Duquesne Mayor: Adams Says City Has ‘Stability’

Retired police officer: “We’ve had our ups and downs, but I’m proud of our work”

By Tom Leturgey
The Tube City Almanac
May 13, 2025
Posted in: Duquesne News

• Related Story: Nesby Says People ‘Want Better’

Duquesne Mayor R. Scott Adams is running for re-election to his second term. He is seeking the Democratic nomination in the May 20 primary. (Tom Leturgey photo for Tube City Almanac)

R. Scott Adams believes that he has brought “stability back to the office” of mayor in Duquesne. As he enters his fourth year in office, he looked back at the progress he said the city has made.

Adams is seeking the Democratic nomination in the May 20 primary. Former Mayor Nickole Nesby is challenging him.

“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Adams said. “But I’m proud of our work. We’ve improved the infrastructure and upgraded the water department. And the police department.”

In a recent interview, Adams used the word “stability” frequently. During Adams’ tenure as mayor, the city emerged from Act 47 financially distressed status, and is now moving toward a Home Rule Charter.

Until recently, there seemed to be a revolving door on some positions, with multiple city managers coming and going. Current City Manager Douglas Sample has been in the position since October 2023.

With help from Council Member Elaine Washington, Adams said the city has improved its water department, and the street department, public works and police departments have upgraded their equipment. “And we will have numerous license plate readers installed in the city very soon,” he said.

Council Members Derek Artim, Denise Brownfield and Aaron Adams also have brought stability and expertise to borough government, he said.

Scott Adams is the son of former Duquesne police Chief Richard “Lefty” Adams and was a police officer for 30 years until his retirement in 2018. There is a large photo of “Lefty” hanging behind Adams and no matter where the mayor sits in his chair, the chief looms large.

“I am not a politician,” Adams said. “Police work was my calling.” In 2019, there was a vacancy on Duquesne City Council, and Adams applied, almost on a lark. He had attended council meetings over the years and knew how the process worked, but said it was a big change for him: “I got my feet wet, but I was the new kid on council.”

Two years later, he was encouraged to run for mayor. His initial plans were to serve for only one term, Adams said, but when the city shed the shackles of Act 47, he decided he wanted to continue the work.

Adams said that being mayor of Duquesne amounts to “a full-time job on part-time pay,” and since retiring from the city, he also works in security for the county’s Kane Community Living Centers.

Adams said he takes great pride in serving Duquesne alongside his son, Council Member Aaron Adams. Aside from Swissvale’s Mayor Deneen Swartzwelder and Borough Council Member Brittany Swartzwelder, there aren’t many similar combinations in the Mon Valley.

Although the city has reinstituted niceties such as the Community Day Parade, and about 40 banners honoring local veterans are going up on poles for Memorial Day, Adams said that challenges remain.

The city lost its only grocery store in 2020 when a Save-a-Lot closed, and while Giant Eagle brought a “mobile market” to the community, it didn’t last. Adams said the Save-a-Lot was profitable, but the owners wanted to drop the franchise. He would like to see a full-service grocery store return to the city.

Development also seems to have slowed down. A construction company in Rankin bought land in Duquesne’s industrial park for future expansion and Eos Energy Enterprises Inc. had talks about building a state-of-the-art electric battery operation at the RIDC Park. It hasn’t happened yet.

“We talked to them about six or seven months ago,” Adams said. “We thought it would be relatively quick.”

Overall, he said, “there aren’t enough new businesses coming in Duquesne. When I was out collecting signatures, not everyone is happy.”

But there are other positive indicators, he said. The city has held its property taxes stable and Adams said he would rate the community’s current financial health since exiting Act 47 at “seven and a half or eight out of 10. We were in Act 47 before and decisions were being made for us. Maybe it was a ‘five’ then.”

The city is demolishing blighted and vacant properties, and there are talks with the Allegheny County Housing Authority to potentially bring a home-building program to Duquesne, Adams said.

Adams said he has also worked to improve relationships with other local, county and state officials to help bring additional resources, including grants, to the city.

Building those relationships is important for Duquesne “to move forward,” he said.

Tom Leturgey is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh and the editor of KSWA Digest, the online news and features home of the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance. His work also appears in The Valley Mirror and other publications.

Originally published May 13, 2025.

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