►
Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Justin Cooper from the Department of Innovation & Performance and Hillary Roman from the Department of City Planning.
A
A
Welcome
to
city
talk
where
we
try
to
figure
out
the
answer
to
the
question:
what
do
these
people,
who
walk
in
and
out
of
the
city
county
building,
do
all
day?
There's
a
guy
named
justin
cooper.
He
works
for
the
department
of
innovation
and
performance,
we'll
ask
him.
Justin
welcome
to
city
talk,
hey
thanks
for
having.
B
B
B
A
B
B
B
A
B
Yes,
I
wasn't
really
sure
what
to
expect.
I
don't
think
I
had
any
expectations
coming
in.
I
just
think
that
you
know
working
with
different
departments
is
great,
and
you
know
my
the
people
I
direct
to
my
bosses.
They've
they've
been
great
at
showing
me
the
ropes,
and
you
know
just
getting
me
started
awesome.
B
B
A
B
No,
I
I
definitely
I
was
always
interested
in
art.
I
was
drawn
as
even
as
a
kid
and
once
I
took
my
first
graphic
design
class
in
ninth
grade
in
high
school.
I
I
definitely
knew
that
this
was
for
me
just
the
the
blend
of
drawing
and
colors
and
design.
It
definitely
stood
out
to
me
it's
something
I
wanted
to
do.
C
A
B
B
B
Oh
yeah.
Definitely
there's
like
seven
different
waterfalls
to
see
and
there's
hot
springs,
it's
great
and
where
else
have
you
traveled
a
couple
years
ago
we
took
a
trip
to
paris,
france.
We
were
there
for
about
a
week
and
yeah.
We
just
love,
exploring
seeing
the
seeing
the
sights
and
taking
everything.
B
B
B
B
My
dad's,
like
the
most
handy
person,
I
know,
he's
great
at
it,
so
I
you
know
just
got
to
work
alongside
him.
Growing
up
doing
breaks
oil
changes
that
sort
of
shade
cherry
mechanic,
and
once
I
bought
a
house,
it
has
a
has
a
garage
with
it
lucky
enough
to
have
one.
So
I
just
you
know
just
watch
youtube
videos
and
figure
it
out
all
the
way,
but
it's
been
great.
B
B
B
B
A
B
B
A
B
Yeah
yeah,
sometimes
after
certain
reception,
songs,
yeah,
it's
just
like
all
right,
like
I'm
deaf,
I'm
tired,
like
let's
wrap
this
up,
but
no
they're,
they're,
pretty
fun
everyone's
in
a
good
mood.
Everyone's
happy,
it's
nice
to
see
people
that
you
know
are
in
love
on
their
best
days,
so
it's
people.
B
A
B
A
B
B
B
A
A
A
A
C
But
it
was
the
one
law
that
really
set
out
that
this
was
specifically
to
protect
people
with
disabilities,
and
so
it's
really
important,
really
a
huge
landmark
and
also
you
know,
kind
of
shocking,
sometimes
that
that
happened
in
1990.
You
know
that
really
wasn't
that
long
ago.
So
it's
an
important
law
and
I'm
it's
my
privilege
to
be
able
to
coordinate
the
americans
with
disabilities
act
within
the
city
and
just
tiny
correction.
I
can't
actually
enforce
it.
I
am
a
coordinator,
so
it's
really
more
about
grease
than
the
wheels.
A
C
Yeah
100
charm.
No,
I
have
to
it's
really
about
relationships
and
having
good
relationships
with
people
in
the
community
and
also
good
relationships
with
people
internally
in
the
city,
because
what
I'm
tasked
with
doing-
and
this
is
commonly
misunderstood,
but
I
I'm
not
really
able
to
kind
of
work
outside
of
the
city-
I'm
mostly
I'm
mostly
here-
to
enforce
title
ii,
not
enforce
but
coordinate
title
ii
and
make
sure
that
all
of
our
services,
programs
and
activities
are
accessible
for
people
with
disabilities.
C
So
a
lot
of
times,
people
will
contact
me
and
say
you
know,
x,
shop
or
x.
You
know,
movie,
theater
doesn't
have
a
ramp
or
doesn't
have
this
or
that
and
I
will
work
with
them
and
kind
of
help
them
to
get
to
where
they
need
to
be,
but
that's
kind
of
outside
of
my
jurisdiction.
So
I
really
have
to
work
internally
in
the
city
and
make
sure
that
I
know
who
to
call
when,
when
we
need
some
help
on
the
inside.
C
Yeah
yeah,
so
a
lot
of
the
problems
are
really
due
to
you
know,
ignorance
or
just
maybe
not
having
the
proper
information,
and
so
you
know
the
city
tries
to
work
with
folks.
You
know
external
folks
to
kind
of
help,
bring
them
up
to
the
correct
code
in
terms
of
internally
a
lot
of
times.
It's
things
that
are
a
little
bit
more
gray
area,
you
know,
is
it
actually
against
the
law?
C
C
Yeah,
well
I
mean
it,
isn't
it
isn't?
You
know
it's
very
rewarding,
but
I
got
involved
with
it
because
I
have
always
worked
in
equity,
so
I
had
a
background
in
gender
studies
and
sexuality,
and
you
know
women's
equity,
and
so
that's
always
been
really
really
important
to
me.
I
went
to
law
school
and
then
dropped
out
because
I
really
didn't
want
to
practice
law,
but
I
loved
policy.
C
So
I
went
to
the
graduate
school
of
public
and
international
affairs
at
pitt
and
I
got
my
masters
in
public
policy
and
was
lucky
enough
to
be
able
to
apply
for
and
get
this
job,
and
it
was
right
in
my
wheelhouse
because
it's
equity
and
I
do
have
a
background
in
disability-
work
a
little
bit
through
my
mom,
who
has
worked
in
the
city
of
pittsburgh
for
decades
and
decades
with
blind
and
low
vision
folks.
So
it
was
kind
of
something
I
was
already
pretty
comfortable
with
and
kind
of
knew.
Some
people.
C
We
can
always
do
better.
We
can
always
do
better,
and
you
know
I
always
say
this
and
it's
a
cliche,
but
it's
never
been
more
true,
probably
for
any
position
that
I
have
ever
found
or
worked
in
and
I've
had
many
jobs.
What
I
do
is
you
know
an
inch
deep
and
a
mile
wide,
so
I
have
to
make
sure
that
we
are
compliant
in
our.
You
know:
communications,
our
technology,
our
transportation.
C
C
I'm
in
the
department
of
city
planning,
which
is
not
intuitive
necessarily,
but
you
know
we
do
find
ada
coordinators
in
lots
of
places
they're
most
often
found
in
like
mayor's
offices
and
such.
But
you
know
you
will
kind
of
find
them
all
over
the
place
because
they
do
have
to
work
so
inter-departmentally
that
sometimes
they'll
just
put
them
somewhere
with
the
understanding
that
you
know
this
is
the
person
you
need
to
reach
out
to
no
matter
what
department
you're
in.
C
C
The
way
that
the
ada
coordinator
would
interact
with
with
that
type
of
operation
would
be
if
somebody
reached
out,
because
they
were
deaf
or
hard
of
hearing
needed,
an
asl
interpreter,
an
american
sign
language
interpreter,
and
I
would
make
sure
that
we
ordered
one
and
had
them
there
if
they
reached
out
as
an
accommodation
right,
because
you
don't
need
to
have
one
if
it's
a
10
person
meeting
and
no
one
there
needs
an
interpreter.
So
now,
because
all
of
our
you
know
board
commission
mayor's
office.
You
know
all
of
these
meetings
are
online.
C
They
need
to
be
accessible
in
the
moment
and
for
posterity
right
because
they're
going
to
be
on
youtube,
they're
going
to
be,
you
know,
available
to
people
forever,
and
so
they
need
to
be
accessible.
You
know
from
the
get
so
we've
had
to
have
interpreters,
you
know
in
every
single
meeting,
so
that's
a
big
change
in
operations
and
things
like
making
sure
that
our
communications
are
accessible
emergency
communications,
which
we
couldn't
have
really
foreseen.
C
When
I
started
in
2019
we're
going
to
be
such
a
big
deal,
I
have
to
make
sure
that
we
have
our
asl
interpreters
there,
and
so
you
know
it's.
It's
definitely
been
something
that
has
taken
up
like,
I
said
kind
of
a
lot
of
my
capacity
and
kind
of
thinking
about
how
we
can
maintain.
You
know
inclusion
and
compliance
in
all
of
our
communications.
So
it's
way
more
than
just
ramps
and
also
domi.
I
work
with
domi
a
lot
because
transportation,
you
know.
C
A
Are
some
buildings
so
old
and
poorly
set
up
that
that
argument
can
be
made
that
they
can't
transition?
And
so
they
don't
have
to.
I
ask
that,
because
I
know
of
a
club
with
an
upstairs
and
a
downstairs
steep
stairs
going
up
to
the
upstairs
and
I
don't
think
there's
an
elevator
or
a
ramp
anywhere.
Yet
they
seem
to
be
legal
and
they've
been
operating
for
a
long
time.
C
Yeah,
so
there's
no
there's
a
there's,
a
common
misconception
that
you
can
be
that
there's
a
grandfather
clause
and
that
you
know,
if
you're
an
older
building,
then
you
know
1990
when
the
ada
was
signed
into
law
that
you're
protected
under
this
grandfather
clause.
That's
not
the
case.
So
what
happens
is
any
new
buildings,
as
you're
kind
of
you
know,
applying
any
new
buildings
have
to
immediately
be
accessible
but
older
buildings
whenever
they
undergo
any
kind
of
alteration
they
have
to
be
brought
into
compliance.
C
C
Yes,
so
I
do
have
access
to
the
311
system,
and
so
you
can
put
requests
in
under
the
ada.
They
usually
get
rerouted
other
places
like
blocked,
sidewalks
or
something
else,
but
yeah.
There
are
many
times
that
people
will
report
non-compliance
to
me,
like
I
said,
of
kind
of
title
three,
which
is
businesses
and
public
private
entities.
C
When
I
say
public,
I
mean
places
of
public
accommodation,
not
public
as
in
public
services
and
so
like.
I
said
I'll
sort
of
try
to
work
with
them
and
let
just
letting
them
know
that
again,
I
can't
enforce
it
because
you
know
I
don't
have
any
legal
jurisdiction
to
do
that,
but
yeah
I
people
kind
of
reach
out
to
me,
for
you
know
everything
under
the
my
my
boss
is
doing
this
or
my
you
know,
family
member
is
doing
that
and
so
yeah
we
get.
C
C
I
will
say
that
I'm
from
the
north
hills,
so
I
went
to
mars
high
school,
which
is
like
might
as
well
be
ohio,
feel
so
far
away,
but
I
have
lived
in
the
city
since
I
was
18.,
so
I
won't
give
away
my
age,
but
I
have
been
here
for
decades,
so
I
have
lived
in
the
city
since
I
was
a
teenager,
so
I
think
I
can
claim
it
as
my
own,
and
you
know
pittsburgh
region
I'm
against,
are
you
know
proud
of
it?
So
all.
C
C
I
do
yeah
I
have.
I
have
this
electric
bicycle,
it's
one
of
the
cheaper
models,
but
I
am
obsessed
with
it.
It's
super
super
fun
because,
obviously,
over
here
in
hazelhut
in
hazelwood,
we
have
like
eight
percent
nine
percent
slopes.
So
you
know
on
a
normal
bike,
there's
absolutely
no
way
that
I
could
ride
up
that
even
on
my
best
day,
and
so
it's
great
because
it's
a
pedal,
assisted
bike,
and
I
can
just
zip
right
up.
It's
pretty
amazing.
C
I
would
you
know
I
mean
I
don't
think
it's
for
everybody,
but
for
me
it's
really
rewarding.
Like
I
said,
I've
worked
many
different
jobs,
but
for
me
it's
the
most
rewarding
kind
of
work
that
you
can
do,
especially
when
you're
doing
equity
work.
It's
it's
just
it's
something
that
makes
you
feel
really
fulfilled
and
happy
when
you
can
help
somebody
out.
C
My
goodness,
I
did
psychological
research
for
many
years.
I
bartended
for
four
years
at
a
brewery.
While
I
was
in
graduate
school,
I
was
a
camp
counselor
I
mean
I
went
to
school
like
four
times
so
like
way,
overly
educated.
I
have
a
really
interesting
background,
but
it
kind
of
everything
that
I've
done
has
sort
of
ended
up,
helping
me
in
this
job.
So
it's
somehow
all
cosmically
sort
of
worked
out.
C
So
I
worked
at
under
the
school
of
pharmacy.
I
worked
at
a
place
called
cedar,
the
center
for
education
and
drug
abuse
research,
and
so
we
would
have
subjects
come
in
from
all
over
pittsburgh
and
we
followed
them
from
10
to
30
and
just
tracked
their
progress,
their
progress
on
all
kinds
of
issues.
You
know,
substance
abuse,
you
know
mental
health
issues,
all
kinds
of
issues,
and
so
it
was
really
really
interesting
work
and
that's
definitely
another
thing.
That's
helped
me
in
my
job
right
now.
C
There
were
they
were,
so
it
was
boys
and
girls
club,
so
they
actually
came
in
from
the
city,
and
it
was
great
because
it
was
sort
of
you
know.
It
was
a
different
group
of
people
from
you
know
the
people
that
I
went
to
high
school
with
and
people
who
had
a
whole
different.
You
know
range
of
experiences
and
I
worked
with
like
the
five
and
six-year-olds,
so
they
were
adorable
and
they
were
so
much
fun
so
yeah
we
we
really.
I
I
had
a
great
time.
C
We
did
that
served
a
lot
of
hot
dog
lunches
yeah.
Basically,
just
like
walking
kids,
who
are
from
the
city,
you
know
walking
them
through
the
woods
and
one
time
you
know
there's
this
guy
who
comes.
Who
has
all
these
predatory
birds?
I
don't
know
it's.
You
know:
north
hills,
stuff,
just
wildlife
and
stuff.