With his first year as mayor of Pittsburgh coming to a close, Bill Peduto said the first term was exhausting, but satisfying. He said the job is everything he thought it would be and more, though said there are some surprising aspects, namely having to deal with personnel matters.
“You have 3,500 employees, a certain percent of them are going to have issues with the people they work with and those issues don’t get resolved as you’d think – well a lot of them do – through the directors of personnel, they actually work their way all the way up the food chain,” Peduto said.
Other than that, Peduto said he is proud of the job he’s done in his first year. He’s taken some criticism for out-of-town trips he’s taken, but he said those are not paid for by the taxpayers, and help to promote the city and bring in big events, which spur economic growth. The National League of Cities is having its conference in Pittsburgh for the first time plus CEOs for Cities and the Mayor’s Institute for Civic Design are coming.
“They wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t go there. It doesn’t work that way,” said Peduto. “And when we start looking at grants, and we’ve been extremely successful in getting grants, every mayor across the country is writing and having their staffs put together these great applications, but it’s just like a salesman, unless you go and knock on the door and show up and pitch it personally, you’re not going to get it.”
As far as highlights of his first year, Peduto said he’s most proud of the budget, which he says lays a foundation for all the work he wants to do going forward.
“Creating an open system of governance, partnering with the county on it, and foundations and universities, to lead the world in open data,” he said, and pointed out some successes, “being able to get a Code for America Fellowship as one of only seven cities.”
The mayor also said his administration has been able to lay down a great platform for technology.
“And now people will be able to start to see it,” he said. “Instead of having to stand in line to get a shelter permit, you’re going to be able to join the 21st century and go online to do so.”
Overall, Peduto said he is happy where the city is after his first year.
“I’m happy about where this government is," he said. "I’m really proud of the people that we hired. I know we’re going to be able to solve all the problems in this city, that’s not a reality, but we’ve made an amazing amount of progress towards it."
Peduto said in the New Year, aside from getting a bit more rest into his schedule, he looks forward to seeing some of his first year’s projects and plans come to fruition.
