The Mayor says the G20 will cost the city of Pittsburgh $18 million dollars. But "the City" is more than the Mayor and his budget. "The City" includes hundreds of thousands of residents in 90 neighborhoods along with students from around the world living in dorms at seven colleges in Oakland and downtown. From child care cost to lost wages to temporary relocation, we have been hearing about the REAL costs borne by the REAL City of Pittsburgh We have started this blog to hear from you about your cost. Please leave us a comment.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
What is the Real cost of the G20?
The Mayor says the G20 will cost the city of Pittsburgh $18 million dollars. But "the City" is more than the Mayor and his budget. "The City" includes hundreds of thousands of residents in 90 neighborhoods along with students from around the world living in dorms at seven colleges in Oakland and downtown. From child care cost to lost wages to temporary relocation, we have been hearing about the REAL costs borne by the REAL City of Pittsburgh We have started this blog to hear from you about your cost. Please leave us a comment.
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21 comments:
Pittsburgh Public Schools are closed. I have to hire a baby sitter for the day. I get to go to work in the East End so I'm not losing wages, but I have to get someone to stay with my kids because they are too young to stay home alone all day and I have no one else to watch them. Maybe I can find a downtown worker not alowed to go to work to watch them.
We are working on a documentary project called It is Hard to Say No Thanks detailing the impact the G20 will have on Pittsburgh. We'd like to capture you thoughts. If you are willing to go on camera and share the impact good or bad that G20 had on you, please contact me at christopher @ Universalwit.com
It's costing me my sanity. I'm scared and I HAVE to go to work. I don't work downtown but there is a very good chance my office will see some trouble. In fact there has already been some minor problems. The City and media just won't report it. My children don't go to Pittsburgh Public schools but because there won't be any buses I'll have to keep them home and hire someone to watch them.
Yeah, I'm staying at a friends house too. I have to hire someone to take care of my dog. I live on the North side and have to get to work in Oakland by bus. I'm going to crash at a friends apt in Shady side. Hopefully I'll actually be able to go to work, not sure whats going to happen in oakland.
I don't know. But what I do know is that they've taken away all of the USPS mailboxes in Oakland. Weird.
Missing an unprecedented opportunity to advertise a vibrant Pittsburgh to the world, we have instead advertised that Pittsburgh cannot support for both productivity and security. Should the G-20 be in a myriad of other American cities, you would not see the mayor feel that paralyzing our economy is a "minor inconvenience." We look like amateurs.
I have no idea how my 2 employees are going to get to my store next week. They both live in the south hills and it is going to take them hours just to get to the store. Hell, I do not know if anyone will even come to my store. I live in Oakland and I am not sure which way to take to get into my place. When are they going to tell us? Also, I think if my business is without customers for 3 days, well 4 if you include Sunday, I am going to lose around $9,000. I do not think the prime minister of China is going to swing by for coffee, so I am not counting on this huge boost to business that has been promised to us.
I work at a parking garage downtown and it turns out we'll be closed for G20. too bad I won't be earning that income for those days.
The G-20 is costing me my fall break because my university has canceled classes during the G-20 and rescheduled them during fall break. Also, I am a member at the Curves Gym Downtown which is closing for the entire week because of the G-20.
Its not a cost to me, but I think its a big deal that Planned Parenthood has to close. They provide a lot of services to women who dont have insurance and cant afford to go somewhere else. And lots of women use it as their doctor. They are always full and to close for a few days seems like a big deal to me. I think they are going to be very busy after they reopen and I feel bad for women who have been waiting for their Sept 23 or 24 appointment for a long time.
As a downtown barista, Im losing half a weeks worth of wages and tips. Even if my boss hadnt decided to close the store, all of my regulars are staying home. I doubt the protesting crowd and police will be very interested in taking a few minutes off to sit down for a latte together.
You could stop complaining about not being able to get around and just get a bike.
Anonymous 9/19 7:44 I agree that we are too dependent on our cars and biking is a mode of transportation we often forget, I think your comment kind of misses the point. Most of what is worrying people are things like what they will do with their kids while they work, worried about losing wages or losing vacation days, or incurring other extra expense/income loss. Also, "getting a bike" assumes people have the extra money to do so, the flexibility in their schedule take the extra time to ride (not to mention the ability to wear appropriate clothes to work) or the physical capacity to ride.
What a bunch of crybabies! Everything listed here is a MINOR inconvenience to anyone with any sense of proportion. You have to stay overnight with a friend? Someone has to watch your kids? Your bus ride is a little longer? Grow up. Some people have real problems.
Richard, the irony of your comment is that people with "real" problems probably isnt you. When you live paycheck to paycheck, having to pay for a babysitter for 2 1/2 days is a big deal. So is losing wages and losing vacation days. I also know that I have worked jobs where I had very little time to get from my job to my day care center. They charged $10 a minute for every minute you were late after 6:15. These are big issues for working families. Losing wages or unexpected expenses can be devastating.
Two more voices weigh in (actually I think they could be credited with starting the conversation...) on the Real cost of the G20
Here: http://www.pghlesbian.com/blog/_archives/2009/8/18/4292559.html
and Here: http://vannevar.blogspot.com/2009/09/g20-questions-flanagans-folly.html
In 2001 I used up my sick days at a new job dealing with my daughter's case of Chicken Pox. When my mother was told she had 2 weeks to 2 months to live my employer told me I had no more days off. How many employees are using their sick days and vacation days, paid or not, for the G20 and how many will find they need them for "real problems" somewhere down the line. It happens.
You guys disabled posting on your most recent post? Isn't that a little hypocritical for a website designed to elicit feedback from the public on the G20?
Isn't also a little odd that this blog, which is being touted as forum for discussion on topics relating to the G20 has only had two posts?
Anonymous, not at all. We wanted to streamline this so that the conversation was in one spot rather than scattered. As for only having two postings, we really should have only one. The idea was to gather feed back and to provide a place for people to tell us what costs they incurred not for us to listen to ourselves talk.
Hey "Jenn"
Are you sure it wasn't because people started posting things you didn't like? Like the fact that Dok left town for the G20...
I assume one of your staffers got on here last night and challenged the anon. poster to provide evidence.
Well here it is, from Dok's mouth:
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A69375
Don't you think its funny that all the G20 cost Dok was 3 nights at a super-high end, ritzy spa, tucked away in the mountains?
It would have been really nice if every other Pittsburgher could afford such jaunts our of town when times got tough.
Hey "Anonymous"
Yep. I'm sure. And no one ever said Dok wasn't out of town. He was with his girlfriend (who lives out of town) doing debate prep. She flew in to help him get ready. It was planned well in advance and we all felt that there was nothing Dok as a private citizen could add to the G20. I see no problem with a private citizen being out of town for the G20. In fact many people left town to avoid the hassles. He left to work and spend time with a loved one. He used his own money (in fact, he used his reward points so it actually cost him nothing, but that is beside the point) so it actually bears no relationship to any conversation about the cost to the taxpayers for the G20.
Again, I invite you to drop the veil of anonymity. Only cowards hide behind anonymity to attack via the internet.
Jen,
You've asked people to come on this blog and comment about the G20, and when someone does, you call them a coward? Is that really a good idea?
I am raising a legitimate question about Dok's ability to lead. Bill Peduto and Patrick Dowd didn't leave town, they thought they could be useful by being in their neighborhoods and sending out updates on where people should stay away from. Bill even went out to try to diffuse some crowds. Couldn't Dok have stayed in town and helped in that capacity, as a leader?
Additionally, Dok is not a "private citizen," he is a candidate for Mayor. Was it really appropriate for him to split town during a period of such opportunity and promise for the city? This is the same kind of crap that gets Luke in trouble, leaving town when he should be here LEADING.
Now, I have come to this website to ask important and legitimate questions about Dok's ability to lead this city, which entirely relates to the G20. And all I get are deleted comments and accusations that I am a coward. How dare you treat a voter and a Pittsburgher in such a way. There is no longer any doubt in my mind that Dok is not ready to lead.
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