These are the candidates I believe are running for McKeesport City Council. In the election, you'll be able to vote for up to 3. If you could only vote for 1, who would that be?

There is no effort to influence the results by poll position. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

Thanks Edge. This should be interesting. Maybe I'll put one up for school board once I know all of the names.

If we all felt as strongly about rebuilding the city of McKeesport as Paul Shelly does, the job would have been done - and done well - 20 years ago!!

Ms. Skraly,
Thanks for your kind comments. There are many people in McKeesport with great ideas who are also passionate about doing something here. The trick is to get them involved and working together.
Best,
P

I don't know ANY of them.

My guess is that is the case with MANY people.

Who should be elected? The candidates who really does intend to be ACTIVE and VOCAL and to see what the CONSTITUANCY wants done. That means forums like this, getting out into the neighborhoods (and not just at election time).

Paul, you are the ONLY one I know of who is interfacing with residents, by way of this forum.(You need to advertise this and get the word out!)

I have lived here for 12 years now and no NO ONE in office. Part of that is my fault.....but part of it is on the part of the elected officials who, once they get in, stop there...attend council meetings and thats it.

Sorry....I meant I dont know ANY of them aside from you Paul.....and really, I dont know you....but I know you from this forum.

You SEEM to want to make a difference.....I havent heard from anyone else...so, my vote is clear.

I speak out very much on my personal website about a lot of City issues, have a place for user comments (they must be approved by me) and my email address is there on the "Donate" page.

I'm not only here, I am out in the neighborhoods listening to problems and trying to help.

my web-site/blog is: www.paulshelly.com

Stopped by your site....just two comments:
"Dems vs Republicans": I am a registered democrat. Truth be told, over the years, I have NEVER voted straight dem on anything, and quite honestly, I have a more "republican" bent to me these days....Dems in general seem to be too worried about "giving"....and "giving" means that "taking" from something else has to happen. I am a realist and know enough about budgeting to know that if you want to spend $100 on dinner out for the family that you may have to forego soemthing else that month to make up for that $100.(WIsh they would run cities and states andcountries like we have to run our households).

But I dont associate myself with one party....I look at the candidates individually and decide. I think the two part system we have is the worst thing we could have done and is one reason why our country is where its at today.....why do you have to pick a side? People should be elected based on their ideas and beliefs and NOT their party affiliation. Period. Both parties are terribly guilty of having party-line politics more in their sites than true improvement in my opinion.

Forget parties and concentrate on REAL CHANGE.

Brick streets: I am all for the idea IF (and its a BIIIIIIG if) they are maintained well.

Duquesne still has several brick roads and let me tell you they are in poor shape...dips and bumps.....every try riding a motorcycle on those roads? TERRIBLE and unsafe. I commute on my bike every day, rain or shine, all year and smooth streets mean the world to me. Brick streets also tend to be VERY slippery wen wet.

So overall, I am not a fan of brick streets.

Of course, potholes in asphalt are just as bad.

Concrete is expensive but seems to last longest.

I was once told someone that the reason asphalt roads are so big in PA is that way back in the 60s or 70s Pennsylvania's governor had relatives in the asphalt business.....perhaps that's true.

I don't care if the roads are made of concrete, brick, asphalt or flaky graham crackers.....I just want a smooth road surface. Anything less contributes to accidents and the need for car repairs.

Do any of the other candidates have websites? You mention petitions.....haven't seen any down my way.

Many Democrats in McKeesport and Western, PA are more moderate to conservative than they are Liberal. I consider myself socially pretty liberal and fiscally more conservative. I'm not a big fan of such labels. I believe people tend more to look at each issue independent of Party or Label. For example, Bob Casey is a Pro-life Dem which is common in PA with our large Christian/Catholic population.

I don't like the 2 party system either. Concentrates power on too few. I'd like to see folks have more choices and candidates from parties like the Libertarians having a chance to win. In Mckeesport, we basically have a one Party system. Dems vs. Dems when it comes to local offices.

Brick, if maintained as you mentioned, is the longest lasting road surface, lasting well more than twice the length of concrete.(I have referneces to this on my blog) It's not ideal for all roads. It can be downright treacherous on snowy or frozen hills. On long flat streets it is ideal, if we keep an eye on the utility company openings.

I wouldn't doubt your governor/asphalt story. Too many politicians take more than they give.

V. Fawn Walker has a web-site: www.fawnwalker.com

I am not aware of any others being available. I am trying to make our city government more techology conscience but I regret to say that it is a slow process. Take for example our web-site. It is downright dreadful. This is a major area of my concern that I will devote great effort to the remainder of this term and my next to rectifying. We have a Technology Committee but the chairman stepped down. I will suggest that Council appoint me as his replacement.

Guy Baich, a candidate in 2003 had the first local one and I followed suit. To date, mine has been the most visited but discusses more than politics and draws fans of McKeesport sports, history etc.

Concerning Petitiions, would you like to sign one or would you like to circulate one? Email me at sluggo@paulshelly.com and we can discuss while preserving your anonymity.

Best,

Paul

re: bricks -- if they can formulate brick that doesn't "chalk" I would be ok with them for general use....the issue is that as bricks wear, they chalk and powder just a bit due to their makeup...clay.

The dust, when mixed with water, becomes EXTREMELY slippery.

Treacherous for us motorcyclists.

As far as petitions: When I am presented with one I believe in I will certainly sign it. To date, have not been presented with one that I can recall.

I know circulating petitions is hard work. I certainly don't have enough time to be out circulating one. My guess is very few people do. Its not apathy....its relaism. Kid, two income households, bad economy, jobs that demand more and more of us for less money...it all factors in.

But people cant sign petitions that aren't presented.

RE: the McKeesport website.....I don't really care how bad the site LOOKS.....though yeah, ours is pretty ...er.....well, momma said if you dont have anything nice to say , don't say anything.

In reality, looks mean little for website.

But it needs to be kept UP TO DATE. The year-old council meetings notes is an embarassment.

IT IS TIME TO GET RID OF THE INCUMBENTS. THEY HAVE BEEN IN POWER TOO LONG!

Just look at our City(When are they going to do something for the City).

nqgo wrote:

IT IS TIME TO GET RID OF THE INCUMBENTS. THEY HAVE BEEN IN POWER TOO LONG!
Just look at our City(When are they going to do something for the City).

Please remember I'm not one of the old guard. I'm finishing my first term and just hertting started in my career of Public Service.

paul,

glad to see you are doing so well in the poll. it is just as i figured. the good people of mckeesport put their faith in you 4 years ago and you have not disappointed us. you are the only councilman willing to speak your mind and stray from the flock that has run this city for the past 30 years or so. no councilman with the possible exception of rege provides the level of service that you do. i hope you plan to run for mayor someday. with your ideas, people skills and commitment to service, i can't think of a better person for the job.

Fresh young blood is the answer for our beloved town.
Once a tiger, always a tiger.
a.

I agree. It's great to have new young people running!

I don't live in mckeesport any more I moved out in 98 and moved to the MTS. I don't really know any of these canidates. But I do have family who still live in mckeesport. I hope for there sack someone gets in who can help the people of mckeesport and make it better and meet the demands of the fellow mckeesporters. I have been following many of the topic going on in here about mckeesport and I have ready alot of comments from alot of you and from what I have read Paul Shelley Jr seems to have a good insite on the city his comments seem honest and sincere and he also knows what he is talking about so if I still live there in mckeesport I would vote for him

Thanks got smart. The democratic committee disagreed today and endorsed Segina, McCall and Fawn Walker....

Look at the numbers up above and draw you own conclusions on that one.... ;)

It happened to me last time and I buried the endorsed candidates.

It will happen again...

Peace.

Thanks for all of the votes guys. it has put a happy end to a rather frustrating day.

No worries. I'm not down. I'm INSPIRED!

It's funny, a friend told me yesterday who the winners of the election will be and he said:

1) Shelly
2) Tedesco
3) McCall

He's pretty politically astute when you look at our sampling so far.

I don't make predications. I sweated the Obama/McCain election until they called Ohio.

Do any of you know that Mr. Shelly did not attend 7 out of 11 Council meetings in 2008? Do you know that he did not attend any of the Budget meetings that were held to try and avoid Act 47? Has anyone asked Paul when was the last time he held a job for any significant amount of time? This information is actually significant when asking people to run a corporation with a budget in excess of 20 million dollars!! While I understand Mr. Shelly has undergone personal health problems, how do we know they won't strike again and he will be AWOL for another year? Paul is a very nice guy, but he is much better at running for office as the guy next door, than he is at actually doing anything once he is actually elected to office. Every intelligent person I've spoken to who supported Sluggo in the last election has told me they are not crazy enough to do it again. Mabey this explains why he was told by Committee Members they would be supporting him and......
This is not a popularity contest. The current Mayor and his team have saved the City so far. When they took office after another "guy next door" (Kucich) the City was on the brink of Act 47 with a deficit in excess of 1 million dollars, this TEAM OF INCUMBANTS now has more than 1 million in an emergency reserve account. Thats leadership!! Mr. Shelly has taken credit for Civil Service Testing and for the Personel Committee in blogs on this site. Fact checker says no changes at all were made to the Civil Service testing provisions that were in place prior to Sluggo running while he has been in office, that is a fact!!! Second, the Charter Amendment creating the personnel committee was passed in the election prior to Paul running for Council, again, this is a fact. Mabey if Sluggo came around once in a while he would know this stuff!! Sounds like Paul might be the type of leader we might want to replace.
Also, check Mr. Shelly's comments on City employees running for School Board when his buddy Donato filed a suit to stop it, seems like he was against it then, but now apparently is supporting Mr. Holtzman, who was endorsed by the Democratic Committee on Sunday but still is employed by the McKeesport Police Department.
We all need to be careful that we dont wish for change simply for change's sake, the team we have now is the best we've had in a long time!