Joseph Sabino Mistick: The path ahead for Mayor Gainey

Like most newly elected chief executives, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is entitled to a bit of a political honeymoon. But soon after his swearing-in, it became clear that there is no time for a grace period, because Gainey’s first two months have been full of surprises — none of them good — that were left for him by former Mayor Bill Peduto.

Four days into his new job, a big snow hit the city and Gainey hit the road with city crews on the plows. That’s when he learned that the public works department that he just inherited lacked the equipment to do the job right.

Then, the city-owned Fern Hollow Bridge, which had been rated in “poor” condition since 2011, collapsed into a Frick Park ravine. Held together by cables and rusted beams, it was just one of many city bridges that dangerously suffer from deferred maintenance and neglect.

And last week, The Pittsburgh Foundation and Heinz Endowments released a damning report on the condition of essential city services. The report was prepared to ease the transition to a new administration.

As reported by Charlie Wolfson for PublicSource, “Pittsburgh’s public safety bureaus face urgent equipment and staffing needs.” The Bureau of Fire, the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and the Bureau of Police are all suffering from inattention to critical needs.

Pittsburgh fire Chief Daryl Jones told the report’s authors that he is concerned about the aging firetruck fleet and that five of the front-line trucks are more than 11 years old and beyond their prime. Firefighters union president Ralph Sicuro told PublicSource, “Our lives depend on this equipment operating at a structure fire.”

EMS also suffers from breakdowns and prolonged downtime as a result of an aging ambulance fleet. No new ambulances were ordered for 2021 or 2022, which prompted Pittsburgh EMS Chief Ronald Romano to tell the report’s authors, “I now need nine ALS (advanced life support) ambulances for 2023 at almost $3 million.”

And a staffing shortage at EMS has paramedics looking for options outside of Pittsburgh. Paramedic union president Jonathan Atkinson told PublicSource that staff commonly work three consecutive 18-hour shifts with six hours off between shifts, taking a toll on them and their families.

At the Bureau of Police, nearly 30% of the force is over retirement age, and there are few prospects to replace them. Police union president Robert Swartzwelder told PublicSource that there are no recruits in the 18-month training program and that the Peduto administration “set the Gainey administration up for failure.”

Yet another recent report — this one prepared by Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Tech4Society, a student group from Carnegie Mellon University — condemned Peduto’s emphasis on trendy transportation options such as scooters, bike shares and autonomous vehicles.

The study concluded that these options are too expensive, impractical and often focused on the neighborhoods that need them least, leaving low-income residents and those with disabilities few choices for “safe, affordable and effective transit.”

On the campaign trail, Gainey said, “What you’re going to get from me is a person who goes to work every day, who’s going to work as hard as I can to serve the people of this city.” Godspeed, Ed Gainey.