Rep. Ed Gainey calls on Peduto, Pittsburgh officials to act to prevent evictions

State Rep. Ed Gainey and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto agree the city needs to work quickly on legislation that protects renters from facing eviction because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The city has the legal authority and a moral obligation to protect the health and safety of its citizens,” Gainey said in a statement released Wednesday through his campaign. “Confronted with an affordable housing crisis, a deadly global pandemic, freezing temperatures and near-record snowfalls, Pittsburgh renters urgently need protection from eviction while we await the passage of a relief package in Washington.”

Gainey and Peduto are among four candidates running for mayor. Gainey’s call for the city to take action to prevent evictions was his first public volley in the campaign.

Gainey called for the city to enact legislation similar to that passed in Harrisburg to protect renters from eviction.

He also touted his work in the state House, where Gainey is a co-sponsor of legislation that would establish a statewide moratorium on evictions during a declared state of emergency.

Peduto is working with city council to fine-tune eviction moratorium legislation, which council hopes to act on next week.

On Tuesday council unanimously extended the “declaration of disaster emergency” in the city through March 16, a day shy of the one-year anniversary of the initial emergency declaration when the pandemic took hold.

Officials are working to make sure the eviction legislation is something that can withstand court challenges, council members said Tuesday.

Gainey, 50, of Lincoln-Lemington, is challenging Peduto, 56, of Point Breeze in a race that also includes retired police officer Tony Moreno, 51, of Brighton Heights, and businessman Will Parker, 41, of the North Side.

All of the candidates are running in the Democratic primary.

Gainey has been endorsed by the activist group One Pennsylvania.

“Ed believes in a Pittsburgh where we can all thrive, whether you were born and raised here or you moved here last week,” One PA’s Western Pennsylvania Director Angel Gober said. “We need a mayor whose head and heart are with the hardworking people of Pittsburgh, and not with executives looking down on us from the tops of the towers Downtown. One PA is thrilled to stand beside Ed Gainey.”

Councilman Bobby Wilson this week endorsed Peduto for reelection, bringing the number of Pittsburgh City Council endorsements to five. The others are Ricky Burgess, R. Daniel Lavelle, Erika Strassburger and Corey O’Connor

“It’s great to work with Mayor Peduto because he is always willing to provide the North Side with the tools — the people, plans and infrastructure — it needs to build its future,” Wilson said. “It takes a real, dedicated leader to make progressive promises a reality.”

The mayor was endorsed this week by state Rep. Emily Kinkead, a Democrat from Brighton Heights.

“We can debate now about how progressive and inclusive this city can be because of what Bill Peduto has accomplished in his two terms as mayor,” Kinkead said. “No one who serves in public office escapes without legitimate criticism, but I’m proud to call Bill Peduto my mayor.”

Neither Moreno nor Parker have announced any endorsements.

Gainey and Moreno are vying for the formal support of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, which will announce its slate of endorsed candidates on March 7.

Peduto isn’t participating in the party endorsement process because, like many Democratic candidates for other offices, he remains critical of what happened in the 2020 primary election.

Last year the committee endorsed Heather Kass for the 36th District state House seat. She got the endorsement despite controversies over her old social media posts that opposed the Affordable Care Act, mocked drug addiction and gun control and showed support for former President Donald Trump.

Jessica Benham won the June 2020 Democratic primary and went on to win the seat in November.

Changes were promised after the internal party flap, but “none were implemented,” Peduto said, hastening his decision to exclude himself from the endorsement process this year.