Monday, September 08, 2008

Former City Councilman Demands Resignation of State Senator from URA Board

Former Pittsburgh City Councilman Jim Ferlo demanded the immediate and unequivocal resignation of State Senator Jim Ferlo from the URA Board today at a hastily assembled press conference outside the City-County Building. 

"From day one, I believed Mayor Ravenstahl and his administration when they said that they were approaching government operations in a different way, with an eye toward improving the process," said the former Councilman, "but we cannot continue to have a municipal Authority who's board members have ties to questionable deals.  I accuse the Senator of self-dealing and corruption."

The former Councilman made further reference to an alleged connection between loans given out by the URA to a developer, 3811 Associates, which owns the building containing the Senator's district office.  The allegations are part of an investigation supposedly being undertaken by the Department of Justice in relation to allegations made by former URA Executive Director Pat Ford. 

The Senator rebutted such claims, calling the charges "spurious" and the antics of a man "desperate to get his name in the paper." 

"In a small City such as Pittsburgh, you're always going to to have some level of overlap between the people that you serve and the people that are in charge.  [3811 Associates] made an honest application to the URA and I, in no way, influenced staff or other board members to advance this request."  The Senator admitted that while the timing seemed very suspicious, all activities were completely "on the level". 

Both the Senator and the former Councilman have been at odds recently.  Both initially began their careers as community organizers, and vocal political antagonizers representing the Lawrenceville neighborhood. The Senator, however, moved on to Harrisburg and, in the words of his former colleague and doppelganger "sold out to Harrisburg."   The Senator has repeatedly called the former Councilman "a micro-manager with a Napoleon complex."  

"The Senator just doesn't understand that he's part of the problem," said the Councilman, who was later dragged away from the press conference by Pittsburgh Police. 




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ROTFLOL.

Really good.