Slate will revitalize city

Great to see a sate of GOPers. Great to read of a few of these issues. Great to see some press coverage too.

Not so great to see such hype.

Yes, the URA shoud be liquidated. Yes, the development fund should be nuked. No, this isn't gonig to be easy. The work to unravel the URA is going to take a decade or more. Heavy lifting will be necessary.

Slate will revitalize city - PittsburghLIVE.com ... the candidate promised to sell all assets held by the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority and liquidate its development fund.

'When I say I'll make the change,' said Weinroth, of Squirrel Hill, 'you can count on it being done.'

The candidate proposed cutting city spending, slashing the nine-member City Council to five and eliminating the city's parking and stadium authorities.

In 2001, Weinroth lost the race for the District 8 City Council seat to Democrat William Peduto.

Peduto, Allegheny County Prothonotary Michael Lamb and former council president Bob O'Connor are the leaders among seven candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the mayor's race.

Pittsburgh, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 5 to 1, hasn't produced a Republican mayor since the early 1930s.

The GOP is also fielding candidates for three City Council slots and a seat on the city's school board:

# Sam Berninger, 28, an information technology professional from Sheraden, will run for the District 2 seat, vacated by Alan Hertzberg last month after he was confirmed by the state Senate to fill a seat on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

# Bob Hillen, 47, of Beechview, chairman of the city's Republican committee, will run -- for the third time -- for the District 4 seat. This time, he will face Councilman Jim Motznik, an Overbrook Democrat seeking a second term.

# If Councilman Sala Udin, the Hill District incumbent, survives a primary challenge from Tonya Payne of the Hill District and city school board member Mark Brentley Sr. of the North Side, he will face Republican Alan Perry, 59, of Manchester, founder and owner of an insurance company.

# Tom Baker, of Squirrel Hill, a career counselor at Carnegie Mellon University, will seek to unseat Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Theresa Colaizzi.

Violet Law can be reached at vlaw@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7884.

Great to see Violet covering politics as well.