PittZine.com

Natalia Rudiak

As a news junkie and having a deep love of all things Pittsburgh it surprised me last month when I began to find chatter across local blogs about–and the Twitter profile of–someone running for city council in Pittsburgh’s 4th District who I hadn’t heard of from local news coverage yet.

Her name is Natalia Rudiak. She is a Pittsburgh native, a graduate of Carrick High School and Carnegie Mellon University, and holds a Master’s in Public Policy & Management. She also owns her own small business working with Non-profits and community groups, and is a co-founder of IHeartPGH.com–a local blog that highlights people, places and events around Pittsburgh.

To be fair to our local news media, after some digging I found that they have mentioned Rudiak in various recent pieces that I had either missed or overlooked while scanning headlines and stories as I tend to do.

Still, the fact that I was introduced to her through online social media outposts peeked my curiosity, even though she’s not running in my district, simply because of how the connection was made.

When I visited her campaign site one of the first things I noticed there was additional social media network links for connecting with and discussing Natalia Rudiak. From Facebook to Twitter, Digg and other online communities. Even the software platform that her campaign site is published on, WordPress, is popular for its easy syndication features and ability to foster a sense of community online by allowing site visitors to participate in discussions of the information and stories published.

In recent years we’ve seen numerous politicians, mostly Democrats running for federal level posts, capitalizing on the instant and easy access to voters by exploring the organizational reach of online campaign strategies. But Rudiak is the first local candidate I’ve seen with an impressive (to a geek like myself) display of integrating those technologies with a door-to-door, street level campaign.

I contacted the campaign and requested a brief Q&A with Rudiak that I could include in a posting here. I wanted to know her thoughts on the application of these same types of community and connecting technologies for our city government beyond campaigning to voters, as well as her views on improving the neighborhoods and quality of life for residents in her district if she wins the council seat.

Rudiak was gracious enough to accommodate my request and not wanting to abuse her time I limited my questions to what I felt would be the most insightful given what has already been asked or covered elsewhere.

I hope these are informative for all readers, and especially so for readers living in the 4th district.

PittZine: Having visited your web site it seems obvious that you are a proud Pittsburgher. That’s a common trait among city residents and if you go out into the communities you often find the same kind of “hometown pride” exists at the neighborhood levels too, yet it doesn’t always translate into civic participation. How do you think the city government can better tap into that pride for motivating individuals to become more involved in their neighborhoods?

Rudiak: I am a very proud Pittsburgher, not only because of the rich history and traditions that our city has, but because of the community members who make our neighborhoods such a great place to live, work and call home. Over the last several years I have been very involved in my community, whether with the Hilltop Alliance, the South Pittsburgh Development Corporation, the South Pittsburgh Neighborhood Forum, or any of the community councils or block watches across the district. What keeps many Pittsburghers from getting civically involved is not a lack of motivation, but a lack of awareness of the opportunities available to them. That is why I am running for City Council, to be a bridge builder across the district, make information accessible and easy-to-understand, and connect stakeholders from across the city so we can work together to solve the problems that we face.

PittZine: There was a time years ago when the city used to work directly with local residents, at least in my neighborhood, to keep the community cleaner and safer. The city would provide paint and brushes when the neighbors were willing to paint over graffiti, and even a single worker with a refuse pickup truck for an afternoon when neighbors were willing to remove trash from a local hillside that’s often used for illegal dumping.

All of that seemed to stop long ago and neighbors were told that it was due to restrictive insurance requirements and labor agreements. This seems like a wasted opportunity to encourage civic participation and improve our city neighborhoods. Do you believe there is a way that the city can reconnect and re-engage with residents as partners in keeping our neighborhoods cleaner and safer going forward?

Rudiak: There are many ways the city government can reconnect with the people of Pittsburgh, and working with us through community improvement projects is the best way to do so. I am a member of Pretty Up Beechview (PUB), an energetic group that promotes local food and community gardening, and meets once a month to pick up litter on the streets of Beechview. We enjoy the support of the city and have attracted the attention of our local community leaders, which is only making our organization stronger. I have also worked with Boris Weinstein from Citizens Against Litter (CAL) to advocate for litter patrols across the district. Both organizations use new media to connect with potential and current members – PUB has a wonderful blog and CAL has an “e-newslitter” they disseminate to various neighborhood groups and listservs every month. I am running for City Council to continue to bring this kind of neighborhood development and innovation to South Pittsburgh.

PittZine: Speaking of engaging residents, I first learned about your bid for City Council not from local news coverage, but because you have a presence on Twitter. Social Media networks have become the water cooler for discussions, and pulpits for community organizing because they offer such instant and easy reach. You appear to understand the potential of Social Media online, so my question is what role do you think online networking and Social Media can fill as an asset for our city government beyond just campaigning to voters?

Rudiak: New media outlets have become an important tool for organizing and social networking. A few years ago I created a neighborhood listserv which has been embraced by the community as an outreach tool. (For example, today our local librarian e-mailed out a request for volunteers to create summer programs – within a few hours, we received enthusiastic replies from the high school culinary arts teacher and neighborhood judo instructor. Talk about civic pride!)

Although as a society we are becoming more successful in bridging the digital divide, technology enthusiasts can do more to translate their knowledge and skills to add value to our neighbors’ everyday lives. This requires real-life conversations that may take us outside our comfort zones. Most e-mail addresses are private, so I have literally stood at the local farmer’s market asking folks to sign up for the neighborhood listserv. In the fall of 2007, I created and delivered a well-received presentation to community leaders across the district about how blogs, web sites, wikis, and even Google applications could make their work more effective. I look forward to taking that kind of hands-on approach to connecting future constituents to technology in government. Technology is useful when it can foment human interaction and create positive change.

My master’s degree is in Public Policy and Management from Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University and I specialize in implementing new technology infrastructures in public bureaucracy. I am committed to making Pittsburgh City’s government more efficient, more transparent, and more responsive to its constituents by making technology a top priority.

PittZine: To follow up on that same theme, I believe there may be a slight Information Disconnection between many of Pittsburgh’s residents and vital information producers like city government. If you visit the official city web site there is a complete lack of features that have become staples for online information consumers seeking easy-to-scan and mobile-ready information delivery. Would you be in favor of making city information more accessible in the ways that people have come to expect it online, and if so, what specifically would you propose be done to achieve it?

Rudiak: This is actually a big part of my campaign platform—making information more accessible and more available to Pittsburgh’s residents. The bottom line is that we need to completely reevaluate the web architecture that exists in the city of Pittsburgh and develop a strategic plan for deploying a new, 21st century online information structure for the city.

PittZine: The city and county governments have often gone to great lengths to attract and retain large employers for the region. However, there are some people who feel they aren’t doing nearly enough to support and foster small businesses and startups at the same time. The U.S. Small Business Administration says that small businesses account for up to 80% of all new jobs; so what do you believe the city could be doing to provide better and more accessible information and support for individuals or groups who might be considering starting or moving a small business here?

Rudiak: The question of how the City can better reach out to our business community is a big one which requires a big picture answer. The solution involves making sure we have excellent web architecture and information delivery systems so that not only residents but potential business owners and investors can have an open dialogue with the City. It’s a two way relationship, but we need to make sure the city’s avenues of support are open and easy to use. We also need accountability within city units like the Bureau of Building Inspection or the Urban Redevelopment Authority. We need to make sure these entities are managed properly, have the staff and resources they need, and are meeting their long and short term goals.

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I appreciate Rudiak taking the time to answer my questions. Similar Q&A requests have been–or will soon be–made to each candidate running for city council in the current cycle and I plan to share them here as well.

For a more in-depth and well rounded Q&A with Rudiak you can visit the Pittsburgh Hoagie.

Natalia Rudiak’s campaign site:  http://nataliarudiak.com

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