Letter to Legislators

The following letter was sent to Pennsylvania State Legislators on September 13, 2010. They all chose not to respond.

On August 24 I visited your office, which was one of 18 state legislator offices I visited that day, and left a packet of information entitled: A National Disgrace. I hope you had or will have time to peruse it, and that after reading it, will agree that the long-time residents of South Oakland have suffered enough under the leadership of Chancellor Mark Nordenberg. Upon my return to Pittsburgh, I was faced once again with the never-ending and excessive drinking of the university students, which results in the litter and trash problems that plague our community. The attached letter to Councilman Daniel Lavelle discusses that incident and the two solutions of our grassroots movement to ending the problems of litter and trash. Our grassroots movement strongly urges you to support those two solutions.

If action taken again by legislators on our behalf is once more ignored by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, then our grassroots movement will make the choice to visit the offices of national media organizations.

When I returned from Harrisburg, I was faced with another issue confronting our community - the upcoming Pitt Homecoming Week fireworks display. I will expound on this, but this matter reveals the ever-present insensitivity and lack of caring that the Pitt administration has for our community. Here is my letter to the editor that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on September 8:

Hold the Fireworks

The University of Pittsburgh's homecoming week revelry will be next month. A fireworks display originating from Mazeroski Field has been a continuing part of past events. How does Pitt get permission to ignite firebombs from that field?

The adjacent city-owned tree-filled hillside and nearby homes could easily catch on fire. Also, there are numerous hospitals in the Oakland neighborhood. Must we wait for a tragic death to occur before university and city officials initiate action to end this misguided activity?
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The experience for my 90+-year-old parents and myself last year was horrifying. Both of my parents were awakened from a deep sleep by the shattering boom of exploding firebombs. The home seemed to shake and the sound of the explosions reverberated through our bodies. If it rattled me, I can only imagine what my parents, who are of advanced age and have weaker constitutions, must have felt. I wrote a letter to Councilman Bruce Kraus expressing concern about the safety and health of the people in our neighborhood, and sent copies of that letter to Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and Chief of Staff G. Reynolds Clark. Chancellor Nordenberg and Chief of Staff Clark chose not to respond.

Only when I wrote a letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl about this issue did Mr. Clark respond. Not surprisingly, there was no mention in his letter about the health concerns this event has on my parents and others like them in the community. The attitude of Pitt's top leadership has once again been exposed: their own interests are deemed far more important than the health, safety and well-being of the elderly in our community, as well as others who are negatively impacted by their actions.

We are very grateful that the Pittsburgh City Council is now investigating this issue.

The Pennsylvania State Legislature is far more powerful than the University of Pittsburgh. After you read this attachment, we hope that you will do the right thing, if only because it speaks to general morality and the well-being of good people. Please give your strongest support to our two solutions.

Carlino Giampolo