The job ahead for new Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor is to shrink and grow the city at the same time. It is not an impossible task, but it will require toughness. And O’Connor has been dealt a tough hand.
The Peduto administration had a checkered record in the business of running the city. Very large issues were unaddressed, from snow removal to bridge maintenance. One result was the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge and the closing of others that we are still living with.
Peduto was followed by Mayor Ed Gainey, who had little experience in running a city, and he immediately surrounded himself with people who had even less. Trapped by the political agendas of his top appointees and political supporters, he was unable to reach out for help from the city’s economic leadership — both public and private — where serious help was available…