Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Tony Moreno says the reason he wants to unseat Mayor Bill Peduto is because the city is broken.
"We watched the city go through some magnificent growth, but it didn't grow equally. This administration just makes people beg for services that they deserve," he told the News Radio KDKA Morning Show on Tuesday. "We have a community here that's suffering; we don't get treated fairly."
Moreno says he's trying to put the neighborhoods first and told the Morning Show that instead of inflicting somebody's vision upon the community, we need to ask them what they want and what they need to grow.
He also addressed the recent uptick in violence in the city and said the problem goes back to before the COVID-19 pandemic. "Back in 2019, there were people getting murdered downtown in broad daylight, businesses were closing left and right, and it's because of the mayor's failed policy of de-policing. This isn't a COVID issue. This is a policy issue.
"They removed the beat personnel from Downtown. That was me. I created a team Downtown that addressed people suffering from mental illness and homelessness and addiction and we did a really good job because Downtown was thriving.
"The mayor took over, he pulled that from Downtown and he took us away and it took a little while, but now you see the results of his failed policies," said Moreno.
"Businesses close because they don't feel safe. People don't come Downtown because they don't feel safe, for good reason," continued Moreno.
Moreno says the solution is to reinstitute policing with officers who are motivated to be in the community and the Downtown business district.
Larry Richert and Kevin Battle have been talking with all the mayoral candidates in the weeks leading up to the Primary Election on May 18.
