Latino Entrepreneurship

Earlier this week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released a report on entrepreneurial activity. From the press release:

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity is the first study to measure business start-up activity for the entire U.S. adult population at the individual owner level. The data are derived from the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS), a national population survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Two especially surprising findings from the study are: (a) that the Latino rate of entrepreneurship increased from 0.38 percent in 1996 to 0.48 percent in 2004, which was higher than the white, non-Latino rate of 0.39 percent; and (b) that immigrants have substantially higher rates of entrepreneurship than native-born individuals. The average rate of entrepreneurship for immigrants was 0.46 percent compared to 0.35 percent for the native-born.

RFID at Pitt

The P-G touts today's launch of an RFID product development center at Pitt. "RFID" stands for "Radio Frequency IDentification". This is a technology that electronically "tags" physical objects so that they can be monitored wirelessly as they move about the stream of commerce. Pitt's move bears watching. Even though the project website doesn't have much detail, the P-G's story reports that it involves faculty from various engineering disciplines, the School of Medicine, and the School of Information Sciences.

Alas: Where are the lawyers? (Full disclosure: I had never heard about Pitt's RFID research until I read about the Center launch in this morning's paper.)

Manufacturers and distributors are salivating over RFID technology. Wal-Mart is especially enthusiastic. Everything from rail cars to pallets to packages of disposable razor blades can be tagged and tracked, improvement inventory management dramatically by reducing the amount of stuff that is simply, well, lost. But privacy advocates are pretty worried: Will tracking really stop at the point of sale? Will manufacturers know what's in your medicine cabinet? Will manufacturers put one and one together when they read two tagged products in the same location? Can I install an anti-RFID reader technology in my house? Will manufacturers share RFID data with the government? And what happens when we start tagging people -- not just products? Because we will. There are huge privacy, data security, and IP problems lurking here, and none of those appear to be part of the agenda at Pitt.

All doesn't have to be doom and gloom; there's a huge upside to the RFID concept, particularly as the technology evolves. And law can help. Law has already spent a lot of time exploring the legal implications of computer networks, trying to design enforceable legal structures to make distributed computing more effective. Think open source licenses for computer software.

So imagine, for example, that the tagging doesn't come from the top down (manufacturers tag; consumers buy), but that it comes from the bottom up (consumers tag; consumers share data). Think blogging. Think cell phones. Think bar code readers. Now combine them. Then take a look, for example, at a project at Microsoft Research called Project AURA headed by a sociologist named Marc Smith. AURA is difficult to describe in a blog post; it's a little bit like a Wikipedia for things. It's a very, very cool concept.

Right now, Pitt's RFID program appears to be focused on making the world of Del Monte and GlaxoSmithKline a better place. That's OK; those companies have a lot of money in the pot. But will Pitt be able to think outside the box? We'll see.

Lebo: A Tale of the Taser

Mt. Lebanon residents energized and angered over last summer's Taser incident have assembled a website where citizens can record and share experiences dealing with the Mt. Lebanon Police Department. My co-blogger at BlogLebo, Jo, posted the link today.

The site is at MLCop.com, which both offers citizens (Lebo residents and non-residents alike) a place to post descriptions of their encounters with local officers, and also reports on efforts to engage the Police Department and the Mt. Lebanon Commission in dialogue regarding policies on Taser use. Regrettably, Mt. Lebanon has joined the list of cities refusing to disclose its policy. Policies in many cities, including some with much more crime than Mt. Lebanon, and much more violent crime, are available online.

Recording Labels in Pgh

Careful readers of today's Post-Gazette and Pittsblog may have expected me to praise this piece about Pittsburgh's future by Citizens Bank Chairman Larry Fish: more immigrants needed; a more upbeat community attitude needed; more involvement by the Allegheny Conference needed. Well, as the man once sang, two out of three ain't bad.

No, instead I want to praise local recording company Digital Dynamics Audio, the baby of Duquesne University faculty Tom Kikta and Francisco Rodriguez. As the P-G reported this morning, DDAI recently picked up local label Alanna Records and hopes to grow its jazz and classical catalogue.

This is a brutal business and these are brutal times. The folks deserve kudos for their courage. Small business. Entrepreneurship. Culture. Pittsburgh can use more of this combination. Now go buy a CD.

Huge Hispanic Inflow in Beaver County

The Beaver County Times notes a 57% percent increase in the Hispanic population in Beaver County between 1990 and 2000! Amazing. That's almost 500 people!

I don't mean to get down on the Times, since the story is boosting this development, but there is, well, more than a little ignorance on display:

As for the area in general, [interview subject, Mexico native, and Rochester, PA resident Francisco] Lopez says he isn't suffering from culture shock. He has four children in grade school and said he plans to stay here to raise them. He believes the Hispanic presence is growing stronger, especially in Cranberry Township, where many venture on Sundays to gather and play soccer, or "football" as he calls it.

How quaint.

The Hines Red Zone

Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated rates Hines Ward as the third best receiver now playing in the NFL. And Paul explains his system: "The guys I picked are go-to people, clutch receivers, players who don't drop the ball."

Great Race Tomorrow - I'll Be There

I'll be wearing bib number 2802 in tomorrow's Great Race. I "compete," at it were, in the 40-44 / Heavyweight class, so if you look for me, I'll be in the back.

Thanks ahead of time, on behalf of the roughly 10,000 runners entered, to the dedicated volunteers and generous sponsors who are making this event possible this year.

Fall Down Go Boom!

Like a lot of traditional daily newspapers, the Post-Gazette is struggling to figure out what to do with this whole Internet thing. Once in a while, the paper does a cool thing. Click on this link:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05267/577071.stm

It's the online version of a story in this morning's paper about the demolition of the Garfield Heights high-rise yesterday. If your browser works like my (IE and Firefox) browsers, you'll be treated to a four-image Javascript-enabled sequence that shows the building falling down. You don't get that in newsprint.

In other journalism news, Anthony writes, a propos of the City Paper's story about Allegheny County handguns, "But I’m a fan of the underdog and believe that the little guys like the City Paper need to be held to a higher standard than the big boys, like the P-G or the Trib, to be considered a legitimate alternative news source." Ah -- but since when has the City Paper aspired to be a legitimate alternative news source? I thought that the point of the City Paper, and similar alt-urban-tabs, was to be a not-always-respectable-but-always-provocative alternative news source? Sure, the guns story cops an attitude, and Anthony is absolutely right to be skeptical. But I'd rather the City Paper kept the attitude. We've got enough legitimate Pittsburgh institutions as it is. I'm all for a little more provocation.

Guns or Butter?

The City Paper says that Allegheny County leads in concealed weapons permits. A relic of gang wars of a decade ago? An ominous portent of bad things to come? A sensible precaution in a potentially dangerous world or a misunderstanding of the non-random nature of much violent crime?

Design in Pittsburgh

Via Jason Kottke, I found this 1998 Fast Company story about Bill Strickland and his work with the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild. Jason caught a presentation by Bill at the AIGA Design Conference recently and reports that Bill "blew the doors off the conference."

UPDATE: Courtesy of the magic of trackback, here is a September 2005 article about Bill Strickland's current work, from .Inc magazine. Thanks to Sully's Stuff.

Free "Willie"

Not quite a week ago, Anthony over at Tunesmith and Anthony wrote:

Professional athletes are the only professionals named “Willie.” I defy you to recall one instance in your professional career when you dealt with someone who went by the name “Willie.” If you want to increase your child’s chance of someday becoming a professional athlete, name him “Willie.”

Well, um, how about this fabulous jazz musician. Or this songwriter and some-time singer. The music world is full of Willies: Willie Dixon. Boxcar Willie. Willie King.

We do need a nickname for Willie Parker, but maybe we should get over the Willie part. How about "Bird"?

Butkus, Montour, and the Times

Today's NYT has a long feature on Dick Butkus and his adventures with the Montour football team. Butkus seems to be meshing with the real Montour coaching staff -- but he's having problems with the modern athletic mindset.

Montour (1-1) was preparing to face the formidable, larger, better Hopewell team. Kickoff drills were going awry. Receivers were not holding on to the ball. And there was the running back who prefers playing in games to going all out in practice. Butkus loved to practice, over and over and over, at Chicago Vocational High and the University of Illinois and then with George Halas's Bears. He finds any lapse in hard work unacceptable. You play, you play hurt, until you are too injured to give it all. "If they don't want to practice, then get out of here," he said with a growl. . . .

"I won't accept losing," Butkus said. "It's a cancer. We're making inroads. You can see it in their faces."

He cannot stand slackers, like the player who does not want to play on special teams. "I just about hit the roof," he said. "I didn't understand."

Butkus used to play on kickoff teams when his right knee, the one he has had replaced, was killing him. "If you love the game, we should have a problem getting you off the field," he said.

What would he make of Big Ben, who brings it on game day but (according to Jeff Hartings) seems to lose interest in practice?

Pgh Hispanic Center

If Univision was in town recently to collect footage on Pittsburgh's growing Latino community, I'll hope that the producers connected with the Pittsburgh Hispanic Center.

Pittsburgh's New Immigrants

My colleagues Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic have an op-ed in today's P-G that eloquently makes a point that Pittsblog readers kicked around back in July:

Pittsburgh needs more Latinos. Pious, industrious, roll-up your-sleeve immigrants from Mexico and Central America, raring to work at jobs like construction, food processing, restaurants and old age homes, save their money, send their kids to school, move up the ladder and relive the American dream.

Out of Both Sides of My Mouth

Well, Chris motivated me to change the blog sub-title (once again, it's optimism about Pittsburgh).

And I've found and linked to Amos the Poker Cat's month-old blog, which is, well, not so optimistic. But at least Amos has a permanent home for comments about Pittsburgh that in the past have been eaten by Haloscan.

The Horror, The Horror

The City Council has another boffo idea -- the City of Pittsburgh should actually own a casino (slots license, technically speaking).

Didn't anyone in their elementary schools teach these people not to run with scissors? Seriously: this is perhaps the most foolish idea to come out of Downtown in many ages. The City would sign a deal with a casino operator to front the license fee ($50-odd million) and manage the business. Presumably any sane operator would require that the City guarantee the fee. Presumably the operator would take the first $50-odd million in operating profits to recoup the fee. And if there were no profits, the City would end up with a $50-odd million dollar bill. As well as no tax revenues. And this is a win for the City precisely . . . how?

It's even more foolish than taking another bite at the Downtown redevelopment apple.

Even more foolish than the Chief of Pittsburgh's police saying "trust us" when asked to disclose department policy on Taser use.

It's enough, even, to make a soul pessimistic about Pittsburgh's future.

When in doubt, then, there's only one cure: Go Steelers!

There. I'm smiling again.

Is Pittsburgh Old?

Over at Blog-Lebo, there was an extended conversation recently about the proliferation of large-size drug stores in the area. Eckerd and Walgreen's stores seem to be popping up on lots all over the South Hills. My guess is that the same sort of thing is happening elsewhere in the region.

A lot of folks intuit that the supply of new drug stores in Pittsburgh is driven by demand, and particularly the demand for pharmaceuticals in a population generally perceived as being, well, old. It's well-known that the Allegheny County population is far older, on average, than almost every other county population in the United States. "We're old here" is a common explanation for a lot of things -- Pittsburgh's cultural and economic conservatism, to name two. But I think that explanation misses the point in this case, in a couple of ways.

First, though not the main point of this post, the future of prescription drug delivery is the Internet. There's just no way that Eckerd and Walgreen's (and CVS and the remaining Rite Aid stores) are positioning themselves for hordes of the elderly to come walking and rolling into their stores. They may be greedy, but they're not dumb.

Second, more broadly, and more to the point, Pittsburgh isn't as old as it used to be. And it's getting younger all the time.

Take a look at this chart, created by the inimitable Chris Brien at Pitt's UCSUR. It relies on underlying data and a model of the region's population, and I won't bother trying to put all of that out here. You can read the papers at that site. But the bottom line is pretty clear: Pittsburgh's population of the elderly has peaked, and it's going down. Pittsburgh is still old by national metro standards, but the trend is a good one -- if you're thinking about growth, and jobs, and bringing Pittsburgh into the 20th century. (Well, technically, the 21st century, but first things first.)

What does that mean?

First, it means that we should chin up, just a little bit, about what might be coming. The Steelers, Penguins, and even the Pirates are all in the middle of big-time youth movements (in the Pirates' case, unfortunately, the movement is sideways -- on a good day). Pittsburgh is changing, like it or not, even if change is incremental and everyone still slows down before entering the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. Looking at the data, the vector of change favors the young and the new.

Second, and more concretely, it means that Pittsburgh industries that have geared up to serve the elderly -- such as health care, and health care education -- need to look their long-term interests in the eye, and starting thinking about serving a population with ages that are more broadly distributed.

Third, and finally, it means either that Eckerd, Walgreen's, et al., are guilty of gross negligence when it comes to real estate development -- and I doubt that this is the case -- or that they are guilty of wild overbuilding and speculation on account of something else. I favor the latter explanation. My money (not to say my cash) (see the Comments to the Blog-Lebo post) is on land-banking. That would mean that at least someone has confidence in Pittburgh's future. Thoughts?

UPDATE: Chris Briem has an "old" op-ed from the P-G that makes his case more eloquently than I can. The piece is still online at http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/20000102edbriem8.asp.

Design Zone Events on 9/15

Christian forwards the following message:

Spend a cool late-summer evening taking a stroll through Pittsburgh's hottest art scene. Two new exhibits open in the Design Zone on Thursday, September 15. Visit the galleries' public receptions during special evening hours as noted below.

At Gallery on 43rd Street, owner/curator Mary Coleman presents watercolors from artist Dave Soden. Join the artist at a reception for his first solo show, People, Places, and Things. The doors open at 7 PM with beverages, light food, and walls filled with watercolors available for purchase. Read more about the artist and the exhibit at the Design Zone Events Calendar.

Just around the corner and down the block, Digging Pitt Gallery opens a new exhibit presenting work from two artists: innovative ceramicist Laura Jean McLaughlin, and the inimitable sculptor known as Mr. Imagination. Join the artists for an opening reception from 6 to 9 PM.

This exhibit will feature new works from these nationally exhibited artists. From McLaughlin, expect large and small ceramic vessels that have become her signature work, as well as linoleum block prints. Mr. Imagination's offerings will include sculptures created from found objects. Read more about the artists and the exhibit at the Design Zone Events Calendar.

City of Asylum

Thanks to Erik, who pointed out the reference in a P-G story about Salman Rushdie's upcoming visit to Pittsburgh, I learn that Pittsburgh is the newest and fourth city to be included in the Cities of Asylum program, which provides refuge to writers who are persecuted in their native countries. The Pittsburgh entry on the program website reads as follows:

Huang Xiang, China
Pittsburgh made its debut as the newest city of asylum in November, 2004. Writer/painter Huang Xiang is considered to be the pre-eminent post cultural revolution poet of China. His unceasing bravery, in the face of sure re-imprisonment, and further torture, forced him to leave his homeland. For more information about the Pittsburgh City of Asylum, email Ralph Reese at: rreese@reesebrothers.com

Lebo FD and Katrina

The Mt. Lebanon Fire Department has set up a blog to follow the activities of two of its members who are down in Texas (currently), helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Check it out at http://mtlfdresponds.blogspot.com/.

(In)Visibility

I find myself having conversations with colleagues, and neighbors, and students, that go something like this:

"Pittsburgh is the home of (name something extraordinary -- like the Digital Research Archive at Pitt, or the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild)"

"Really? I had no idea?"

Sometimes the conversation takes a more predictable turn, like wondering whether Big Ben can find his range or when Jerome will get healthy.

Now if you're in the jazz community here, you know about MCG and MCG Jazz. If you are part of the photo preservation community, you know about Pitt's image archive. But these resources aren't just for aficionados. They're here for the whole community. Most of them (and I've picked only two examples) would like to be better known. Much better known. In a lot of cities around the country, they would be. They would be able to tap into social networks that sustain their reputation via word of mouth. Cities themselves would use them and promote them in a variety of ways.

I post this not (merely) to complain. I post it to promote the idea that all of us who know about these things and participate in them should promote them in other domains of our lives. Use your blog, if you have one; that's an easy thing to do. I posted a note about patent law the other day because changing how patent lawsuits get handled in Pittsburgh is an initiative that needs some visibility in the technology community, not just in law firms. Since then, I've already had some conversations about making that pitch face-to-face, to tech groups.

There's a lot of foolish, short-sighted activity around Pittsburgh, and that sometimes tends to obscure the good that people do. Make the invisible -- visible.

Amnesty International Film Festival in Pgh

The Amnesty International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow night here in Our Grey City. (Note the witty takeoff on "Our Fair City," which refers to any Fair City that you choose). Michele forwards the following email:

From September 9 through 17, 2005 the Amnesty International Film Festival will screen a mix of documentaries, shorts and a feature film that focus on the world's most urgent human rights challenges. All of the films this year are Pittsburgh premieres and four are making their East Coast debuts. The Festival will take place at three venues: Pittsburgh Filmmakers Melwood Screening Room, Carnegie Mellon University's Porter Hall 100 and the University of Pittsburgh's David Lawrence Hall 120. Tickets for the Festival will be available at the Melwood Screening Room 30 minutes prior to each evening's screening. General admission is $7.00, $5.00 for students with a valid I.D. Campus screenings are free. For more information and a specific program and film schedule go to

http://www.amnestyusa.org/filmfest/pittsburgh/2005/index.html.

Katrina Relief Info???

In response to an earlier post on Pittsblog, I've received some offers of assistance for Katrina evacuees -- up to and including offers of housing. Does anyone know where I should send this info locally? Email me at pittprofessor@yahoo.com, or post in the Comments.

UPDATE: "How to Help" info is up at pghbloggers.org.

UPDATE: Thanks to Megan for this link: www.hurricanehousing.org.

UPDATE: I've been told that The Pittsburgh Project (http://www.pittsburghproject.org/) is handling housing efforts, providing short-term housing for new arrivals and coordinating longer-term placement in the community. Call 412-321-1678 to help.

The New Tech Umbrella

The Post-Gazette continues to report on negotiations over the 2005 version of a Pittsburgh tech umbrella, but a lot of the sources are speaking anonymously. That suggests to me that at least some of the debate about whether or not this is a good idea boils down to personality, ego, and turf. Regardless of the outcome, tech umbrella or no tech umbrella, that's not a good thing.

Since a big part of this picture involves Pitt and CMU, I'll phrase the issue in a slightly different way: What's the "right" role for the region's leading research universities in a "regional economic development strategy"?

The tech umbrella proposal not-so-implicitly makes "regional strategy" a number-one priority, and it puts Pitt and CMU front and center as its leaders. In the abstract -- and personalities, ego, and turf aside -- is that a good thing?

If you look around the country at other regions that are known for academic/technology development combinations (the Silicon Valley; Route 128 in Boston; the Research Triangle in North Carolina; the "Golden Triangle" in San Diego, for example), the universities are engaged partners, but the private sector takes the lead. And by private sector I don't mean old banking money in private clubs; I mean technology lawyers, real estate developers, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. Research universities play a key role in developing technology and giving faculty a lot of leeway in moving that tech into private hands. But regional development may require that the universities set aside their selfish interests: holding out for top dollar in tech transfer negotiations -- which makes sense from a budgetary standpoint -- may prove short-sighted in regional terms. Sometimes you need to leave money on the table.

There is certainly room for regional strategy in these environments. Even the Silicon Valley, for example, has a regional industry consortium (Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network). But that effort was led by lawyers and venture capitalists, not university presidents and technology transfer offices, and the collaborative deliberately takes a back seat to the efforts of investors and entrepreneurs. If you're building a business, you raise your own money and make your own investment and funding decisions. JV:SV is there as an information broker and cheerleader.

Perhaps it's precisely because Pittsburgh is no Research Triangle or Silicon Valley, and because Downtown Pittsburgh has what seems to be an anachronistic, central-planning view of economic development, that the universities here need to step up to the plate. If that's true, then the critics of the new umbrella plan should come out of the shadows and debate the proposal on the merits, instead of sniping anonymously.

Patents in Pittsburgh

On Wednesday (that's Sept. 7), I'll be speaking at a program downtown designed to introduce Pittsburgh lawyers to a new set of Local Rules for patent lawsuits filed in federal court here. Here's the program information. For lawyers out there -- this is a PBI program offering 3 hours of CLE.

Though the program is by and for lawyers, anyone with an interest in local technology businesses should take note of what's going on. We all know that patents are big business. Protecting them is important. Enter the patent lawsuit. The company may want to file one against an infringer; the company may find itself defending a claim that it has infringed someone else's patent. Courts that hear these lawsuits have a lot of leeway in setting up the procedural rules that the parties to the lawsuit have to follow. Those rules can by plaintiff-friendly or defendant-friendly; they can be patent-friendly or infringer-friendly. The Local Rules that we will be describing on Wednesday are part of an effort to make Pittsburgh a more technology-friendly business community.

How? Patent lawsuits always happen in federal court. The federal courts have a set of all-purpose procedural rules designed for ordinary civil litigation. Historically, however, the courts have not had any special rules designed for some of the unique things that happen in patent litigation -- like having to interpret the meaning of the patent "claims," or protecting parties against disclosure of confidential information as part of the usual "discovery" process that takes up a lot of the lawyers' time. A few years ago, the federal district court in San Francisco was the first in the country to come up with a set of local patent rules. Those rules, on the whole, tilt somewhat in favor of the defendant -- which is usually the firm accused of patent infringement. The pace of the litigation is slow, giving meaning to the maxim, "Justice delayed is justice denied" (remember that the defendant's variation is "Justice delayed is . . . justice").

Within the limits of the all-purpose civil procedure rules, the new Pittsburgh Local Patent Rules accelerate the process where it's possible to do so, here and there restoring some advantages to the plaintiff/patent holder and on the whole, leveling the procedural playing field. The hope is that when patent holders have the ability to choose where to file their cases, they'll choose the Pittsburgh venue. That should bring more visibility and work to the local patent bar and give local tech firms some confidence that the local legal community is working to grow the tech economy.

Katrina Victims Coming to Pittsburgh?

Our Boy Scout troop has been advised that 1,000 to 2,000 Katrina refugees may be coming to Pittsburgh early next week, at the invitation of the County, to be housed in available apartments around the city. Volunteers and supplies are needed. Anyone with more details about this effort and how to support it should email at pittprofessor@yahoo.com or post in the Comments.

Allegheny County Hurricane Relief

Allegheny County has posted info about local hurricane relief efforts at http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/katrina05/.

The American Red Cross will be collecting hurrican relief donations at tonight's American Idols concert at Mellon Arena. Details at http://www.mellonarena.com/event/evt_news.asp?id=75.

UPDATE: There is a hurricane relief concert in Pittsburgh scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 6. Details here.

Feel free to post links to other local hurricane relief efforts in the Comments.

Local Katrina Relief

Joshua sends word of this Katrina relief fundraiser tonight (9/1) at Club Havana.