Mark DeSantis is not intimidated by the concentration of Democrats in Pittsburgh.

“I… Mark DeSantis is not intimidated by the concentration of Democrats in Pittsburgh.

“I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think I could win,” said DeSantis, whose write-in primary campaign secured him the Republican nomination for this November’s mayoral election.

According to DeSantis, Pittsburgh’s lopsided party politics are just a red herring. “There aren’t any Democrat and Republican issues, there are city issues,” he said.

One of the biggest issues facing students that DeSantis hopes to address is public safety.

“The key to creating a ‘safe urban environment’ is to involve the students in communication with the police,” he said.

DeSantis said he would push the police to help in organizing student watch groups and providing instructional safety training for students. “There’s a learning component and the police could provide training, instruction, and ideas,” he said.

Ideally, DeSantis said he would like “the police to get to know the students better, and the students to get to know the police better”.

But, police outreach programs aside, the big question for any potential mayor of Pittsburgh is ‘what about the economy?’

For the Republican DeSantis, the answer is strictly business.

“We have not had any real growth in our economy in ten years. In fact, it’s gotten smaller,” he said. DeSantis added that he is aware of how the departure of college graduates negatively affects the city and said he wants to create jobs to encourage them to stay.

He proposes to do this by reducing the tax burden on new growing businesses and providing incentives for them to expand.

DeSantis has plenty of experience in business and working with young people. According to his website www.desantisformayor.com, he has been a “co-founder of companies, a management consultant and the leader of a network of private investors.” He has taught at CMU and lectured at Pitt.

Informing citizens of how their tax dollars are being spent is important to DeSantis, who reasons that Pittsburgh’s government has become less efficient.

“When people don’t know how their money is being spent, the people spending the money become more careless,” DeSantis said.

Perhaps a loftier ambition, DeSantis said he also wants to mold Pittsburgh into a more tolerant society that appreciates diversity. He knows he cannot do this alone, that it will take the population of Pittsburgh to cooperate, but he believes he can lead the dialogue.

“In order for us to have a thriving city, we need to have a diverse city,” DeSantis said, making it clear that diversity includes “race, gender and sexual orientation.”

“There’s a moral obligation,” he added.

To accomplish his goals, DeSantis intends to study the administrations of other cities and compare their policies and actions to those of Pittsburgh. He will study the cities that are the best at what they do and ask, “Can I do what they do?”