Cable Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Good morning and welcome to the Standing Committee's meeting for Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026. All council meetings will be live streamed on the city's website. And for guest speakers joining us at the table, please do not turn off your microphones. Our first order of business is roll call. Will the clerk please take the role?

Mr. Sharland. Mr. Coghill. Ms. Gross. Here. Mr. Lavelle. Here. Mr. Mosley. Here. Mrs. Salinetro? Here. Mrs. Warwick? Mr. Wilson?

Here.

Mrs. Strasburger, Chair?

Here.

Five members present.

Thank you. Our next order of business is to amend the agenda. Can I please have a motion to amend?

So moved.

Can I have a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Agenda is amended. Our next order of business is public comment. I would like to remind all speakers that the rules of council state that comments are limited to matters of concern, official action, or deliberation, which are or may be before city council, and profanity will not be permitted. Please state your name and neighborhood for the record. You will have three minutes to speak. Our first registered speaker is Cassie Fichter.

Yeah, I think, oh, please.

Good morning. Cassie Fichter, Squirrel Hill. I'm speaking today about DPW's proposal to build a division-wide maintenance hub on Prospect Drive in Shenley Park. This proposal cannot be minimized. DPW plans to erect an 11,000 square foot building and pave 1.8 acres of green parkland. a complex serving 24 parks from Polish Hill to Hazelwood, cutting down old growth trees in the process. It would turn a peaceful corridor into an industrial scale driveway where park goers are forced to share the road with heavy trucks and snow plows. It would house conference, office space, a garage with a vehicle wash bay, and dedicated storage for road salt, pesticides, and fertilizer. Believing parkland is precious, I've been shocked by this proposal. Then I read about a recent city code, chapter 480A, which is built on the principle that parkland is precious. in just three days 250 people have also signed our petition requesting that this rfp be stopped and that an alternative appropriate site be found they also believe that parkland is precious but this is not about just one park this is the first time that chapter 480a has been put to the test to my knowledge and precedent is being set through our actions to me the law says that we must do better that the city did better than the city did in 1890s when highland parks Highland Park's yards were established, better than in the 1950s when Frick Park's complex was built, that the City of Pittsburgh wants to break from this precedent and establish a new kind of stewardship to the green spaces of our city. The maintenance facility for the Emerald View division built off of parkland is proof that this can be done successfully, as is the fact that the Shenley Park facility has been off of parkland for the last 19 years. We firmly believe DPW workers do vital work and serve a modern and deserve a modern city facility, but that can and must be accomplished off of parkland without land use violations and extreme landslide risks. Prospect Drive is not just any green space. An article dating back to the 1890s calls it the most beautiful spot in the park. It serves as a safe bike trail linking Squirrel Hill and Greenfield, community yoga, dog walkers, the vintage Grand Prix. It's where I nap my younger son on an almost daily basis. It's also home to the Tree of Life Memorial and historically home to an AIDS memorial garden. I feel grateful to be living so close to this particular park land. It is something truly special that demands preservation, not industrialization. My father will go into more detail, but I'll jump ahead to respectfully request that Council pause the RFP and take two immediate actions. First, request a formal city solicitor legal opinion on Chapter 4 ADA compliance. Second, release and evaluate all geotechnical reports on the 2013 Pocusset Street collapse before spending more capital. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Dr. Janet Marlin.

Thank you. My name is Jan Marlin. My husband, Stan Marlin, is also here with me and I'm speaking for both of us. We own and have resided for over 40 years in the house at 5400 Hobart Street, which is the last house on the left at the top of Hobart, just before Prospect Drive and the park area beyond there. A strong incentive in our choice of this home in 1984 was it being right next to this lovely and peaceful park site. where we have frequently walked with our dogs over the many years we've resided there, as well as enjoyed observing the deer and other animals that reside in this part of the park. We now are quite horrified by the prospect of our park area becoming a site for large commercial vehicles, construction and maintenance equipment, with the predictable noise disruption in their comings and goings, as well as the tearing away of the site's natural peaceful beauty, let alone the disruption to the deer and other animal residents there in the park. Another concern is how this utilization of the park would compromise the serenity of the recent memorial to the victims of the Tree of Life massacre at the beginning section of the park. A further concern is the known historical instability of the very back areas of the park, some of which had previously collapsed, creating a significant danger to the homes and streets in the neighborhoods below the back of the park. And finally, a more personal concern is that these proposed plans could significantly damage the value of our home and property insofar as it stands in such immediate proximity to the proposed utilization plan. We appreciate your taking these things into consideration. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Chris Zarofsky.

Thanks very much. I'm also here to speak about the DPW's proposed relocation to Shenley Park. And obviously these comments are directed at the Public Works Standing Committee. Who is the chair? Public Works Standing Committee?

Councilwoman Salinatris.

Ah, great. Thank you. I want to address the line that the administration seems to be taking that Other city parks have DPW facilities, and that's a reason for Shenley to have one. In fact, that's a reason for Shenley to not have one. This is a city-wide problem with DPW facilities in city parks. Riverview Park has been working for decades, Friends of Riverview Park, to move their DPW facility out of the park. Mayor Peduto introduced legislation in 2021 to do just that. Similarly, Hetz Run in Highland Park has major problems with their DPW facility. It's an ongoing community issue. In addition, just this week in the Trib, the Mayor's spokesperson said that Shenley has always had a DPW maintenance facility. That is not true. And in fact, it could be argued that we've never had a DPW maintenance facility in Shenley Park. They were located behind Phipps Conservatory for many years, but that was a no man's land. No park goers went back there. And it was at the end of the Frew Street extension, so really on the edge of the park where nobody goes for recreation. Similarly, McKinley Park has a brand new facility, DPW facility being built. It is not in the park. It's a block away adjacent to an EMS building and some other DPW facilities. So again, I'll just simply push back right now on this notion that every park has a DPW facility and that's a reason to put it in Shenley. That is not a reason, it's a reason to keep it out of Shenley. Thanks very much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Dylan Basescu.

Thank you. My name is Dylan Basescu. I'm a resident of Southside Flats. I'd first like to note that I understand the council is considering the neighborhood improvement district, or NID, proposal later this afternoon, and I appreciate their consideration of it, and I hope it will go through. It's a needed degree of improvement in tax revenue brought into the Southside to improve local businesses for local residents. That said, I don't think it will have as much impact as the council would appreciate given the continued enforcement of the lockdown zone on 12th and 18th streets on east carson this has been a long-running problem all summer my time as much as i've loved it with all of you will be coming to a close shortly with the end of that hopefully on september 12th and as much as it is continued for the duration of this summer i pray to you that it will not return the next summer or any summers after that because frankly it has been a cataclysm for the south side i myself was able to see firsthand what happened this weekend where myself and my friend were even denied the ability to walk down the street because we were not residents of the specific area adults as we are above the age of 21, able to show IDs, not able to walk down the street because we did not live within that specific area. That is no way to run a city. It is no way to run a city to set up fences that can be, and I know this myself, easily passed through at many of the areas not guarded by police. These are not as secure as any of you would think they are. It is not a way to run a city to gate off who can go where by asking them for their papers. This is completely unacceptable, and even if you do not care for the civil liberties issues that are present here, you should care about the well-being of the local businesses that have seen a precipitous drop-off in the amount of business they do during their most active hours in the evenings and on weekends. This is not a solution that has worked. It is a solution that we were asked to bear for one summer to see how it went, and now we can say with hindsight that it has not gone well. It will not go well in the future, and those asking us to wait for a more convenient season to see are simply asking us to wait indefinitely and to suffer this indefinitely. We will not suffer this indefinitely. We must not suffer this indefinitely. And it must end. This must not return for another season. And I hope that all of you will do everything in your power to make sure that something like this never happens again. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next registered speaker is William Slivka.

Hello, my name is Bill Slifka, and I live in Squirrel Hill. And I really appreciate the opportunity to have the public provide comments. I've never done this before, so forgive me. I'm here in opposition to the proposal to build a new Department of Public Works facility in Prospect Drive in Shenley Park. So City Council in 2023 passed legislation that bans most development in the city's parks and greenways. The law exists because parkland, once paved over, does not come back. Shenley Park's 456 acres of historic, irreplaceable green space is listed on the National Register of Historic Places And Prospect Drive is one of the last undeveloped corners left in it. As you've heard, families use that grassy stretch to teach kids to ride bikes. People walk there with strollers. It's Parkland that's doing exactly what Parkland is supposed to do. Turning it into a public works yard means heavy equipment, vehicle traffic, and critically, a site that would probably store salt. And that salt doesn't stay in one place. It runs off. It gets into the soil, probably into Panther Hollow, into the watershed that this park was built around. We will be trading a peaceful green space for a source of industrial runoff inside a national historic landmark in direct tension with a law that Consul itself passed a few years ago. I understand the Schenley Maintenance Division has a real problem. They're working out temporary trailers on generators in PennDOT, and PennDOT is about to force them off that site. Certainly that's a legitimate operational need, and I don't think anyone here wants DPW crews working out of trailers indefinitely. Pittsburgh has industrial and underused sites outside the park boundary that could house this facility without violating the city's own greenway protections or risking runoff into a historic watershed. I ask the Standing Committee to require a genuine comparison of non-park alternatives with real cost and timeline numbers. We have not seen that before any site is approved. We don't get Shenley Park back once it's built over. I'm asking you to protect it and to hold the city to the standard it set for itself previously. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Louis Seiler.

Good morning. Lewis Siler, Squirrel Hill part-time. I'm here again in opposition to the Shenley Park maintenance hub. And as the previous speaker just stated, the 480A is really a wonderful ordinance which you've passed, and I think that it should be the hallmark for cities all across the country, as a matter of fact. Congratulations to you. But to make this ordinance have any meaning whatsoever, this is the time, this is the place, ladies and gentlemen. It truly is. you will lose 1.8 acres of irreplaceable green space if you do not act properly. And again, the foundational purpose of the ordinance is to prohibit non-recreational development in parks and greenways. The RFP indicates there's been no review of the applicability of Section 488, and yet DPW is blasting forward with this project. I would point out to you that, again, the limitations are two. One is that it applies to all maintenance facilities except those structures for vehicles and equipment within the park in which it is built. Okay? And again, except for, again, to house vehicles and equipment, this goes far beyond that. An 11,000 square foot building. And let's not minimize this. It's an 11,000 square foot administrative building plus 1.8 acres. Okay? It's huge. And then also, just to maintain the parkway in which it is built. Now, let's say that you have doubts in your mind. You do not know, does it apply, doesn't apply? Does this law really apply in this situation? What should we do? Read the last part of the law, which simply says this. It says that all reviews of Chapter 488 shall favor, and not the court part, the injunctive relief, but the preservation of parks and greenways. All reviews of Chapter 488 shall favor the preservation of parks and greenways. That's what you have to remember at every time here. Now, on another topic, folks, not only is there that problem, but there's also the fact that this is proposed to be built on top of a really hazardous or dangerous potentially situation. I'm not a geotechnical engineer, but remember this, that Pocusset Drive, which runs up from the Greenfield Bridge up to the proposed site, is banned for vehicular traffic. In 2013, there was a major landslide there. And yet, has there been any geotechnical evaluation done? No. In fact, if you look at the request for proposals, they say there's been no geotechnical study at all. Well, there must be papers, and you should, again, not allow anything to go forward until such time as all the prior documents have been taken out from the prior landslide until a full evaluation has been done of this. And if you don't do this, you're really setting yourself up for a disaster in the making. 1.8 acres of paved land, where's the runoff going to go? Get your jogging shoes on. Get your walking shoes on. Walk up from Greenfield Bridge up to the site. Take a look and see how well the existing drainage has been maintained. It hasn't been, ladies and gentlemen. And nor will anything in the future. So if you think, oh, we'll have this perfect drainage system that will take care of 1.8 acres worth of drainage, it's not going to happen. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you. Please think about this. My deep and sincere thank you to you all.

Thank you. There being no further registered speakers, we will now take comments from those in the audience wishing to speak.

Good morning. Good morning. Carlino Giampolo, Panther Hollow. My testimony today is titled, Can Pittsburgh Progress from Silence and Inaction to a City of Dignity? Yesterday I talked about the disgraceful and shameful actions of council members Barbara Warwick and Bob Charlin pertaining to the illegal construction of the Oakland do-it-yourself skate park. That testimony is on the website, pantherhollowplayground.com. Their reprehensible actions also extend to their attempt to strip away the identity of our historic neighborhood by naming our playground. Let me illustrate. Last week, I had a conversation with a skateboarder at the park and told him that no homeowner or longtime resident in Panther Hollow supports this illegal skate park. He replied that this isn't Panther Hollow. This is the Oakland DIY skate park. As part of my open records request, I received screenshots of text message exchanges between Councilmember Warwick and the Pitt student, who is the leader of the skateboarders, preparing for a hearing concerning the naming of our playground. That public hearing occurred on June 10th, 2025. Only two individuals were present, Councilmember Warwick and the Pitt student. No Panther Hollow longtime resident or homeowner, including myself, were given direct notice of the public hearing. The next day, June 11th, a standing committee's meeting was held. Council Member Charland said to Council Member Warwick, quote, I would like to remind you that you are changing the name of the park in my district, end of quote. However, tragically, Council Member Charland took no action to represent and protect our Panther Hollow community. The following week, on June 17th, the final vote for the naming our playground occurred. The day before, on June 16th, I had a conversation with Councilmember Warwick in front of the skate park. She never mentioned that the changing of the name of our playground and that the final vote would be on the next day. This sordid, morally corrupt skate park issue has been passed on to Mayor Cory O'Connor and his administrators. The mayor has the opportunity to respect his own dignity and then to respect the dignity of the longtime residents, homeowners, and heritage of Panther Hollow by shutting down the illegal skate park. By doing so, the mayor can move the city forward onto the path of dignity, whereby Pittsburgh can begin to become known as the city of dignity. It is so, and so it is.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning, children. Class is back in session and I'm gonna talk about what I taught y'all last week. Like I said from previously, I proved my point when neighborhoods come here, it's demands. It's what y'all cannot do to their communities. But we beg and plead for y'all just to fix our communities. And so now I have demands. fix our streets and our sidewalks. Stop letting these construction companies do whatever they want in our neighborhoods. I'm talking about the pretend street repairs. The crews roll in, they start paving, but somehow the road ends up more uneven and dangerous than before. It's like they're contracted to fix the streets in the most creative and inefficient way possible. Children, let's start with Fifth Avenue. Why is it so uneven? So uneven. You cannot even move into the other lane without losing control of your car. You can physically see that it's uneven. Is that the way that they were contracted to play that way? Is it going to stay that way? And now with the pretend construction down there, that's been going on for six years, the hospitals are blocked. But I guess because that's a hospital, you know, Mercy, nobody really cares about the people in those hospitals. Y'all can block them off. They can die on the way there. They got to go all the way down the street and around when there was a street to go straight there to Mercy. Some of this is on y'all to talk to the construction people. Like, they can just come in our neighborhoods and do that because when I drive to other neighborhoods for bingo, I never see any type of construction like this. And on a speed box, Anthony, if you go higher than eight miles an hour, the front of your car is slamming down. And the ambulance has to ride those streets. Why? When they come and pave our roads, there's a visible gap It's not, it'll get smoothed out. It might take a month before they come smooth it out. Why is that? Is that how they are able to be contracted? Are our cars supposed to get messed up? We are the poor community. Now we gotta go to the mechanic when y'all fix our streets. Thank you, I'm done.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Annie Quinn and I live in Greenfield and I also represent a nonprofit called the Mon Water Project. So I am here first to thank the Department of Public Works because I have spent. a lot of my time at my nonprofit pushing and pushing and pushing for flood protection and stormwater management that is able to protect residents who live in the run who experience a human health emergency when it rains and sewage backs up some basements into the neighborhood and Without success of getting Pittsburgh Water to pick the project construction back up, we were able to get Department of Public Works to do so. And I really appreciate that. The restoration of Panther Hollow Lake will be an incredible opportunity for us to restore a lake to ecological function. but also for us to reconnect our neighborhood with a open water asset, and also hold back a 100-year flood. So these are really important aspects of conservation, which is why it is so odd that I am also standing here saying, please don't develop in our parks. our parks are a incredible asset and i need the expansion of your understanding of the economy of our city to grow in order for us to protect shenley park the environmental assets that are provided by trees that are provided by roots that are provided by grass that are provided by green space are actually a documented economy. They're also a part of the infrastructure of our city. So to build a Department of Public Works building on Prospect Drive and or on a golf course or any available green space that we have today is to eliminate the environmental economy that is being provided by those assets. I hope that with the conservation of a lake, we can bring Shenley Park into an overall planned and conserved and restored park that will be a benefit to all of the density of residents, from the universities that are on the side of the golf course to the residents who rent and live in Squirrel Hill and along the park themselves. As we move forward as a society, it is vital for when you're evaluating these types of projects, you take into consideration the true environmental impact that you are considering for these projects. Which, to date, we haven't been great at. But if you were to take that economy of the infrastructure of green space into account, these projects would be outrageous. They would never be suggested. We have so much impacted land in the city of Pittsburgh. Move the Department of Public Works division there, please. I also, like I said, would like to say that the conservation of the park is preeminent, and we can do so by having both a lake and beautiful green space.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning. My name is Yvonne F. Brown. I live at 715 Mercer Street. That's the high rise at the top of Bedford. There's 192 apartments in there. I'm trying to hold this up so you can see the signs that I have. And it's saying that we must defend democracy. When I came down to city council to explain that I lived up in KU or Irv's cars and that the crack addicts were taking over. We were being beat with hammers, sticks, the one lady she got beat up her granddaughters came to confront the woman in the elevator and she cut one of them she does not live in the building and she can come anytime she wants i'm saying that the police said that it was arbor management and patiqued the magistrate that was dropping the ball. We had this woman, Rashida McKinley, who came into the building and grabbed the manager by her neck, and they ended up rolling on the floor. It was a large white man from corporate, I think. He was trying to get in to help the manager. What I'm saying is this, we are living in a building and it's HUD, HUD, isn't it the federal government? It's funded by HUD. We live in a building where there's a woman that, is coming and threatening. Also, she had beaten the one woman, the mother and her daughter. The mother died. She stole the money order of my neighbor and he died. This woman is coming to the building. Her mother just recently moved and just last week when I was sweeping down in the cellar in the building, she walked past me. And I looked, I said, oh, and it was her. She wears a scarf, sometimes a hat. She covers up her face. And all of a sudden, they don't know who she is. I know who she is, and she's threatening me. I've lived there for over 10 years. And remember this, this is food for food bank. Food stamps. You know, there's a lot of programs that are being cut. And those programs, some of them are families. The children are being the ones that they're losing their benefits. In our building, we have a food bank that management has taken over and makes a decision who can get food bank services. My husband, Harold Brown, who worked for the city over 20 years, he worked in the housing authority, he is now handicapped. I cannot get his food bank services.

Thank you very much. Next speaker, please.

Good morning, Special Agent Sunshine. Lord, thank you for using me as a vessel and opening my eyes to all deceptive people, places, and things. Today's message is entitled, An Attempt to Hide. Comes from Jeremiah 23, 24, which says, Can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him, says the Lord? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Here's the question. Who plays peek-a-boo with God? Let's see. President Bell? Mosley? Do you think because you're not here, you're invisible? Are you hiding from who or what? The truth. Wisdom for today comes from Proverbs 18.3. When wickedness comes, so does contempt. And with shame comes disgrace. It is a disgrace how this council has stolen so much money from this city that now, as of January 1st next year, y'all, we will have to pay for copies at the library. Imagine that. You can't even get an ink pen at the library. Why? Because of budget cuts. Really? Stop going to the beach with our money. How about that? Best remind, U.S. Department of Justice, here goes some numbers for you. Because they really think you're stupid. I'm going to show you just how they think. Amount from, for the Department of Public Works, Bureau of Operations, amount from $100,000 to, for vehicles to $100,000 for operational supplies. That's a lot of money for operational supplies. Don't you think? Here's another one, $80,000 maintenance, in parentheses, miscellaneous, from $80,000 to $80,000 for what? Operational supplies. That's a lot of money for operations. Didn't you just get operational supplies? $100,000 for operations. Now you want $80,000 more. Okay, really? $9,370 amount from $9,370 for operational supplies to $9,370 for cleaning. Really? People that clean don't make that kind of money in a week. Stop playing with God. You will perish for everything you sow. You will reap everything you sow in Jesus' name. In fact, we're going back to removing hands, I promise you. I got a list. The laws of discipline, there's 18. One of them, I'll continue this message next week. Thank you, Jesus, for loving me.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Are there any further speakers? Seeing no further speakers, we will move on to our standing committee's agenda. And our first committee of the day is the Finance and Law Committee. Deferred Papers, Bill 39.

Ordinance directing the Allegheny County Board of Elections to place before the qualified voters of the City of Pittsburgh At the 2026 May primary election, a referendum question. Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter Article 3 legislative branch be amended by changing the budget approval rules to ensure timely passage at the end of legislative sessions?

Motion to approve.

Second. The discussion, Council President.

Thank you. I had a good meeting with the administration a couple weeks ago. We are working on trying to do this via ordinance.

And so... Council President, if you're speaking, we cannot hear you currently.

Sorry, did I cut out?

You cut out. You said that you had a good conversation with the administration. You're looking to do it via ordinance, and that's all we heard.

I apologize. Yes, that is correct. So with that, we'll make a motion to hold for four weeks.

Discussion? All in favor of holding Bill 39 for four weeks, please say aye. Aye. Bill will be held for four weeks. Thank you very much. That moves us on to invoices. Is there a motion on invoices?

Motion to approve. Second.

Discussion?

Yes. I wanted to point out to members that we have another invoice from Cellhawk, which we have addressed before, which does permit police, you know, permits any user to track people located in real time by their cell phones. And when we asked about it previously, the administration said that they would, it was only to be used in case of a judicial warrant, which we've talked about with the public before, that any surveillance technologies that are available should only be used with a judge, like an actual court judge, saying that it's necessary. And so I just wanted to remind staff members about that. One of the things that we have not had more information on but I'm hoping it's in the report that is due to us this week from the International Performance Department on surveillance and privacy issues and guidelines it's kind of I think it's important to know how many subscriptions there are you know how many users in the subscription who would have any access to this kind of data and what are the guardrails internally to ensure that our employees follow the guidelines. There's a second one that I haven't had time to track down. I literally just got a text message from a member of the public this morning while we were in session about another invoice entitled less lethal LLC. It seems to me I do recall discussing this years ago but I'm not sure I have the same vendor and that it is for a pepper ball launch launcher bundle and I don't have any more additional details on that so I'll be voting no on the invoices today until And hopefully we'll get more information. And again, we haven't scheduled the post-agenda for privacy and surveillance, but we are hoping to squeeze it in later in September or as soon as possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Any further discussion on the invoices? Seeing none, all in favor of invoices, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? One opposed. Abstentions? Invoices are approved. That moves us to interdepartmental transfers.

Motion to approve.

Second. Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of transfers, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Transfers are approved. That moves us on to P cards. Is there a motion on P cards?

Motion to approve. Second.

Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of P-cards, please say aye. Aye. P-cards are approved. That moves us to Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Councilwoman Salinetro.

Defined Papers Bill 414, resolution authorizing the mayor and the director of finance on behalf of the city of Pittsburgh to enter into an agreement or agreements or amendments thereto with various parties for the purpose of accessing city property while certain railroad crossing at Lockway East and Lockway West, Council District 7, are being upgraded and removed at no cost to the city.

Motion to approve discussion? Second. With discussion, Councilwoman Salinitro.

I'd like to call to hold this bill for eight weeks, please.

Second. Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of holding Bill 414 for eight weeks, please say aye. Aye. Bill will be held. That moves us to Land Use and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Councilman Wilson.

Deferred Papers, Bill 2224, Ordinance Supplementing the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title IX, Zoning Code, Article I, Introduction and Establishment, Chapter 902, Zoning Districts in General, at Section 902.01, Establishment of Zoning Districts by Adding a New Residential Planned Unit Development District at Subsection 902.01D2, A, to be identified as Banksville Golden Horizons at Article 4, Planning Districts, Chapter 909, Planned Development Districts, Section 909.02, PUD, Planned Unit Development District, by creating a new residential planned unit development district at Subsection 902.909. to be identified as Banksville Golden Horizons, including rules and regulations. And by amending the City of Pittsburgh zoning map by changing from residential multi-unit moderate density and residential single unit detached low density to Banksville Golden Horizons property consisting of the present Marion Manor and an adjacent parcel of vacant commercial land bisected by Greenboro Lane, all located in the 20th Ward.

Motion to hold for cablecast public hearing. Second.

Discussion? seeing none all those in favor of holding bill 22 2025 2224 for kibble cast public hearing all those in favor bill be held for public hearing intergovernmental and educational affairs committee chair by councilman mosley deferred papers bill 606.

Resolution requesting the approval of an inter-municipal transfer of liquor license from McCrossin's Landing Pub, LLC to the applicant Silver Ashes Hospitality Group, LLC, located at 728 Copeland Street, pursuant to amended Pennsylvania Liquor Code, Statute 4-461.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of Bill 06, please say aye. Aye.

Aye.

Affirmative recommendation. New Papers, Bill 804.

Resolution amending Resolution 37, 126, and 399, which authorize an amendment to the cooperation agreement Or agreements with the city of Pittsburgh equipment leasing authority for the purchase and leasing of vehicles equipment and accessories equipment support infrastructure and professional services in fiscal year two thousand and twenty six by the increasing. by increasing the authorized amount by $59,180 to purchase trailers for the Department of Public Works for a new not to exceed total of $26,348,449. Motion to approve the discussion. Second.

For discussion, Councilman Mosley. Thank you. I believe we have a guest here today to give us some more insight on this particular piece of legislation. Good morning. If you can introduce yourself.

My name is Bronwyn Turnage, and I am the acting fleet manager.

Thank you. I believe we have some questions from two of my colleagues.

I'll start, Madam Chair, if that's okay. Thank you for being here. I have some questions. I guess we're buying trailers with this legislation. Is that right?

Correct. So this is coming from the DPW Trust Fund, and this is going to impact both parks and rec as well as streets. They need at least 12 trailers to operate effectively. It would allow them to move snow equipment. It would allow them to address 311 calls more efficiently. So that is the concept.

So we're buying 12 trailers with this, is that right? Or we're getting ourselves up to 12 trailers? We're buying, purchasing 12. Okay. Will these be able to be used for like lawn care equipment?

Yeah.

So, you know, I have mostly the fourth division in my district. we've unfortunately been working out of the strip district for the last nine years anytime we want to move uh equipment into the district we have to move it by trailer and this has been a huge problem for us not having trailers uh my my district is incredibly overgrown it's it looks like a jungle there um this year and a large part of that is the the trailer issue and borrowing trailers from environmental services and and elsewhere But, you know, we're also adding like an hour of time into every little job to move a lawnmower in or throw in the back of a pickup truck. So I'm thankful to see this happening. What are we doing to make sure that we don't end up in a situation where we're in dire need of something as simple as trailers again?

Well, I think that kind of circles back to the conversations we've been having and just, you know, recognizing that our fleet is underfunded for so many years and we're currently trying to dig ourselves out of a hole. So, I mean, having these constant conversations and realizing that, you know, we need to find a long-term solution to this funding process, I think is probably what we need to continue to do in order to continuously replenish the fleet so they're within their life cycle and we can actually manage our projects effectively.

How long should a trailer last us?

Well, it depends on the size and the material of the trailer, of course. You know, we have a lot of salt and things of that nature, so those things do break down equipment faster than if we were in different areas. But overall, you know, I would say between six to seven years is probably the lifespan before you start to have a lot of repairs. And considering we are... very conscientious of our budget at this time. You know, we constantly have to consider every repair. Is it really necessary? Is it really going to prolong the life of the trailer? Is it more sustainable to just purchase new? So that is all part of the process.

How are we determining that?

So, like I said, it really depends on the trailer itself. There is a standardized life cycle for vehicles and equipment that we look at, but really it comes down to the fact that since we are so underfunded, we're just looking at need. If this is something that we cannot live without, obviously we spend the money to repair it and keep it in the fleet. However, with these new conversations, new funding, we're hoping to avoid having to repair bad equipment and vehicles.

So I'm thankful that we're doing this today. And I believe this is the first time I think you were at the table before when I was virtual, so I didn't get an opportunity to say this. The thing that I just want to reiterate as much as I can is not just having Grant Street make those decisions, but actually going to the streets division and talking to the employees that are working there to find out what actually works for them and what doesn't. A lot of the low guys on the totem pole, so to speak, they've got an unbelievable amount of knowledge of this works, this doesn't work. We can't actually use this. The city bought us this and it just sits in the division because it can't make the turn or it becomes more of a hassle and it's just easier to throw things in a pickup truck. And I just cannot reiterate enough that we need to be talking to our own employees that may not feel comfortable giving their concerns and taking them through the director, but actually just talking to the folks in the divisions and making sure that like, hey, does this make sense? Because these are the guys that are using the equipment, not a bunch of us in suits here making those determinations. So having those conversations are just so important. And I hope this is able to help out with some of the overgrowth and just the filthy conditions that my district is in right now.

I understand your perspective, and my colleague and I who are running the fleet at this time totally agree with that. We have opened up dialogues. We have started conversation with departments, and we have great support with DPW. So we do very wholeheartedly take into consideration what is best for the user first.

Great. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Further discussion. Oh, Councilman Cockle, I think, had raised his hand, and then Councilmember Warwick.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I just want to say, Bronwyn, you're doing a great job. You stepped in at a really critical time when we're making all these purchases, and you'll be back at this table probably within the next couple weeks with some really important purchases that we're making. So you and the team are doing a really good job, and you have a lot on your A lot on your hands right now, but, you know, it's all good stuff. I mean, once we get through and get our fleet situated, I hope another year or two will be in much better times.

Yes, no, thank you. I appreciate that. We do have a lot of projects, and it's an exciting time in fleet. You know, I like seeing the changes and the things advance. It's very...

I can't remember the last time I was at a meeting, like, what are we going to buy? It's a good problem to have. Yeah, it is. And we needed it, of course. So the only question I had about the trailers was, are we replacing trailers? Did we not have them in Public Works? Are we adding them? Sorry.

So we had, I want to say we had about six. Unfortunately, we have a couple. We need a full of at least 12. And it's, you know, to your point of when things break down, considering we don't have funding to always repair, it's nice to have spares, you know, just in case. So we can get things moving as quickly and efficiently as possible. So the concept would be to make sure that each division has the right amount of trailers and the right amount of spares. And this would help with that.

Yeah. Good deal. Okay. Thanks. Thank you.

Council Member Warwick. Yeah, thank you. So, yeah, just with regard to, you know, this long-term issue of funding for the fleet. So, you know, in 2026, so this $26,300,000, that includes all the gifts for this year.

It includes all the funding sources that have been allocated to that co-op, correct?

Correct, yeah, for this year. So, you know, so that's $26 million for this year. And I always like to remind the public and... our members that we put in 10 million of that, right? Like that was council recognizing this at the end of last year. So, and when I say we, that means the taxpayers, right? That means the residents of Pittsburgh. So, and these gifts are very welcome, right? So obviously, kudos to the administration for getting that money from our nonprofit partners. But I do just want to remind members, of course, that there is still, you know, it's on hold, but we do have a bill on the table for a fleet vehicle fund. Now, the bill has a $20 million number on it. That is the number that we have been told over the years is what the city minimum should be investing to kind of keep our fleet long-term where it needs to be so that we don't find ourselves, you know, this years and years and years of disinvestment and then finding ourselves, you know, as Councilman Charland said, without the equipment that we need and then having neighborhoods that are overgrown and our workers not being able to do their work, essentially, whether that's DPW, whether that's public safety, whether that's whoever it is, right? We need vehicles for almost everything that we do with the city. So I just do want to remind members that that is on the table my understanding you know that we got to that 20 million dollars because that was always my understanding from the various experts who've come to this table that that is kind of the bare minimum that we should be spending every year and also to remind members that this the the way that bill is written this fund could include gifts, right? Like it doesn't have to just be tax payment, right? It can be gifts that go in, but just to make sure that the city of Pittsburgh in total every year is investing $20 million. And maybe that number is too, even though that's the the sort of bare minimum that we have been told we need to be investing, we understand we always have to tighten belts. So even if that number is a little lower, that really would allow us in a long-term way and allow our equipment leasing authority to plan ahead, years ahead, because they would know, regardless of administration, regardless of, right, that every year they were going to get you know, a minimum of X dollars, right? $20 million a year. And to remind members that the way the bill is written is that if there were, is that we would vote on that allocation every year, just like we vote on all of our trust fund allocations. And so if there were a given year, that we were already flush or maybe we had money left over from the year before or something like that we could vote that year to allocate less as needed so i just just want to remind folks that that is on the table and that uh uh you know i am obviously very supportive of that of that bill and happy to continue that conversation especially now as we move into into budget season so thank you thank you for your work i appreciate it thank you thank you councilman wilson

Thank you, Chair. Welcome back, everyone. The first time I spoke since I've been back from recess. And I'm always happy to be reminded that the amount that's on the table to authorize never correlates to the amount of time that we speak. For $59,000...

How many trailers are we getting? We're getting 12.

Okay. It seems like they'll be pretty cheap and flimsy for 59K.

Not necessarily. I mean, we actually, that's on average.

I mean, you're looking at between... Like a car is more than 60, like is around 60K.

So I actually have just recently done another purchase for trailers for Delmi and they run anywhere between when we do the solicitation process between five and probably 12,000, just depending on the type of equipment, the length of the trailer... what we're hauling on it. The ones that DPW has specifically picked out that would be most efficient for their operations landed at this estimated cost. Of course, this will have to go through a solicitation process, but we ask them to do their due diligence and reach out to vendors who they feel like they would like to have bid on them and provide estimates. So that's like a nice round number for us to work with. And that's how we then move forward with legislating the funds over to the ELA.

So you think they'll last? What's the warranty on it?

Warranties, depending on the manufacturer, can run anywhere between three to six years. And I do think they will last probably as long as any other standard equipment. I mean, the biggest thing right now, like I said before, these are outside pieces of equipment. We're not housing them. We don't have any sort of washing or spray system at the moment. Everything is done by hand. So, I mean, it's just taking the time and making sure that the maintenance is done on them. They should last.

Are these like the real light duty ones with the mesh on it?

No, these are a little bit heavy duty because they're going to be moving like you said, like he said, the mowers and whatnot, the ground master mowers, which are very heavy.

All right. Thanks for your time.

You're welcome.

Thank you. Further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of Bill 804, please say aye. Aye. Affirmative recommendation. Thank you very much for joining us. That exhausts today's Standing Committee agenda. We do have some meeting announcements. This afternoon at 1.30 p.m., Council will hold a cablecast public hearing on Bill 518 pertaining to the East Carson Neighborhood Improvement District. Speaker registration will close at 11.30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Next week, due to the Labor Day holiday, council will meet Wednesday, September 9th for the regular and standing committee's meeting at 10 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. respectively. Speaker registration will close at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning for the regular meeting and 12.30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon for the standing committee's meeting. To register to speak at these meetings, please fill out the sign-up form on the council meeting webpage or contact the clerk's office at 412-255-2138 by the applicable registration deadlines. Is there anything for members? Seeing none, I will take a motion to approve the minutes and adjourn the meeting.

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Meeting is adjourned.