Pgh Mayoral Race 2009

Excellent article on some of Pgh's candidates for Mayor 2009

Click on the above link for an excellent article from the Pittsburgh City Paper on Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin.

Note: Whether SWB endorses any of the candidates below, we seriously encourage you to check them out so you can make an informed decision about who leads your city. If you know of any other candidates not mentioned below, please inform us so we can e-mail them an interview request and get their link on this page.

Links to the Candidates Sites:

Carmen L Robinson

Franco “Dok” Harris – Click Here for the SWB interview

Luke Ravenstahl

Patrick Dowd

————————————–

Take Our Poll

These are the standard questions we are asking all candidates to answer (there are three others, but those are more in fun and optional to answer for the candidates):

—————————————————————————-
1. Since favors (or what some like to call political bartering) seem to be a mainstay in all parties, and at some points can be seen as acceptable for getting business done, what is your take on this attitude both politically and personally?

2. There are two projects that come to mind where Pittsburghers were of the opinion collectively that those projects were a possible waste of money and indicated they did not want them started (two stadiums, instead of one for the Steelers and the under-river North Shore connector project) due to major lack of benefit to the city overall. Whether the citizen’s opinions may or may not be right, would you make sure that those opinions would be considered heavily along with what you would consider the best plan of action and how would you do that?

3. With of of the haute (sometimes meaning high-class) living options appearing more and more in Pittsburgh, would you create a plan for affordable (not subsidized) living options to be available in or near those same areas? In other words, would you set the city up to give middle class residents the same chance for contacts and opportunities as high class residents?

4. How would you encourage all political parties to weigh in productively (not just trash talking) on issues for the purpose of compiling the best plan of action to resolve and city issues?

5. Pittsburgh has always had the ability to reinvent itself by attracting new industries, but it has not always been as successful in retaining those industries after the perks to the companies are gone (no taxes, deferred taxes, etc) – how would you change that?

6. Would you consider offering perks to students that have attended colleges or universities outside of Pittsburgh to move back? And how would you do that? (for example in some other countries, students may receive such perks as repayment for their education, and free housing for a period of time, etc as a reward for bringing their new skills back into their home city)