Mayor of Pittsburgh
on the ballot!
Qualifications What Dave's Done
What Dave's done
North Area Environmental Council
As Executive Director of the North Area Environmental Council (NAEC), in 1989 David Tessitor stepped into a twenty year old organization which was on the verge of closing its doors and restructured it, turning it around, increasing dues paying membership over 20 fold in only a year and a half.
Western PA EarthDay Coalition
David Tessitor was an early member of the Western PA Earth Day Coalition, and played instrumental roles in organizing Earth Day 1990 and having in the Coalition continuing afterward.
E Watch
As the founder and Chair, David Tessitor led E Watch to assist federal, state, county, and local agency officials with enviromental enforcement and monitoring of our region's environment.
Citizen Advisory Panel of SPRPC
In 1994, Dave initated and later, in 1997, chaired the Citizen Advisory Panel of the South Western Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission, uncovering massive fraud and falsifications which are impacting the region today/p>
American Town & Country Alliance
Dave co-founded the American Town & Country Alliance with Richard T. Donahoe, MRP, in 1992 to address the issues of suburban sprawl, reurbanization, and the revitalization of our traditional urban communities.
Bryd Brown for Mayor campaign
Dave joined the team with the 1989 mayoral campaign of Bryd Brown and pushed city services for the neighborhoods as the most important issue. Unfortunately, back then nobody had been talking about that, and, while acknowledged as a concern, the issue did not take a major role in the campaign.
Public Interest law suits
1995 - 98 – Tessitor v. PAT, tried to stop waste of $326 million on the Airport Busway and use it instead for a downtown-Airport rapid rail line (went to PA Supreme Court & US Appeals).
1998 - 99 – Tessitor v. FAA, to stop demolition of the readily usable historic Greater Pittsburgh Airport terminal (won, but reversed after judge rec'd $1 million contract w/ County's law firm).
2003 - 04 – Tessitor v. Allegheny County (won) reduced voter database cost from $1000 to free
Open Government Amendment to the Pittsburgh City Charter
2002- present –, authored and organized to place the Open Government Amendment to Pgh's City Charter on the election ballot as a referendum question; co-founded, Pittsburghers for Open Government (PFOG); currently organizing ballot initiative for 2006
Save16.org
2000 - 01 – started & led Save16.Org, citizen organizing arm of CIPB's effort to stop the sale of WQEX-16's educational broadcasting license.
Pittsburgh Area New Direction Alternative
1999 - present – Dave authored the Pgh Area New Direction Alternative (PANDA), a policy platform as close as reasonable to 180° from current policy. It was designed to serve as a resource for new candidates to learn of different policy positions that they could use. It is most famous for its sign: "Will the last person leaving Pgh please turn out the lights!" which stood in Gateway Plaza for a month in February-March 1999
PghFree.Net
2004 - present – , PghFree.Net, a free webhost now hosting 60+ nonprofit community groups, was formed by Dave in response to Carnegie Library of Pgh eliminating its Three Rivers Free-Net. To show the ridiculousness of the money savings touted by the Carnegie Library, Dave provides the PghFree.Net services on a total operating budget of $35 per month.
the office as
independent candidates!