Laurels & lances: Scooters, seller, saviors

Laurel: To a new way to move. The City of Pittsburgh is planning to get people up and running with a Move PGH pilot program launching in the Manchester neighborhood.

The program will put 100 electric scooters in use to push the city’s efforts for Universal Basic Mobility — a project that also would include car-share services, electric mopeds, carpool matching, electric charging stations and a mobile app for trip planning.

Mayor Bill Peduto — who has taken plenty of flak for his support of other alternative transportation support like bike lanes — says the program is different from scooter projects in places like Washington, D.C., or Portland, Ore., because of the public-private partnership aspect. Move PGH is working with Spin, a part of Ford Mobility.

Funding for Move PGH and the Universal Basic Mobility demonstration are provided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Spin — which is also funding related research at Carnegie Mellon University.

Lance: To a petty plot. It would be nice if people could depend on elected officials to lead by example. But then something happens that proves they can be all too human.

John Zavadak, the elected controller of New Kensington since 2002, is having a dispute with his East Hills Drive neighbor, Frank Coscarelli. For some people, this would lead to tense exchanges at the mailbox or glaring at each other while mowing the lawn.

Zavadak, however, upped the ante when he decided to list Coscarelli’s house for sale on online marketplace Craigslist. Coscarelli found out when someone showed up to buy it. In fact, three different would-be buyers knocked on the door before the ad was taken down.

Zavadak — who is running for re-election — has since pleaded guilty to summary charges of disorderly conduct and harassment and been fined $300 plus costs for each.

Is this a hilarious exchange to read about? Absolutely. Is this the kind of behavior an elected official should be modeling? Not really.

Laurel: To a necessary rescue. Want a reason why emergency services are important in your community? Ask the Butler man who was pulled from a tree Monday.

The unidentified 71-year-old was in a crash near mile marker 82.5 in Mt. Pleasant Township. When Mt. Pleasant and Kecksburg crews arrived on the scene around 9:05 p.m., they found him more than 8 feet up in the branches of a tree 30 feet over the embankment. His SUV was 30 feet below him.

It took four firefighters to get him out of the tree and into a rescue basket that would help them carry him up the hillside.