Bringing Council to the People

By Georgia Blotzer

The West End has been scraping by with too little attention for years. We need to start making sure our story and our concerns are heard.

As a member of Council, Georgia intends to launch "Council on the Move" by holding regular, informal meetings at locations throughout our communities like restaurants and/or community centers to hear residents' concerns. Georgia feels that if she is easily and readily accessible to our community, the real problems of our communities will remain on the top of her priority list.

She hopes to have other public servants attend these events with her such as experts from the City's Departments of Public Works, City Planning and the Bureau of Building Inspection. Georgia hopes that by inviting representatives of these departments to join her at these meetings, we will all be able to work together for change.

Our communities have been isolated from the halls of power for too long. Georgia feels that by putting her Council office on the move, District 2 problems can be brought to light.

Campaign Finance Reform

Georgia is extremely concerned about the "pay to play" practices of Pittsburgh's local government. As an Independent Democrat, she will push for real and meaningful campaign finance reform. Georgia will fight to make sure that all constituent voices are heard at City Council, not just those who write large checks to candidates. Georgia began her fight for campaign finance reform at the start of her campaign. She holds herself to a maximum contribution of $500 for individuals and will accept no PAC monies.

We're never going to remove money from politics, but we need to curb its most obvious excesses. "Doing more with less" as a city also means not squandering taxpayer dollars as a result of back-room deals. The current system rewards the worst instincts of our leaders, and taxpayers need to be assured that their money is being spent soberly. Georgia will hold herself accountable to a higher standard and will remain an independent voice fighting for your needs. City Council came within one vote of enacting a campaign finance reform package in the summer of 2008. She wants to be that one vote. Let's make it law. Let's redd up our government