Greensburg council race see GOP incumbents facing challenge from VOW-backed Democrats

Two Republican incumbents hope to keep their seats on Greensburg City Council as they face off against two Democratic challengers in the Nov. 2 general election.

Council members Gregory Mertz and Donnie Zappone Jr. will face newcomers Ceil Kessler and Yukie King, who are both backed by Voice of Westmoreland, a local nonprofit organization that promotes racial, economic and educational equity. All four candidates won in the May primary.

“I’m running because I care about these issues, I care about my life, I care about my children, I care about my family, I care about my neighbors and I care about my friends,” said King, 32, a student studying software development. “These issues that we’ve been having, we can make the change because it’s going to take us to make these changes that we need.”

King, who identifies as a nonbinary, transgender woman, said issues in the city largely center around the poverty rate, which in 2019 was almost 19%, census data shows.

For King, who previously worked as a health counselor for Passavant Memorial Homes in Pittsburgh, being a voice for those struggling with poverty has personal ties. A Greensburg resident for about 11 years, King said that at one point they experienced homelessness after being unable to afford an apartment.

“What I’m bringing is that experience of just knowing what these systems can do to people and knowing where these gaps can be,” King said. “We need to fix them so people stop going through them like I have. There is a lot we can be doing to increase our affordable housing in Greensburg.”

Kessler, 50, an analyst at Gateway Health Plan, shares a similar platform to King. The duo hope to combat poverty by focusing on transportation, supporting services for caregivers and focusing on social justice issues. If elected, they hope to offer job training and career services, incentivize businesses and fight for higher wages and unions.

In addition to combating high poverty rates in the city, King and Kessler also hope to make government more transparent by seeking feedback from community members. Kessler has been vocal about asking city leaders whether they will take public input on how American Rescue Plan dollars should be spent.

“There’s a lot of people out there that have ideas and they’re definitely interested in the community,” Kessler said. “Even if at first they don’t have something to say, if you give them a minute to think about it people care about what’s going on.”

Mertz, 37, who is a copywriter for nonprofits, said he hopes to build on revitalization efforts that began before the pandemic. Those efforts include building relationships with businesses and property owners, searching for grants to bring high-value projects to the downtown area and building on South Pennsylvania Avenue.

“After covid restrictions ended, this excitement was renewed, so I think Greensburg deserves elected officials who will continue working on this,” Mertz said.

He noted that accomplishments during his first term in office centered around reducing red tape in the city’s planning office. Others included bringing food trucks to the city and creating a grant program to help bring in partners to fill vacant buildings in the downtown corridor.

Zappone, 36, is running on a similar platform. The business manager and mechanic said he hopes to build on initiatives that started during his first term, including building on the city’s business district and streamlining city code. He hopes to continue that work by focusing on attracting new businesses to Greensburg.

“One thing we felt we got cheated from is from covid,” said Zappone. “A lot of businesses took a hit. We were doing really good.”

Zappone noted that change can already be seen throughout the city as residents work to return to normal during the pandemic. He noted growth that was beginning before the pandemic is returning as new restaurants and stores open downtown.

“I hope the voters give us another four years to hopefully be able to accomplish what we were starting to,” Zappone said.