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.