SHANGHAI, China -- "Chung sher, raahng shung hwo gung may hao," said a confident Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
"Good," replied Pennsylvania China representative Ning Shao, sitting across the aisle in the same van. "Better City, Better Life -- it's the Expo slogan."
A few minutes later Mr. Ravenstahl and his delegation stood among the sea of dark suits and skirts awaiting transport from the Peninsula Hotel to the 22nd International Business Leaders Advisory Council.
His tour bus convoy of global civic and business leaders snaked through the streets as Shanghai police blocked all other car traffic.
"A high-rise forest," mused Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon, glancing from his bus at a neighborhood of stark gray apartment buildings.
At 8:55 a.m., the mayor took his seat around a giant elliptical table in the center of a blue and white conference room as an usher rang small bells summoning to their seats 500 of what the local English-language state-run newspaper, Shanghai Daily, that morning had called "the best brains from the world's leading corporations." Their job for the day would be to advise Shanghai, and its leader, Mayor Han Zheng, how to maintain its 10 percent growth "as a vibrant and innovative city."
Suggestions ranged from creating a transparent and corruption-free system of financing to giving tax breaks for innovation, to freeing Shanghai's food supply of contaminants to ensuring that every taxi in the city was equipped with seat belts.
Council Chairman Jacob Wallenberg, CEO of Investor AB, a 94 year-old family-owned investment company headquartered in Stockholm, introduced the mayor.
"Can I just say that the mayor is a young leader with a very impressive career. Mayor Ravenstahl has taken a city that was facing serious financial challenges. This city's bond rating has been upgraded four times -- an envy for most of us," said Mr. Wallenberg.
In his 18-minute keynote Mr. Ravenstahl told his audience that Pittsburgh's rise to global prominence over the past 30 years had only come after embracing a diversified economy with the help of a public-private partnership.
"Government forms joint ventures with the private sector, because our interests -- economic stability and growth -- align," said Mr. Ravenstahl.
Selling the city, the mayor said Pittsburgh's 35 colleges and universities had given the city "an academic edge."
"These private sector leaders come together, as have the members of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council, to advise government as to best practices in civic improvement, and in many cases to work hand-in-hand with me to improve our community," said Mr. Ravenstahl.
The mayor cited the $100 million challenge grant from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to the Pittsburgh Promise program which, he said, over the next 10 years is poised to provide university and technical college scholarships to 10,000 students. He credited the grant and the program with attracting new families and employers to a Pittsburgh committed to "help parents pay for their children's education."
Bolstered by a display of slides showing the city 80 years ago and today, the mayor explained how the collapse of the steel industry had lead to "great job losses" that forced many of his friends and neighbors from the city in search of work.
The lesson learned by Pittsburgh, which eventually "came together as a community to build a new economy for a new century," was that reliance on one industry was economic suicide.
"Today, despite the lingering effects of the global recession, there are tens of thousands more jobs in our region than there were at the peak of our industrial employment in 1979," said the mayor.
The mayor listed "three keys" to Pittsburgh's success: improving the skills of workers and investment in technology to keep historic industries competitive; investment in education and nonprofit support organizations like Innovation Works to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship; and investment in the arts, cultural assets and outdoor recreation financed by the 1 percent Regional Asset District tax to create a livable city "to attract and retain the best and brightest young people."
Looking ahead, and to some of the potential investors the city delegation hopes to attract during this trip, the mayor said development of Pittsburgh's energy resources will drive the city's future.
"Shanghai and Pittsburgh might appear at first to have little in common. But we do share a story of cities that in their own place and time have had an opportunity to reinvent themselves and in many ways to change the world," he said.
The mayor's youth was a persistent topic for many attendees.
"You're the youngest mayor of Pittsburgh and do you think the government needs more young policy makers so that the city will be more vigorous and creative?" asked a television reporter from Shanghai TV who buttonholed him after his speech.
Answered the mayor: "Well, I'm biased because I am young, but I think I do have a great opportunity to lead Pittsburgh. I think as a young person I bring a different perspective and I think that's been a benefit to the city of Pittsburgh.
"The important thing is for our generation to get involved. Whether you run for office or you are simply an activist, it's important for young people to get involved and hopefully my message carries to some of the young people in Shanghai to get involved as aggressively as they can to make sure their city becomes even better."
First Published: October 11, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
