MAYOR ED GAINEY WITH LONGTIME SUPPORTER DEVON TALIAFERRO. TALIAFERRO IS A PITTSBURGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD DIRECTOR.
Some PPS board directors, other officials standing by Gainey
Pittsburgh School Board Director Devon Taliaferro has had enough of the hating.
Now in her second term on the board, she told the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview how much of an asset she feels Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has been to the city, but specifically, to the students enrolled in Pittsburgh Public Schools.
She said that from Day 1, Mayor Gainey was “finding a way to make sure that the school district and the city were better well-connected. We started having regular meetings between our government relations committee on the board and the administration.”
Taliaferro continued: “The mayor instituted a lot of great programming for our high school students, like the Youth Civic Leadership Academy that educates high-school-age students about local government and how systems work, and also gives them the opportunity to shadow city employees.”
Taliaferro said Mayor Gainey partnered with the district’s successful CTE (Career and Technical Education) Program, “and getting CTE students access to job shadowing and internship opportunities.”
Not to mention that Mayor Gainey is a proud product of Pittsburgh Public Schools, graduating from Peabody High School, and being a parent of a PPS graduate as well.
With all this in mind, Taliaferro decided to host an event at the Black-owned Hysyde Lounge (California Ave., North Side) and publicly throw her full support behind Gainey as he seeks re-election for mayor. But it wasn’t just her—another PPS Board Director (board members are referred to as directors), Sylvia Wilson, came out to show her support for Gainey. As did PPS’ CTE Program Director, Angela Mike. As did another PPS employee, Ruthie Walker, who also doubles as Brashear High School’s girls basketball coach.
VICE PRESIDENT OF THE WILKINSBURG SCHOOL BOARD, ASHLEY
COMANS, WITH HUSBAND AND WILKINSBURG MAYOR, DONTAE COMANS.
Other supporters included Wilkinsburg Mayor Dontae Comans and his wife, Wilkinsburg School Board Vice President Ashley Comans. Some City of Pittsburgh employees were in attendance, too.
As the people in attendance clapped and shook hands with Mayor Gainey when he walked in, they waved “Re-elect Ed Gainey” and “Keep Pittsburgh Home—Ed Gainey for Mayor” signs, too.
Taliaferro said the event showed that despite reports that the Allegheny County Democratic Committee voted to endorse Mayor Gainey’s opponent, Corey O’Connor, for mayor, the support for Mayor Gainey around town is vast.
“When you’re the first to do something, that always ruffles feathers,” Taliaferro, a current North Side resident, told the Courier exclusively, March 10. “Him being the first African American mayor in this city and a mayor who really tried to bring equity to the city…there are communities that have been getting resources and services for decades and other neighborhoods in the city that don’t, and he wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to get the resources they needed for their neighborhoods to thrive.”
RUTHIE WALKER AND ANGELA MIKE WERE AMONG THE MANY ED GAINEY SUPPORTERS AT HYSYDE LOUNGE.
On Feb. 24, Mayor Gainey was endorsed by the Steel City Stonewall Democrats, the largest and most active LGBTQ+ political organization in the region. He called their endorsement “a testament to the work my administration has done to codify gender-affirming care, support Pride, and activate the full power of our city government to make sure Pittsburgh is a place where everyone can thrive regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.”
The mayor also has been endorsed by the United Steelworkers District 10, which represents nearly 50,000 steelworkers in the region.
“Mayor Gainey has consistently delivered for the union members and working families of our city,” said USW District 10 Director Bernie Hall, in a statement obtained by the Courier, Feb. 4. “During his time in office, he’s acted to protect worker safety, enforce prevailing wage law and paid sick days, negotiate fair contracts with unions, and guide young people directly into city union work and apprenticeships. USW District 10 looks forward to helping keep Mayor Gainey in office and continuing to build a city where all workers can organize, bargain collectively, and have a voice on the job.”
Mayor Gainey’s campaign website also listed SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Healthcare PA, IUOE (International Union of Operating Engineers) Local 66, Western Pa. Black Political Assembly and Congresswoman Summer Lee as endorsers of Gainey.
Come May 20, the date of the Primary Election, it’s highly unlikely that Gainey or O’Connor will win the Democratic nomination in a landslide. Mayor Gainey has forged too many relationships with different ethnic groups that support his views and mayoral leadership. However, O’Connor has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Mayor Gainey for his campaign, and television commercials are already running, urging residents to support O’Connor.
When the Allegheny County Democratic Committee (ACDC) announced on Sunday, March 9, that its members voted, 274-270, to support O’Connor over Mayor Gainey, the current mayor was not deterred. In fact, Mayor Gainey’s campaign called the historically close vote from the ACDC a demonstration against “establishment leadership” in the Democratic Committee.
“If there’s anything the first months of the Trump administration have taught us, it’s that Democratic voters want leaders who will put the needs of regular people over powerful corporations, billionaires, union-busting CEOs, predatory landlords and developers, and MAGA billionaires ripping Pittsburghers off,” Mayor Gainey said in a statement, March 9. “Some of our city’s Democratic leadership want to move backward to an era they were comfortable with, but I’ve spent my first term pushing us forward.”
Taliaferro echoed the mayor’s sentiments about how he stood up to UPMC to get them, officially labeled as a non-profit, to “pay their fair share,” as Mayor Gainey put it. Taliaferro also has enjoyed Mayor Gainey standing up to out-of-town real estate companies purchasing homes in the city and turning them into high-priced rentals.
“He has stood up against so many different factors and things,” Taliaferro told the Courier, “that don’t resonate with people when they have a different agenda and a different plan.”
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