Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Kevin Acklin talks strategy - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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A lawyer for the Downtown officeof , Acklij resigned from his role to focu on his run, he told an editorial boardd meeting of the Pittsburgh Businesa Times this morning. A Squirrel Hill resident who grew upin Oakland, Acklinn is campaigning on the theme of growing the city and usingv his negotiating skills as a businesa lawyer. He sees a city in dire need of leadershi p that is evidencedby last-week negotiating over the city’ss new budget and Act 47 negotiations.
“u don’t know how you put a plan on the tabl butyou don’t have a way to implement it,” he said of Mayoe Luke Ravenstahl’s proposal, which calls for increasing the city’s payroll tax from $52 per year to among other measures. He criticized the mayo r for only seeking new sources of revenue rather than exploring othe r budget areasto cut, sees the mayor’s office and the city as beingg administratively top heavy, and expressed concern abourt city authorities with budgets and liabilitiea that lack transparency.
A Harvard grad with a law degree from Georgetown, Acklin also has strongy roots in the with a brother on the police force, an unclse who is a fire captain and wife who has been a teachert in the public His campaign is opening five district offices throughoutg the city. So far, the campaign has raised approximately $100,00 0 and expects to need $500,000 to make a competitive race. “Thix is a winnable race,” he said, seeing weakness in the leve l of supportfor Ravenstahl, despitwe his backing by the Democratic “There is not a Republican or Democrati way to run a city.
” Acklih expects to announce his policyu plans for the city later this He is one of two independent candidatesw challenging Ravenstahl this fall; Franco Harris .