🎙️ Q&A with Mayor O’Connor

Locals Named James Beard Award Semifinalists

Jamilka Borges at Lilith is up for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic, and Apteka is a contender in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category. See the full list. [James Beard Foundation]

PRT Offers Sign Language Interpreters

Pittsburgh Regional Transit riders can now access live American Sign Language interpreters to help with purchasing tickets and other communication needs. The service, provided through the Aira ASL app, is free and available anytime. [TribLive]

State Official Calls for Taxes on Data Centers

Pennsylvania’s utility watchdog says data centers are “already causing electric prices to increase for consumers” and that lawmakers should tax these centers to offset residents’ bills. Private companies like Amazon Web Services and Blackstone are investing tens of billions of dollars to build data centers across the state. [WITF / SpotlightPA]

These Pittsburgh Businesses Need A Boost

The Downtown jazz bar Con Alma is asking for donations to keep the music alive. Plus, there’s a fundraising gala on Sunday. Harold’s Haunt, an LGBTQ+ community hub in Millvale, hopes to host chef pop-ups in their kitchen. Cesina’s Sausage Co. in Aliquippa is recovering from a fire at its family business. Find all the donation links here. [Pittsburgh Magazine]

What has Corey O’Connor been up to during his first month in office? City Cast Pittsburgh podcast host Megan Harris sits down with the mayor to hear about new initiatives, tight budgets, and some fresh ideas to revitalize Downtown.

We also asked O'Connor YOUR questions. Listen to the podcast for his takes on ICE, affordability, dark sky compliance, parks, snow plows, litter, and more.

Favorite part of the mayor's office so far? I did this as the [county] controller. Even today, before you guys got here, one of my meetings ended a little early, so we walked the halls. We went to the fourth floor, saw public safety and the parks departments. And I always think it's good of the mayor to just pop in. And the reaction you get is, you know, somebody's not looking. They're like, ‘Oh my goodness! What are you doing?!’ I’m just here to say thank you. I really enjoy doing those kinds of pop-ins. They're fun.

Your predecessor called our current budget situation “the lean years.” You came in fresh on the heels of a small tax increase. How are you feeling about Pittsburgh’s ability to pay its bills in 2026? We're still putting it together. I think what City Council did was brave, because we do have funding gaps. But now, uncovering various things as we go through this process, we're still seeing gaps in funding and trying to get our hands around what the [difference] might ultimately be. … I think it's more than what we anticipated.

Do you anticipate any new cuts for the city? Not that we're expecting. It could change. If [we have to], we'll reopen the budget and have that conversation. But I don't think we'll know the details for [another] couple weeks.

Several past mayors have tried to get the “big four” or “big five” nonprofits — including UPMC, Highmark, Pitt, CMU, and Duquesne — to pay toward city services in some way. What’s your approach? We've had some general conversations. For us, it's going in with specific asks to all of the nonprofits, within their mission, to get a community benefits agreement that's gonna benefit everybody. So does it go to rec centers? Does it go to buying us more equipment, to our fleet, which is down? So focusing on ambulances, fire trucks, police — can we get an agreement that is very specific in where the money goes. And making sure that if something like that is finalized, that the money is audited annually so that more eyes are on it and the public knows the dollars are being spent properly.

One of your first initiatives is Main on Main, focused on revitalizing business districts. Give me an example of what you want to revitalize and what a mayor's office can do to get it done. Every neighborhood has that intersection that everybody goes to, and it's not always just a shop or a restaurant, but there's that connectivity. And I think those are the places we have to focus on. So whether it's cleaning up, putting in better lighting, providing facade grants to a new company or an existing business that already is in your main street now, those are the things that really get small business districts going again and [can create] anchors to larger developments.