2025-12-02 Pittsburgh Parks & Recreation Department Budget Meeting
Parks and Recreation Department Budget Review
On December 2, 2025, the Pittsburgh City Council held a budget review for the Parks and Recreation Department, featuring presentations by Director Lou and Assistant Director Shelley. The department outlined successes in 2025, including record pool attendance, youth sports expansion, and community food initiatives, while highlighting critical infrastructure needs for aquatics and the financial vulnerability of senior services. Council members expressed strong appreciation for the department's impact, particularly regarding gender equity in sports and food justice, though they raised concerns about the lean fiscal year and the potential need for cuts despite the department's reliance on non-general fund trust resources.
Consent Calendar
- No specific consent calendar items were detailed in the transcript; routine approvals were noted as part of the broader presentation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Councilwoman Graves: Expressed 100% support for the department, stating that cuts would not save the general fund as most resources are from trust funds, and emphasized the irreplaceable public impact.
- Councilman Lavelle: Expressed full support but highlighted the "tough fiscal year" and the necessity of considering cuts, noting the department's 6.9% budget increase.
- Councilwoman Strasberger: Expressed strong support for the leadership's willingness to say "yes" to new initiatives like parent-baby classes and partnerships with Beverly's Birthdays.
- Councilwoman Smith: Expressed gratitude for the department's work, particularly their role in community meetings at the Southside Market House and their ability to provide space for 100 attendees monthly.
Discussion Items
- Aquatics and Infrastructure:
- Director Lou stated that the Oliver Bathhouse opening and the transition to modern chlorine systems in Moore and Homewood pools require significant infrastructure investment.
- Speaker Position: Councilman Lavelle expressed concern that Sheridan Pool needs serious attention, noting it has been in the Master Plan for over two years.
- Funding Context: The department operates with a budget heavily reliant on trust funds (Parks Tax, RAD, Mellon Park) rather than the General Fund.
- Senior Services:
- Director Shelley stated that senior centers are fully funded for the current year but face challenges with county attendance-based funding formulas (45 daily avg for focal points, 25 for pods).
- Speaker Position: Councilman Lavelle expressed concern that the senior budget is tightly dependent on CDBG and state funds, making it vulnerable to catastrophic cuts if federal funding decreases.
- Operations: Discussion included the renovation of West End and Brighton Heights centers and the testing of a
Meeting Transcript
Oh weird. Okay. So hold on one second. Thank you. Screen sharing is paused. It is. Right here says your screen sharing is paused. Did we pause the screen sharing on our end? Maybe? I don't know. It says my screen sharing is paused. Which I've never seen that one. Sorry. I don't know if anyone from IMP is watching, but it says that the screen sharing is paused on this screen. And the director's trying to share her presentation. He's texting somebody. Yeah, they're working on it. So while they're working on it, is it do you want to start working? Actually, pass me one of those. I can keep talking. Just yeah. Oh, yeah, thank you. I can't see my screen on the screen. Okay, perfect. Sorry about that. I apologize. No, no. And then you all have a paper copy too, so you can see the presentation. So yeah, we um we are the service, you know, arm of the city. Um our team is there to provide programming across all of our parks and assets, but we really are laser focused on our older adults and young people who sincerely need additional services in our spaces. Um and then I did have a slide just listing out all of the uh different places where we do receive funding. So we rely on a number of trust funds, and Pete did a great job uh describing those, but truly it's um a blending of resources that makes the parks and recreation uh department go. Um our org chart, uh, which I did also include in the presentation, uh, but you can see there uh includes all of our pools, includes our community enrichment programs, um, our special events team, our recto tech program, um, our recreation centers, Shenley Ice Rink, our city sports team, which grew um tremendously this year thanks to the support of council to be able to leverage stop the violence funds as a part of that work. Um our senior centers, of course, our youth food programs, um, and uh emerging uh work that we're doing in outdoor recreation. And one thing I did want to call out specifically is the work that we're doing around community food programs. You know, we have our four farmers' markets, which thanks to the support of council last year, we had our first time full-time support for that work, and we were able to really turn our markets into something special. Not only to focus on city markets, the ones that we run and make them more than just a transaction, but really an experience for folks who come there. But we've also helped other markets get off their get off the ground. We're actually working on building a farmers market coalition and think about like you know, the city should be playing a leadership role in supporting all of the farmers markets. Um our city farms team has grown tremendously, and um one of the things you might notice in the budget request uh was some support for um for someone to help oversee the work in the community systems area. That's because we have done um some deep work this year with uh the city planning department on building out a gardens and greenway stewardship program for the greenways um system. Yeah, please. It just says my screen is we'll pause while I why IMP helps. Sorry, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Uh thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Bill. Thank you. All right.
openpublica.com