On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the Pittsburgh City Council held its Standing Committees meeting at 10:00 AM in Council Chambers. The meeting covered a pre-agenda interview for the Parking Authority, followed by committee reviews of financial resolutions, immigration enforcement ordinances, public works easements, parking regulations for the NFL Draft, and a surveillance technology report. Multiple votes were taken, with most items advancing to public hearings or receiving affirmative recommendations.
Public speakers addressed the immigration-related ordinances (2026-0286, 0288, 0289) and the surveillance technology resolution (2026-0287).
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 excuse me, 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. So I am I will turn the floor over to you to introduce yourself and to um and to offer brief remarks. Thank you. 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. Having previously served on the Pittsburgh Parking Authority prior to switching and serving on Pittsburgh Water Board, I can tell you that it's a it's a great organization, it's a great board. So I 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 been already been available here in Pittsburgh. Okay. Um so you know, in Pittsburgh, we have you know, we we have an issue in Pittsburgh 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 disincentivize driving when you don't need to drive, right? So that so that folks aren't driving, you know, it's uh 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 could bring my perspective from previous places to resolve that situation. Okay. So one 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 the street, the right-of-way does not belong to drivers. And uh so the answer to that, in my opinion, is to you know, 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 some 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?