O’Connor promises revitalization

Bob O’Connor has been living in Pittsburgh all his life. Formerly a restaurant chain owner,… Bob O’Connor has been living in Pittsburgh all his life. Formerly a restaurant chain owner, O’Connor got involved with Pittsburgh politics in the early ’90s.

O’Connor, the Democratic candidate for mayor, never went to college, but he has long been familiar with the Oakland neighborhood thanks to his restaurant businesses.

“I had a restaurant in the Cathedral of Learning,” O’Connor recalled. “And I got involved in a lot of things. Greek Week was a big thing and I also got involved with the hospitals.”

“I started getting very active. I looked at running for City Council and I just felt like I could help out the community. So I grew up not knowing anything about politics, I just wanted to be involved with community service.”

Some of the biggest challenges Pittsburgh’s next mayor will face are the city’s high taxes and low job prospects, which are causing a continual decline in the urban population, especially among younger professionals.

O’Connor said that he plans to revive Pittsburgh by revitalizing ailing neighborhoods and improving the urban atmosphere, so as to retain more of the city’s large collegiate population.

“I think the key thing is to create the atmosphere [college students] feel comfortable in and can enjoy,” O’Connor said. “As well as good housing stock for them. Job opportunities are certainly here.”

He said that Oakland in particular should be able to hold graduates to Pittsburgh.

“I think if we clean up Oakland and give it a real good atmosphere, then people who go to school there, graduate and get jobs at the hospitals and universities there will want to live in Oakland.”

A major theme of O’Connor’s plans for rejuvenating Pittsburgh is expanding the city’s transportation services and engineering them to provide better connections between important districts like Oakland, the South Side and Downtown.

“I think one of the main things on the list [for improving Pittsburgh] is transportation,” O’Connor said. “I think having a connection between Oakland and Downtown is important. There are four or five modes of transportation that we need to look at and figure out what works best, like a subway, streetcars, a monorail systems, all those ideas have to be out there. And we also need to look at how to connect Oakland with South Side.”

O’Connor believes that the key for replenishing Pittsburgh’s urban scene is to make the neighborhoods more attractive for young people, as well as older people who desire to return to the cities.

“Most young people want to live in cities,” O’Connor said. “I’ve seen a change in Squirrel Hill. Students began wanting to live there because of the stores and places like Barnes ‘ Noble. We have to create a better atmosphere for young people.”

O’Connor believes there are two particularly important areas in Pittsburgh that need to be linked.

“The three biggest job centers in the state are downtown Philadelphia, downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland. We have two of the biggest job centers right here, we should be linking them,” O’Connor said. “Right now, Oakland is booming so much. There are other places that are starting to take off too. There’s Lawrenceville and there’s South Side. We’re growing everywhere except for this core center, Downtown.”

O’Connor said that adding more housing to Downtown would help jumpstart the revitalization.

“The only thing that will change Downtown is having people live here. That’s what changed Squirrel Hill, all the shops and cafes,” he said. “Same thing can be done with Downtown and Oakland, they could do a lot better.”

O’Connor added that he wants to work with companies that are already in Pittsburgh to help them expand and grow.

“The biggest thing all these corporations want is cooperation,” he said. “They want a mayor they can work with.”

O’Connor’s opponents in the mayoral race, most prominently the Republican candidate Joe Weinroth, have said that O’Connor avoids and perpetually delays debates.

O’Connor dismissed this as nonsense.

“That’s totally wrong,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of debates. In the primary we had around 80 or 90.”

He went on to list debates he had participated in.

“I’m going to turn this city around and put it on the right track,” O’Connor said. “I want to create opportunities for everyone. I’m going to be the mayor for everyone. You are going to see a newer, cleaner, safer Pittsburgh.”