Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Pittsburgh City Council Standing Committees convened on October 7, 2026, at 10:00 AM in Council Chambers. The meeting covered routine financial approvals, procurement reform initiatives, public safety donations, park improvements, recreation equipment, and grant applications. Seven members of the public provided comment on topics ranging from police evidence procedures and youth shelter closures to fiscal accountability and park maintenance.
Good morning, and welcome to the standing committees meeting for Wednesday, October seventh, twenty twenty-six. Mr. Sharlin. Mr. Crockill, Miss Gross, Mr. Lavell. Mr. Mosley, Miss Salonetro. Miss Fourwick. Mr. Wilson, Miss Strasberger Chair. Here. Five members present. Thank you. Second. All in favor? Aye. Agenda is amended. Our next order of business is public comment. Please state your name and neighborhood for the record. The bridge from the record to the process. I was here last week and I made a specific request that this matter come before the public safety and wellness committee and that council consider a post agenda meeting. I understand that formal request must come from a council member. So today I'm asking, would a council member be willing to make that request? Last week I asked counsel to meet me on the bridge. Today I'm asking whether a council member is willing to take the first step toward meeting me there. My criminal proceedings concluded on April 20th, 2026 before Judge Jennifer Sattler. The October 29th trespass situation citation was dismissed. The stocking charge from June 9th, dismissed. And the remaining charges were not prosecuted. Those proceedings had real consequences for me. They affected my life, my reputation, my time, and required me to defend myself through the criminal justice system. And those consequences don't necessarily end when the courtroom proceedings end. I still have to explain what appears on my record when questions arise, including when I'm seeking employment. But I'm not asking counsel to retry my criminal case or revisit those dispositions. I'm asking counsel to examine how the city's evidence process is supposed to work and whether the records show that it worked that way. What happens to evidence once it is created or received by Pittsburgh police from preservation and documentation through eventual production? The record I brought before council involves different types of evidence. A contemporaneous 911 recording, body worn camera evidence, ring camera footage originating outside Pittsburgh police. Despite requests made through my attorneys, neither I nor my counsel ever received Pittsburgh police body worn camera footage from the incidents I've discussed. I'm not saying that tells us what happens to those recordings. I'm asking what the city's process requires when that evidence is created, preserved, documented, and later requested. A defense motion filed in my criminal case states that testimony was given that ring camera footage was provided to Pittsburgh police, while the same filing states that Pittsburgh police had no documentation of receiving it. Not asking counsel to decide whether that testimony was accurate. The sources of the evidence are different, but the process question is the same. Can the system account for evidence from the point it is created or received through the point it is preserved and produced? That's the one question I'm asking council to examine.