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Any Pittsburgh residents out there?

Is Pittsburgh a strong mayor city, or is the mayor just the guy who gets to bang the gavel at the city council meetings?

Is the mayor directly elected or picked by the council?

The mayor is typically fairly active in city affairs, not just a figurehead. He/she is elected "by the people," not appointed by council.

For decades, the mayor has always been a Democrat. It's a given that once a candidate wins the Democrat primary, the election's a virtual lock. Pittsburgh hasn't been able to muster up much of a Republican party for sometime. Many people who want to get anywhere in politics, business, etc., even if they are Republicans at heart, usually just surrender and register as Democrats.

The mayor is elected unless there's a vacancy in the office.
I've been away for some time but it happened twice when I lived in the area. First, when Pete Flaherty left to take a job in the Carter administration, and then when Flaherty's successor Richard Caliguiri passed (late 1980's, I think) from complications due to amyloidosis.

As I recall, Caliguiri had to pledge to not run for reelection as mayor in order to get the council presidency. Flaherty had been an early supporter of Carter, and it was widely expected he would get a job in the Carter administration (turned out to be deputy attorney general). But then when it came time to run for reelection, Caliguiri did not stick to his pledge. That must have been '77. Caliguiri was reelected in '81 and '85 -- not sure about '89.

He was succeeded by Sophie Masloff -- I remember her mispronouncing many of the Pittsburgh Penguins' names (that was part of her charm), and they won the cup in '90 and '91.

This is a joke.

No one even knows when the replacement special election for mayor will occur.

The new charter language is ambiguous.

Should it be next May, next November, or November 2009?

There is no right answer.

What a bleeping joke.

Whoever wrote the charter was a moron.