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Tag Archives: Pennsylvania
Tweet the Vote – Twitter Guide to the Primary Election
Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19, 2015 is primary election day in Pittsburgh. Most of the registered voters in Pittsburgh are democrats (I have been trying to find the exact percentage of Pittsburgh voters who are registered as democrats, but I have yet to find that statistic). As a result, most of the elections in the City of Pittsburgh are determined in the Primary election. If you want to be able to vote for these candidates in the the primary election, you will need to be registered as a democrat. Voters who are registered as Republican, Independent or any other party can still vote in the Primary election, but there are very few candidates in the City of Pittsburgh who don’t run as democrats.
Please remind your friends, family and neighbors to vote. Voter turnout for the 2014 Primary Election in Allegheny County was 20.46% for the Democrats and 10.65% for the Republicans.
Twitter Accounts for Candidates on the Ballot
Here is a list of all of the candidates who are on the ballot and have twitter accounts. If you know of a candidate who is missing, please leave a comment below and we will update the list.
Running For | Name | Twitter Account | # of Followers as of 5/18/2015 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 1 | Darlene Harris | @Darlene4PGH | 531 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 1 | Randy Zotter | @RZotter | 107 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 3 | Bruce Kraus | @BruceKraus | 2320 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 5 | Kimberly Kaplan | @TeamKaplan2015 | 25 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 5 | Corey O’Connor | @CoreyOConnorPGH | 2424 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 7 | Deb Gross | @DebGrossPGH | 1674 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 7 | Latasha Mayes | @duxfemfac | 858 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 9 | Rev. Ricky Burgess |
(has not posted since 2010) |
151 |
Pittsburgh City Council District 9 | Judith Ginyard | @Ginyard4Council | 45 |
Pittsburgh City Controller | Michael Lamb | @ControllerLamb | 1330 |
Pittsburgh City Controller | Natalia Rudiak | @NataliaRudiak | 5083 |
@Natalia4PGH | 413 | ||
Allegheny County Controller | Mark Patrick Flaherty | @Flaherty2015 | 148 |
Allegheny County Controller | Chelsa Wagner | @ChelsaWagner | 1169 |
Pittsburgh School Board District 4 | Kirk Burkley |
(Private Account) |
63 |
@CandidateKirk | 73 | ||
Pittsburgh School Board District 4 | Lynda Wrenn | @LyndaWrenn | 115 |
A Twitter list of all of the candidates is available here.
Looking for a list of all of the candidates? Check out our google doc of candidates, websites, Facebook pages etc. here – feel free to add more information to this spreadsheet.
Invite Your Friends to Vote on Facebook
Remind your friends that Tuesday is election day by inviting them to the VotePGH Primary Election Day Facebook event here.
Are You Ready to Run…For Public Office
Pittsburgh may be at the top of a lot of lists – best place to retire, 10th most romantic city in the US, most liveable city. However, Pittsburgh and the entire state of Pennsylvania are WAY behind when it comes to women in politics.
Some sobering stats on the state of women in politics in Pennsylvania:
- Pennsylvania ranks 47th when looking at the number of women holding elected office, and 47th in terms of women’s overall political participation in our state. (via WomenVotePA)
- State Senate – only 16% are women
- State House – only 18% are women
- Pennsylvanian ranks 38 out of 50 states in terms of women in State Legislatures (via Center for American Women in Politics)
You can help to change these numbers – vote, support a candidate, run for office.
For starters – get to know the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics, which happens to be housed right here in Pittsburgh at Chatham College. Continue reading
“Ian Watches” PGH Movie of the Week: Adventureland
This is the inaugural post of what will hopefully become a weekly event. Basically I watch movies based or filmed in and around the Pittsburgh area, give a quick spiel about the movie, and display all of the Pittsburgh locations shown in the movie. That way, if you so please, you can visit said locations and say, “Hey, Batman was on this sidewalk!” If that’s the kind of thing you’re into. Also for those movies filmed in Pittsburgh, but not set in Pittsburgh in the movie’s plot, I will reveal the giveaways of how the movie messed up in hiding the fact that it’s Pittsburgh (kind of a snobby, “nice try, but you won’t fool us!” kind of thing). For film suggestions that you’d like to see, please comment or submit them via e-mail at Ian@IheartPGH.com
This week’s installment is the 2009 comedy Adventureland, starring the likes of Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig, among others. It was filmed on location at Kennywood park and some other local areas that we’ll get to later. Set in 1987, it’s about a recent college graduate who ends up living at home for the summer in Pittsburgh and working a job at the local theme park “Adventureland” (Kennywood). It’s a little dated, but seeing as it’s early into Summer, I thought it would be an appropriate start with all of the Kennywood picnic outings and memorable (for better or worse) summer jobs in full swing. Plus, it seems like plenty of people still make the connection between Kennywood and the film.
Though I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone (it garnered an R rating “for language, drug use, and sexual references”), I thought it was a charming, funny, coming-of-age/finding-your-place film. It’s well-casted and there are Pittsburgh references and familiar sites all throughout the film.
However, within moments of the start when Eisenberg’s character learns that he has to live at home during the summer, one of his snobby, yuppie friends comments “Summer in Pittsburgh, that’s [expletive] harsh.” To which Eisenberg responds, “They don’t like people like us where I’m from, we’re romantics.” Speak for yourself, pal! Another unbelievable part occurs when Eisenberg’s character scoffs at the idea of taking journalism courses at Pitt with the possibility of interning on “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood,” calling it a “children’s show with marionettes.” Now what Pittsburgher in their right mind would ever have anything negative to say about Fred Rogers?
Grudges aside, there are some other nice local references. For instance, one character tries to get Lisa P. (the “popular” 80’s chick working the Music Express) to go to a Judas Priest concert at the Civic Arena. Although I’ve found no evidence that Judas Priest actually ever played the Civic Arena, the small detail was a nice touch. The rest of the soundtrack is pretty awesome as well, especially if you like Lou Reed. Eisenberg makes K-Stew cassette mix tapes with Lou Reed songs and talks about how he’s his personal hero, while Ryan Reynolds claims to have jammed with Lou Reed to the awe of all his coworkers (even though he consistently mispronounces “Satellite of Love” at one point). Seriously, Lou Reed is all over this movie (I ain’t mad). Note: there are some nice shots of local sites in the video as well.
Woah heads up, Jack Lambert jersey sighting:
Anyways, there are some other really awesome Kennywood locations featured throughout the movie. Here are just a few that I picked out:
Check out Eisenberg and Reynolds hanging out by the shooting gallery, which I’m unsure is even still in existence.
Ah, Eisenberg and Reynolds are at it again (best friends forever)! This time at the Music Express.
And what’s this? Are those some Parachutes I spy lighting up the background? This was during the 4th of July scene of the movie (another popular real-life Kennywood affair) and there’s a great shot of fireworks lighting up the sky over “the Racer.”
You may recognize many of the sites in just the opening credits as well, like the 16th Street Bridge (which gets a lot of action throughout the film), hills lined with houses in Homestead, and the Stardust Lounge in Moon Township (it’s a real bar).
So there are some of the spots featured in Adventureland. Trust me, there are plenty more, and if you haven’t seen the movie, check it out (if you’re over the age of 17 and are not offended by “language, drug use, and sexual references” of course). Then you can go to Kennywood and (gasp) stand in the same spot as K-Stew or Ryan Reynolds, or just enjoy the familiar sites of summertime in Pittsburgh.
One more thing:
Ok, something’s definitely up here. Everyone knows it’s utterly impossible to have any control over the bumper cars at Kennywood (maybe all bumper cars for that matter), and to successfully enjoy them without waking up to a stiff neck since no one bothers to wear the nasty, dirty, sweatband-like material seat belts of the bumper cars and absolutley NOBODY avoids head-on collisions. But that’s why we love you Kennywood.
Remember for a movie filmed in the Pittsburgh area that you’d like to see over-analyzed for local references here, comment below or drop me a line at Ian@IheartPGH.com
Treader’s Choice: Penn Avenue Arts in Motion
Treading Art has been putting together an amazing list of weekend events around Pittsburgh. Each week we will highlight one of those events here on IheartPGH and link you back over to Treading Art’s weekly events post.
This weeks Treader’s Choice event:
Saturday, June 15th
Celebrate the East End and all the changes the Penn Avenue Arts District has made and those to come! Learn about current Penn Ave dwellers, what’s in store and explore some music, art and “I Made It! Market.”