Luke Robert Ravenstahl (born February 6, 1980) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 59th Mayor of Pittsburgh from 2006 until 2014. A Democrat, he became the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh's history in September 2006 at the age of 26. He was among the youngest mayors of a major city in American history. He currently serves as an executive of Peoples Natural Gas Company.
A graduate of North Catholic High School, Ravenstahl attended the University of Pittsburgh before graduating from Washington & Jefferson College. Four months after his graduation, aged 23, he ran for a seat on the Pittsburgh City Council. He was elected and took office in January 2004 before being appointed City Council President in December 2005. After the death of Pittsburgh mayor Bob O'Connor, Ravenstahl became the mayor, per the city's charter, on September 1, 2006. He later won a special election in 2007, and a regular election in 2009. He did not seek reelection in the 2013 election and Democrat Bill Peduto was elected to succeed him as mayor. Ravenstahl's term ended in January 2014.
Ravenstahl's father, Robert P. Ravenstahl Jr., is a district magistrate on the Northside, and head coach for the North Catholic High School football team. His grandfather, Robert P. Ravenstahl Sr., represented the 20th legislative district as a state representative, was a Democratic ward leader in the North Side, and was defeated in the 1976 Democratic primary by a young Tom Murphy, who would go on to become mayor himself. Ravenstahl's mother is currently a teacher's aide with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Luke was the eldest of three brothers including Adam Ravenstahl, a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Ravenstahl graduated from North Catholic High School in 1998, where he was class president and played baseball and football. He attended Washington & Jefferson College, where he graduated with honors with a degree in business administration in December 2002. He was W&J's starting place kicker on the football team for three years and was team captain for his senior year. He currently holds the school record for most consecutive extra points. Following graduation from W&J, Ravenstahl worked as an account manager for a courier service.
In August 2004, he married Erin Lynn Feith, whom he had begun dating in high school. They resided in the Summer Hill neighborhood of the Northside. Ravenstahl is a Roman Catholic and attends mass weekly at Holy Wisdom Parish on the Northside.
Luke and Erin's only child, Cooper Luke Ravenstahl, was born on October 31, 2008.
On May 19, 2007, Ravenstahl delivered the keynote address at Washington & Jefferson College's 208th commencement celebration. He served as honorary co-captain with fellow W&J graduate Roger Goodell during W&J's 2006 homecoming football game.
As a sign of support for the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2008 AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens, Ravenstahl ceremonially changed his name to "Luke Steelerstahl" on January 14, 2009, in an ironic contrast to avoid being associated with the Steelers' opponents.
On November 23, 2009, Ravenstahl announced that he and his wife, Erin, had split and that he had moved out of the home that they had shared. He was quoted as saying "She doesn't like the limelight. She didn't like the fact that I became the mayor. She doesn't like the public nature of the position." On November 24, the mayor announced that he and his wife were "formally separating," but had no plans to officially file for divorce. On March 11, 2011, Erin Ravenstahl filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce was finalized in late July 2011.
In 2012, Ravenstahl made a cameo appearance in the film The Dark Knight Rises as a member of the fictional football team the Rapid City Monuments.
In April 2003, Ravenstahl ran for the Democratic nomination for the Pittsburgh City Council's District 1 seat against incumbent Barbara Burns. Ravenstahl defeated Burns with 54.5% of the vote. He credited his win to a combination of grassroots campaigning, a voter registration drive aimed at 18- to 25-year-olds, and a general dissatisfaction with Mayor Murphy. Ravenstahl was sworn in as the youngest member of City Council in Pittsburgh's history in January 2004. During his first few weeks on City Council, Ravenstahl's bill to reduce the newly imposed parking tax from 50% to 33% was vetoed by Mayor Tom Murphy, who was unwilling to balance the budget with $3 million from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
On December 6, 2005, Ravenstahl became the youngest President of the Pittsburgh City Council, when Gene Ricciardi (who had been elected district justice) stepped down from that post in a move seen as paving the way for ally Jim Motznik. However, Motznik was unable to secure the votes needed to win the presidency, and Ravenstahl emerged as a compromise candidate. He was re-elected unanimously at the re-organization meeting in January 2006, when the new members of the city council took office. One of his first major hurdles was to deal with the two state budget oversight boards. Per provisions in the city's charter, Ravenstahl ascended from the office of City Council President to Mayor on September 1, 2006, following the death of Mayor Bob O'Connor.
Per provisions in the city's charter, Ravenstahl ascended from the office of City Council President to Mayor on September 1, 2006, following the death of Mayor Bob O'Connor. Due to ambiguous language in the city's charter, a controversy developed about how long Ravenstahl could temporarily serve as mayor before an election had to be held. Ravenstahl stated his desire to fulfill the remainder of O'Connor's term.
The charter refers to holding a new election when someone ascends to mayor through a vacancy but makes no mention of serving out the full term. It was unclear when the election could or should be held due to a confusing phrase that says the "vacancy in the mayor's office shall be filled at the next election permitted by law", yet not elaborating on what "permitted by law" means.
Ravenstahl instructed the city's legal department to quickly obtain a decision as to when the election should be held. On October 12, 2006, the Allegheny County Board of Elections decided unanimously that mayoral candidates would compete in the May 15, 2007, primary election followed by the November 6, 2007, general election, with the winner of the general election taking office immediately after the certification of the election results for a term ending in January 2010.
In his first official act as mayor, Ravenstahl ordered the city flag at all city locations to be flown at half staff and declared the city in a state of mourning. Ravenstahl and deputy mayor Yarone Zober had been coordinating city government since O'Connor's medical diagnosis in July 2006, which limited O'Connor to the confines of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Shadyside, while O'Connor convalesced.
Media coverage of Ravenstahl has included a feature story in The New York Times, and an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on September 14, 2006. Ravenstahl was concerned about how appropriate the coverage would appear in the wake of Bob O'Connor's death, but O'Connor's widow encouraged him to participate in the media coverage and continue O'Connor's work as a "cheerleader" for Pittsburgh.
After generally following O'Connor's agenda for the first few months of his term, Ravenstahl began to implement his own agenda, including pursuing a tax break for new housing in downtown, proposing college aid for city high school graduates, improving diversity in city government. He also began replacing O'Connor's staffers with his own. He also continued O'Connor's "311" city help line proposal, as well as the "Redd-Up" crews.