Mayoral Race Hits a Pothole

Pittsburgh City Councilman Patrick Dowd says if he is elected mayor he will remove cronyism from street paving and plowing. He says everyone knows council member’s and committee chairmen get their streets taken care of before everyone else. He says he will make city and plowing and paving plans public and open them to public scrutiny and debate. Dowd says in the case of the paving plan, he wants to use a mix of raw data on street condition on wear and then mix in public comments. He says the end result will be placed on the web and submitted to council where everyone can see and comment. Later this week council is expected to vote on a multimillion-dollar paving program. Dowd says it will not include enough specifics. He goes on to say that his plan will project four years into the future. He says making paving plans one year at a time opens the door to cronyism. Dowd says he has heard complaints about city plowing and paving as he knocks on doors campaigning. He says one voter commented that if a mayor cannot get paving right how could he possibly take care of the tough issues of staunching population outflow, sparking economic development and improving public safety.