Good afternoon, and welcome to the standing committee's meeting for Wednesday, January twenty first, twenty twenty-six.

All council meetings will be live streamed on the city's website, and for guest speakers, please do not turn your microphones off.

Our first order of business is roll call.

Mr.

Sherland.

Cockhill, Ms.

Gross, Mr.

Lavelle.

Here.

Mr.

Mosley.

Mrs.

Salonetra here.

Mrs.

Warwick.

Here.

Mr.

Wilson.

Here.

Mrs.

Strasberger Chair.

Here.

Five members present.

Thank you.

Our next order of business is public comment.

I would like to remind all speakers that the rules of council state that comments are limited to matters of concern, official action, or deliberation, which are or may be before city council.

Profanity will not be permitted.

Please state your name and neighborhood for the record, and you will have three minutes to speak.

Our first registered speaker is Dr.

Ronald Lynn Miller.

This is not a government agency or a government network.

It is an alternative outside of this government.

We do not seek your approval for these linkages.gov dot.

Somalia is on the UN Security Council non-member list.

It's very important.

Somali Americans live in the city.

Something I founded in 19 and 2010.

This is anti-DPRP framework candidacy.

Uh that are committed to the use of optimal intelligence and information in the creation of social policy and anti-ideology.

I'm anti-DP and RP and any other P in that sense.

A concern of this council, PCC, with local government time expenditure and time frames.

This is consistent with initiative three, in which, for me, in which I focus on a local government primacy and availability, which I think should be 24-7.

But it isn't.

PCC time frame weekly.

Um councillor claymants, you take the time days off during a five-day week for secular holidays like Thanksgiving, and for um religious holidays, religion of Christianity, Christmas, religion of Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, but not for in the religion of Islam Islam, eight day uh eight defeat, uh, which is 20 March 1448 AH, and um 2026.

And nothing in Hinduism, no concern for uh Diwali.

How many hours during the week do you actually spend in engagement with people in person, telephone, text, email, Mr.

Callgill, as far as I know?

You don't answer emails.

You should thank you.

Our next speaker is Icahana Hamakina.

We will move on to Ellie Harward.

Hi.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I'm here today, really, because I'm exhausted with a narrative that treats people like me as a problem when in reality what we do is create connection, care for homes, and welcome people into Pittsburgh in a way that strengthens our neighborhoods.

I'm almost 50 years old.

I'm a small business owner, I live with degenerative back disease.

Uh my fiance is from Beaver Falls, and together we own small businesses.

We struggle to afford health care.

We don't have stability that comes with a corporate or government job, things like guaranteed retirement plans or employer-provided health care.

I am emptied my entire 401k to rehab two properties here on the north side.

Sorry, I forgot to say I'm from the north side.

Um, because I believe in this neighborhood and want to invest in its future.

I've had put years of love and energy into making them homes that I care deeply for, and to be able to host guests to the city, my family, and any of yours that needs an escape or a haven.

If you look at me, I want you to see that I'm your neighbor.

I live here, I invest here, I'm not a faceless operator, and we're at a distant investor.

I have to live with the outcomes of the policies that you pass.

For decades I've seen properties in the north side that were purchased in the vacant many cellar sitting down and falling down around us.

Some were held by developers who did nothing with them, and others were bought under a banner of community groups and later sold a private benefit.

That behavior was allowed and largely ignored.

Now to contrast that with a responsible short-term rental.

A short-term rental is a home that's actively being cared for, maintained, and accountable.

It welcomes people that choose Pittsburgh because they want real experiences, not a hotel.

I host families, medical visitors, weddings, reunions, and people sell celebrating meaningful moments in our city.

Since 2022, there have been two incidents that made headlines concerning our short-term rentals in our neighborhood.

They matter, but they don't define us and who we are compared to broader crimes and years of vacant neglected properties that add no economic value.

It's a clear responsible short-term rentals are not the court issue.

I'm not here to debate the line items in this.

I'm asking for partnership and that we're part of this conversation as well.

No responsible owner wants a problem property.

We support real quant consequences for dishonest guests who book homes for parties.

We want that stopped more than anyone else because it puts our homes and livelihoods at risk.

You can't control interest rates, we can't control the national national housing markets, health care costs, access to firearms, but what you can control is land use, and that's why short-term rentals have become an easy target.

At the same time, Pittsburgh's positioning itself as a destination city, revitalizing the North Shore, modernized modernizing the airport, attracting major events like the NFL draft, and yet as a growing city who has yet to see an economic boom from tourism, you're proposing limiting how people are allowed to stay here.

So I'll ask you when you travel, are you only booking hotels?

And I'll send the rest of them.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Justin Strong.

We can hear you.

I know most of y'all on the council.

I want to chime in on the short-term rental uh bill that's before the council.

Um and just want to make sure that we're keeping in mind the ecosystem that it impacts.

Um myself and my business, Strong Cleaners, which is based in Homewood in Kahari's district.

Um we over the last three years have been working on hostwise, which is the largest short-term rental uh company in Pittsburgh and servicing their linen.

And even last year we did over a hundred thousand and sales, and that's real dollars.

Um I have a minimum of 40 hours of ship work a week just folding um between between two and three people, and that's not including transportation hours, processing hours, and this is money that goes on people's payroll and cash that goes into their pockets.

So I just want to be mindful when we're crafting this, we're not being you know, that the we're not being blunt versus you know the opportunity to be creative problem solving as someone that has a background and throw a party, some of y'all may know.

Uh and my I've definitely dealt with noise complaints uh in my previous uh life as a venue owner.

Um I think with these problem uh guess uh that have come up over the last two years, and that noise is a uh a common factor.

And just off the top of my head, if we target and use tools to identify uh noise, whether it's a decimal readers on the host wise as those and their establishment.

Um if we can get those in the other short-term rental units that we could prevent a lot of these issues, and it's just you know very cost effective.

Um if we can get those in the other uh short-term rental units that we could prevent a lot of these issues and very cost effective more precision with boats out the water because we think one in 10,000 may have drugs on it, but we're actually going in and identify the common thread that leads to these problem host uh host uh venues.

Um that's my my piece on it.

This is a good thing.

Pittsburgh is actually getting as a young lady spoke prior.

There's getting a lot more national and global recognition.

This is something a lot of us have been working on for the last 25 years, Pittsburgh will be young.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Chad Wise.

Good afternoon.

I'm Chad Wise, living in Manchester, speaking on behalf of our local short-term rental alliance.

First, I want to be clear.

Violence and unsafe, poorly behaving guests, and poorly managed properties are unacceptable.

Neighbors deserve peace, guests deserve safety.

Council's right to focus on accountability and good regulation is needed.

Where we disagree is the approach.

If the goal is safety and quality of life, the bill should target harmful behaviors.

Parties, overcrowding, repeat nuisance calls, noncompliance, and unresponsive operators.

Instead, the current bills lean heavily on broad limits and zoning hurdles that will sweep up responsible hosts without a clear link to the actual problems.

Before council adopts caps and special zoning processes, we should ask some basic questions.

How many short-term rental violations were reported last year?

How many calls for service or complaints were tied to short-term rentals?

How many unique properties generated those complaints, and how many were repeat offenders?

If you can't answer those questions, we should not be regulating with a sledgehammer.

We should legislate with a scalpel.

Despite public comments, short-term rentals don't increase housing costs, and we now have a short and we now have a real world case study.

New York City functionally banned short-term rentals in 2023.

Listings declined 90%, eliminating 40,000 STRs.

Yet citywide rents rose over 8%, and rental vacancies decreased.

The losers were hosts and tourists, where the cost of hotel rooms rose nearly 13%, more than triple the national increase.

Broad crackdowns didn't fix housing, they shifted revenue to hotels.

Pittsburgh should not repeat that mistake.

Based on Air DNA data, Pittsburgh has roughly 2200 active whole unit listings, which makes up only around 1% of all housing stock in the city.

Compare that to the over 27,000 vacant properties and lots in this city.

Booking revenue on these properties was 74 million dollars last year, according to Air DNA.

But lodging is just the start.

An Airbnb study shows that for every hundred dollars spent on lodging, guests spend on average 264 dollars in places like restaurants, shops, and attractions.

Applied to Pittsburgh's booking volume, that's suggests nearly 200 million dollars in additional spending directly in our local neighborhoods supporting local jobs.

Tourism supports about 9.3% of jobs in the Pittsburgh area compared to 6.3% statewide.

These bills are even more impactful with the NFL draft coming.

Pittsburgh would be proudly highlighted on the national stage, and we should be expanding lodging options while strengthening enforcement, not reducing capacity through blunt caps and overzealous zoning.

Our request is logical.

We believe Bill 8 can be improved with targeted tweaks, such as enforcing licensing through platforms, requiring a 24-7, responsible local contact, strengthening penalties for repeat nuisance properties, and removing provisions at risk privacy.

As a reminder, hosts are not the ones throwing these parties.

It's the guests.

Let's make sure we hold them responsible as well.

We believe zoning bill nine as written is significant overreach, especially the building caps and zoning structure.

Those provisions will eliminate a large share of responsible hosting, damage building values, and stifle investment, reducing desperately needed uh property taxes.

Steelstra is ready to collaborate.

You guys know where to reach me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our final registered speaker is Nick Marchuk.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Uh I live on the north side for the record.

Uh my name's Nick.

I'm the co-owner of Mega Clean, a Pittsburgh-based company that manages short-term rental operations and hospitality services throughout the city since the year 2018.

For the record, uh, there are multiple short-term rentals on my street, Lockhart Street.

So I speak not only as a business owner, but as a resident who lives uh alongside this reality every day.

I want to begin by being very clear.

Short-term rentals should be regulated.

Reasonable regulations that protect neighborhoods, safety, and quality of life is appropriate and necessary.

The problem is that the current regulations do not regulate, they affect effectively eliminate the business.

In their current form, they would make it extremely difficult and in many cases impossible for reasonable operators to continue operating.

This has real immediate consequences.

Short-term rentals are not just properties, they're small hospitality businesses.

At Megat Clean, we employ 20 local Pittsburgh residents, cleaners, maintenance workers, operations staff, support personnel.

These are real jobs, real families, and real livelihoods.

Under the current framework, those 20 employees would be out of work.

That impact doesn't stop with us.

Short-term rentals play an important role in Pittsburgh's visitor economy.

Our guests spend money at local restaurants, coffee shops, museums, sporting events, and neighborhood businesses.

Short-term rentals help Pittsburgh accommodate visitors visit visitors during peak activities, festivals, and tourism seasons.

Supporting economic activity across the city.

There's also the matter of tax revenue.

Allegheny County collects over 30 Civit 7 million dollars annually in hotel and occupancy taxes.

While the county does not publish a precise breakdown, industry data from comparable cities indicate short-term rent rentals contribute roughly 20 to 30 percent of the total, approximately 7 to 11 million dollars per year.

These funds support tourism promotion, inventions, facilities, and public services that benefit Pittsburgh residents.

When regulations are so restricted that compliant operators are forced out of the market, the city doesn't just lose businesses, it loses jobs, visitors, and tax revenue.

To be clear, we're not asking for deregulation.

We're asking for balanced work regulation that ensures safety and accountability, protects neighborhood quality of life, provides a realistic and achievable path to compliance for responsible operators, including a quick and fit and efficient inspection process.

Thank you very much.

There being no further registered speakers, we will now take comments from those in the audience wishing to speak.

Are there any speakers wishing to come to the podium?

Thank you.

Carlino Giampolo, Panther Hollow.

I am continuing the topic of my testimony this morning, in which I provided an update on the illegal skate park in Panther Hollow.

Here are a few excerpts of my January 12th letter to Mayor Corey O'Connor titled A Bold Proposal for Panther Hollow Community Identity.

Mayor Corey O'Connor.

I once again extend my sincere congratulations to you as mayor of the city of Pittsburgh.

You are the right person at the right time to lead our city.

We share commonality as graduates of Central Catholic High School and Duquesne University, and being blessed with exceptional parents.

As you well know, learned values impart their true significance when put into action.

Once the skate park is shut down, the illegal construction work would need to be removed.

In its place, two boxy courts, a playground area for children, and a mini museum chronicling the 145-year Italian history of Panther Hollow would be built.

The playground would be renamed from Oakland DIY skate park to Panther Hollow Park.

This new beginning would be in harmony with your vision of a recreation area as one of culture, learning, and community.

This would also be the foundation of transitioning away from housing transient student residents and restoring Panther Hollow once again as an enduring residential community.

Panther Hollow can progress as a multi-ethnic residential community, yet still maintain its identity as an Italian sense of place.

I look forward to a positive response from you.

End of excerpts.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Thank you.

Are there any further speakers?

Good afternoon, council.

My name is Corey D.

Thorn.

Uh, I'm a son of Pittsburgh.

Having grown up in the West End neighborhood, resided in Mount Washington.

I'm a licensed real estate salesperson, and I've been investing in the city ever since 2012 through construction and renovating properties.

First purchased a duplex in Mount Washington in about 2013 that I fixed up myself with my dad.

We rented out the I rented out the downstairs unit and uh I grew started growing my real estate business from there.

I'm not a hedge fund, I'm a local guy.

Um I live here within the city limits.

I've now own and operate short and long-term rentals as well as Section 8 affordable housing.

Each of these housing classifications, they come with a unique set of challenges and benefits.

They all serve a housing need um and they all require ownership that's responsible and active management.

I'm here to today not to oppose any of the regulations set forth, but to ask ask for smart, enforceable regulation that can reflect our realities that we see as small town hosts and the different housing needs in the city.

Um as you heard, many of the hosts here are responsible.

We screen our guests, we actively monitor our properties, respond quickly to issues.

I typically respond to my short-term rentals more than I do my long-term rentals.

I expect my long-term tenants to cut the grass to shovel the snow.

I make sure that's done in my short-term rentals.

There's obviously absentee and irresponsible hosts, those are the exception.

We need a system that can track and penalize those bad actors.

Um, what concerns me most about the proposal is some of the regulations itself.

There's a lot of subjectivity.

The bill introduces zoning rules that are not tied to behavior.

Um, it has vague standards, arbitrary caps in my opinion.

For example, limiting uh two units um in buildings 20 or fewer.

Who decides which two units get to be short-term rentals?

Um, the first two to apply, the grandfathered ones in the quietest neighbor, what happens when the property is sold or a lease is transferred.

Um so if the real concern is the bad behavior, noise parties, nuisances, then regulation should target that behavior directly.

The city already has some objective measures in place that can target it, inspections, fines, license suspension, and nuance and for uh nuisance enforcement.

Those are fair, defensible, and enforceable.

The critical framework for the licenses must be streamlined and efficient.

Other cities have gotten it wrong, creating slow, unclear systems that invite non-compliance, fraudulent licensing, and act and um causing regular owners to go out of business and activity moving underground.

Um Pittsburgh needs housing investment, especially in transitional neighborhoods.

Short-term rental revenue often funds renovations that make up long-term and affordable housing viable.

Four of my last five projects have been affordable housing projects, and that was help fund through some of the revenues of my short-term rentals.

I understand there's pressure to act quickly in light of recent events, but I ask the simple pause, focus on enforceability, regulate behavior, not speculation, and enforce existing law before layering in new.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello everyone, I'm Robert Wilson.

I own um a lot of short-term rentals here in the city.

I'm a Pittsburgh guy, live down by Top Gulf, so I've been here.

I started doing properties in uh 2018.

I own short-term, I own long terms, and I also have affordable housing.

And just as the speaker before me mentioned, there are unique problems and situations you encounter with all three versions of those.

Um, I would say my short terms are the least likely ones to cause issues.

For instance, I got something from insurance.

Insurance has been cracking down nationwide because of a lot of the natural disasters recently, and they're just harder on making sure people's properties are in shape.

I got three letters this week, all of which are for either affordable housing or long-term units, none of which are for my short-term properties.

One's the trim hedges, which is supposed to be on my tenant, they're obviously not doing it.

Um another one was to pick the yard up, which is a weird one to get from insurance, but they want to make sure people can't trip on something silly in the yard.

So when you have debris and things, so my short-term rentals, they look great, they operate great, they are clean.

Uh, been a super host, I think, consistently for the past five, six years, every quarter, whatever they come out with.

The issues that I'm encountering are if we cleanliness, quietness is not coming from that.

If we really want to delve into the books, and I don't know if everybody wants to, but it's like usually I've got a lot further issues with other versions of housing that I encounter.

Do I think we should have regulation?

Sure.

You guys proposed the idea of registering some Airbnbs.

I signed up houses and I got two of them scheduled and completed two of my inspections.

It went great.

And then it's you know, we showed we didn't need to continue that process, and I didn't want to just incur fees just to incur fees on myself.

So if we want to set up a thing or to be regulated and treated fairly, I'm all in for that idea.

I know that some of my homes have actually helped improve neighborhoods, and one of the most recent ones I've done is actually in Mount Oliver.

And it was it's still between three other abandoned homes.

And now I've got one house that I think is a very beautiful home.

I'm proud of.

And it's bringing in people of somebody there, you know, coming and that's there currently for two weeks.

Great reviews, loves the city in that street of Mount Oliver.

Was it gonna get an uplift?

No.

Was it gonna get this boost?

Is the neighborhood gonna be able to sell coffee down the same street?

No.

If we go down to a place, if they had to stay at the hotel, they're not gonna find themselves at a cool little place up there.

But the whole city gets an uplift in weird ways.

Another thing is I got a lot of guests that come in for funerals, believe it or not.

And it's nice to be able to stay a street over from your mom's house after her husband has just died.

So, like the proximity of it, sometimes it's just random luck of who needs to stay where, but it's nice to be able to stay in the neighborhood you may have grown up in, even though you don't live here anymore.

I get a lot more people coming back to the city and enjoying the city because of opportunities because they can be in their neighborhood that they may not have the opportunity with if they had to be just stuck with a hotel style thing.

So, yeah, I'm happy to participate in enforcement, but I think we really appeal to onion back.

It's gonna have a lot less specific Airbnb issues, especially on our superhost than you're gonna have with any of the other sections of housing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any further speakers?

Any further speakers?

My name is Yvonne F.

Brown.

I live at 715 Mercer Street.

That's the high rise up on Befford with 192 apartments in it.

Um I protest.

You just had a meeting on Sunday.

I told you this before.

I believe that city and state or government is supposed to be different.

I fussed about calling Burgess, a councilman reverend, because you didn't call the councilmen that were lawyers, lawyers, so and so.

What I want you to understand is that Sunday was supposed to, that's when I go to church.

You just had the meeting starting at 10.

That's when the church starts.

I go to church every Sunday and I protest.

And I am going to see about legally if you're allowed to do that.

I think you did it so I can't talk.

But I'm still gonna keep on coming.

You know what?

I look at Jens.

You're making did you hear Dr.

Miller?

I didn't know you was making that much.

I think when you make them what is it, 60 something, uh you ends up making uh a year for two days a week that you don't come, and then when you come, you're on the phone, the new lady.

I'm telling you, I always had much respect for you, but you sit there and talk to her and they talk amongst themselves, it's getting on my nerves.

It's plus the man with the how much money did you spend to make that park that you made that that that skateboard park, how many millions did you spend?

Now you're talking about we have to have more taxes.

You help do it.

You spent money on a park that that is uh messing with the old people.

But you spend it because you said it's so good, and you miss gross.

I still try not to get like this.

But every time I remember her little her standing up there, oh 90, uh, but we decided we'll take Larsville.

We had to go to Lawrenceville.

We can take one bus to come down here, but we had to go to Lawrenceville, and that's two.

If you take one bus from Lawrenceville to here, you could have done that.

I'm showing you how you treat us like we're nothing.

You discriminated.

So we couldn't even speak.

And when we didn't, he went down, the police went down here and took the uh owner.

Uh you took the police went down there because they used to call every time they would mess with them.

And the black chief of police would stop them.

But once he was gone, the police come who you gonna call Ghostbuster.

They tasered him in his own building.

That's the same as his home.

His wife has a business next door.

They pay taxes, but you tasered the black man because you didn't let him get a chance.

He didn't even know we had that meeting.

You understand they have meetings that we don't know about, but to have it on Sunday.

Hey, I'm filing, and I hope I win.

I'm telling you, I'm filing a lawsuit because I come every day.

I come every time I can.

I don't come on Sunday, I go to church, and that's when we're supposed to do church, not with just playing games.

Next speaker, please.

Special agent sunshine.

I'm a stick with.

I'm gonna stay right here with Martin Luther King's quotes.

I think I'm gonna stay there all throughout February.

Black History Month.

Praise God.

Lord, thank you for divine intervention in this case.

Um Dr.

King said an individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

That's powerful.

I love you with all of my heart.

I wish I could hug you.

But it doesn't matter how big the tanks, the battleships that you buy are doesn't matter how beautiful you think they are.

Ephesians 612 says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Justice Department.

But if God hired me, who's gonna fire me?

God let me here to fight the injustice of what?

Identity theft fraud?

Shine a light on his sunshine, computer fraud, illegal guardianship, conservatory ship illegally.

Y'all don't make enough.

That's so sad.

It's so sad.

It's a paper troll.

Y'all, y'all better stop.

I curse the death every witch wisdom warlock in this building in the world.

I curse to death every root who practitioner in their bloodline.

This is how God is destroying them.

Is this where we have to go with it?

I will curse you to death until you're all gone.

I was sent here to do it.

I will not stop.

Romans 8 31.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Really?

You guys?

Come on, y'all.

Y'all will never have more power than the Almighty God ever.

Ever.

John 1613 says, but when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

He will not speak on his own.

He will speak only what he hears.

And he will tell you what is yet to come.

Have I not yet been doing that?

Have I not been doing that since I've been here?

No phone.

I'm not being guided by anybody but him.

Whatever comes out of my mouth is what he tells me to say.

And the truth is life is short.

Injustice anywhere is a that is a threat to justice everywhere, says Dark Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I will always love you.

Thank you, Jesus, for using me as a vessel.

Amen.

Thank you.

Are there any other speakers?

Seeing no further speakers, we will move on to our standing committee agenda.

Our first committee is the Finance and Law Committee.

We have new papers.

2026-6.

Resolution authorizing and directing the mayor, solicitor, director of planning, and director of Office of Management and Budget, pursuant to 204K of the Home Rule Charter to provide appropriate notice and terminate contract Sasaki and Common Cause Consultants per Article 3.2, termination of the agreement.

Madam Chair, I think maybe we should read 007 with it.

Resolution authorizing and directing the mayor, solicitor, director of planning, and director of Office of Management and Budget.

Pursuant to 204K of the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter to provide appropriate notice and terminate contract HRNA advisors and urban ACLC per Article 3.2 termination of the agreement.

Motion to hold both bills for four weeks.

Discussion.

Seeing none, all those in favor of building Bill 6 and 7 of 2026 for four weeks, please indicate by saying aye.

Bill be held four weeks.

That brings us to Bill 16.

Ordinance supplementing the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title II Fiscal Article 5 Special Funds to add a new chapter 239 Fleet Vehicle Fund to create a fleet vehicle fund to fully fund the city of Pittsburgh's fleet needs and establish the purpose purposes of which purposes for which monies in the fund may be used.

Motion to approve.

Second discussion.

Councilmember Warwick.

Yeah, thank you.

So I am gonna motion to hold this for four weeks just but uh but uh before I do, I did just want to um just kind of recap that uh so this bill would create a uh 20 million dollar a year fund where we are allocating, you know, setting aside 20 million dollars a year specifically for uh our fleet.

Um we have heard, you know, over the past couple of years.

I know since I've been on council the past three years uh of the dire situation with our fleet.

Uh we have ambulances that are breaking down on the way to calls.

Uh we are unable to get the snow up off, you know, in a heavy snow event, get the snow up within the the 24 hour uh period that we should.

Um there are concerns about fire trucks possibly, you know, being out of commission in firehouses, and uh we have environmental service crews who show up to work and have to wait for a truck to come back from a route before they can start before they can start their route.

Um, we have heard from uh the Office of Management and Budget in their uh their reports that uh if we don't significantly invest in our fleet to begin really significantly investing in our fleet, that we can see that we can expect frequent service disruptions by 2030.

Um has um you know reported that in order to bring our fleet within a hundred percent, you know, with a hundred percent of our vehicles operating within their their um reasonable life cycle would cost uh uh 20 and 6.7 million dollars over five years.

Uh that is you know roughly 41 million dollars a year.

So this is not not even halfway to where we would need to be investing um over five years.

This is you know, 20 million dollars a year.

We have you know, we have been told over and over again that um that that uh that is the bare minimum just to kind of keep our head above water uh with the fleet.

Um, you know, over the past 30 years, we have just been consistently underinvesting, right?

And this is across multiple administrations, so that's why um I feel that um uh it's time for this council to sort of put its foot down and say, look, this is this has been a consistent problem, it will continue to be a problem, and we need to um direct, you know, not just administrations today, but administrations well into the future to um adequately invest um in our fleet.

And also we recently raised taxes on on Pittsburghers.

Um and by doing that, we were able to bring the 2026 fleet investment from 10 million dollars up to 20 million dollars, and uh so that is that's something that um I think that we should continue to do.

Uh with that, I did I know that uh Chief Procurement Officer Olzinger is on, I I believe is on the Zoom.

She may have had to go because I know she had another meeting.

No, I'm here.

Okay, great.

And then also um Director McDevitt, if you'd like to come up so just so we have some representation from our procurement team and uh from the ELA.

Um I just wanted to give you both the opportunity to kind of reiterate what I know that we've heard uh you say before at this table.

Um so if you'd like to go ahead.

Sure.

Um yeah, um I um we've all uh been talking um for months and years.

Um I believe Councilman Wilson uh put in an annual fleet report, um which I appreciate because that really gives you all the information to really understand um the details and of the dire situation.

Um raising taxes, we definitely want to make sure that we are investing uh in back into our fleet uh so that we can provide those services that people want, um, and you know their tax increase can help pay for.

So um it will be nice to have them be able to see that on a consistent basis as it gets picked up faster because we have more snowplows as you know, garbage uh pickups are not missed.

Um investing 20 million a year is a a great start in what that will allow us to do uh in procurement and the ELA.

Um we will be able to negotiate longer term contracts because we know we will have funding.

So if we do an RFP for pumpers, you know, we can offer a longer term contract for multiple year purchases, which will allow the vendors to know that those purchases are coming.

We can get in their uh pipeline sooner because they're planned purchases, and it can secure us uh better pricing, uh committing to higher quantities and longer term commitments.

Uh budget director, also the uh treasurer for the leasing authority.

Um just to echo what you had said and what uh Chief Holzinger said.

Um we have an old fleet, uh almost half of it is over the uh the recommended life cycle.

Um to get up to 100% replacement would cost over 200 million dollars over five years.

Uh so this is a great first step.

Um it it costs us a lot of money and and a lot of uh downtime and operations to not have a fully functioning fleet.

So uh this is I think an important first step towards uh putting adequate investment in that so that the workers have the tools they need to do the jobs.

Thank you.

Yeah, and I think too that it's important to acknowledge that you know there is great hope uh of having um uh funding, you know, funding come in from our nonprofits, etc.

from other sources.

I know folks on council are working on other ways to increase revenue, you know.

Uh looking forward to all of that.

Um, but um regardless of that we need to ensure that we are making this 20 million dollar investment, even if that means in future budgets that changes need to be made in order, you know, priorities need to be shifted in order to ensure that this you know baseline amount of money is available for fleet.

Um with that, so I I will motion to I don't know the more discussion perhaps now, but um I would would like to motion uh to hold for four weeks so that um again the incoming administration, it's a new administration, everyone's getting up on their feet.

I want everyone to have a chance to look at this and um um sort of understand it better.

Um and also just to clarify that the reason that I'm introducing this now so early in the year is so that we can have these conversations, get everything, you know, get all the I's dotted and T's crossed in time for the upcoming budget season.

So um that's uh that's what I'm looking to do.

So motion to hold for four weeks.

Second discussion on the motion.

Councilman Conkhell.

Not on the motion.

I just wanted to go back to discussion on the agricultural stuff.

So uh I want to thank Councilwoman Warwick.

I was glad to sign on as a co-sponsor.

Um we have been wrestling with this for years now.

Going back three years ago, I had a post agenda on this, had two post agendas on it, and we had each and every director come to this table and tell us what dire straits they're in as far as their fleet goes.

So and I know Councilman Wilson and now new councilwoman warwork is uh taking taking the issue up, and I know for a fact that we've certainly got the new administration's attention, and I know that they're taking it very seriously.

So whatever comes of it, um, you know, it's about bringing it to the forefront.

I think uh we've all done a good job in that.

We definitely have to make this investment.

The city deserves it.

Um we it's our responsibility in order to right size this fleet.

Um, you know, we will be having our first uh ELA board meeting tomorrow.

Um we've got some, I think some exciting news that we'll be able to share in the upcoming week or two after um we get our um after we meet tomorrow.

But um yeah, I think everything's going on the right track.

Whether there's um supplemental incomes or uh uh funds that come in or not, we need to make the investment, and part of that is throwing this legislation down.

And um again, uh thank you, Councilman Warwick.

And um, yeah, hopefully, hopefully we don't have to make that investment out of our our funds every year, and we have find the administration I'm confident is at least gonna try hard and finding alternative sources there.

So I look forward to those conversations.

I look forward to re-entering the ELA uh game and um you know getting things straight in that.

So thanks.

Thank you.

Further discussion on the motion.

Seeing none.

All these in favor of uh forgive me.

Four week hold, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye aye.

Bill will be held for four weeks.

That moves us to invoices.

Is there a motion on invoices?

Second.

Discussion.

Seeing none, all those in favor of invoices, please say aye.

Aye.

Invoices are approved.

Our next agenda item is interdepartmental transfers.

Is there a motion on transfers?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Discussion.

Seeing none.

All those in favor of transfers, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Transfers are approved.

Brings us to P cards.

Is there a motion on P cards?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Discussion.

Seeing none.

All those in favor of P cards, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

P cards are approved.

That brings us to public works and infrastructure committee chaired by Councilmo Councilwoman Salonetro.

New papers bill 10.

Resolution authorizing the mayor, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to enter into an agreement or agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Green Light Go program for the purpose of receiving grant funds in the amount of $1,394,029 and six cents for intersection upgrades at three locations in the city of Pittsburgh.

The grant requires a match from the City of Pittsburgh in the amount of $348,507 and 27 cents for this stated purpose for total project cost of $1,742,536.33 cents.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Discussion.

I don't see anybody here from Downey.

It looks like Councilmember Warwick has a question for discussion.

Oh, I don't have a question.

I just wanted to say that one of the intersections here is Mifflin and Interborough in Lincoln Place.

And I just want to give a big shout out to the 31st Ward Community Action Group and also AARP.

AARP came out and did a walk audit with the with the community group.

It was you know it was a great event.

It was a good afternoon.

It was really hot outside and um gathered a lot of good data about this intersection, which is really terrible for pedestrians.

It's not great for cars either, but um and uh it was you know by the community working with ARP.

That that walk audit was really helpful in getting um in in sort of securing that grant and and you know getting that intersection put on the put on the list for Greenlight Go.

So I just wanted to shout out to everybody who participated in that.

Congratulations.

Any further discussion seeing none?

And um I know there was a desire by the um chair of the committee to have um uh Domey say a few words to to the council on this matter, but um certainly there's time between now and next Tuesday if anyone has questions directly on this bill.

Um all those in favor of bill 10, please indicate by saying oh okay, okay.

We are discussing the Green Light Go program.

We understood that Domey was interested in briefing council on this, so just in time.

Elevators took a little long.

Um Jeff Scalikan, acting director for Dovey.

Um for the Green Light Go.

Um, this is for three intersections.

Um the three intersections are North and James, um, Interborough and Mifflin and Stubin and Lorenz.

Um Lorenz will be 2026 construction, and the other two will be in 2027.

Thank you.

Any further discussion on the bill?

Councilman, uh Council Mills.

Just what does it do?

I mean, what exactly we're getting new signals?

Just new signals, is that what it's about?

Okay.

There's signals there.

I'm just replacing them.

We've been really successful in the past, I don't know, five, six years on Greenlight Go money.

Um so it's 80 percent federal.

Um so right now it's 1.3 million in change, and the local is 348,000.

So we're getting three new um intersections with new signals for 348,000 for city dollars.

Great, great work.

That's your grant writers, I guess.

Yeah, good.

Good job.

You guys do really well in your your grant writing, it seems.

Five years, five or six years with the green light.

All right, all right.

No, good work.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Further discussion.

Seeing none, all those in favor of Bill 10, please indicate by saying aye.

Bill 10 is uh preliminary approval.

We'll move on to Bill 12.

Resolution authorizing the mayor and the director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to take all necessary actions to acquire and secure a right of way aerial easements and permanent and or temporary construction easements as needed, including the taking of property by eminent domain if necessary involving the California Avenue Bridge Project at no cost to the city.

Motion to approve this discussion.

Second.

Second with discussion, Councilwoman Salinetro.

Want to give us an explanation of a little bit of background information on this, what you do?

Sure.

This um this is California Avenue Bridge.

Um we are wrapping up preliminary engineering right now.

Um we're getting ready to start final disabil design.

Um this is for the construction of the project.

So this is actually is to take slivers from both sides of the bridge.

Um I believe the property is Allegheny County, so it's just little slip slithers.

It's not a house or any property, but it's like coming to the approachments of the bridge.

Um we need this property to be able to reconstruct the bridge.

Um we're looking to put this bridge out to bid probably the end of the 2027, early 2028 will be construction.

Full-blown construction.

I was just saying thanks for all your efforts on that bridge.

Yep, much appreciated.

Um definitely for the residents that show up to the Bright Heights uh community meeting, and uh really want to see some progress on that bridge, so thanks.

Yep.

Further discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor of Bill 12, please say aye.

Aye.

Bill 12 gets a preliminary approval.

Bill 13.

Resolution authorizing the mayor and the director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to take all necessary actions to acquire and secure a right-of-way aerial easements and permanent and or temporary construction easements as needed, including the taking of property by eminent domain if necessary, involving the West Carson Street Bridge project at no cost to the city.

Motion to approve a discussion.

Second discussion, Councilwoman Salonetro.

This is kind of the same as California Avenue, but this one's a little bit different because on the one side of the bridge is actually McKey's Rocks.

Um so we're um acquiring again, Slother's a property um on McKees Rocks behalf.

So it will not be City of Pittsburgh property, it will still be McKees Rocks, but we need the property to go in to reconstruct the bridge.

Um this bridge, um, we have a construction date to put it out to bid in September 2027.

So you'll see about 2028 the work actually started.

Have you worked with the McKeith Rocks um we have community council and their mayor to uh Yeah, they've been great.

Okay.

Yep.

You further discussion?

Council McCaughey.

Yeah, just quickly um when we acquire uh other municipalities properties.

Do we buy them or are they give them to us or just give us a right away or yeah, this is right away, so it's a little slither, so like it will be in the city of Pittsburgh pro like hands, like when we do construction, and it's a hundred it's no money, so at the end we'll just give it back to the McKees Rocks.

We just need it to do the project.

Okay, yeah, okay.

It has to be in city right away.

I'm glad to hear they cooperate down there.

I know the little bridge that's uh they've been great.

Replacing the whole bridge, is that right?

Yeah, great.

Okay, thanks.

Yeah, for their discussion.

Seeing none, all those in favor of Bill 13, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation.

Bill 14.

Resolution providing for an agreement with CSX Transportation Inc.

for preliminary engineering work on the Elizabeth Street Bridge rehabilitation and providing for the payment of the cost thereof not to exceed $19,508, reimbursable at 100%.

Motion to approve a discussion.

Second.

Discussion, Councilwoman Salonetra.

Okay, this is actually 100% federal dollars.

Um we have this money, it's part of the PENDOP project, project funding, let me rephrase that.

Um this is actually to give it to CSX so they can review our engineering plans.

Um we expect to have a public meeting in September or springtime, I should say in September.

Excuse me, in the summer of um 2026, and the construction will be in June of 2028.

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor of Bill 14, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation.

Bill 15.

Resolution granting unto Breshiere Association Incorporated their successors and assigns the privilege and license to construct, maintain, and use at their own cost and expense at no cost to the city, a retaining wall, steps, and planters at the intersection of Bosman and Grape Street in the 30th ward 3rd Council District of the City of Pittsburgh.

Motion to approve a discussion.

With discussion, Councilwoman Salonetro.

Um, can you give us a little bit of background information about this?

Sure.

This is Brashir Association Incorporated.

They're doing the work.

Um, and it's to reconstruct an existing set of steps and a retaining wall by the community parklet.

Um it's a located intersection of Grape Street and Balsman Street.

The existence steps set of steps and it and the wall on Grape Street will be removed and reconstructed.

All utilities sign off on this and no easements are required.

Oh, when this is over, they own that off.

Okay.

They're not going to come back to the city asking for us to maintain or okay.

Any further discussion?

Seeing none.

All those in favor of Bill 15, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation.

Thank you very much.

That moves us on to the human resources committee chaired by Council Person Charlotte.

New papers.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Discussion.

Seeing none.

All those in favor of Bill 5, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation.

That moves us on to land use and economic development committee chaired by Councilman Wilson.

Deferred papers, Bill 2024-0959.

Ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh Code, Title IX, Zoning Code.

Article 6, Chapter 919, signs to create and establish the North Shore Entertainment District and set forth regulations for neighborhood or district gateway signs.

Sorry, motion to approve discussion.

Second.

Thank you.

All right.

So this brings us to Bill 2024 0959, as you heard.

So if we go back in time, this all started multiple reasons why.

One of the main purposes was to try and uh create some revenue for nonprofit museums such as the such as the war hall and create a path for uh a revenue stream for them to maintain business.

And uh we were able to work through a lot of uh these um you know these issues at the planning commission with the planning commission and uh the the zoning administrator at the time Corey Lehman.

We had several meetings uh to discuss and and really start from scratch in a lot of ways uh on how we're gonna collaborate on this bill.

So this is way before my time uh that the stakeholders uh you know stakeholders from Accursure Stadium, which probably at the time was Heinz Field, uh, you know, and then PNC Park, uh SCA.

There was a so many different stakeholders here that uh wanted to see uh something changed so there's a better path to get signage up on uh these structures that aren't typical structures that we see, like buildings that have stories, uh these other you know the facades and everything that you know are created by the you know, however, however they you know designed the stadiums is this was uh you know they wanted a clearer path on how they can put signage on the on the structure.

And so that I believe that was started, you know, 10-15 years ago.

Uh a lot is a lot has changed, uh different demands and different different times, and and quite frankly, I I think that you know it's a good it's a good way that the you know this bill really allows that area to promote itself uh not only now during the draft and in the future that really puts us in line with other cities uh that have these entertainment districts.

I think people that are moving there definitely know they're moving, you know, next to uh a PNC park.

demands and different different times and and quite frankly I I think that you know it's a good it's a good way that the you know this bill really allows that area to promote itself uh not only now during the draft and in the future it really puts us in line with other cities uh that have these entertainment districts I think people that are moving there definitely know they're moving you know next to uh a PNC park I mean they're literally building you know apartments and right across from PMC park they know what they're getting into and I think this is um this will allow uh those uh those different businesses the teams uh the museums everyone down in that space to promote it in a way uh like I said uh that I think would be beneficial for them and you know and then all the all the different ways that revenue comes back to us because of uh you know what's all the entertainment that's happening down there and so throughout those if we speed up throughout those meetings uh we were able to come to a piece of legislation a zoning amendment that would uh get unanimous approval it did we had the public hearing here just yesterday we had two speakers and it was a good conversation uh good presentation by uh everyone that showed up to um to present uh which was uh Sean Gallagher and also Bill Colano uh they both are uh represent all the stakeholders in that space and then also we had um Kate Rickus as well from the planning department and I believe Kate is online uh for very specific questions but I just want to you know for council I just want to make sure we have this overview here because it has been some time you can see the you can see the timeline here that we're going back you know into last year literally into the summer well in in June when we send it over to the planning commission.

So happy to discuss the bill uh but I appreciate everyone's support on this and looking forward to uh getting this done for all the stakeholders and and for Pittsburgh thank you uh we have Councilman Coghill followed by council member warwick thank you uh Madam Chair and Councilman Wilson I want to thank you for pushing this through you know like you said we served on the SEA board we had taken this up we have a garage down there and I think it's one of the sites that they were looking at um I also understand I believe the warhole is on board with this it's it's really like art it's just I don't want people to get the wrong idea we're putting these big huge massive uh billboards up basically it's it's really different and unique and I think uh actually adds to the whole artistic um vibe that we have down there with warhol and everything else so I'm in full support the SEA board was in full support um I'm glad to see it get over the finish line here um well at least next Tuesday hopefully get it over the finish line and uh then all parties can proceed so just wanted to thank you for your work thank you council member warwick um I just wanted to say that I happen to be at this the final city planning commission uh hearing for something else for but but heard this bill and I it was it was I I don't know if I'd call a planning commission meeting a love fest but there was lots of everyone really worked hard like watching everyone speak to this bill like between the zoning team and the you know the the folks working on the project and Councilman Wills and like everyone put in lots of work and uh it was nice to see a resolution you know of compromise everybody's everybody seemed to have usually say compromise means you don't get what you want but I think in this in this situation lots of compromise and everyone seemed to be very happy with the outcome so congratulations.

Further discussion I have one question maybe interrogatory if um which I think we've discussed privately I just wanted to daylight it which is some of the changes that were made it's my understanding that this would sort of um keep it from being replicated all over the city like this is really specific to both the zoning and the qualifications for allowing this kind of these kind of billboards to exist is really pretty specific to the exact zoning specifications of the North Shore where stadiums are is that correct I know initially the fear was that this would then be replicated in commercial zones all over the city and I want to uh just get confirmation that that's that's been fixed.

Yeah this is just specific for this area where we actually identify the parcel numbers and everything.

Down to the parcel numbers okay thank you.

So it clearly says what's restricted.

So what can folks expect to see when they you know see these billboards?

Yeah.

Now that we know what's not going to be there.

What the hell is that?

And I'm saying you're not going to be programming the billboards yourself, but you could give us just a little bit of insight on that.

Right.

So the the agreement was that this wouldn't be the advertising that's allowed.

Would it be for like Coca-Cola?

Or it wouldn't be for Howard Hanna or some realty, you know, another realty uh company.

You know, it would be maybe to cross promote in that area.

So for instance, if you're going to a CELR game, and then after a CL game, K Moes is playing at the shore.

No, yeah.

At the I like it.

Let's keep going.

At the concert venue.

Right.

Then uh people would know that KMO's is is you know holding holding that concert and they maybe can go and enjoy themselves afterwards.

Yeah.

Uh likely, you know, if like you know, call heel roofing, couldn't get an ad there, but like, you know, you still can see PNC Park, you know, promote after the game, like, you know, go to uh, you know, Southern Tier for you know, there's gonna be this ban plan.

So you know, I think that's I think it's it's there's a big compromise, and I think uh what's recognized, you know, by conspiration work was I mean, literally we had meetings where uh Corey Lane put up uh a definition of cloud collaboration and also a pie chart what that means, and we literally started from scratch, right?

Because um you know, a lot of people coming into this conversation do not like signs, right?

You know, like uh different people, yeah.

Well, just in just in general, like even you know, people uh so you know we wanted to make sure that this was um we're meeting in in in the middle on a lot of these conversations, and maybe this is the base for some other conversations that can happen in this area, but it definitely is putting Pittsburgh uh on the map to uh you know highlight their areas uh just like other cities do.

So for instance, like ground signs, like you can have a ground sign now, so you can you know we it can say you know, there could be a letter missing and steelers, and you know, someone can go take a photo op, you know, to make the S or something.

Like I you know, like there's different um things way that they can promote it from a ground sign.

So I thought that was a big one, uh, which which you know right now it would take uh a lot of different sign-offs for that to happen, and this really creates a path for these uh these facades where they're literally calculating the percent of uh like how much signage they can have as a percent.

And I think um I think everyone collaborate in a way where we're getting somewhere, not everyone's not getting what they want, definitely in this legislative stakeholders and you know, originally what they wanted, but it's it's gonna be so much uh more efficient for everyone involved, you know, to actually get these signs up and to remote the area.

Unless there are a particular timeline when we couldn't expect to start to see the signage on the North Shore.

You're gonna see in the draft.

So, you know, you should be able to see this immediately.

Like the it should you should be able to see uh some of the temporary uh event signs that um typically may take you know some more time to get approval that we can get some faster approval, and this can happen uh you know much sooner.

So I think you'll see a difference, you know, pretty quickly with the draft.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor of bill 2024-959, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation.

Congratulations, Councilman.

New papers, Bill 8.

Yeah, yeah.

Ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh Code, Title 7, Business Licensing, Article 7, service businesses, adding a new chapter, 768, short-term rental housing.

Uh motion to approve discussion.

Second.

Thank you, Councilman Wilson.

And first of all, thank you to Councilman Wilson and Councilman Coghell for being co-sponsors.

Um, I'm gonna motion to hold for three weeks on both of these bills.

So this bill and the next one, because uh we worked with the directors of the previous administration on you know, from the law department to the mayor's office to planning and zoning, and so it's still taking some time to schedule to get everybody up to speed, and I wanted to make sure we had those conversations.

Um so with uh a motion to hold three weeks.

Second discussion on the motion, all in favor of a three-week hold, please indicate by saying aye.

All in favor of a three-week hold, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Bill be held three weeks.

Bill 9.

Ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh Code, Title 9, zoning, Article 5, use regulations.

Chapter 11, primary uses, 11.02, use table and adding Section 91.04 A 101, short-term rental and amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh Code.

Title 9 zoning, Article 5, use regulations, Chapter 912, accessory uses and structures by adding Section 912.09 short-term rental.

Motion to hold three weeks.

Bill be held three weeks.

That brings us to innovation performance asset management and technology committee chaired by Councilwoman Gross.

New papers, Bill 41, ordinance supplementing the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title 1, Administrative.

Article 7, procedures by adding a new chapter.

Chapter 173A, housing data dashboard.

Motion to approve brief discussion.

Oh, second.

I'll defer to the bill sponsor.

Yes.

So I as I said in the email to members here.

My intent on this bill is to hold it for four weeks.

We do not have that currently.

There are a lot of groups that have tried to find ways to cobble together some data and we're we you know can argue about methodology, but but we need we need the city to be providing the source of um of dat uh uh of data here.

So this legislation is uh actually very simple in the way that I wrote it.

What we're gonna do is um ask for the Department of City Planning to collect data on housing units.

Um I I uh very specific way that that I wrote that um and in this chapter housing units not meaning building permits, not meaning uh occupancy permits, but actually meaning a unit that someone can move into, uh complete unit that someone can move into.

Uh we'll be asking the Department of City Planning to collect that data, and we'll be asking the Department of Innovation and Performance to host that data on uh our website and make it publicly available.

In this legislation, I have it written that we will be requiring this in 2026 for them to uh be able to provide us this dashboard that has all the units that have been constructed, and then in 2027 uh and and years moving on, also including the units that come offline.

So uh as I've I've said to other members as I've discussed this, I have a lot of ideas on the methodology of how I think they could collect that data, um, but ultimately you know it's not up to the council office to figure out exactly how that'll work.

It's up to the to them to figure out uh you know how how the data is actually collected.

But I we've talked about this so much, and for two years I've been talking about this.

I really believe that we need legislation to hold these departments' feet to the fire.

Um with that also, though, and one of the reasons why I want the four-week hold is that this is not something that I have discussed with um new leadership in these departments.

Uh there are definitely folks under you know the director level that are aware that this is something that I want to see, but I want to have the opportunity to discuss this with them.

I don't want to blindside anyone with this.

Um so the the legislation, you know, it's it's my request that we hold this for for four weeks here.

Umless other members have anything else to say.

Councilwoman, it looks like we have some discussion and then maybe a motion.

Uh Councilwoman Gross.

Thank you.

I just want to thank Councilman Charlotte for putting this forward.

We often have had uh uh you know robust debate and disagreed with one another on housing's, you know, very specific housing policies, but we agree that we could have had a better debate if we'd had better data.

Um and this has been true and it will continue to be true until we actually all have the same numbers in front of us.

I think we've both said that at this table before.

Like this is it's inane that we don't all have the same information in front of us that we all agree is real.

Um and so, and it's we're the city government.

We should have real data that we can all um you know use as a starting point for debate.

And I shared this with um Councilman Sherland earlier.

Like I have years of emails going back with the departments asking for this information and asking that they begin collecting this information.

So I fully support, I think he's on the right track here.

What we need is to put it in ordinance that they have to to hold their feet to the fire.

So I'm I'm enthusiastic to see this getting started.

Thank you.

Any further discussion then I would like to uh motion for a four-week hold.

Second, second discussion on the motion.

Seeing none, all those in favor of a four-week hold on bill eleven, please indicate by saying aye.

41.

Four week hold.

Bill 41.

I'm sorry, I scrolled down a little too far.

Thank you.

Bill 41.

Thank you.

We we've took a vote to be clear on Bill 41 for a four-week hold.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommend or four-week hold on forty-one.

That takes us to our last committee of the day, intergovernmental and educational affairs committee chaired by Councilman Mosley.

New papers.

Bill 11 resolution authorizing the mayor, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the director of the Department of Public Works to enter into an agreement or agreements with Allegheny County Economic Development for the purpose of receiving grant funds from the gaming economic development tourism fund in the amount not to exceed $50,000 for Warrington Recreation Center.

Motion to approve brief discussion.

Second.

Discussion?

Yeah, we'll represent from public works, please come to the table.

Chris Hornstein, Public Works.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we're renovating um the Warrington Rec Center.

That's in uh council person Charlotte's district.

Um so this is you know, additional funds from the uh gaming economic development tourism fund um that the county makes available to um applicants, and we were successful in getting it, so much appreciated from from those folks.

Thank you.

Do you have anything you would like to add or question?

Council McCod.

Okay, thank you.

I just really wanted to call John to the table.

You know, I mean it's he's gonna have to get to know us real soon, especially being the time of year.

We're all familiar with Mr.

Hornstein.

Um, by the way, of course, he's been in the hot seat for many, many years now.

So uh glad to see he's working side by side with you.

Um I just wanted to say personally, John is from my district, he lives in Kerrick.

Um he's got lots and lots of experience um down at public works.

He takes care of part of my district.

I think most of councilwoman Solonetro's district, and always I'm jealous of riding through the parts of my district that you take care of because they're always seem to be so so well done.

Uh you know, your crews have a lot of respect for you.

Congratulations.

I know you're acting director, and um, you know, I feel very confident in your abilities as I did with Mr.

Hornstein here, and I'm glad he's staying on and hope you know gonna help help you through this transition.

Yes, it's been a big help.

Yeah, right.

And um that's all I really wanted to say.

I don't really have any questions on this project or anything.

Just to say um how much confidence I have in you and what you've done throughout the years.

We work closely together.

You've always been very responsive when I needed to call you, whether it's a steep hill and beach view or you know, um, you know, the challenges that we have there.

So uh you're very familiar with my end of town.

Yes, I'm grateful for that.

I know as Mr.

Hornstein was.

I'm glad we're keeping it in well, district two, I guess, but it's still my side of town.

So welcome aboard.

Well, thank you very much, Council.

Thank you.

Further discussion?

Councilwoman.

I just say I want to echo those sentiments because uh John McClory's been taking care of the fifth division now all the years that I have been on council, which is 17, and not on council, but working for council.

And he's been fabulous.

You answer the calls every Saturday, every Sunday, every at whatever time we call, he's very responsive.

And I'm I'm thrilled for you, and I'm I'm happy for myself that that you'll be in charge.

Thank you.

It's a little overwhelming, but we'll get our feet under us here.

I I totally understand that.

Further discussion.

Just want to, you know, echo the congratulations, looking forward to working with you, and as director of meredis knows that I reach out a lot.

So looking forward to talking to you, text messages and giving you calls and things like that.

So problem.

I'm looking forward to working with all you.

Um give me a call, text, email.

I will answer it.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you.

Seeing no further questions.

Uh all those in favor of Bill 11, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation.

Thank you very much.

See you then.

Thanks again.

That brings us to the end of our standing committee's agenda.

We do have meeting announcements.

And that is that next week, council will hold their regular meeting on Tuesday, January 27th.

And standing committees meeting on Wednesday, January 28th, both at 10 a.m.

Also next Tuesday, January 27th at 1 30 p.m.

Council will hold a cable cast public hearing on bills 39 and 40 regarding referendum questions relative to changing the budget approval rules and changing public hearing notice requirements.

Speaker registration will close at 11 30 a.m.

on the day of the hearing.

To register to speak at these meetings, please fill out the sign-up form on the council meeting webpage by the deadlines, and you may also call the clerk's office at 412-255-2138.

Is there anything from members?

Seeing none, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes and adjourn the meeting.

All in favor?

Aye.

Meeting is adjourned.