Bill de Blasio (D. NYC) isn't the only awesome progressive Democrat running for Mayor next Tuesday. Received this e-mail today from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party looking for people in Pittsburgh to help out with GOTV efforts for Pittsburgh Mayor candidate, Bill Peduto (D):
We're down to the wire.
We're only 4 days away from the 2013 elections, and we need to make sure as many people as possible turn out to vote in Pittsburgh. Volunteers have been knocking doors and burning up the phones to push people to the polls, but we need your help!
Can you join Bill Peduto this Tuesday - Election Day - to help Get Out The Vote?
http://www.billpeduto.com/...
Whether it's for the whole day or just a few hours, please make the commitment to building a new Pittsburgh at http://www.billpeduto.com/...
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!
Sincerely,
Elena Cross
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Democratic Party
You can click here to sign up to volunteer for Peduto's campaign:
http://www.billpeduto.com/...
As a born and raised Pittsburgher, I'm looking forward to a Mayor Peduto because he has some big plans for the 412:
http://www.post-gazette.com/...
Local boutiques, small shops, new sidewalks and lamp posts, perhaps even a dedicated lane for bicyclists.
It's all part of city councilman Bill Peduto's vision for Smithfield Street, the 11-block thoroughfare -- even longer if you count the bridge over the Monongahela River that bears its name -- that cuts through the heart of Downtown.
"I want to make Smithfield Street from Station Square to the convention center a grand boulevard of Pittsburgh, bring in small shops and boutiques from all throughout Western Pennsylvania and give them a presence on a Downtown location that becomes a calling card," Mr. Peduto, the Democratic nominee for mayor and prohibitive favorite in next month's election, said in a recent interview.
His timing may be perfect.
Smithfield is already very much a street in transition, with the proposed redevelopment of the former Saks Fifth Avenue building, a new hotel occupying the upper half of the Henry W. Oliver Building, the conversion of the former Lord & Taylor department store into a PNC call center, and the restoration of Mellon Square Park, which should be completed next spring. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/20/13
He also wants to improve our public transportation system:
http://www.pointparkglobe.com/...
Commuter students might feel like their voices are often not heard, but they will be part of the conversation Councilman and mayoral candidate Bill Peduto has as he plans to make changes to the outdated bus systems running Downtown.
“Having students involved in that discussion will help to basically gain support for whatever alternative is chosen,” said Peduto in the City County building last Wednesday. “You get a better product when you get more different view points and discussion coming in.”
If elected mayor in the Nov. 5 election, Peduto said discussion for his plan to create a more efficient bus route and safer area would start involving the community as early as the fall 2014 semester. Peduto is up against Republican Josh Wander and Lester Ludwig, an Independent.
Despite recent reports of the presumptive next mayor wanting to take buses out of Downtown, he said that is not the case. Peduto’s plan would increase the accessibility of all Downtown routes by creating a bus loop inside the triangle. One possible loop would have buses come down Grant Street, make a right onto Boulevard of the Allies, turn right onto Liberty Avenue and then back onto Grant St. This kind of system would provide access up to three or four blocks in Downtown instead of the eight to 12 blocks riders might currently have to walk. Riders could also ride the loop for free since payment is only necessary when leaving Downtown. - The Globe, 10/29/13
He's also wants to improve the Department of Public Safety:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/...
Peduto says for too long the bureau has been a rudderless ship. What’s needed, he says, is strong, new leadership to right its course and return it to the basics.
“What we need to do is to get back down to brass tacks, and basically understand that every part of being a police officer requires discipline that is beyond any other job,” Peduto says.
To that end, he will propose a new layer of civilian oversight in the Department of Public Safety.
“Public safety director at the top, then two operations administration deputies, [and] community relations deputy,” said Peduto.
These new positions will ensure public accountability while Peduto says he will take his time in picking a new chief. - CBS Pittsburgh, 10/18/13
He's also looking out for the Strip District:
http://triblive.com/...
A Jan. 1 ownership change at one of Western Pennsylvania's leading development companies won't change the way it does business or threaten projects such as a $400 million riverfront development in Pittsburgh, its top executive said on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh's Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Peduto is reaching out to Buncher Co.'s soon-to-be majority owners about his ideas for the Strip District riverfront project.
“We're just jumping into this, and we've asked them to give us the time to be able to look” at alternative plans for the Produce Terminal, said Peduto, 48, of Point Breeze during a meeting with Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editors and reporters.
Peduto opposes Buncher's controversial plan to demolish one-third of the terminal.
Buncher President and CEO Tom Balestrieri said the ownership change will have little impact on the project or the company's day-to-day operations. Buncher has a $1.8 million option to buy the terminal from Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority. - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 10/9/13
And his time on the city council has prepared him for this position:
http://www.post-gazette.com/...
Come January, Pittsburgh will replace an uninterested, accidental incumbent -- Luke Ravenstahl -- with one of his rivals, the energetic, 48-year-old Mr. Peduto, a Point Breeze resident who has an open mind, unbridled enthusiasm for his city and a raft of research papers on everything from crossing guards and public ferries to development and budgeting.
Mr. Peduto, council's District 8 representative since 2002, has been a serious student of best government practices during his tenure, making contacts locally, nationally and even internationally. He is ready to be mayor of Pittsburgh.
His agenda is daunting, but he makes it sound doable.
He intends to open up government contracting practices so people who have been shut out under a pay-to-play culture will be invited in.
He plans to focus on fiscal discipline. Mr. Peduto, an early advocate for the state's Act 47 fiscal recovery process, is committed to retaining state oversight and making sure Pittsburgh lives within its means to get through a period of heavy debt that should ease by 2018.
When he says he wants sustainable development, he doesn't just mean environmentally green projects; for Mr. Peduto the term encompasses street grids that are safe for pedestrians and all forms of transportation. He wants to improve neighborhood business districts, provide incentives to employers who create living-wage jobs and demand housing that will draw new residents (and revenue) -- his target is 20,000 in the next decade.
To accomplish his goals, he will reorganize the executive office of the mayor, creating seven leadership positions over his department directors. That should put responsibility for policies where it belongs -- in the mayor's office. He has agreed to take advice from Pittsburgh's foundation community -- a constituent whose input hasn't always been welcomed by the current administration -- and he hopes to reap some financial assistance from it as well. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/25/13
If you want to learn more about Peduto, click here:
http://www.billpeduto.com/