Good afternoon and welcome to Pittsburgh City Council Cable Cast Public Hearing for Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, relative to the budget reopening.

Would a clerk please read the title of the bills.

Bill 278, resolution amending Resolution 933 of 2024, which reappropriated Federal American Rescue Plan funding by updating the approved projects as outlined in Exhibit A, version 10, Bill 279, resolution amending resolution 838 of 2025, which fixed the number of officers and employees of the City of Pittsburgh for the 2026 fiscal year and the rate of compensation thereof and set maximum levels for designated positions by eliminating one district chief and adding one assistant chief in the Department of Public Safety Bureau of Emergency Medical Services.

Bill 280, resolution amending resolution 841 of 2025, which authorized appropriations, salaries and capital expenditures of the parks trust fund for the 2026 fiscal year, beginning January 1st, 2026 by increasing the spend amount by 500,000.

And Bill 285, resolution amending resolution 835 of 2025, which made appropriations to pay the expenses of conducting the public business of the City of Pittsburgh and for meeting the debt charges thereof for the fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2026.

Thank you very much.

For the record, we're joined by Councilwoman Schlossberg, Councilman Mosley, Councilwoman Selenetro, and Councilman Gross.

We will now move on to our registered speakers.

After you recall, please restate your name, provide your neighborhood for the record.

You'll be given three minutes to speak.

Our first registered speaker is Daniel McCarthy.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Dan McCarthy.

I'm an organizer with Just Harvest, and I live in Shady Side currently.

Just Harvest works to address hunger in Allegheny County at the root economic injustice and through a focus on public policy, food access, direct services, and community power.

I'm here today to address the budget revisions and to urge council to protect and retain the $500,000 originally allocated for the city's food justice fund.

I also have a letter to share with council that had been sent to the mayor's office, and I believe sent to your offices as well, signed by a hundred Pittsburgh residents and organizations supporting the Food Justice Fund.

If I can hand that to Council.

Thank you.

Hunger is a growing crisis in our city.

Rising food costs combined with ongoing SNAP policy changes have increased pressure on an already vulnerable households across the city.

At the same time, our local food systems that include farmers markets, corner stores, and community-based distribution networks are being asked to do a lot more with less.

Local investments like the Food Justice Fund are especially critical as federal support becomes less reliable.

Pittsburgh has many neighborhoods that are experiencing food apartheid, and one in five Pittsburgh residents are food insecure.

The city's own Feed PGH report, released in 2020, identified 23 healthy food priority areas.

And of these 23 areas, 18 are in predominantly black neighborhoods.

While 33% of black Pittsburghers live in a healthy food priority area, only 5% of white Pittsburghers do.

In order to create a Pittsburgh that works for everyone, all Pittsburghers need to be able to access and eat fresh, nutritious, culturally appropriate foods.

The Food Justice Fund is needed to continue to develop new and strengthen existing community-based food initiatives to address these long-standing structural inequities in the food system.

The city can invest in and empower communities to define their needs and create the food systems to meet their needs.

But when you cut funding for these programs, you're cutting out neighborhoods and leaving behind those who won't benefit from this investment.

I understand that the mayor and council have difficult decisions to make regarding the city's financial position, but a reduction in the $500,000 food justice fund will not solve the financial situation.

Instead, it will significantly weaken a program that provides targeted community-driven investments in food access across Pittsburgh's neighborhood.

Again, I'd like to urge council to reject this budget reduction for the food justice fund and to fund the program at the level we previously said you would.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next register speaker is Elena Brown.

Hello all.

Can we hear me okay?

Yes, we can.

Okay.

Hello, my name is Elena Brown.

I'm a resident at Stan Heights.

I'm also the policy and evaluation manager at the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council.

Today we are discussing the reallocation of the budget, in particular, item 49 of the budget amendments.

That's the cut of the food justice fund in half.

I understand that the current budget situation is not favorable to spending.

And I know many programs that people depend on well beyond the food justice fund are facing similar realities.

Well, we may not be able to change decisions today.

I hope we can shape how we move forward.

Too often food and food programming are treated as a privilege or a non-essential service, something that we address only when things are going well or funds are abundant.

Too often, community-based efforts like gardens are positioned in competition with housing or development instead of being recognized as complimentary.

And too often we do not fully acknowledge the economic, public health, and social impacts that access to fresh nutritional food has on the city, its neighborhoods, and its communities.

So while I don't know if I can ask for a different outcome today, I do urge that future budget decisions frame food as a fundamental human right, an essential function, and not just a convenience.

And city farms has been invaluable resource in this work as well.

So all of that to say, as we look ahead, I encourage us not to focus on what we can cut or eliminate, but to work with us and think about how we can shift capacity, collaborate, and find creative solutions.

You're going to hear from organizations doing this work on the ground every day.

So I hope you work with us, talk with us, and explore how we can actually sustain this work.

And with that being said, I thank City Council for their time.

Uh, and I hope we continue this great work together.

Thank you.

Our last register speaker is Icahana Hal Malkina.

As primary fiduciary agent for the people of the city.

You have complete control of the city budget and are expected to act responsibly with taxpayers' money.

But some of you, it took too long for you to figure out that you should edit that money to maintain your fleet.

And now, even after being given given more money, you still are bickering about what money should go where, how, and when they received 335 million dollars of American Rescue Plan Fund that it were not you were to be given back.

And I don't think they were given back.

The money was hidden somewhere in a flesh fund that's still being used.

And I'm not sure the people who gave you those dollars would be happy to know that you're still using them and didn't return them because they want you in the time frame that was given to you.

The city and its residents were supposed to be given that money for survival through the pandemic.

However, the money was plundered by an inflated death and other intermediate reasons for youth and money from the previous administration.

Council also, at the behest of myself and other community leaders who bet for meeting for community input at the what should happen with the 35, 335 million dollars.

Expressed many great ideas.

One of these ideas that rose to the surface was to give a monthly stipend of $500 to, I believe, mothers.

And I suggested that it should be single fathered as well.

It was a great idea.

I think championed even by Councilman Lavelle.

And also, if you're wondering what else you should do with the money, invest in our youth.

Our youth need programming.

Don't just leave it up to the schools because after they leave school, they're downtown creating takeovers.

And instead of takeover, how about we take over the opportunity to provide meaningful programming for the youth?

That is what you should do with this money.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

That exhausts our list of registered speakers.

If there's anyone in chambers wishing to speak, please come forward at this time, provide your name and neighborhood for the record.

Is there anyone in chambers wishing to speak?

If not, I will turn it over to members in case they have a comment.

If not, having exhausted the business of this public hearing, we are adjourned.