Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, whom some call "the Mad Mayor," has ruled Pittsburgh since 2006, but will step down at the end of this year having become
so embroiled in controversies he will not run again.
In 2007, once his triumph in the special Democratic primary to be reinstalled as mayor was certain, Ravenstahl shuffled out of the administration
three aides held over from his predecessor in the public communications and gate keeping fields. It will be left to philosophers of history to determine whether
Ravenstahl's own mildly infamous succession of communications aides did a greater disservice to his mayoralty, or vice versa.
Today in Pittsburgh's Hill District, a grocery store at
the grocery store site is rising thanks to redoubled effort by the URA and the philanthropic community as well as a new outside developer more connected with the City. In the Strip District, the reigning establishment
now seems to be doing right by the Pittsburgh Public Market. The story of
Buncher Co.'s fanciful and quintessential Pittsburgh origins remains instructive to civic debaters on the matter of
cavalier character assumptions interfering with arguments.
During the days of the Mayor's revelation, a bevy of fresh reporting on the federal investigation into the Police Bureau was published and new public information issued. Even connecting the choicest portions in the context that they arose, one can only make assumptions about rivulets of misspending allegedly occurring under the aegis of the police which would interest the Federal Department of Justice to the point of scrambling the FBI in a sustained flurry.
Quickly thereafter the decisive, incisive mayoral appointment of Regina McDonald as Interim Chief
stunned the police union numb, but that has
not at all slowed her
assertive pace of
making change even in this painful, querulous,
sometimes obtuse environment. We are all watchful of federal officials issuing further smoke-signals, and getting on with life in the City of Champions.
Our mayoral candidates! I used to wonder what democracy could be, until yinz all shared its magic with me...
Former PA Auditor General
Jack Wagner indicates he's up for another big adventure, and
sooner rather than later. His demands of Penn State in the wake of the Sandusky scandal
continue to echo in Harrisburg, his audits of technology contracts are spurring
calls for reform, and he continues to advise a ban on
school district interest-rate swapping. The last time he made waves in Pittsburgh politics, he criticized
the sale of a State Office Building as a "ripoff" although that sale had become tied by a state oversight board to releasing City gaming revenue dedicated for the purchase and installation of modern municipal accounting software. No, really.
City Council President
Darlene Harris must think this looks like tons of fun, announcing her candidacy
as formally as one ought on Twitter. Harris this week introduced, fast-tracked and motioned to approve, hold and amend three bills related to
cash management and cost recovery. She also went to bat for C-TIPS when questions about that police unit arose, being
one of the few to perceive its role in her neighborhoods. Harris' approach to city challenges has been
daring and
audacious, and her relationship with Ravenstahl has
prior to 2010 and
since 2011 been one of alliance, though they grew estranged
during that interlude.
State Senator
Jim Ferlo has a beautiful heart, responding to Ravenstahl's crisis by rallying
their retreating cohorts and inspiring them to collect in preparedness for a glorious issue. He has been combating Governor Corbett's privatization push by proposing to
"modernize" State liquor stores and is now appealing to the state to address
waste at VisitPittsburgh although that is a
creature of the County. Mayor O'Connor first appointed the fellow
Murphy antagonist to the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority, where spotlights fell onto
his campaign contributions and where it was briefly implied he
gave his assent to a hush money settlement. Ferlo's close alliance with this Mayor additionally seems to have affected
his interpretation of the 1st Amendment as it applies to government's ability to tax corporations.
City Controller
Michael Lamb is faithfully pursuing the local Democratic Committee's endorsement and
will receive it by a strong margin, and probably without pledging anything too
too costly. To illustrate the case for his diligence as the city's financial watchdog, Lamb has said the police credit union account under inquiry "
was set up specifically for the purposes of keeping it secret from me." Though frenetic recently in his financial oversight role, Lamb has yet to preview positions on issues as dear to the Comet as urban redevelopment or public safety -- but has long staked out organizing territory in
public education and
municipal relations.
State Senator
Wayne Fontana is sharing a kindness by volunteering for the leadership post as a way to
heal fractiousness and further vitalize the South hills. The pro-growth Democrat is presently shepherding an
"angel" investment tax credit through the Senate, and would like to see
progressively expanded tax credits for the film industry. In the past he has
legislated to enable Allegheny County voters to eliminate the property tax in favor of something else, but being a fan of
government that works he has also proposed
applying its costs equitably to the major nonprofits. Fontana's reluctant but concerned presence in the campaign might be said for
style purposes to be replicated by Allegheny County Councilman
Bill Robinson, whose kindness extends as well to
investigative transparency and
pursuing clarity with the nonprofits.
City Councilman
Bill Peduto's reserved confidence makes it all complete, with
favorable early poll numbers, a growing
list of endorsements and a
well-funded organization encouraging that perception. Differences with the Ravenstahl administration in regards to
delayed implementation of his own diesel admissions ordinance threaten to draw him back into the fighting arena, even as he continues to emphasize that Chief Nate Harper should have been placed on
a leave of absence pending the results of fuller investigations. In 2007 after Mayor
Ravenstahl scuttled plans to manage the assignments and costs of police side jobs in security, Peduto instead urged acceptance of that plan to
guard against unadvisedly entrepreneurial city officials as well as
guard against misfortune. Peduto today pledged that increasing diversity in the Police Bureau through
partnerships and organized neighborhood engagement is a "top priority".
Speaking again of the Police Bureau, many of the people of Pittsburgh are eager to begin having a conversation about
a new Chief and a reformed Bureau. The
qualities sought after for that position range from experienced and accomplished to courageous and honest to engaging and interactive, with model candidates ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Mahatma Gandhi. Notable consensus seemed to emerge around a desire for the Bureau to
re-adopt the orders of the 1997 federal consent decree as the "hammer of justice." Notions such as employing social or psychological profile exams are being bandied about, given the thirst for trust and integrity.
On top of everything else
Professor Chris Briem, oft-cited
economist and oft-published
writer, is crying that the sky is starting to fall
in the vicinity of the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority. Its
special debt arrangement became controversial in the last mayoral election, and now threatens to inhibit the metro region's capacity to convert a
decidedly old-school wet weather infrastructure plan into something more
local, piecemeal, sustainable, and equally satisfying to federal authorities.
Our mayoral candidates. Don't you know they are our very best friends? And together, their powers combined, are Pittsburgh's best opportunity to marshal coherent solutions to many challenges?
Our city is sure to remain an exceptional place to live, love and struggle because we 'Burghers have a special thirst to build and excel. Just remember that during foundational power shifts, full-grown dragons may find themselves disturbed. The recommended approach to any unavoidable conflict with these big meanies is
sternness and compassion.