The 55 volunteers who on Oct. 24 worked to clean Butler's downtown as part of national Make a Difference Day merit much praise.

But also worth praising is the announcement by Becky Smith, Butler's downtown Main Street manager, that a spring Make a Difference Day also is being considered to prepare the business district for summer.

A total of 15 community groups participated in the Oct. 24 cleanup, which focused on the area between Brady Street and the General Richard Butler Bridge. According to an article in Tuesday's Butler Eagle, volunteers pulled weeds, swept, removed litter and applied mulch to tree beds along Main Street and in parking lots around that street.

In addition, the volunteers pulled weeds and prepared the landscaped beds at both ends of the General Butler Bridge for winter.

Smith praised the program as a way for people to realize their ownership of the downtown, and for enabling people to meet business owners who continue to work for a vibrant downtown.

USA Weekend magazine was the spark plug behind creating this national initiative, and it is the nation's largest day of volunteering.

But it doesn't have to be a one-day event in the fall.

Smith and local leaders should pursue the idea of a spring event, and possibly even consider several mini-events in between, conducted by one or several organizations.

Having a clean downtown always should be a priority, and the effort starting to evolve can be a vehicle toward achieving that goal.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl should have announced his proposal for a 1 percent tax on tuition at colleges and universities in the city prior to the Nov. 3 election, but it's understandable why he waited until after the balloting.He didn't want the unpalatable proposal to erode his support and, perhaps, prevent him from winning his first full term.City residents must be wondering what other surprises await them during the next four years under Ravenstahl's leadership. Institutions of higher learning probably are wondering whether, or by how much, the mayor's plan will impact their ability to attract new students — if Pittsburgh eventually is branded as the state's tax-the-students capital.Ravenstahl, by way of his proposal, is ignoring the financial challenges students already endure in their quest to become better educated and more-productive members of society. Although the mayor's plan probably would saddle students with just hundreds of dollars of annual additional expense — not thousands — the tax would be a burden nonetheless.If Ravenstahl looked deeply enough, he could find places in the city's operation where more money could be saved than what his proposed tax would raise.Granted, college students use city services. However, the city should provide those services for free to those students with the attitude that, in many, perhaps most, instances, they represent an investment in the city's future well-being.Ravenstahl ought to find another way to raise the money needed for the city budget and allow college students to get their education without financial interference from the city.Pittsburgh is the City of Champions but, unfortunately, it's not outside the realm of bad ideas.

The Seneca Valley School District's great success at saving energy during the past year should provide an incentive for others to embark on similar or more vigorous energy-saving measures.With the guidance of Energy Education, a company hired by the school board in October 2008 to find energy waste as well as implement ways to curb or end that waste, the district cut its energy costs for the year by $307,000.That calculates to a 19 percent savings.The intermediate high school recorded the most savings — $49,000 — while the high school and middle school saved $46,000 and $35,700 in utility costs, respectively.As explained at a school board meeting Monday, Seneca Valley, since signing up with Energy Education, has reduced its energy use by 153 million BTUs, which translates to nearly 12,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide that no longer is being released into the atmosphere — similar to taking 329 cars off the road.But achieving such great savings requires a commitment by many people, and Seneca Valley's faculty and staff merit praise for their efforts.To its credit, the school district has no intentions of abandoning the commitment to energy savings. Richard Lapishka, Seneca Valley assistant director of buildings and grounds and energy manager for the Energy Education program, predicted an even higher level of savings if the support from faculty and staff remains as strong as during the past year.Seneca Valley taxpayers obviously hope that, a year from now, there will be another strong cost-savings report.<B><I> — J.R.K.</B></I>