How does any would-be mayoral challenger compete with this? The photo above immortalizes Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's ascendance into a still higher sphere of reflected celebrity glory. This shot of his honor flashing a sign with rap superstar Snoop Dogg is from Snoop's own Flickr stream -- snapped at Snoop Dogg's exclusive post-game Super Bowl victory party in Tampa. Super Steelers were there, partying too. (The photo also appears on Snoop Dogg's website.)
Many of the 350,000 Steelers fans who packed downtown for Tuesday's victory parade have their own photo documentation of the mayor nestling close to celebrity.
A search of fan photos on Flickr creates a virtual flipbook of Quarterback Big Ben and the mayor riding together -- camcorders in hand -- from Grant Street, down the Boulevard of the Allies, and onto the stage at Stanwix. Any parade photo of Roethlisberger is likely also a photo of Ravenstahl.
It's been an exciting run for the mayor, from his busy calendar in Tampa to a big splash in Sports Illustrated.
Is it any wonder, then, that Council President Doug Shields (photos with Pittsburgh's own Jeff Goldblum notwithstanding), decided that presiding in Council Chamber is his current calling, and not the Mayor's office?
At last word, Councilman Patrick Dowd was still considering a run for mayor. As I write this, he wasn't answering his cell phone or voice mail to provide an update.
You can click the play button below to hear a bit of what Dowd was saying 28 days ago about challenging Ravenstahl. Of course, a lot can change in 28 days.
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3 comments:
There is a lot of work to be done. We'll get into it later, perhaps. (mixed message)
Vision concept, energy, leadership. Those are things that don't fall off the table and go "thud."
Moving city forward -- yet where is forward? Another "poof," not "thud."
He is having frustration since summer of 2008. Wow. Walk a mile in our shoes. But it is a brief walk.
Patrick's record of reform has been dangerous and politically motivated with the closing of Schenley H.S. It was a risk that we are still paying for.
City government needs to be much wider. The internet is sorta wide, broad and deep. I'm a dot away from the mean. Wonder if I'll get a call?
In response to AxsDeny's request below, I made some changes in the graphics. I have a different understanding of what constitutes fair use, but I'm happy to oblige as a personal courtesy.
--Bob Mayo
AxsDeny has left a new comment on your post "Snoop Dogg, Mayor Luke, & the Power of Incumbency":
You're violating the Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic license by creating a montage using two of my pictures. You're more than welcome to use the photos, but please post the images alone and with accreditation as outlined in the link below. Thanks.
The images in question are the upper left and upper right images in your montage.
Credit info:
http://www.flickr.com/people/axsdeny/
Snoop needs to hang with a better class of people. Stay away from the thugs, Snoop!
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