With state and city elections quickly approaching, many Pittsburghers are familiar with… With state and city elections quickly approaching, many Pittsburghers are familiar with names like Luke Ravenstahl and Mark DeSantis. Few, however, have heard of Les Ludwig.

Ludwig, a 74-year-old Squirrel Hill resident, is running for mayor of Pittsburgh as an independent write-in candidate with no funding.

His campaign centers on solving Pittsburgh’s economic problems.

Ludwig says he can generate enough money to fund the “Pittsburgh Promise,” a plan that would help qualifying graduates of Pittsburgh’s public schools plan and pay for postsecondary education. Though proposed last year by Mayor Ravenstahl and school superintendent Mark Roosevelt, Ludwig said he pitched a similar program at a city council meeting three and a half hears ago.

He says with his plans, he can, in 20 days, fund 2,000 high school graduates for the first year of college. Once this money is put away for students, he says he can pay off most of the remainder of the city’s troubled pension fund.

So where will all this money come from?

Ludwig said people ask him all the time if it’s a tax, but it isn’t.

“You ain’t never heard of it before,” he said.

Ludwig has 20 programs or more based on “practical imagination” that he says would provide the city with millions of dollars.

“From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, the idea machine is cranking out ideas,” Ludwig said as he pointed to his head.

One example relates to paving streets. When the city re-paves a street, it re-paves the entire thing. Ludwig feels this is unnecessary. He says only the driving lanes should be re-paved, since the parking lanes experience less wear. According to Ludwig, this would cut the amount of work and money spent in half and would double the amount of road that could be paved.

He also pledges to increase the amount of recycling in Pittsburgh, which he says the city can make a profit on.

Ludwig is looking for a share in the profits from his ideas. He currently receives social security but says that isn’t the way he wants to live his life.

“I will quadruple the amount of recycling, but pay me. I’m not giving these ideas away for free anymore.”

Ludwig also ran in the 2005 mayoral race and finished fifth with 402 votes. He has considered himself both a Democrat and Republican in the past but is running as an independent candidate.

“I’m not a party person. I’m a people person, and I care about the people of Pittsburgh and what happens to them,” he said.

Fulfilling the “Pittsburgh Promise” is of prime importance to Ludwig. He says it would bring more people to live in the city and strengthen Pittsburgh’s economy, as the money families saved would be spent locally.

Once the “Pittsburgh Promise” and the city’s pension fund are taken care of, Ludwig said he would lower personal and business taxes to attract new businesses and residents and also lower the parking tax, which would bring more shoppers Downtown.

Additionally, he would fight to lower the cost of student loans for current college students.

Another of Ludwig’s plans is to make money by allowing companies to advertise around Pittsburgh, the city’s bridges being just a few possible locations.

“Those aren’t bridges. Those are advertising and art spaces,” Ludwig said.

Ludwig said he didn’t know how many votes he got in the 2005 election and that he didn’t care, either. He only cares whether he wins or loses.

Ludwig said he is aware of the slim chance he has of winning but is not discouraged. His optimism was bolstered when he was handing out his campaign cards last Saturday at Heinz Field and didn’t see a single person throw his card away.