<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2cFhcX_1GoVr65700" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2cFhcX_1GoVr65700" width="840" height="560" ><figcaption>Jakob Lazzaro / 90.5 WESA Pittsburgh City Council member Deb Gross (District 7) in January 2024.</figcaption></figure>Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross, who has represented Council District 7 for more than a dozen years, will not seek reelection next year.Gross said she would step down when her term ends on December 31, 2027 — in part because she was confident that there are "capable leaders” in her district.“I always check in with myself before an election year, like, ‘should it be me running for the seat? Am I the best person to serve the district?’” Gross told WESA Thursday evening. “I feel like this time I'm actually really energized by just how much leadership there is in District 7. There's just people doing fantastic projects in every part of the district.”“The district just feels like it's in a really good place, and I'm enthused about that,” she added.Since winning a special election in November 2013, Gross has represented a district centered on the neighborhoods of Polish Hill, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Friendship, Stanton Heights, Morningside, and Highland Park.She has the second-longest tenure on council, behind only council President Dan Lavelle.During her tenure, she says, she and colleagues and residents of her district “changed the dialogue” around city policy. She said she was proud of projects that focused on increasing access to food, housing, and water.Affordable housing concerns loomed especially large as once-gritty Lawrenceville began gentrifying rapidly. Concerns about lower-income households being priced out of the area helped lead to Gross’ work promoting mandatory inclusionary zoning, a policy that requires new developments to include a certain portion of more-affordable units in their market-rate projects. A plan to make the program effective citywide failed, though it remains in effect in parts of her district and Oakland.Gross said she was proud of Council’s work to address vacant properties and eviction prevention. She spearheaded an effort to use money from a Stop the Violence Fund program to help tenants avoid eviction, as well as the creation of the Housing Opportunity Fund – a pool of money intended for housing programs.That program’s future is unclear, as Mayor Corey O’Connor’s proposed budget for 2027 provides no allocations to it. But Gross praised Lavelle in particular for his support of the program: “It's been great to work alongside him and other council members to do kind of the whole toolkit of affordable housing.”Gross touted a number of other accomplishments, including traffic-calming improvements and mobility investments across her district. She’s also supported urban farming and food programs, and a ballot question which passed last year aimed at ensuring Pittsburgh’s water system would never be sold to private interests: Gross has been a strong critic of privatization both as a council member and during an earlier stint as a member of the water authority board.Over the next year, Gross said she is excited to see some neighborhood projects come to fruition, including an expansion of bike and foot trails along the Allegheny Riverfront throughout Lawrenceville, Morningside, and Highland Park.And she said she was optimistic about the future of the city as a whole: “I feel good about the work that we've accomplished and the direction that we're heading in.”</div></body>

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Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross, who has represented Council District 7 for more than a dozen years, will not seek reelection next year. Gross said she would step down when her term ends on December 31, 2027 — in part because she was confident that there are "capable leaders” in her district.

Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross will not seek reelection

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Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross, who has represented Council District 7 for more than a dozen years, will not seek reelection next year. Gross said she

Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross will not seek reelection

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