Cable Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Good morning and welcome to the Standing Committee meeting for Wednesday, June 10th, 2026. Our first order of business is roll call. Would the clerk please take the roll?

Excuse me, Mr. Sharland, Mr. Coghill, Ms. Gross, Mr. Lavelle.

Here.

Mr. Mosley.

Here.

Ms. Salinetra. Here. Ms. Warwick. Here. Ms. Warwick. Here. Mr. Wilson. Here. Ms. Strasburger. Five members present.

Thank you. Our next order of business is to amend the agenda. There's a motion to amend.

So moved.

Second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

The agenda has been amended. Our next order of business is public comment. I would like to remind all speakers of the rules of council of state. The comments are limited in matters of concern, official action, or deliberation, which may be before city council. Profanity would not be permitted. Please restate your name. Provide your neighborhood for the record. You'll be given three minutes to speak. Our first registered speaker is, I don't see Dr. Miller, Grove Pittsburgh.

Good morning. My name is Dora Wamsley. I'm the Deputy Director for Grow Pittsburgh. Thanks to Council for having me here today. In 2013, Grow Pittsburgh held the first Urban Act Symposium for growers and food system stakeholders. Among other challenges, we learned that long-term access to quality land for food growing was the primary barrier many growers were facing. We continued working with stakeholders, including city planning, and in 2015 celebrated the passage of a suite of amendments to our city code, allowing food growing and livestock to be permitted by right. In concert with the launch of the Adopt-A-Lot program, stewardship opportunities were created for city residents to adopt vacant and blighted lots into community food gardens and third places. Since then, Grow Pittsburgh continues to work closely with city planning and adopt-a-lot growers, other urban agriculturalists, and practitioners to decrease and eliminate barriers to food growing. These efforts have resulted in the creation of an insurance pool and annual premium subsidies for Adopt-A-Lot growers, a twice-seasonal material grant program that expands and supplements the work of city farms by providing tangible resources like fencing and soil, and annual educational programming that provides a myriad of topics for growers to learn and expand their agricultural knowledge, among many other things. In addition to the direct support we provide, Grow Pittsburgh continues to advocate for policies that improve neighborhood food access and food system resiliency. This advocacy has allowed for continued partnership with the City of Pittsburgh as we've worked alongside partners and city staff last year to make improvements to programs that increase community food security and resilience. The changes included in this stewardship package that City Planning is presenting to you all increases community food security and resilience. The changes included in this stewardship package will provide greater clarity on protecting and maintaining our city's greenways, while also expanding lease terms for adopt-a-lot growers, among other changes. Grow Pittsburgh is grateful for this continued and meaningful collaboration, and I am delighted to stand before you all today to provide my strong recommendation that council approve this stewardship package. We hope this will be a first step for this council and mayoral administration to work to better understand the opportunities that exist within urban agriculture for the city of Pittsburgh. Food insecurity remains a challenge for residents and one that is not easily solved by a silver bullet solution. Urban agriculture and community-based food projects are not hobbies. They make up an important part of our food security safety net. As food system challenges persist, we must seek and continue to support collaborative and sustainable solutions that meet the unique needs of our neighborhoods and ensure equitable land and food access for all. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is David Brinigan.

Good morning. Can you hear me?

Yes we can.

Oh, thank you. This is Dave Bringen. I am the co-director of Lawrenceville Together, which is the newly merged organization of Lawrenceville United and Lawrenceville Corporation. Our mission is to build opportunity and community for all who live and work in Lawrenceville. And I'll keep my comments really brief, but I was asked also to speak about our experience with community gardens and using the property reserve. program at the city um we've uh long used uh the vacant property you know in our history both lawrence bay and then lawrence where corporation have used the vacant property reserve program to as part of our community development and revitalization efforts both to create affordable housing as well as community gardens and i would say you know our experience has been that both of those things have been mutually reinforcing and really you know two important parts of our overall strategies for community development and revitalization working alongside partners like grow pittsburgh so yeah i just wanted to offer that you know our feeling here is that housing and you know, urban agriculture are really not in opposition, but really mutually reinforcing for overall community development. So that's all I wanted to say. Thanks.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Chief Ikehana Halmalkina.

Greetings and good day. My title is Chief Ikohonoha Makina. I'm the Grand Inca of the Iroquois Confederacy of Aboriginal American People. It seems to me that this administration has found their niche when it comes to finding money. In a few short months, they have found millions of available funds. Yet, housing is still an issue. has been found for new garbage trucks, no removal, equipment has been secured, training facilities located, plans made. However, the issue of housing is still a problem. I cannot count on my fingers how many calls I get from friends, neighbors, and relatives looking for housing. I don't understand why the word affordable is such a controversial word.

There's no room to play semantic games when it comes down to someone living at home.

This is something near and dear to Frederick Ecclest. He wrote extensively about the plight of someone who needs a home or having the perspective of having a home in the folly of colonization. I suggest you all read it. Finally running into this city by the droves, yet housing is still a problem. Food access is still a problem in the city of Pittsburgh. All across the city, houses are being erected, apartments in Meridian, Bakery Square, Albion, and redevelopments in Lawrenceville are booming. please address the affordability issue. Housing has always been affordable in the City of Pittsburgh until the developers have made side deals with God knows who, but we're all suffering as a result of housing not truly being affordable. And we really need City Council to address the concerns of its constituents and citizens and residents. Thank you and have a good day.

Our last registered speaker is Mara Velu.

Hello, all. So I am Mira Velu, and I am a Parks and Conservation Planner with Trust for Public Land. So Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit with a mission to connect everyone to the outdoors. We've been working across the country now for over 50 years to protect lands and work alongside communities to connect people to vibrant green spaces. In Pennsylvania, over the past 15 years, we've preserved over 4,800 acres, built six parks, and transformed 18 asphalt schoolyards into green spaces. In Pittsburgh, our work includes supporting Greenfield Elementary with their schoolyard renovation and supporting the city's greenways through working with the planning department and groups like Hazelwood Initiative and Land Force. So we engage with communities to design and develop public spaces, and we stay engaged after completion. We work with communities to understand how to care and maintain their public spaces, and we connect them with resources for programming and activation. We understand the challenges of taking care of a new public space, and we strongly support processes that help communities in their work. We believe that stewardship is key to sustaining high-quality, welcoming spaces that can contribute to people's health and well-being. We strongly recommend adoption of the stewardship package because it would bring a coordinated, long-term approach for residents and trusted organizations like Grow Pittsburgh and Land Force to engage in environmental stewardship and bring better connectivity to the important green spaces across the city. Each component of the package brings opportunities to engage in spaces that can be underutilized in the city but hold strong potential. We see the legislation as a strong foundation to build long-term sustainable investment in the green spaces across the city. And we also see it as a model that we could be sharing with cities across the nation who are also finding a similar need for a framework to support their public open spaces. So again, we strongly recommend adoption of this package. Thank you.

Thank you. That exhausts our list of registered speakers. If there's anyone in chambers wishing to speak, please come forward at this time. Also provide your name and neighborhood for the record.

Good morning. Carlino John Polo, Panther Hollow. Today, I am continuing my comments from yesterday on the actions of the mayor and focusing on the illegal skate park in Panther Hollow. On May 4th, I sent a letter to the mayor mentioning that throughout his tenure, he will face issues that could be defining moments for his administration, such as the illegal skate park in Panther Hollow. Keep laughing, Mr. Charland. I then gave him seven reasons to shut down the illegal skate park. Here are just the first two, Mr. Charland. Either one of them can help him to do what is right and end this injustice against our community. One, your own personal dignity. Take a moment to reflect upon your value itself, principles and ideals, beliefs and attitudes, and the other components that comprise your own personal dignity. Is the illegal skate park in harmony with your dignity? Two, I hand deliver to you photos of examples of the vulgar language and the graffiti that permeates the illegal skate park. Would you want to bring your wife and children to this playground? is the noise of the skateboarders crashing onto the concrete permeating into our homes and throughout our neighborhood, which you would want for your own family and neighborhood. The mayor ignored all seven reasons. Once again, he shamefully never responded. This is one more example of the mayor's elitist attitude that is putting him on the path of tragedy. Last week, the mayor went on television deploring the almost out-of-control violence in our city, speaking as if he's above the violence rather than a part of the overall horrific consciousness behind it. When the mayor condones 12 incidents of harassment emanating from the users of the skate park just because they do not rise to the level of beatings, stabbings, or murder, and when he ignores the pain and suffering of the residents knowing that the illegal skate park in their neighborhood is not their will, then he can be considered a part of that criminal consciousness he spoke about permeating our city. I will repeat what I said yesterday. Staff members and administrators who understand dignity speak up now to guide the mayor back onto the path of dignity. Shut down the illegal skate park in Panther Hollow. Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning, Council of Selective Service. I wish I had a job like y'all. It's been over 20 years and y'all haven't started at 10 o'clock. Why do y'all still have that y'all started at 10 o'clock? That don't make no sense. And then y'all have mascots for the day that want to come out and speak to people while people are speaking because you don't care about what the person that's speaking is saying. They only get three minutes. You get paid to listen to their three minutes. And I know you want to look at me in my face because you know I'm talking to you. But anyway, good morning. My name is Unique Brown, and I'm here today representing the forgotten neighborhoods of this city, the ones you only seem to see when the person asking looks a certain way. I have a vision for our community. I already spoke about it, and I've already started to work to make it happen. I want to put the pictures of our soldiers up on the polls throughout our neighborhoods. I want their faces up there because if I don't, I'm afraid this city will do their memory, what it does to people like me every day, just look right past us. I'm here today because I want to do this the right way. I want to know what I need, what permits am I supposed to do, just what's the specific next steps because I know I need to know it from y'all. I don't want to start this and then I'm being told I'm breaking the law. So I'm asking for the rules because I've noticed that the rules in this chamber tend to change depending on who's standing at this mic. And that brings me to the other issue of convenience that I spoke about before. I've been here telling y'all what I'm going through and it's like I'm speaking a different language that y'all don't understand. But the minute I brought a white woman in here with the exact almost same problems, suddenly everyone was fluent. You all ran to her like she was the last breath on the Titanic. And Anthony, that's probably going to come rolling in in a couple minutes, he practically set the land speed record for sprinting out of here to hand her $20. I didn't know that city council has an instant ATM service for some people, but a don't call us, we'll call you service for the rest of us. So since I'm here today trying to honor our soldiers, people who actually know what sacrifice looks like, I'm sure a few council members and Anthony will be the first one to reach out and donate to help me get these pictures up. I know how much he loves to help the less fortunate. So I'm waiting for the information on permits. and my $20 donation from him. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi, everyone. My name is Saketh Rochworth. I'm a Pitt Law grad and a student of Professor Dangle's Wicked Problem Innovation class.

Hi, my name is Stephanie Dangle. I am a professor at Pitt Law School. I'm also a community member of the Hill District. And for the past five years, my students and I have been working with members of the Hill District in Knoxville to green vacant lots. Why are we doing this? Because greening vacant lots has been shown by many studies to decrease rates of depression and gun violence. We're here today to talk about the proposed improvements to the Pittsburgh Greenways and Adopt-a-Lot program and how those improvements will allow us to move forward with our projects. The first project is the Soho Native Flower Garden in the Hill District. This is on a steep overgrown lot between Center and Wylie Avenue. We'd like to transform that into a beautiful native pollinator garden. However, the area is prone to landslides, which makes it an ideal candidate for the Pittsburgh Greenways program. We believe that adopting the Greenways stewardship program would allow our community members to move forward with this important project. The second project is in Knoxville. It's the Ducunda Strawberry Patch. This proposed project would transform a vacant lot into a community garden that would provide fresh strawberries to the Knoxville neighborhood. This project began as an adopt-a-lot lease project. However, due to the limited length of adopt-a-lot leases, the community member had to renew this three times. Adopting the City Farm Gardens program will allow for five-year leases, and removing the Natural Resource Code will formally permit urban agricultural projects like the Jakunda Strawberry Patch. The final garden that we're working on is the Grandma Bee's Hill History Garden. If you know Grandma Bee's, you know it's a thriving but small restaurant where overflow customers have to sit on milk crates outside the restaurant. The proposed improvements to the Adopt-A-Lot program would allow the lots next door to Grandma B's to be transformed into a gathering space with benches, public art, and signage that would honor the Hill District's amazing past, present, and future. In conclusion, by adopting the proposed improvements to Adopt-A-Lot and Greenways, City Council will allow our community members to move forward with these important projects that will improve their neighborhoods' public health and safety. Thus, we strongly urge that you move forward with the proposed amendments. However, it's also important to note that without community input, such as today, community control and community ownership, greening neighborhoods can lead to environmental gentrification that would increase rents and displace long-term residents. Thus, it's important that in the near future, City Council adopt pathways to community control and ownership of vacant lots through proposals to improve the Pittsburgh side yard, community land trust programs, and the Pittsburgh Land Bank. But for now, I want to thank you for allowing me to speak for our neighbors in favor of improvements to the Adopt a Lot in Green Waste program. Thank you.

Hello, I'm Thomas Gettner. I'm the Director of Land Stewardship with Landforce. I'm here to speak in favor of the Greenways and Adopt-A-Lot program here today in front of you. Landforce is an employment social enterprise nonprofit organization that was born here in Pittsburgh in 2016 and has since hired 228 trainees into our workforce development program and seen an 85% success rate with our crew members going on to find stable employment after completing the program. Our ability to teach new skills, provide experiences with those skills, and for those new skills and experiences to impact the lives of our crew members comes from our project work on green infrastructure systems, vacant lot management, invasive plant management work, trail building and trail maintenance work, community garden and place-based development, and our city staircase stewardship projects, as well as our tree care and restoration work throughout the city. Landforce recruits and trains hard-to-employ adults into our employment-based skills training program. Our work reduces recidivism rates by focusing on the whole person and reducing their individual barriers to future employment while connecting our participants with meaningful work projects that increase the quality of life and place for residents of the city. Land Force has received funding from local and national foundations, as well as state and federal dollars, which we've been able to apply to community benefit projects across the city, as well as direct work in Pittsburgh's parks and greenways. However, a large portion of our projects comes from a fee-for-service work that keeps trails free of vegetation and erosion, hillsides free of invasive plants and shrubs, and stormwater management systems running smoothly to prevent flooding and increase water quality. i'm here to advocate for the proposal proposed ordinance in front of you today for land force to continue that valuable work that we are doing in the hazelwood greenway seldom seen greenway and in hayes woods we currently need to go through several layers of permissions and volunteer forms streamlining the community stewardship process will give us greater efficiency and flexibility in addressing issues within our scope of work and will provide a sense of partnership between the city and land force In 2015 alone, Land Force built or maintained nearly four miles of trails between the Hazelwood and Seldom Seen Greenways. We maintained five sets of city steps in the Hill District, constructed a flight of wooden box steps in the Southside Park that connects the community orchard, and used a DCNR grant to plant 160 trees in parks, greenways, and along city step corridors, with crew members trying to reach their fullest potential by stewarding these community assets and making Pittsburgh a better place to live. Landforce has a track record of exemplary partnerships with DPW, forestry, and environmental planning that makes us an ideal partner for engagement in our beloved green spaces. I would like to encourage the Council on behalf of Landforce, all of my nonprofit partners here today, and encourage you to look at the community groups across the city as an asset and consider voting for the affirmative for the ordinance in front of you. This will allow the city staff to work more efficiently and effectively to serve the people of Pittsburgh while providing improvements to important resources. Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker, please. Next speaker. Next speaker.

I'm sorry. I thought somebody else was coming up first. My name is Yvonne F. Brown. I live at 715 Mercer Street. That's in the Hill District, the senior citizen home at the top of the hill, top of Bedford. My daughter, Nikki, was telling me that when I'm speaking, I'm putting too much stuff in it, and I'm really confusing you. So let me explain what happened. I drove my daughter down to Atlanta. I drove her truck and her furniture down to Atlanta in 2013. I came back to Pittsburgh, and my brother-in-law, Lenny Brown, who used to work for the city and also for the county, he had put brownie in Katie Wilber's tires. That's 2013. So when I... was in the building, Miss Fanny came to me and she was saying she had to go to the hospital, Mercy Hospital at the bottom of the hill. And so I said, well, you will catch the bus and I showed her where the bus was and you can go that way. So when she came back and she said, no, the bus do not go to the bottom of the hill. I had to go in town, take another bus, to get to the hospital. So when that happened, I started coming down here to city council and saying to Mr. Lavelle, we need a bus straight down to the bottom of the hill. Well, you know, He very seldom answers me, and he didn't say anything, but we got caught on the elevator together in this building, and he said, Mrs. Brown, you keep coming down here and telling me you need to go to county council. So that's what I did. I went to county council, and my councilman is DeWitt Watson. When I went down and asked, you had the president, after I got finished, he said, well, committee, we have a citizen that has a problem. And what should we do? Should we write a letter to Pat or one by one or all together? Asked him, he said, no. Can't nobody come down and tell me what I need, what they need. That's my community. I know what they need. They need protection. They need security. But as it goes on, that when they were having an election time, John DeFazio, county president, county council president, was down in the basement, but I didn't know. But as I walked through, here comes DeWitt Watson. So I said, hey, sir, you remember me? I said, you didn't do nothing. He was supposed to call. I said, you didn't do nothing. You said you was. I said, I'm going to county council and tell on you. So he stopped, and he was hollering. I found out he just talked slyly. I said, are you hollering at me? Sir, he said, no, but I promise you I will call county council. So I go down to the room, and John DeFazio's wife was standing there. I have to finish it next week because this is getting ready to go off.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning, Special Agent Sunshine, the missing child, Cerise Taylor. Thank you, Lord, for keeping your promise to destroy every liar. I return the cinder all voodoo, death rituals, and confusion spells sent towards me, Lavelle. It's amazing you're not hiding today. I curse to death every witch, wizard, and warlock in the world, especially in this building, in this chamber. In Jesus' name. Lord, throw them into a lake of fire, one trillion degrees. We need laws. to come against witches, wizards, and warlocks who are doing death rituals on people daily. I'm one of them. They're being returned to cinder. If you can't handle the voodoo that you practice or the backfire, please stop singing it over here because people are already not here no more for doing it. In Jesus' name. Hebrews 4.16 says, God is faithful even when circumstances look impossible. Shout out to the Justice Department. Peek-a-boo, I see you too. How was the six-layer red velvet cake for yesterday's eye-opener? Y'all saw a lot, huh? I know, because I'm out here shining one million watts of light on injustice in this place in Jesus' name. Proverbs 49.20, it says, A man who has riches without understanding is like the beast that perished. Mosley, how's your gambling habit? Pray about it, please, because it's not hitting. Lavelle, if you need some revenue, start with the 25-foot ordinance that people are breaking. for smoking in front of businesses. 25 feet, that means across the street, not right in front of the building as soon as you come in the door, in the handicapped entrance, even in the front entrance. Right here on those benches, that's not 25 feet. It is not. And the fine for that, for validating it, is minimum $25 up to $1,100. Start suing these people because cancer is real and we will not be killed by people's secondhand smoke, which has already been proven that it causes cancer, period. Revelation 21, 4, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away, the veil. God promises that one day former things will not be remembered. There will be forever no more. Thank you, Lord, for using me as a vessel. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Next speaker, please. Seeing no further speakers, we'll turn to our standing committee agenda. First committee of the day is Finance and Law, which is chaired by Councilman Strasburger. Excuse me. We have one supplemental paper, Bill 596.

Resolution amending Resolution 924 of 2024, effective December 18, 2024, entitled, Resolution Adopting and Approving the 2025 Capital Budget, the Proposed 2025 Community Development Program, and the 2025 through 2030 Capital Improvement Program by Transferring $550,000 from Facility Improvements, Sports Facilities, to Play Area Improvements.

Motion to approve. Brief discussion? Second.

Discussion, Council?

Yeah, so this is, we had a very unfortunate, so there's a project that is being worked on now in Hazelwood for the Lewis Playground. It's a project that I've been working for a number of years to gather the funding for, and unfortunately, a mistake, I believe, by the engineering team has resulted in significant overages on this project. And so there's another project also in Hazelwood, the Bergwin Tennis Court renovation, which, you know, it pains me to do this, but I'm moving money from that project, which was supposed to start you know, late this year, maybe early next year, and moving that over to Lewis Playground to ensure that we can keep the current project moving. So it's sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul. You know, I'll put in a budget request for the, you know, to try and refund the, you know, get new funding for the tennis court improvements, which were going to be tennis court, pickleball court, and some outdoor exercise equipment, which would have been very nice for Glenn Hazel up there. That court is just sort of not being used at the moment. At any rate... I just, all of that to say, it's always a bit of the cost of things with contractors that we use in government. It's not just at the city, right? It's across the board, but we pay exorbitant amounts sometimes it seems for projects it's always a little mind-boggling how much projects cost when it's the the government that is paying compared to if it were the private sector paying and then to have have a mistake made by the contractor that then results in you know a neighborhood that had two projects and and now only has one is

unfortunate to say the least so um at any rate that i don't know if anybody has any questions but that's that's it in a nutshell so thank you any further discussion if not all those in favor say aye aye aye any opposed affirmative recommendation that takes us to our new papers beginning with bill 560. resolution amending resolution 924 of 2024 effective december 18 2024 entitled

Resolution adopting and approving the 2025 capital budget, the proposed 2025 community development program, and the 2025 through 2030 capital improvement program by increasing complete streets by $1 million to account for additional Federal Highway Administration funding being received by the City of Pittsburgh.

Your motion. Motion to approve.

Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation, Bill 561.

Resolution further amending Resolution 857 of 2023, effective December 27, 2023, as amended and titled, Resolution Adopting and Approving the 2024 Capital Budget, the Proposed 2024 Community Development Program, and the 2024 through 2029 Capital Improvement Program, by increasing street resurfacing by $1,065,795.78 to align with the most recent American Rescue Plan Act allocation.

Motion to approve. Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. Need a motion to approve the invoices. Motion to approve. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Invoices have been approved. We need a motion to approve the P-cards.

Motion to approve P-Cards. Second.

Discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative. P-Cards have been approved. That takes us to Public Safety and Wellness Committee, which is chaired by Councilman Coghill. We have one new paper, Bill 554.

Resolution authorizing the issuance of a warrant in favor of Pulse Point Foundation in an amount not to exceed $6,000 for the city's share of the license fee for the annual renewal of the Pulse Point Emergency Services application.

Motion.

Motion to approve. Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Confirmative recommendation. That takes us to Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Councilwoman Salinatro. First bill is Bill 414.

Resolution authorizing the mayor and 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 or removed at no cost to the city.

Motion to approve a discussion.

Second. Second discussion, Councilwoman.

Can I call for a hold on this for two weeks? Second. Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The bill will be held two weeks. That takes us to our new papers, beginning with Bill 556.

Resolution amending Resolution 542 of 2023, authorizing the Mayor and Director of Public Works to enter into a sub-award agreement with River Life for the purpose of spending grant funds in an amount not to exceed $499,900 to support the renovation of Allegheny Landing Park by correcting the park name on the section. Motion to approve.

Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation, Bill 558.

Resolution providing for an agreement or agreements with Traffic Planning and Design Inc. for costs associated with the final design phase of the Frankstown Avenue Signals Project, providing for the payment of the cost thereof not to exceed $404,254.34, reimbursable at 80%. Motion to approve. Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. Bill 559.

Resolution providing for a reimbursement agreement or agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for costs associated with the construction phase of the East Ohio Street Safety and Streetscape Project and providing for the payment of the costs thereof not to exceed $2,500,000 reimbursable at 100%. Motion to approve.

Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. Bill 574.

Resolution approving the recommendation made by the Director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure that the concrete portion of Allegheny Avenue situated north of and beginning at the intersection of North Franklin Avenue and ending at 1631 Allegheny Avenue at the termination of this northerly block should be paved with asphalt in accordance with Section 417.06 of the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances. Motion to approve.

Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. That moves us to Land Use Economic Development Committee, which is chaired by Councilman Wilson. First New Papers, Bill 563.

Resolution authorizing pursuant to Chapter 210 of the City Code, the Mayor and the Director of the Department of City Planning to accept a donation from Preservation Pittsburgh in an amount of $10,000 for the conservation of the Soldiers and Sailors Foundation in Arsenal Park.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. Bill 564.

Actually, if you want to mind, there's several bills that City Planning would discuss together.

Okay. I think there's five in total. I didn't know if you wanted to read them all together. Is that okay? Is that okay?

Because there are two committees.

You know what they are?

It's Bill 564, 6265, 6667. Yes.

Wait a minute. 564? 560.

It's basically just the 164 on my committee and then everything else. And the rest is in Councilman Warwick's committee, I believe. Yeah, the four that are in everything that's in that committee.

Bill 564, Ordinance Amending and Supplementing the Pittsburgh City Code Title IV, Public Places and Property. Article 7, City Realty by Amending Chapter 454 to Update Pittsburgh's Adopt-a-Lot Program. Bill 562, Resolution Authorizing the Mayor, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Director of the Department of City Planning to enter into an agreement or agreements with Open Space Institute for the purpose of receiving grant funds in an amount of $25,000 TO ACQUIRE PRIVATELY OWNED TAX DELINQUENT LAND TO IMPROVE CONNECTIVITY OF OUR GREENWAYS. BILL 565 ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THE PITTSBURGH CITY CODE TITLE IV PUBLIC PLACES AND PROPERTY ARTICLE 7 CITY REALTY BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 456 CITY FARMS GARDEN PROGRAM TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION TO ESTABLISH A GARDEN PROGRAM. which permits urban agricultural activities on permanently city-owned property, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill 566, ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh City Code, Title IV, public places and property. Article 7, city realty by adding a new Chapter 455, greenways, to authorize the Department of City Planning and its appointed designees to establish a greenways program, which permits stewardship in urban agricultural activities in the greenways, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill 567, Ordinance Amending and Supplementing the Pittsburgh City Code Title IV, Public Places and Property, Article 11, Parks and Playgrounds, by amending Chapter 47301A3 and 47301B1 to update Pittsburgh's park property use regulations.

Motion to approve discussion?

Second.

With discussion, Councilman Wilson? Could city planning come up? I figure we read all the bills, but I don't want to let you get away with not coming up here.

Sure. Andrew Dash, Deputy Director of City Planning.

Isabella Gross, Principal Environmental Planner, City Planning. Mackenzie Puskovic, Senior Planner, City Planning.

We'll just kind of quickly walk through the package of bills. City Planning introduced these bills as a part of what we're calling a stewardship package, which is where, over the last year, Isabella McKenzie and some others on the team have really worked with with other departments within the city to revise our stewardship programs with the overall intent trying to make it easier for residents, for nonprofit organizations, and others to be able to steward the city's either vacant or hillside properties. And so I can just quickly kind of walk through, and I'll walk through them in order that they're on the agenda, even though that's a little out of sequence for us. The first one is around amendments to the Adopt-A-Lot program. And what we heard is that there are a lot more uses that are out there that residents and communities want to be able to utilize as part of stewarding vacant property. Stewarding vacant property through the Adopt-A-Lot program is something that does provide a benefit to the city, not only to neighborhoods and our communities, but to things like public safety and maintenance costs that are reduced by the city. And so the changes to the program really are around expanding these opportunities for additional use, you know, through temporary use of the city's vacant properties through the Adopt-A-Lot program. The second one relates to, I believe, our fourth piece of legislation, which is that as a part of the team's work, we were able to go after and acquire a small grant for $25,000. That is intended to kind of combine with the fourth piece of legislation, which is around our greenways program for us to identify specific tax delinquent properties to take on to the city's inventory, really to fill in some of the gaps of kind of our hillsides that we have in some of our greenways. So, you know, the team, you know, after, you know, kind of, if this is approved, we'll be able to utilize those funds through things like the treasurer's sale or the land bank to kind of strategically acquire properties. This is based on, you know, the team has done really a parcel-by-parcel analysis, which I know we've covered with a number of your offices, of all of the vacant and tax-delinquent properties across the city and looking at where um there are you know potential opportunities for additions to the system the third piece of legislation is around the creation of a new program this is this is around the garden program the garden program is intended to utilize um you know leftover sections of our parks and greenways that aren't being utilized uh you know for other recreation needs to be able to offer them up as, you know, potential leases for either, you know, food forest or urban agriculture type of uses. So there is, you know, this would be creating a lease program that, you know, although we are the ones introducing it and would be, you know, working in partnership with city parks because this would be in designated parks and greenways around the leases and licenses for these spaces in the future. The fourth piece of legislation is around really kind of formalizing the city's greenways program. The city's greenways program has actually been in existence since 1980, but at the same time has really been informal as to how it's been authorized. We do have 12 existing greenways that have been designated under the program to date. As a part of that parcel by parcel analysis that I mentioned, the staff have been working with neighborhoods and with community organizations and with many of your offices to identify either Potential additions to greenways that already exist or potential new greenways where ultimately the idea is that the highest and best use of property is for us to leave that natural and leave that protected. At the same time, you know, the program and the legislation that is here does authorize the opportunities for stewardship, and that stewardship could be in some of the things that some of the partner organizations testified to earlier, from invasive species removal to trail building to other amenities, you know, where there's stewardship opportunities. And the last piece of legislation, which is amendment to the property section of the code, really is helping to facilitate the city farm's garden program and the green waste program and really is adding additional language to allow for, right now there's a prohibition on the opportunity to be able to take things out of city parks or greenways, these designated spaces, or if we are going to have things like the garden program that are going to allow for urban agriculture or food forestry, that it is enabling some of those things to happen.

obviously there's a lot more depth uh you know to uh these five pieces of legislation than that um but you know like you know happy to answer any questions and provide any additional detail that council may need okay i might have some more questions but uh it's been some time since our our briefing um and that was very helpful and we discussed this you know a few other times as well and seeing you out in the community um getting feedback from residents. So thanks for all that effort. So this, let's start with the first one, this Adopt-A-Law. So presently, the Adopt-A-Law program, the rules around it are everyone signs and leaves for a year on an annual basis?

Yeah, so presently, what happens, the Adopt-A-Law program has been in existence now for 10 years. So it was really a time to take a fresh look at that and understand from lessees and others, you know, where there are issues, where there are opportunities for expansion. Presently, the idea through the Adopt-A-Lot program is that there is a one-year lease with three-year renewals. that does you know that does basically stay the same however i think in the leases we're trying to provide and you know through our connection with uh city finance with the land bank with others really trying to provide more certainty for folks that are in those leases um that that during the period of time um you know that they will be in those leases um that that they'll be able to stay there on the property during those periods of time. And also working with, again, with folks at City Finance and the Land Bank for people that, you know, the Adopt-A-Lot program is a temporary reuse program. It's not a permanent reuse program. But there are certain adopt-a-lot projects that have really kind of grown up as they've kind of continued on. And there are some instances in which it is really valuable that even though these projects started as temporary projects, to have them continue on in a more permanent way. And so, you know, it is really the role of McKenzie and the team to then, you know, work with the land bank, to work with city finance, to create those opportunities and help people into permanent ownership where, you know, where that's best.

Yeah, so what changes with the program? So it's a year, and then they can, with the guarantee that there's the possibility for a three-year lease after that. That's the way it currently is?

That is the way that it currently is.

A three-year lease or three more one-year leases?

No, it's a three-year lease. And we do allow people to continue to renew at three-year intervals, you know, kind of post that initial one-year lease.

What changes with this?

You know, I'll start, and maybe if Mackenzie has anything additional, I'll have her, you know, kind of, I mean, really the changes are, you know, a real expansion of uses. The program as it was initially created was created as a garden program, and so the only uses that were potentially available were things that were gardens, so it was either a rain, food, or flower garden were the three categories under the existing program. What we heard from lessees is that there was a lot of interest in expanding the kind of opportunities for additional uses.

Okay, so they usually expand. What's an example?

Yeah, so I mean, you know, there are opportunities for things like public art, for more community space. Okay. For people to just steward and, you know, I mean, it can be something as simple as someone wants to really be able to maintain the lot next to their house, but they ultimately don't want to purchase it. And does the time period change? No, it does not.

So just the uses change?

Yeah, there is a real expansion of the uses.

I know this can get lodged, so I didn't interrupt, but I want to just work through this because others may have... some things they want to talk about. So I appreciate that. That sounds good because I think that there could be more uses than that. But I think we've gone over most of the briefing was the map and showing the different parcels. Which legislation deals with that?

That primarily deals with the Greenways legislation. So what we're doing here is setting forward the program. So there are rules around the program. There are opportunities for us to do leases and licenses and agreements with organizations in a way that we couldn't presently. And what's going to follow up in subsequent legislation to city council is a lot of the work that Isabella and Mackenzie and others have really been kind of working with communities to identify specific parcels for either additions to greenways or potential new greenways and those would have to be legislated by city council so those will come back to you as future legislation oh so for instance similar to how we have camping in riverview park we have a separate agreement where the director signs off or you know organizes that agreement for an organization to

similar to that it would come back to council like that had to go through councils so someone was going to do something on a greenway some sort of um uh you know i don't know you just described it that there's It provides opportunities for different partnerships in the Greenway.

So the designation of space is something that would be separate council legislation. So which parcels, what areas, you know, we have, for example, in your district, the Hollows Greenway and the Perry South Greenway. I think that was partially in the district, but you know. At the same time, there are opportunities for additional parcels to be added to those and the creation of additional greenways. I know that we've spoken to FindView and some other communities in the district around that. So when those come forward, those spaces that we're actually going to legislate as greenways, those would be additional pieces of legislation that would come to city council. What the program legislation does is it allows us to go under agreement with either stewardship groups with community organizations, with residents in some cases, to be able to help steward those spaces. And again, that could be for something as simple as a cleanup. We've seen that in the past, although there's been a lot of work from the city and our partners, that there are problems like illegal dumping that occur in a lot of these hillside spaces. So it could be something as simple as being able to have a community organization go into the space and clean it up. to some of the larger work of you know of trail building or or providing other kind of passive recreation opportunities um in these spaces and so what that would do is allow us to more quickly get into those agreements um while city council like i said would see additional legislation over what spaces those can those things can actually happen in okay and then okay so for instance the

It's great that you all got the grant. Thank you for that one. So I'm going back 62 on this grant. Appreciate the grant. I'm wondering, are these land to improve connectivity or agreement? So the tax-delinquent land, so we would be going after these tax-delinquent parcels and adding it to the Greenway?

That would be correct, that there are a number of places where there just might be, no, the intention is that these properties would be some, you know, they're typically landslide prone hillside properties that are maybe like one tax delinquent property in a row, you know, where especially if we're trying to work with stewards to steward a larger space, getting all of those things, all of those pieces under city ownership is really important. We have not identified specific parcels that we would be going after at this time. I think that was really work that would happen after council taking this action.

And then there's a garden program.

Yeah, so we have some... You have quite the package here. Yes. So we have some existing community gardens that exist in parks across the city. Those are... of really high demand. At the same time, one thing that we have heard from people in the agriculture community is that, obviously, It's great that we allow, kind of through the Adopt-A-Lot program, the opportunity for gardening. Unfortunately, many of those lots are vacant lots that formerly had buildings or other issues relative to them. And there are, you know, like thinking about, you know, our existing garden program that exists in some of our parks and the high demand, as well as, you know, although...

But what's the program? Is someone going to drop mulch off or...

So what it would do is that, you know, through interest and then, you know, kind of community process, we would be determining areas of our parks or our greenways that are really not being utilized for recreational purposes otherwise. And, you know, and that we would then create opportunities for additional gardens.

These are recognizing more parcels that can be used for a garden program. They would be in... Not like the city's going to then create a separate fund for assisting...

No, there's no funding here. I mean, really what it is is offering, you know, again, underutilized land in our cities, parks and greenways, you know, to lessees to be able to, you know, to do urban gardens, urban farms, community gardens, or, you know, like food forestry, so like an orchard or, you know, something like that, you know, that would be opportunities that we would be able to have through the garden program that we don't currently have.

And then there's 67, this one, this other one that says Parks and Playgrounds by Mending Chapter... To update the park property use regulations?

Yeah. So, you know, as kind of noted, you know, if we are allowing through the garden program, urban agriculture or orchard uses in some of our parks and greenway spaces. So that has to change as well. The changes here are really related to that and allowing, you know, whether it's trees of plant material or... you know, whether it's fruit or vegetables, to be taken off of, you know, a city-owned park or greenway. So it is really kind of facilitating the garden program and some of that other work.

All right, thanks. Thanks for your work on this.

Yeah, thank you.

Elsewhere, McGross.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I think members know how exciting this is for me and for Councilman Conkle, who's unfortunately not here today. He's out of town because he's very excited about it as well. So this has been work that's been many, many years in coming. I think this council has done a really good job over the 12 years that I've been here on moving forward food policy of all kinds, including supporting community gardens and agricultural space. I was here when we revised and expanded the urban ag zoning code, and that was an exciting day with a whole press conference on the portico and things. And we have... I think we're very, very fortunate to have so many partner organizations working with residents in every single one of our districts every day to increase not only the space that is cultivated, but also kind of building the skill sets, building the human capital, like teaching people how to do this work, right? So people learning how to grow food, but also how to harvesting it, processing it, storing it, preserving it, using it, cooking with it. And that's really, I think, the work that we should all be proud of that has grown tremendously. I don't have the... number of total gardens. I think our Grow Pittsburgh people in the audience here somewhere probably do. I haven't looked recently for an updated digital map of like where all of the community gardens in the city are. But it's been, I think, a real, it's a bigger story than we can address today. in how much our city residents and our partner organizations and the city have all invested in creating a local food system. And I always just like to throw in, as I did a minute ago, that it isn't only growing food. We also have to have local systems for, again, Harvesting, preserving, processing, bottling, distributing. I like to say, when we were discussing the Food Justice Fund, for example, that if you're a corner bistro, I think all of our residents are wishing they had more neighborhood stores. You can't buy 30,000 jars of pickles like Giant Eagle can, right? You need someone selling pickles who's only selling you a few jars. And so part of supplying and supporting the local food system is also supporting and investing in the spaces like commercial kitchens and storage facilities that are at a small scale, supporting the makers who are at a small scale, and also the food growers at a small scale. So that's fighting the kind of – so that we have that safety net that we're not just relying on global food change and the largest – supply chains that as we saw in COVID collapse. i'd like to remind the table of the bill that we all voted on unanimously that i was co-sponsored with the um the previous colleague in district 4 which is a resolution that was directing the departments of finance which is a treasurer sale who maintains the properties um treasurer cell properties and city planning to create and identify city sites citywide so we all asked for this in 2020 um Identify lots in May. So because of the beginning of COVID. Actually, sorry, it was introduced on April 13th, 2020. So only a month into the pandemic. Directing finance and city planning to identify sites around the city that can be used to foster urban ag. including land-garden collectively by people on properties, whether for personal or non-commercial use, or for off-site selling of agricultural products, including everything from your animals that you think of to agroforestry. And create various tools to be utilized to secure these lots. uses urban ag including but not limited to deed restrictions cooperation and lease agreements with other art organizations or large institutions or other government agencies and also the operation of city-owned gardens and that the lot should be identified by finance and city planning may include city-owned sites or land within city parks existing urban gardens urban farms which the city can enter into and lease with cooperation agreements. Temporary urban gardens on land waiting development, like we're talking about with the land bank, or adopt a lot, sorry. But that we should also be looking at sites that, just like a baseball field, are held for growing food. Or a swimming pool, right? We don't build a swimming pool for one year. we'd only be able to swim for five years. And so I think this is the kind of recreation, our constituents are asking for. And hopefully it will be just for recreation, but if in case of the apocalypse, it's there for food as well. Which is really, I think a lot of people are fearful, both about affordability, but also about availability of our global supply chain on food. So I mean, I'm completely enthusiastic about all of these bills. In fact, I think there's not enough time to devote to them today. I mean, I think you all know in the last five years in my district alone, we've planted 600 trees, but 300, again, with neighborhood organizations and various greenways, hillsides, rights-of-way, which are stairs, which are neither greenway nor city park, but 300 of those trees are food trees. Western native, Western Pennsylvania native food trees like pawpaws, persimmons, jaguar kickeries, hazelnuts, service berries, which now are super famous. I don't know if we planted several dozen service berries over the last five years. Elderberries, and I could go on and on. And moved into shrubs as well, like the native blueberries. And we're now even encouraged by organizations that we work with, neighbors that we work with who want to plant edible, I think it's a legume. I don't know what a sunchoke is. It's a tuber of some kind, right? So this is like a flower. So we've gone from trees to shrubs, and now we're going to flowers that are native, western Pennsylvania, either indigenous or traditional foods.

So I'm excited about this.

I think there's a lot of details, again, that are kind of too long for a standing committee hearing to talk about that people will want to hear about. What about the What about the site that they've been stewarding? You know, are they going to be the ones who get the lease to steward that? Or are they going to get, you know, overrun by somebody else who's going to get the lease? And so how do we support the people who've been putting in all this bad equity and who have the vision and kind of already feel ownership of the sites, even though they didn't have any official agreement with the city, I think is a good example. Also, I think council knows that we have, really moved the needle. And again, I have to give Councilman Coghill's not here a shout out. I know he wants to participate in the conversation. with the amount of city resources that we're using to help these sites succeed. Because 10 years ago, you know, we might have given someone a lease, or if they needed help, we were just like, well, good luck to you. You know, you're on your own. Succeed or fail, whether you need volunteers, whether you need materials, whether you need money, whether you need fencing, compost, wood chips, seedlings, all of these things. And now, we provide a lot for a lot of sites. And so the numbers that we've been able to pull together with city direct resources like technical assistance, since we now have, if you didn't know, a half-time farmer in city parks, who goes out to help community gardens and agricultural sites succeed. And we have equipment that we didn't have. We have an $80,000 wood chipper. Shout out to Kelsey in my office and her master's in food from Chatham and her specialization in community agroforestry. that we didn't have before. So we've literally, like recently, provided one ton of wood chips to one of these community gardens because that's something you need, right? If you're composting, you need wood chips. If you're remediating your soil, you need wood chips. I mean, we didn't used to be able to do that. In fact, we were paying a company just to take our wood away and not getting wood chips back. So now we have our own equipment. We're generating the wood chips and we're providing them. And so by our calculations, I think in 2025, the city provided the resources, materials, technical assistance, dollars for about 60 gardens citywide in just one year. But 10 years ago, that was only four. No, five years ago, it was only four. That's how much city council has worked with the administrations to move the needle to provide the capacity so we have a local food system. So I am excited about this. I'll stop talking, but I think we definitely, I know Councilman Coghill wanted to participate in this conversation, so I'll defer now. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I didn't ask any questions. I apologize. You gave me a briefing, so thank you.

Thank you. Any further discussion? Councilwoman Warwick.

I do just have one question, or maybe more of a comment, and it's with regard to the reforming the Greenway program and the stewardship. And I have heard some presentations on this in some community meetings in my district. I definitely like the idea of, well, just to sort of better understand, is the stewardship going to be Are third parties going to be performing this, such as land force? In other words, are we going to be paying for the stewardship? Is that the concept?

Maybe I'll start, and Isabella, if you want to follow. So the present system for greenways is that a greenway was brought to city council to be legislated with a steward for the entire space. And so unfortunately what we've seen is that organizations fall to the wayside, people that may be interested lose interest, move away. And so what happened was we had you know, we had this system where essentially there was one steward for the entirety of a space. And so, you know, what we were doing by creating this legislation is, you know, creating opportunities for lease and license opportunities, you know, for... anywhere from particular activities that might have a start and an end date to stewardship over a section of the space or could be an entire Greenway for a longer period of time. And so we are really kind of focused on providing the flexibility to do all of these different types of agreements. At the same time, you know, many times we are not the ones funding organizations to then work in spaces, but we are really trying to facilitate, you know, again, whether that is organizations going to be able to, you know, to go and obtain funding to work in these spaces, or community organizations to then work, you know, with some of our nonprofit partners to raise funds to help to steward these spaces. Isabella, is there anything else you want to add?

Well, the city would also, DCP would also go after grant funding to kind of fund our nonprofit partners to continue stewarding the spaces as well.

Yeah, so, you know, there have been a lot of discussions over the last year with organizations and trying to figure out what, you know, if there is some sort of partnership that the city can provide with organizations to get funding to do more stewardship. But, you know, as it sits now, I mean, it's not something that the city is, you know, the city does not have funding that it is putting towards Greenways, you know, for these stewardship activities. But we obviously want to be able to think about what that model looks like for the future for all of the different nonprofit partners that we have and all the different activities that they can do or even are doing right now to help steward these spaces and improve these spaces.

So that's great. And when it comes to things like trails and maybe like goatscape and stuff like that, I have a number of cases in my district. We heard from the speakers, the Hazelwood Greenway mentioned, and Hazelwoods where lots of good work is being done. I do have one, and I mentioned this at the community meetings as well. So if we are dedicating... I'll just use Greenfield as an example, right? Hillsides and saying, oh, these are hillsides, right? Maybe they're privately owned or, you know, maybe they're owned, they're tax delinquent, whatever. We take them on as the city. For residents, more, and we're not talking about like large spaces like a Hazelwoods or a Hazelwood Green where you're actually creating a recreational space. You're just sort of dedicating these hillsides as Greenway. The biggest problem, well, invasives obviously is one, right? Or overgrowth, right? Sort of invasives that are kind of going on to other people's properties and litter. That isn't really what land force does, right? And it's my feeling that that is what DPW should be doing already, right? So have you been working with DPW? Because to me, like, just dedicating something as Greenway on a hillside, you know, I live in, like, I'm surrounded by a hillside just like this, right? Just saying, this is a Greenway, that does not do anything for the neighborhood, right? Because it's still full of garbage, you know, and... there's no like community group that is able to handle that, right? I mean, even myself, I always say, oh, I'm going to clean up that trash up on the hills. And of course I don't get around to it, right? So that feels like a city, it feels like our job as the city. So I don't know if you have any comment about that.

Yeah, maybe I'll start, and if others from the team want to join in. I think that we have worked, I think, through this process with our partners at DPW on a lot of this, and there is a lot of support that they provide to things like our greenways, whether that is in conjunction with volunteer events or with organizations that are looking to volunteer and clean up. You know, or in addition, you know, and so although, you know, DBW is not maintaining, you know, I mean, they're not maintaining greenways in the same way that they, you know, do maintenance in greenways like they are in legislative parks, for example, where obviously there is, you know, and... Adding additional spaces, you know, for them is not, obviously, you know, we're not trying to add additional responsibility as well. But, you know, I think there are ways that they provide partnership, you know, with stewards and stewardship activities to be additive to the work that is going on. Team, is there anything to add?

I will also say that kind of taking this first step to designate these parcels as Greenway from vacant lot or hold for studies, they've been previously kind of classified. allows us to approach grant funding to more closely partner with folks like Landforest or Allegheny Cleanways that do have the resources to do kind of that larger dump site cleanup. I will say also having this longer conversation with TPW is certainly a priority post this legislation passing to kind of see what that how we can build a long-term kind of maintenance plan with them to potentially have them play a larger role in the Greenways as well.

And I will note additionally that even though it is not a part of this legislative package, the team has worked with DBW to kind of work on kind of refining their volunteer program, which we've kind of rebranded as Help A Lot. And you know that there is now a stewardship site on the city's website for people to be able to access all of these programs and work with DBW in ways like that.

Okay, well, I mean, I appreciate that, and this is something we've talked a lot about at the table, is that we, I don't believe that as a city we can continue to rely on, you know, twice a year community cleanups, right? Like these, in many neighborhoods, these hillsides are just... they're really just an eyesore right and you can call them a greenway or call them whatever you want if we can't get the trash cleaned up then you know so i just i guess for the success of this particular part of the package um i really would sit down as part of the planning process right and figure out with dpw like how are we like if we're going to take ownership of right because right now we have you know like i guess we're citing i mean there's but if we're going to take ownership of these hillsides they will be you know they will be ours and so what is the plan i mean it's something that we've been asking for a while i think at council just overall with litter in general right but what is the plan to keep them clean and make them uh you know you know, make them an asset to the community rather than just calling them Greenway. So I don't know. I hope that that's something that you all will engage with DPW on.

Yeah, I think that's a very fair point. And I think at the minimum, what we're doing here is at least facilitating the opportunity for stewardship where it's a lot harder to see that now. But I think that what you're, you know, the point you're making is definitely one that we can follow up on, you know, as to how these spaces get stewarded in the future.

And I mean, maybe land force and such are willing to do that ongoing litter cleanup. I don't care if we pay someone to do it or if we get grants to do it, but what it needs to be happening all the time, right? Like regularly. At any rate, I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

Councilman? I will be very quick. Is the... When we talked, I guess, a month ago, maybe two months ago, there was a map that you included. Yes. Is that in this legislation or in one of the pieces of legislation? It is not. It is just the framework so we can build the map.

The map of the specific parcels that will be designated as greenway will come in a separate legislation soon. Perfect.

That's exactly what I don't know. Thank you so much. Thank you. Councilman Salinetra.

I just had a quick question. On the adopt-a-lot program, you said, you know, somebody who lives next door to a vacant property can do some maintenance and adopt that lot. Is there a size lot, you know, that we limit to how big of a lot somebody can have?

No, there's not. So we have adopt-a-lot projects that are, we have an adopt-a-lot project that is over two acres, you know, of where they have taken on in the Charles Street Valley, you know, blocks of city property in cases like that. And we have adopt-a-lot projects that are as small as one parcel.

Okay. That's all for me.

Thank you. Any further discussion? I'll go first round and turn it back over to you. A couple quick questions. On the adopt-a-lot bill, the provision for the city to end that lease with 30- or 90-day notice has been stricken.

It's still relevant. It's just not called out in the code. It caused a lot of confusion, but it still applies.

How would we... If it's not in the ordinance, then how will we enforce that?

It's in the toolkit, the program toolkit.

Okay. So the idea is that the legislation identifies the toolkit as a way to kind of put additional regulations, and those serve as the foundation for the leases and licenses that we, the legal agreements that we sign with someone. And so those regulations are there.

OK, so part of my ignorance, I've not read the toolkit, so I apologize. My main question is this. That does ensure that someone's not adopting a lot in perpetuity.

That is correct. Again, the adopt-a-lot program, and we've tried to make sure that, you know, recent updates to it or even, you know, additional clauses and leases or licenses do show that it is a temporary, you know, it is a temporary program for temporary reuse of vacant property. We understand that in our communities with different real estate markets, temporary can mean very different things. You know, that it can mean, you know, something that can mean one year in one community may mean 15 in another. But, you know, again, the idea is that Ultimately, the intent of the city is to ultimately dispose of properties that are in the Adopt-A-Lot program, whether that is because there's development that happens at a future point in time that would have the city dispose of those properties or because something like an Adopt-A-Lot project would, you know, kind of get to a point in which it would be permanent and then we'd be working with partners at city finance or the land bank or others to ultimately dispose get those properties out of city ownership.

Okay, thank you. I think we're in alignment there. Question on, I guess, decision making. When someone applies for an adopt-a-lot, who is making that determination?

Who's making the determination to lease or license it? Yes. The program, it is through the director of city planning, who ultimately is the one who signs that lease or license, you know, again, with it as a temporary reuse program.

I think it... Thank you. I think it would be helpful if... when someone was applying within whomever's respective district, a notification was sent to the office because the council office may know of something that the planning department may not.

We have added that to the toolkit.

Again, I guess I should have written toolkit. Thank you. All right. So that's all the questions I have for you, Dr. Lott, then. for the uh what is this city farms garden program you may have said this and i'm just again trying to get clarity is this meant for parcels that are in parks and greenways or is this for anywhere it's meant for parcels that are in parks and greenways okay thank you um and because the language again this mentions the toolkit It says on permanently city-owned property. And so just for my clarity, that means parks and greenways. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Second round, Councilman Gross.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. I was just kind of looking for the toolkit. Oh, so it's not. No one's seen it. It's not published yet. Oh, you have to talk into the mic.

Sorry. It's not published yet.

Okay. Okay. After approval, it will be. Okay, so we don't know what's in the toolkit until we ask and then...

I mean, so the vacant lot toolkit, there is a vacant lot toolkit that presently exists that is available on the city's website. The amendments to the toolkit are in line with what we briefed members on, which is really that expansion of uses. is the primary change. Kenzie can note any other kind of larger changes. At the same time, we wanted to make sure to be able to respond to all council questions and inquiries before having that something that is ultimately posted. We have reviewed those changes with community organizations and stakeholders as we've been trying to go through the process of updating the toolkit and the program.

Happy to also review it with you.

I would like that for sure, for sure. And just so you know, we do have a request from Councilman Coghill, who's also super enthusiastic about this and has done years of work, what we've done together on these issues. He's got an orchard that he's planted on a set of city steps. that's nearly finished, and I'm really pretty envious of it, because he has crews, like, maintaining it, so it's just very pretty, in addition to having native trees and native food-bearing trees, and it runs from the T-stop, so the fixed, you know, rail transit stop on Beach... The steps of Blasco. It's Beachwood Boulevard at the top where the T-stop is. It's at Broadway. Broadway, sorry. That's what I was asking. I'm gesturing the top of the hill. And then there's a very long set of city steps, probably some 300 feet. that go down to her residential area. And so it's a city right of way, right? Because these are city steps, so it's like city streets. So it's city property, 30 feet wide, going down this hillside, and it's beautifully planted. And some of the trees are probably 20 feet tall already. So I did encourage him to start planting there. So I'd like to take a little bit of credit because, again, the enthusiastic embrace that we have. We think we have one of the first food forests. I don't know about the Hazelwood Food Forest versus the Duncan Parklet Food Forest, which was already a plan by the citizens of Lawrenceville when I was the first elected many years ago but that we've been able to help effectuate and there's been great stewardship there where we have like mature pawpaw trees that get like baskets of pawpaws and it's really great to see these projects start and then like actually come to fruition but it's exactly what's happening. So, again, Councilman Calgo had to be out of town and asked that we hold one week so he could be here for his own discussions and questions. And I've talked to some colleagues, if they don't mind. I think there's strong support here for all of the ideas, certainly in my district. But I don't know if there's other questions, but I'll go ahead. We could continue. But I'll motion for a... So I'll just go ahead and motion now.

I have one more additional question. But I know Councilman Warwick also has an additional.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Oh, just quickly for the adopt-a-lot. Is there, with these updates, is there like a path to ownership? So, you know, if you've been... I don't know, whatever, taken care of a lot for a number of years, to kind of ensure that it doesn't get taken away from you?

We acknowledge now, which didn't happen previously at the start of the program, that it is a temporary use program and that if folks are interested in ownership, we talk to them about that at the start of the application period and let them know if they're interested in acquiring what the pathways are to begin the acquisition process. But we can't direct sale currently in City Code to certain buyers through the city finance process.

So... is that like in the tool so what would they do like go through the land bank or something like that yes we either recommend them to city finance to start the application process or eventually to the land bank and is there anything in the in the new code that sort of i guess i see what you mean like we can't give them priority but is there some kind of way that we can I don't know, facilitate that happening. We do now. I mean, in the code, though, so that, like, they... It just seems like if someone has one of these lots for a long period of time and they, I don't know, whatever, they're, like, gardening in there and investing a lot of time and money and whatever, that we would want to avoid it getting sold to somebody else who just happens to come request to buy it.

That's a fair question. We can consider that. It's really up to the director of finance, I believe, and law.

Okay. I mean, I guess I... So it would be a five-year lease with an option to renew?

With the Adopt-A-Lot program, they can get a one to three-year lease. And if there's no application to purchase that property, then they have the option to renew the agreement.

Okay. But the property can't be purchased while they have the lease? They can. They can pursue that process while they have the lease. Right, but could somebody else? Yes.

And that's why we notify them at the start that if a lot that they're interested in adopting is available for sale, we let them know that this is available for sale for them to purchase, but also anyone is welcome to submit applications. It's published on our portal.

Is there any way to just kind of like deed restrict it or do something so that... Yeah. So, I mean, that would be my concern is it's like somebody, you know, like they've put a lot of time or whatever into a lot and then, you know, somebody sort of swoops in and says, oh, I want to buy this and, you know, build something on it that isn't the garden that you've been working on. Sorry if I'm repeating the question.

It's okay. We just encourage them to pursue acquisition as soon as possible if they're interested in acquiring currently.

Okay. All right. Maybe it would be nice if we could sort of figure out a way to secure that for folks, you know, if they've engaged in the program, at least, or at least after a certain period of time, right? If they've taken good care of the property and done, you know, done a good thing for the community over a period of time.

And I think the other thing that we do is, or we're trying to do with changes to the program is that, you know, provide a little bit more protection for folks that are in, within the term of their lease. You know, even though obviously sale can occur, but, you know, we want to be able to to provide more certainty that a one-year lease or a three-year lease is a one-year or a three-year lease. So, you know, if someone separately is working to purchase a property that is adopted a lot, we're trying to work through that so that, you know, that kind of syncs with the, you know, with the timing of the leases. You know, as Mackenzie said, you know, it is, you know, we do try to, it is more of a customer service thing than, you know, something that we have, you know, any ability to kind of, you know, kind of direct sale to someone specifically, except for, you know, through the land bank process. And so that's where we do try to ask those questions up front as to intention so that we can, you know, in many times, there are a number of occasions where someone may be interested in a specific lot, you know, at first. And then as we get into the discussions of what their long-term intentions are, then we might be identifying other lots in the same neighborhood or might be identifying other places that may not have the same constraints, the same issues, whether that is around ownership, whether that is around community interest, whether that is around other items.

But I mean, I do know that the finance department can hold properties so that they're not available for sale. Just because I know that people who've had that happen where they're like interested in a property and finances come back and said, oh no, this one isn't available for sale.

the Director of Finance has expressed openness to removal from public sale some properties that are in the Adopt-A-Lot program per their request. And so we've started to outline that in the toolkit, in the updated toolkit, and hopefully is something that we can offer folks.

Okay. I mean, that might be nice if someone is shown good faith, you know, stewardship, right, over a period of time. Anyway, okay, thanks.

So... So I'll ask the question slightly differently because I have a real world example. And since you mentioned it, I decided I'll figure I wasn't going to bring it up, but you mentioned it. So how are we going to deal with, to the councilwoman's point, lots that have been adopted lots? but that have also been stewarded for a very long period of time. So we can use the Charles Street as an example, whereby, to your point, yes, some lots may only be there for a year. Some communities may take 10 years to get where they're envisioning. And that's the. the example of Charles Street, right? They've always envisioned new housing within that area, but you now have a garden through the Adopt-A-Lot program that has absolutely served a good service to the community and to the city at large. But there's now a tension that is coming because they now believe they're a year or so or even potentially sooner away from having all the financing in place to move forward with the housing. How will we deal with that tension?

The idea with the removal from public sale process in identifying upfront whether or not folks are interested in acquisition, we would ultimately pull those properties from public sale for a set period of time to allow them the opportunity to kind of establish proper financing that is needed to pursue acquisition. And after that point, it would then become available for sale to anyone to pursue acquisition. So the idea is that those existing adopt-a-lot leaseholders would have the opportunity to acquire. Currently, for new applications, we just have those conversations up front. that this lot is available for sale and if you are interested in acquiring it one day you should begin the process of pursuing ownership okay and that would be the case for someone who's already on an adopted lot for the last three four or five years for existing leaseholders it has been our preference to help them with pursuing acquisition okay

I think it's a question we don't really have a good answer for right now, but we'll have to figure out because it's going to come to a head probably more than at least two areas in my district, but probably more throughout the city, but as the city begins to develop.

Yeah, and I think there's, you know, again, I think that we have... tried to be clear that although we create pathways for ownership for folks that are existing, adopt less ease, that it is a temporary program. And the long-term, which means that the long-term intent is not that these properties are kind of in that state you know that ultimately we want to dispose of those properties in one way or the other and i think that you know there are some times that you know community discussions need to go on whether that's through neighborhood plans or other means you know as to you know as to what ultimately the use of those properties when the city does you know dispose of them you know is Whether that is at the time that we're disposing of that for an adopt-a-lot lessee or whether that is when we're telling an adopt-a-lot lessee that ultimately at the end of their lease term, the intention is going to be to have that property be developed in some other form.

I hear you. I think we're saying the same thing. I think we're just – the delicacy of working that out will be a little complicated. Yes. It may be worthwhile – And it's probably not through the formal city budget, but it may be worthwhile trying to pursue some sort of funding that would then be able to assist in those sort of scenarios. But that's a budgetary discussion.

Yeah, and again, I think that's – and that kind of idea of even though it's not specifically in the legislation around trying to make sure that we're creating more predictability for adopt-a-lot lessees in their lease, I mean, I think some of that is – you know, if there is a situation in which they would be looking, they would be on properties that would be sold for, say, residential development, you know, that there's enough time, you know, that there's an awareness that they can kind of complete their lease and go through the things necessary to be able to transition themselves off of a site, which is not ideal, and I understand that, you know, because there is, you know, a different future that's seen long-term.

I'll also flag that for folks who don't have the funding to pursue acquisition, Grow Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Land Trust have a program. It's a garden protection program to help in cases like that.

Thank you. Third round, Councilman Gross.

Just to remind council that lots of these topics have been explored at length at this table. And there are post-agendas on them. And we have discussed them vis-a-vis Adopt-A-Lot and how that works with land bank. I do think that could be strengthened even further. It was quite a bitter battle to try to protect land. the people who had adopt-a-lot leases when we did the tri-party agreement with the land bank. And we did protect them in the end for the gardens, right? So the people that had active leases with adopt-a-lots, it said that the land bank has to give them the right of first refusal, basically. But it was only for the ones that were current at that time. I think it would be even stronger And Council has the power to amend a cooperative agreement between those parties, if we can get them all to agree, especially, right, to say that, you know, it's not just the old adopt-a-lot leases that should be protected, but we can negotiate on what and where. And so I think that is definitely a further discussion. So... Just as a reminder to the public, this is not the first time we're talking about these tensions. It's definitely not the first time that this body has heard that there's a problem with having one-year or even three-year leases on adopt-a-lots. It's part of the reason that I wrote this legislation in April of 2020 to say, let this body... argue about it in advance. Let's argue about where housing should be. Let's argue about where, because I've passed similar bills talking about where we should put housing. So instead of just kind of throwing all the treasurer sale properties up in the air and then fighting about it after the fact, this would be us being proactive is to look at where there needs to be more recreational open space in agricultural areas. I think that is the conversation that we haven't really finished having yet. So we can protect gardens, and we should, because we should. Not every lot in the city and not every lot in the Treasure Sale is actually conducive to urban gardening or even agroforestry. And we have shade studies, slope studies, vacant space studies, food access studies. And we've looked at them, and there's a whole committee of stakeholders. a gesture kind of towards the audience here that have been meeting for years about what areas would be most conducive to this kind of activity. Honestly, I just want to say this. People are entitled to and that this table should support Again, we buy specialized baseball dirt, industrial grade baseball dirt for baseball fields. We would love people playing sports and playing baseball and softball, and we maintain those areas with capital investments and operating investments. Same thing with swimming pools. We think our urban gardening is reaching nearly as many citizens as our aquatics division, but with four staff and not 50. Not that we don't love the lifeguards, not that we don't love our aquatics, and certainly with a minuscule fraction of a percent of the capital investments.

So I'm here to defend this all day long, but also I'm here to motion for a one-week hold.

is... A one-week hold on all four bills?

All four bills, again, to respect to Councilman Coghill, who wanted to be here for this discussion and was out of town this week. I think I've talked to most of us about it.

There's a motion to hold all five bills for one week. Is there a second? Second. With discussion, Director Dasch?

To Councilman Gross's point, one thing just to add to that is that for some of the longer-term ownership or longer-term... kind of direction for this. That is part of the legislation to create the City Farms Garden Program, you know, for, you know, for people who might want longer term, you know, access to a property. These have longer lease opportunities than the Adopt-A-Lot Program, you know, and would be spaces that, you know, would not be under any, you know, kind of fear of being sold because they are properties that are under permanent city ownership.

Thank you. All those in favor of a one-week hold, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? All five bills have been held for one week. That moves us to... We did not do 568. Okay, so that moves us to Bill 568.

Resolution authorizing the Mayor and the Director of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections to enter on behalf of the City of Pittsburgh into an agreement or agreements with Bata Environmental Associates, Inc. for professional services providing materials for an analysis of lead dust samples pertaining to PLI's execution of the City of Pittsburgh's Lead Safe Ordinance for total cost not to exceed $35,949.50. 14 cents over three years.

Motion to approve. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. Now that moves us to innovation performance, asset management, and technology, which is shared by Councilman Gross. We have one new paper, Bill 555.

resolution amending resolution number 346 of 2025 which authorized an amended agreement with workiva inc to provide a subscription-based publishing software solution by extending the term for an additional one year and increasing the approved amount by sixty one thousand four hundred ninety three dollars and thirty one cents for a new total cost not to exceed $339,461.12 over seven years.

Motion to approve.

Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Affirmative recommendation. That moves us to Intergovernmental and Educational Affairs Committee, chaired by Councilman Mosley. We have one deferred paper bill, 531.

Resolution authorizing the adoption of the Downtown Pittsburgh Transit Revitalization Investment District Implementation Plan and related agreements. Council District 1.

Motion to hold for a public hearing and to hold a post agenda.

Second.

Second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? The bill will be held for both a public hearing and a cablecast post agenda. We have one new paper bill, 557.

Resolution authorizing the mayor and the director of the Department of Public Works for the city of Pittsburgh to enter into an agreement or agreements with the borough of Wilkinsburg for the collection of a portion of the borough's municipal waste by the city at a borough cost not to exceed $3,401,631.99 over a period of three years. Motion to approve.

Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Affirmative recommendation. With that, we do have meeting announcements. This afternoon with sessions at 2 and 2.30, Council will hold a briefing relative to the work of Pittsburgh Community Services. that they perform within the city. Next Monday, June 15th at 1 o'clock, council will hold a cablecast public hearing on Bill 481 relative to the Passport Academy Charter School's conditional use application. Spring registration will close at 11. Also next week, council will hold our regular meeting on Tuesday, June 16th, and our standing committee on Wednesday, June 17th at 10 a.m. Spring registration will close at 9. To register to speak at these meetings, please fill out a sign-up form on the council meeting webpage or call the clerk's office at 412-255-2138. With that, we need a motion to excuse the absent member, approve the minutes, and adjourn the meeting. So moved. Second. We are adjourned. Oh, all in favor say aye, sorry. Aye.

We are adjourned. Sean, do you want to do that thing?

Oh, yes, we do. I apologize. Keep it going. Every single regular and standing committee meeting, We have to read the statement of announcing that we're looking to impose a new tax. It's per state law. But we've also never created a new tax.

Yeah. We could ask Tom Link to do it.

Okay.

I was going to say, I had a copy of it up there, but I think I threw it away because Sean... No, I was looking for if we had a copy of it. I previously... Yeah, anyone can read it. It just has to be... Yep, that's it. Thank you. So, for the public, please be advised that pursuant to the act of December 31st, 1965, PL 1257, as amended, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh has introduced and intends to levy a new tax in the City of Pittsburgh called the Pittsburgh mechanical amusement device tax. Amusement device. The amusement devices and apparatus to be subject to this tax are herein described as Class 1. Class 1 devices include poker machines, video slot machines, video sweepstake machines, and any other type of purely amusement device permitted by law. The tax for Class 1 devices shall be $1,000 per device per year. Class 2. Class 2 devices include machines which offer prizes for amusement such as stuffed animals toys candy or other items to tax for class two devices shall be one hundred dollars per device per year class three class three devices include machines and apparatus used for entertainment and public participation for sports which includes but is not limited to darts jukeboxes pool tables pinball machines shuffle port machines and children's video games The tax for Class III devices shall be $10 per device per year. The tax shall be imposed on any person, business, or establishment that houses and offers for play an amusement device for each such device in its condition of a license or permit being issued. The Council of the City of Pittsburgh has determined that new sources of general revenue are required to maintain city services for infrastructure and to bring the city's budget into long-term balance. Initial estimates by the Council project $2 million to $3 million per year in new revenue will be derived from this tax. With that, all those in favor of adjournment say aye. Any opposed? Now we are adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you.