Target 11 investigates battle over paving projects in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — A Target 11 investigation into a battle over paving projects in the city of Pittsburgh revealed a councilman, who intends to run for mayor, is accusing the public works director of playing politics.

Councilman Bill Peduto said he thinks two paving projects in his district have been put on the back burner because of retaliation, but public works director Rob Kaczorowski denies it.

“I’m used to negative comments. When things go right, council office takes credit and when things go wrong, we get the blame,” Kaczorowski said.

Kaczorowski denies that he’s retaliating against Peduto and said the controversy erupted when Peduto’s chief of staff criticized public works in a newspaper article for failing to fix a sinkhole in a timely manner.

“He called those complete (expletive) and then canceled the projects and the meetings. At some point in politics you have to say two plus two equals four. I can understand the director back-tracking now, once you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar you want to say it’s somebody else’s hand,” Peduto said.

Kaczorowski said paving is about priorities, and he will likely get to the projects Peduto is talking about next year.

“I won’t have any problem meeting with anybody. I’ll work with every council member to improve the safety of streets,” Kaczorowski said.

Peduto said he plans on pushing to get both projects done soon.

WPXI