Good morning and welcome to the pre-agenda interviews for Wednesday, April 1st, 2026 for the Pittsburgh Parking Authority.

Will the clerk please read the title of the bills?

Bill one Bill 159 resolution informing City Council of the appointment of Charles Fisher as a member of the board of directors of the public parking authority of Pittsburgh for a term to expire April 10th, 2028.

Serving the remainder of the term for a seat previously held by Kim Lucas.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Charles Fisher, the Reverend Charles Fisher.

I'm a resident of District 7, where Council member uh Deborah Gross is our council member, and I also my ministry is in District 9, where uh council member Kahari Mosley is our council member there.

I'm grateful for the opportunity that the mayor has provided for me to serve the city of Pittsburgh in this role on the Pittsburgh Parking Authority.

It's a great opportunity for me to offer my service back to a place in the city that which I've called home for the past seven years.

Thank you.

And for the record, we've been joined by Councilmember Barwick.

So I'll stall a little bit while we're waiting for um the council member to get settled, but um saying that I'll ask some questions later.

Having previously served on the Pittsburgh Parking Authority prior to um switching and serving on Pittsburgh Water Board, I can tell you that you know uh it's a it's a great organization, it's a great board.

Um there's vast experience in the leadership there, leadership team.

And um, you know, you learn a lot about um I uh issues that you never thought you'd learn about.

Um so uh I uh you know, I'm grateful for your willingness to serve and uh with that I'll turn it over to Councilmember Warwick to ask any questions she might have great, thank you.

Um I guess just um sort of off the top, you know, uh you know, why why the parking authority?

What what is it about the parking authority board that that interests you and it was an opportunity that was presented to me as I've asked for um Mayor O'Connor and his staff as opportunity to serve the city.

Having lived in other major cities across the country or more specifically on the East Coast, we found that this to be a opportunity that would most align with my experiences and also bring different perspectives that may not have already been available here in Pittsburgh.

Okay.

Um, in Pittsburgh, we have you know, we we have an issue in Pittsburgh of of too many cars, right?

Far more cars than can if can fit, you know, whether it be parking in our neighborhoods or parking downtown or parking in Oakland, right?

Far too many cars uh to fit in the space that we have.

Um I'm curious if you have any thoughts about ways that the parking authority can um help to sort of disincentive driving when you don't need to drive, right?

So that so that folks aren't dri you know, so well, I'll let you answer the question.

At the time I don't have an exact answer for that question.

It's a interesting um challenge that the city now possesses.

And I look forward to working with members of the authority to have a better understanding of how the authority has addressed said issues in the past and how I can bring my perspective from previous places to resolve that situation.

Okay.

Um issue that we well.

So from my perspective, it there it seems to me that we should be sort of there there's this culture, this you know, in the and it's across the United States, right?

It's not just here.

Um but there in this sort of like car culture that we have.

There's this notion that parking should be free, right?

That that you know it is frustrating to people when they have to pay to park.

Uh but I think that you know, one of the solutions to this issue of too many cars is that you know you just like you can't leave your personal belongings in the street, right?

Like you can't use the street for storage of other personal belongings, right?

The the street, the right-of-way does not belong to drivers.

And uh so the answer to that, in my opinion, is to increase the cost of parking.

Like if you want to drive, especially in areas where we have ample transit options, which aren't many in Pittsburgh, by the way, right?

Like, you know, our our our transit is uh lacking in many ways.

But there are places like downtown, like Oakland, um, where you can get there without bringing your personal vehicle, especially as a commuter, right?

Um other examples are um, you know, we see people, for example, and this is something in my district.

So I'm district five and I have uh Shenley Park as part of my district, right?

So and we see lots of people parking in Shenley Park all day and taking up all the parking so that even park users don't have, you know what I mean, can't find parking in Shenley Park sometimes and sort of like around the oval and and desirable areas because people are parking there for free and then walking over to Oakland to go to work.

Right.

Um I mean the way I look at it is is it's it's hard to make change, right?

It's hard to put in new meters because it's very unpopular, right?

It makes people mad when you meter parking that used to be free, or you increase the cost of parking that used to be free, or you add parking on Sunday where it used to be free, right?

And um and we're always getting folks saying, oh, well, could my church have an exception or could my you know what I mean?

Could we get and it's and for me the answer is no, right?

Like park, you know, we charge for parking because it's in the public right-of-way, and that's you know, that's what we need to do.

Um I'm curious about your thoughts just as to the to the board or a board in general, like if you've ever served on a on another board on sort of the ability of the board to drive that kind of change and how that might work.

I'm not even sure how many people are on the parking authority board.

It's five of us.

Five.

Okay, so it's a pretty small board, right?

So it feels like that's a board that the smaller the board, the easier it is to make the change, right?

If you have a uh common goal, the Pittsburgh Parking Authority is a low cost alternative for parking here in the city, for one.

You're also you also address a number of uh the culture of the city where driving one's own individual car is part of the culture of the of the city.

So how do you how do you acknowledge that well as well as making a solution that makes the most sense for the city as well, uh maintaining a space, maintaining of opportunities not to charge for the sake of charging, I don't believe.

But if we recognize that it's a and nor should it be used as a deterrent to put meters up so people will stop driving cars, but we also recognize that more cars that drive, there also changes or alters how uh the roads and other conditions of neighborhoods are also also affected.

Um I don't have uh all the answers, but I but I do agree with you to an extent that meters on the street are just part of a changing environment of a of an urban environment.

That's not any different than any other city or many other cities across this country.

So that yes, that may be a change of culture and change of understanding in the city of Pittsburgh, but it may be a necessary one as we continue to have this culture of people driving.

I mean, there becomes multitudes of other solutions.

You talk about public transportation and the like.

And by that I mean with the um with the uh uh uh bill or you know, policy allowing for ticket by mail.

Um we see you know, people who are accustomed to, you know, when they're parking illegally or they overstay a meter not getting the ticket on their windshield, but then you know a couple weeks later getting it, and that's a change.

But also um purple loading zones, right?

Ticket by mail there.

Cameras that are automatically ticketing people.

Um hand that means uh changing behavior to know that you can't park in a bike lane and then get away with that anymore because there's gonna be a like a 24-hour day camera there.

There are certain parking lots where if you haven't paid, even if it's before, you know, you're accustomed to parking before the meter started or the enforcement started, now it's a 24-hour day camera and you're gonna get ticketed.

Um, even if you're pulling over for two seconds into like an illegal space next to a crosswalk to pick up your kid, like you're gonna get a ticket two weeks later.

So it's painful.

We're getting the emails and it shows.

Um, but probably necessary because there are reasons for that, right?

There are reasons why we don't want people to park next to a crosswalk.

It's for safety for the pedestrians and um my you know, part of my um underlying kind of ethos when it comes to public serving the public, and I know the council persons as well, is everyone should be able to travel safely through the city regardless of the mode of transportation.

So um those two are butting up against each other.

My question for you is have you in your experience led an organization through sort of a culture change or a shift and how have you navigated that?

What can you bring to the board um to help ease that or grease the wheels a little bit?

So yes, change changing of culture is uh responsibility of in every organization one works in if you're wanting to make change, usually for positive change, not just to address a challenge.

Well, to address the challenge, but not to disturb what's going on, but to make something different.

I mean, I've pastored churches in the past and I've also worked in other organizations such as a seminary and um working to build a culture of understanding so people have a the best understanding of why some changes are necessary, or not for the sake of change, but also for the change of enhancing the organization and other things that we are involved in as well for the betterment of all people.

Great.

Thank you.

Last I'll say is um I know it's the desire of many to finally be able to tackle the issue of people forced to park on the or feeling they're like they're forced to park on the sidewalks, which is um pretty rampant across narrow streets across the city, not every street.

Um, they do that because they're afraid of their cars getting rammed into or their mirrors getting taken off.

Um it's a challenge.

There's no easy answer, but at the same time when that happens, not only does it diminish the ability for people of all users, but especially those using wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, pushing strollers to be able to safely get through.

It's like it's a violation of the ADA, right?

But um, but it's also it wears down on people's sidewalks that they then have to replay pay to replace.

So uh no easy answer.

But if you and the board are able to figure out a way to tackle that, especially in areas close to even starting out close to health centers and hospitals and schools and daycare centers and places where you know, you know, people need to be able to access as a starting point.

Um that would be a huge benefit to the city, in my opinion.

So yeah, thank you.

Anything further, Councilmember Warwick.

Okay.

Well, um, I don't see any members joining online.

Thank you very much again for your willingness to serve.

It's a great board, it's a great leadership team.

I think you'll enjoy your time there, and um we're really grateful for for your time here today.

Having exhausted the business of this pre-agenda interview, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.