Mayor Bill Peduto says the relationship between cities across the country and the presidential office has changed drastically since Donald Trump was inaugurated, citing infrequent check-ins compared to the Obama administration.
"The Obama administration, all the way down to each of the departments in the White House, reached out on a weekly basis and we worked with them very closely," Peduto said. "With this administration, they obviously have chosen to go a different route."
Donald Trump visited Harrisburg Wednesday evening for the second time since his inauguration. In June, the President made his only visit to Pittsburgh since January, stopping at Pittsburgh International Airport for a brief rally.
Peduto said Trump's infrequent communications with cities might be related to the president focusing on his rural and suburban support base, rather than urban areas.
He added that this change in connections is not specific to the city of Pittsburgh, citing conversations with other mayors including New York City's Bill DeBlasio that reflected the same pattern.
"If this president becomes frustrated by Washington's inability to tackle big issues, then he may start looking at states and cities as the partners in order to get things done," Peduto said.
A week before Trump's inauguration in January, Peduto expressed concerns about the Trump administration, including worries that Pittsburgh and other sanctuary cities would be punished for being immigrant-friendly.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said last December that he hoped the president would keep his promise to invest in infrastructure.
