►
From YouTube: Pittsburgh City Council Public Hearing - 3/31/22
Description
proposed annexation of the Borough of Wilkinsburg by the City of Pittsburgh
A
A
You
very
much
so,
first
and
foremost,
I
want
to
welcome
everyone
to
this
evening's
public
hearing
regarding
the
potential
annexation
of
wilkinsburg.
I
want
to
thank
you
all
for
coming.
What
I
would
like
to
do
is
first,
I
need
to
acknowledge
for
the
record
that
we
are
joined
by
councilman,
burgess
and
council
president
smith,
before
moving
forward.
I
would
like
to
turn
it
over
to
president
smith.
If
she
wants
to
provide
remarks,
she
says
we
can
proceed
forward
with.
A
That
being
said,
I
want
to
give
you
all
just
five
a
minute
worth
of
background
and
explanation
as
to
why
we're
here
today
and
then
what
this
process
is
going
to
look
like
moving
forward.
As
you
all
are
clearly
aware,
there
was
a
petition
that
was
sent
to
city
council
that
we
had
to
vote
on
on
whether
or
not
to
approve
putting
on
the
ballot
the
question
of
annexation
and,
as
you
all,
are
fully
aware,
it
was
voted
down.
A
Each
member
can
certainly
speak
for
themselves,
but
I
believe
at
the
core
of
the
reason
for
voting
it
down
were
two
things:
one.
The
majority
of
members
felt
as
if
we
did
not
have
enough
information
to
make
a
very
informed
decision
about
what
annexation
in
into
the
city
of
pittsburgh
would
actually
look
like
and
what
it
would
mean
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
as
well
as
for
wilkinsburg,
and
so
because
of
that
we
didn't
feel
comfortable
voting
at
that
time.
A
I
think
the
other
sort
of
main
reason
that
we
also
decided
to
vote
it
down
was
that
we
had
not
had
a
proper
opportunity
to
have
what
I
would
call
two
conversations,
one
with
your
government
and
your
residents
right
and
then
one
with
our
residents
within
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
and
so
because
of
that.
That
was
another
reason
why
we
decided
to
vote
down
in
exchange
for
more
time
to
better
study
the
actual
issue
itself.
A
But
what
if
it
occurred,
what
it
would
look
like
for
the
city
so
that
we
could
have
all
the
information
and
then
make
an
informed
decision,
one
way
or
the
other?
However,
individual
council
members
so
choose,
and
so
she
appointed
the
task
force
myself
as
the
chair,
councilman
burgess
essentia,
as
the
co-chair,
then
councilman,
coghill
and
councilwoman
gross
also
sit
on
the
task
force.
A
A
So
with
all
that
being
said,
we
are
looking
to
do
if
we're
on
a
fact-finding
mission-
we're
not
here
to
make
any
determinations
this
evening-
we're
not
here
to
say
if
it
were
for
annexation
or
against
it,
rather
we're
here
to
get
as
much
information
as
humanly
possible
we're
working
over
the
course
of
the
summer
to
produce
an
internal
report
to
members
of
council.
That
will
say
by
subject
matter
by
the
public
works
division
by
public
safety
by
finance
by
finance
and
law.
This
is
what
annexation
the
effect
it
would
have
on
the
city.
A
A
So
again,
what
I
would
like
to
do
is
just
go
through
a
quick
presentation
that
will
take
less
than
five
minutes
that
begins
to
set
the
stage
for
a
conversation
as
we
know
it.
This
is
not
to
convince
you
that
this
makes
sense.
It's
not
to
convince
you
that
it
does
not
make
sense.
It's
simply
here's
the
baseline
of
information
that
our
residents
should
be
at
least
be
aware
of
to
begin
starting.
The
conversation.
A
A
I'll
stand,
corrected
and
I'll
double
check.
My
facts.
I
thought
we
were
number
one,
but
I
would
I
would
certainly
double
check
that.
Needless
to
say,
we
do
have
460
municipalities
within
allegheny,
county
wilkinsburg,
obviously
being
one
of
them.
The
city
of
pittsburgh
has
300
and
3
000
residents.
Wilkinsburg
has
15
000
residents
and
wilkinsburg
is
one
twentieth.
The
size
of
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
A
A
Wilkinsburg
and
pittsburgh.
Each
municipality
school
district
have
successfully
combined
several
functions
over
the
last
15
years.
Just
so,
residents
are
fully
aware
of
what
we
already
do.
As
of
2006
wilkinsburg
contracted
with
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
sanitation
department
to
provide
waste
removal
in
2011,
wilkinsburg,
fully
fully
integrated
the
wilkinsburg
fire
department
into
pittsburgh's
department
and
in
2015
wilkinsburg,
consolidated
their
middle
and
high
school
students
into
the
pittsburgh
public
s
pittsburgh
public
school
system.
A
Regarding
the
wilkinsburg
pittsburgh
firehouse
consolidation,
the
numbers
will
suggest
that
it
was
a
benefit
to
both
wilkinsburg
and
the
city
of
pittsburgh
that
we
were
able
to
extend
our
reach.
We
were
able
to
provide
more
service
and
spend
less
per
capita
and
spend
more
per
more
per
acre.
We
were
able
to
increase
the
population,
serve
increase
the
amount
of
land
covered
and
increase
in
the
cost
of
protection,
and
we
were
able
to
preserve
all
wilkinsburg
jobs
in
that
merger.
A
In
terms
of
the
garbage
collection,
the
garbage
service
that
you
have
signed
up
with
the
city
of
pittsburgh
has
saved
you
approximately
wilkinsburg,
680
thousand
dollars.
Previously,
you
contracted
with
waste
management,
which
was
a
private
firm
based
out
of
texas.
I
do
believe,
and
since
then
there's
been,
there's
been
an
annual
savings
to
the
borough
of
wilkinsburg.
A
It
should
also
just
be
noted
for
the
record
that
providing
services,
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
providing
services
to
boroughs
and
regions
out
outside
the
city
is
not
necessarily
new
for
us.
In
2015
pittsburgh
city
council
members
voted
unanimously
to
provide
fire
services
fighting
our
fire
protection
services
to
ingram.
A
A
This
slide
basically
says
the
same
thing,
but
in
a
different
way
that
there
is
our
understanding
at
this
current
time,
a
detriment
between.
What's
the
revenue
projected
to
come
in
versus
the
expenditures
projected
to
go
out
from
wilkinsburg,
and
because
of
that,
it
is
our
understanding
that
that's
why
some
have
brought
this
issue
to
our
table.
For
conversations
with.
That
being
said,
I'm
a
pause.
We
do
have
people
that
have
registered
to
speak,
and
so
I'm
gonna
ask
them
to
come
forward
to
speak
now.
Anyone
else
wishing
to
speak.
You
will
also
be
given
time.
A
I
will
ask
you
to
please
come
to
the
microphone
state,
your
name
where
you
live
for
the
record
and
you
will
be
given
three
minutes
to
speak
before
city
council,
so
our
first
registered
speaker
is
ikahana
hal
malkina,
whom
I
do
not
see
with
us
here
this
evening.
Our
second
speaker
is
rick
grayja
grada.
Okay,
thank
you
who
also
is
not
here
that
exhausts
our
list
of
registered
speakers
with
that.
I
will
turn
it
over
to
anyone
else
wishing
to
speak
before
city
council.
At
this
time
please
come
forward.
A
B
Good
evening
councilman
level
councilman
burgess,
councilman
smith,
my
name
is
william
smith
iii,
I'm
first
year
councilman
of
wilkinsburg
and
councilman
level.
You
pointed
out
that
there
was
a
couple
other
municipalities
that
you
actually
have
taken
over
some
of
the
services
for,
but
are
you
acquiring
any
in
the
process
of
acquiring
any
of
those
like
millville
or
ingram
that
you?
That
was
on
the
chart
that
you
is
actually
giving
services
to
the
city
of
pittsburgh?
Is.
A
B
B
Okay,
we
pay
for
tuition
for
each
style
that
attends
pittsburgh
schools;
okay,
we
also
pay
for
the
fire
services.
Okay
and
wilkinsburg
is
not
a
distressed
community.
I
want
to
make
that
for
a
fact
to
let
everybody
know
that.
Okay,
we're
not
distressed,
okay,
we're
solving
our
budget's
balance,
okay
and
we
can
develop
our
own
bureau.
We
know
you
know.
Development
is
at
our
steps,
and
I
do
believe
that
you
know
this
has
been.
B
We've
been
targeted,
okay,
because
you
know
we
have
opportunity
in
wilkersburg,
and
I
took
my
hat
off
to
the
council
people
before
me.
They
held
on
they
maintained
and
they
made
something
out
of
nothing.
Okay
and
we
sustain
the
government
and
I
I
don't
want
to
see
nobody
take
it
away
from
us.
We
can
run
out.
We've
been
running
our
borough
for
a
hundred
years
and
we
can
continue
to
run
our
borough.
We
appreciate
your
concern
for
wilkinsburg.
C
C
The
first
thing
I
want
to
mention
is
that
we're
using
the
word
merger
and
annexation,
interchangeably
and
they're,
not
interchangeable
and
annexation
is
completely
different,
and
this
perpetuates
the
confusion
that
was
started
by
the
cdc
in
wilkinsburg
because
they
came
out
of
the
gate.
Saying
it's
a
merger.
It
is
not,
and
we
need
to
look
at
it
as
an
annexation,
which
is
a
takeover
okay
and
it
can
involve
gentrification
and
that's
what
we
need
to
look
at.
How
does
it
affect
the
races?
C
C
Why
is
the
population
going
down,
in
fact
across
pennsylvania?
So
just
sucking
up
other
communities
may
not
be
the
answer.
I
don't
think
it's
the
answer.
We
need
to
look
at
and
find
out
what
is
the
problem
and
problem
solve
not
keep
sucking
up
because
you've
sucked
up
other
areas
and
the
population
continues
to
decline.
C
So
you
haven't
looked
at
the
really
burning
issue,
wilkinsburgers
enjoy
being
independent,
we
enjoy
that
we
enjoy
our
community
and,
for
the
most
part,
people
do
not
want
to
annex
or
be
taken
over
and
there's
no
there's
no
prominence
in
this
packet
saying
what's
going
to
happen
with
the
tax
money,
you
know
everyone's
saying:
oh
taxes
are
going
to
go
down,
we
don't
know.
We
know
that
in
pittsburgh
it
isn't
equally
spread
out
amongst
all
the
communities.
C
D
I
see
it
kate,
luxembourg,
I
am
not
a
member
of
wilkinsburg
borough
council,
I'm
a
long-time
resident
and
homeowner
and
data
analyst.
I've
paid
attention
to
wilkinsburg,
primarily
delinquent
taxes.
For
many
many
years
I
have
snapshots,
starting
with
year,
2006
quarterly
of
what
our
delinquent
tax
real
estate
tax
situation
is,
and
I
agree
with
this
statement.
D
D
We
will
have
our
tax-based
growth.
That
is
the
redevelopment
that
we
want
redevelopment
for
people
who
live
in
wilkinsburg
and
need
affordable
housing
and
don't
want
to
be
pushed
out
by
higher
property
value,
higher
property
values
good
for
the
seller,
not
good
for
the
buyer
and
people
are
pushed
out
and
go
to
wherever
they
can
find.
Someplace
else
to
rent,
we
don't
want
that.
That's
not
the
development
that
we
want
in
wilkinsburg
and
we
are
financially
solvent.
Now
our
borough
is
financially
solvent.
D
E
Thank
you
very
much:
councilman
lavelle,
councilman
burgess
and
president
kale
smith.
My
name
is
denise
edwards,
I'm
a
wilkinsburg
resident
and
president
of
council.
I
want
to
just
build
on
a
few
things
that
mr
smith
said
in
2006.
Actually,
the
contract
on
garbage
saved
11
jobs
in
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
all
of
whom
are
pittsburgh
residents.
E
Had
we
not
done
that
contract.
Those
11
folks
would
have
been
out
of
a
job,
so
it's
a
mutual
and
going
forward.
It's
always
been
for
the
hundred
and
whatever
years
it's
always
been.
Mutual
cooperation
between
the
borough
of
wilkinsburg
and
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
east
hills,
kids
play
in
our
little
league
and
football.
F
I
just
want
to
speak
because
I've
been
following
this:
the
councilwoman
and
I
went
through
10
years
of
a
community
development
organization
in
the
west
end
that
was
called
the
west
pittsburgh
partnership
for
regional
development,
the
only
regional
development
they
ever
did
in
the
west
end
was
they
stole
5
million
dollars.
A
community
development
block
grant
money,
they
sold
property
to
board
members
like
it
was
water,
so
they're
gone
now
after
trips
to
the
irs,
the
fbi,
the
attorney
general
anybody
we
could
think
of.
F
G
Hello,
thank
you
for
having
this
meeting
tonight.
My
name
is
renee
and
I'm
a
wilkinsburg
resident,
and
the
one
thing
that
I
want
to
make
really
clear
to
you
is
that
wilkinsburg
is
not
a
failing
borough.
We
love
our
dpw.
If
you
go
on
facebook
over
this
winter,
people
were
just
crowing
about
how
clean
our
streets
were.
It
was
like
you
know
your
dining
room
table
how
clean
things
were.
G
We
have
wonderful
dpw,
they
live
in
our
borough,
they
care
about
our
borough
and
we
love
our
schools,
and
I
know
that
wilkinsburg
schools
have
a
terrible
rep,
but
my
son
went
to
fox
chapel
country
day
school
first
right,
so
I
could
put
him
in
private
school,
but
he
hated
it.
I
ended
up
at
wilkinsburg
and
he
loved
it.
It
was
the
best
education
he's
had
for
seventh
grade.
He
went
to
westinghouse
for
three
weeks
and
I
pulled
him
out
of
pittsburgh
public
schools
and
we
went
somewhere
else.
G
So
I
already
know
so
when
you
talk
about
wilkinsburg
like
it's
some
kind
of
failing
community,
it's
not
we're
a
tight-knit
community.
We
love
our
services,
we
love
our
schools,
we
love
being
independent
and
the
information
that
you
have
I've
talked
to
our
finance
director.
She
actually
sent
me
a
report
because
when
you
go
to
the
wilkinsburg
merger.com,
it
says-
oh,
my
god,
they're
going
to
be
bankrupt
by
2025.
G
and
and
then
you
call
the
finance
director
and
it's
like
no
we're
fine
we're
doing
great.
We
have
more
we're
getting
more
and
more
more
about
properties
are
getting
back
on
the
books.
We
have
more
tax
revenue,
we're
more
efficient
with
our
services.
So
we're
not
failing
we're,
not
asking
you
for
help.
I
know
that
there
is
the
wcdc
who
is
pushing
this
and
bruce
krauss
said
it
really
well
at
the
pittsburgh
meeting.
We
all
know
what's
going
on
here
right.
This
really
is
about
gentrification.
This
is
about
that
development
money.
G
G
H
I
would
like
to
see
the
city
of
pittsburgh
focus
on
more
things
that
are
issues
to
your
city,
then
focus
on
things
with
wilkinsburg,
for
instance.
I
would
like
to
see
the
city
of
pittsburgh
do
more
investment
in
people
instead
of
buildings
and
structures.
People
such
as
the
youth
program
remember
years
ago
when
they
had
the
summer
youth
program.
The
children
grew
up
with
a
responsibility
and
knowing
how
to
earn
money
instead
of
sitting
around
playing
with
electronics
and
parents,
giving
them
money.
H
But
the
youth,
the
youth
programs
were
great
for
the
children
and
I
would
like
to
see
you
all
focus
on
something
like
that.
Bring
the
summer
youth
programs
back
and
as
far
as
building
build
on
some
of
the
empty
land
in
pittsburgh.
If
they
want
to
build
and
develop,
is
a
bunch
of
empty
land
filled
with
brush
and
trees
and
weeds
and
build
on
that?
H
And
I
want
to
see
pittsburgh
focus
on
being
more
having
more
equality
in
the
city.
It
is
so
lopsided
that
there's
no
african-american
voice
for
pittsburgh
in
pittsburgh.
It's
just
nothing
for
us.
They
would
like
to
see
you
all
focus
on
that
versus
trying
to
annex
wilkinsburg,
but
I
thank
each
of
you
all
for
coming
out
tonight
and
I
hope
this
all
turns
out
well.
Thank
you.
A
If
not
that'll
end
our
speaker
portion
of
the
meeting,
we
now
have
an
opportunity
to
turn
over
to
colleagues
to
provide
common
they
wish
to,
but
I
do
want
to
simply
say
when
you
ask
the
comment:
you
have
a
question.
The
answer
is
no.
We
are
not
taking
over
any
of
those
other
municipalities,
but
to
be
clear.
We're
also
not
legally
allowed
right.
A
The
city
of
pittsburgh
cannot
legally
by
state
laws,
simply
go
in
and
take
over
any
other
military.
Okay.
So
we're
going
to
have
to
be
initiated
we're
just
in
this
predicament
because
of
the
cnbc
yeah.
It
has
to
be
initiated
by
the
actual
voters
of
said
municipality,
so
this
was
initiated
initiated
by
people
in
wilkensburg.
A
I
I
Thank
you,
madam
clark.
We
do
have
a
lot
of
properties
in
my
own
district
that
are
vacant,
and
we
have
not
been
able
to
address
those
with
this
budget
that
we
have
with
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
Currently,
so
I'm
not
going
to
pretend
that,
and
I
also
feel
like
we're
constantly
fighting
for
attention
in
the
west
and
we're
battling
with
the
east
end.
Who
gets
a
lot
of
attention
which
I'm
an
east
end
girl
is
born
and
raised
on
fifth
avenue,
so
believe
me,
I
value
the
east
end.
I
I
know
how
important
they
are
to
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
but
they
also
want
the
west
and
the
south
to
get
some
of
the
the
attention
and
funding
and
and
development
on
our
side
of
town,
and
so
for
me,
I'm
going
to
keep
watching
on
the
watching
those
things.
If
I
don't
see
a
benefit
to
our
side
of
town.
I
I
don't
know
how
far
before
I
start
saying
a
lot
more
than
I'm
saying
right
now,
but
it
will
be
very
quickly
if
I
don't
start
seeing
some
benefit
to
this
to
our
side
of
town
as
well.
But
having
said
that,
I
also
don't
want
to
throw
wilkinsburg
under
the
bus
and
the
wilkinsburg
residents.
We
want
to
stand
with
you
and
make
your
community
the
best
both
of
our
communities
can
be.
So,
let's
try
to
figure
this
out
together.
J
J
J
The
way
this
works
annexation
works
is
that
five
percent,
or
more
of
the
residents
of
wilkinsburg,
will
sign
a
petition
requesting
an
annexation
vote.
It
will
not
be
the
city
we
did
not.
We
will
not
start
this.
We
will
not
initiate
this.
We
won't
that's
not
what
we'll
do
it'll
be
wilkinsburg
residents
who
will
or
not
present
this
process
of
annexation
to
this
to
the
council.
So
I
want
to
make
it
very
clear
that
we
we
are
forced
to
respond
to
something
that
we
will
not
start
and
have
no
interest
in
starting.
That's
number
one.
J
So
if
wilkinsburg
does
not
start
this,
it
never
comes
to
us
and
we
won't.
We
won't.
You
know
we'll
keep
doing
what
we
do
now,
once
five
percent
or
more
voters
in
a
petition
go
to
the
court
and
the
court
decides
those
petitions
are
valid,
then
the
judge
requires
us
to
make
a
decision
and
then
our
decision
is
not
whether
to
annex
you
or
not.
We
don't
have
that
power
either.
The
only
power
we
have
is
whether
or
not
we
will
allow
your
voters
to
decide.
J
J
If
I
was
against
annexation,
I
would
not
spend
my
time
talking
to
council
or
the
residents
of
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
If
I
was
against
annexation,
I
would
spend
all
of
my
time
organizing
the
voters
of
the
city
of
wilkinsburg,
because
at
the
end
of
the
day
those
are
who
are
going
to
make
this
decision.
J
It
will
not
be
city
council,
it
will
be
the
voters
of
wilkinsburg,
and
so
I
would
spend
95
of
my
time,
organizing
the
voters
of
wilkinsburg
and
only
five
percent
of
my
time
trying
to
convince
the
the
the
members
of
city
council.
That's
my
honest
advice
and,
and-
and
I
would
say
to
anyone
who
listened
the
last
thing
is-
I
have
I
don't
know
what's
right
yet
and
I'm
trying
to
figure
that
out
what
we've
heard
and
we
have
to
find
out
what
the
truth
of
it
is.
J
We've
heard
very
dire
predictions
of
what
will
happen
to
wilkinsburg
if
there
is
no.
If
if
there
is
no
something
different
that
happens,
that
may
be
false,
but
the
the
the
data
that
we've
seen
and
received
by
third
parties
suggests
that
the
future
of
wilkinsburg
is
actually
very
bleak,
and
so
the
reason
we're
having
this
process
is.
We
want
to
figure
out
the
truth
right.