Housing, public safety, and affordability the focus of Pittsburgh mayoral forum
Housing affordability and public safety were the main focus of Thursday's Pittsburgh mayoral forum.
Democrats Mayor Ed Gainey, Corey O'Connor, and Republicans Tony Moreno and Thomas West all spoke at the forum.
Candidates acknowledged the population problem the city faces, which has stressed the city's finances.
In many cases, people live outside the city because it is cheaper, and how to get people to live within city limits was up for debate.
Gainey, during the forum touted housing as an achievement of his administration.
"We built more affordable housing than any administration in the last 20 years, we built more than 2,000 units either built or in the pipeline," Gainey said.
He spoke first during the forum. He said his administration has an inclusionary zoning program. The city planning commission recommended the plan in January. City council has yet to vote on it.
"We believe that any development that will be over 20 units, we should have 10 percent of affordability in it," Gainey said. "There's no problem with 50% affordability in development and housing developments that have 20 units or more."
The mayor said his plan will help to repopulate the city, explaining it will make sure a mom of two kids who makes $35,000 a year can afford to live in the city.
Republican Tony Moreno spoke second. He was asked about the mayor's zoning plan.
"I completely disagree with all of it. It's a fraud. It's a way to steal money, it's a way to control communities," Moreno said.
He said developers are buying off politicians.
Moreno didn't share his own specific plan for housing in the city.
Allegheny County Controller and Democrat Corey O'Connor said he supports inclusionary zoning, but has a different approach.
"Inclusionary zoning does not work all across the city of Pittsburgh, because each and every market is different," O'Connor said. "Each neighborhood market is different. If you want to build affordable housing, you have sites ready. You have to work with community groups, community organizations and build affordable housing."
That's not happening under the Gainey administration, he said.
"Their number of 2,500 then yesterday was 3,000 units. Where are they? They're not being built," O'Connor said, adding there should be a focus on home ownership.
Republican Thomas West was not asked about housing during the forum. We asked him about the mayor's plan afterward.
"There's been no transparency on that whatsoever. So a lot of people are confused about what that means," West said.
Neighbors should get to decide if they want inclusionary zoning, he said.
"I think part of the problem is we're building affordable housing in areas that make it unaffordable for a lot of people. We didn't go to neighborhoods that've been left behind to help build affordable housing," West said.
He believes there should be a focus on creating jobs in those same neighborhoods.
All the candidates also faced questions about public safety. This is what candidates had to say about crime and the city's police.
West: "Until people want to come into that area, want to shop in that area, open businesses in that area, you want to open up businesses in that area? You gotta have a safe neighborhood for that to happen. You have to make sure downtown is safe at all hours of the day."
O'Connor: "We have to start trusting our youth. Bringing our youth to the table. Having areas and space for our youth to be invested in the city."
Moreno: "You need a police chief that has done the work but is also in tune with the communities and what's going on around those communities because not everybody's the same."
Gainey: "When I came into office, we had 71 homicides. I've always said one homicide is too many. As of today, we have reduced homicides by 33%."
The forum was hosted by the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Pittsburgh at the Northside Institutional Church of God in Pittsburgh.
