Former councilwoman and activist who treasured the Hill
No one cheered louder, cried harder or fought more ferociously for her neighbors than Tonya Payne.
Known as a hardworking single mother, a devoted Pittsburgh city councilwoman for the Hill District and a longtime activist who knew how to put her money where her mouth was, Ms. Payne never considered herself a politician, says her son, Dontae Payne, of Westwood.
“She used to say, ‘I’m an advocate for the people,’” said her son, a major in the Army Reserve and an Allegheny County police detective. “She felt politicians had underlying motives, but she never did. She always wanted to do the right thing and take care of the people in her community.”
Ms. Payne, 56, died May 31 of colon cancer.
She was elected to city council in 2005, defeating Sala Udin, the former boss who’d fired her several years before. Ms. Payne, a Democrat, represented District 6, which includes the Hill, the Strip District and Downtown, until 2009, when she lost to current city Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle by just 228 votes.
A zealous advocate, Ms. Payne had a sense of realpolitik, too.
For example, in 2006, she wouldn’t hear of raising the rates of $20 residential parking permits, telling council, “$20 to park on your own street — for a lot of people, that’s a hindrance.”
And a few years earlier, as the president of Uptown Community Action Group — a nonprofit community development and advocacy organization where she volunteered for many years — Ms. Payne came up with a novel but polite way to help struggling business owners discourage loitering along Fifth and Forbes avenues by getting a group of young girls to paint colorful and sweet signs saying, “Please move. You can’t stand here.”
“Tonya was a completely straight shooter and a very direct person,” said former Councilman Patrick Dowd.
“If you wanted to talk to her about a piece of legislation, there was never any hesitation with Tonya. She always had a position, and she was always, always focused on her constituents and her district.”
“She was somebody who told you what she thought. You never had to guess where she was — if she was with you, she was with you,” recalled current council President Theresa KailSmith. “She put the Hill before herself all the time, and she would do whatever she had to do to help the community, even if it hurt her.”
One of Ms. Payne’s greatest successes came in 2007, when she helped to broker a deal between the Pittsburgh Housing Authority, the University of Pittsburgh, developers and residents, ending four years of entrenched battle for a prized 12-acre swath of property overlooking the city in the Oak Hill community. When they heard the news, residents gave her a standing ovation.
“She was the hardest worker on city council,” said former councilman and current District Judge James Motznik, who formed an alliance with Ms. Payne and then-Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. “She was politically very wise and did a lot of strategizing. We loved what we did, ... supporting our neighborhoods. Tonya pushed the mayor very hard to bring a grocery store to the Hill, and they were successful in doing that.”
Ms. Payne was also a loyal and principled woman.
“She and I weren’t always on the same page about things, but she was always Tonya Payne, with the same ferocity and care for her community,” said Mr. Dowd, who found himself at odds with her during the 2008 presidential primary election.
“I was an early Barack Obama supporter, and Tonya was a big Hillary Clinton supporter, because she wanted to see a woman in the White House,” recalled Mr. Dowd, who debated Ms. Payne on “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” on PBS. “We duked it out on national TV, and I think she got the better of me, but my candidate won. We both laughed about it, because we knew one of us was going to pick the winner.”
Ms. Payne formed close relationships with some of her former colleagues, including Judge Motznik, who hosted her every year for Christmas Eve dinner.
“She was a very, very dear friend,” Judge Motznik said. “She ended up being one of the closest friends in my life, and we were a lot alike. She was a wonderful person.”
Growing up in Garfield then the West End, Ms. Payne found an interest in politics through Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.
“Shirley Chisholm was her first role model — ‘Unbought and unbossed,’” her son said, alluding to the late Ms. Chisholm’s mantra. “My mom would watch CSPAN all the time when I was growing up, and I thought it was the most boring thing. But she could run down national and local political history better than anyone. It was in her DNA.”
Ms. Payne graduated from Langley High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology from Duquesne University.
Most of her early career was spent working to provide services and job placement for people with special needs.
A board member at the Urban Redevelopment Authority and longtime Democratic committee official, Ms. Payne also worked as safety manager at the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority from 2012 to 2015.
Maj. Payne lost his father when he was a toddler, leaving his mother to raise him alone.
“It was ‘Ton and Tae’ against the world for as long as I can remember,” he said. “We did everything together. My mom and I were the best of friends.”
Ms. Payne doted on her 17year-old granddaughter, Aaliyah Nicole Payne, her son said.
“Aaliyah came along and stole a little of my thunder, but I didn’t mind it,” he said, laughing. “Aaliyah was like the daughter she never had. They did tea parties, pedicures and went shopping together.”
Friends and family said they would miss Ms. Payne’s sage advice and infectious laugh most of all.
“When I graduated high school, I could hear my mom in the crowd, over all the noise of this huge graduation ceremony,” Maj. Payne said. “It makes me laugh to think about it now. I miss her already.”
“She had a beautiful face and an unbelievably beautiful smile,” Mr. Dowd said. “And she had the best laugh. You couldn’t miss it anywhere.”
Along with her son and granddaughter, Ms. Payne is survived by her mother, Gloria Jean Hill-Payne; two sisters, Stacey L. Payne and Carol Ann Payne; and three half-sisters, Cassandra MitchellBrown, Carmel Mitchell and Christy Mitchell.
Her funeral was Monday.