Good afternoon and welcome to the preagenda interview for Wednesday, February eleventh, two thousand twenty-six.

So I will read it and then afterwards I would like you to say I do.

I affirm whatever your word of choosing.

If you have any opening remarks, or if you just want to tell us a little bit about yourself while you're interested to serve in this position, and then we'll open up for questions.

Um this has uh been a long time coming, and um when I um saw this was a potential opportunity to serve as the director, um, I immediately jumped at it.

So um I come from an architecture and urban design background.

Um, but I feel like I I bring a unique skill set here because I've worked both between the the private sector departments, residents, you know, stakeholders, all kinds of interests, and I feel like I try to understand the issues that impact planning as a whole and impact our neighborhoods, and so um I try to bring that balanced approach to city planning and um recognizing that sometimes hard decisions have to be made, but that's what we're here for.

So I'm excited to build, you know, continue to build a department that is using its expertise to be a resource for its residents.

Like I'm you know, I feel like I came to work for all of the residents of Pittsburgh and particularly um the council people represent those residents, and so I'm excited to work together to address any issues that you're coming across in your neighborhoods across the city.

Um I'm also very big on communication and transparency.

So I know there's been a lot of challenges in the last couple of years around you know, some projects and so forth, and so I'm really working to um communicate clearly about what planning does so that there can be a better um better working relationship and um hopefully people in the neighborhoods, you know, come to know us as a resource.

So um we have a great team over there, and I'm really hopeful for you know the next few years to do some good things in Pittsburgh.

Thank you.

With that, we'll open it up to members with questions.

We'll start with Councilman Mosley.

Okay.

Thank you for your willingness to serve.

Um and thank you for a great conversation.

I don't know if it was a week ago or two weeks ago at this point.

Uh we had opportunity to touch base, and obviously we know each other very, very well.

Um had the opportunity, you know, to see your work um in the community and in the district that I represent prior to my time as a council member and even since I've been on council.

Uh I I guess my f my first question um is is a question that I posed to you when we we sat down in private.

Um, you know, is is just sharing your thoughts about the role that the Department of City Planning can play, you know, in in addressing, you know, this you know, wide-ranging challenge that we have around housing, you know, addressing affordability as well as increasing the inventory, you know, uh of housing, you know, and obviously the Department of City Planning does not go out and build houses.

Yeah, you know, um, and I think that's important, as you say, of clarifying, you know, the role.

But you know, clearly there is a role to play in that larger, you know, ecosystem.

Yeah, you know, as we try to bring, you know, more housing inventory of all typologies and price points online, um, you know, obviously with uh a lens for the most vulnerable, um, you know, and and you know, and and those who have felt the impact, you know, uh of this placement over the last you know 10 or 15 years, but you can just share your thoughts about you know, within that larger ecosystem that would include you know the housing authority and even the county government, um, nonprofits and obviously for-profit entities, but where do you see this the Department of City Planning like sitting within that broader ecosystem?

Um well I am hoping that city planning is gonna serve as both like professional expertise on best practices nationally and a convener in these conversations.

So, you know, our job is you know, all these people are trained around like what can we do to build more housing to keep it affordable to ensure a mix of types, and we need to really be exploring like every tool at our disposal nationally, and we know some stuff that has worked and not worked, and we know there's some stuff at the table.

Um, but I do believe also in incremental change and that we need to make progress on the low-hanging fruit and then continue to expand um further opportunities for housing.

And um I think you know we have to constantly keep in mind all of the you know residents of Pittsburgh, like and like you were saying, that includes the most vulnerable, it includes like you know, middle class families, like Gerad and I, you know, it includes like people that you know are um at higher income levels and we need to try to figure out how to find a middle ground that helps the majority of our residents in the city as a whole and is not pitting us against each other.

I think there's a lot of um uh what's the word?

There's been a lot of like us versus them and sort of like people pitting each other again, and I think we all want to make a better city, and we need to figure out how to work together to get to those solutions, and acknowledging that not everybody's gonna get what they want all the time, but we are incrementally improving the city and making sure that we protect the people that are here, you know, and we give them options to grow old in their neighborhood if they want, you know.

I would like to see my kids come back to Pittsburgh, and so I'm on a mission to have this be the city that they want to come back to, even though I have a freshman in DC, you know.

So it has not been a choice of many people of color to you know reach their professional aspirations here, but I'm hoping we can create a city that um our kids can come back to.

And so it's just gonna mean like working better together with the URA, with the housing authority, with council at large to make some change in this space.

And I have some thoughts about other tools that haven't been explored here and city planning is you know, going to explore and seeing what's a good fit for Pittsburgh.

I thank you for that.

And um, and then also in our conversation you talked about the fact that you are a certified city planner.

Um if you could talk a little bit about that particular expertise and why do you see it is so important for this role and being that you are a certified city planner, you know, what does that mean, you know, for this particular role.

Yes.

Um I understand, I mean where do I start here?

Okay.

So I try to explain to people like city planner, the planning profession, it's a profession, like doctors and lawyers, right?

And for much time it like in the recent, like even though I've been in Pittsburgh for 25 years, and I've worked in a large part of that time nationally, then I ran my own practice here, like half locally, half national.

But um I feel that city planning has not owned its role in providing professional expertise on a lot of these issues.

And all of us that got into planning, um, clearly have a passion for hard things.

So we have, you know, we have an education in understanding how cities developed, how you know, mistakes that have been made by planning in the 70s when people were trying to do the right thing, and all the crazy stuff around like why public housing ended up the way it ended up.

And so we are trained in the development of cities, what has not worked over time, how to be careful about making decisions in the future, and so forth and so on.

And we need to deploy that expertise in working with city government here in Pittsburgh.

So I try to tell people like if you broke your arm and a doctor told you you needed a cast and to do XY and Z, you would follow it.

Like these people at planning, we have the professional education and expertise to make recommendations.

And sometimes I think like being on the other side of planning as a consultant, like I've seen them take a more passive attitude.

I think no fault of their own, you know, but I think this is a new day where we need to, you know, take pride in that expertise, share it.

It's not necessarily always gonna be taken as the way forward, but you know, we need to share what's working and has worked nationally and since the beginning of time when cities were formed.

Um just hopefully, you know, come to respect, I think the the expertise of the profession as a whole.

Sure.

And there are any you know particular, you know, strategies and policies and approaches um that you see um you know from your national perspective, um, you know, as well as from you know your observation and and study, you know, um do you see particular cities?

I mean, because I think sometimes, you know, we'll look at Austin and Seattle and Minneapolis and know like they're in a much different place.

You know, they're actually kind of where Pittsburgh probably was like in the 1930s and 1940s, as far as you know, the like their growth.

But cities like Pittsburgh that are you know, Rust Bell cities that are trying to rebound.