After 16 years on Pittsburgh City Council, Theresa Kail-Smith is retiring.
That doesn’t mean she plans to stay away from council chambers, however. Kail-Smith said she expects to return to offer her perspective during the public comment periods that open each meeting.
“Being a council member’s not all glitz and glamour at all,” Kail-Smith said at the end of her final council meeting Monday. “It’s a lot of hard work.”
She recalled late nights and early mornings, investing her own time and money in the West End communities she represented and taking calls from constituents — even on Christmas Day.
Kail-Smith has been doing that work since her election in 2009. Now, as she retires, she said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her children and grandchildren.
‘I hate politics’
Kail-Smith, 66, of Pittsburgh’s Westwood neighborhood, had never set foot in City Council chambers downtown before the day she was sworn in as a member.
It was a role she never expected to find herself taking on.
“I hate politics. I hate public speaking. And I’m really not great at math,” Kail-Smith said after weeks of often tense debates about the numbers in a contentious budget. “To be there in that capacity, I thought God either had a sense of humor or a purpose here. I’m still not sure.”
Kim Salinetro, Kail-Smith’s longtime chief of staff and successor on City Council, said she thinks Kail-Smith earned her re-elections by remaining an active community member and returning calls from constituents.
“I think that was Theresa’s big legacy — she gave a voice to the voiceless,” Salinetro said. “There were times when she took a call from somebody she couldn’t help, but who just needed to know somebody cared. I think she got re-elected year after year because people knew her. She wasn’t a stranger or some person in an ivory tower making decisions. To residents, she was a friend.”
Kail-Smith sat on council during three different mayoral administrations. Her tenure included two terms as council president.
While leading council, Kail-Smith presided over the body’s first virtual meetings when the covid-19 pandemic forced officials to govern via Zoom.
“That was a tough time,” she told TribLive, adding that she also focused during the pandemic on ensuring vulnerable residents had food delivered.
Under her leadership, Kail-Smith emphasized strengthening council’s role in city government.
She hired a solicitor to give council legal opinions independently from the administration, though council next year will outsource that work to an outside firm. Kail-Smith also was at the helm as council approved a measure that allows members to publicly interview assistant and deputy directors, whom the mayor appoints.
“I hope moving forward that council, they recognize their importance as the checks and balances in city government,” Kail-Smith said. “It’s great to work with administrations, but it’s even better to work for the people.”
A neighborhood advocate
Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, said he believes Kail-Smith’s career was defined by how fiercely she advocated for the neighborhoods she represented and how dedicated she was to strengthening City Council.
“There are two things I would see as your legacy: always caring about the people you serve and always caring about the people you serve with,” he told her.
Council President R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill District, said Kail-Smith taught him to protect council.
“She was very adamant about not ceasing any power, not ceasing any responsibility,” he said.
Lavelle — who is now the longest-tenured member of council — recalled sitting next to Kail-Smith when he was first elected. They became friends.
“Even when we vehemently disagreed with one another, I always knew that she had the interest of her constituents particularly, and the city of Pittsburgh at large, first and foremost,” he said. “She always carried their perspectives.”
Kail-Smith often clashed with outgoing Mayor Ed Gainey, joining a majority of council members in endorsing Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor in the Democratic primary instead.
She was among the council members who rejected a sweeping zoning reform that Gainey had hoped would be a hallmark legislative success for his administration. It would have mandated developments with 20 or more housing units earmark a percentage of them as affordable for low-income residents.
The mayor and the planning commission opposed an effort Kail-Smith spearheaded in the final months of her last term to add new deadlines to development permit reviews and revamp the Department of City Planning and Planning Commission. The efforts remain in limbo after the planning commission voiced its dissent.
Kail-Smith earned the respect of council members with whom she seldom agreed.
Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, often was at odds with Kail-Smith on a number of issues — but she offered enough high praise of Kail-Smith at her last meeting to reduce the retiring councilwoman to tears.
“Your name may not be up on this wall,” Warwick said, gesturing to the walls of council chambers that bear the names of the city’s past mayors. “But you are one of the great women of Pittsburgh politics.”
Warwick recalled the first time she met Kail-Smith over coffee. Because of their political differences — both are Democrats but they took opposing stances on issues ranging from a tax increase to zoning changes — Warwick said she was nervous at first.
“But within like five seconds, I feel like we immediately hit it off,” she told Kail-Smith. “I felt so comfortable with you. You’re just so smart and savvy and kind and persistent. Theresa, you’re a force. You’re a force to be reckoned with.”
Her council colleagues credited Kail-Smith for always being available to talk through issues, standing up for local youth and pushing for fiscal accountability.
Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, said Kail-Smith was often the one to bring council members together when they acted like “grumpy siblings,” fighting over legislation.
Kail-Smith told TribLive she was proud to have advocated for food access and anti-litter efforts while on council.
One of her final votes at the council table was a no vote on a 20% property tax increase, which was ultimately approved. Kail-Smith said she worried the tax hike would be too burdensome for some residents, who have also been hit with higher school and county taxes.
Among her favorite accomplishments, she said, was bringing mixed-income housing to Fairywood, allowing seniors who had previously been displaced from the neighborhood to return home.
Salinetro also pointed to Kail-Smith’s success in opening a spray park in Chartiers Park as a high point.
Some projects Kail-Smith started will be left to her successor to see through. That includes a master plan for Sheraden Park, the long-delayed West End Trolley Trail and the conversion of a former school building into a recreation space.
Kail-Smith said she hoped to see officials also invest in a facelift for the stretches of Grandview Avenue and PJ McArdle Roadway that attract tourists eager to take in the stunning views of the city from atop Mount Washington.
“I’m really proud of a lot of the things we did,” Kail-Smith said. “But there’s always going to be something.”
She routinely advocated for more investment and attention to the neighborhoods she represented: Banksville, Chartiers City, Crafton Heights, Duquesne Heights, Mount Washington, East Carnegie, Elliott, Esplen, Fairywood, Oakwood, South Shore, Sheraden, West End, Westwood and Windgap.
Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, told Kail-Smith that he believed voters would have elected her for as many terms as she wanted.”
“Your legacy will live on forever,” he told Kail-Smith. “You’re a real legend here.”
