Patrick Dowd (born 1968) is a Democratic Party politician in the United States. He is currently serving as a member of the Pittsburgh City Council from District 7, which includes the neighborhoods of Bloomfield, East Liberty, Friendship, Garfield, Highland Park, Lawrenceville, Morningside, Polish Hill, and Stanton Heights.
Contents |
Dowd was raised in Chesterfield, Missouri and earned a B.A. from the University of Missouri. He moved to Pittsburgh in 1991 to study with Fritz Ringer in the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1999. He has taught history first at Winchester Thurston School and then at The Ellis School.[1] He is married to Leslie Hammond, who also graduated from the University of Pittsburgh before becoming a lecturer in the history department.[2] They have five children and live in Highland Park.[3]
In 2003, Dowd won a four-year term on the Board after defeating incumbent Board President and Democratic Party in an upset victory against Darlene Harris.[4] As a candidate for school board, Dowd pledged to restore accountability to the system and stuck to this commitment through the intensely heated January 26, 2005 board meeting[5] when Dowd led a five members coalition to pass a resolution removing Dr. John Thompson from the Superintendency of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The board immediately launched a national search for a new superintendent who would accept the accountability standards Dowd advocated. Dowd's idea of an "Accountability Contract" clarifying the relationship between the school board and the Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools and setting clear performance standards[6] was put into effect in 2005 between the Board and Superintendent Mark Roosevelt.[7] Even after Dowd's departure from the board in December 2007 the Accountability Contract and evaluation model remain in effect and at the center of the positive board-superintendent relations.
Patrick Dowd was elected as the Democratic nominee to represent District 7 on the Pittsburgh City Council on May 15, 2007, and won the seat unopposed on November 6, 2007.[8] (Primary elections are generally decisive in the heavily Democratic city of Pittsburgh.[9]) He began serving on January 7, 2008. Shortly after taking office, Dowd drafted and successfully encouraged his colleagues to sign a Proclamation to Improve Governance in Pittsburgh.[10] Dowd also crafted and council passed a resolution calling for a task force on intergovernmental cooperation [11] which led to the creation of CONNECT, a Pittsburgh-based development initiative to increase cooperation between Pittsburgh and its adjacent municipalities.[12] In May, 2008, Dowd also started an innovative constituent outreach program called Council-to-Go[13] which enables him to stay in regular contact with residents of his council district. Dowd has consistently worked with Ravenstahl to bring increased focus on bike and pedestrian initiatives.[14][15] Dowd most recently led a coalition that included Council President Harris, Councilwoman Rudiak and Controller Lamb and that offered a viable alternative to Ravenstahl's proposed 50 year lease of all public parking assets in the Pittsburgh.[16] In the fall of 2011 the state accepted this plan.[17]
As a member of the board of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Dowd has made customer service and infrastructure reinvestment top priorities. In 2009, PWSA launched a controversial water and sewer line insurance program that has successfully provided coverage to nearly 100,000 customers[18] That same year, Dowd was instrumental in the creation of the Distribution Infrastructure System Reinvestment Fund, which added 5% charge to customers bills and dedicated that revenue solely to infrastructure reinvestment.[19] In 2010, Dowd supported the PWSA administration in bid to reinvest in its antiquated information system.
Dowd also serves as a member of the board of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh,[20] Riverlife [21] and the Pittsburgh Zoo.[22]
Patrick Dowd announced on February 19, 2009 that he would challenge mayor Luke Ravenstahl in Pittsburgh's May 19 Democratic primary.[23] In his announcement, Dowd criticized what he saw as Ravenstahl's failures on campaign finance reform in light of the mayor's veto of a campaign finance reform bill in the summer of 2008,[24] a risky bond deal at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority,[25] wasteful spending[26] and the Lamar LED controversy.[27] Dowd was endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, among others,[28][29] but lost to Ravenstahl by 31 points, receiving 28 percent of the vote.