(no subject)
I have to read this and this, which is why I'm elljaying instead.
Today, we had Kevin Acklin, the Independent candidate for Pittsburgh mayor, come to Chatham. Tomorrow, we're going to have the last of the three candidates, Franco Harris.
He was...interesting, I guess. There were some things that are a little dodgy, some that made me really happy.
First of all, he called us Chatham College. And while that was a minor slip-up, it's something that was a little annoying, since he should know the name of the venue and one of what could be his city's college's NAME.
His family was Democratic, but he rebelled at an early age. For the longest time, he was a Republican, until he received negative comments on his supportive attitude toward the GLBT community, at which point he turned Independent. He claimed that he is "more of a Democrat than the current mayor" which got a little annoying.
ALL his jabs at the current mayor, who I did not get to hear speak, got really irritating after a while. He kept going back to the point that Ravenstahl, if elected, is going to tax "students and sick people" (I do not know the details of this, so I will not comment. Conveniently enough, he didn't stop to explain the details, so people could be mislead by that.) But yeah, his entire platform seems to be about dissing the current mayor. It's very annoying. You should win on your own merits, not the other person's weaknesses.
At one point, he pointed out that he was on his third pair of shoes from all the houses he'd visited, which just ticked me off. I wondered how much money he'd given to any of the people whose houses he visited, vs. how much money he spent on his shoes. Bet that's an interesting ratio, don't you?
There were lots of Pittsburgh references, and I'm sure the native Pittsburgher's were happy to hear them, but I understood none and that ticked me off.
Then again, I'm not voting, so I'm not someone they really need to appeal to...
He did mention about investing money into the crumbling library system, and that made me really really really really really happy.
His discussion on schools: His wife is a schoolteacher. The mayor has no control over schools, that is all up to the school board. He does, however, have contact with the school board.
He supports the Pittsburgh Promise, a program where high school students who keep their GPA up get scholarships.
Stressed the importance of mentorship. He is a "Big Brother" to a 15 year old and has been working with this boy for 6 years now. It ticked me off that he bragged about this and then said that he is a Big Brother "without fanfare." Braggery constitutes fanfare, donutbrain. (What the HECK is a donutbrain? I do not know where that came from...)
He talked about the disturbing statistic that 1/2 of the African American high schoolers in Pittsburgh do not graduate.
Trouble at home is important to education, because dealing with that kind of stuff ruins concentration. Reform should begin at home (hah, that one sounds EXACTLY like what our project for EDU is!)
Umm, so yeah, there needs to be political support & power behind the education system (also part of my presentation).
He talked about how a lot of parents are up and moving to the Fox Chapel district (which, for those of you who do not know, is where the fancy spoiled rich kids live with their fancy spoiled schools)
He said in regards to the environment that he is a "conservationist at heart."
He ended on the note that "being mayor of a post-industrial city is the hardest job". I strongly disagreed, and would like to suggest that he live a day in the life of a teacher or a good parent (which, he has two kids, but he is out at Chatham Col--oh, wait, UNIVERSITY promoting his agenda, so what does that tell me about his parenting skills? Yeah.) so that got on my nerves.
Alright, I'll write another entry in a bit, this one will be public.
Today, we had Kevin Acklin, the Independent candidate for Pittsburgh mayor, come to Chatham. Tomorrow, we're going to have the last of the three candidates, Franco Harris.
He was...interesting, I guess. There were some things that are a little dodgy, some that made me really happy.
First of all, he called us Chatham College. And while that was a minor slip-up, it's something that was a little annoying, since he should know the name of the venue and one of what could be his city's college's NAME.
His family was Democratic, but he rebelled at an early age. For the longest time, he was a Republican, until he received negative comments on his supportive attitude toward the GLBT community, at which point he turned Independent. He claimed that he is "more of a Democrat than the current mayor" which got a little annoying.
ALL his jabs at the current mayor, who I did not get to hear speak, got really irritating after a while. He kept going back to the point that Ravenstahl, if elected, is going to tax "students and sick people" (I do not know the details of this, so I will not comment. Conveniently enough, he didn't stop to explain the details, so people could be mislead by that.) But yeah, his entire platform seems to be about dissing the current mayor. It's very annoying. You should win on your own merits, not the other person's weaknesses.
At one point, he pointed out that he was on his third pair of shoes from all the houses he'd visited, which just ticked me off. I wondered how much money he'd given to any of the people whose houses he visited, vs. how much money he spent on his shoes. Bet that's an interesting ratio, don't you?
There were lots of Pittsburgh references, and I'm sure the native Pittsburgher's were happy to hear them, but I understood none and that ticked me off.
Then again, I'm not voting, so I'm not someone they really need to appeal to...
He did mention about investing money into the crumbling library system, and that made me really really really really really happy.
His discussion on schools: His wife is a schoolteacher. The mayor has no control over schools, that is all up to the school board. He does, however, have contact with the school board.
He supports the Pittsburgh Promise, a program where high school students who keep their GPA up get scholarships.
Stressed the importance of mentorship. He is a "Big Brother" to a 15 year old and has been working with this boy for 6 years now. It ticked me off that he bragged about this and then said that he is a Big Brother "without fanfare." Braggery constitutes fanfare, donutbrain. (What the HECK is a donutbrain? I do not know where that came from...)
He talked about the disturbing statistic that 1/2 of the African American high schoolers in Pittsburgh do not graduate.
Trouble at home is important to education, because dealing with that kind of stuff ruins concentration. Reform should begin at home (hah, that one sounds EXACTLY like what our project for EDU is!)
Umm, so yeah, there needs to be political support & power behind the education system (also part of my presentation).
He talked about how a lot of parents are up and moving to the Fox Chapel district (which, for those of you who do not know, is where the fancy spoiled rich kids live with their fancy spoiled schools)
He said in regards to the environment that he is a "conservationist at heart."
He ended on the note that "being mayor of a post-industrial city is the hardest job". I strongly disagreed, and would like to suggest that he live a day in the life of a teacher or a good parent (which, he has two kids, but he is out at Chatham Col--oh, wait, UNIVERSITY promoting his agenda, so what does that tell me about his parenting skills? Yeah.) so that got on my nerves.
Alright, I'll write another entry in a bit, this one will be public.