This Post is a Waste

From Dr. Goodhair, courtesy of the P-G:

Councilman Patrick Dowd outlined what he called $20.2 million in "wasteful spending" by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration today...

• $19 million in costs and fees -- mostly for insurance -- the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority incurred on a complex $414 million debt deal last year...

• $518,000 of the $977,550 the city is spending on ventilation systems for firehouses...

• $252,500 spent on 250 new trash cans.

• $91,000 that the Urban Redevelopment Authority could have received, but didn't, when it changed the rules after soliciting bids to manage parking lots.

• $337,000 in payments to police Commander Catherine McNeilly, former URA Executive Director Pat Ford, and former Operations Director Dennis Regan, each of whom were involved in thorny personnel issues...

• $45,000 in free parking along 4th Avenue provided to members of City & County Government that could have otherwise been used by the public.

• $500,000 in excess water bills from a faucet in the Mayor's Office that Luke never shuts off when he's finished.

• $757,385.68 in lost productivity from employees scanning local blogs for mentions of their names. $723,000 of that amount alone comes from Yarone Zober.

• $30,638 in mailings announcing mailings which will be coming shortly, all of which have Luke Ravenstahl's face on them.

• $38,345 in "Un-Deasying" Council Chambers.

• $150,000 for promoting city living to Pittsburgh residents.

• $450 in Doug Shields noise dampeners.

• $58,298 for the 2nd Council District.

• $.75 lost in that stupid vending machine that's always out of Fresca.

The Mayor's Office offered no comment to this report, except to say that it'll fix the Fresca machine during the next budget round.