls" parody---singing the exact, same song. Now, I don't know if Toland witnessed 'Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail' but he wrote about me and my work for a while and I'm 99.9% certain that he read Rawson's review, don'tcha think? In the Hip Hop world, that's called "bitin'". And together, I suppose, we owe the creator of "Dreamgirls". But, my show is still touring and I'm glad that this one was 'one night only'. Otherwise, it would be extremely unfair to me and my work, thankyouverymuch.

Still, the actress/singer did a fine job as both Jennifers (Hudson and Holiday) and Toland's lyrics were both hilarious and meaningful---just like in my show. By the way, Bill, I missed you last night. It would have been nice to (finally) meet you. Great seeing you, Chris and thanks again! Overall, I enjoyed the entire production. See you all next year!

On another note:

My first response to Republican Mayoral Candidate, Mark DeSantis' publicity stunt in the Hill District is, "oh, please" but why shouldn't he join in on the "The Hill is En Vogue!" routine right about now. Everybody has leapt to their feet to "assist" in the Hill's notoriety but don't be surprised when we question your timing. Where were you last year, Mark? Where were you even six months ago? Heck, where were you last week? What you can do for us, Mark, is get your fellow Republican Presidential Candidates to be respectful enough to appear at the RPC forum in Baltimore with Tavis Smiley.

That way, you can truly be ahead of the curve instead of scrambling to catch up on the fashion trend.

Speaking of, that forum occurred last night but you all get my point.