The mayor’s term so far has been dominated by crises and shortcomings.
During the first 100 days of his term, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor has encountered a slew of challenges facing the city.
O’Connor uncovered a roughly $30 million hole in the city’s budget, is preparing for Pittsburgh to host the 2026 NFL Draft, and declared a state of emergency during a major snowstorm.
He even dealt with a sealed search warrant served on the city by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office. The contents have not been made public.
“Every day is different in this job. One day you’re jumping into a pool. The next day you’re getting served a subpoena. The next day you have a blizzard. Then you have an NFL Draft. There’s a lot that changes every day,” O’Connor said in a recent interview.
O’Connor said he believes his administration is fulfilling promises made during his campaign.
“You look back and say, ‘OK, did we do what we said we were going to do in those hundred days?’ I think if you look back on what we campaigned on and what we said we were going to do, it was transparency, how are we going to grow the city, how are we going to invest in families. We started that process. We’ve done exactly what we said we were going to do,” O’Connor reflected in the interview.
On the budget issue facing Pittsburgh, the situation is severe. O’Connor announced shortly after taking office that the budget drafted by former Mayor Ed Gainey and then finalized by City Council was significantly short on money.
City leaders blamed Gainey’s administration for failing to share relevant financial information or pay bills on time.
O’Connor said he was aware of the financial challenges facing the city, but did not understand their scope until after he was sworn into office.
The search warrant issued by the district attorney’s office sought information about contracts, according to O’Connor. He said the city cooperated and gave officials the requested information, but did not elaborate further on the information that was requested.
The city has also been under scrutiny for increasing accounts of fraud. Earlier this year, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against two Pittsburgh business owners involved in an elaborate EBT scheme. The fraud involved discounted purchases of EBT cards which were used to buy food for the couple’s deli and restaurant.
