Mr. Cuban,
It looks like you are being set up for a donation, if you haven't heard from Mt. Lebanon already. mtl Magazine did a nice piece on you, modern mogul.
Mt. Lebanon has turned into one big fundraiser, Mark. I am sure you are aware of the Taj Mahal going up, otherwise known as Mt. Lebanon High School. I presented almost 4,000 signatures to the Mt. Lebanon School District Board of Directors, asking them to cap the renovation at $75 million. Next time you are in town, drive up Cochran Road and see how that worked out for us 4,000 residents.
Now, the School District has hired someone to head a $6 million campaign, half of it going toward capital projects, and the remaining $3 million for endowments. We haven't heard how that is coming along. Seems as though we are in "The Quiet Phase."
Rumor has it, that the School District is hammering out an unbelievable contract with the teachers' union. Our super superintendent, Dr. "Timmy" Steinhauer will get his yearly increase. I believe last year's increase was 7.5%.
While this is going on, Mark, the Commission has decided to artificially turf Middle and Wildcat Fields on Cedar Blvd. They have decided to steal $750,000 from the unassigned funds and the Municipal Budget and partner with the Sports Advisory Board, who has been charged with raising $250,000. My guess is that your phone number is on their To Call list. Here's the thing, Mark. Three commissioners have gotten together with a few people and have bullied us into paying for this project. No public hearings. No referendums. No transparency whatsoever. It is criminal how this is going down.
Things are so much different now than how it was when you lived here, Mark. Little did I know that when I was in high school, walking past your house to go to work at Thrift Drug on Bower Hill, that I would be writing to you on a blog some day. There was no Internet back then. A blog? Not even in our wildest imaginations.
I am just giving you a heads up, Mark. I enjoy watching your show. I wish our elected officials would think as carefully as "The Sharks" do when it comes to using taxpayers' money. Our commissioners and school board directors should be required to watch Shark Tank. I know I have learned quite a bit.
Elaine Gillen
6 comments:
I'm sure Dave, Dave, Dave, John, John, Tim & Dan, the principal ringleaders of the turf carpet caper, are on a first name basis with Cuban. Maybe he'll go for field naming rights, "Toxic Cuban", and set a field fee schedule that will actually generate income to pay the bills.
Notice, Mr. Cuban chose not to come back or locate his company in the Great State of Mt. Lebanon.
Mr. Cuban may or may not have made donations to the Capital Campaign, the article states he likes to do it anonymously. Good for him!
But then you have to ask... why the article in the magazine?
Oh, those PR mavens are at it again.
Anyone catch this--
"“It was great growing up on Bower Hill Road,” says Cuban. “I was close to all of my friends. We had access to fields to play ball on. You name it. I loved growing up in Lebo.”"
He didn't say: Crap I had a deprived childhood, I had to play on crummy grass fields. I hated growing up in Lebo.
And 5:55 PM, "I had to contend with going to a crappy old high school building complex that wasn't even fit for a 20th. century education"
They will also probably do layouts and lines for basketball courts on the artificial turf for Cuban money.
Hmmm... I really wonder if Mark Cuban wants to donate to turf via the request of the SAB or Muni when his brother's experience playing sports in Mt Lebanon was described like this in a recent article from the Tribune Review:
Like many boys in the 'Burgh, Brian Cuban idolized Roberto Clemente and played on a Little League team as an adolescent. The Mt. Lebanon native cherishes the memory of hitting a grand slam in his first game.
But that elation later turned to humiliation when Cuban's coach announced the 200-pound boy would run faster if he pretended he was “chasing a refrigerator to first base.
http://triblive.com/lifestyles/health/5826024-74/cuban-eating-disorders#ixzz2xfiZuJd2
Can not believe the stuff I read anymore. Disgusted. If Mark Cuban wants to help Mt Lebanon, maybe he can provide sensitivity training to every employee and elected official within this municipality and school district.
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