►
From YouTube: Permits, Licenses, & Inspections Press Conference: A New Department For A Growing City - 5/15/15
Description
No description was provided for this meeting.
If this is YOUR meeting, an easy way to fix this is to add a description to your video, wherever mtngs.io found it (probably YouTube).
A
A
That
means
people
are
building
things
that
means
old
homes
are
being
renovated
and
new
apartment
buildings
are
being
built
and
complexes
are
going
up
for
new
office
space.
It
means
that
neighborhood
development
is
occurring
both
in
the
main
street,
on
the
driveways
and
in
the
neighborhoods
of
the
houses
that
are
there
and
also
along
our
business
corridors.
But
it
also
requires
substantial
change
to
occur
within
the
department
itself.
We
took
the
bureau
of
building
inspection
and
created
the
department
of
permits
licensing
inspection,
but
we
did
so
much
more
than
that.
A
Substantial
changes
in
just
one
year
included
not
only
creating
a
new
department
but
changing
the
customer
service
of
the
department,
completely
changing
the
technology
that
was
utilized
from
a
department
that
didn't
even
have
cell
phones
or
computers
that
worked
off
a
pens
and
paper
and
changing
the
staffing
in
order
to
meet
this
increased
capacity
in
need.
We
went
from
the
1980s
to
the
21st
century
in
just
one
year
and
soon
we'll
be
taking
it
even
further.
A
Soon
you'll
be
able
to
pay
online
for
permits
with
credit
cards
soon,
you'll
be
able
to
check,
building
violations
online
and
soon
you'll
be
able
to
do
so
much
more.
The
person
that's
leading
this
effort
is
our
director,
Maura,
Kennedy
and
taking
us
through
not
only
of
what
has
happened,
but
what
you
can
expect
to
see
in
the
next
couple
of
months
will
be
her
honor
to
tell
director.
B
Thank
you
all.
So,
as
a
mayor
said,
we
are
grappling
with
a
terrific
problem
to
have.
We
have
a
lot
of
enthusiasm
to
build
here
in
Pittsburgh
and,
as
the
mayor
said
in
his
address,
you
know,
rather
than
managing
decline,
we're
managing
growth
really
for
the
first
time
in
the
city's
history.
So
we
have
retooled
the
department
in
a
pretty
substantial
way
and
we
have
broken
it
up
to
three
workable
units.
B
We
have
one
unit
focusing
on
existing
buildings
and
structures
to
make
sure
they
apply
or
comply
with
the
property
maintenance
code,
the
business
licensing
code
in
the
zoning
code,
as
well
as
the
fire
code.
We
really
want
to
make
sure
that
our
existing
communities
in
existing
neighborhoods
are
operating
well
and
growing
appropriately.
B
B
If
you
would
mind
progressing
and
what
we're
focusing
on
really
is
improving
our
operations,
we
want
to
become
much
more
efficient
in
terms
of
how
we
staff
are
functions.
We
are
cross
training
all
of
our
inspectors
and
for
the
first
time
ever
really
providing
robust
training
opportunities.
We've
always
been
lucky
to
have
an
intelligent
and
hardworking
staff
here
at
the
department,
but
we
haven't
always
supported
them
well,
provided
them
with
the
training
and
certifications
needed
to
really
do
their
jobs
to
the
level
they
want
to.
B
So
we
have
contracted
with
a
national
and
state
firms
here
that
specialize
in
training
for
building
code
officials
and
we
are
providing
them
with
opportunities
to
pursue
five
different
certification
levels,
so
we
can
inspect
multiple
disciplines
at
a
building.
At
the
same
time-
and
this
is,
you
know,
clearly
a
national
best
practice
that
we're
pursuing
we're,
also
working
on
a
unified,
permitting
process.
You
know
now
there's
one
clear
way
to
access
all
of
our
business
of
our
building
needs
and
all
of
our
licensing
needs
there's
one
stream.
It
is
clear
and
it
is
predictable.
B
The
goal
here
is
to
make
both
the
business
licensing
and
the
construction
process
predictable,
accountable
and
transparent,
and
then
finally
we're
improving
our
technology.
As
the
mayor
said,
unfortunately,
the
department
has
not
always
invest
in
a
technology
which
is
really
what
we
need
to
be
much
more
efficient.
So
we
are,
you
know,
obviously
moving
to
more
efficient
means
of
communications,
like
emails
being
able
to
text
if
we're
running
late.
If
a
contractor
is
running
late,
you
know
all
these
sort
of
simple
things
we
take
for
granted.
B
When
we
manage
inspections,
we
are
also
revamping
the
acela
process
to
create
a
single
modern
database.
So
we
have
one
source
of
information
for
all
of
our
records
that
we
can
then
share
more
successfully
with
the
public
and
with
our
sister
agencies
throughout
the
city
and
sister
branches
of
government
coming
this
summer.
We're
also
going
to
be
accepting
credit
card
payments,
which
will
be
great
rather
than
having
to
write
a
check
or
get
a
money
order.
You
know
we
will
now
be.
B
You
know,
unfortunately,
we
do
have
to
observe
due
process
laws,
and
we
can't
just
you
know,
act
on
a
person's
property
without
noticing
them
first,
so
you
know
we
want
to
clearly
communicate
to
the
citizens
that
we
have
heard
their
complaints,
that
we
are
responding
to
them
appropriately
and
what
they
should
expect
in
terms
of
follow-up
action
and
then,
finally,
the
mayor
spoke
about
our
permit
volume.
This
is
very
exciting.
B
It
clearly
shows
that
Pittsburgh
is
a
great
place
to
not
only
build
but
start
your
business,
so
we
have
experienced
very
significant
increases
in
demand
for
our
services.
We
have
almost
doubled
the
number
of
permits
since
this
time
in
2012,
which
is
fantastic,
and
not
only
that
is
the
project's
getting
much
more
valuable
in
terms
of
costs
of
cities,
so
that
has
huge.