After having spent all morning counting ballots Downtown at the Board of Elections, I am sad to announce that from my count, Luke Ravenstahl will be the Republican nominee for the general election in November. So he will have both the Democratic and Republican nominations and be on both sides of the ballot!
How disturbing for Pittsburgh to have only one candidate to vote for. What happened to democracy? To a two party system?
Isn't it sad that with thousands of special interest dollars you can buy a nomination?
When will pittsburghers wake up?
Fortunately, we have Kevin Acklin running as an independent to vote for...
Stay tuned for more details of the election results!
The results were as follows: (disclaimer- these are not the official results, but they are as accurate as can be obtained from reading the tapes)
Luke Ravenstahl - 497
Josh Wander - 147
Others - 245
Absentee ballots (uncounted) - 241
This of course gives a clear lead to Luke as I ran too late to have any absentees. Also, it is interesting to note that the majority of 'others' were for Pat Dowd. (I guess as protest votes!) There were also quite a few for Carmen Robinson...
Showing posts with label Mayor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mayor. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
THANK YOU MARK!!!
I really appreciated your sincere positive attitude even to the very end, unfortunately I do not see the near future of this city through such rosy glasses. I am extremely disappointed. Not in you and not in your campaign, but in the residents of the city of Pittsburgh. Here they had a chance...a chance to finally remove themselves from the downward spiral that is spinning out of control here in Pittsburgh. And what do they choose? They choose to just stay on the course (sounds like a pro-Iraq War slogan!)!
It reminds me of a joke:
A man jumped from the 100th floor of a building. On the way down, someone saw him out the window and asked him how he was doing. His response was, "So far so good!"
This election has proven to me that Pittsburghers, at this junction, are totally apathetic and in complete denial of their dire situation. I bemoan the fact that this disease called complacency has thoroughly taken over the city and I am afraid that it will be 'too little, too late' by the time they awaken to reality and figure out that they are in a nose dive...
On a positive note, I have come to appreciate Mark's talents capabilities and I hope that he will take the lessons learned from this experience and run for higher office. Even if the city of Pittsburgh doesn't appreciate the incredible opportunity that they have lost, I believe that the State or the Country could benefit from it.
Mark, please stay active in public life. The people need you! Remember what Lincoln went through before succeeding in office (http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/failures.htm).
Finally - Thank you for allowing me the privilege and honor of campaigning on your behalf!
[BTW- I have confirmed that all remaining money from Mark's campaign will be donated to the Santorum Foundation and to sending more troops to Iraq. God bless America!]
FINAL NOTE: I can't help wondering how Mark would have faired would he have run as an Independent. If anyone thinks they have an answer, feel free to contribute it...
It reminds me of a joke:
A man jumped from the 100th floor of a building. On the way down, someone saw him out the window and asked him how he was doing. His response was, "So far so good!"
This election has proven to me that Pittsburghers, at this junction, are totally apathetic and in complete denial of their dire situation. I bemoan the fact that this disease called complacency has thoroughly taken over the city and I am afraid that it will be 'too little, too late' by the time they awaken to reality and figure out that they are in a nose dive...
On a positive note, I have come to appreciate Mark's talents capabilities and I hope that he will take the lessons learned from this experience and run for higher office. Even if the city of Pittsburgh doesn't appreciate the incredible opportunity that they have lost, I believe that the State or the Country could benefit from it.
Mark, please stay active in public life. The people need you! Remember what Lincoln went through before succeeding in office (http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/failures.htm).
Finally - Thank you for allowing me the privilege and honor of campaigning on your behalf!
[BTW- I have confirmed that all remaining money from Mark's campaign will be donated to the Santorum Foundation and to sending more troops to Iraq. God bless America!]
FINAL NOTE: I can't help wondering how Mark would have faired would he have run as an Independent. If anyone thinks they have an answer, feel free to contribute it...
Monday, November 5, 2007
Ravenstahl vs. DeSantis for Dummies
Let's make this simple for all those Pittsburghers that are still having difficulty figuring out whom they should vote for:
(Thanks again to the Burgh Report!)
I just hope the city's Democrats will not be hypocritical on election day. Just look at he issues, not the party affiliation. DeSantis is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-environment. How can a true liberal vote for Luke??? Not to mention their qualifications, or lack thereof!
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
See: http://askalesbian.blogspot.com/2007/11/vote-for-mark-desantis.html
http://democratsfordesantis.blogspot.com/
http://republicansforravenstahl.blogspot.com/
(Thanks again to the Burgh Report!)
I just hope the city's Democrats will not be hypocritical on election day. Just look at he issues, not the party affiliation. DeSantis is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-environment. How can a true liberal vote for Luke??? Not to mention their qualifications, or lack thereof!
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
See: http://askalesbian.blogspot.com/2007/11/vote-for-mark-desantis.html
http://democratsfordesantis.blogspot.com/
http://republicansforravenstahl.blogspot.com/
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Luke Ravenstahl with Bush and Santorum
Check out the third guy in line to great the president at the 911 Air Force base. Thanks to the Burgh Report for uncovering this footage. Pretty amazing seeing Luke sucking up to the president that has 'ruined Pittsburgh'! LIES, MORE LIES!!!
http://kdka.com/local/President.George.W.2.389032.html
Here's another one that I found on townhall.com...Now who did you say was more buddy buddy with these guys?
Saturday, November 3, 2007
My Opinion - DeSantis vs Ravenstahl
After almost eighty years of single party rule in the city of Pittsburgh, this election has become an historic one. What is at stake is much greater than just the candidate's race. It is essentially a referendum to the residents of Pittsburgh as to whether they desire a democratic two-party system or a one party authority. This republic was founded on the principle that we would not accept a oligarchy. The founding fathers instead chose to lay out multiple democratic options for the citizens to choose from. Let us now rise up and show that party affiliation is not the sole quality that makes a good representative but their credentials. This is not about two individuals, but supporting a just system that gives the electorate choice. If Pittsburgh chooses to continue with its one party rule, it will have abandoned the fundamental principles of this great nation. Vote for DeSantis, not only because he is the better candidate, but because it will send out a clear message that we don't want to relinquish our basic right to choose.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
I was going to try and do this, but I have no time...Mark DeSantis vs Luke Ravenstahl
If anyone can assist in creating this, I think it would be really cute.
I thought of making a parody of the mac vs pc ads with DeSantis vs Ravenstahl...I just don't have the time and technical ability to play with it. If you do, please let me know ASAP!
Here's the script I wrote:
1- I’m Mark
2- And I’m Luke
1- I have loads of experience, advanced degrees, worked for the president and the senator. I’ve owned and run a successful business, helping others throughout the region. I’ve taught in major universities and I am an expert in public policy and management.
2- I played football. I was put into the position of president of city council as a compromise and then I accidentally became mayor when the last guy died….oh, yeah a got a Bachelor’s degree from college. Did I mention that I played football?
1- Well I believe in honesty and integrity. I think there should be complete transparency in government and we need to hold our elected officials to the highest standard.
2- I accepted questionable gifts from parties doing business with Pittsburgh. I used a FEMA SUV to get to the concert and I crashed the tiger woods match…I must stress that the whole incident with the police at the stadium happened BEFORE I became mayor…Oh, the whole deal with fixing the online poll was just part of the fun...
1- I was endorsed by all the major Pittsburgh Media. The Post Gazette, The Tribune, Pitt News and the Currier. As well as the FOP.
2- I was endorsed by my mom.
1- I love Pittsburgh and I know that we can rise above petty partisan politics and smear campaigns and elect the best man for the job.
2- George Bush, B-A-D/Santorum, B-A-D… Luke, G-o-o-d. I LIKE LUKE. I like beer.
1- Vote intelligently, vote DeSantis for mayor on November 6th.
JUST TO BE CLEAR THIS IS A PERSONAL PARODY AND IS NOT SPONSORED BY, OR CONNECTED TO, THE DESANTIS CAMPAIGN.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
LIES: Yeshiva Dinner Discrepancy
I just went back to listen again to the KDKA debate (kdka.com) from yesterday to make sure I heard the mayor correctly, and yes, he said that he was given a $1000+ ticket to the Yeshiva dinner for the Jewish community.[21:25] (I will not address now that the Yeshiva is one institution and does not represent the entire Jewish community or even the Orthodox Jewish community!) What amazes me, is that the dinner's tickets were only $180 each.
Then I saw an article in the Pittsburgh City Paper that says that Mayor Ravenstahl claimed the tickets were between $3000-$9000 for he and his family!!!
(http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A34957)
What is he talking about???
This all comes after the mayor's comments in his last debate in which he distorted all the facts, as reported by the Burgh Report: http://burghreport.blogspot.com/2007/10/ravenstahls-amazing-debate-remark.html
Bloggers for DeSantis
Just picked up this banner (Thanks Char). I encourage all DeSantis supporters to prominately display it on your site.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
EXTRA, EXTRA: Post Gazette Endorses DeSantis!!!
For mayor: Mark DeSantis is the choice for a new Pittsburgh
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburghers are living in a unique time. There has never been an election for mayor in which the incumbent has served for 14 months, in which the winner will get only two years and where the future of the city, now under strict oversight from the state, hangs in the balance.
Unusual times call for more than the usual leadership. For Pittsburghers on Nov. 6, that means voting for Mark DeSantis, the first Republican the Post-Gazette has endorsed for mayor since John Tabor in 1969.
•
Why should a city dominated by Democrats consider a Republican for mayor? Because one-party rule has failed Pittsburgh and failed it repeatedly. It has failed to prevent population loss and business erosion. It has failed to head off the city's near-bankruptcy and job loss. It has failed to generate the big ideas that should be propelling Pittsburgh into the 21st century.
A Democratic mayor and a nine-member Democratic council have robbed the city of the robust political competition that renews the state and keeps the federal government in check. We see the invigorating value of shifting party control in Harrisburg and Washington, but on Grant Street we see rust, cobwebs and a city bravely trying to manage its own decline.
The latest mayor challenged with the task is Luke Ravenstahl, 27, of the North Side. As everyone knows, the incumbent was the council president who became mayor in September 2006 upon the death of Bob O'Connor, an outgoing salesman for the city who won election on the basis of charm, enthusiasm and a determination to clean every neighborhood.
Mr. Ravenstahl moved into the mayor's chair and, out of respect for the memory of his predecessor, pledged to push Pittsburgh in the same direction. But it was soon apparent: The new mayor may have adopted the O'Connor agenda, but he was no Bob O'Connor.
Call it youth, inexperience or simply lack of judgment, Mayor Ravenstahl began treating the city to a series of well-publicized disappointments, embarrassments and outrages, and he was slow to accept responsibility for some of his actions.
On the substance of governing, too, Mayor Ravenstahl has left much to be desired. Sure, he has continued his predecessor's "redd-up" campaign, stepped up the tear-down of abandoned buildings, sworn off new borrowing and submitted two balanced budgets.
But he is unable, despite his fresh arrival and the promise of generational change, to think big enough to break with the past. Instead of privatizing a service like trash collection, he extends it to Wilkinsburg -- not because it saves Pittsburgh money but because it's created a few more city jobs while helping a municipal neighbor. Instead of initiating action to combine services with the county, he's merely open to discussion and waiting to see a blueprint "put in front of me" (translation: not really interested).
He can't get the city's own parking authority to cut rates to reflect the lower parking tax. He (and the city school superintendent) can't get more than the teachers union to contribute to the Pittsburgh Promise, an otherwise good program to help students pay for college. And he says he's pressed rich nonprofits to boost their municipal aid, and they've said they'll give again, but no one knows if they'll get off with a paltry sum like the last time.
•
This is not an election, though, about who should not be mayor. It's a campaign about who can muster the vision and leadership to modernize city government. In this four-way race, Tony Oliva, 28, of Oakland is the Libertarian nominee and Ryan Scott, 24, of Friendship represents the Socialist Workers Party. None of them holds the promise of Mark DeSantis.
The 48-year-old former aide to the late Sen. John Heinz is a high-tech businessman and consultant. With a Ph.D. in public policy, he is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, but he's no ivory-tower geek.
Five years ago, he co-founded Citizens for Democratic Reform, a group that championed the successful drive to consolidate county row offices, saving taxpayer dollars. He was chosen by Jim Roddey, the first county chief executive, to lead his economic development transition team, the New Idea Factory. With such a reformist pedigree, a Republican mayor like Mr. DeSantis will be able to add to the Democratic support the city already gets from Harrisburg and Washington the GOP backing that has eluded Pittsburgh for so long.
He is tired of a city that puts up new buildings and sunny facades without adding net new jobs and businesses. He's heard enough talk and seen too little action on city-county consolidation, especially when both entities are led by Democrats. He's grown impatient with the sacred cows preserved by one-party rule, whether it's the number of fire stations, the size of the city budget or a lax approach to ethical behavior.
He wants to approach long-standing problems in a different way. Besides extracting more voluntary contributions from tax-exempt institutions, Mr. DeSantis says Pittsburgh should look beyond cash and, for instance, negotiate a deal with UPMC, the region's most profitable nonprofit, to provide health care for city retirees. He wants an ethics policy for city officials and employees that prohibits all freebies and uses an ethics compliance officer for enforcement. He wants city departments not just to operate well but to be judged against other cities' performance.
Mr. DeSantis, who lives Downtown and works on the South Side, is articulate, forceful and persuasive in his goals for change. As a self-proclaimed nonpolitician, he is refreshing and even chafes at the notion that mayoral politics expects him to "pound my chest and say I'm great." That's not him, he said. "I'll tell you what I don't know." Yet, in reality, there's not much he doesn't know.
•
One thing we do know is the Republican, this year, can win. With $285,000 raised in cash and in-kind contributions, more than any recent mayoral candidate from his party, the DeSantis challenge has a shot.
If the number of Post-Gazette readers reading this editorial agree he should win, then he will win. These readers, these voters, have that kind of power, even though some of them may have voted for few or no Republicans in the past. Other "Democratic" cities, after all, have had successful Republican mayors -- New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, to name a few. In Pittsburgh, plenty of disaffected Democrats and others have been waiting for a credible candidate to return two-party democracy, debate and decision-making to the city.
That would be the first big change under Mark DeSantis. For Pittsburgh, it should be the start of many more.
First published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 am
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburghers are living in a unique time. There has never been an election for mayor in which the incumbent has served for 14 months, in which the winner will get only two years and where the future of the city, now under strict oversight from the state, hangs in the balance.
Unusual times call for more than the usual leadership. For Pittsburghers on Nov. 6, that means voting for Mark DeSantis, the first Republican the Post-Gazette has endorsed for mayor since John Tabor in 1969.
•
Why should a city dominated by Democrats consider a Republican for mayor? Because one-party rule has failed Pittsburgh and failed it repeatedly. It has failed to prevent population loss and business erosion. It has failed to head off the city's near-bankruptcy and job loss. It has failed to generate the big ideas that should be propelling Pittsburgh into the 21st century.
A Democratic mayor and a nine-member Democratic council have robbed the city of the robust political competition that renews the state and keeps the federal government in check. We see the invigorating value of shifting party control in Harrisburg and Washington, but on Grant Street we see rust, cobwebs and a city bravely trying to manage its own decline.
The latest mayor challenged with the task is Luke Ravenstahl, 27, of the North Side. As everyone knows, the incumbent was the council president who became mayor in September 2006 upon the death of Bob O'Connor, an outgoing salesman for the city who won election on the basis of charm, enthusiasm and a determination to clean every neighborhood.
Mr. Ravenstahl moved into the mayor's chair and, out of respect for the memory of his predecessor, pledged to push Pittsburgh in the same direction. But it was soon apparent: The new mayor may have adopted the O'Connor agenda, but he was no Bob O'Connor.
Call it youth, inexperience or simply lack of judgment, Mayor Ravenstahl began treating the city to a series of well-publicized disappointments, embarrassments and outrages, and he was slow to accept responsibility for some of his actions.
On the substance of governing, too, Mayor Ravenstahl has left much to be desired. Sure, he has continued his predecessor's "redd-up" campaign, stepped up the tear-down of abandoned buildings, sworn off new borrowing and submitted two balanced budgets.
But he is unable, despite his fresh arrival and the promise of generational change, to think big enough to break with the past. Instead of privatizing a service like trash collection, he extends it to Wilkinsburg -- not because it saves Pittsburgh money but because it's created a few more city jobs while helping a municipal neighbor. Instead of initiating action to combine services with the county, he's merely open to discussion and waiting to see a blueprint "put in front of me" (translation: not really interested).
He can't get the city's own parking authority to cut rates to reflect the lower parking tax. He (and the city school superintendent) can't get more than the teachers union to contribute to the Pittsburgh Promise, an otherwise good program to help students pay for college. And he says he's pressed rich nonprofits to boost their municipal aid, and they've said they'll give again, but no one knows if they'll get off with a paltry sum like the last time.
•
This is not an election, though, about who should not be mayor. It's a campaign about who can muster the vision and leadership to modernize city government. In this four-way race, Tony Oliva, 28, of Oakland is the Libertarian nominee and Ryan Scott, 24, of Friendship represents the Socialist Workers Party. None of them holds the promise of Mark DeSantis.
The 48-year-old former aide to the late Sen. John Heinz is a high-tech businessman and consultant. With a Ph.D. in public policy, he is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, but he's no ivory-tower geek.
Five years ago, he co-founded Citizens for Democratic Reform, a group that championed the successful drive to consolidate county row offices, saving taxpayer dollars. He was chosen by Jim Roddey, the first county chief executive, to lead his economic development transition team, the New Idea Factory. With such a reformist pedigree, a Republican mayor like Mr. DeSantis will be able to add to the Democratic support the city already gets from Harrisburg and Washington the GOP backing that has eluded Pittsburgh for so long.
He is tired of a city that puts up new buildings and sunny facades without adding net new jobs and businesses. He's heard enough talk and seen too little action on city-county consolidation, especially when both entities are led by Democrats. He's grown impatient with the sacred cows preserved by one-party rule, whether it's the number of fire stations, the size of the city budget or a lax approach to ethical behavior.
He wants to approach long-standing problems in a different way. Besides extracting more voluntary contributions from tax-exempt institutions, Mr. DeSantis says Pittsburgh should look beyond cash and, for instance, negotiate a deal with UPMC, the region's most profitable nonprofit, to provide health care for city retirees. He wants an ethics policy for city officials and employees that prohibits all freebies and uses an ethics compliance officer for enforcement. He wants city departments not just to operate well but to be judged against other cities' performance.
Mr. DeSantis, who lives Downtown and works on the South Side, is articulate, forceful and persuasive in his goals for change. As a self-proclaimed nonpolitician, he is refreshing and even chafes at the notion that mayoral politics expects him to "pound my chest and say I'm great." That's not him, he said. "I'll tell you what I don't know." Yet, in reality, there's not much he doesn't know.
•
One thing we do know is the Republican, this year, can win. With $285,000 raised in cash and in-kind contributions, more than any recent mayoral candidate from his party, the DeSantis challenge has a shot.
If the number of Post-Gazette readers reading this editorial agree he should win, then he will win. These readers, these voters, have that kind of power, even though some of them may have voted for few or no Republicans in the past. Other "Democratic" cities, after all, have had successful Republican mayors -- New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, to name a few. In Pittsburgh, plenty of disaffected Democrats and others have been waiting for a credible candidate to return two-party democracy, debate and decision-making to the city.
That would be the first big change under Mark DeSantis. For Pittsburgh, it should be the start of many more.
First published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 am
Sunday, October 21, 2007
They would be mayor...
Sunday Forum: They would be mayor
Mark DeSantis and Luke Ravenstahl explain why they should be elected
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MARK DESANTIS: Let's change the city's insider politics and the way it does business
I want to be mayor of Pittsburgh not for my own fame and not because I think it would be fun, but because I want to solve the real and formidable problems we're now facing. Because I want to change the back-room, closed-door, insiders-with-access politics that have shaken our faith in city government. And because I love this crazy, beautiful city.
Mark Desantis , a high-tech businessman and consultant, is the Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh (www.desantisformayor.com).
Being mayor isn't something to play at or put on my resume. It's a calling. A commitment. Something I feel in my head and my heart and my gut.
I believe in Pittsburgh. And I know you do, too. But we can't unleash this city's true potential until we deal with its problems honestly and directly.
If I sometimes sound negative, I don't mean to. I'm just facing some unfortunate realities. Because that's what you have to do as mayor. Real leaders don't smile and tell you everything's going to be all right in the end. They don't shrink from tough problems. They face them head-on.
And I promise you: If we face Pittsburgh's problems head-on, if we join together and really work at them, we can solve them.
We can improve public safety by placing new emphasis on community-oriented policing, getting more officers out of the stations and onto the streets, returning to merit-based promotions and instituting the kind of broken-window policing that worked so well in New York City and other communities.
We can reduce our crippling $500 million pension debt -- and ensure that our retirees get the money we owe them -- by devoting all gaming revenues and nonprofit contributions to the pension fund, and by requiring all new city employees, starting with me, to participate in defined contribution plans.
We can create a thriving economy by getting government off the backs of our citizens and our businesses, collecting fewer and fairer taxes, emphasizing the birth and growth of new businesses and providing opportunities to all Pittsburghers -- especially minorities -- through micro-lending and entrepreneurship programs.
We can make our government and our budget reflect economic reality by reducing spending, consolidating some city and county services, learning to do more (and better) with less and reducing taxes to increase our population and create new jobs.
The financial realities we're facing pose a tremendous challenge. But they also provide a tremendous opportunity, a chance to forge a new and responsive and transparent city government.
This is a critical moment in Pittsburgh's history, one that calls for a new and different kind of leader: someone with a record of success in private business and public service. Someone who's started companies, created jobs, mentored students and helped launch small businesses. Someone who's worked for a senator and advised a president. Someone who understands how business and government work. Someone who wants to apply the full depth of his knowledge and breadth of his experience to a city he loves and wants desperately to improve.
On Nov. 6, for the first time in more than 50 years, we'll have the chance to chart a bold new direction for this city, a clear choice between the mistakes of the past and the possibilities of the future.
We can do more of the same -- just cheerleading and happy talk and hope that all our problems one day magically disappear -- or we can take a chance and strive for something better. We can once more accept the enabling timidity of wishful thinking, or we can rise up to embrace the undaunted courage of visionary change.
I know the path we should take. I'm ready to lead us upon it. And I'm asking you to follow me.
LUKE RAVENSTAHL: I'd focus on financial responsibility, job creation and public safety
Growing up on Pittsburgh's North Side, I witnessed a phenomenon that changed me forever. I watched sons and daughters say goodbye to their families as they left the city they love to find jobs.
Luke Ravenstahl is the mayor of Pittsburgh and the Democratic candidate for mayor (www.lukeformayor.com).
When it was my turn to decide, I chose to stay in Pittsburgh. I chose to follow the path of public service, to implement changes to our policies and programs. Changes that will not only keep Pittsburgh's families here and together, but will also grow our city again.
Over the last year we have faced some unique challenges. We managed through a difficult time following the loss of Mayor Bob O'Connor. I have proudly carried on many of his programs, while creating an aggressive agenda of my own to move Pittsburgh forward. My strategy for Pittsburgh's renewal and resurgence focuses on three fundamental objectives: financial responsibility, job creation and public safety.
We have just had our 2008 budget unanimously approved by Pittsburgh's financial oversight board. This is proof positive that my administration is bringing responsible, common-sense financial management back to city government. We have eliminated $150 million more in expenditures than the Act 47 plan recommended. As a result, our projected spending over the next five years is more than $100 million below what is called for in the plan.
Our savings will allow us to create a pay-as-you-go program for capital improvements. This program will move us away from the credit-card mentality of the past by not issuing new debt.
As the financial health of our city continues to move forward, so too do our efforts in job creation and economic development. Today, there is more than $3 billion in investments and job creation in Pittsburgh. From major corporate headquarters on the South Side, to new skyscrapers Downtown, to new development in our East End, North Shore and Uptown, evidence of progress can be seen everywhere.
We are making city government business-friendly. That's a big change from the days when doing business in the city involved climbing mountains of red tape. We are working closely with job generators and economic engines like our universities and medical centers. If a business idea is created here, we want it to stay here. To enhance these opportunities, I have put a number of programs in place: residential tax abatement, urban redevelopment programs that reward green building practices, a streamlined permitting process and money to rebuild neighborhood business districts.
Finally, my public safety action plan is making our streets among the cleanest and safest in the country. We must be responsible for the safety and conditions of our city and our people. I am putting more officers on the street -- more than 100 since I became mayor -- and keeping them there through beat-cop programs and by investing in technology that allows them to report from the field.
I have doubled the budget to demolish condemned structures that are hazards in our neighborhoods. I have asked my staff to proactively market the city's Side Yard Program, which, by encouraging ownership, empowers residents to turn blight into beauty.
Pittsburgh has talked for many years about ways to retain its young people as a means to secure a bright future. It is now time to make those plans a reality.
Making Pittsburgh the city we all want it to be will require hard decisions and boundless energy. Most of all, though, it will take us working as a team. It is my goal to make Pittsburgh the kind of place that my future children and grandchildren will choose to call home, just as I have.
First published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 am
Mark DeSantis and Luke Ravenstahl explain why they should be elected
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MARK DESANTIS: Let's change the city's insider politics and the way it does business
I want to be mayor of Pittsburgh not for my own fame and not because I think it would be fun, but because I want to solve the real and formidable problems we're now facing. Because I want to change the back-room, closed-door, insiders-with-access politics that have shaken our faith in city government. And because I love this crazy, beautiful city.
Mark Desantis , a high-tech businessman and consultant, is the Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh (www.desantisformayor.com).
Being mayor isn't something to play at or put on my resume. It's a calling. A commitment. Something I feel in my head and my heart and my gut.
I believe in Pittsburgh. And I know you do, too. But we can't unleash this city's true potential until we deal with its problems honestly and directly.
If I sometimes sound negative, I don't mean to. I'm just facing some unfortunate realities. Because that's what you have to do as mayor. Real leaders don't smile and tell you everything's going to be all right in the end. They don't shrink from tough problems. They face them head-on.
And I promise you: If we face Pittsburgh's problems head-on, if we join together and really work at them, we can solve them.
We can improve public safety by placing new emphasis on community-oriented policing, getting more officers out of the stations and onto the streets, returning to merit-based promotions and instituting the kind of broken-window policing that worked so well in New York City and other communities.
We can reduce our crippling $500 million pension debt -- and ensure that our retirees get the money we owe them -- by devoting all gaming revenues and nonprofit contributions to the pension fund, and by requiring all new city employees, starting with me, to participate in defined contribution plans.
We can create a thriving economy by getting government off the backs of our citizens and our businesses, collecting fewer and fairer taxes, emphasizing the birth and growth of new businesses and providing opportunities to all Pittsburghers -- especially minorities -- through micro-lending and entrepreneurship programs.
We can make our government and our budget reflect economic reality by reducing spending, consolidating some city and county services, learning to do more (and better) with less and reducing taxes to increase our population and create new jobs.
The financial realities we're facing pose a tremendous challenge. But they also provide a tremendous opportunity, a chance to forge a new and responsive and transparent city government.
This is a critical moment in Pittsburgh's history, one that calls for a new and different kind of leader: someone with a record of success in private business and public service. Someone who's started companies, created jobs, mentored students and helped launch small businesses. Someone who's worked for a senator and advised a president. Someone who understands how business and government work. Someone who wants to apply the full depth of his knowledge and breadth of his experience to a city he loves and wants desperately to improve.
On Nov. 6, for the first time in more than 50 years, we'll have the chance to chart a bold new direction for this city, a clear choice between the mistakes of the past and the possibilities of the future.
We can do more of the same -- just cheerleading and happy talk and hope that all our problems one day magically disappear -- or we can take a chance and strive for something better. We can once more accept the enabling timidity of wishful thinking, or we can rise up to embrace the undaunted courage of visionary change.
I know the path we should take. I'm ready to lead us upon it. And I'm asking you to follow me.
LUKE RAVENSTAHL: I'd focus on financial responsibility, job creation and public safety
Growing up on Pittsburgh's North Side, I witnessed a phenomenon that changed me forever. I watched sons and daughters say goodbye to their families as they left the city they love to find jobs.
Luke Ravenstahl is the mayor of Pittsburgh and the Democratic candidate for mayor (www.lukeformayor.com).
When it was my turn to decide, I chose to stay in Pittsburgh. I chose to follow the path of public service, to implement changes to our policies and programs. Changes that will not only keep Pittsburgh's families here and together, but will also grow our city again.
Over the last year we have faced some unique challenges. We managed through a difficult time following the loss of Mayor Bob O'Connor. I have proudly carried on many of his programs, while creating an aggressive agenda of my own to move Pittsburgh forward. My strategy for Pittsburgh's renewal and resurgence focuses on three fundamental objectives: financial responsibility, job creation and public safety.
We have just had our 2008 budget unanimously approved by Pittsburgh's financial oversight board. This is proof positive that my administration is bringing responsible, common-sense financial management back to city government. We have eliminated $150 million more in expenditures than the Act 47 plan recommended. As a result, our projected spending over the next five years is more than $100 million below what is called for in the plan.
Our savings will allow us to create a pay-as-you-go program for capital improvements. This program will move us away from the credit-card mentality of the past by not issuing new debt.
As the financial health of our city continues to move forward, so too do our efforts in job creation and economic development. Today, there is more than $3 billion in investments and job creation in Pittsburgh. From major corporate headquarters on the South Side, to new skyscrapers Downtown, to new development in our East End, North Shore and Uptown, evidence of progress can be seen everywhere.
We are making city government business-friendly. That's a big change from the days when doing business in the city involved climbing mountains of red tape. We are working closely with job generators and economic engines like our universities and medical centers. If a business idea is created here, we want it to stay here. To enhance these opportunities, I have put a number of programs in place: residential tax abatement, urban redevelopment programs that reward green building practices, a streamlined permitting process and money to rebuild neighborhood business districts.
Finally, my public safety action plan is making our streets among the cleanest and safest in the country. We must be responsible for the safety and conditions of our city and our people. I am putting more officers on the street -- more than 100 since I became mayor -- and keeping them there through beat-cop programs and by investing in technology that allows them to report from the field.
I have doubled the budget to demolish condemned structures that are hazards in our neighborhoods. I have asked my staff to proactively market the city's Side Yard Program, which, by encouraging ownership, empowers residents to turn blight into beauty.
Pittsburgh has talked for many years about ways to retain its young people as a means to secure a bright future. It is now time to make those plans a reality.
Making Pittsburgh the city we all want it to be will require hard decisions and boundless energy. Most of all, though, it will take us working as a team. It is my goal to make Pittsburgh the kind of place that my future children and grandchildren will choose to call home, just as I have.
First published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 am
Sunday, October 14, 2007
DeSantis Campaign
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-10142007-1423497.html
Pittsburgh has serious GOP mayoral candidate for a change
By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - This city's last GOP mayor served during the Depression and Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-to-1, but business executive Mark DeSantis has emerged as a serious challenger to Democratic incumbent Luke Ravenstahl, in part because of the young mayor's missteps.
DeSantis, who won the Republican mayoral nomination as a write-in, has government experience, is wooing black voters , despite their history of overwhelmingly rejecting GOP candidates , and is benefiting from a unique set of circumstances.
Ravenstahl is only 27 and was not elected to office. As City Council president, he was next in line to take over when then-Mayor Bob O'Connor died of brain cancer last September.
Ravenstahl landed feel-good spots on David Letterman's "Late Show" and other national media outlets as the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city, but since then he's stumbled , several times.
Most recently, Ravenstahl was criticized for using a special police SUV bought with federal Homeland Security funds to take his wife and friends to a Toby Keith concert. Ravenstahl said he did not know how the vehicle was purchased, and stopped using it when he found out.
"The fact that he went from 'Golden Boy' to Pinocchio, that is his biggest problem," said Joseph Sabino Mistick, a law professor and longtime political insider who served as top aide to former Mayor Sophie Masloff in the late 1980s.
DeSantis, 48, runs a high-tech firm, is a former aide to the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz and was a science policy adviser to the first President Bush and later did similar work in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The first mayoral debate Tuesday attracted a standing-room-only crowd, a sign the GOP has put forward a serious candidate and not just its traditional sacrificial lamb.
"The turnout and enthusiasm established this as a real race," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorialized, "where perhaps anything can happen."
Unlike many Republicans before him, DeSantis is actually spending a significant amount on ads, including a daring TV spot that compares him to the city's most famous ex-mayors, David L. Lawrence and Richard Caliguiri (both Democrats, by the way).
Still, no one is betting that DeSantis will necessarily take more than the 25 percent to 35 percent of the vote that Republican mayoral candidates typically manage in Pittsburgh.
"If all the stars aligned, there could be the making of an upset here, but it's against the course of history and against odds," Mistick said. "You just need a young mayor to keep making mistakes. The right one could be a deal breaker."
Ravenstahl declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has said most of the criticism directed against him has been because of his age, not because of anything substantial.
DeSantis said it's imperative to erase the city's $1.1 billion debt and right-size a city government that, despite cuts in recent years, still appears to be shrinking more slowly than the city it serves. Since 1950, Pittsburgh has lost more than half its population, from 677,000 to about 312,000.
DeSantis' platform has gotten mostly positive press as Ravenstahl's peccadilloes have made his age more of an albatross than an advantage.
His response to the SUV flap also raised eyebrows.
Though saying he wouldn't use the vehicle any more, he also said: "I'm still going to continue to be who I'm going to be, and go to concerts like I always have, and go to have a drink with my wife in bars."
"That's what 27-year-olds do and I shouldn't be any different ....," he said.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O'Neill said the response did not show great judgment and "the mayor's answer invites the observation that one of the things a 27-year-old generally doesn't do is run a major American city."
In January, reports surfaced that then-Councilman Ravenstahl was briefly handcuffed while arguing with police outside a Pittsburgh Steelers game in October 2005. Ravenstahl said the dispute was a misunderstanding that he and the officer resolved at the time.
In March, Ravenstahl took a private jet to New York with Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner and Democratic Party heavyweight Ron Burkle just hours after the mayor helped negotiate a new state-subsidized hockey arena. Ravenstahl's political organization later reimbursed Burkle.
A city ethics panel grilled him after the Penguins and a hospital network paid his $9,000 entry fee at a charity golf tournament in June. Ravenstahl said he did nothing improper and would continue to appear at charity events because it's his job to promote the city.
Since then, Ravenstahl has been criticized for allowing his police chief to promote three officers who had a history of domestic violence complaints.
Despite being handed such advantages, DeSantis won't raise the $750,000 he targeted for his campaign because the biggest donors are hesitant to back a longshot, said Jim Roddey, the Republican powerbroker and former Allegheny County executive who is backing DeSantis' campaign.
Still, DeSantis will raise far more than the $20,000 GOP attorney Joe Weinroth spent to garner 27 percent of the vote in the 2005 mayoral election. O'Connor spent $1 million and got 67 percent.
Roddey said the campaign will cut costs by doing without pollsters, but should still be able to afford saturation ads just before the Nov. 6 election.
Meanwhile, critics say DeSantis can't possibly deliver on promises to start paying off the city's debt and cutting $193 million in spending over four years.
City Council President Doug Shields, a Democrat and top O'Connor aide when the late mayor headed council in the 1990s, said that's unrealistic because costs like gasoline and health care premiums are beyond the city's control.
"We do backflips if health care only goes up 7, 8, 9 percent instead of the double-digit increases we usually see," Shields said.
DeSantis brushes off such criticism. "When I talk about right-sizing government, the response is 'What are you going to cut?'" DeSantis said. "What that presumes is that we are as efficient as we can possibly be."
"We're not even close to that," he said.
Roddey said 30 Democratic committee members have defected to the DeSantis camp, while about 500 other Democrats are quietly supporting the campaign. Some of that's occurring because other Democrats are maneuvering to challenge Ravenstahl in the May 2009 primary.
Some Democrats, like Darnell Greene, a black single mother, said they simply believe in DeSantis.
Greene was on active duty in the Army when she attended DeSantis' lectures on how to help veterans start a business at Robert Morris University a few years ago. The two stayed in touch as Greene learned to run her convenience store in the city's historically black Hill District.
"I'm actually a registered Democrat, but I definitely believe in Mark and what he's about," Greene said. "He says he's a Republican, but he has a Democrat heart because he's all about, like, people and the community and helping, too."
October 14, 2007 12:24 PM
Pittsburgh has serious GOP mayoral candidate for a change
By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - This city's last GOP mayor served during the Depression and Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-to-1, but business executive Mark DeSantis has emerged as a serious challenger to Democratic incumbent Luke Ravenstahl, in part because of the young mayor's missteps.
DeSantis, who won the Republican mayoral nomination as a write-in, has government experience, is wooing black voters , despite their history of overwhelmingly rejecting GOP candidates , and is benefiting from a unique set of circumstances.
Ravenstahl is only 27 and was not elected to office. As City Council president, he was next in line to take over when then-Mayor Bob O'Connor died of brain cancer last September.
Ravenstahl landed feel-good spots on David Letterman's "Late Show" and other national media outlets as the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city, but since then he's stumbled , several times.
Most recently, Ravenstahl was criticized for using a special police SUV bought with federal Homeland Security funds to take his wife and friends to a Toby Keith concert. Ravenstahl said he did not know how the vehicle was purchased, and stopped using it when he found out.
"The fact that he went from 'Golden Boy' to Pinocchio, that is his biggest problem," said Joseph Sabino Mistick, a law professor and longtime political insider who served as top aide to former Mayor Sophie Masloff in the late 1980s.
DeSantis, 48, runs a high-tech firm, is a former aide to the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz and was a science policy adviser to the first President Bush and later did similar work in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The first mayoral debate Tuesday attracted a standing-room-only crowd, a sign the GOP has put forward a serious candidate and not just its traditional sacrificial lamb.
"The turnout and enthusiasm established this as a real race," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorialized, "where perhaps anything can happen."
Unlike many Republicans before him, DeSantis is actually spending a significant amount on ads, including a daring TV spot that compares him to the city's most famous ex-mayors, David L. Lawrence and Richard Caliguiri (both Democrats, by the way).
Still, no one is betting that DeSantis will necessarily take more than the 25 percent to 35 percent of the vote that Republican mayoral candidates typically manage in Pittsburgh.
"If all the stars aligned, there could be the making of an upset here, but it's against the course of history and against odds," Mistick said. "You just need a young mayor to keep making mistakes. The right one could be a deal breaker."
Ravenstahl declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has said most of the criticism directed against him has been because of his age, not because of anything substantial.
DeSantis said it's imperative to erase the city's $1.1 billion debt and right-size a city government that, despite cuts in recent years, still appears to be shrinking more slowly than the city it serves. Since 1950, Pittsburgh has lost more than half its population, from 677,000 to about 312,000.
DeSantis' platform has gotten mostly positive press as Ravenstahl's peccadilloes have made his age more of an albatross than an advantage.
His response to the SUV flap also raised eyebrows.
Though saying he wouldn't use the vehicle any more, he also said: "I'm still going to continue to be who I'm going to be, and go to concerts like I always have, and go to have a drink with my wife in bars."
"That's what 27-year-olds do and I shouldn't be any different ....," he said.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O'Neill said the response did not show great judgment and "the mayor's answer invites the observation that one of the things a 27-year-old generally doesn't do is run a major American city."
In January, reports surfaced that then-Councilman Ravenstahl was briefly handcuffed while arguing with police outside a Pittsburgh Steelers game in October 2005. Ravenstahl said the dispute was a misunderstanding that he and the officer resolved at the time.
In March, Ravenstahl took a private jet to New York with Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner and Democratic Party heavyweight Ron Burkle just hours after the mayor helped negotiate a new state-subsidized hockey arena. Ravenstahl's political organization later reimbursed Burkle.
A city ethics panel grilled him after the Penguins and a hospital network paid his $9,000 entry fee at a charity golf tournament in June. Ravenstahl said he did nothing improper and would continue to appear at charity events because it's his job to promote the city.
Since then, Ravenstahl has been criticized for allowing his police chief to promote three officers who had a history of domestic violence complaints.
Despite being handed such advantages, DeSantis won't raise the $750,000 he targeted for his campaign because the biggest donors are hesitant to back a longshot, said Jim Roddey, the Republican powerbroker and former Allegheny County executive who is backing DeSantis' campaign.
Still, DeSantis will raise far more than the $20,000 GOP attorney Joe Weinroth spent to garner 27 percent of the vote in the 2005 mayoral election. O'Connor spent $1 million and got 67 percent.
Roddey said the campaign will cut costs by doing without pollsters, but should still be able to afford saturation ads just before the Nov. 6 election.
Meanwhile, critics say DeSantis can't possibly deliver on promises to start paying off the city's debt and cutting $193 million in spending over four years.
City Council President Doug Shields, a Democrat and top O'Connor aide when the late mayor headed council in the 1990s, said that's unrealistic because costs like gasoline and health care premiums are beyond the city's control.
"We do backflips if health care only goes up 7, 8, 9 percent instead of the double-digit increases we usually see," Shields said.
DeSantis brushes off such criticism. "When I talk about right-sizing government, the response is 'What are you going to cut?'" DeSantis said. "What that presumes is that we are as efficient as we can possibly be."
"We're not even close to that," he said.
Roddey said 30 Democratic committee members have defected to the DeSantis camp, while about 500 other Democrats are quietly supporting the campaign. Some of that's occurring because other Democrats are maneuvering to challenge Ravenstahl in the May 2009 primary.
Some Democrats, like Darnell Greene, a black single mother, said they simply believe in DeSantis.
Greene was on active duty in the Army when she attended DeSantis' lectures on how to help veterans start a business at Robert Morris University a few years ago. The two stayed in touch as Greene learned to run her convenience store in the city's historically black Hill District.
"I'm actually a registered Democrat, but I definitely believe in Mark and what he's about," Greene said. "He says he's a Republican, but he has a Democrat heart because he's all about, like, people and the community and helping, too."
October 14, 2007 12:24 PM
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Democracy?
The Pittsburgh mayoral election makes a sad statement for democracy. The incumbent, Luke Ravenstahl is running uncontested in the primary on Tuesday. Personally, I'd vote for almost ANYBODY, just to have another option! It almost reminds me of the good ole' days in Iraq (see above image)...
Anyway, there's one guy who is making a stand. His name is Mark Desantis and he is trying to get the Republican nomination for mayor. Now in a a city that is 5:1 Democrat it's pretty much a losing battle, but, that having been said I appeal to everyone out there to do the right thing in the name of democracy and allow an opponent to run on the ballot. Even if you are not a Republican, you should write in "MARK DESANTIS" for mayor. Spread the word to your friends, neigbors and family. He needs 250 Republican write ins to be placed on the ballot in November.
VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY - VOTE FOR DESANTIS!
[NOTE: Maybe he should change his name to "Dissent-is"!]
I am including directions for those that are unfamiliar with how to do a write in electronically:
1. Touch voting screen to start.
2. In the upper right of the 2nd screen, you will see a colored box that says "Mayor" at the top. Immediately below it will be the words "Write-in."
3. Touch the screen with the words "Write-in."
4. A keyboard screen will appear.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
5. Using the screen keyboard, type "MARK DESANTIS."
6. Press button marked "Accept."
7. Go home and pat yourself on the back for supporting the democratic process!
More can be found about Mr. Desantis on this blog site: http://burghreport.blogspot.com/2007/05/city-republicans-push-write-in-for.html
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