March 21, 2013, Pittsburgh, PA – Pittsburgh Mayoral Candidate Bill Peduto filed an injunction today in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to defend the city’s campaign finance ordinance against blatant violations being committed by Michael Lamb and Jack Wagner.

Our three rivers define us. For years, industry and infrastructure kept our neighborhoods separated from the river. We now have an opportunity to make them as integral to the fabric of our city as the Danube is to Prague or the Thames is to London. I will work to connect our communities to these rivers and turn the rivers into highways for people. Water-based transit is becoming more popular across the country and almost no city is better suited to take advantage of it than Pittsburgh. New York City’s new water taxis transport thousands of people between their growing riverfront neighborhoods to their jobs in midtown and the financial district, there is no reason that Pittsburgh can’t provide the same option for our growing riverfront neighborhoods.

Neighborhood-enhancing development and redevelopment is the backbone of economic growth for any city. However, even for experienced developers, navigating the city bureaucracy to bring a plan to fruition can be extremely time consuming and costly. These barriers to entry can dissuade smaller developers and even push larger developers out to the suburbs where there are fewer hurdles to jump. The answer is not to relax our standards; it is to create better coordination between developers and city departments and among the various departments themselves.

Pittsburgh Paramedics have endorsed Councilman Bill Peduto in his bid to become the next mayor of the City of Pittsburgh. “The hard-working men and women who represent Pittsburgh EMS stand with Bill Peduto for Mayor because of his continued support of our organization and concern for the safety and well being of all residents in the City of Pittsburgh,” says Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics, Local 1 President Anthony Weinmann.

March Madness is upon us! Have you obsessed over your bracket strategy or are you relying on plain old luck? Either way, you have a chance to win at Brackets with Bill. It’s time once again for Councilman Bill Peduto’s bracket tournament. The grand prize this year is Dinner with Bill and two of your friends at the renowned Salt of the Earth. The runner-up will receive a signed DVD copy of “Undaunted: The Forgotten Giants of the Allegheny Observatory,” a bottle of Peduto wine and some microwave popcorn.

Pittsburgh’s construction industry is booming, thanks to a healthy regional economy and some of the best developers and contractors in the United States. We all want to see high-quality, community-supported development happening across the City of Pittsburgh and as Mayor I will make sure that this development boom continues and starts to spread to neighborhoods that have lacked investment for far too long. In supporting development, we also need to take some steps to make sure that we minimize waste and environmental impacts. One way to do this is to work with developers and construction companies to help them recycle or reuse as much building material as possible when they demolish or renovate existing buildings and to preserve historical materials and building components.

The development that has occurred in Oakland and the surrounding neighborhoods over the past several decades has brought about a new economy in Pittsburgh. The innovation and invention that takes place in our universities, hospitals, and tech sector businesses has redefined Pittsburgh and will continue to create jobs and opportunity well into the future. However, we need ways to expand our new economy across the city. One way that I have been advocating for since I began on Council is a trolley connecting Lawrenceville, Shadyside, Oakland, and Hazelwood. In 2008, I introduced legislation to Council that funded a study of a possible Pittsburgh Rail Connection between these neighborhoods. The study determined that the railway could carry thousands of people a day from river to river.

Breaking open the black box that is government data has been a goal of policy wonks, community groups, technology developers, and residents for years. With information more accessible for everyone, through smart phones, tablets, and other means, having access to primary source government data in a useable format is not only more important today but it’s also easy to attain. And it’s not only good for the people who analyze budgets and develop online applications, it’s of immense importance to the end-user as well – the people of Pittsburgh. Seeing exactly how your government spends its money and the results we achieve with that spending can give you a sense of how things are working, or if they’re not working. For us in government, putting our raw data in the hands of experts who can create applications to visualize it can change the way we operate, help us find efficiencies, and help us evaluate programs. Pittsburgh needs a world-class open data policy.

March 13, 2013, Pittsburgh, PA – The coalition of South Hills elected officials who support Bill Peduto for Mayor continues to grow as Senator Wayne Fontana announced his support yesterday.

Despite our region’s reputation as a bit overcast, we have vast untapped solar energy potential and a dedicated group of solar manufacturers and installers both small and large. However, Allegheny County is one of the most fractionalized governments in the country and, with well over 100 local governments with their own rules and regulations, it can be very difficult for these companies to market their solar panels and have them installed. This presents us with a great opportunity to work collaboratively with environmental organizations, labor unions, solar manufacturers and installers, and leaders from all of the County’s municipalities to find ways to standardize regulations for solar panels, while protecting the interests of residents.