Kraus likely heir to Dist. 3

Bruce Kraus has been an interior designer for 20 years, but this November he’ll try his hand… Bruce Kraus has been an interior designer for 20 years, but this November he’ll try his hand at designing a better future for Pittsburgh’s third City Council district, which includes a large part of Central and South Oakland.

When Kraus first ran for City Council as an independent in 2006, he lost to Democrat Jeffrey Koch by 178 votes. But earlier this year Kraus threw his hat into the ring again, this time as a Democrat himself. In May, Kraus won his party’s primary election by 11 points, carrying all of District 3 in Oakland and defeating the incumbent Koch.

Since no other candidates have filed to challenge him for the District 3 seat in November, odds are the general election will be nothing more than a formality for Kraus.

When elected, Kraus will be the first openly gay council member in Pittsburgh’s history.

“I’ve always been sort of a community activist although I don’t really like that word, activist,” Kraus said. “It’s not like I’m looking for a big career in government, I’d love to have two terms on council and see what comes after that.”

Though this will be Kraus’ first experience as an elected official, he’s no stranger to community service.

Kraus became involved with the South Side Chamber of Commerce years ago through his work as a businessman and moved up within the organization until he became its president.

“It’s more about community service for me than anything else, as cliche as that might sound,” he said. “It really is about being in it for the people that you represent and making government better. That’s what I do. It’s what I want to do.”

Kraus never attended college, and said he has always been a working man – he had his first job when he was 13. Kraus started his own interior design firm out of his South Side home, where he’s lived practically all his life. He bought the house from his aunt in 1983 and says he loves living where his roots are.

Kraus said that one of the main issues that pushed him to make the jump from local business and community activism to politics was his distaste for the graffiti problem in his neighborhood.

“I live in the South Side and am aware of the fact that Carson Street is the longest historic Victorian business district in the nation, and to see it treated with such disrespect really offended me,” Kraus said.

“It’s like a cancer on the city, and it does no good at all whatsoever. Public art is one thing, graffiti is just vandalism, that’s all it is,” Kraus said. “If I could go out tomorrow with a paint brush and get rid of all of it I would.”

Kraus was part of a graffiti task force during the administration of former Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy and said he plans on revisiting the proposals he’s worked on in the past to combat graffiti.

Kraus said he’ll also address Oakland’s housing situation.

“We took a lot of notes in the process of door-knocking,” he said. “Anytime there were concerns people expressed about certain properties or addresses, we kept those records so that we would have a good foundation to go in and say ‘We understand, here’s the problem, now here’s what we want to do about it.'”

Kraus said he wants to ensure that student housing is safe, reliable and affordable as well as clear up other problems such as parking and public transportation.

“I was walking on the street the other day in the South Side and someone was wearing a T-shirt that said ‘South Side: No parking since 1948,’ and that’s a huge issue for everyone,” he said.

Kraus also said he knows that the solution is more complicated than creating more parking spaces – he wants to make it easier for residents to get around without cars.

“I hope to encourage anything we can do to make the city more bike and pedestrian friendly,” he said. “Anything we can do I think will be beneficial.”

Before taking office, Kraus said he will participate in a course offered to newly elected officials for free by the state. He’ll also be working with his staff to get a community calendar running so people in District 3 are always aware of meetings and events.

“It was just about connecting to the voters and going out and listening to them, not even so much talking to them,” he said. “They just want to know that they have your ear. I don’t think they even care if you can fix [their problems] or not, because realistically they know the limitations that we have and that we can’t do everything. They just want you to be there and promise you’ll fight for them and do the best that you can.”

When he’s not working to beautify Pittsburgh in one way or another, Kraus said he loves technology, especially his new 80-gig iPod.

“I love making playlists,” he said. “I used to disc jockey when I was in my 20s. I’d go into clubs and spin records one or two nights a week just because I enjoyed doing it. When I die I want people to go through my music and not go ‘Oh my God, did you really buy this?'”

If all goes according to plan, Kraus’ commitment to improving his neighborhood and his city will make his a legacy of a man with more than just good taste in music.