The traffic lights are out at the intersection of Terrace and Connor Roads. I understand there is a power failure in the Foster School area. Please stop at this intersection when the traffic lights are out.
Keep in mind that there was no LeboAlert for Sunday's water main break on Castle Shannon Blvd.
From the PIO:
From: LeboALERT <noreply@mtlebanon.org>
To: EGillen476 <EGillen476@aol.com>
Subject: LeboALERT: Mt. Lebanon Communit...
Date: Tue, Dec 16, 2014 9:24 am
“This is an important notice from LeboALERT.
Mt. Lebanon Community Endowment offers gift cards which donate $25-$100 to the local charity of the giftee's choice. Details:rkang@mtlebanonendowment.org”
30 comments:
I was just through there and the lights are out on Washington at Longuevue and at Mt Lebanon Blvd too.
That office seems more and more useless. A ton of complaints about trash pickup on the Mtl mag facebook page and their response is to tell everyone to notify Public Works. How about as a public service, you take 3 mins and say to Public Works, "hey take a look at this..." Then say to everyone, "Sorry to see so many complaints, we have alerted Public Works to these comments." They are too busy writing articles about their favorite jewelry. Seriously who cares what kind of jewelry you like?????
Gift Cards warrant a LeboALERT? They're kidding I hope!
Plus, how much of a cut does the Endowment take before our money gets to where you want it to go?
We still have no accounting of the school district's Capital Campaign.
Ask John Bendel and the SAB. The MLCE is handling the turf project, remember?
Elaine
The MLCE is an independent third party not for profit corporation that has no association or affiliation to the township of Mt. Lebanon.
What makes the MLCE so important to be afforded a LeboAlert when other businesses aren't allowed?
Will the Denis Theatre Foundation get a LeboAlert to solicit donations?
What's next, the third party sports associations?
The database of emails that Mt. Lebanon has accumulated for LeboAlerts is owned by the taxpayers of Mt. Lebanon.
Did the MLCE pay Mt. Lebanon for the use of these email addresses or the time it took our staff to send this out?
I really don't understand the LeboAlert system and the purpose it currently serves. Important issues such as hit and runs, water main breaks, traffic light outages, etc. which one would think would qualify for a LeboAlert get nothing, but gift cards being sold by the MLCE get a LeboAlert. I'm confused.
Nick M.
Is it me or are the mtl Facebook posts getting a little hostile?
http://www.mtlebanonendowment.org/faq/
"Who invests the endowment’s money?
Generally, the endowment will hire professional management for its portfolio investment. The endowment establishes the philosophy and policies for investments, but the professionals handle day-to-day decisions.
How are these investment experts picked?
The Board of Directors of the Community Endowment has an investment committee that carefully selects fund managers to bid for the management of all or portions of the portfolio. Managers are regularly evaluated and replaced if they fail to meet Endowment’s standards."
Hired professionals? That means someone isn't volunteering. Guess they're not as generous with their time as our skilled IT, Police, PW and Fire Dept. archers.
I just go the smack-down in an interaction on one of their posts from about 2pm.
Their role in the community is painfully ill-defined and, where defined, somewhat mis-defined.
- Jason M.
Does MLCE take 14% off the top before they forward your gift to a charity?
The Pittsburgh Foundation had one day in May and another day in October when they gifted a matching portion of your gift to a qualified charity. The Foundation has a total dollar amount they will gift and the percentage of match varies depending upon how many people give on those days to qualified charitable organizations.
Fakelebo's latest post is a hoot!
Sarcasm can really hit the target sometime.
Without the walk lights, the deer won't know when to safely cross Connor for the Conservation Dist. park ! LeboALERT for Linfante....alert the cops, there may be many "incidents" a comin'
For those not on Facebook. mtl Magazine on Facebook
Elaine
mtl -- Mt. Lebanon Magazine
about an hour ago
With power outages, traffic tie-ups, horrid weather and general holiday stress, this has been a difficult day. We appreciate those of you who took the time to express your concerns and frustrations in a constructive manner. That is the foundation of this Facebook page. And we hope everyone has a better day tomorrow!
Kristen Linfante liked this on Facebook.
Elaine
Tis the season for unnecessary bureaucratic Seasonal Affect Disorder.
- Jason M.
Difficult day?
What would it be if we had a truly difficult day with say an earthquake, flood or tornado? Or a manmade event like a bombing, mass shooting or start of a pandemic?
I need to move out of this town; I am now arguing with a boojy magazine.
- Jason M.
Who had the difficult day? Not us.
With an annual salary of $99,664 plus paid yearly healthcare benefits totaling $12,149, I bet the PIO manager didn't have a bad day.
Nick M.
Among other reasons, MTL Magazine had a difficult day because of several things they have posted over the past 24 hours:
a) they suggested a limit on the amount of trash residents can put at our curbs and that we, as residents should "stash" our extra trash for a later pick up date
b) with sarcasm they stated that they cannot provide timely lebo alerts because there are too many utility companies
c) they blamed pedestrians for the accidents which injure them on washington road and as proof to the terrible pedestrian behavior in the advertised walking community highlighted the observation of someone jaywalking on washington road while pushing a person in a wheel chair.
The goodie goodies" appreciate the professionalism of the folks running the magazine's FB posts. They are so polite. " The " folks " combined earn more than $99,664 annually.
Yeah, I saw that, 6:12 AM. She is one of Gozer's minions. As soon as I get paid for what I do, you should see how professional I'd be.
I love the FB post about showcasing your apparently amazing life. That never happens here with mtl media.
I'm curious to learn more about Mt. Lebanon Municipality's Facebook page. We were reminded that "this is Mt. Lebanon Magazine Facebook page, not Mt. Lebanon Municipality's."
Elaine
Do you know there are 20 people in the PIO office?
How d you pay 20 and make a profit on mtl?
6:25 AM Elaine, the Magazine is a product of, the responsibility of and is the property of and owned by the Muni ! Manager Feller is the Publisher on behalf of the Muni. The Magazines FB is a product of the publication and its staff employees. Therefore, it is a Muni product.
7:13 AM Almost all are part time. There are something like six photographers on the staff, but many photos in the magazine are supplied by others.
You and I both know that 9:10 AM, but this is the BS that they are writing on Facebook.
Elaine
According to the 2015 Recommended Budget, "Advertising revenues are structured to make the mtl magazine cost neutral." Mr. Feller notes that "The magazine provides advertising revenue of $582,000." Since the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 2014 is not available as yet (CAFR's usually come out in the Spring of the following year), one can only assume that this is an estimate. Here are some advertising revenue figures for previous audited years:
2013 $590,213 (CAFR)
2012 $599,146 (CAFR)
It is clear that the amount of revenue generated by the magazine has been falling, based on the audited and published figures thus far.
As to how much the magazine costs, Mr. Feller lists $584,400 in the 2015 Recommended Budget (page 19, item 143). In the CAFR's for 2013 and 2012 the magazine's costs were not a "line item," but we can presume that the costs for the Public Information Office include the magazine. Mr. Feller projects a total cost for the PIO in 2015 at $842,200. Amount budgeted for the PIO in 2014 is $855,530 (page 26). In 2013 the cost for the PIO was $829,715 (CAFR), and in 2012 it was $831,645. Again, keep in mind that the PIO includes more than the magazine. Also, in all fairness it should be pointed out that the "budget amount" for the PIO and the actual audited expense for that office are two different values, with the actual expense being less than budgeted amount for years 2013 and 2012 (CAFR audited figures for those years).
One final comment: In what I find to be a rather amusing twist, while Mr. Feller points out that the magazine is designed to be "cost neutral," the Mt. Lebanon Gardening Book is adduced on the merits of its PROFIT: "Provides sale revenue of $50,000 with a net profit of $29,450" (page 26 of the 2015 Recommended Budget). I am delighted to see that Mr. Feller does not consider "profit" to be a dirty word, and I highly recommend he try achieving that with the magazine by either offering it on a subscription basis or outsourcing it.
10:46 AM Richard, you are beginning to expose how the Muni increases its unassigned general fund balance, a/k/a surplus, each year so they can spend it on foolish and dangerous things like artificial turf at will.
It's an old government budgeting trick whereby budget costs are overestimated and revenues are underestimated, and resulting surplus's fall to the bottom line as unassigned, available for easy additional spending - never returned to us as excess taxes.
I like your idea of converting to either a subscription basis or outsourcing, but the budgetary in-house gaming would continue unless the entire governmental operations were bid out, awarded to qualified professional low bidders, actual true costs would be fixed and public and not manipulated as they have been for too many years.
How insensitive can our Public Information Office be?
While it probably isn't the wisest choice to try and cross busy Washington Road in the middle of the block with someone in a wheelchair, publicizing it is downright cold.
I suggest the staff try dealing with someone confined to a chair, live with it everyday, the lifting, the additional physical and mental strain and the constant reminder that this is probably as good as it's going to get.
The parking garage has its convenient handicap parking spots next to the elevators, etc., but when those people get to the street the dumbass PIO expects them to walk a 1/2 block to get across the street, then a 1/2 block back to their destination.
A suggestion... go home PIO, count your jewelry, have lattes with your well-coiffed friend, go grocery shopping but please go on your way.
This resident is tired of your and your staff's "it's all about me" musings.
Oh, by the way... have a Merry Christmas.
PS: I thought the PIO abhorred anonymous posting? Their Facebook post are all anonymous.
PPS: nice to see the municipal staff has time for Elf on A Shelf pranks.
Their post about utilities was essentially "it's not our job!" Love the professionalism in that message. Slow clap for mtl.
Anyone who would like to stop deer cruelty in mt Lebanon please e mail anyalasko@gmail.com we are organizing a protest. Don't let deer run around the neiborhood with arrows in their bodies blessing to death. Don't let your children be traumatized. This must stop.
I too found the fact that they called out some person jay walking with a wheelchair to be quite shocking and rude. Yeah it's illegal, but they ended up looking like the insensitive bad guy in the end. They even went so far as to continue debasing them in comments after when people tried to defend the jaywalkers actions. That's PR 101...don't look like a tool, especially in writing...on a public page that's supposed to make you look good ;)
Also, from my dealings with their facebook page, it seems that Merle Janz(sp) does most of the postings, and replies to facebook inbox messages. He sent me a testy message once about an ad, only to realize he made a mistake and had to apologize for being rude later =P Obviously I don't know if it's him all the time posting or if it's a shared duty within the office, but my interaction with him hasn't always been...delightful.
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