Luke Ravenstahl G.P.A. = 2.78

The Post-Gazette has issued letter grades to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

We do not know whether the grades were issued by the Editorial Board, or the Political Desk, or the Committee of Reporters Hanging Out at the Market Street Ale House Last Friday.

According to the Comet's calculations, the full 38-category report card yields a grade-point average of 2.78, or a B-/C+.

The headline for the accompanying Rich Lord article reads, Report card on Pittsburgh's mayor: Not bad.

We wish we had the P-G for parents in high school. When we came home with grades like this, it was difficult to get our hands on the car keys over the next quarter. A more accurate headline might have read Report card on Pittsburgh's mayor: B-/C+, or to be more descriptive, Report card on Pittsburgh's mayor: Meh.

We also wonder whether or not the P-G graded him on a curve, established by 24 semesters of Tom Murphy.

It should be repeated that these grades evaluate Luke's progress on his own agenda. So this is a key graph:

Whether that agenda is aggressive enough, and whether it's being achieved, is likely to be an issue in the race with Republican mayoral candidate Mark DeSantis.

(We expect this issue to rise in a roughly parallel trajectory to the issue of the politicization of Public Works.)

Since a normal college course-load is five (5) classes, the Comet has taken the liberty of selecting what we believe are the five most important items on the P-G report card. In making our selections, we honestly attempted to turn a blind eye toward the marks he actually received.

Negotiate agreement on Hill District community involvement: C
Improve racial diversity in public safety bureau hiring: D
Maintain integrity: C
Unite state mayors to fix unfunded pension liability: B
Create effective "anti-crime cabinet": C