http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/fetterman0425.aspxnow normally, i'd think about crossing the street if i saw this bigass 300 lb skinhead-looking cat coming at me, but u know what?
not this time
~snip~
You notice the tattoos first, pentimento boldface on his forearms, numerals, 15104, blighted, benighted Braddock borough’s zip code; 1/16/06, 10/8/06, 12/4/06, 2/3/07, local killings which took place on his watch. “It’s important to document what’s happened,” John Fetterman says. “I’d rather keep them on my arm than in my head. In the end, I hope I have more arm than ink.”
At six-foot-eight and 300 pounds, the Braddock mayor has plenty of arm left – and then some. Born in York, PA, equipped with a Harvard public policy MA, his introduction to Pittsburgh came in the ‘90s. Working as an Americorps volunteer on a Braddock youth program, when asked if he wanted to run it, Fetterman eagerly accepted.
By July of ’01 he had started, and still directs, a program helping area dropouts earn GEDs, then find jobs. Two years later, he plopped down two grand for a derelict furniture warehouse, across the street from the world’s first Carnegie Library (1887), converting it into his home.
Knowing that education programs alone would not change Braddock, in’05 he ran for mayor – expecting to lose. Instead, he won -- by a single vote. Crediting a younger constituency for putting him in office, “it was a way to advance their agenda,” Fetterman says. “I wanted to bridge the gap between generations, between those viewed as thugs and those considered out-of-touch. I’m comfortable with either crowd.”
here's the official site:
http://www.15104.cc/mayor.html