11 Investigates Exclusive: Mayor Gainey responds to attacks by challenger O’Connor

PITTSBURGH — Chief Investigator Rick Earle spoke one-on-one with Mayor Ed Gainey on Friday morning.

It’s the first time the mayor has spoken about the challenge he’s facing from Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor.

O’Connor announced earlier this month that he was running for mayor against Gainey.

O’Connor is the first challenger to jump into the race.

During a news conference announcing his candidacy, O’Connor blasted Gainey on a number of issues from downtown safety to the number of employees in the Mayor’s office to the sudden and surprising departure of the Police Chief.

Today, Gainey responded to some of those allegations.

Earle:  Corey O’Connor announced he’s running against you and he came out swinging against you. He criticized you for dropping the ball on the homeless, for dropping the ball on public safety.People don’t feel safe downtown. Your response to some of these issues he criticized you on?

Gainey:  We look forward to, we look forward to having that debate. We look forward to having that conversation. I mean, you know, when you talk about homicides and non-fatal shootings being down 45% you know, that’s lower than it was before the COVID, before COVID, so that’s a wonderful thing. The homeless, we always said when we had a place that we could put on, we would. I mean, we did have a setback during Second Ave Commons, but we’re doing just what we said in regards to making sure that our unsheltered population have a place that they can stay. So, you know, we look forward to talking about that.

Gainey was referring to a fire at the Second Ave. homeless shelter that led to a months long shutdown.

The shelter has since reopened.

Earle: He said people still don’t feel safe downtown. Last week, you had a 93-year-old woman raped, you had an armed robbery at Subway and an aggravated assault on Jimmy John’s?

Gainey: One, let me pray for that lady. That’s number one. We always know that we have some issues. I wouldn’t stand here and say, we didn’t have no issues, but what I will say rick is from what downtown looked like when I took over and what it looks like now, and seeing the night life that’s back downtown, seeing the cultural district doing good, seeing the restaurants being sold out every single weekend, there’s a safety mechanism that people feel real safe. I was just down two nights ago at the August Wilson Center, beautiful event, and everybody feels safe down there. So, I understand there’s a perception, but there’s the reality. The numbers don’t lie.  We’ve done very good downtown. That was my goal when I came in, and we’re achieving just that. The draft is coming in. There’s no NFL team that’s going to put their billion dollar image on the line if they don’t feel that the city is safe. That doesn’t happen in no city.

Gainey also highlighting what he says is a 45% drop in murders and non-fatal shootings, and defending his deal that nearly doubled the pension of the former Police Chief Larry Scirotto.

Earle: He was also critical of the deal with the police chief calling it a back room deal?

Gainey: It wasn’t no back room deal with me and Scirotto. When Larry came here he asked me a question and I said no he couldn’t we got to get these homicides down.

Gainey says he gave the chief permission to return to officiating college basketball after a decline in the murder rate.

But after mounting pressure that he would be away for five months to referee, Scirotto decided to retire.

Earle: He accused you of misusing ARPA (American Rescue) funds and hiring more people in the mayor’s office than ever before?

Gainey: I have no idea about the ARPA funds, or what he’s talking about there’s no evidence of that. That is something that is untrue.

Earle: What about your staff? The size of your staff?

Gainey: It’s a good staff. They getting down. They doing the work.

O’Connor accused Gainey of creating jobs for his friends in the budget and dramatically expanding the size of the mayor’s office.

Gainey, who in his first run for mayor defeated incumbent Bill Peduto, said he welcomes the challenge from O’Connor.

“We look forward to having that debate. We look forward to having that conversation,” said Gainey.

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