Thomas Murphy

Biography: Tom Murphy, Mayor #76935 July 15, 2002 Tom Murphy was inaugurated for his third term as Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh in January of 2002. Prior to his election as the 55th Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh in 1993, Murphy served as a member of Pennsylvania's General ASsembly from 1979 to 1993 and was a neighborhood organizer in the City of Pittsburgh prior to his election to the State Legislature. After almost nine years in office, the Pittsburgh that Tom Murphy inherited is a dim memory. Replacing it today is a high-energy, cosmopolitan City that glows with optimism about its future. As an economic revitalization visionary, Murphy has directed more than $4 billion of new investment in the City -- from new operations centers for two of the City's nationally ranked banks to new world-class facilities for Pittsburgh's professional football and baseball teams to an expanded Downtown convention center. Throughout his tenure, Murphy has worked tirelessly to create and retain thousands of jobs while improving the quality of life in Pittsburgh. As a technology booster, Murphy has made PIttsburgh a model for cities transitioning from heavy industrial-based economies. The City is now experiencing an explosion of new economic ventures with anchors in high technology and internet-basaed start-up companies. Nationally known e-commerce pioneers like Fremarkerts, technology heavyweights like Seagate and venture capital investors like Red Leaf have committed to Pittsburgh. Murphy has also fostered strong partnerships with local world-class universities--both Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgy. Included in Pittsburgh's rebirth as a center of technology is the recent move by RAND Corporation, the world's best-known policy research think tank, to locate its fourth worldwide office in Pittsburgh. Murphy has attracted over $4 billion worth of new investment to Pittsburgh and has worked tirelessly to revitalize the City's old industrial sites, its 88 unique neighborhoods and to create new commercial, residential and recreational opportunities along Pittsburgh's reverfronts. Murphy has focused special attention on reinvigorating the Downtown "Golden Triangle" through new retail, entertainment, residential and cultural opportunities in his efforts to transform Pittsburgh into a vibrant 24-hour City. In addition, he has successfully rduced the City's budget while improving city services and holding the line on taxes. City neighborhoods tarnished from decades of decline have been refurbished through the mayor's Neighborhood Needs Program and the Pittsburgh Clean Neighborhoods Collaborative. This has included improvements to bsic infrastructure like streets and sidewalks and stringent enforcement of the City s anti-littering laws. Nearly all of the city's 169 neighborhood playgrounds have been renovated to meet or exceed today's most stringent safety standards. That effort recently won Pittsburgh an award from the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the first ever given to public body. Mayor Murphy is committed to building on Pittsburgh's strengths to make it an attractive place in which to live, work and play. Reader's Digest recently ranked Pittsburgh one of the top 5 best cities to raise a family and Money Magazine listed Pittsburgh among the top cities to live in their 12th annual survey. Part of what has attracted cutting-edge companies and hundreds of talented professionals to settle here in recent years are thesuccess of the quality of life initiatives begun in Murphy's first term that are now bearing fruit. The Mayor has directed the clean up and redevelopment of former industrial sites--brown fields--into some of the most popular residential communities in th City. He has been a leader in the national Rails-To_Trails movement, supervising the building of nearly 20 miles of trails that run through the center of the City and connect to the riverfronts in theform of river's edge parklets and running/biking/ in-line skating paths. Another 18 miles of trails are scheduled for completion during the next two years. During his tenure as Mayor, Pittsburgh's violent crime rate has dropped to its lowest levels in three decades making Pittsburgh one of America's safest cities. Public safety has been a top-priority for Murphy since day one. He understood the need to address public safety concerns in order to imprope the quality of life of City residents, as well as to attract new residents to the City. This commitment has led Pittsburgh to experience its lowest levels of crime in the past 32 years. In fact, Pittsburgh's violent crime rate, as measured by the FBI, is the lowest of any City its size or larger in the country. The son of a steelworker, Tom Murphy was born August 15, 1944. After graduating from John Carroll University in 1967, he worked as a chemical sales representative for Alcoa. In 1970, Murphy and his wife Mona joined the Peace Corps, working in rural Paraquay. The couple embraced the Peace Corps ethic of self-sufficiency and community building which has become a trademark of his current leadership style. In 1973, he earned a graduate degree with honors in Urban Studies from Hunter College in New York City. Upon his return to Pittsburgh, Murphy worked as a State Representative for the 20th Legislative District in Pittsburgh from 1979 until his election as Mayor. The two live in a restored 150-year old farmhouse on Pittsburgh's North Side where they have raised two daughters Shannon and Molly, and their son, T.J.