Got a question for the mayoral candidates?

The PA League of Young Voters and the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh have teamed up with KDKA to bring you the best mayoral debate Pittsburgh’s had yet — one where citizens ask the questions!

Starting now , you can upload your question to the KDKA website.  Then, on April 15th at 7pm, tune in as mayoral candidates Luke Ravenstahl, Patrick Dowd, and Carmen Robinson will respond to the questions submitted!

The concept is based off the wildly-successful (in our opinion) YouTube Presidential Debates of last year…and we’re happy that KDKA was willing to take this innovative format on at their studios.

TIP: Direct your questions to all three candidates, and keep them under 30 seconds (which is plenty long for video!).  Don’t forget to say who you are and where you’re from, or what group you’re with, and a couple sentences about why you care about the topic (to make it more interesting).

UPLOAD YOUR QUESTION HERE:  http://kdka.com/debatequestion

PS — and don’t forget to check out our voter guide, being released this Saturday April 4th at The Town Tavern on the South Side –featuring a free “make-your-own-taco” bar, $2 drinks, DJ!  Probably a few candidates, too.  9pm-Midnight

Tags: carmen robinson, debate, KDKA, luke ravenstahl, mayor, mayoral, patrick dowd, pittsburgh

First stab at school reform…

“Pittsburgh was a great, great city” began Mark Roosevelt at the ‘community dialogue’ facilities planning session that the Pittsburgh Public School system is holding as part of their school reform process. They expect to have the whole plan and report done by July (6 months) and as the rep from the DeJong consultant said, “We want the masses to participate.” A survey will be posted tomorrow on the district website that’s the same as the one we’re doing right now in small groups. The next special community meetings will be geographically based on May12th and 13th. One more thought from Mark Roosevelt: “more now than ever, what you earn is dependent on what you learn.”

School reform survey results were collected at the end of the public meeting.  Some examples:

• Proximity of school to home is important:  Agree
• Max time Elementary students should travel:  15 min
• Max time Middle school students should travel:  30 min
• Max time High school students should travel:  30 min
• Community and non-profit orgs should share unused facilities:  Agree

541 Early Voting Petition Signatures

In less than two months, we collected 541 signatures to support early voting in PA. A big thumbs-up to everyone who signed, and a special thanks to Jessica Weingarten on the Eastern side of the state for collecting additional signatures.

Constituents’ signatures from over half of all the senate districts in PA were collected.  They were mailed off to Harrisburg today, and put in the hands of Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery County, who sponsored the senate version of the legislation.

“This bill would do three things. It would expand opportunities for people to vote, shorten lines on Election Day, and allow time for disputes to be resolved,” said Sen. Leach.

We here at the PA League agree that the early voting option provides a form of election protection in that there’s time to address voting machine errors, a reduction in long lines on election day, and is without the concern of absentee ballot fraud.

Anything that responsibly makes voting easier and, therefore, more likely that more people will vote, is a good thing in our book.

Considering that turnout for the last presidential election was still only about 62% of all registered voters (no even counting citizens who could register but still haven’t), our country still needs to promote voting and make it easier in order for us to truly realize a participatory democracy and have an accountable government.

Anyway, I’m proud of our work on this.  We’ll be sure to keep you informed on what happens.  The full text of SB 445 and HB 238 (intoduced by Rep. Eugene DePasquale of York County) is available online.  And it’s not too late to contact your senator or representative about this — their info can always be found here.

Yours,
Carly Dobbins-Bucklad, Director

Tags: early voting, legislation, Pennsylvania, petitions, senate, signatures, turnout

29 New Voters

Stationed ourselves at Montour High School today, and 29 high school seniors registered to vote for the first time, AND they plan to vote in the primary election (on an “off” year!).  Excellent!

Tags: High school, new voters, voter registration

Voter Guide Release Party — Sat., April 4th

Join us upstairs at The Town Tavern on the South Side April 4th from 9pm to Midnight for our spring Voter Guide Release Party and fundraiser, where a $5 donation gets you:

* FREE food (build your own taco bar! cheese tray!  chips & salsa!) from 9pm-10pm

* $2 everything: glasses of wine, domestic bottles, well drinks

* Our primary voter guid e!

Roxanne will be guest bartending, and all day long prior to the party we’ll be tabling at Joseph Beth’s down the street where we get 20% of all purchases, so stop by and then hang out to get this political season kicked-off!

Tags: election, food, fundraiser, Party, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, primary, release, the town tavern, vote, voter guide, Youth

Mayoral Video Debate: what’s YOUR question?

People remember the YouTube debates of the presidential primaries last year, right?

Now it’s Pittsburgh’s turn.  On April 15th at 7pm, all three of Pittsburgh’s mayoral candidates — Luke Ravenstahl, Patrick Dowd, and Carmen Robinson — square off in a debate where YOU submit the questions.

This debate is hosted by the PA League of Young Voters, the League of Women Voters, and KDKA.  Big thanks to KDKA — Check back here Monday for a link to submit your question!

Tags: carmen robinson, debate, KDKA, luke ravenstahl, mayor, mayoral, patrick dowd, pittsburgh, video, youtube

Economic Stimulus gone local

I’m at the Bloomfield-Garfield Co’s presentation on the economic stimulus package spending in Allegheny Co/Pittsburgh area. 15.5 million to prevent homelessness, 30 million to the school district, expanded Careerlink services, and I just learned CCAC is going to offer free training for weatherization and other green jobs? Going to have to look into that…all the presenters are excited about how the stimulus is being handled; I’ve never seen so much all-around support for how the federal govt has done something. [ps - the city is going to have their own transparency website; the local vision of the the federal site and the state's new site www.recovery.pa.gov]

Upcoming High School Voter Registration Events

If you know seniors at these high schools who aren’t registered, let them know we’re coming to them!

• Tuesday March 24th @ Montour High School
• Wednesday March 25th @ Northgate High School
• Tuesday March 31st @ Brashear Highschool
• Tuesday April 7th @ The Neighborhood Academy

It will be our first time registering new voters in Northgate and The Neighborhood Academy, so we’re pretty excited.  More dates and schools to come!

*Also, if you’d like to help register new voters before the April 20th deadline, email roxanne@paleague.com

Tags: election, engaged, high schools, pittsburgh public schools, politics, voter registration, Youth

People=Power: free workshop March 28th

SATURDAY MARCH 28th
GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING INSTITUTE: 
People = Power

The GO Institute is a program designed to train concerned citizens of the community to become more active in the political process, and to teach them how to encourage their fellow members of the community to get involved on a grassroots level.

The PA League of Young Voters Education Fund uses the expertise of people who have been active members in the community to train others in order to build power in communities that are disenfranchised and underserved.

This workshop will provide real-world insight, best practices, and guided practice about how to analyze and prepare information about your issue and the people you want to move.

Leading this Workshop:

* Roxanne Banks-Williams - Director of Education for PA League of Young Voters Education Fund

* Lou Takacs - political consultant & Policy Coordinator for the office of State Representative Chelsa Wagner

* Paradise Gray - Hip Hop Pioneer: DJ of the X Clan, founding member of One Hood, community activist

* Mac Booker - Finance Director of Patrick Dowd’s mayoral campaign and long-time political activist

SCHEDULE:
10:00am-10:30- Introductions and refreshments
10:30-11:30-Discussion: How to target the right people to reach out to in order to get your goal accomplished. (ie. Constituents, Community organizations, community leaders, and political leaders)
11:30-12:00pm- Conducting Background Research
12:00-12:15- Break
12:15-1:00- Research Exercise
1:00-1:30- LUNCH
1:30-2:00- Discussion: How to use who/what you know to build power
2:00-3:00- How to do Power Mapping

Please RSVP to roxanne@paleague.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you plan to attend; lunch is provided so your RSVP is necessary.

Pass it on:  this event is on Facebook

This training is FREE and open to the public!

Tags: free, organizing, pittsburgh, public, training, workshop, Youth

Get Early Voting signatures in Sen. Pippy’s District

On Saturday March 21st we will head to Mt. Lebanon to collect our last signatures in support of Early Voting.

Mt. Lebanon is in Sen. John Pippy’s district.  Sen Pippy is a member of the Senate State Government committee, where the early voting bill is currently under review.

We need volunteers to help canvass door-to-door for petition signatures!

Email adam@paleague.com to join us this Saturday, from 11-2 or 3-6pm.

Thanks!

Tags: canvassing, early voting