Penn Hills mayoral candidates sound off
Penn Hills Mayor Pauline Calabrese faces a challenge this November from Deputy Mayor Frank Pecora in her bid for reelection, according to the Allegheny County Office of Elections unofficial candidate list. Both are registered Democrats, but Pecora received the Republican endorsement and will appear on the ballot for the party.
Here are the candidates and their responses to the election questions posed by the Penn Hills Progress.
Pauline Calabrese
Age: Declined to answer
Political party: Democrat
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, law degree from Duquesne University
Occupation: Attorney
Previous public office: Current mayor of Penn Hills, former school director
How will you promote affordable homeownership in Penn Hills, in terms of both supporting existing homeowners and encouraging new homeownership? Penn Hills is one of the most affordable and best values in homeownership in the region. Throughout my tenure, I have been and will continue to promote homeownership. The way to attract new residents and promote homeownership is to do what I have been doing since day one – make the municipality an attractive place to live from every standpoint. From day one, I set goals and I have embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign to promote Penn Hills. Under my leadership, without raising taxes, we have tripled our fund balance to $10 million, balanced our budget for four years in a row and improved our Standard and Poor’s bond rating to A+. We have added more police officers to bring us to a fully staffed department for the first time in years, modernized equipment for first responders and collaborated with non-profits to reduce gun violence. We leveraged matching grants to invest more than $7 million to pave our roads, improved our parks and community centers, and maintained public assets. I literally rolled up my sleeves and worked with our Shade Tree Commission planting trees to cut CO2 emissions and lead the charge in water treatment and sewage improvements for safe and clean water. And I successfully opposed efforts to privatize the sewer system and other public services, protecting the residents of Penn Hills from profiteering price hikes.
I have been the most hands-on, most accessible and most transparent mayor in the history of Penn Hills. Just drive down Rodi Road, the main gateway to our business corridor, and you can see the evidence of the infrastructure improvements, beautification efforts and safety measures. We are attracting more home owners. The more homeowners we have, the more business we will attract. I am in constant contact with developers and businesses, as well as constantly promoting the attributes of Penn Hills.
Frank Pecora
Age: 65
Political party: Democrat on the Republican ballot
Education: Penn Hills High School class of 1977, attended Penn State McKeesport
Occupation: Retired. As such, I will be able to function in a full time capacity as the Penn Hills Mayor
Previous public office: Current Deputy Mayor of Penn Hills and council member
How will you promote affordable home ownership in Penn Hills, in terms of both supporting existing homeowners and encouraging new home ownership? I will work with our residents, other local governments, the county, state and federal representatives to seek restructuring of the tax base to reduce the burden of property taxes on our senior citizens and families. There are alternative taxes that could provide the necessary revenues to continue municipal services with the burden spread across all residents of the municipality, not just the homeowners. I would support partial or full elimination of property taxes in lieu of other, more fair taxation plans. Real estate taxes differ among various jurisdictions and can drastically affect the willingness of investors to purse projects in housing and other construction. I would support tax abatement programs for areas of blight and deterioration to encourage development of these areas by businesses and for new construction of single and multi-family dwelling units.
I would support and expand the function of the Department of Planning and Economic Development to include staff specifically dedicated to grant searches and applications across the various aspects of municipal services. Dedicated staff could also be used to promote and encourage business and economic development opportunities within the community, this includes cooperation with the state to provide Keystone Opportunity Zones and local tax abatement programs such as LERTA (Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act) to facilitate public-private partnerships to encourage new development or renovations of deteriorated properties.
It is incumbent upon the mayor to maintain the public trust, particularly in municipal finances. Fiscal responsibility and accountability are the key to any change, so it would be necessary to do a comprehensive review of all municipal services to determine the best and most cost-effective way to continue performing all aspects of municipal services and to restore integrity and transparency in all financial affairs and the municipal government overall.
Jack Troy is a TribLive reporter covering business and health care. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in January 2024 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. He can be reached at
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