Dear Editor:
Regarding your front page story, “Brentley says Weiss Killed the August Wilson Center proposed school deal,” (March 5-11, 2014) nothing could be further from the truth. If Mr. Brentley wants to know who killed the August Wilson Center deal, he need only look in the mirror.
Mark Brentley knew from the very beginning that that dog wouldn’t hunt. His only purpose in advancing the proposal was a cruel hoax aimed at buying some free publicity in advance of his announcement to run against Rep. Jake Wheatley for the PA House of Representatives.
Mark never intended for the idea of the financially challenged School District to purchase the August Wilson Center to become a legal offer of purchase. That is why he never offered a motion to the School Board to extend an offer to purchase the building.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Brentley couldn’t even get his own Feasibility Study Committee to agree to extend an offer to purchase the August Wilson Center.
All of this was very well known to Mark Brentley, yet he allowed the public to think that his intentions were honest and that the School District could actually extend an offer to purchase if it wanted to. But instead of taking responsibility for his own failed hoax, Mark took the predictably low road, to “throw the White guy” under the bus.
I consider Ira Weiss a friend of mine and a friend of the African-American community and he has a long history of distinguished community service.
Even if the School District could afford to purchase the August Wilson Center, it still would not have been a feasible idea, because it fails to preserve the mission of the August Wilson Center as a center for African-American culture!
Mark Brentley owes the August Wilson Center an apology. He owes Pittsburgh’s Black community an apology. He owes Ira Weiss an apology.
Sala Udin
Hill District
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