2009 Pittsburgh Mayoral Candidates
For a description of the role of Mayor, click here.
Carmen Robinson (D)
Patrick Dowd (D)
Luke Ravenstahl (D)
Carmen Robinson
1. What is your plan to combat the rising murder rate in Pittsburgh?
We must first conduct a threat assessment, which would help to pinpoint the core cause of this type of violence. Once that assessment is conducted and we ascertain what the culprit cause is most likely directly related to (the abuse of illegal drugs and illicit sales), then we can start targeting the problem with prevention strategies. While enforcement will always be a tool, we can no longer exclusively throw dollars at the problem in terms of increased funding for police, prisons and the expensive legislation process often blocked by court battles, (i.e., Gun ordinances).
We must take a public health approach to stamping out violence. Violence is preventable and predictable. Violence is a symptom of a sick environment just look at the statistics in our most distressed neighborhoods. The young people in those neighborhoods have no more an inherent predisposition to commit violence than people in the “safer neighborhoods.” If these young people cannot grow because of limited resources in their homes, schools and communities, they will continue to regress by fighting against each other, and maybe us, for the limited resources available to them. Only Partnerships with city government, community groups, the school board, mental health providers, local media and the young people can effectively prevent violence. We must push some of the stimulus package stream into our failing communities because our children desperately need a bailout!
2. What are your plans for economic development in Pittsburgh?
As Mayor, I will form partnerships with various chambers of commerce, rotary clubs as well as universities and colleges as part of an overall economic strategy in developing small businesses in our neighborhoods. Because of a need for a professional atmosphere, business advice and office equipment and the shear expense of it all, my plan of small business incubation can limit the costs often associated with start-ups. Here is an example of some services that can be shared: office equipment, high-speed internet, education in accounting, human resources, marketing and other business practices, as well as expert consulting services. Because of collaboration, small business will thrive thereby stimulating real growth in our neighborhoods.
Small businesses are the fastest growing segment in American commerce and they create 90% of all new jobs. Over 50% of all small businesses fail in the first year, and 80% within five years. Often entrepreneurs know how to produce “the work,” but lack the skills necessary for operating a business, and cannot afford the time and expense of education. Equally important, are start-up costs and fixed expenses of operation, which drain hard-pressed capital. According to the National Business Incubation Associations (NBIA), incubator companies increase their sales by an average of 400% during their stay in the program. Business incubators reduce the risk of small business failures. Eighty-seven percent of all firms that have graduated from incubators are still in business. NBIA estimates that incubator clients and graduate companies have created about half a million jobs since 1980. For every 50 jobs created by the incubation process, A client can generate approximately 25 more jobs in the same community. NBIA estimates that in 2005 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenue of more than $17 billion. NBIA also reports incubator companies grow an average of 400% during their stay. Business incubators can reduce start-up costs by 40-50%
3. What do you believe are the most important environmental challenges facing the city, and how do you believe they should be addressed?
Not enough has been done in the area of recycling. I do my part however, ever trash day, as I take my child to his bus stop; I hardly see the little blue bags. Recycling is very important in the big scheme of things so this gripe is not petty. Although I dislike tickets and fines, how else do we gain compliance? While I understand legislation was just passed for our convenience, single stream recycling, this legislation does not address my concerns about neighbors who will not accept their responsibility. I would place this cause on my list. 4. In many cities, Community Benefits Agreements have ensured that the environment is protected when publicly funded development occurs. What do you see as the pros and cons of such agreements, and to what extent do you think the pros outweigh the cons?
A Community Benefits Agreement is a contract signed by community groups and by a developer to provide economic development to a local community or neighborhood. These agreements set forth a range of community benefits that the developer agrees to provide as part of a development project in exchange for community support of a given project. Successful community benefits agreements rely heavily upon the formation of a multi-issue, broad based community coalition including community, environmental, faith-based and labor organizations.
You really cannot talk about CBAs without TIFs— TIF is a tool to use future gains in taxes to finance the current improvements that will create those gains. When a public project such as a road, school, or hazardous waste cleanup is carried out, there is often an increase in the value of surrounding real estate. This investment generates increased tax revenues. The increased tax revenues are the “tax increment.” Tax Increment Financing dedicates tax increments within a certain defined district to finance debt issued to pay for the project. TIF is designed to channel funding toward improvements in distressed or underdeveloped areas where development would not otherwise occur. However, the designation of the areas as blighted can allow governmental condemnation of property through eminent domain and could spur gentrification.
A complaint—funding often goes towards private improvements with public’s dollars. Developers profit from these Improvements.
CBA economic development projects are subsidized by taxpayer dollars. While many of these projects create necessary jobs and tax revenues back to areas that have been depressed, there is no guarantee that the project will benefit current residents because of inner-city gentrification. Usually, the project pushes out low-income residents because housing prices often will rise. Moreover, most projects create large numbers of dead-end low-wage jobs in retail and the service area. However, with strong bargaining power from community groups and ethical leadership from our government the developer can be held accountable.
5. Do you support the enactment and enforcement of laws that help prevent violence, intimidation, and harassment specifically directed at reproductive health providers and their patients, including the established “buffer zone”?
Yes, I support the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. However, we need to advocate for legislation at our the general assembly, that will enable our police the necessary training, tools, and backup they need to protect the rights of women.
6. What will be the most important thing for you to accomplish as Mayor?
Stimulating the financial interests of our neighborhoods! I believe that this also combats crime in our most distress neighborhoods. Once we create a healthy fiscal environment on the main streets of our neighborhood business districts, Grant Street overall will be healthier.
Patrick Dowd
1. What is your plan to combat the rising murder rate in Pittsburgh?
A smart government has to attack the roots of the problem of violent crime, since it’s often too late when the police arrive. That means investing deeply in all facets of our communities, from the school system to neighborhood associations and local businesses. My plan to reduce the murder rate in Pittsburgh includes:
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- Targeted policing to stem the flow of guns and drugs: While community based efforts will be essential for our long term success, we need to bring the resources of the District Attorney, State’s Attorney, U.S. Attorney, Police, F.B.I., A.T.F. and other local, state and federal agencies to stop the flow of illegal guns and drugs into our city. A new approach is needed to stem the tide of narcotics and weapons on our streets.
- Energetic, sustained community development. Breaking the cycle of crime means creating neighborhoods where residents know each other, keep in close touch, and use the space of the neighborhood as a common. Programs like the Homewood Children’s Village and The Pittsburgh Project in the North Side and others that infuse communities with new energy and strengthen the weave of their social fabric should be promoted through a strengthened planning department.
- Increased opportunities for youth: Too many of our youngsters don’t have access to sports and recreational opportunities, or if they do, these opportunities are not always well publicized. Our city needs more green space and places to play. We also need to work with the police, as other cities do, to create sports leagues sponsored by off-duty officers. We need to encourage our arts organizations to partner with our schools to provide visual arts, music and writing programs for our kids. The Mayor’s office can play a role in working with the schools to coordinate and publicize these opportunities for our children.
- Economic Development: The lack of jobs is a huge factor in why many of our citizens turn to crime. Please refer to my answer below for how I think we should be developing our city to provide better jobs for all of our citizens.
2. What are your plans for economic development in Pittsburgh?
We all know that Pittsburgh is rich in all the things that make a city wonderful: unique historic neighborhoods, world-class universities and museums, a vibrant cultural scene, and compelling natural beauty. Sadly, fewer and fewer people are here to enjoy this remarkable array of assets. The chief reason is that there are too few jobs in the city. I am determined to revitalize the economy of Pittsburgh and reverse population decline. My plan to spur the creation of jobs includes:
- Putting Pittsburgh’s financial house in order. The city is in nearly $750 million of debt. Our outstanding debts are greater than the value of our assets. Anyone who claims that this is an acceptable situation is out of touch with the very real economic crisis we face. New companies will not come to a city whose financial future is in doubt. Current businesses will look for new homes if they cannot operate in confidence within the city limits.
- Attracting industry clusters and embracing college graduates. Job creation, like development, must happen with a clear strategic vision. Successful urban centers support dynamic clusters of industries. Workers only migrate to cities with diverse employment options. The same is true with college graduates: there are 40,000 college students in the city of Pittsburgh, but only a fraction of them remain each year after graduation. Pittsburgh cannot hope to retain more than a fraction of those who graduate from its universities if it only supports a handful of industries. Working with my planning department, we will determine areas in all of our neighborhoods where new industries, whether they be small arts studios to high-tech start-ups to small-scale tooling and fabrication shops, can take root and create the diversity of jobs we need to hold and attract new population.
- Attracting new capital for start-ups. One of the major problems facing young entrepreneurs starting a business in Pittsburgh is the lack of seed capital for them to get their companies off the ground. City government must work hand in hand with our local venture capitalists, banks and other private equity firms to get new, innovative start-ups off the ground. My administration will explore how to provide, as some cities are already doing, some of the necessary investment to grow new businesses here in Pittsburgh.
3. What do you believe are the most important environmental challenges facing the city, and how do you believe they should be addressed?
Recently, a Beechview teenager told me while I was knocking doors in his neighborhood, that if he were mayor, he would clean up the air because, in his words, “It really bothers my asthma.” As mayor, I will work on making Pittsburgh a place with cleaner air and water and with increased opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. My vision for a green Pittsburgh includes:
- Invest in mass-transit corridors. Our neighborhoods are unique and distinctive, but they must be connected for the city’s economy to thrive. Efficient transit options are a vital part of that connection. Pittsburgh must do more to take advantage of measures like the TRID Act, passed in the PA legislature in 2004, to aid the development of transit-rich districts within cities. I intend to work closely with the Port Authority in order to promote development that increases ridership, fosters community and neighborhood revitalization, and support local economic development. Smart transit systems will reduce the cost of living for city residents, protect the environment, and move Pittsburgh closer to prosperous sustainability.
- Make Pittsburgh more bike and pedestrian friendly. I have established a strong record as a bike and pedestrian advocate during my time on council. As mayor, I will expand such efforts so that more of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods can enjoy “complete streets” that serve the needs of everyone, whether they are on foot, on bike, or in a car. While several streets in Bloomfield and Point Breeze have introduced bike lanes, we can do better.
- Beautify the city’s rivers and develop waterside parks and trails so that the rivers are accessible to all. I realize the unique natural and scenic opportunity Pittsburgh has with its three great rivers and their riverfronts. To take advantage of the City’s natural beauty, I plan to further develop the small, fragmented park and trail areas along the rivers into larger, connected environments. These areas would be more than just lawns along the river, but rather community-supported nature areas that would serve as recreational spaces.
- Craft a long-term sustainability plan. Integrate new construction, weatherizing old homes and energy efficient development into such a plan. I will make sure that the idea of sustainability permeates any discussion of Pittsburgh’s future development. I support creating a plan that minimizes the environmental impact of new buildings, promotes weatherizing of the city’s homes, and identifies infrastructural improvements that not only make the city safer, but also less wasteful.
4. In many cities, Community Benefits Agreements have ensured that the environment is protected when publicly funded development occurs. What do you see as the pros and cons of such agreements, and to what extent do you think the pros outweigh the cons?
I believe the CBA is a tool that should be used strategically in connection with large projects that may have a detrimental environmental impact on a neighborhood. A more comprehensive tool and one for which I am campaigning, is a robust public planning process that includes the voice of the neighborhoods, a city-wide vision and provides an opportunity for the same community benefits that a community would get from a CBA to be built into any development project given approval. We must plan for our future and get the communities the amenities they need. CBA’s can certainly accomplish that goal, but I think we would be better served with a citywide strategic plan and a Planning Department that is actively engaged in the community to make sure that we grow the city in the best possible way with the most input from the neighborhoods.
5. Do you support the enactment and enforcement of laws that help prevent violence, intimidation, and harassment specifically directed at reproductive health providers and their patients, including the established “buffer zone”?
Yes. I am a staunch supporter of a woman’s right to choose and I believe that we should protect that very private choice from fear of violence to the fullest extent of the law.
6. What will be the most important thing for you to accomplish as Mayor?
Although Pittsburgh and our local economy faces enormous challenges, I believe we can renew our city’s promise. If Pittsburgh 1) deals with its homicide rate, 2) gets its financial house in order, 3) opens up government to innovation and reform, 4) thinks strategically about start-up support and job creation, and 5) welcomes new ideas and, most importantly, new people, this city can boom once again. I won’t rest until it does.
Luke Ravenstahl
1. What is your plan to combat the rising murder rate in Pittsburgh?
I am committed to keeping neighborhoods safe. During my time in office we have made great strides in turning the tide against crime, putting serious crimes at a 40 year historic low. We went “back-to-basics” putting beat cops back on our block, back in our neighborhoods and armed with new technology to give them more time to patrol our streets. We called on churches, communities, and neighbors to join us in the fight to keep our streets safer. Still, we have lost far too many to drugs and violence. To help us in our fight, we worked with leaders on Council and announced an initiative that will save lives and bring hope to communities: The Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime (PIRC). This vital effort will be up and running before the end of the year, providing criminals a choice: stop the violence or go to jail. It has worked in every City in which it was implemented. And it will work for us here in Pittsburgh.
I also know that keeping our neighborhoods safe means more than just putting police on the streets. It means making our neighborhoods clean, safe and free from blight. To that end I have committed to reopening the curfew center, we have increased the demolition budget and created the disruptive property ordinance and the rental registry. The registry and the increased demolition will help us rid neighborhoods of bad elements and dilapidated structures which attract problems.
2. What are your plans for economic development in Pittsburgh?
Right now we are surrounded by billions of dollars in job creating investment and development. Building permits and all indicators of investment in our City are at an all time high. Economic development has been one of the important tenets of my administration, and will continue to be so over the next four years. I am constantly striving to make our City attractive to developers while making the processes to build and develop streamlined and efficient. I will continue to invest wisely in our neighborhoods transforming them into sustainable places, ripe for growth and investment. I will continue transforming our physical landscape and our sense of place by building green pathways and reconnecting neighborhoods to our riverfronts. I will continue to work hard to bring new economy jobs here in the education and medical sectors. Already twenty years worth of remediation and redevelopment has taken place at the Pittsburgh Technology Center, the former site of J&L Steel. The once-bare brownfield now houses the University of Pittsburgh biomedical research center, Sunoco polypropylene research center, CMU research facilities and Thermo Fisher scientific facilities. The site will see additional new construction with Bridgeside Point Two, offering 150,000 square feet of wet lab space. This site supports our burgeoning knowledge-based economy by providing the talent growing out of our research and medical centers with space to build their business and grow their ideas. This new development showcases the economic vitality of our City by creating new jobs.
3. What do you believe are the most important environmental challenges facing the city, and how do you believe they should be addressed?
When I talk to people who have visited Pittsburgh for the first time they are amazed by how green our city is. The lush trees that dot our hilly landscape and our neighborhoods catch people off guard as they are expecting the dirty steel city of decades past. I am working to make our city greener literally and figuratively. Reducing green house gas emissions is a challenge facing cities everywhere and we are making strides to reduce our GHG emissions 20% below 2003 levels by 2023. In order to undertake this task, as the Pittsburgh Climate Action plan recommended, I hired the City’s first Sustainability Coordinator to help implement the programs recommended by the plan. Several initiatives that are underway, or soon will be, are an energy audit of the City County Building, a retrofit to install energy efficient street lights in the City, improving recycling in our City building and looking at ways to reduce waste. I realize that that being sustainable requires more than just recycling and changing light bulbs. To be a truly sustainable organization we must change our mindset. Sustainability cannot occur through just 1 or 2 individuals, but rather, must be a part of the culture of the organization. Already we are making recycling and bicycling easier for City residents, making it easier to build green and making vacant lots greener with our Green Up Pittsburgh Program. I will continue these efforts while I am in office and truly make Pittsburgh the black, gold and green city.
4. In many cities, Community Benefits Agreements have ensured that the environment is protected when publicly funded development occurs. What do you see as the pros and cons of such agreements, and to what extent do you think the pros outweigh the cons?
As Mayor I was involved in the historic Community Benefits agreement with the Hill District, Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh Penguins that establishes development guidelines and benefits for the community in relation to the new arena. I believe that communities and neighborhoods should work together with developers and appropriate local governments any time that they stand to be impacted by development in their neighborhood. I support investment in programs and initiatives in our community and I think there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity for residents to be included—benefit from the development in a responsible way. We should work together to make sure that the millions of dollars of new development under way translates into job opportunities and long-term neighborhood revitalization for the residents who will be impacted by new development in their neighborhoods and communities. Working with residents and committed businesses allows us to build new development and a better city.
5. Do you support the enactment and enforcement of laws that help prevent violence, intimidation, and harassment specifically directed at reproductive health providers and their patients, including the established “buffer zone”?
I am committed to enforcing the laws that exist in our City. I also believe in the first amendment right to protest in a peaceful manner.
6. What will be the most important thing for you to accomplish as Mayor?
Making Pittsburgh’s Third Renaissance a reality will be my most important accomplishment over my next four years as Mayor. In my first three years as Mayor I have helped lay the groundwork of our new Renaissance. A few short years ago, Pittsburgh was on the brink of bankruptcy. Today we’re a City whose bond rating has been improved 4 times; a City with a savings account again. We have changed our ways and no longer borrow for today against tomorrow—we live within our means. We are surrounded by billions of dollars in development and we have made significant progress in making our neighborhoods as clean and safe as hey have ever been—and greener as well. And while we have made great improvements over the last three years, there is still much work yet to be done and that is why I want to continue to be your Mayor.
To make this third renaissance happen I will continue working to:
- Nurture our economic engines of the future, Health Care and Education,
- Deploy and utilize the best technology has to offer,
- Complete the development of our rivers,
- Enhance government services through efficiency and ultimately through City County merger,
- Enhance our children’s educational opportunities,
- Connect people to jobs and jobs to people,
- Reform government through transparency and civic involvement,
- Recognize we’re a City of neighborhoods and they must be clean and safe,
- Green the City, and
- Promote diversity.
I will work hard to make this vision a reality and continue to make Pittsburgh “America’s Most Livable City” for decades to come.
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DESCRIPTION of DUTIES of PITTSBURGH’S MAYOR
(From Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter Summary):
ARTICLE TWO states the qualifications for the mayor who shall serve a four year term of office and
shall administer the affairs of the City. If there is a vacancy in the office of mayor, the president of council shall serve as mayor until the next election, at which time an election shall be held for the unexpired portion of the term.
- To make the structure of City government flexible, the mayor and council shall have the power to establish, change, or abolish commissions, boards, or units of government (e.g., departments).
- The mayor shall appoint, with the approval of council, the heads of the major administrative units of government. However, the mayor may remove these officers at will.
- The mayor, with council’s approval, shall appoint a city solicitor who shall act as the City’s attorney.
- The mayor must make an annual state of the city message, and the heads of major administrative units of government must provide council and the mayor all information asked of them.
- There shall be a fifteen member human relations commission with a staff, attorney and subpoena powers. Members of the commission shall be appointed by the mayor with the approval of council, but cannot be removed except for just cause and with council’s consent.