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From YouTube: Pittsburgh City Council Public Hearing - 7/7/22
Description
proposed annexation of the Borough of Wilkinsburg by the City of Pittsburgh
A
D
C
I
see
here
that
there
is
this
still
this
handout
and
we
have
asked
you
repeatedly
not
to
base
your
decisions
on
it
and
not
to
use
any
of
this
data.
This
is
the
quote:
wilkinsburg
municipal
consolidation
study
that
was
sponsored
by
the
wcdc
it
paid
for
also
by
the
wcdc.
In
fact,
they
spent
a
fortune
and
money
that
could
have
been
used
for
community
development.
On
this
study.
C
This
organization
was
founded
by
bill,
shank
who's,
a
banker
and
he
founded
it
the
same
year
that
he
founded
a
bank
called
tri-state
capital.
I
think
it's
clear
to
every
observer,
who
is
watching
this,
that
the
real
impetus
and
that
the
real
beneficiaries
of
annexation
will
be
the
developers
and
the
bankers,
including
the
man
that
I
just
mentioned
so,
and
I
think
one
of
the
one
of
the
issues
that
keeps
coming
up
is
that
wilkinsburg
needs
help
and-
and
I
and
again
this
is
why
I
have
a
problem
with
this
study.
C
We
don't
actually
need
help.
We
love
our
services,
we
have
a
better
school
system
in
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
We
have
a
better
department
of
public
works
than
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
We
have
more
libraries
per
capita.
We
have
two
libraries
for
our
small
2.3
square
mile
borough.
We
have
multiple
parks,
we're
surrounded
by
green
space,
so
we
don't
really
need
any
help
with
our
services
and
financially,
we
are
quite
secure.
So
again,
the
the
push
for
this
is
not
coming
from
inside
the
community.
C
It's
really
clear
that
it's
that
development
coming
down
from
bakery
square.
That's
coming
three
point
breeze,
and
now
they
want
to
pick
it
up
in
wilkinsburg
and
the
residents
don't
want
this,
and
what
I'm
asking
you
to
do
is
to
ignore
this
naked
lane,
grab
gentrification
push
and
to
really
think
about
redeveloping.
In
a
way,
that's
more
responsible
pittsburgh
is
now
considered,
or
in
2020
was
considered
the
eighth
most
gentrifying
city
in
the
nation,
and
that
is
something
that
should
give
you
guys
pause.
B
A
B
E
E
E
E
E
I
think
long
term
will
be
attractive
for
the
city,
because
we
have
three
entrances
to
the
parkway.
We
have
the
churchill,
the
wilkinsburg,
we
have
the
edgewood
and
we
have
the
bus
way
right
through
I've
been
a
part
of
this
group
from
the
beginning.
I'm
not
a
member
of
the
cdc
and
part
of
my
concern
is
that
you
know
what
would
happen
to
our
residents.
If
we
merge
into
the
city
our
food
there's
a
I
just
drove
around
the
borough
yesterday,
there's
a
ton.
E
Middle-Class
housing
still
available
in
wilkinsburg
that
I
think
can
be
rehabbed
for
our
residents
and
I
think
that
would
be
able
to
keep
people
here
and
long
term
will
wilkinsburg
redevelop
yeah,
but
it
will
be
slow,
there's
only
so
many
nice
white
people
in
the
world
in
pittsburgh.
I
think
it
will
probably.
B
E
F
E
E
A
G
G
G
The
elementary
school
kids
were
in
there
while
turner,
the
school
they've
gone
back
to
was
being
refurbed,
and
so
that's
no
longer
operating
school
district
budget's
really
complicated.
I'm
not
an
expert
on
it,
but
the
takeaway
is
if
we're
in
such
drastic
shape
and
our
tax
base
is
steadily
deploying.
G
G
I
want
to
say
a
in
response
to
michael
milberger
that,
yes,
absolutely
what
this
is
all
about
for
me
is
these
modest
middle-class
fairly
small
houses
alike
in
the
princeton
park
area,
which
was
built
right
after
world
war
ii.
Those
are
the
smaller
houses
in
wilkinsburg
and
they
are
ideal
as
affordable
houses,
they're
still
viable,
there's
still
years
of
life
left
in
these
houses,
if
they're
properly
maintained
and
the
question
is
who
is
going
to
control
this
development
is?
G
Are
the
decisions
about
this
going
to
be
made
downtown
at
the
ura,
or
are
the
decisions
going
to
be
made
at
605
ross
avenue
in
wilkinsburg?
I
want
the
decisions
to
benefit
our
residents,
our
residents
now,
instead
of
targeting
a
different
population
to
be
made
in
wilkinsburg,
I
want
us
to
remain
independent.
Thank
you.
H
This
is
kind
of
cool
hi,
I'm
not
as
polished
as
some
of
the
other
people.
I
am.
My
name
is
joseph
papa.
I
just
moved
to
wilkinsburg
only
about
a
year
ago
grew
up
in
penn
hills,
I'm
a
city,
school
teacher
and
my
partner
works
in
hiv
medicine,
so
we're
younger
middle
class
people
and
one
of
the
things
that
I've
been
thinking
about
a
lot
is
the
tax
burden.
H
It
is
intense
in
wilkinsburg,
our
millage
rate
is
really
high,
and
while
I'm
appreciative
of
what
they've
said
about
some
of
the
things
going
down
a
little
bit,
it
is
still
prohibitively
higher
than
in
the
city
and
something
that
I've
been
considering.
As
you
think
about
these
high
millage
rates
is,
if
you
have
a
really
high
property
tax
burden
with
the
inflated
real
estate,
values
that
we've
seen
all
across
allegheny
county
and
especially
in
those
like
east
end
kind
of
communities
lately
who
is
able
to
buy?
H
Well,
it's
people
with
super
high
incomes
who
can
afford
that
property
tax
and
want
the
lower
income
tax,
and
that's
a
little
frightening
because
to
me.
If
that
trend
were
to
play
out
long
term,
people
who
work
regular
middle
class
jobs
they're
not
going
to
be
able
to
buy
because
of
the
insane
property
tax
burden,
and
maybe
that
is
something
that
would
play
out
over
a
long
long
time
from
now.
H
So
it
does
seem
like
there
are
systemic
problems,
and
if
this
can
be
put
up
to
voters
to
decide
why
not
put
it
on
a
ballot,
it
doesn't
seem
like
a
bad
thing
to
just
give
as
many
people
to
say
as
possible,
so
I'm
in
favor
of
putting
on
the
ballot
and
getting
this
to
the
people
who
can
make
a
decision
all
the
voters.
Thank
you
thanks
for
taking
the
time.
F
F
That
mention
of
the
real
estate
tax
being
high
is
ignoring
the
fact
that
wilkinsburg
is
not
paying
additional
taxes
that
are
on
city
residents.
So
it's
my
understanding
that,
if
you
would
add
in
the
other
additional
taxes
that
are
on
city
residents,
even
homeowners
in
wilkinsburg
would
not
benefit,
and
certainly
those
who
are
renters
would
actually
probably
see
an
increase
as
the
drastic
rise
of
rates
in
the
city
of
pittsburgh
have
occurred.
F
F
F
So
that
would
create
a
lot
of
problems,
a
lot
of
transformations
in
your
districts
just
by
bringing
them
in
right
away
because
of
the
redistricting
that
would
have
to
take
place
and
the
stepping
into
the
agenda
of
the
allegheny
conference,
which
has
been
to
eliminate
the
city
from
its
beginning.
Thank
you.
A
I
My
name
is
yvonne,
f
brown.
I
live
in
the
hill
district
and
there's
a
problem
because
I
went
to
denise
and
asked
to
register
for
the
seventh.
I
did
go
and
ask
I
got
a
minute.
I
have
to
take
it.
You
have
a
picture
of
my
son.
Where
he's
saying
I
have
one
lung,
I'm
coming
to
wilkinsburg,
I'm
asking
you
citizens
for
you.
If
you
make
the
decision
that
you're
going
to
hire
the
wilkinsburg
police,
please
remember
they.
Let
my
son
lay
on
the
floor
and
die.
They
refused
to
take
them
to
the
hospital.
I
I
Also,
there
was
blood
and
my
son
spleen
the
emergency
doctor.
Okay,
I
tried
to
get
his
autopsy.
I
couldn't
bill,
peduto
got
it
for
me.
He
wrote
to
wek
five
days.
It
would
have
been
six
months.
I
wouldn't
have
been
able
to
do
anything
I
have
to
stop,
even
though
I
know
this
is
not
fair,
because
I
did
try
to
sign
it.
A
J
I
like
it
out
a
lot,
you
know
that,
but
I
I
think
miss
brown,
I'm
going
to
say,
brings
up
some
valid
points
that
we
need
to
at
least
look
into.
I
mean
if
we
do
absorb
wilkinsburg,
will
the
training
be
for
the
police
and
and
fire
and
ems
and
all
those
services.
I
think
we
need
to
know
that.
I
think
some
people
deserve
the
answer
to
the
answers
to
that,
including
our
own
police
officers.
J
I
think
that
that's
something
that
we
do
need
to
have
some
answers
for
and
I'm
sorry,
I
missed
brown
about
your
son,
but
that's
that's
that's
one
thing,
but
I
do
think
that
there's
we
need
some
numbers.
I
think
we
need
some
more
numbers
and
better
understanding
of
what
the
impact
is
to
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
I
say
this
over
and
over
again,
I'm
concerned
about
the
city
of
pittsburgh
as
whole.
I
know
we
need
to
grow.
J
It's
going
to
affect
the
west
a
lot
more,
at
least,
but
in
the
end
it
will
have
a
bigger
effect
on
the
west,
because
we'll
have
less
people
again
or,
I
would
say
less
power
than
we
do
now,
and
that's
not
very
much
power
right
now.
So
I
think
the
west
end
needs
a
voice,
not
just
my
voice,
but
they
need
a
lot
of
voters
and
they
need
a
lot
of
help
as
well
over
there
and
I'm.
J
You
know
grateful
for
the
attention
and
the
help
that
we
do
get,
and
I
think
our
colleagues
have
been
amazing,
but
I
do
think
that
there's
some
answers
that
we
need
to
know
the
effect
it's
going
to
have
on
the
west
across
the
city
of
pittsburgh
as
a
whole
and
the
west
end
any
detrimental
effect.
It
might
have.
We
need
to
know,
but
we
also
need
to
know
what
the
training
would
be
like
for
employees
that
we
absorb
and
how
how
we
do
that.
I
know
you're
doing
a
great
job,
cheering
the
meetings.
J
I
do
want
to
thank
you
for
that.
I
think
you're
doing
a
lot
to
get
information
as
council
members
ask.
So
I
appreciate
that
I
appreciate
you
sharing
that
you're
doing
a
lot
and
wearing
a
lot
of
hats
lately
doing
a
lot
of
different
meetings.
So
I
appreciate
that
I
do
appreciate
reverend
burgess,
councilman,
coghill
and
councilwoman
gross
also
serving
on
the
committee
on
the
task
force.
J
D
In
addition
to
you
know,
I
want
to
say
that
this
process,
hopefully,
is
data
informed,
but
not
data
driven,
it's
data
informed,
but
it's
not
the
only
piece
of
information
informing
our
decision
that
we're
also,
you
know
listening
to
those
who
are
speaking
at
these
hearings
and
who
are
contacting
our
offices,
which
is
another
huge
piece
of
it.
So
I
want
to.
I
want
to
thank
everyone
who
continues
to
and
has
come
out
to
these
hearings,
and
I
want
to
continue
to
hear
from
both
wilkinsburg
residents
and
from
pittsburgh
residents
on
this
matter.
J
I
just
want
to
clarify
that.
I
know
that
we
already
have
the
fire.
We
know
that
the
training
is
from
our
our
firefighters
and
we
also
do
the
refuge
collection
in
wilkinsburg.
So
I
want
to
clarify
that
what
I'm
really
looking
for
is
how
the
training
will
will
the
officers
in
wilkinsburg
be
trained
as
as
well
as
our
officers
in
pittsburgh
are
trained,
and
so
I
want
to
make
sure
that
people
understand
that
they
are
trained.
J
Well,
they
I
think
they
partner
with
them,
but
they
have
their
own
police
force
right.
They
have
their
own
police
force,
so
I
think
they
partner
with
them
and
just
as
we
do
with
mckees
rocks-
and
I
can
tell
you
we
do
it
in
crafton,
ingram
mckees,
mckees
rocks,
we
do
it
all
over
our
district,
but
nobody
in
my
opinion
is
trained
as
well
as
our
pittsburgh
police.
So
I
just
want
to
say
that
I
think
that
we're
going
to
work
absorb
other
people.