So how do you think Peduto doing as Pittsburgh's mayor? (Washington: neighborhood, tax)

[gladhands]

I think he’s doing a good job of representing the interests of the people of the city. I don’t believe that mayors, governors or presidents are messianic figures. I understand the constraints on their power, and I think Peduto is doing just about as well as can be expected.

[prnlvsxy]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Every job I've had since moving to Pittsburgh almost ten years ago has been in the City. I've worked in Oakland, Glen Hazel, and now Downtown. The majority of my waking hours during the week are spent in the City. I can look out of my windows and see the City. I can walk and be inside of City limits within 15-20 minutes.
It frustrates me when I can personally cross paths with Peduto on Grant Street several times per month - and he can have an armed police escort but he wants to criminalize me.
Peduto, the City, etc - these things are not random abstractions for me. I don't live in Zelienople, work in Cranberry, say that I'm from Pittsburgh, and complain about the City even though its largely an abstraction - no, for me it is a concrete reality that does have impacts on my life.

I live on this side of the river because the house was infinitely cheaper, the taxes are lower, the school district is better, the police are more responsive, the roads are better maintained, and my municipal government is focused on local issues instead of trying to grandstand and get media attention by wasting tax dollars on ill-advised initiatives.

So then your choices are:

1) Move to the city so you get a vote
2) Get a job that isn't in the city, so you don't have to visit the city
3) Accept that Peduto is the elected representative of the city residents.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

it can be exhausting as a city resident to continually hear those who don't live here complain about the things and the people that those of us that do live here support. As for being criminalized when you come into the city (if a merely proposed idea would ever become law) well that is really easy to avoid.

Why should a municipality be able to deny rights to individuals that are guaranteed under state law?
Do local Progressives not understand the Pandora's box of pre-emption that they're trying to pry open?

Let's talk about Butler County - since that is like Mordor for the urbanist Progressives in Pgh... let's play hypothetical. Let's say the Pittsburgh Progressives thumb their nose at state law and pass their proposed firearms law.
Now let's say the Butler County/Cranberry conservatives (the folks who elect a reactionary such as Daryl Metcalfe) thumb their nose at state law and pass some of their own laws: like not recognizing same-sex marriages. Or criminalizing marijuana, if the state legalizes it everywhere else.

Well, if you want to exercise your rights as a married couple - just dont drive through Butler. Then you wont have to worry about being denied visiting privileges or making end of life decisions if you're in a car accident. God help you if you get pulled over with marijuana that's legal everywhere else in the state - you're a criminal because you're violating THEIR community's peculiar sense of morality that's codified into law.

Can you see why the argument is deeper than just "well, that is really easy to avoid"? Look several domino's ahead in the line and see what kind of shenanigans idiots like Peduto can unleash across the state.

It can also be exhausting as someone who does spend significant amount of time in the City but who doesn't live here to be told about how I'm stealing City services, I make no contributions to local merchants, etc, etc, etc...

Originally Posted by gladhands

I understand the constraints on their power

It's a shame that the Mayor can't understand the constraints on his power.

Originally Posted by prnlvsxy

So then your choices are:

1) Move to the city so you get a vote
2) Get a job that isn't in the city, so you don't have to visit the city
3) Accept that Peduto is the elected representative of the city residents.

1. I'm a registered Republican voter - I'd still be disenfranchised within the City, as the only election that matters is the Democratic primary.
2. I do love my benefits package, and my employer's only suburban locations are in the south and east.
3. I've always accepted that. I just think that he's an idiot who is more interested in hypocritically grandstanding for the media, instead of staying in his lane and dealing with very pressing local issues.

[prnlvsxy]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

1. I'm a registered Republican voter - I'd still be disenfranchised within the City, as the only election that matters is the Democratic primary.
2. I do love my benefits package, and my employer's only suburban locations are in the south and east.
3. I've always accepted that. I just think that he's an idiot who is more interested in hypocritically grandstanding for the media, instead of staying in his lane and dealing with very pressing local issues.

Then there's really no point in complaining since you won't do anything about it, and complaining won't accomplish anything.

If you don't have skin in the game, you don't get a voice.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by prnlvsxy

Then there's really no point in complaining since you won't do anything about it, and complaining won't accomplish anything.

If you don't have skin in the game, you don't get a voice.

But it's hilarious to watch them get so worked up, his blood is constantly on boil about a mayor in another jurisdiction. It actually comes across as a musings of an unstable person but I hope that's not th case.

[SteelCityRising]

Can I ask my fellow city denizens who support Mayor Peduto a question? If you all have social media, then why are you not defending our city/mayor on social media?

On Facebook, for example, anything the mayor posts is usually followed by hundreds of angry comments from dissenters and a scant few accolades from proponents. If the mayor just won re-election with ~70% of the vote, then why does it seem like 99% of social media abhors him? If it's a case of most of the dissenters being suburbanites, then why are there so few city proponents countering their attacks? Laziness?

[norcider]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Can I ask my fellow city denizens who support Mayor Peduto a question? If you all have social media, then why are you not defending our city/mayor on social media?

On Facebook, for example, anything the mayor posts is usually followed by hundreds of angry comments from dissenters and a scant few accolades from proponents. If the mayor just won re-election with ~70% of the vote, then why does it seem like 99% of social media abhors him? If it's a case of most of the dissenters being suburbanites, then why are there so few city proponents countering their attacks? Laziness?

My input; it's just as it is here. Mostly non-city residents bashing him because they hate his lib'rul "agenda". If only city residents could make comments on his FB posts it would be a completely different story.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Can I ask my fellow city denizens who support Mayor Peduto a question? If you all have social media, then why are you not defending our city/mayor on social media?

On Facebook, for example, anything the mayor posts is usually followed by hundreds of angry comments from dissenters and a scant few accolades from proponents. If the mayor just won re-election with ~70% of the vote, then why does it seem like 99% of social media abhors him? If it's a case of most of the dissenters being suburbanites, then why are there so few city proponents countering their attacks? Laziness?

People with bees in their bonnets are a lot more likely to do something than people who feel things are doing fine. Even on this forum it doesn’t take much for a single person to sort of derail threads over other people simply by writing more and blurting out some hot takes.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Can I ask my fellow city denizens who support Mayor Peduto a question? If you all have social media, then why are you not defending our city/mayor on social media?

On Facebook, for example, anything the mayor posts is usually followed by hundreds of angry comments from dissenters and a scant few accolades from proponents. If the mayor just won re-election with ~70% of the vote, then why does it seem like 99% of social media abhors him? If it's a case of most of the dissenters being suburbanites, then why are there so few city proponents countering their attacks? Laziness?

Because these people are trolls and not entitled to a debate. Let them shout into the void. Peduto won the Democratic primary with nearly 70% of the vote, and ran unopposed in the general. I think we know that the people who matter like him.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Can I ask my fellow city denizens who support Mayor Peduto a question? If you all have social media, then why are you not defending our city/mayor on social media?

On Facebook, for example, anything the mayor posts is usually followed by hundreds of angry comments from dissenters and a scant few accolades from proponents. If the mayor just won re-election with ~70% of the vote, then why does it seem like 99% of social media abhors him? If it's a case of most of the dissenters being suburbanites, then why are there so few city proponents countering their attacks? Laziness?

For me, it is two reasons:

1. I don't need / can't afford my political views to become public, particularly in light of my current employment situation.

2. I may want to run for elected office at some point in my future. Taking a side on any political issue in a public, on the record manner is asking to have it thrown in your face later. This is especially true as so much about the future landscape of humanity is unknown in an era of globalization and automation.

I do support most of Mayor Peduto's agenda. Just like with anyone, there are things I disagree with, but more often than not, I think he is a good representative of the City of Pittsburgh.