‘We have to stand up for our city’: Ed Gainey outlines his vision for a second term

With the May 20 primary just days away, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is facing a stiff challenge from a field that includes fellow Democrat and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor in his efforts to continue holding the title of the city’s chief executive. 

Ahead of Tuesday’s election, City & State spoke with Gainey about his first-term accomplishments, his goals for the next four years and how the next mayor of Pittsburgh – whoever it may be – may have to stand up to President Donald Trump and the actions of his administration. 

First-term accomplishments

Gainey said his first term’s priorities have included improving public safety, expanding access to affordable housing and championing a revitalization of the city’s downtown area. 

In each of these areas, the mayor has claimed progress. On the topic of public safety – an issue near and dear to his heart (he lost his sister to gun violence in 2016) – Gainey sees reason for hope. After 71 homicides in 2022, the number of murders in the city dropped to 52 in 2023 and then to 42 in 2024, according to data from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. The number of non-fatal shootings in the city has also dropped each year after reaching 170 in 2021. The city reported 85 non-fatal shootings in 2024 – a decrease of nearly 28% from the prior year. 

Additionally, Gainey said that, thanks in part to expanded rec center hours and a focus on programming for school-age youth, Pittsburgh also saw homicides in the 13-to-17 age bracket fall to zero in 2024 – something that particularly heartened Gainey. “The focus on children is why I believe we reduced a lot of the homicides in the city,” he said.

“Between the ages of 13 and 17, we had no homicides in the city, which is incredible when you think about how much attention has been put on our youth and the homicide rate of our youth,” he said. “For us not to have one in 2024 – that’s why I believe we can get to zero when we talk about homicides. It’s gonna take a lot. We know the environment, and we know how much (of a role) guns play, but I believe we can get there.” 

Gainey also listed access to housing as a major theme of his first term, saying his administration has been “laser-focused” on the issue. He cited the city’s ability to secure a $31.57 million bond for affordable housing, the creation of a home ownership program for low-income residents and the city’s 12 low-income housing tax credits as big wins on the housing front. 

Gainey and his administration say they have delivered 1,600 affordable housing units, a number that includes those completed, under construction or in process – and existing units that are being preserved. His administration estimates that an additional 1,200 units are in the pipeline to be built – numbers that O’Connor has called into question. 

Citing Gainey’s own affordable housing tracker, O’Connor said in an April social media post that the true number of completed units is less than 13% of what Gainey is suggesting. “Pittsburgh needs 6,000 new affordable housing units. It’s time we got honest about how far off we are. Don’t just say it, build it,” O’Connor said. 

Speaking to City & State, Gainey said the affordable housing bond is already having a major impact. “It’s significant now,” Gainey said. “We used some of that bond money to close the debt, to close the gap, in order to build affordable housing and the scatter sites up in Allentown … It will continue to be productive in helping to build and conserve more affordable housing. It’ll be able to close some of those gaps.”

“We look forward to being able to use that tool, because I know that that tool will help us continue to make this city more affordable,” he added. 

The incumbent mayor also said a $600 million investment and 10-year strategic plan for downtown Pittsburgh is a “major victory” for the Steel City. 

‘We need to continue the investment’: Gainey’s second-term plans 

Gainey announced he was running for reelection at a symbolic place: the location of the January 2022 Fern Hollow Bridge collapse and subsequent rebuild – an event that Gainey has said set the tone for his administration. 

“'I’m proud to report that we got the Fern Hollow Bridge up in record time. I'm proud to report that right now we don't have no bridges in failing condition,” Gainey said. “We've addressed all the bridges that were in failing condition – and we fixed them.”

Public safety and housing remain key goals for Gainey if he wins a second term. “We want to continue the investment,” he said. “We want to make our downtown area (more like) a neighborhood, because the more affordability we build downtown, the more we’re able to create a situation where there’s always eyes on the street, which helps out with safety.”

Still, there is no shortage of challenges over the next four years. As with many large cities, public safety remains an ever-present concern. Gainey said he wants to recruit more emergency medical service workers, firefighters and police officers, and said the city’s fleets – for the police, public works, EMS and fire departments – need modernizing. 

“We still have to be aggressive in recruiting more police officers or firefighters. I think we also have to be aggressive in making sure that we’re working with our community organizations that are out here really fighting day to day.”

Gainey has long been a proponent of encouraging the city’s large, tax-exempt nonprofit institutions – with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Highmark, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University representing the so-called “Big 4” – to make charitable contributions to the city. However, an agreement has thus far eluded the Democratic mayor, though he did secure some willingness to engage from Highmark, with the nonprofit stating in January that it “is prepared to meet to discuss financial contributions to the city of Pittsburgh, if the large nonprofits – including UPMC – are part of the meeting.”

“We do have some that are ready to play ball, like Highmark – but they don't want to play ball by themselves. They want to make sure that UPMC is going to be involved. We’ve been trying to negotiate with UPMC, to no avail,” he said.

Getting buy-in from the city’s large nonprofits on making financial contributions to the city has been difficult, prompting the Gainey administration to challenge the tax-exempt status of more than 100 properties in 2024, including 61 properties owned by UPMC, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 

“In order to win this, we only need to find one property to get into Common Pleas court that is commercial and not living up to the status of a nonprofit. Once we get into the whole portfolio, it has to open up,” Gainey said. “So there’s no quick fix to someone that has the type of money that they have and has never been willing to really want to play ball. To me, it would be a great thing if we could just come to an agreement, because it would show the unity of this region, and it would show that we're all in it together.”

The next mayor – whether it’s Gainey, O’Connor or another candidate – will also have to grapple with the Trump administration, which has sought to slash federal funding, cut federal government jobs and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Gainey told City & State that he was one of the first mayors in the country to signal that he would not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Trump’s immigration policies, while also noting that he signed executive orders seeking to enforce fair housing rules and respond to Trump’s rollback of housing protections. 

“I believe that we have to stand up for our city,” Gainey said, adding that while the nation’s political climate is divided and polarized, the current moment is also a moment for Pittsburghers – and Americans – to connect on a deeper level. “At the end of the day, we’re all Americans. This is a great opportunity for Americans to know each other, to be able to bond together.”