Neil Bluhm, Greg Carlin, Don BardenIt's 5:50 AM as I write this. Photographer John McKee and I left WTAE at 5:00 AM, headed for Harrisburg to cover the gaming board's hearing on the Pittsburgh casino license.
It turns out that as I was staking out casino billionaire Neil Bluhm's meeting at the mayor's office, there was quite a contentious meeting going under way on just the other side of city council's chamber door.
Here's a link to video of Jake Ploeger's Channel 4 Action News report.
I'm curious to hear what specifically Council President Shields was labeling as lies when his remarks prompted city Personnel Director Barbara Trant to walk out of the council meeting.
One side note. Those of us waiting for Bluhm outside the mayor's office hadn't heard what was happening inside council chamber. We did see Director Trant waive her hands in the air in exasperation as she exited council and headed for the mayor's office. She then apparently realized that she's picked up Councilwoman Payne's glasses on her way out. She doubled back and handed the glasses to another reporter to return to Payne. The reporter hadn't been in the council meeting and appeared puzzled by his unexpected assignment.
Finally, on an unrelated note, thanks to PittGirl for the mention in her Burgh Blog the other day. The power of PittGirl is amazing. As I went through the day Wednesday, people kept asking me "Did you see? You got a mention by PittGirl!"
....So, we just heard there's an accident on the Turnpike at Breezewood. That may mean a detour on our road trip to Harrisburg. I may post again later today.
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1 comment:
Bob,
It was a little hard to pinpoint, but I believe what set Shields off was Trant's assertion that he himself had somehow directed her, via a face-to-face meeting or other contact, to assent to vendors' suggestions to expand the scope of the disparity study (and therefore greatly increase the cost and contribute toward a considerable delay).
After Trant left the room, Shields further stated that the study expanded due not to any suggestions by the vendors, but rather due to the wishes of the administration, as he recalled from a previous conversation he said he had with Yarone Zober.
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