I Was There in Spirit!

My father was not bothered by the disrepair he allowed his paint store to fall into over his 30-years behind the counter.  Irresponsible with money, Billy spent most of Tremont Paint’s success investing little back into the business or back into the building which housed it.

And the years turned into decades and the decades into an era. 

By the time I arrived in 1988 the building and store it contained reflected the impact of that neglect. Leaks rained in frequently caused by both weather and his failures to maintain the plumbing above.

But Billy never saw it. 

Not the impacts of those leaks on the conditions in the store, nor the sag in a floor which was never intended to support all that paint. He couldn’t see the rotting joists supporting the floor above the store, though many were exposed by years of inattention.

And because he was earning a respectable income, he never saw those conditions as the impediment to success that they were.

I fear many Americans suffer my father’s affliction, as blind to the rot in our cities as my father was to the rot in his store.

Billy Didn't Want to Hear it, Will You?

In recent years good fortune and employment has allowed me to travel throughout the U.S. including stops in many of our largest cities.  East to west they share characteristics which my father might not have noticed but that I find hard to ignore.

Common among them are unsafe transit systems and surface roads unable to manage the load, like the sag in the floor of my father’s paint store holding on—but only until it didn’t.

In New York City much of the subway system rides on tracks more than 120-years old using signal switches that same age.  THE problem though is not limited to New York, and it expands far beyond the subway systems.  Around the country airports, tunnels and bridges all suffer that same neglect making a three-week journey across the United States last winter less a transit and more a Homeresque odyssey. 

A perk of semi-retirement the money earned traveling American cities was spent visiting European ones, exposing a sharp contrast between the two.  THE experience leaving me feeling as my father should have felt every time he walked into another paint store.

Though Billy never saw.

More convenient to visit than American cities European cities are in excellent condition with robust transportation infrastructures which make transiting them a breeze.  Planes, trains and automobiles collaborating to bring the convenience of modern life to ancient cities, faster and at a lower cost than conceivable by American standards. 

And it’s not just the infrastructure which allows such stark comparisons but also the quality of life in European cities, which exceeds standards set in the United States with European cities having fewer homeless, lower incidences of violent crime and a near absence of gun violence as compared to American cities.

That last one palpable in the peace that it brings.

Same Old Something Different

On my podcast this week was part one of a two-part conversation I had with Steve Rice sharing my experiences in these cities, the sort of honest reporting which Billy never wanted to hear. 

But I hope you do! 

THE two episodes are my first foray into non-paint reporting, testing content I plan to record more of this summer so idea I plan to record this summer so let me know what you think. 

I’ll Still Be There

This week Pittsburgh Paint employees had an “operating cadence update” meeting which allows town hall style questioning of chief executive officer Brian Carson, though I wasn’t on the call. 

If he did take their questions Carson might have gotten an earful from employees frustrated by changes since American Industrial Partners took over and by Carson’s silence regarding the private equity firm’s vision for the paint maker’s future.

Or his failure to say anything even when he does choose to speak.

Since I know Carson is reading I planned to help by sharing questions and comments I receive from his employees, to better prepare him when they come up in the town hall. Though having been turned down for the job I now feel less obliged.    

But to keep the conversation going I thought I’d toss the dog one bone and share one question which might be hard to answer were Carson to have to do it on the spot.

Though I doubt the extra time will help.