Candidate Interview: Pittsburgh Mayoral Candidates

All three Pittsburgh mayoral candidates were contacted. All three initially agreed to do the interview. One candidate, due to time constrants, was unable to complete his questionnaire. Each candidate was allowed to submit a picture. All answers are unedited.

As a note, WTAE Channel 4 is airing the mayoral debate tonight at 7 PM. So far it is the only debate where all three candidates are participating. Be sure not to miss it.

Councilman Patrick Dowd
http://www.dowdformayor.com/


1. How many debates do you think there should be, why, and would you commit to spreading them around to different communities?

I have asked for 9 debates to be held (one in each City Council District). This approach, I believe, would give all of the candidates a chance to listen to the issues affecting our diverse neighborhoods, and an opportunity to demonstrate our understanding of the issues affecting Pittsburgh. My opponents have both stated that they want to limit the number of debates to 3. I think this is a mistake, and would urge them to consider participating in as many conversations with the community as possible

2. Name one problem facing the city that you think gets too little attention and how you would go about solving it.

This city’s leadership has not spent enough time or energy working to reverse population decline. Our national economic crisis comes at a time when the planet is also experiencing rapid urbanization. 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.

3. What program or service should be cut or scaled back in these tough times, with this bad economy and with our city facing a deficit starting next year? Would you forgo a pay raise?

I believe a top down evaluation of every department is needed to see if we can better manage the resources that we already have. For example, in the police department, there are numerous specialized units. In almost every instance, these specialty units serve a necessary public safety function. However, many of these units have a significant amount of down-time and could be used more effectively on the streets, while some units are significantly overworked and must incur large amounts of overtime. Rather than hiring more officers, if we deployed them more efficiently, we could both increase the amount of police on the streets, and reduce the overtime burden on some members of the force.

I wouldn’t take a raise out of the gate. These are tough times, and we have to get our house in order. Any raises for me or my senior staff will be strictly performance based.

4. Do you favor banning no-bid contracts in city government?

I have pledged to end the granting of no-bid contracts to any political contributors to any public official in the City of Pittsburgh. We must end the pay-to-play practices of this current administration and demonstrate that we can do better in our bidding processes.

5. Would you impose a strict ban on the members of your administration, including yourself, from taking gifts of any kind from any business or contractor doing business or seeking services with Pittsburgh? Yes.

6. What music do you have on your Ipod/MP3 player?

While I don’t own an iPod or mp3 player, I listen to WYEP and WDUQ daily.

7. The merging of the city with Allegheny County has been proposed. Do you favor this concept?

I believe that the merging of the city and county must eventually happen in order to provide for a more efficient provision of services. How that merger happens is an entirely different question. My two priorities for any consolidation scenario are 1) establishing an urban core-focused version of consolidation, in which the City’s political and economic power is not diluted and, 2) building trust via incremental progress with our municipal neighbors.

As chair of the Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, we are finding fresh, innovative ways to work with our municipal neighbors and to save money by sharing services.

8. It was announced that the pension fund could be extinguished in seven years. What plans, if any, do you have to save workers’ pensions without overburdening taxpayers?

I recently spoke to a woman who’s husband was a firefighter and who’s son just became a firefighter. While she believed her husband’s pension was safe, she didn’t think her son would enjoy the same benefits. I told her that while the public employee pension fund is serving employees that are retiring today, if things stay as they are, we will not be able to fulfill the promises made for tomorrow. In order to fulfill those promises we’ll need to sit at a table with the employees and city representatives and ask tough questions about where we can get funds to shore up our pension obligations. Should the city sell assets? Should we dedicate new tax revenue toward the pension funds? Should we ask employees to help with contributions? Can we use current resources more efficiently so the city can make higher contributions? I believe all of these options will have to be considered carefully and honestly, and the solution will involve a mix of all of them.

9. Do you agree with the Mayor’s plans to privatize the Pittsburgh Parking Authority in order to help fund the city’s pension obligations?

No. I have repeatedly stated that I am opposed to the sale or long term lease of the Parking Authority at this time. In tough economic times, if my wife and I aren’t able to meet our budget, we don’t sell off our valuable assets like our house, we look for ways to cut back. Selling the parking assets would provide a short term gain at long term expense. Parking is a public good. If thrown into private hands, rates will undoubtedly increase and would give downtown businesses another reason to leave the city.

10. Now that the Hill District has won the city’s first ever Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), do you believe there should be CBA’s with current and future projects?

I believe the CBA is a tool that should be used strategically in connection with large projects that have a high 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.

11. In light of the Housing Police being folded into the City Police Force, would you favor seeing that happen with the School Police, etc.?

Yes. As I mentioned above, we can better manage city resources and combining specialized forces, in some cases, would make the most sense.

12. Primanti’s or The O? Primanti’s. I’m also a huge fan of Broad Street Dogs.

13. Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy had proposed eliminating elected school board members and replacing them with mayoral and appointed members. What is your opinion of this idea?

I defeated the sitting School Board President at the time this call for an appointed board was made. I served for four years on an elected school board, and considered this question often. While it is tempting to think that an appointed board would better serve the needs of the students and the residents of the city, I am not yet convinced that we should move away from elected school boards. The next mayor of Pittsburgh should actively engage the elected school board, the parents, the employees and the administration and contribute to the vision of what an excellent public education should look like in Pittsburgh. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh public schools and the City of Pittsburgh must have a common vision and strategy for serving the residents.

14. Do you favor expanding the Pittsburgh Promise so that students can use it at any college/university in the country? Do you favor expanding the Pittsburgh Promise to students attending Catholic/private schools?

The Pittsburgh Promise is designed to serve the students of the Pittsburgh public schools, which includes the charter schools. Some expansion of the education institutions may be beneficial. It was expanded to include other universities recently.