#Mayor Ed Gainey

[iww-gnv]

PITTSBURGH — Weeks before contracts were set to expire, a group of essential workers in Pittsburgh made a “historic” labor agreement. Channel 11 last told you about 32BJ SEIU Janitors Union’s efforts when they held a rally downtown on the first day of contract negotiations. At that time, we were told they were looking for fair living wages and good benefits. Now, the union that represents about 1,200 Pittsburgh janitors says a new contract has been ratified that offers historic wage increases, a bonus, improvements to benefits, job protection and more. The current contract was set to expire on Oct. 31. “We are the reason Downtown survived the pandemic and we will be the reason it comes back stronger than ever. This agreement feels like we’re getting the recognition we deserve for all our sacrifices,” said Steve Kelly, 32BJ SEIU office cleaner and Bargaining Committee Member. Mayor Ed Gainey calls the new contract a “powerful testament” to the role of 32BJ SEIU members. “As workers nationwide grapple with challenges to their rights and hard-fought labor standards, you came together to win a contract that serves as inspiration for all working people. This agreement shows that when workers come together in solidarity to assert their worth and respect, they win,” Gainey said.

[modern-politics111]

January 28

Florida

1st District Republican Primary: Ten Republicans are competing for the seat vacated by Matt Gaetz, who was nominated to be attorney general but withdrew. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has received Trump’s endorsement and is considered the favorite.

1st District Democratic Primary: The primary for the panhandle-based seat is uncontested. Gay Valimont, a gun control activist who ran against Gaetz in the 2024 general election, will advance to the special general election in the reliably Republican district.

6th District Republican Primary: Trump has endorsed state Sen. Randy Fine over two other candidates. Fine represents a Brevard County-based state Senate district located outside the Palm Coast area seat he hopes to fill.

6th District Democratic Primary: One of two Democrats – attorney George Selmont or educator Josh Weil – will advance to the general election for this coastal Florida district south of Jacksonville. The district has historically sent Republicans to Congress.

April 1

Florida

1st District: The 1st District is the westernmost congressional district in Florida. It has consistently voted for Republican candidates, and is expected to remain in GOP hands.

6th District: The 6th District has historically sent Republican candidates to Washington, D.C. The GOP presidential candidate has carried all six counties in the 6th District in the last four presidential elections.

April 15

Oakland Mayoral Election

Voters recalled Mayor Sheng Thao in the November 2024 general election. Over one-dozen candidates filed to run in the special election to replace her, most notably former Rep. Barbara Lee. The winner of this ranked-choice election will serve through Thao’s term, which ends in early 2027.

May 20

Pittsburgh Mayoral Primary

Four years ago, Democrat Ed Gainey toppled two-term incumbent Bill Peduto in the Democratic primary. He now faces a challenge from Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, the son of former mayor Bob O'Connor.

June 10

New Jersey

Democratic Governor Primary: With Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy term-limited, there’s high interest among New Jersey Democrats to succeed him. The crowded field includes two U.S. House members, the mayors of Newark and Jersey City, a former state Senate president and the teachers union president.

Republican Governor Primary: Republicans are also lining up to lead a state that swung toward Republicans in the 2024 presidential election. After almost upsetting Murphy in 2021, former state legislator Jack Ciattarelli is running again. At least three other candidates, including a current and a former state senator, have announced campaigns too.

June 17

Virginia

Democratic Governor Primary: Rep. Abigail Spanberger was the first entrant into the 2025 race. She is favored to come out of the fairly small Democratic primary.

Republican Governor Primary: Virginia doesn’t allow governors to serve consecutive terms, so Gov. Glenn Youngkin can’t run for reelection. His lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, is in pole position to win the party nod.

June 24

New York City Mayoral Primary

Even before being indicted last September, Mayor Eric Adams failed to endear himself to New Yorkers in his first term. The incumbent has drawn at least a half-dozen challengers in the Democratic primary, which uses ranked-choice voting. One potentially major player – former Gov. Andrew Cuomo – has yet to announce his decision.

August 5

Detroit Mayoral Primary

Longtime Mayor Mike Duggan announced he will run for Michigan governor in 2026, opening up the race for the state’s largest city for the first time since 2013. Declared candidates include current and former members of the city council.

Seattle Mayoral Primary

Incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell seeks a second term. Washington conducts all-party primaries at both the state and local level, so all candidates run on the primary ballot. The top two vote-getters advance to November’s general election.

September 23

Boston Mayoral Primary

Incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu has already announced plans to seek her second term. Assuming at least two more candidates qualify for the ballot, Boston will hold a nonpartisan primary to whittle the field down to two candidates in advance of the general election.

November 4

New Jersey Governor

Virginia Governor

New York City Mayor

Atlanta Mayor

Boston Mayor

Detroit Mayor

Pittsburgh Mayor

Seattle Mayor

TBD

New York’s 21st District

New York has yet to set a date for a special election to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was tapped to be ambassador to the U.N.She is expected to resign once confirmed. There won’t be primaries. Democratic and Republican parties will each select their nominees for the special general election.

[beardedmrbean]

PITTSBURGH — On the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, Pittsburgh’s Jewish community mourned the victims. Their politicians were busy mourning the Palestinians — and blaming Israel for the terrorist attack.

Rep. Summer Lee, Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato issued a joint Twitter statement saying they have “hearts big enough to grieve those killed one year ago and those massacred in the year since.”

“Our grief is compounded by the fact that it didn’t have to be this way,” they went on. “This violence did not start on October 7.”

Pittsburgh’s Jewish leaders read the statement loud and clear.

“This warped and deliberate weaponization of language can only be interpreted as a way to undermine the Israeli and Jewish victims of October 7,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh responded, adding the pols “place the blame on the victims of October 7: Israel and its people.”

“It displays a stunning lack of sensitivity that veers into antisemitic territory,” Rabbi Seth Adelson of Beth Shalom Synagogue told The Post. “I’m just baffled that they thought on this day that could have been received well.”

Adelson admitted his mind was elsewhere: His son Oryah Meidan had just deployed to northern Israel to fight Hezbollah in a war that began with another terrorist group on Israel’s southern border.

One year ago, Hamas terrorists murdered, raped, beheaded and kidnapped more than 1,400 people, including more than 40 Americans. Hamas is still holding 97 people hostage.

But Pittsburgh’s political leaders did not mention Hamas, nor “that Israel is fighting a just war for her survival,” Adelson said while gripping his guitar, which he had just played for an audience of more than 1,200 people.

He was one of a group of performers in a series of songs, prayers and stories to commemorate Oct 7. victims at a Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh event, which ended with a prayer for Israel, its national anthem, “Hatikvah,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“They seemed to be signaling to political allies, and those are not the majority of their Jewish constituents,” Adelson said of Pittsburgh’s pols.

In a letter shared with The Post, Rabbi Aaron Meyer of Temple Emanuel begged his elected officials “to reconsider and remove this hurtful, hateful statement.”

But others suggest Pittsburgh remove these leaders entirely.

“On one thing we can agree: we are looking for elected officials who find the courage to lead with empathy. We need leaders who can find empathy for Jewish and Israeli victims of terror,” the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh finished.

One of those elected officials, Lee, is up for reelection in November. Surviving a pro-Israel primary challenger, the Democrat is up against Republican James Hayes.

The Squad member pushed for a cease-fire just weeks after Oct. 7, when Hamas committed the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust. She’s called for an arms embargo against Israel and accused the Jewish state of committing genocide. 

More than 40 of Pittsburgh’s Jewish leaders this spring denounced Lee for her anti-Israel rhetoric and taking money from people who celebrated the Oct. 7 attacks.

Though Jeff Finkelstein, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh CEO, commended Democratic Sen. Bob Casey for his support of Israel on Oct. 7, Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick has tied Casey to Lee for not retracting his endorsement of the freshman congresswoman.

“I am definitely aware of people in the community who are considering voting Republican for the first time in their lives,” Adelson noted.

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Monday, August 2, 2024 - Kamala Harris

Today Vice President Harris traveled with President Biden to Pittsburgh, PA to meet with Labor Union leaders and the Mayor of the city—Ed Gainey. After the one-on-one meetings, they held a campaign rally at the IBEW Local Union #5 union hall. A video of the speech the VP gave will be shared shortly.

~BR~

[markdoncicmahomeslewiscurrynasx]

Larry Scirotto confirmed as new Pittsburgh police chief | TribLIVE.com

A future Dallas Police chief in future.

[18ricco]

I want to thank Ed Gainey and Brother MELVIN HUBBARD EL for making April 22nd Ricco J.L. Martello day in the city of Pittsburgh April 22nd 2022. I also want to thank NABHI CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES for this award and getting city council, the city of Pittsburgh mayor's office and congressman Mike Doyle for the proclamations.... THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I APPRECIATE YINZ ALL!!!! #pittsburghphotographer #pittsburghvideographer #nodaysoff #nabhichristianministries #pittsburghphotojournalist #18ricco #positivethinking #bekindtooneanother #showlove #nabhi #edgainey #melvinhubbert #riccojlmartelloday #riccojlmartello #jlmartello

[grindcitymedia]

3/25/23 10:00 am The 2nd ANNUAL BLESSING OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD Present by N.Braddock Mayor Cletus Lee - special guest Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey

[roberthesterentertainment]

CONGRATS, ED GAINEY!!!!

Enjoy this very, very historic Moment, Pittsburgh. Yours Truly congratulates Pittsburgh’s Own Ed Gainey on becoming the first Black candidate as Mayor of the city we love now more than ever!

WE DID IT!!!

#ThisIsrhphotography #rhphotography roberthhstr3.wix.com/rhphotography

[pghroads]

It All Comes Crashing Down

Well, it finally happened.  No longer is our city’s road system a joke - it’s literally collapsing.

Normally this blog has a lighthearted tone - but I’m honestly furious.  My family and I drive on the Fern Hollow bridge all of the time, I’ve walked on it, ran on it, rode my bike on and under it.  And on January 28th 2022, it collapsed.  Luckily it seems like no one will die from this, but make no mistake - it was pure luck.  A day where schools were on time, or Covid hadn’t kept more workers home and there very likely would have been fatalities on and under the bridge.

The city will claim poor here - Mayor Ed Gainey already pointed out this is why we need to invest in infrastructure (ironically President Biden was in town to tout the new federal infrastructure bill... which would have allocated $0 to this bridge).  But why should citizens of Mississippi or California pay for this?  Why citizens of Altoona?  This bridge collapse personifies how our city has CHOSEN to defer maintenance on this and many other roads.  This road is 100% the city’s responsibility.

Fern Hollow Bridge was opened in 1973, making it not even 50 years old.  There are many bridges older in our city, the Smithfield Street bridge was 90 years old when Fern Hollow Bridge opened.  Making infrastructure last a long time is not a secret - in fact one of the leaders in such preservation technologies is headquartered here - Pittsburgh Paints and Glass.  I’m not an expert here, but here’s a simple example of how you can maintain things:

Imagine a rock chips the paint of your new car down to bare metal.

If immediately you buy a $2 can of touch-up paint, you’ll instantly prevent rust from forming!

If you wait a couple of weeks (especially in our salt invested climate), rust will form.  Now you need to sand out the rust and paint - ok more effort but still doable.

But let’s say you wait longer.  Now the rust spreads, you may even get a hole in your bodywork.  NOW you need to cut out the rust, weld new body panels in, AND repaint it.

But let’s say you still wait.  Now it spreads to the frame.  Eventually the car is too rusted out to be salvageable and you need to buy a new car.

This seems to be our city’s approach to this and many other projects.  Deferring maintenance until it needs to be replaced, rather than keeping up with it.

Deferring maintenance is understandable when the budget is tight.  But since this bridge went into “poor” status in 2011, let’s see what the city has prioritized over repairing it.

Well... they repainted all of the Police cars and Garbage trucks a snazzy new grey color: https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/04/13/pittsburgh-police-cars-ambulances-and-city-vehicles-changing-colors-to-represent-steel-heritage/

They built a brand new bridge to service the... 15 residents of Duck Hollow: https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pittsburgh-will-require-clean-construction-for-first-time-on-duck-hollow-bridge-project/

They are replacing every street light so we can see the stars better: https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2021/september/light-pollution-ordinance.html

They spent a bunch of money on traffic calming, even when the original goal couldn’t be met: https://pghroads.tumblr.com/post/611202612311752704/the-beechwood-bumps

Bike lanes for vanity vs usefulness: https://pghroads.tumblr.com/post/93305185305/some-insight-into-how-bad-road-decisions-are-made (this is continuing with more bike lanes up Beacon - a road no cyclist would use, in order to make a pretty map... while our existing bike lanes are barely maintained at all).

The finance department salaries for the city is five times more the entire infrastructure spending... (Finance dept is 30% of the whole budget!) and yet... they outsource the tax collection to Jordan Tax Services still!!!  At $167m, it dwarfs what seems to be the negligible amount set aside for roads, which are barely mentioned in the budget: https://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/redtail/images/12065_2021_Mayor_s_Operating_Budget.pdf 

Now this is not an argument against any of these projects - I can see the merit in every single one of them.  If we had the budget of say San Francisco (10x Pittsburgh’s).  But Pittsburgh is like that friend who buys a brand new truck, hits the club with bottle service every night, goes on 4 trips to Cancun, and then complains that he can’t afford to fix his leaky roof.

Let’s walk through some tough decisions:

Hmm... deciding between a new paint scheme for our garbage trucks... or my family being crushed alive as we plummet down a collapsing bridge...

Hmm... reduce glare for the stars, or have 10,000 tons of concrete crush me while walking in the park.... geez another tough one.

The city knew for a DECADE this and many other bridges needed maintenance or serious repairs/replacements - this bridge had already been put under a weight restriction, and yet there were plants to fix it until 2030.

Now let me say, every city worker I’ve met honestly seems like they have the best intentions in mind - however it’s clear our leaders have been prioritizing “interesting” over boring things like maintenance.  Don’t be surprised that they’ll suddenly want to catch up on some of this maintenance, and want to raise our already high taxes.  Similar to Alcosan... and the City Schools.  Notice a pattern?  Don’t let them.  Write your city councilperson and have them explain this, there is literally blood on their hands. Demand accountability and change.

UPDATE - the PG has some great reporting here: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/02/13/Pittsburgh-bridges-state-funds-repairs-Fern-Hollow-Charles-Anderson-Brighton-Heights-West-Carson-Swinburne-Swindell-Larimer-South-Negley/stories/202202130065 as I predicted, there are already claims of “being poor” and Councilperson Erika Strassburger throwing up her hands with bureaucracy or being confused why the bridges were not fixed (props to her for at least giving comment unlike our mayors).  But look at her record and you’ll see why we’ve only allocated a few million dollars to bridges - the safety of these bridges is not even on her radar as she focuses on (worthy, but less urgent) progressive issues like electric charging stations and plastic bag bans.  Get ready to hear how we need new taxes to finally fix these bridges!

[wpanews]

Your guide to the May 18 Pittsburgh mayoral primary election - The Pitt News

Your guide to the May 18 Pittsburgh mayoral primary election – The Pitt News

By Millicent Watt, Senior Staff Writer Challengers Ed Gainey, Tony Moreno and Mike Thompson will face off against Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in next Tuesday’s primary elections, after a heated campaign season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person voting takes place on May 18 between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and all requested mail-in or absentee ballots must be turned in before 8 p.m. on Election Day.…

[georgiamailbox]

We are all in this together Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gaineys office tells South Side residents

‘We are all in this together,’ Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey’s office tells South Side residents Hannah Wyman: hwyman@post-gazette.com and Twitter @Hannah_SWyman. First Published July 12, 2022, 6:13pm. http://dlvr.it/STqfTj https://southdaotavirtualmailbox.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/we-are-all-in-this-together-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gaineys-office-tells-south-side-residents/ from https://youtu.be/bRIPdm37A1o/ https://newhampshirevirtualmailbox.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/we-are-all-in-this-together-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gaineys-office-tells-south-side-residents/ July 13, 2022 at 05:19PM

[indianamailbox]

We are all in this together Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gaineys office tells South Side residents

‘We are all in this together,’ Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey’s office tells South Side residents Hannah Wyman: hwyman@post-gazette.com and Twitter @Hannah_SWyman. First Published July 12, 2022, 6:13pm. http://dlvr.it/STqfTj from https://youtu.be/bRIPdm37A1o/ https://southdaotavirtualmailbox.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/we-are-all-in-this-together-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gaineys-office-tells-south-side-residents/ July 13, 2022 at 10:01AM

[mainemailbox]

We are all in this together Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gaineys office tells South Side residents

‘We are all in this together,’ Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey’s office tells South Side residents Hannah Wyman: hwyman@post-gazette.com and Twitter @Hannah_SWyman. First Published July 12, 2022, 6:13pm. http://dlvr.it/STqfTj from https://youtu.be/bRIPdm37A1o/ https://southdaotavirtualmailbox.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/we-are-all-in-this-together-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gaineys-office-tells-south-side-residents/ July 13, 2022 at 10:01AM

[montanamailbox]

We are all in this together Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gaineys office tells South Side residents

‘We are all in this together,’ Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey’s office tells South Side residents Hannah Wyman: hwyman@post-gazette.com and Twitter @Hannah_SWyman. First Published July 12, 2022, 6:13pm. http://dlvr.it/STqfTj from https://youtu.be/bRIPdm37A1o/ https://southdaotavirtualmailbox.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/we-are-all-in-this-together-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gaineys-office-tells-south-side-residents/ July 13, 2022 at 10:01AM