Progress Pittsburgh

Looks like Chris Potter was on to something last week when he wrote about Dok Harris.  The website HarrisForPittsburgh.com is now live with quite a bit of content.

From an email sent this morning….

Harris for Pittsburgh

Franco “Dok” Harris Running for Mayor of Pittsburgh

March 09, 2009 10:00am

Franco “Dok” Harris, 29, has announced his candidacy for Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh. A native Pittsburgher and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, Mr. Harris has set forth a bold platform to address the many challenges facing the city and is committed to revitalizing our local economy.

I am running to be the next Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh because our city faces complex and difficult issues and requires wise stewardship to address them successfully.

The Pittsburgh of today faces an upcoming budget crunch and a profound pension crisis which must be met and addressed proactively before they cripple our hometown and further burden our already weakened infrastructure. We are now witnessing the local effects of a national economic downturn. We see neighborhoods ravaged by structural unemployment and crime. We watch as young graduates leave Pittsburgh to pursue careers in other cities. The Pittsburgh of today requires strong leadership to help it grow into a city that honors both the dreams of our children as well as the sacrifices of those who have gone before us.

As your mayor, the Pittsburgh of tomorrow will be an economic powerhouse; a green city that is a friend to businesses both small and large. Our city will work for our workers by ensuring fair wages and fair treatment. The Pittsburgh of tomorrow will be the intersection of labor and technology, where both startups and large corporations will benefit from the hard working blue collar spirit of our community and the intellectual trust of our universities. As your mayor I commit to building Pittsburgh into that city upon a hill – or in this case, three rivers – as an example of the role that good government has in our common successful future. I ask you to join me on this journey. Together, we will Forge Ahead. More »

Who: YOU!
What: Petition Party and P2PAC Fundraiser ($10 contribution requested)
Where: Over The Bar Bicycle Cafe (2518 East Carson Street)
When: 02/17/09 @ 6:00 p.m.
Why: because Pittsburgh deserves better

We will have drink specials until 7pm!

Over The Bar is accessible by the following PAT buses- 51A, 51B, 51C, 51D, 51G, 54C, and 84C. It is a non-smoking establishment.

Click here for more information.

Likely mayoral candidate and City Council President Doug Shields has publicly stated that he will not pursue the highest position in Pittsburgh. The City Paper, Post-Gazette, and Trib report this turn of events, quoting from his press release:

With the encouragement and support of many people, I have seriously considered running for Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh. At this time, the right choice for me, for this Council, and for the people of Pittsburgh is to continue to serve as Council President.

The question remains as to whether any other Democrat will enter the race to challenge incumbent Luke Ravenstahl who, despite extremely good polling during his last race in 2007, has been seen to frequently falter and lose popularity among his consistuents in the last year or so.

Who SHOULD run against Luke? Can anyone WIN?

P2pac continues to raise funds (and fun) for the 2009 local primary elections. Please join us on Tuesday, January 20th to celebrate the historic inauguration of Barack Obama and get excited about local political change this spring.

For event details, please see the event annoucement post.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Columbus snooze on infrastructure wish list (From GLUE newsletter) – Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Columbus snooze on infrastructure wish list: The administration-elect has made revitalization of our nation's crumbling infrastructure a priority, and nowhere is that needed more than in the older industrial cities of the Great Lakes mega-region. Yet, as of yesterday, these three cities have failed to publicize their infrastructure wish-lists, falling behind hundreds of municipalities throughout the country. It's time our local leaders woke up and realized that federal aid isn't just going to land in their laps.
• Judge Flaherty injured in Downtown pedestrian accident – "I was more than half way across the street. So the car kept coming. I thought it was someone I knew, maybe jagging around,"
• Twitter / Carmen4MayorPgh – Carmen Robinson is on twitter.

Today the Post-Gazette came out in support of Ayanna Lee, Democratic candidate for the 44th District of the PA House. This is a change for the PG, having supported Republican candidate Mark Mustio in the last two elections. Central to its decision, the editorial states:

Ms. Lee puts people first in her agenda. She is passionate about the need for health care and education for working people, which she attributes to the plight of her mother who died when Ms. Lee was 9 and her own experience as a mother of two struggling to better herself and her family. She also supports cutting the size of the Legislature, backs tolling 1-80 and would have voted for the smoking ban, even though she opposed the exceptions.

While Mustio has championed reform of the legislature, Lee’s forward-thinking view on a comprensive set of issues is decidedly better for the Pittsburgh region.

http://nullspace2.blogspot.com/2008/06/parsing-primary.html

by Chris Briem

So, I suppose it’s time to parse the primary data a little bit more. The problem with looking too deeply at the results from April is that there isn’t anything to really compare the voting patterns to. The obvious comparison to the spring 2008 primary would be results from the spring 2004 primary which was the last presidential cycle. The problem of course is that in 2004, the primary had been locked up by the time the Pennsylvania primary came around. Contrast that with 2008, and no matter whether you thought the electoral results were already won by BO, the media played up the whole election as the biggest presidential primary in Pennsylvania ever Given that, any comparison of the two elections (2004 vs. 2008) is by definition an overinterpretation. Nonetheless, maybe there is something to glean from comparing the two elections. More »

As you may have heard, Bill Peduto has sworn off running for mayor again in 2009. With this tried and true progressive leader off the radar, who should be the progressive candidate for mayor? Who can bring a strong challenge to the current mayor and strong policy ideas to really change our city for the better? Some names that have been thrown around for this race are: David Caliguiri, Patrick Dowd, Michael Lamb, and Chelsa Wagner. Do any of these people qualify as progressive and competitive? Who else is out there? What do YOU think?

“Closing in…the Pennsylvania Primary is two weeks from today and Quinnipiac University’s now says Obama is down 6 to Clinton from 9 on April 2nd…”

“$40-million-plus tumbled into the Barak Obama campaign in March…that is more than raised by Hillary Clinton ($20-million) and John McCain ($15-million) combined…”

(from today’s Harrisburg Online)

Pt 3.  The Prediction

In my previous two posts, I wrote more than anyone should really want to know about how delegates to the Democratic Convention will be selected and who those people will be.  In this post, I will get to the much more interesting and VERY much more speculative task of breaking down the state to predict what the results on April 22 will be.

More »

how did they do? video on the pg website today provides a little insight into the substance of the various candidates. check it out.

The Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition will host a Mayoral Candidates Forum on September 27^th that will focus on issues related to design, development, and civic planning. Both Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Republican mayoral candidate Mark DeSantis have agreed to participate. Moderated by Katherine Fink of WDUQ, the forum will be held at the David Lawrence Convention Center on Thursday, September 27^th from 6pm to 9:30pm. WDUQ will be taping the conversation for airing in early October. To attend, please RSVP by email or by calling 412.281.0995.

This forum is a valuable opportunity to ask questions about the future of planning and development in our fair city. It is important to understand how community and economic development will be handled as our population continues to be half of what our infrastructure was built for. How will these candidates be strategic about planning and development? What will they do to ensure that their vision is comprehensive?

Here’s a little something about where the conversation is in Philly:
== CANDIDATE SAYS PLANNING SHOULD BE TOP PRIORITY IN PHILADELPHIA
A Philadelphia mayoral candidate says the first step to fixing the city under his administration would be a revamping and revival of the city’s planning system.
Sep 21 2007 — The Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.planetizen.com/node/27167

In my opinion, if we don’t make strategic, comprehensive planning a priority in this city then we deserve the rank of second class.

Well if you have always wanted an autographed Jack McVay t-shirt, now is your chance…

Jack McVay’s Triple Play
Baseball Brunch & gameday tickets!

Sunday, September 30

Sign-up to work Election Day and you’ll receive the Jack McVay Triple Play!!

Complimentary Pre-Game Brunch
Free Ticket to the Pirate Finale vs. St. Louis 1:35 PM
A Jack McVay T-Shirt; with the option for an autograph

Brunch 12:00 Noon – 1:30 PM Atria’s Restaurant at PNC Park

RSVP Today! We only have 150 game tickets, first come, first serve.
RSVP jack@jackmcvay.com Call 412.853.5010

I was reminded by this post on Pittsburgh Metroblog and a number of emails about the Propel Pittbsurgh commission. Every one is asking – what happened to it? There are definitely some people who are interested in serving on the commission. Some really support the Propel Pittsburgh Commission,Others aren’t so sure this commission is the solution. What do you think?

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There are some rumblings around the city about the Mayor’s race. Yes friends, there is a mayor’s race this fall. Incumbent Luke Ravenstahl has a republican challenger – Mark DeSantis.

Here is DeSantis’s bio from the Heinz School Web Page (the picture is from the Formation3 website)

CEO – ANGLE Technology Consulting and Management – US

Mark DeSantis is the Chief Executive Officer of ANGLE Technology Consulting and Management – US. ANGLE Technology is a consulting firm that specializes in providing management, strategic planning and business development assistance to emerging, technology-based companies. Mark’s clients include a number of US and non-US based public and private companies. He has personally spearheaded business development, M&A and strategic planning efforts for a wide variety of companies and non-profit organizations.

Mark founded or co-founded several companies and currently serves as a Director or Adviser to a number of tech-based emerging and established companies in the US, Canada and the EU. Prior to joining Angle Technology Group, Mark was President of Formation3, LLC, a firm the specialized in providing strategic assistant to firms engaged or seeking engagement with the public sector. Prior to that, Mark was a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and a strategic consultant to the Carnegie Mellon Research Institute.

Prior to moving to Pittsburgh, mark was previously the Director of Government Relations for Texas Instruments, Inc. in Washington DC. He served in a number of policy positions in the Federal government including serving as a Senior Policy Analyst in both The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Commerce in the first Bush Administration. He was also on the staff of the late U.S. Senator John Heinz and before that he was a management consultant with Booz, Allen and Hamilton.

Mark is a frequent lecturer on the topics of business management, strategy, economic development and public policy, and published a variety of articles on management, economic development and entrepreneurship. He is an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Lecturer at the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and The Tuck School at Dartmouth. Mark holds a BA and MBA from the University of Dayton, an MS in Technology Management from The American University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Economics from George Mason University.

Mark is very active in the Pittsburgh community, having served or presently serving on a number of non-profit boards. He also founded several non-profit organizations and advocacy groups whose mission is to improve the performance of local government and promote economic development in western Pennsylvania.

Post-Gazette article authored by DeSantis in the business section from January, 2 2005 – Puts &: Calls: Mark DeSantis / Politics of reality is path to needed changes

What do you think? Does he have a chance against Luke? Will you vote for DeSantis?