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Monday, November 2, 2009

The kid mayor

Pittsburgh's young mayor was the subject of a positive profile in The New York Times today. 

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl became mayor of Pittsburgh at age 26. Three years later, he's expected to coast to reelection tomorrow. Ravenstahl has been successful as mayor, The Times said. "He cut the city’s work force by 2 percent, streamlined snow removal and received increased economic development aid from state officials in Harrisburg. The result has been budget surpluses for the last four years."

Pittsburgh, like Philadelphia, is losing population and jobs and faces big challenges with city pension plan. The budget woes prompted Ravenstahl to reduce the city's work force. Pittsburgh recently played host to the G-20 summit. The city has received praise for transitioning its economy from steel to a center for health care and education.

  
Posted by Paul Davies @ 4:05 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:29 PM, 11/02/2009
    Nutter would be wise to closely examine how Pittsburgh worked it's "miracle."
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:37 PM, 11/02/2009
    The NYT article hardly covers the way mayor in Pittsburgh accomplished serious reform. First of all, he tackled some sacred cows in urban thinking. Ravenstahl is not using Pittsburgh as a model for federal planned housing. Reforms on how government subsidy takes effect in the city were implemented with great results on the surrounding equity and investment paid dividends in the tax base. For example, public housing is senior and disabled limited in Pittsburgh. This almost completely eliminated the problem of drugs and multigenerational crime in public housing that drove out private investors, business, and regular buyers who want to live in cities again. This was an enormously effective reform as property tax payers moved back in to Pittsburgh's base. Philly more than even Pittsburgh stands to benefit from such a change.
    — CleanupPhilly


2 comments
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