In Pittsburgh, major political changes are brewing. What’s happened is that the city’s new mayor Bill Peduto has eliminated 242 of the free parking passes given out by the former mayor, Luke Ravenstahl. Mayor Peduto reports that free parking passes cost the Pittsburgh a million dollars a year – a million dollars that should be going to the city’s pension fund.
This could just be the act of man who’d much rather have a pension later than free parking now. Possibly he stands to benefit either way, but more so in the long run. Or it could be a savvy move by a man who sees himself as a civil servant who does not require a catalogue of perks to do his job. And it could be a man with the courage to tick off 242 people – many of whom work within the reach of his office – in order to secure funds that will be much needed in the future.
Either way, changing up parking privileges in such a drastic way is a political – or apolitical – step to take. Because Mayor Peduto has cancelled all nine of the free parking passes that were once used by his offices, I’m inclined to applaud his foresight and integrity, and hope the fallout is not as bad as it could be.
I say “bravo,” Mr. Mayor.
Read the article here.
