July 18, 2005: Rustbelt Radio

Intro

Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media. The show airs every Monday from 6-7pm on WRCT 88.3FM in Pittsburgh, PA and every Saturday from 5-6pm on WVJW Benwood, 94.1 FM in the Wheeling, West Virginia area. And we're also available on the internet, both on W-R-C-T's live webstream at W-R-C-T dot ORG and archived at radio dot I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot org.

On today's show...

• (Feature 1)
• as Car Free Day approaches, and builds support from the Pittsburgh City Council, we'll hear from last month's conference organized by Car Free Pittsburgh during bike-fest
• and .... but first,

Car Free Day in Pittsburgh

On July 5th the Pittsburgh City Council passed a Proclamation resolving that the city of Pittsburgh declare Saturday, July 23rd 2005, Car Free Day in Pittsburgh. The resolution was sponsored by City Council Woman Twanda Carlisle of the 9th District, representing East Liberty, Homewood, Garfield, Lincoln, Larimer, and parts of North Point Breeze, Friendship and other neighborhoods.

With support from the City Council coming after months of organizing by local activists, Saturday the 23rd will be the region's first Car Free Day. In celebration, a car-free street festival will be held Penn Avenue between Mathilda and Winebiddle Streets from 12 PM to 7 PM. A variety of events are planned. There will be bike rides and races, tractor pull races, and community walks. Also planned are educational opportunities, children's activities, tree plantings, musical performances, street theater, street murals and displays from local artists. And of course, bike-powered smoothies and other foods.

In addition to being a fun celebratory event, the day's mission is to reduce the use of single occupancy vehicles in the Pittsburgh area. By inviting Pittsburghers not to drive and to participate in a car free community festival, Car Free Pittsburgh works to educate the region about the need to reduce automobile use and aid Pittsburghers with the transition to alternative transportation. Reducing automobile usage promotes public health, reduces pollution of the natural environment, incites community interaction and works toward creating a more beautiful city.

Besides planning this coming saturday's Car Free Day celebration, the group Car Free Pittsburgh also organized a conference during bike week last month. Later in this show we'll hear from that event.

[0:30] Farmers market coming to Oakland

This summer, Oakland residents are finding a new place to go grocery shopping. The Oakand Farmers Market will be selling fresh locally grown produce on Fridays, from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sennott Street, between Meyran Avenue and Atwood Street.

The market is a project of the Oakland Business Improvement District and a variety of sponsors, including the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Carnegie Mellon University Studio for Creative Inquiry, among others.

The market will continue through the end of November, and there is free parking in an adjacent lot.

[0:30] URA funds Mon bridge for bike trail

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority board awarded $715,000 in construction-related contracts last week to convert one side of the Hot Metal Bridge into a pedestrian and bicycling trail. The hot metal bridge was originally used to haul molten iron over the Monogahela River between J & L Steeel and the South Side works. The Hot Metal Bridge bike and pedestrian path will link up to the Eliza Furnace Trail which connects Hazelwood and downtown.

The URA is hoping the project will be completed in late fall 2006. All of the estimated 6 million dollar costs will be federally funded. It expects to open the bridge, which sits alongside a span that takes vehicles to and from South Side Works, to bikers and pedestrians by late fall 2006.

[0:45] City pressed to fill posts on Citizen Police Review Board

Last week, members of the Black Political Empowerment Project urged Mayor Murphy to fill longtime vacancies on the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board. The board reviews citizen complaints about police brutality and misconduct, although it can do no more than make recommendations about the complaints that it receives. It was established after the police killing of Jonny Gammage in 1995. Since then, it has handled more than 4,000 complaints.

On July 5, the City Council nominated three people to serve on the board. Two seats on the seven-member board have sat vacant since the fall of 2003. Murphy must act on the nominees within 60 days.

Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the review board, said that the vacancies make it difficult to conduct board business and joined B-PEP in requesting that officials expedite the process.

[2:30] West Virginia DEP Stops Massey Coal Silo

Rustbelt Radio has been regularly following the Mountain Justice Summer campaign happening right now in appalachia, including the story of Massey Energy's planned coal silo to be built adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia south of charleston. In May, 16 people were arrested and fined for sitting down peacefully at the gates of the coal company in protest. The arrestees included an 80 year old grandmother, a school teacher, residents of the Coal River Valley and members of Mountain Justice Summer. Seveal protests have also been held at Massy's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.

After seveal weeks of pressure, this past Friday West Virginia state regulators suspended Massey's permit to build the new coal silo next to the school. It turns out the maps that Massey submitted to the state's Department of Environmental Protection (or DEP) were incorrect.

Randy Huffman, a DEP spokesperson, called the irreglarity a mistake said (quote) "We're not at the point of knowing whether anything was done intentionally." (end quote) Massey's engineers and the DEP are now under investigation. Bo Webb of Coal River Mountain Watch has been complaining to the DEP for years that the silo was to be constructed closer to the elementary school than allowed by Federal law, but the DEP and Massey refused to reconsider the permit which has now been shown to be based on false data. The DEP only issued the order to stop construction the day before a story in the Charleston Gazette-Mail would have exposed the falsified map data.

Joe Lovett, who represents the citizens' group Coal River Mountain Watch, has formally given notice that the group will file suit against the DEP. The group alleged that the silo approval (quote) "is part of a pattern and practice" by DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer of (quote) "promoting the interests of coal operators at the expense of the state's citizens and natural environment. Secretary Timmermeyer jeopardized the public health, safety and welfare of the children of March Fork Elementary."

Joe Lovett runs the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.

Mountain Justice Summar and Coal River Mountain Watch are calling Friday's suspension of Massy's permit a huge victory for the people and children of Coal River Valley in southern West Virginia.

Wrapup

For more on all of our local news stories, visit pittsburgh dot I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.

[ optional music break ]

Global News

Intro

You are listening to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. We turn now to headlines from Independent Media Centers around the world.

[0:30] Organic Farming More Efficient Than Traditional Farming

For corn and soybeans, organic farming methods produce better yields than farming that uses pesticides and chemical fertilizers, a 22 year study has concluded.

While the environmental costs associated with heavy fertilizer or pesticide application are well known, this new study demonstrates that non-organic farming doesn't offer even monetary benefits over organic farming for at least some important crops.

Cornell University researcher David Pimentel, who helped conduct the study, said "Organic farming approaches for these crops not only use an average of 30 percent less fossil energy but also conserve more water in the soil, induce less erosion, maintain soil quality and conserve more biological resources than conventional farming does."

[1:00] Siskiyou Defense Uses New Tactics

Over the past weekend, forest activists in the Siskiyou ('sis-ki-"yü) forest region in south-western Oregon announced a new tactic in their campaign to stop the removal of old-growth wood from the forest.

They have constructed a log-cabin fortress that blocks the lone road access to the forest and have declared the region the Siskiyou Free State.

Following the Biscuit forest fire in 2002, the Bush Administration announced it's plan to allow commercial logging of over 373 million board feet from the wild siskiyou, ostensibly to protect the forest. Many experts argue that rather than helping the forest, the logging would do a great deal of environmental harm to the area.

In addition to the log-cabin barrier, an unusual new form of tree sit has been established in one part of the forest. A tree sit is a logging prevention technique that involves a protestor sitting in a tree for days or weeks on end, using his or her own body to stop a tree from being cut down. In the Siskiyou, these tree sits have taken the form of a rope work network that suspends an activist in midair between several trees, preventing any trees in the area from being felled.

Dozens of people worked through the night with chainsaws and other tools to transform an abandoned log deck and boulder pile into a Lincoln Log-style cabin that completely blocks the road from human passage, other than foot traffic. Beneath the fortress is a boulder-fortified basement chamber that contains two activists secured to lockdown devices that prevent their removal.

Law enforcement has now made contact with the blockade. Spirits are high and activists are confident the fortress will remain in place for a good while.

Chicago Graffiti Ordinance Turned On Its Head

Three Chicago residents created a whimsical critique of both the city's stringent anti-graffiti laws and the growing encroachment of advertising on public space. Increasingly, such encroachment is even co-opting the forms of communication that have traditionally been opposed to commercial exploitation.

Thanks to a citywide initiative known as Give Graffiti the Brush, anybody has the right to remove graffiti from a public place. So a few weeks ago, Ed Marszewski, Elisa Harkins, and Matt used the rule to their advantage and painted over a graffiti-style billboard for Axe, a line of men's fragrances. The billboard was designed as much as possible to look like ordinary graffiti on a building's brick wall, but with a commercial message.

The building owner, who was paid for the billboard, was not amused, nor was a marketing director for Critical Massive, who showed up while the billboard was being painted over. The graffiti-style billboard has since been restored.

This style of invasive marketing is becoming increasingly popular. In the case of the Axe billboard, a building owner was paid approximately $9,000 to allow the spray- paint advertisement to go up. In other cases, corporations have hired marketing companies to use graffiti-style marketing without the permission of muncipalities or private space owners. Most recently, Microsoft was fined by the city of New York for stenciling butterflies on city sidewalks in a promotion for its online service, MSN.

[3:47] Boston Residents Turn up the Heat to Stop Dangerous Biolab

(optional?)

Boston University wants to build a new, high-risk lab near a neighborhood made up primarily of people of color. It would test deadly pathogens like anthrax, ebola, and the plague on thousands of animals. Homefries has the report:

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=download&program_id=13315&file_id=23422&nav=&

[1:00] FBI using anti-terrorism resources against routine political protests

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter-terrorism unit monitored websites calling for protests during the 2004 Democratic and Republican Party conventions in New York and Boston, according to FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information act at the request of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU, as part of a federation of civil rights, animal rights and environmental groups that includes the environmental organization Greenpeace, pointed to the documents as evidence that the Bureau was going to far in ignoring the distinction between potential terrorism and legitimate political protest. In response, the FBI claimed that the use of its counter-terrorism unit to monitor the political websites was simply a (quote) "administrative convenience".

Among the websites that the newly released documents show the counter-terrormism unit monitored was the national anti-war coalition group, United for Peace and Justice.

"It's one thing to monitor protests and protest organizers, but quite another thing to refer them to your counterterrorism unit," said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice.

"It's increasingly clear that the government is involved in political surveillance of organizations that are involved in nothing more than lawful First Amendment activities," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "It raises very serious questions about whether the FBI is back to its old tricks."

Wrapup

You can read more about our global news stories by visting I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G. We'll be back after a brief break.

Features

Intro

That was .... Welcome back to Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.

[9:15] National Student Partnerships

National Student Partnerships, or NSP, is a student-led volunteer organization that helps link community members in need with job opportunities, housing and other resources necessary to become self-sufficient.

Rustbelt Radio recently spoke with Emily Garlock, who is the site coordinator for NSP's Pittsburgh office. We asked her about how the organization was founded and how community members can take advantage of its resources or get involved as a volunteer.

• NSP-interview.ogg: NSP Interview - 8:45

That was Emily Garlock of National Student Partnership's Pittsburgh office. One again, you can find out more on the web by visiting N-S-P net dot org.

You're listening to Rust Belt Radio.

[20:00 - 33:00] Car Free Conference

On the last day of last month's first annual Bikefest, the group Car Free Pittsburgh hosted a conference at the Garfield Community Activity Center. Talks at the conference covered the multi-faceted issue of automobile culture in America, including the health issues, alternative transportation issues, urban planning issues and population issues. Rustbelt Radio was there and has some excerpts for today's show.

[3:00] Rachel Filipini, GASP

First, Rachel Filipini of GASP, the group against smog and pollution, spoke about how diesel fuels used in automobiles cause health problems.

• CARFREE_gasp_diesel_2_47.wav (2:47)

[5:30] Anissa Tanweer -- Environmental Justice Institute

Anissa Tanweer of Pittsburgh's Environmental Justice Institute spoke about Environmental Justice and how it is different from the mainstream environmental movement. EJI addresses issues like public health and environmental racism often ignored or underrepresented by the environmental movement.

• CARFREE_eji_5_24.wav (5:24)

[long, up to 10:00] Sam Joel -- U. of Pitt Urban Planning dept

Sam Joel, a graduate student in the University of Pittsburgh's Urban Planning department, is writing a thesis on the development of Cranberry Township north of Pittsburgh. He talked about the decline of urban centers in America and the politics of suburbanization.

• CARFREE_sam_joel_cities_10m.wav: (9:58 -- definitely can be cut early. possible cuts at elapsed times: 2:35, 4:35, 7:47, 9:15)

[long, up to 15:00] David Hoffman -- Bike-Pgh

David Hoffman is the executive director of Bike Pittsburgh, a local bike adocacy group. First he tells a story about how a planned bike commuter facility in downtown pittsburgh was killed by homeland security

• CARFREE_david_hoffman_bike_here.wav: 3:53

David also spoke about how Bike Pittsburgh is working with local agencies to advocate for bicycle riders.

• long -- "CARFREE_david_hoffman_bikepgh_10m.wav" 10:29

Ending

[m:ss] Calendar of events

And now we present the Indymedia calendar of events:

• On Thursday June 21st at 7pm , The Latin American and Caribbean Political Film Series will be screening the film "Bolivia" about illegal immigration and working in South America. This event will be held at the Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Ave, in Garfield. For more information contact: filmseries @ yahoo. com or 412-687-1855

• This Saturday July 23rd from 12-7pm Car Free Pittsburgh will be sponsoring CAR FREE DAY on Penn Ave in Garfield between Matilda and Winebiddle Streets. Come reclaim the streets from traffic, noise, and pollution in this community celebration. For more information go to www.carfreepittsburgh dot org

• Also on Saturday at 5:30 The Pittsburgh RACE project will be presenting the documentary Race: the power of an illusion at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre at 5941 Penn Ave in East Liberty

Outro

[ Cue Outro music? ]

Thanks for tuning in to Rust Belt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh and WVJW Benwood.

Our hosts this week are [ Matt Toups ] and [ Andalusia Knoll] with contributions from [ ______ , ______ ]. This week's show was produced by [ Quinten Steenhuis ]. Special thanks to all of our hosts, producers, and contributors.

Your story submissions are welcome! To get involved with Rust Belt Radio, or to send us your comments, email RADIO at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot ORG. All of our shows are available for download on our website at RADIO dot INDY-P-G-H dot ORG

Tune in next week at this time for another edition of Rust Belt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots.