Stamatakis: You give me ten minutes, and I will make the mayoral race interesting

I bet you are having a really tough time following the mayoral race.

The weather is getting really nice. Everybody looks pretty. Without a national pundit class to commentate, it’s hard to differentiate between candidates. To the outside observer, it just looks like two somewhat qualified candidates speaking.

But right now, I would like to make a plea to all my fellow Pitt students. Try to stop concentrating on the nice weather. Just read the next paragraph. Then stop if you want. Or keep reading — whatever. Just read the next paragraph.

Please go vote on May 21, and please vote for Bill Peduto.

I know it is very hard to understand why this is important. There is nothing sexy about local politics. Nobody changes their profile picture. Nobody is going to tweet a picture of the mayor playing with a little kid in the oval office.

Further, most elections really don’t feature candidates with huge differentiations. Other times, positions actually don’t matter. A race between Mr. Red and Ms. Blue for city comptroller probably doesn’t deserve too much attention.

But this is different.

First of all, the mayor matters.

Mayors initiated many of the large civic projects this city enjoys today. While a mayor might not take part in the typical left-right politics that are so familiar to today’s voters, an enthusiastic mayor can create and advocate developments. Different potential mayors will direct their enthusiasm and energy in different directions.

So don’t think about gay marriage. This election has nothing to do with that. It’s about figuring out which candidate has energy and vision directed toward meaningful projects.

Of the four candidates, two — Jake Wheatley and A.J. Richardson — lack the constituencies or funds to even be competitive. Thus, the distinction has to be made between the two main competitors, Peduto and Jack Wagner.

Admittedly, it is not easy for the average voter to distinguish between local candidates. It’s hard to judge where you stand on issues, and difficult to determine what should drive city government.

But just spend ten minutes on the candidate’s websites and the choice becomes much easier.

On one hand we have leader extraordinaire Jack Wagner. Wagner comes to this election as an established figure in Western Pennsylvania politics, having served as a councilman, council president and state auditor general. His website, jackwagner.org, features no specific platforms. From what I can tell, he hasn’t spoken much about specific plans on the trail.

Jack Wagner just sells Jack Wagner. And leadership. Not just any leadership, but, according to his campaign website, “leadership for our future.” And not just any kind of this leadership, but “roll-your-sleeves-up” leadership.

Peduto, on the other hand, comes at the election with 100 specific policy proposals — 100. And while no politician will ever meet every promise, if he even meets a fraction of his goals, he has the potential to change the city in ways not seen since the mid-20th century.

Among these plans are a shuttle service to connect nightlife destinations, a commuter ferry and technological solutions to the city’s poor snow-plow service, street paving, parking and traffic control.

This specific vision would be key to a Peduto mayoralty. It takes cutting edge policies of modern urban planning from other cities and tests them in Pittsburgh.

As a councilman, he has already initiated some of these projects within his district in the East End. These include variable, demand-sensitive parking management systems and early efforts to start a bike-sharing service in Shadyside.

But as mayor, Peduto would have the ability to take these ideas and experiment on a larger scale. These experiments could have as large of an effect on our perception of the city as Point State Park and the riverfront trails.

So before you get lost in ice cream cones and porch drinking this summer, please look at these two candidates’ websites. Within ten minutes, you will see that the two main candidates are not copies of one another.

One is a man with proven capabilities of initiating community-transforming projects and reforming government: a man who has big goals and the ability to accomplish them.

The other is a guy whose name is Jack Wagner.

Please, registered Democrats within the city, make the right decision.

Email Nick at nps130@gmail.com.