LONGTIME CITY COUNCILMAN REV. RICKY BURGESS was elected to another term during the Nov. 5 general election. (Photo by J.L. Martello)
by Rob Taylor Jr. and J.L. Martello, Courier Staff Writers
Love him or hate him, but voters of Pittsburgh’s Council District 9 made it clear—they approve of Rev. Ricky Burgess and want him in office for four more years.
The incumbent councilman garnered 41 percent of the nearly 8,000 votes cast for City Councilmember in District 9 during the Nov. 5 General Election. Randall Taylor had 28 percent, B. De Neice Welch scored 22 percent, and Barbara Daniels had about 4 percent.
In an interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier after his victory, Councilman Burgess acknowledged he had to “work extra hard” with so many challengers in both the Primary and General elections. But he said it was “worth it, because we want to rebuild our city and, in particular, the neighborhoods I represent.”
Those neighborhoods include the East End areas of Homewood, East Hills, Larimer, Lincoln-Lemington, East Liberty, Garfield, Friendship, and Point Breeze North.
“We ran on our record of making our city safer, stronger and more secure, and to make Pittsburgh a city for all, not just a city for some,” Councilman Burgess told the Courier exclusively. “So we are grateful for the confidence that the voters have given us, our district has given us, and we look forward to serving them for another four years.”
As the votes were being tallied throughout the evening, it became apparent that Councilman Burgess was not in any sizable trouble of being ousted. He felt that the voters approved of “our hard work of doing public safety reform that has brought down homicides…700 units of affordable housing in my district, and we’ve helped bring jobs and increase wages.”
Overall, Councilman Burgess’ “record of being effective is what helped us be successful tonight,” he said.
Councilman Burgess said he’s looking forward to rebuilding the business district along Homewood Avenue. He also has projects in the works in East Liberty. He said development is more than just building—development can be a springboard to better education, better jobs, lowering crime and having an better overall quality of life.
But the first thing on the reverend’s agenda is continuing to support fellow Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle’s legislation to make racism a public health crisis in the City of Pittsburgh. Councilman Burgess wants to work with Councilman Lavelle on securing “significant resources to combat that by going after all the indicators—low employment rates, lack of affordable housing, incarceration, income levels.” It’s all about “bringing more resources to the African American community to combat the effects of structural and institutional racism in our city,” Councilman Burgess said.
In other election races:
In McKeesport, Michael Cherepko defeated Fawn Walker-Montgomery in the mayoral race.
In the Pittsburgh school board races, African American Devon Taliaferro defeated Kirk Rys by an 82 to 17 percent margin to claim the school board District 2 seat. African American Kevin Carter ran unopposed in District 8.
In the county-wide races, Democrat and incumbent Rich Fitzgerald easily defeated Republican challenger Matt Drozd by a 68 to 31 percent margin to continue as Chief Executive. Democrat and incumbent Stephen A. Zappala Jr. defeated Independent Lisa Middleman to claim the District Attorney seat for another term (57 to 43 percent margin). Chelsa Wagner retained her position as County Controller with a convincing victory over Brooke D. Nadonley (63 to 36 percent), and in the County Council races, African Americans DeWitt Walton (District 10) and Olivia Bennett (District 13) ran unopposed.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph K. Williams III faced a retention election, and he was affirmed (75 percent “yes” to 25 percent “no”), thus staying in his position, while Oscar J. Petite Jr. continues as Magisterial District Judge.
President Judge Kim Berkeley also faced a retention election and was affirmed 78 to 21 percent.
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