[PRCo] Re: Merry Christmas Westmoreland County

[Schneider Fred]

Amen brother, Amen.   Just going to Philadelphia is like stepping  
into another world.

I know that is cruel.   We used to consider our state employment  
offices in Philadelphia as non-functioning.  Then when I worked with  
Dave Roach and had to work state wide I found that Philadelphia and  
Pittsburgh may have been two cities but the people behaved totally  
differently.   The staff in Philly didn't work.   If you told them to  
work, they would do nasty things like emptying pencil sharpeners into  
the file cabinets.   They I slowly began to realize that the whole  
city functioned that way.   It wasn't just us.   I walked into a  
Stouffer's Restaurant one night for dinner.   I stood at the door for  
five minutes.  Finally as asked the cashier if there was a hostess.    
She said, "Yeah, that's her over there talking to her friends.   Wait  
another five or ten minutes and she'll get to you."   I said, "Bull  
shit." I turned and walked out.  A few months later when I was back  
in town the restaurant was out of business.   Wonder why?   And Russ  
Jackson wanted to know if I knew where he could get a transmission  
fixed on his VW.   Turns out there was a VW dealer two blocks from  
where he worked but they only did oil changes.   They couldn't hire  
any qualified mechanics.  The solution was simply to give up on all  
repair work.    And that strange spell in the Broad Street subway?    
I once saw a guy adding to the smell at 5:00 in the afternoon right  
in the middle of hundreds of people ... sadly he missed the third  
rail.   I would have enjoyed watching him light up.   I think Rich  
Allman told me that there is a special provision in the law for  
people living in Philadelphia that allows them to carry their license  
plate inside the car so it will not be stolen ... I've seen as many  
as three in block with the corners containing annual renewal sticker  
cut off with tin snips.   (For those of you outside Pennsylvania who  
wonder why?   Insurance is compulsory to get a license plate and in  
Philadelphia the rate for insurance can be well over a thousand bucks  
a year for a junker.   So they buy a car.  Insure it.   Get the  
plate.   Cancel the insurance.   Then steal someone else's plate.)    
Every time I had to drive into the city, I took the oldest car in the  
fleet.   It's a city wide malaise.  And you wonder why the city lost  
one-third of its population since 1950?   The good people moved out.

On Dec 10, 2008, at 9:43 PM, John Swindler wrote:

>
> Will find out Friday.  Off to SEPTA tomorrow on the 5:35.  This  
> constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
>
>> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Merry Christmas  
>> Westmoreland County> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:12:01 -0500> To:  
>> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > That differential is changing.  
>> At Thanksgiving it was more like 20 > cents.> > On Dec 10, 2008,  
>> at 8:38 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:> > > I doubt if VW or Sony  
>> ever had any ownership in this facility. > > I'll bet it> >  
>> belongs to an industrial development authority. The story is going  
>> > > around> > that there are two tenants wanting to take space in  
>> the place...but > > they> > were going to sublet from Sony anyway,  
>> not replace Sony.> >> > Yes, I coined the name of the railroad.>  
>> >> > I'll bet gas is $1.39 or $1.49 in Carlisle, because it's  
>> $1.79 at > > the end of> > my street. There has typically been a  
>> 30-40-cent differential.> >> > -----Original Message-----> > From:  
>> pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org> >  
>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf  
>> Of> > Schneider Fred> > Se!
>  nt: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 4:43 PM> > To: pittsburgh- 
> railways at dementia.org> > Subject: [PRCo] Merry Christmas  
> Westmoreland County> >> > For those that did not see it....> >> >  
> Back in the 1980s Volkswagen was touted as the economic savior of >  
> > southern> > Westmoreland County when the opened a brand new  
> factory to> > build the Golf automobile; the American version was  
> called a Rabbit.> > I nicknamed mine Thumper. After a few years of  
> the union beating> > them to death including pouring things like  
> sugar into the gas > > tanks of> > brand new cars, VW of America  
> threw in the towel and closed the> > plant. The United Auto Workers  
> won. They didn't have to work any> > more.> >> > Eventually VW sold  
> the plant to Sony. The announcement that made> > today's papers is  
> that SONY is laying off 8,000 people worldwide.> > Closing the New  
> Stanton plant in February is included. A total of> > 560 people in  
> Westmoreland County will be idled. Note the word> > worldwide.  
> Underscore it!
>  . Don't for one minute think we are in> > this by ourselves.> >> >  
> Wil
> l we tear up the Milton Shapp Memorial Railroad or will someone> >  
> else buy the empty factory? (I think it was Ed Lybarger who coined>  
> > that name after Governor Shapp spent millions to build a branch >  
> > north from> > Mount Pleasant to the factory for Volkswagen.)> >>  
> > If you want to tie this to trolleys, the factory was probably  
> half way> > between the Hunker and Hecla Junction mainline routes  
> of West Penn > > Railways> > south of Greensburg.> >> > Back to  
> worldwide. If you have not picked up on it, General Motors> > has  
> factories in something like eight countries. If we bail them> >  
> out, we are bailing out the economies of seven other countries. If>  
> > we don't bail out GM, Ford and Chrysler, we also let the other> >  
> suppliers collapse. They are also building parts for BMW, Honda,> >  
> Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes Benz who also have factories in this > >  
> country. If> > the guy making seat fabric and wiring harnesses and  
> tires goes > > down, so do> > those other cars and their f!
>  actories close and> > layoff people. Goes back to I see the  
> problem but I don't see the> > answers.> >> > Lowest gas price I  
> saw today was $1.69 9/10s at a Sheetz station.> >> >> >> >> >> >
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