I guess the fix wasn't as fixed as I'd posted in my previous post.
I am still tracking down more of the story but in the mean time here's Jon Delano:
Earlier council held its own swearing-in ceremony with two new members -- 29-year-old Natalia Rudiak of Carrick and 31-year-old Daniel Lavelle of the Hill District -- and capped the day with the surprise election of Darlene Harris as City Council president.And Rich Lord:
"Council President Harris would like a Bible," District Magistrate Jim Motznik shouted to the crowd. "Can she borrow somebody's Bible?"
It was such a shock, Harris needed to borrow Bill Peduto's Bible to take her oath. That was appropriate since Peduto engineered Harris' election when he couldn't secure the five votes for himself.
"I feel there are times in life when you have to give up the crown in order to save the kingdom," Peduto said after the meeting. "There was a deliberate attempt by the administration to control city council - that could not happen."
Peduto accused Ravenstahl of trying to install Theresa Kail Smith as council president by cutting a deal with Daniel Lavelle who Peduto said had originally committed to support him.
Harris acknowledged Peduto's role as queen-maker.
Early on, William Peduto and Ricky Burgess were the most public contestants for the job, but neither could get the needed five votes. Mr. Peduto appeared to have the support of prior President Doug Shields, Bruce Kraus and newcomer Natalia Rudiak. Mr. Peduto said yesterday that as of Thanksgiving he also had a pledge of support from council's other newcomer, R. Daniel Lavelle, but "that commitment faded away around Christmas.More later.
"I feel hurt," Mr. Peduto said. "I feel disappointed. But it's time to move on."
Mr. Lavelle, of the Hill District, would not say whether he had ever promised to vote for Mr. Peduto.
While Mr. Peduto could not get five votes, neither could Mr. Burgess. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration got involved, seeking an alternative to Mr. Peduto and Mr. Shields, who have been vocal critics of the mayor.
Mr. Burgess declined to comment.
Ms. Smith had said she didn't want the job, but then found herself with the support of Mr. Burgess, Mr. Lavelle and Patrick Dowd, who nominated her after Mr. Peduto nominated Ms. Harris.
With Mr. Peduto's supporters all behind her, though, Ms. Harris got the bare minimum number of ayes, and no vote for Ms. Smith occurred.
I'm not sure I understand the outrage over the Mayor's attempt to control the outcome of council's presidency election.Strong mayor;weak council.It happens. What I find more confusing is the continued efforts on both council and the administration to keep the city stuck in neutral.Surely there must be several initiatives that they could find common cause to work cooperatively towards!
ReplyDeleteI think several bloggers (and people who comment on blogs) support the notion of a progressive agenda. I believe that would include things like the prevailing wage bill as well as enviro-friendly policies like bike lanes and City investment in energy conservation technology. Now, there has been progress made on measures like these, including bills worked on jointly between the Mayor's office and Council. I think the people who post and comment on blogs would like to see even more, but definitely did not want to see less (thus the outrage).
ReplyDeleteI am not sure specifically what you are referring to when you mention "continued efforts on both council and the administration to keep the city stuck in neutral". We have huge debt and a contracting population, so we need to look first at what areas in government are designed to serve a larger population and could be scaled back.
One thing I think progressives in particular are hoping is that Council will look at technology that fits in the category of "sustainable". An example off the top of my head (and probably not yet practical) might be street lights and stop lights that use technology that is so efficient they might be partially or even totally solar powered. High efficiency street lights is one of those things that went from being separately investigated by a Council member and the Mayor's office to becoming a joint effort.
Ed
ReplyDeletethe prevailing wage bill was rebuked by numerous unions and the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group.The problem as I see it with the "progressive agenda" is that too often when it is rebuked those who disagree with it are usually portrayed as fools.
Your comment supports that..."I think the people who post and comment on blogs would like to see even more, but definitely did not want to see less (thus the outrage)." As I stated in other blogs,this was a SEIU power play. So the villains here seem to be other union groups and progressive community developers.
As for being in neutral, when our leaders spend most of their time jockeying for position,name calling,and whining,not much happens in a positive direction. I could have said we spend too much time in reverse,but I was being hopeful!!
Well rich10e, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t intend to call anyone a fool (in that comment, anyway), but apparently I support that idea, regardless of what I said.
ReplyDeleteI gather from your comment people who foolishly choose to work in the city, at least for publicly supported developments, should be grateful to work at all, they should not expect to be paid what someone else doing the exact same job three blocks away is making. Because we don’t expect the government to uphold any standards of fairness.
By the way, I took a look at the PCRG website. Their response to the prevailing wage bill was guarded optimism, partly because Bill Peduto suggested amendments that passed that they agreed with. FWIW.
You suggest that “progressives” are poor or impolite losers. Well, that’s hardly a condition limited to progressives, almost all politicians share that malady. Now, my view of the intellectual abilities of politicians in general is complex, so I don’t want to go there right now. I don’t disagree that the personality aspect of Council “jockeying for position,name calling,and whining” is unfortunate, but I do want to point out that there are often real issues involved. The downtown LED billboard got blown way out of proportion, yet there were real issues invlved of how downtown should look, and also of what the procedures are in approving things like billboards. I don’t know that these issues got totally settled, but they were at least part of the discussion.