Pennsylvania State Rep. Ed Gainey has witnessed Pittsburgh’s tech boom firsthand, including those it has lifted, and those who remain left behind.
Gainey, a Democrat, in May became the first challenger to unseat an incumbent mayor in a City of Pittsburgh primary election in 88 years. He is poised to become the city’s first Black mayor come November’s election in the overwhelmingly Democratic, Rust Belt city.
His perspective on Pittsburgh’s evolution dates back well before his political career, and is rooted in his city upbringing.
“It’s funny. It’s like two different streets, right?” Gainey said of Penn Avenue, the commercial artery that runs through East Liberty, the thriving city neighborhood where Gainey grew up in subsidized housing.
Once Pennsylvania’s third-largest commercial shopping district, East Liberty is today home to tech companies like Duolingo…
