Maggio Seeking Second Term On Dormont Council

John Maggio said he wants the opportunity to continue working to move Dormont forward.

Crime is down, taxes haven’t increased during his tenure and new businesses are locating here, he said.

He wants to continue attracting new homeowners and businesses, he said.

“I see a lot of businesses moving in Dormont and I think that’s because of some of the things I’ve done to promote the borough in a positive way,” said Maggio, 54, a mortgage consultant.

As an example, he said, when Anne Gregory for the Bride decided to move to Dormont from Mount Lebanon, Maggio paid the owner a visit.

“First thing he said to me was ‘I’m so impressed that you folks have Christmas decorations up and have bags on the meters for free holiday parking,’” Maggio said.

The free parking was his idea—in a way.

“Most of the good ideas are stolen. I stole that from Castle Shannon,” he said. “It’s not rocket science; Sometimes it’s just common sense.”

Maggio said he's also excited about the opportunities the program can offer to spread the word about Dormont.

Maggio is running with incumbent Drew Lehman and newcomer James Keaney on a ticket endorsed by the Dormont Democratic Committee.

Together, they and the ticket of Onnie Costanzo and Valerie Martino are seeking three spots on the November ballot.

Whichever three Democrats win will appear on the November ballot with Republicans Kim Lusardi, the council president who switched parties to run as a Republican; James Hodson, husband of Councilwoman Joan Hodson; and Robert R. Hutchison, who has twice run and lost for council.

Voters will be able to choose three candidates.

Maggio first became involved in Dormont politics when the future of the pool—said to be the largest municipal pool in the state—was in jeopardy.

He is president of the nonprofit Friends of the Dormont Pool.

He disputes the characterization by some that the pool is his one-trick pony, but doesn’t shy away from his association with the feature perhaps most strongly linked with the borough.

“When real estate agents market Dormont, that’s one of the first things that they market,” he said.

“We have a limited amount of green space as it is. To want to take away and build a big box store makes no sense to me,” he said.

At the time, there were three options for the pool, he said: Build a new pool for some $10 million; sell off and develop some of the park in exchange for a smaller pool and a shopping center or spend about $1 million to repair the pool.

By repairing the pool, he said, “we would have a $20 million pool—which is what that is. You can’t build a pool like that today for less than $20 million.

“Would I want to build a pool like that today? Never. It doesn’t make sense. But (keeping the pool) was the option that made the most sense,” he said.