Activist group hopes to present petition asking for Arnold mayor's resignation | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Activist group hopes to present petition asking for Arnold mayor's resignation

A movement is under way to unseat the mayor of Arnold because of a social media post that was perceived by some as racially insensitive.

Surrounded on three sides by New Kensington and situated on the banks of the Allegheny River, the industrial Westmoreland County city of some 5,000 residents has garnered national attention for the uproar that followed a Facebook post by Mayor Karen Peconi about protests in and around Pittsburgh in response to the June 19 shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II by police Officer Michael Rosfeld in East Pittsburgh.

The mayor commented on her personal Facebook page that protesters should be doused with water from water cannons and implied that those who were protesting don't have jobs — comments with "racial undertones," Aaron Moore, 46, of Arnold contends.

Mr. Moore was one of about a dozen people canvassing the city on Saturday in an effort to garner 500 signatures calling for Ms. Peconi to resign.

Stephanie Strasburg and Dan Gigler

Protesters block Route 30 traffic in rally for social justice, Antwon Rose

Members of the community will attend a regularly scheduled public meeting on Tuesday and present the petition, Mr. Moore said.

He said some 200 signatures were collected on Saturday by about a dozen people and that he is hoping the core group of about five people will have a total of 500 signatures by Tuesday. The community organization, calling itself Concerned People of Color of Arnold and New Kensington, will meet at 6 p.m. for a rally outside the meeting place. The session has been moved from its usual location to the Lions Club bingo hall on Fifth Avenue.

Though Mayor Peconi removed the comment and shut down her Facebook page, screen shots of the comment went viral and outrage was stoked. The mayor has not returned calls to her home and office.

Mr. Moore said that, though the mayor didn't explicitly mention African-Americans, many people believe the remarks were rooted in racism.

"There was an undertone [that made it a] racial comment," Mr. Moore said.

Antwon Rose was black. The police officer was white. Many of the protesters were black.

"She's an elected official and there's no way that she should be having those type of thoughts, but if she is having those types of thoughts, she should have kept them to herself," Mr. Moore said.

Mr. Moore, who said he is African-American, estimated that about 20 percent of the city's residents are people of color.

He said the outrage at the mayor's remarks extends beyond the black community.

"There are a lot of white people who are just as offended," he said.

He criticized the mayor for not attending a rally June 28 that extended from noon to 7 p.m.

"She could have come out and issued a public apology but she didn't," he said.

Karen Kane: kkane@post-gazette.com or at 724-772-9180. Follow on Twitter @KarenKanePG.

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