Howard: Students’ Pittsburgh tarnished under Ravenstahl

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s proposal to tax students and hospital patients as a partial fix to the… Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s proposal to tax students and hospital patients as a partial fix to the city’s pension crisis lacks specifics. But one thing is clear: Another Ravenstahl administration will cost students hundreds of dollars.

The proposed tax has escalated in recent weeks from a flat $100-per-year fee to a 1 percent tax on tuition, and the mayor said he will not release a specific proposal until November 9 — six days after the mayoral election.

The mayor’s refusal to propose specific new taxes before the election demonstrates the political opportunism that you’d expect from a man running as both a Democrat and a Republican, and it’s this crass opportunism that defines Ravenstahl’s relationship with young people in the city.

The problem is that the mayor knows we don’t vote with any regularity the way unions do and we also don’t give thousands of dollars to his campaign the way that prominent development companies like the Forza Group and the Rubinoff Co. do.

Coincidentally, we are much more likely as a group to be gassed and shot with rubber bullets than members of unions or corporate executives.

Ravenstahl mocked the post-G-20 Summit grievances of students at “Off the Record IX,” the Post-Gazette’s annual variety show, on Oct. 1. The Pittsburgh City Paper reported that Ravenstahl appeared on stage in riot gear and said, “I heard we’re going to face a free-speech lawsuit. Well, I have some free speech for you: F*ck you, Vic Walczak.”

Ravenstahl’s tirade against Walczak, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, was not just childish and crude but demonstrative of the contempt the mayor has for civil liberties and the men who defend them.

One of the few voices publicly condemning the mayor’s behavior, independent mayoral candidate Kevin Acklin, said Ravenstahl’s appearance was “offensive and inappropriate.” I contacted the mayor’s office to get his side of the story but my request for comment was declined.

Acklin said that it sent a message to students and others affected by the G-20 Summit that Ravenstahl isn’t waiting for a trial and that “he’s already made up his mind that it’s okay for the mayor’s office to militarize Oakland, to abuse students’ rights and then to use those offenses as a punch line for a cheap laugh.”

But Ravenstahl’s vulgar outburst was more than just a cheap joke, it was a jab made by a man who thinks he exists above civilized discourse in a city where very few institutions or individuals have the power to stand up to him.

Indeed, Ravenstahl seems to be right, as it took two weeks for the story of his conduct to even appear in the press. The Post-Gazette, at whose event he made such crass remarks, endorsed him on Sunday as the only candidate who “can handle the job” of mayor.

Clearly, the mainstream institutions of this city have failed to hold the mayor accountable and would rather remain on his good side than demand that he shape up and articulate a viable future for the city. This is the crux of the matter: the Ravenstahl Administration has never articulated a vision of the city’s future, but has instead devoted its energies to getting even with the mayor’s enemies and enriching the mayor’s campaign contributors.

Remember, this is the mayor that tried to cut City Council’s staff over a budget disagreement and an Administration that has overseen the awarding of lucrative contracts to campaign donors even when they aren’t the lowest bidders.

The mayor’s approach to students is simply one aspect of his inability to transcend daily politics and lead the city — young and old — toward a better tomorrow. By arbitrarily taxing students and ignoring their legitimate grievances about the city’s handling of Oakland during the G-20 Summit, Ravenstahl is ignoring the very people who are going to be part of this city’s future.

As Acklin said of the mayor’s plan to tax students, “It’s no way to treat the young people so vital to our city, and it’s no way to roll out the welcome mat to tens of thousands of our most eligible future residents.”

And that’s what many of us are: potential future residents of Pittsburgh who should be courted rather than penalized. Many of us work here, we pay taxes, we’re a vital part of the city’s economy and it’s time that we vote in local elections to secure this city’s future and our place in it

Continue the conversation at Giles’s blog, publiusawakened.blogspot.com, or e-mail Giles at gbh4@pitt.edu.