Last night was the first public meeting since the flash flood.  What is generally a quick public meeting where a few residents show up and the Borough business gets acted on in a timely fashion became a gathering of hurt, scared, and angry residents. 

Residents wanted answers to a long-term solution.  We don’t have those answers yet.

Residents also heard lots of rumors, many of which aren’t substantiated.

Residents wanted to put the blame on someone.  It quickly became evident that person was me.  Three women got up and publicly berated me.  I’ve gone through that process before with the delinquent sewage, but it was “easier” because, well, let’s face it, it was an unpaid bill.

This felt a little different.  This felt worse because I know I have been working hard to try to help these residents. 

Council, thankfully, realized what was going on.  I didn’t attempt to correct their lies, I just sat there and took it. 

It’s a tough balance for me, really, because this is one of those times that I really feel that all of the hard work I do for the Borough will never be good enough.

I can’t imagine their pain.  Nor have I experienced flooding myself—my dad always said to live on the high side.  I also can’t imagine what would have driven them to pit the blame on me like this.  I’m becoming increasingly resilient, though.  That is for sure.

It should also be noted that the three residents that seemed to “rally” the crowed in their accusations against me were women.  I’ve had dealings with two of these women in the past.  I don’t know if there is any correlation or comment to be made regarding women’s treatment of women, but I could gather that.

It’s not the hours that make this a tough position (though, I didn’t get home last night until well after 10:00 PM).  It’s not the limited budget.  It’s times like these, where historical problems cannot be solved over night.  It’s times like these where I realize how hard my position is.  And how the residents look to me to truly solve all of the problems. 

Work this week is going to be hectic, speaking of hours:

Monday: 7A-10:30 PM (public meeting)

Tuesday: 7A-8:00 PM (planning commission)

Wednesday: 7A-8:00 PM (interviews)

Thursday: 7A-6:00 PM (misc. catch-up)

Friday: Normal hours (hopefully)

Saturday: 8A-?? (LERTA meeting)

Thursday night was a late night for Jared and I.  In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was up until midnight on a work night!  It was all in good fun, though. 

 

Our night started out by attempting to make reservations at Nine on Nine but quickly found out that waiting until 5:00 the night of a show was not a good idea.  I did not have any time at work that day to stop for a reservation (trust me!) until I had picked Jared up from work and we were heading home to change.

 

Our next option, then was Six Penn Kitchen which is apparently owned by the Eat N Park Hospitality Group.  Yes, we went to an upscale EnP.  That was the only other place I could think of quickly so I decided to just go with it.

 

We enjoyed the “Mussels of the day” as an appetizer.  They were alright.  They put chicken in with the mussels which felt a little strange.  They also had peaches in as well.  If you ate a mussel, peach, and bite of chicken together, it was an interesting combo.  The peaches alone were good.  The mussels were as fresh as frozen.  The bread, which came late, was terrible.  Frozen.  We didn’t bother soaking up the sauce with the bread. 

 

Jared ordered the beef short rib and enjoyed it.  I tasted some of his spicy rice and it was excellent. 

I ordered the lobster mac and cheese.  I was really teetering between that (which is supposed to be a special) and the fafalel.  The lobster was good.  It was two whole lobster claws atop a very rich macaroni and cheese.  The macaroni was not very good if overcooked and mushy.  The cheese blend was good, but due to how heavy the sauce was, it continued dominate the over-cooked pasta.  I would have liked a good al-dente pasta to stand up to the sauce. 

I was unable to take more than five bites of the mac & cheese before giving up.  It was too heavy as a full meal. Combine with how it was cooked.   I finished one part of the lobster and gave the rest to Jared. 

I enjoyed two glasses of wine though!  Jared also had two beers.  When it came time for dessert, Jared and I were discussing what we wanted.  Having had two glasses of wine in me I was telling him how I wanted a “fruit tart”.  We were pressed on time but when our waiter returned, and described the first desert as a fruit tart, Jared belted out “I’ll take it!” without consulting me.  First rule of women is that even if they describe wanting something, that doesn’t mean they actually want it.  We attempted to cancel the dessert but it showed up anyway.  Good thing, because the tart was really a puff pastry tower and now what I had in my mind.  Jared ate some of it anyways and we didn’t get charged for it.

 

The bill ended up being about $100 which makes sense.  $12/round of drinks (two rounds), $15 for the appetizer, $25 for our meals (each) which makes some sense.  I actually think Jared’s rib was more like $30. 

 

The waiter was good, except they did get pretty busy and he’d left us for some time which made Jared anxious for the show…

 

 

We got to the show right in time.  I was amazed at how close the seats were.  We were in row AA seats 108 & 109.  It was amazing!  Yes, we could look over and see the orchestra. Amazing.  The actors chests were puffing in and out for air and we could see it all.  The play itself was great.  Jared was eating Starbursts during it which was funny.  The seats were comfy and the music was amazing.  Our high school band did a song from Miss Saigon and let me just say, it was no where near what this Orchestra sounded like . 

I could not stop staring the whole time.  We saw nothing in front of us with the exception of the conductors wand from time to time. 

We got home around 11:40 after a walk to the car.  Jared kept talking to me in musical voice the rest of the night…  “We are walking to the caaaaaaaaar noooow” and of course I said “Oh but where is the caaaaar paaaaarked?”

 

I’m not certain other Pittsburghers outside of the South Pittsburgh area will be familiar with Page Dairy Mart.  I don’t know if it holds that “regional” name outside of South Pittsburgh.  It is South Pittsburgh’s historical ice cream place.  Long lines in the summer that span along Carson Street.  In fact, it is so removed from Carson Street that I think it’s almost a hidden gem.

 

I like Page’s.  I think it’s okay.  I don’t love Page’s or think to myself “Hmm, ice cream is in order, let’s go to Page’s.”  I think it is what it is.  Jared and I stopped last night on our way home from the Waterfront.  I was just going to get an Italian ice when I saw that they now offer yogurt!  Uh-oh.  I am jumping on the Fro-Yo bandwagon…

Which brings me to the point of this post…

Pittsburgh now has frozen yogurt boutiques.  As if the cupcake boutique craze weren’t enough, you can now pay $5 for yogurt and fruit toppings.  As if $5 for a cupcake weren’t bad enough, you can go to a yogurt place and load up what should be a healthy treat into a sugar coma.

I did have the froyo last night at Page’s.  It was not tart plain yogurt, it was vanilla yogurt.  It was good at Page’s, but I am afraid if I move into the  good karma world I may not be able to go back.  Then I will have to drive all the way out to Oakland, Shadyside, or Squirrel Hill when I want yogurt because my good old hometown creamery will become subpar in my newly found yogurt-elitist mind.  I should also note that I love Costco’s frozen yogurt.  Seriously, so good.  And $1.  I mean, really.

 

What do you think about this Yogurt Craze?  Are they going to be forced out of business or into another “specialty” once the trend is gone?

Good to know that when I feel knee-deep in water (poor pun intended), there are still slight glimmers of hope.

 

 

Jared and I got free tickets to Miss Saigon.  I am thrilled to be able to take advantage of this generous offer and I will just say the seats will be amazing.  I am really excited about all of it.  Dressing up (fancy!),  dinna (Six Penn Kitchen or Nine on Nine?), a wonderful show.  I may even say let’s live on the edge and take the T into town! 

 

Ahh… It’s times like these, that I think everything will be okay…*

I look forward to blogging about it all =)

 

_____________________________________

*Flood update:  I know this post is very “blasé a blasé”, however, I also was called every profanity in the book today by two residents as a result of the flood that occurred.  As if, I single handedly caused their problems.  That is the double edged sword with being a public official, I guess.  You try to focus on the big picture but sometimes that isn’t enough. 

For any ‘Burghers that might be interested:  we will not be fixing the walls of the residents whose may have collapsed into the stream-bed.  In fact, let me just say that we have one heck of a mess on our hands.  It is being addressed, though!

For the first second time since I have started my job, I will be going in on my schedule.  Yes, no super early wake-up calls to try to hurry up and run.  Nope.  I am going to savor my coffee for another 45 minutes and then head to the gym.  I am not going to pressure myself to get to work by 7:00 AM.  Nope.  I am going to take a breathe and hope to be done running at 7:00 AM.  I am not going to work 15 hours today because it’s the right thing to do.  Nope.  I am going to relax my way through the day because I can already feel tonight is going to be a long night. 

It flooded in a part of my community on Saturday and there is not much I can do.  Why?  Because it flooded on private property.  I feel a tremendous amount of remorse for these property owners and some amount of obligation.  I have to help them.  Here is a small glimpse into what happened.  Jared and I headed out on Saturday when the water was gushing.  I feel so badly for the residents, I do, but at the same time, the municipality cannot afford to “step in” on private property.  This is a true feeling of being torn.