PITTSBURGH — From the recent crime wave in the city of Pittsburgh to the Fern Hollow bridge collapse in Frick Park, the former mayor of Pittsburgh is speaking out for the first time since leaving office in January. He spoke with Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle, who covered the Peduto administration for years.
The former Mayor is responding to his critics, defending his time in office and attempting to set the record straight, as he sees it.
Our interview with Peduto on the streets of Point Breeze was briefly interrupted by a driver who stopped to express his displeasure with traffic circles that were built under the Peduto administration to slow traffic in neighborhoods.
They have begun popping up in many city neighborhoods as a safety measure.
We don’t like these traffic islands. They slow down traffic, " said the driver.
“That was the purpose,” responded Peduto.
“It’s not about the more efficient flow of traffic. We don’t like these,” said the driver,
“OK,” responded Peduto.
“Open traffic lanes back up,” said the driver.
“I’m not the mayor,” said Peduto.
“I know you are not, but you’re the one who did that,” said the driver.
“I did,” said Peduto.
“I voted for you though sir, thank you,” said the driver.
“OK. Thanks,” said Peduto.
“Do you get that a lot?” asked Earle.
“Not about these. Mostly people in this neighborhood like it because you can walk and do other things,” said Peduto.
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After the shocking collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge on Forbes Avenue, some critics questioned the mayor’s penchant for bike lanes and traffic circles.
“Some of your critics said you spent too much time on bike lanes and traffic circles instead of bridges. How do you respond to that?,” asked Earle.
“Yeah, well I think this would be a great way of being able to understand what the process is. The process isn’t that local government funds bridges. The funding comes from Washington, and when you have a president that doesn’t put forth a transportation bill, let alone an infrastructure bill like Joe Biden did for four straight years, there’s no money that comes to local governments to be able to repair bridges,” said Peduto.
“So, you’re saying you were handcuffed?,” asked Earle.
“Every municipality around the country was handcuffed. And when people say, ‘well we don’t want Washington to do it,’ then they don’t understand since the Eisenhower administration, how every bridge was built. We would not have a roadway system in this country if Washington didn’t build it, and Washington is the primary source. Seventy percent of all our bridges throughout this entire nation, not just in the city of Pittsburgh, are funded by Washington funds. The other 20% usually comes from the state, and when you have a state government that stalls any type of revenue being increased to be able to maintain the dysfunction of our bridges, then it only costs more when you have to replace instead of repair. And when state representatives start jumping on the bandwagon and saying it’s a local government issue, they either don’t understand the issue or they’re trying to throw and cast shade in order to not take the responsibility that they have. So, when I heard of those types of comments, of course, it was troubling because people don’t understand the processes,” said Peduto.
Just weeks after leaving office, Peduto also faced more questions about snow removal, when residents said the new administration was slow to respond to icy, snow-covered streets.
New Mayor Ed Gainey said he was left with a fleet of aging trucks in poor condition.
“We never had enough trucks either. I mean, that was one of the things that is part of a much bigger issue when it comes to snow removal, you could potentially have 40 additional trucks, but you know, we worked on issues of workforce. We never had enough workers come out, so we had to change the rules. We had to go back with the unions. We didn’t have the ability to just mandate, you have to come out,” said Peduto, who added that he authorized the purchase of new trucks just before leaving office.
“On our way going out, knowing we lost the election, we purchased 16 additional trucks for the Gainey administration knowing we wouldn’t have the ability to use them. The only reason that he didn’t have them is because what’s happened all across this world with the supply chain, and the inability to have those trucks delivered by next winter. He’s going to have those and whatever else he decides to put into the budget this year, he’ll have those additional trucks as well,” responded Peduto.
Peduto also addressed the recent crime wave. While some community leaders are now asking for more police and public surveillance cameras, the former mayor says he heard a much different message while in office.
“It goes against everything that we heard for the past two years from activists, and we’re going to have to have this discussion in Pittsburgh and it’s going to have to happen, not on Twitter or on Facebook, it’s going to have to happen in the Hill District, in the Hilltop communities and in Homewood. It’s going to have to happen in the West End, where we are starting to see the crimes, in violent crimes starting to get more and more active and where it’s increasing. It’s going to happen in the North Side and in Carrick. These are the areas where the people are being directly affected and their voices are going to have to be the voices that are being listened to,” said Peduto.
Peduto also expressed concern that the vaccine mandate he implemented for all employees in December, but was ordered to negotiate with the police and fire unions, is still unresolved.
The Gainey administration had said hey planned to continue those negotiations, but the administration has yet to provide a status update.
“There is absolutely no reason that police and firefighters should not be following that same rule. It’s an obligation to not only them and their families, but it’s an obligation to the people they serve within the city of Pittsburgh. In most cases, they’re the ones going into people’s homes, when people need medical emergencies and people should be assured that as they enter into their homes, that they have been properly inoculated against COVID.”
Peduto told Earle this will likely be the one and only time he addresses the controversial issues involving his former job.
He’s moved on from public life and started his own consulting firm. He’s also now lecturing and teaching at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as doing some part-time work for a cybersecurity company in New York.
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