Seeking 3rd term during pandemic, Peduto says 'there's still a lot of work to do' - TribLIVE

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As he launches his campaign to seek a third term in office, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto isn’t kissing babies, shaking hands or doing any of the usual things associated with a politician.

Instead, on Thursday he shared a recorded interview with supporters on Facebook. On Friday, he began a series of individual talks over Zoom about why he’s seeking to be reelected.

“Welcome to my kitchen,” Peduto quipped, sitting in his Point Breeze home in front of a wall covered with campaign signs.

The 56-year-old Democrat doesn’t yet feel his time’s up yet. “I know there’s still a lot of work to do,” Peduto said.

After being elected to city council in 2001 and serving three terms, “I had a feeling that I had accomplished most of what I had come there to do,” he said. “I don’t have that feeling right now as the mayor. But I do know that politicians have a shelf life, and if you can’t determine yours the voters will for you.”

Should he win a third term, Peduto would join former mayors Tom Murphy (1994-2006), Richard Caliguiri (1977-1988) and David L. Lawrence (1946-1959) as the only Pittsburgh mayors to serve for so long.

There are no term limits for a Pittsburgh mayor, but Peduto has pledged that a third term would be his last. “I don’t want to be the person who is the old curmudgeon getting in the way,” he said, of a new generation of leaders ready to take the reins.

He said he wants to leave the next mayor in good stead, “with a city that is much better than the one that I inherited.”

Peduto’s goal, in the short term, is to lead the city through the pandemic, with confidence now that federal aid will be coming so the city doesn’t face layoffs in July. He said President-elect Joe Biden’s recovery plan, outlined Thursday, should bolster Pittsburgh and the country through this year and 2022.

He also wants to continue working on police reforms that activists demanded during Black Lives Matter protests last summer. Peduto touted the changes he’s ordered for the police response to protests, and outlined others that are in store as the way policing is done in the city is remade.

Those actions haven’t been enough to satisfy some. At least one activist said the changes to police response to protests weren’t noticeable, and city council’s budget meetings were filled with hours of residents demanding a 50% cut to the police department budget.

But police brass have said they’re committed to reforms. Activist Tim Stevens, who leads the Black Political Empowerment Project, said in December that he has a “sense of hope” for the direction the city is headed.

“Cultural change has already begun,” Peduto said.

He and other city leaders are now working to find ways to allow social service agencies help deal with the non-criminal crises that police now respond to.

There’s still work to be done as the perception, if not the reality, remains that Blacks and other minorities are over-policed and or underserved and face other inequalities compared to other residents.

It’s a balancing act. While activists protest the way police do their jobs, many residents who live in Black communities like Homewood ask for a more-visible police presence.

“We can do better,” Peduto said, and the answer is more community-oriented policing — where officers know the communities they serve and people know the police.

The mayor also wants to continue to lobby state leaders to allow Pittsburgh to expand its taxing options to be more flexible and equitable. Under current law, the city can’t collect taxes from nonprofits like UPMC, Allegheny Health Network and the universities in the city that anchor many neighborhoods.

“We have our hands tied,” Peduto said.

He’s lobbied for such reform and asked for more financial contributions from these entities, but the amounts they’re willing to contribute are less than the city needs, he said. The pandemic and its economic hit across all sectors have also delayed this process, he said.

The city’s priorities include a new $21 million homeless shelter that’s the result of a public-private partnership that involves the city, Allegheny County, PNC, UPMC, Allegheny Health Network, Highmark Health, and others including local foundations. It’s scheduled to open next year Downtown on Second Avenue.

Other goals include continuing to invest in the Avenues of Hope program to revitalize the city’s historically Black neighborhoods and to improve the city’s parks using the half-mill property tax that voters approved last year.

Peduto is also working with other officials, including the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, to remake the city’s Land Bank and Housing Opportunity Fund be able to take on more projects.

Green energy remains a priority. Peduto is a leader in touting what’s dubbed the Marshall Plan for Middle America, which calls for major investments in renewable and green energy in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.

After nearly two terms in office and “tested by fire” that includes the city’s financial recovery, pension, water issues and the 2018 Tree of Life massacre in Squirrel Hill, Peduto’s administration has gelled as a team and is ready for more.

He welcomes the challenges.

“I love it,” Peduto said. “I feel blessed that I have the best job in the world.”

A challenger has yet to emerge for the May 18 Democratic primary. The primary election is, by default, the final election, as Republican voters are a distinct minority in the city. The last viable Republican mayoral candidate was Mark DeSantis in 2007, who took 35 percent of the vote against Luke Ravenstahl. The last Republican mayor, John Herron, left office in 1933.

Feb. 16 is the first day Pennsylvania political candidates can circulate nominating petitions and March 10 is the first day candidates can file nominating papers to formalize their candidacies.

Tom Davidson is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tom at 724-226-4715, tdavidson@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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