Outgoing Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto reflects on time in office, what's next

When outgoing Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s political career began about three decades ago, the city was far different from the one he said he’s leaving Mayor-elect Ed Gainey.

Peduto said he started out working in “a city that was in a depression, a city that had been left for dead and a city that had really been counted out.”

Now, he said, the city is on stable financial footing, the pension fund is “the strongest it has been in decades” and the city has seen nearly $12 billion in economic investments during his mayoral tenure. Peduto is leaving the new mayor with a five-year balanced operating and capital budget, plus a reserve fund.

“People don’t laugh about Pittsburgh any longer,” he said. “Pittsburgh is seen as more of a cutting-edge city, a city that is more on the cusp of innovation and a city that is recognized as being back on the global stage.”

Peduto said he couldn’t pick a defining moment or his proudest accomplishment as mayor, and he doesn’t think there’s one thing that defines his legacy.

“It’s almost like looking at a screen and being asked to pick one pixel,” he said.

A legacy of progress

Peduto, 57, said he hopes his legacy will be one of transformation and progress.

“I don’t think the job of government is ever complete. There is always more work to be done,” he said. “However, when I look back at what we started with and what were able to accomplish, I’m very proud of the work we did.”

Dan Gilman, Peduto’s chief of staff, said he is most proud of “the breadth of work we accomplished,” including restoring the city’s financial security and creating an affordable housing trust fund to investing more money in city parks. The city modernized the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, and created the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure as well as the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

Through partnerships with the city’s workforce, Gilman said the Peduto administration was able to “change the culture of city government to reinvest in our workers, our infrastructure and our neighborhoods.”

“We are certainly leaving a more professional and competent government than we inherited. I don’t think people give enough credit to the literal administration of a government,” said James Hill, Peduto’s special assistant. “The true administration of a city is often a little less glamorous, but I think history will show we made the investments.”

Hill said the Peduto administration also brought “to the forefront issues that were never taken very seriously,” but needed to be emphasized in local government, such as affordable housing and racial equity.

City Councilman Bobby Wilson said Peduto was responsible for “shepherding this city into the 21st century.”

Work continued after loss

Peduto came up short in his bid for a third term as mayor. In the May primary, Gainey defeated Peduto to earn the Democratic nomination in a city that hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since the 1930s. Gainey cruised to victory in November and, in turn, made history by becoming the city’s first Black candidate to be elected mayor.

Peduto said he had been hoping to use another term as mayor to create a robust housing renewal program that transformed vacant and blighted houses into affordable housing opportunities across the city. He’d also been eager to use President Joe Biden’s infrastructure funding to make major, long-term capital improvements throughout the city.

After coming short in his bid for reelection, Peduto said he tried to make the most out of what time he had left in office.

“We realized that we did have a ticking clock,” he said.

Peduto said he used his last few months in office to establish the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, outline the first budget for the city’s new parks tax, designate Hays Woods as one of Pittsburgh’s largest parks and shepherd in major developments, like the Esplanade project moving forward in Chateau.

Peduto said he’s also confident he’s leaving a government “that Mayor-elect Ed Gainey can hit the ground running with.”

‘A calling’

“It was a calling,” he said of being involved in city politics. “There was something worth fighting for. I just made it my mission in life to work to make this city a place where there would be economic opportunity for others to be able to call it home.”

City Council on Tuesday recognized Peduto’s work, designating the day as Mayor William Peduto Day in the city.

“There was something extremely special about this administration,” Council President Theresa Kail-Smith told Peduto. “You put the city of Pittsburgh first in a way that I have not seen many people do.”

Councilwoman Erika Strassburger applauded Peduto for making Pittsburgh a leader on climate issues and for fighting hate and extremism. She called him a “scholar mayor” who brought forth hundreds, if not thousands, of policies and changes while in city government.

Peduto said he is grateful to have had the chance to serve his city.

“As a kid growing up in Scott Township, I never would’ve thought that it would’ve ever been possible. There is nothing in my background that ever would have even suggested that I would ever have a chance to have this job,” Peduto said.

“The very fact that I was able to have this opportunity,” he added, “there are so many people that I am eternally grateful to for believing in me and helping me to get here.”

Peduto looks ahead

Peduto said he feels some anxiety about what life outside of Pittsburgh politics will look like.

“There becomes comfort in the routine,” he said. “There becomes a question of how will you perform outside of that routine. That really becomes the question that you think about more so than the loss of office.”

Peduto said he plans to launch a consulting business, with more details on that venture to come out next month. He said he also has spoken with officials in Washington about potentially taking on a role with the State Department.

Outside of work, he said he wants to adopt a dog. He’s leaning toward an English bulldog.

“I honestly believe that I am going to have, for the first time in a long time, the opportunity to have a dog,” Peduto said. “I just have not had time to be able to take care of a dog by myself. And now I’m thinking that I will.”

Peduto said he hopes the city’s residents were proud to be Pittsburghers under his administration.

“We have proven to the world that Pittsburgh is a city that can get knocked down and stand back up,” Peduto said. “We have proven to the world that Pittsburgh is a tough, blue-collar city with a heart of gold.

“We have proven to the world that it’s a city worth fighting for.”