Longtime activist Carl Redwood looking for a spot on Allegheny County Council

Carl Redwood has organized collective action around civil rights, tenant protections, and workers protection for decades in Pittsburgh, and now he’s hoping that experience will propel him to a seat on Allegheny County Council.

Redwood, 70, of the Hill District, said he is running for Allegheny County Council’s 10th District because he said life has been getting more difficult for working class and poor people. He said they are facing increased rent and higher grocery costs.

“The issues affecting the working class and poor folks, particularly Black folks, are getting worse,” Redwood said.

District 10 includes Braddock Hills, Edgewood, Forest Hills, Wilkinsburg, and the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Bloomfield, East Liberty, East Hills, the Hill District, Highland Park, Homewood, Larimer and Oakland.

It is one of the county’s only majority Black districts.

A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Redwood said he is proud to run as a socialist independent. He said many of the problems that working class and poor residents face in Allegheny County are linked to issues associated with capitalism.

“I believe the root cause of the problems we see is capitalism, and I believe the solution is socialism,” he said.

He has nabbed a slew of endorsements from progressive politicians and left-wing groups. Councilwomen Bethany Hallam (D-Marshall-Shadeland) and Anita Prizio (D-O’Hara) have backed Redwood’s run, as has the Pittsburgh chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Green Party of Allegheny County.

The District 10 incumbent is DeWitt Walton, D-Hill District. Walton has often verbally sparred with Hallam and the county’s progressive coalition, while generally supporting the agenda of Democratic County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Redwood, who founded the Hill District Consensus Group, said his campaign issue his housing, and he touted his slogan “the rent is too damn high.” He said increased rents have pushed people out of Pittsburgh, which is an issue that has been especially stark in the city’s Black neighborhoods.

If elected, he would push for rent control policies, provide tenants facing evictions with a right to counsel, and advocate the county’s housing authority to boost community land-trust efforts. He said the county should also explore developing its own social housing to increase the supply of affordable housing units.

He believes the county can successfully build and run public housing, citing what he sees as the success of the U.S. military in providing housing for active service members.

Redwood also supports environmental policies like a countywide ban on natural gas drilling, or fracking.

He acknowledged that these efforts, like rent control and a countywide fracking ban, might be preempted by state law. But he said it’s worth passing them anyway in order shift the conversation on what is holding back policies that received popular support.

“We need to link what we do locally to something broader to really change the system that does not work for the majority of our families,” said Redwood.

The longtime activist has organized movements in Pittsburgh civil rights campaigns, among tenant groups, and was a local coordinator for the 1984 Jesse Jackson presidential campaign.

He said county council needs to put in more effort to combat racial disparities that persist in Allegheny County. He said Black poverty rates are double white poverty rates in the county, and that has been unchanged since the 1960s.

Redwood said supporting unionization efforts, particularly at healthcare giants like UPMC, would go a long way in fixing racial disparities, since the hospital group employs such a large share of Black workers.

“We should support the unionization of more workplaces, particularly at UPMC, which is the largest employer of Black women in Pennsylvania,” he said. “That one single thing would do more than any other single thing to help Black families in Allegheny County.”