I thought that it was "Take Your Son to Work Week"...

...when I glanced up at my TV screen but when I heard everyone addressing the person at the podium as "Mr. President" I soon realized that Councilman Luke Ravenstahl (25) had been elected President of Pittsburgh City Council.


The Post-Gazette reports:

Councilman Doug Shields nominated Mr. Ravenstahl for president. Councilman Len Bodack nominated Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle.

Because Mr. Ravenstahl was nominated first, council took a roll-call vote on his name. He received yes votes from Mr. Shields, Dan Deasy, Jim Motznik, Mr. Ricciardi, and himself - just enough to win the post.

Ms. Carlisle and William Peduto voted no, and Mr. Bodack and Sala Udin abstained. Because Mr. Ravenstahl won the post, no vote was taken on Ms. Carlisle's nomination.

Yes, I know, there's nothing really wrong with electing someone young to an office in Pittsburgh for a change, other than making me feel old (see The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat's take on that), but Lou's List has some thoughts on why Ravenstahl is really Old at Heart:

Ravenstahl is a scion of the city's old-line Democratic establishment and has opposed working with the state to implement budget remedies for the city.

But read his entire post here. It's worth your time. As are the comments posted there which include the following gems:

PtBreeze said... Since Shields acts at Bob's request, this should be considered Bob's first move as Mayor. So, when given the opportunity to support an african american woman or another white guy, Bob chose the white guy. That does not bode well for the coming administration.

Karen said... But it was a YOUNG guy. See, Bob loves the (white, male) kids!

tags: pittsburgh city council ravenstahl peduto twanda carlisle doug shields ricciardi len bodack sala udin dan deasy jim motznik