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RIP mayor O'Connor


TheGerbil

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I suppose you all know by now that mayor Bob O'Connor passed away Friday night from cancer, after just 8 months in office. City council president Luke Ravenstahl, age 26, has taken his place.

What do you think? How do you feel about having the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh history?

And if anyone would like to share any thoughts about the late O'Connor, please do.

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I have to say that it seems that Pgh is undergoing a generational shift and skipping a generation at that. Both O'Connor and Murphy were born in the 1940's and Masloff before them was born in 1917. Now we've skipped over 3 decades since the current mayor was born in the 1980's. Then there's the Lt. Mayor who was born in 1975. Pgh should play this up since the city hasn't had such a youthful leadership in a long time - in fact, ever. People made a big deal with Gavin Newsom became mayor of San Francisco when he was in his 30's. Now Pittsburgh - that's right, *PITTSBURGH* - has a mayor who is 26. This could spell big changes for things in Pgh. One of my pet peeves about the city has been that people of a younger age (less than 35) often get little respect from the powers that be. This isn't just in political leadership but also in the economy as well since many of Pgh's companies are run by an older crowd. Now that the city is run by a 26-year old, things will change. Of course all this hinges upon how capable Ravenstahl is at handling the job.

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I am guardedly hopeful. From what I have read, he does claim to be concerned for citizens of all ages, but I have seen no evidence of him particularly working for young people.

I think this would make better publicity if we'd elected him, but this is still something. It's a huge shame someone had to die in order for us to get a young mayor, though.

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I didn't know what too expect when O'Connor was elected last year. When he finally took office in January, it seems their was a dramatic change in the attitude of Pittsburghers. It might have been because of the Steelers super success, but much of it was because of O'Connor.

After nearly a decade of talking and studying the Fifth and Forbes corridor, O'Connor is the one who actually got things going.

After several unsucsessful clean up efforts ("Tom Murphy's Pittsburgh is Picking Up", "Sophie's Choice -- A Clean City", and "For Pete's Sake, Keep It Clean?" ), O'Connor's "Redd up Pittsburgh" campaign is already a success.

O'Connor did much more and was such a great change after Tom Murphy's 12 years in office. He was personable, attended virtually every event in Pittsburgh and always had a smile on his face.

He will be missed!

We will learn much more about Ravenstahl in the coming weeks and just hope the momentum continues.

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I honestly think the whole Fifth and Forbes thing was already in motion and O'Connor just entered the picture as it was about to pick up pace. But that's neither here nor there, I guess.

He seemed like a really nice guy and was well liked. I was very sorry to see him pass away.

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