Pittsburgh City Council Post-Agenda Discussion on Downtown TRID Implementation Plan - July 1, 2026
Pittsburgh City Council Post-Agenda Discussion on Downtown TRID Implementation Plan (July 1, 2026)
On Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at 1:30 PM in Council Chambers, Pittsburgh City Council convened a post-agenda hearing to discuss Bill 2026-0531, a resolution authorizing the adoption of the Downtown Pittsburgh Transit Revitalization Investment District (TRID) Implementation Plan and related agreements. Council Member Khari Mosley chaired the meeting, joined in person by Council President Daniel Lavelle, Councilwoman Erica Strasberger, Councilwoman Kim Salonetro, and Councilwoman Barb Warwick, and online by Councilman Bobby Wilson and Councilman Bob Charland. The URA and Mayor’s Office presented the plan, followed by extensive council questions and debate. The meeting also included public testimony on unrelated land bank property acquisitions.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Colleen Cadman (Carrick homeowner): Requested assistance from the Pittsburgh Land Bank to donate her uninhabitable home due to tax liens and divorce, hoping it can be rehabilitated for another family.
- Rev. Lee Walls (Monty Christian Community Development Corp.): Expressed appreciation for the Land Bank’s help in acquiring a parcel on Kelly Street in Homewood for a 13-unit for-sale housing project.
- Maggie Dudley (Beacon Communities): Described a completed 51-unit affordable housing project in Uptown and requested acquisition of a city-owned vacant property nearby to improve safety and potentially add green space or parking.
- Shakira Carter (Homewood North resident): Shared plans to acquire a vacant lot next to her family home for urban farming and community education, addressing a food desert and providing youth engagement.
- Aaron Simon (Larimer resident): Sought to purchase a vacant lot next to his home for gardening, chickens, and potential future building.
Discussion Items
- Councilman Mosley’s Opening Remarks: Emphasized that the TRID must prioritize permanent affordable housing, economic inclusion (minority/women-owned businesses, family-sustaining wages, local hiring), and robust community engagement. He noted the city’s severe revenue loss—a half-billion-dollar decrease in taxable value from downtown office towers since the pandemic, forcing tighter budgets and reliance on other revenue sources.
- URA Presentation (Susheela Nemani-Stanger, Tom Link):
- The TRID is a 40-year value-capture district (with 20-year parcel pledges) covering downtown, a portion of the North Shore, and the Strip District. It would borrow up to $50 million initially, backed by future incremental real estate taxes (75% diversion to TRID, 25% retained by taxing bodies).
- Proposed use: $40 million for real estate gap financing, $10 million for public infrastructure/transit improvements (e.g., multimodal connections to BRT and light rail).
- Current pipeline includes ~1,745 new housing units, with 27% planned as affordable. This would increase downtown’s affordable housing share from 18% to about 21%.
- No existing taxes are diverted; the TRID only captures incremental taxes from new development or redevelopment.
- Council Questions & Positions:
- Councilwoman Strasberger: Questioned the 40-year term and per-parcel 20-year limit. URA explained it allows flexibility for district-wide investments and multiple borrowings. She also asked about benefits vs. spreading investment citywide; the URA said the TRID is one tool and downtown’s 25% of the tax base justifies focused investment.
- Councilwoman Warwick: Expressed strong opposition, calling the TRID a “giveaway” to wealthy property owners. She disputed that the funding is a loan, noting that repayment terms for affordable housing projects are often interest-only or deferred. She also criticized the lack of guarantees for affordable housing and the inclusion of the Strip District and North Shore, questioning why future tax revenue from those areas should benefit only downtown. She requested clearer repayment structures and more council briefings.
- Council President Lavelle: Supported the TRID, arguing that doing nothing would force deeper cuts to services and harm less affluent neighborhoods. He compared it to the Housing Opportunity Fund, which required a dedicated revenue source.
- Councilwoman Salonetro: Asked about the capture area boundary and benchmarking against other cities. URA noted that Pittsburgh’s downtown is unusually office-heavy (70% office vs. 45% in balanced cities) and that peer cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Chicago have used similar tools.
- Councilman Coghill: Expressed support, citing URA’s successful track record with TIFFs and small-scale projects in his district. He confirmed that debt service would be about $1.9 million annually for the city over 20 years on the first $50 million borrowing, and that if school district or county do not participate, the plan would be re-evaluated.
- Councilman Charland (online): Supported, noting that downtown’s health is critical for all neighborhoods. He asked for clarity on how the TRID benefits areas like Westwood and Beechview; Matt Singer (Mayor’s Office) replied that increased city revenue from downtown will fund citywide needs.
- Councilman Wilson (online): Strongly defended the TRID as a loan, not a grant, and highlighted the URA’s zero-default record on similar projects. He stressed that the plan could deliver three times the affordable housing of other policies (e.g., 28% affordable) and that inaction poses a greater risk.
- Councilman Mosley’s Closing Questions: Asked for detail on the loan structure (URA confirmed it is a repayable debt instrument, terms vary by project). He also asked about the potential to create an affordable housing fund similar to East Liberty’s; URA said future tranches could revisit that.
Key Outcomes
- No vote was taken on Bill 2026-0531; the meeting was a discussion to inform council deliberation.
- Council expressed divided positions: Several members (Lavelle, Coghill, Charland, Wilson) indicated support or likely support, while Councilwoman Warwick voiced strong opposition; others remained undecided.
- Next steps: City Council will continue consideration; if approved, the plan will then be presented to Pittsburgh Public Schools and Allegheny County for adoption, and eventually to Pittsburgh Regional Transit.
- Future borrowing: Each subsequent borrowing (up to $200 million total over 40 years) would require separate council approval and a city guarantee.
- Public concerns: Multiple council members pressed for clearer affordable housing requirements, better public transparency, and more detail on loan repayment structures.
- Land bank actions: The board approved May 2026 financials and renewed a general liability insurance policy for $4,750 using ARPA funds.
Meeting Transcript
Ik ben Good afternoon and welcome to Pittsburgh City Council's cable cast post agenda on Bill 2026 0531 relative to authorizing the adoption of the downtown Pittsburgh Transit Revitalization Investment District Implementation Plan and Related Agreements. Council District 1. For the record, we are joined by Council President Daniel Lavelle, Councilwoman Erica Strasberger, Councilwoman Kim Salonetro, and Councilwoman Bar Warwick. Other members may be joining us shortly. And before we invite our esteemed panelists, I did want to give some brief remarks. I did want to give some brief remarks. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. And we also, because my back is turned, we also have uh Councilman Wilson and Councilman Charlotte joining us online as well. Thank you for that. Um, and because I didn't have opportunity to give remarks at the public hearing, I just wanted to start off with some brief remarks before we invite our panelists. I want to welcome my colleagues on council, our administration officials, community stakeholders, the residents of Pittsburgh who are joining us today, as well as those who have reached out to my office to express your support or opposition to this proposal. Today we are convening this post-agenda hearing to discuss the proposed downtown transit revitalization investment district, or as we call it the TRID. I called for last week's public hearing and today's post agenda several weeks ago to increase public engagement, and I strongly urge all stakeholders to continue to weigh in as City Council deliberates. So if a property owner appeals to assessment today, the county takes the prop the property's current fair market value and multiplies it by the common level ratio, with the common level ratio at 50%, a commercial property could be taxed on half of its current market value. As a result of the pandemic, when downtown building owners saw their actual market values drop, a wave of tax assessment appeals were filed. A staggering loss of a half billion dollars in taxable value from just a handful of buildings. About a quarter of the entire city's property tax revenue for a century. This fiscal fallout has been acute, creating a severe financial dilemma. Because of many of these appeals took years to resolve and apply retroactively, the city has had to pay out millions of dollars in cash refunds to taxes already collected. And Pittsburgh's real estate tax revenue has seen a downward trajectory. City budget projections show annual property tax revenues steadily declining, complicating funding for local services and other critical programs. And with the downtown commercial tax base shrinking, a larger percentage of the property tax burden is shifting onto residential homeowners who either have an appeal, their their assessment or properties have not lost market value. The loss of property tax revenue paired with the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds contributed to a multi-million dollar deficit for the city, forcing tighter spending controls and forcing officials to rely heavily on other areas such as earned income tax, detransfer taxes, or most recently skill games to keep the city financially afloat. During our discussion today, I will be viewing this proposal through the following lenses. Optimizing affordable housing in the golden triangle. To ensure growth occurs comprehensively, sustainability and responsibly, the use of public mechanisms to spur investments in downtown must guarantee permanent affordable housing. True transit-oriented development means that the working class families, the service workers, and the folks who rely on our transit system the most are able to live next to it. Intentional economic inclusion. The economic investment of the trip must also create pathways for minority-owned women-owned and local small businesses to shut up shop and thrive in a rebuttalized downtown. It means ensuring that the construction and development jobs generated by this district pay family sustaining wages, utilize local hiring, workforce training pipelines, and our local labor unions. Robust, transparent community engagement. Trids by design require meaningful community engagement. We need to establish clear and continuous mechanisms for residents, advocates, and stakeholder groups to weigh in and understand how these captured funds will be invested. The community's voice will be an active participant in this process. Investments in upgrading our bus stops, ensuring our light rail and rapid transit access points are fully ADA compliant, slowing down traffic to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, and making the actual experience of that navigating downtown safe, enjoyable, and seamless for everyone, especially our seniors and neighbors with disabilities. It is imperative that the value capture builds more than just brick and border, but builds community. My goal today is to listen, ask questions, and to ensure that this trip proposal is robust enough to deliver on these promises to begin a new chapter of prosperity for our beloved city. We want growth, but we want just growth. I look forward to the testimony for our from our esteemed panelists and questions from my esteemed colleagues. Thank you all for being here today. And with that, I turn it over to our esteemed panelists and ask you to join us at the table. And now once you get settled, please introduce yourself and thank you for joining us today. Good afternoon. Thank you for having us. My name is Sushila Nimani Stanger. I'm an executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and I'm joined by some colleagues who are allowed to introduce themselves. Hello, my name is Catherine Murray. I'm the director of government affairs and strategic initiatives at the URA. Thomas Link, uh Chief Development Officer at the URA.
openpublica.com