On February 3rd, Pittsburgh’s Democratic mayoral candidates, incumbent Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, faced off in a fiery debate that covered a handful of hot-button topics, including zoning laws, safety in local communities, and Pittsburgh's future. The event was held at the Eddy Theatre on the Chatham University campus in Squirrel Hill in preparation for the upcoming primary election on May 20th.

The event started with a half-hour conversation between each candidate and Ann Belser, the owner of the local east-end newspaper, The Pittsburgh Print. The debate between the two Democratic candidates followed.

After the event, The Foreword spoke with both candidates about why the election is important to Allderdice students. Gainey responded, "Believe in the change. All great movements throughout history have always been led by the youth. Stay focused, keep grinding, learn, and change the game."

O'Connor took the opportunity to promote his aggressive campaign message, "This election is going to affect you in your neighborhood more than most elections. I would say look at the progress that the city has made over the last four years and think about what we can do when we focus on young people, creating an environment where they are at the forefront… and I would say the Mayor of the city of Pittsburgh, if it is me, will always protect your funding, no matter what it costs."

Gainey discussed the city's prevalent housing problems with Belser. The mayor's new inclusionary zoning proposal recently won a significant endorsement from Pittsburgh's City Planning Commission, meaning that the City Counsel only has to vote in a majority for the proposal to pass.

The current inclusionary zoning proposal requires that 10% of all newly built buildings with 20 or more units in Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, Oakland, and Polish Hill be reserved for affordable housing priced below market rate. The new proposal would make that a city-wide requirement. This is hardly a new idea in the U.S.; according to the National League of Cities, over 800 cities have implemented inclusionary zoning since the 1970s.

"If we are not laser-focused on affordability, then we are not going to grow the population of this city. Everybody has a right to housing… we have to be focused on how we rebuild the infrastructure in this city to ensure housing for all," stated Gainey.

Next, Gainey highlighted his success in decreasing the homicide rate in Pittsburgh. The city's homicide rate has fallen drastically since Mayor Gainey took office. In his first full year in charge, there were 71 homicides in the city. Just two years later, in 2024, that number was cut down to just 41 homicides, zero involving people aged 13-17.

Belser noted that homicide rates are falling nationwide and asked Mr. Gainey if he could take credit for the drop in homicides within our community.

"When I first came here, this city had 71 homicides; the city was on fire. If the homicides would have went up, would they have blamed me?... I can only control my jurisdiction… and at the end of the day, the homicides went down not by a little bit, but close to 35%," responded Gainey.

Gainey also addressed a topic close to home for many Allderdice students. "At Starbucks, I guess on Forward [avenue] kids were fighting every day… we eliminated that. We didn't do it by arresting them and putting them in jail, we put our REACH team out there," said the mayor.

REACH is a violence prevention initiative focused on interrupting and reducing violence in our neighborhoods. Its High School Support Teams work with Community Engagement Officers daily to help high schools that have been the sites of recent violence. Gainey has been working with the program since last year.

Next, Gainey discussed immigration and how he plans to handle possible mass deportation. "I want to make this the most welcoming city in America… we are a city of immigrants, and I'm not looking forward to helping anybody hurt somebody; my job is to keep this city safe, and I've been working from day one to keep this city safe, I don’t see how ICE coming in keeps people safe," said Gainey.

Belser followed up by asking the mayor if he had a message for police officers who might encounter immigration officers. Gainey provided a slightly cryptic message: "Be welcoming. They understand what that means, and I make it clear what it means."

Gainey wrapped up his conversation with Mrs. Belser to a big applause and embraced her before walking off. O'Connor took the stage next.

The two candidates were asked similar questions about housing but had slightly different responses. "I believe that we can build affordable housing all over Pittsburgh… you can do this when you have properties available, when you start offering tax incentives, when you start waiving certain fees… inclusionary zoning is a tool that I would love to use, but each market is completely different," said O’Connor.

He then brought up the 340 million dollar fund the city received from the COVID Relief Fund. He argued that the current mayoral administration misused the money: "We had 340 million dollars from COVID relief money that went to hiring 100 new employees in the city; who is going to pay for those 100 employees? We should have been planning a city of the future, where we restore land so we can use it, where we start investing in IT… and we also start investing in our own equipment."

O'Connor refers to the city's lack of ownership of trucks for Pittsburgh Public Works. The city currently rents trucks to plow snow and cover the roads with salt in the winter.

He then shifted to supporting young business owners and entrepreneurs who want to purchase the building where their business operates. "The city owns 11,000 lots. That's the one thing that we are not doing.  We are not putting resources back into residents–young entrepreneurs who want to do that. Let's work together. We'll give you a spot down the street, and then you create your own wealth as the owner," the Controller stated.

Belser next brought up a topic that the opponents agreed on: immigration. "No," said O'Connor when asked about ICE entering the neighborhoods. “When you are in the city of Pittsburgh, whether a visitor or permanent resident, I want you to feel safe for your rights and your protections."

Belser wrapped up the conversion by asking O’Connor how to push business development in places such as Homewood Ave. and Larmier Ave., which were noted as having growing populations and increasing housing numbers but lacking business fronts that allow a neighborhood to thrive.

O'Connor laid out his plan: "First, you start with prioritizing money in the budget for areas like that… we have planners, we have the department of planning, we have neighborhood organizations who have done plans that can combine to look into a city-wide plan. That's 6 million dollars. We should spend 1 million dollars in six neighborhood business districts that have transit lines, that have vacant storefronts, or that you can build new storefronts; that's where you can start redeveloping the hearts of neighborhoods."

O'Connor mentioned the intersection of Forbes Ave. and Murray Ave., just up the hill from Allderdice. He argued that we could have six more intersections of that stature across Pittsburgh if we had "taken and prioritized neighborhoods and people first, above another city-wide plan."

After a short intermission, both candidates returned to the stage for the debate with Ann Belser as the moderator. She would pose a question, and then each candidate was given two minutes to answer, alternating who responded first. Neither candidate was given dedicated rebuttal time, but they could rebut at the start of their next answering time.

Belser kicked off the debate with a new topic: Traffic control. "When I was on council, we put in some of the first speed humps in the city of Pittsburgh… speeding is always an issue. We have to keep our neighbors and our residents safe… We have to make sure there are no strips in the city of Pittsburgh where you can exceed the speed limit by 20 or 30 (miles per hour)," said O'Connor.

Gainey listed three ways he plans to try and continue to curb speeding. "One way we did it is by expanding some of the speed bumps. The other way that you heard us talking about is that there will also start to be a little bit more reinforcement out here when it comes to speeding because that’s important. The red light enforcement is the third mechanism that also helps us with police-community relations because now, instead of having that constant interaction that can cause problems, the red light cameras will be able to send in and say, 'Hey we're watching you.'"

The budget was next on the agenda. Belser questioned the candidates' budgeting priorities, "especially as revenue shrinks."

"When we came into office, we knew that our budget was going to be our moral compass… we stretched that penny thin, being in this situation means being able to make hard choices, and we did that, and we finished this year with a 4 million dollar surplus," stated Gainey. The mayor then called out. O'Connor for his poor budgeting as County Controller.

"Now, if you look at the county, where my opponent has been the 'chief financial officer' and the watchdog for county dollars, for two years, this budget has had structural deficits, and we have not heard one word until county executive Sara Innamorato took office, looked at the budget and found out what was going on," said Gainey.

"Well, let's start with looking at what the city needs. Well, right now, if it snows, we need plows. You did not invest in plows, what you did was went and hired 100 new people… you went on a hiring spree when you knew that the city could not afford it. You asked who blew the whistle on the county budget. I did," rebutted O'Connor. "The reason you have a 4 million dollar surplus is because you didn't fill positions in the budget. You took our public safety and you decreased our officers, you did not fill in our officers… I will start investing in things that impact us each and every day."

The candidates were then asked how they would increase the maintenance of bridges, parks, city-owned buildings, and community centers.

Gainey started his response by recalling the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Frick Park that occurred just a few weeks into his tenure as mayor. He remembers not even being able to visit the incident site due to gas leaks caused by the collapse. "We ignored the inspections," said the mayor. He referenced the Greenfield bridge implosion from 2015, "We never took notice to that and did anything to resolve the issue," said Gainey.

After the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge, Gainey created a bridge asset management program and rebuilt the bridge quicker than any bridge built in the state's history. "We also made sure that if the bridge was in failing condition… we were closing that bridge immediately… I apologize for the inconvenience, but I will not wake up again to a bridge that has collapsed," stated Gainey.

O'Connor answered the question by continuing to attack the current administration's lack of development in the Department of Public Works (DPW). "Why two weeks ago, when it snowed did your office print out 'surprised by the snow'... that is not what the city needs, you are renting vehicles. You want to talk about outgoing budgets and being transparent about bridges, you have zero dollars set aside for bridges for the future."

O'Connor then argued that the mayor had not invested enough money into the community centers. "Cowley Rec Center in the northside, was supposed to have 5 million dollars to rebuild it, had to move somewhere else. We are not investing in our rec, in your youth, or in our communities," said O'Connor.

The final topic of the debate was a portion of Pittsburgh Public Schools' wage tax that was diverted to the city during the city's last financial crisis. The diversion now amounts to around 20 million dollars annually, and the school board wants it back. The candidates were asked if they would lobby for the money to be put back into the school district.

"If we want to partner with the schools, we should go to the state and ask for a comprehensive plan because we cannot lose that 20 plus million dollars… If you want to have a long-term partnership with the schools, it starts right now," said O'Connor.

Gainey responded similarly: "We would have to have a conversation about where the money was reimbursed, how the state feels about that, and how we can better coordinate efforts between the state and the school district."

The mayor then used the remainder of his question time to refute O’Connor’s statements regarding the rec centers. "We've invested in our rec centers… that's why we're running night basketball to keep kids off the streets. We've invested in our families, we've created something called the Youth Civic Leadership Council, which gives high school kids an opportunity to be with the mayor, get free college from CCAC. …At the end of the day, it is also why we had interns in my office that help talk about the future of this city… we can't speak rhetoric; we’ve got to speak truth," said Gainey.

The debate ended with both candidates wishing each other luck for the remainder of the election cycle. The next scheduled date for both candidates to attend an event together and answer questions is Sunday, April 6th, at the Schenly Ice Rink.