Drinking Linked To Improved Credit

                                        The Week In Review

By Jeffery Fraser

You might not like it. Bar and restaurant owners despise it. But the Allegheny drink tax has found fans on Wall Street, where the controversial levy has helped to improve the county’s creditworthiness in the eyes of several debt-rating services.

Wall Street firms brightened their opinions of the county’s creditworthiness last week with Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raising the county's debt rating from A to A+ and Moody's Investors Service boosting the county's fiscal outlook from stable to positive. Both firms mentioned new revenue generated through the county’s 10 percent drink tax and $2-a-day tax on car rentals among the reasons for their upgrades. Other reasons given included slashing county payroll and plans to make the county's John J. Kane Regional Centers self-supporting. Meanwhile, angry bar and restaurant owners challenged the architect of the drink tax, county Chief Executive Dan Onorato, to a debate.

If you were thinking about buying a condo Downtown, you would be wise not to ponder too long. Downtown condos are soaring in popularity, according to a report published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week. Developers report brisk sales with several recent projects having already sold anywhere from half to more than two-thirds of their available units.

And starting next week, those condo dwellers will have a Downtown park to play in. After being closed for nearly 18 months, a refurbished Point State Park will reopen. Gone is the Fort Pitt bastion that was filled in as part of the first $7 million worth of park renovations. Additions include a new terrazzo, blue stone pathways, lighting, benches and bike racks. Later phases of the upgrade include changes to the park's river side, a restored promenade, a water landing and plaza for small boats and fountain improvements.

It’s very early, but a poll released last week gives likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama an edge over pending Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in Pennsylvania. The latest Quinnipiac University poll indicates that if the general election were held today, Obama would grab 46 percent of the state vote to McCain’s 40 percent.

Last year it was the rain-poor climate that bedeviled the region’s farmers. This year it is the wet, chilly spring. Although May hasn’t been dramatically wetter – only .75 inches more rain than normal as of last week and 1.3 degrees cooler on average – the previous two weeks have been dismal, making things like plowing, planting and harvesting of crops such as hay problematic.

Don Barden got welcome news last week when the buyer of Harrah’s Entertainment agreed to lend his company, PITG Gaming, $150 million to help finance his Majestic Star slots casino. The company reported that Apollo Strategic Value Fund LP’s commitment rounds out the permanent financing needed for the casino. The company has struggled to secure affordable financing in light of the nationwide credit crunch. The total bill for the North Shore casino is estimated at $780 million. In other business news, Findlay retailer Dick's Sporting Goods, feeling the bite of the economic downturn, reported last week that net income fell 4 percent in the first quarter. The company also offered a cautious view of the year ahead.

The end of the flu season is near and it has been a record-breaker in the region, according to the Allegheny Health Department. The latest tally has the health department confirming 639 flu cases during the 2007-2008 season by way of positive lab cultures, crushing the previous record of 395 lab-confirmed cases in 2004-05. The record of suspected cases also fell with 1,573 suspected cases identified through positive rapid antigen tests given in doctors' offices this season compared to 545 suspected cases in 2004-05.

In sports, the city’s marathon is scheduled to return in 2009 as Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon and will have a route, atmosphere and elite roster of competitors similar to that which characterized the race when it stood as one of the city’s highest profile events from 1985 through 2003. And as the Pittsburgh Penguins players spent the week prepping for their Stanley Cup finals showdown against Detroit, the club took another step toward making Mellon Arena the world’s largest sports bar. Team officials announced that for $5, fans can go to the arena and watch the first two road games on the Jumbotron screen. Concession stands and novelty shops will be open. As many as 3,000 fans per game have turned out during the playoff run to watch home contests on a giant LCD screen outside the arena.

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We should return back to socialize without the loud music.

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There are always pubs and places where people sit and discuss their daily life routines.

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