EDITORIAL – O’Connor’s present: our future

The man must have owned a few dozen Pittsburgh shirts and sweatshirts — he wore his love… The man must have owned a few dozen Pittsburgh shirts and sweatshirts — he wore his love for this city on his sleeve.

You’d see him everywhere doing everyman things. Trips to Rita’s with his grandchildren, catching up with regulars at local bars, obliging anyone that engaged him at local coffee shops and coming out to celebrate with students in Oakland after the Steelers’ AFC Championship game win.

He fought for years to break into city hall and a little less than a year ago he finally made it. We liked him because he didn’t have to go that far out of his way to let us know that he was one of us — After all, Squirrel Hill isn’t that far away from Oakland.

For the first time since we can remember, Oakland residents — the majority of whom are students or affiliated with the University in some way — weren’t overlooked, we didn’t feel forgotten. His “Let’s Redd Up Pittsburgh” campaign sent an army of maintenance workers, painters, building inspectors and even the Chancellor himself into the depths of South Oakland. Within days, graffiti was painted over, large trash was removed and building inspectors had begun citing landlords and making appointments to inspect dwellings.

Bob O’Connor didn’t have much time to show us what was up his sleeve, but we sure liked what he had written on it.

And now that he’s gone, it’s our hope that the new mayor carries his torch, keeping the mayor close to the people. Newly appointed mayor Luke Ravenstahl was asked over the weekend if he was ready to be mayor.

“I am,” he responded.

But is he ready to continue the legacy that O’Connor began?

The Post-Gazette reported over the weekend that there are diverging interpretations of the city’s home rule charter, which could influence the length of Ravenstahl’s term. According to the charter, the new mayor will hold his office until the next election when a new mayor would be elected. However, the charter also states that a mayoral election cannot be held in the same election as city controller. Under this interpretation, Ravenstahl would hold his office until 2009, thus fulfilling O’Connor’s entire term because a city controller will be elected in the next municipal election in 2007.

Many disagree with this interpretation, arguing that if replacement mayors were intended to hold office for the remainder of their predecessor’s term that there would be no clause discussing elections. Still others doubt the capability of the young mayor.

To these people, we reiterate what we’ve been told for years: Your vote really does matter. It’s no secret that the city council president assumes the role of mayor. If anything, we hope that this event raises awareness about the importance of all levels in our local government. Also, it’s about time to correct some of these ambiguities in the city charter. The only thing worse than diverging interpretations and lengthy court hearings to sort this mess out would be for O’Connor’s legacy to get lost in the shuffle.

And as for Mayor Ravenstahl? It’s too soon to tell — we don’t even know how long he’s going to be in office. But to whoever holds the office, we say this: The best way to know what the people want is to be with the people.