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From YouTube: CityTalk with John McIntire: Rachael Heisler & Cara Cruz
Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Rachael Heisler from the Controller's Office and Cara Cruz from the Department of Public Safety.
A
So
we're
all
working
from
home,
although
I
happen
to
be
in
the
city
county
building,
to
do
this,
but
you
are,
it
looks
like
comfortably
ensconced
in
your
home
area.
B
I
am
I'm
on
the
third
floor
of
my
row
house
in
the
central
north
side,
where
I
have
been
for
the
last
11
months
and.
A
B
B
Yeah
there's
no.
We
knew
this
when
we
bought
the
house,
but
there's
no
insulation
up
here.
So
we
have
a
space
heater
and
it's
it's
the
perfect
perfect
office.
So
I'm
I'm
happy
to
be
up
here.
Tell.
B
Sure
the
role
of
the
controller
mike
controller
lam
has
is
in
that
position.
I
I
report
to
him.
The
function
of
our
office
is
to
watch
with
the
watchdog
for
city
spending,
so
we
see
what
comes
in
see
what
comes
out
and
what's
spent,
what
the
money
is
being
spent
on
and
make
sure
it's
being.
It
is
being
spent
appropriately
and
well
on
behalf
of
city
residents,.
B
I
have
a
background
and
an
interest
in
how
government
spends
money.
I
spent
the
last
seven
years
at
the
committee
for
a
responsible
federal
budget.
We
were
a
501c3
think
tank
in
washington,
a
fiscal
watchdog
group
for
the
federal
government
and
I
was
thrilled
to
find
the
opportunity
working
in
pittsburgh
city
government.
So
I
have
the
an
interest
and
a
background
in
this
work.
A
How
about
that,
but
you
had
to
be
hired
under
the
covered
circumstances,
so,
on
the
normal
circumstances,
you'd
be
in
the
office
in
the
controller's
office.
On
the
first
floor
and
you've
been
mostly
at
home
since
being
hired
just
a
few
weeks
ago,
correct.
B
Right
I
started
on
january
11th.
I
went
into
the
office
for
a
quick
visit
to
get
my
laptop
set
up
and
otherwise
I've
been
working
from
home.
I
was
hired
and
interviewed
from
home.
It's
just
it's
a
very
weird
process
for
everybody
involved,
so
I
feel
lucky
that
it
worked
out
this
way
and
I'm
the
good
grace
of
patient
colleagues
are
getting
me
through
these
early
few
weeks.
B
I'm
still
in
the
early
stages
of
figuring
things
out.
You
know
it's
a
difficult
situation
right
now
with
covid
and
just
the
fiscal
impact
on
the
city,
but
I'm
I'm,
I,
my
colleagues
have
literally
decades
of
experience
in
the
controller's
office,
so
I'm
doing
a
lot
of
listening
and
learning
from
them.
I
feel
very
lucky
to
be
in
this
office
and
and
to
have
strong
colleagues
supporting
these
these
early
few
days.
It
is
a
difficult
environment
to
learn
a
new
job.
B
B
I
graduated
and
took
a
job
right
away
with
congressman
altmeier,
and
I
stayed
in
pittsburgh
for
four
more
years
I
moved
to
dc
in
2011
and
moved
back
in
2018,
so
I've
actually
been
working
remotely
for
two
and
a
half
years
which
it's
it's
it's
difficult,
starting
a
new
job
but
working
remotely
is
something
I'm
fairly
used
to
so
yeah.
I
feel
I
feel
very
lucky.
A
How
did
you
find
washington
dc?
I
know
you'd
take
a
left
to
virginia,
but
I
mean
how
did
you
like
it?
There.
B
Dc
is
a
wonderful
city;
it.
It
was
a
wonderful
place
to
live.
I
it's
a
world
capital,
I
loved
it.
I
I
miss
parts
of
dc,
but
I
feel
so
I'm
thrilled
to
be
back
in
pittsburgh.
I
chose
to
move
back.
I
told
my
last
boss,
who
I
love
and
loved
working
with.
I
said
I'm
moving
back
to
pittsburgh.
I
can
work
remotely
or
I
can
find
a
you
can
terminate
me
and
she
she
let
me
work
remotely
for
almost
two
and
a
half
years,
so
I
was
very
lucky
for
that.
B
My
predecessor
in
this
role,
doug
anderson,
was
a
colleague
of
mine
on
the
first
casey
for
senate
campaign,
so
I've
met,
I
met
doug
15
years
ago
and
actually
met
michael
soon
after
and
when
he
it
was
announced
that
he
was
going
over
to
the
finance
run
the
department
of
finance
in
the
city.
B
I
immediately
expressed
my
interest
and
said
that
this
is
a
role
I'd
like
to
be
considered
for,
and
I
went
through
a
formal
interview
process
and
I
I
accepted
right
before
the
christmas
holiday
and
hit
the
ground
running
early
in
the
new
year.
B
Yeah
I
live
in
the
central
north
side.
I
live
on
arch
street
right
right
down
the
block
from
my
wonderful
neighbor
randy
gilson
of
randyland.
B
Yes,
it's
actually,
it
is
the
brightest
and
most
cheerful
building
I've
ever
seen.
So
I
I'm
looking
out
my
window.
Thinking
like
oh,
I
should
go
actually
go
for
a
walk
to
cheer
myself
up
any
day,
you're
anytime
you're.
Having
a
bad
day.
I
encourage
any
resident
to
come
over
and
drive
down
arch
street
and
stare
in
amazement.
It
is,
it
is
very
fun.
They've
he's
instituted
some
coveted
restrictions,
so
people
flow
is
limited,
but
folks
drive
by
and
get
a
get
a
chuckle
and
some
joy
from
randy.
A
I've
started
to
try
to
synopsize
it.
It's
an
extremely
colorful
house,
with
all
sorts
of
pictures
and
various
characters
exhibiting.
B
A
B
B
And
every
time
I
end
up
back
on
art
street,
but
I
am
I
go
on
very
long
walks
through
the
north
side
through
woods
run
on
the
weekends
and
then,
during
the
day
during
the
weekday,
I
try
to
go
on
short
walks
over
lunchtime
just
get
out
of.
A
The
house,
how
have
you
been
coping
with
covid.
B
I
read
a
lot.
I
walk
a
lot.
As
you
know,
I
I
volunteer
remotely
I'm
very
active
with
my
neighborhood
food
pantry
and
my
local,
the
allegheny
ymca,
where
I
serve
on
the
board
of
both
organizations.
B
So
that's
finding
outlets
to
be
useful
has
been
helpful.
That's
how,
when
I'm
not
walking
on
the
weekend,
I'm
volunteering
in
that
way,
but
it's
just
hard
and
everybody's
coping
differently,
and
I
think
people
are
at
different
stages
and
just
I
I
told
a
neighbor
who
was
had
an
issue
with
their
car
over
the
weekend.
A
B
The
walls,
my
dog,
you
know
it's
it's
just
it's
difficult.
I
mean
it's
just
it's
just
hard.
No
one.
We've
never
lived
through
anything
like
this,
so
I
think
it's
so
unique
and
such
a
weird
and
bizarre
experience
that
there's
no
right
way
to
do
it.
You're
just
we're
all
trying
to
survive.
A
That's
a
nice
way
to
put
it,
you
say,
volunteer
for
the
food
pantry.
Is
there
been
an
uptick
in
the
need
for
food.
B
It
has
ebbed
and
flowed
actually
the
folks
who
have
gotten
the
stimulus
checks.
There
was
one
over
the
summer,
obviously
may
and
another
one
has
come
through
for
most
families
in
the
last
four
weeks,
so
that
actually
suppresses
usage
of
the
pantry
and
then,
when
those
funds
run
out
folks
start
to
visit
the
visit.
The
pantry.
B
We
have
a
curbside
system
built,
but
that
is
when
we
see
the
upticks,
but
it
numbers
decline
when
government
support
is
released,
which
is
needed
and
and
should
be
offered
to
families,
and
then
numbers
start
to
spike
things
that
also
got
really
busy
before
the
christmas
and
thanksgiving
holidays.
So
I
feel
very
fortunate
to
be
involved
in
an
organization.
A
Neighbors
absolutely
so
you
mentioned
you
worked
for
former
congressman
altmeier
and
you
work
for
controller
lamb.
Do
you
ever
see
yourself
running
for
office
by
any
chance.
B
I
don't
know
I
I
I
really
like
the
role
I'm
in
now.
I
feel
very
fortunate
to
have
ended
up
here
and
again.
I
cannot
reiterate
enough
how
many
wonderful
colleagues
I
have
and
I
the
support
of
controller
lamb,
but
I
love
being
able
to
serve
my
community
and
I
do
that.
I
think
professionally
now,
nine
to
five.
I
do
that
in
my
free
time
in
the
community
work
that
I
do
so
we'll
see.
I
my
goal
is
to
survive
covid
and
then
we
can
go
from
there.
A
I
wasn't
sure
what
to
do
frankly
until
this
moment
of
time,
so
I
can't
thank
you
enough.
John,
do
you
have
any
final
words
rachel
heisler.
B
A
An
excellent
wish
from
your
lips
to
god's
ears,
rachel
heisler
deputy
controller.
Thank
you
so
much
for
being
on
city
talk.
C
A
A
So
public
safety-
I
don't
know
if
everybody
out
there
in
tv,
land
and
internet
land
knows
exactly
what
that
means.
You
comprised
several
very
crucial
and
important
departments.
Tell
us
about
that.
D
Yeah,
it's
it's
an
interesting
job
because
you
never
know
what's
coming
any
day,
so
that
it's
police
fire,
ems,
animal
care
and
control
the
park
rangers.
So
honestly,
it's
it's!
It's
something
new
and
different,
every
single
day
in
the
city,
and
it's
a
very
it's
a
pretty
reactive
job.
You
know
in
the
sense
that
you
know
when
things
happen.
D
That's
you
know
where
we
come
in,
where
for
the
media,
to
you
know
to
provide
information
to
the
media
and
the
public,
and
I
always
try
to
tell
people
that
that
it's
it's
more
of
a
it
is
a
public
information
officer
position,
meaning
you
know
that
I'm
you
know
the
media
sort
of
the
conduit
between
you
know
the
city
and
the
public,
and
but
this
is
that's.
That's
my
job
to
relay
the
important
information.
A
D
D
So
one
of
the
first
things
when
I
started
the
job
in
march
of
2019,
so
almost
two
years
now
is
I
would
go
around
and
meet
like
all
the
principal.
You
know:
command
staff
from
police,
fire
and
ems
and
they'd
always
say
you
know,
here's
my
cell
number
call
me
day
or
night
and
I
was
like
well
that's
crazy.
Why
would
I
do
that?
A
So
not
only
do
you
have
to
on
occasion
in
fact
often
get
up
at
two
or
three
in
the
morning
and
go
to
a
crime
scene
or
a
fire.
You
also
have
to
wake
up
some
of
your
colleagues
to
make
sure
you're
getting
the
right
information.
D
Luckily
they
yeah,
I
mean,
hopefully
that's
not
the
case,
usually
they're
out.
If
I'm
up
yeah,
so
I
mean
the
way
it
works
is
you
know
there's
on
call
for
for
all
departments
and
those
are
the
generally
the
same
people
who
are.
You
know
showing
up
in
the
middle
of
the
night
to
some
of
these
scenes.
D
Yeah
yeah,
I
yeah,
I'm
glad
you
said
it.
I
don't
know
if
I
could
use
that
language,
but
yeah
I
mean
it
really
is
it.
It
takes
a
lot
of
your
of
your
personal
time
and
your
you
know
just
physically.
Sometimes
it
can
be
very
exhausting
like
it
will
take
me
a
week
to
recover
from
a
a
bad
on-call
week,
and
last
week
was
one
of
those
it
was.
D
A
D
The
other
countries,
as
as
my
husband
likes
to
call
it-
I
come
from
america's
loft,
so
yeah,
I'm
canadian.
I
was
born
and
raised
in
saskatchewan
like
well.
You
know
right
up
right
up.
D
Right,
you
know
right
above
north
dakota,
so
it's.
D
No
kidding,
I
never
get
it
go
ahead,
please
I'm
sorry,
yeah
right
now.
It's
minus
41
degrees
celsius.
In
my
hometown,
I
just
I've
seen
been
seeing
alerts
like
crazy,
and
I
think
this
is
good
enough.
This
is
cold
enough
right
now
for
me.
So
yes
grew
up
in
the
middle
of
canada.
I
moved
to
vancouver.
I
spent
13
years
out
in
vancouver
went
to
school.
There
went
to
journalism,
school
and.
D
Exactly
I
worked
for
the
canadian
broadcasting
corporation
for
nearly
20
years,
so
vancouver
toronto
and
washington
dc,
where
the
they
have
a
bureau
as
well.
So
so.
D
I
was
only
there
until
till
2018
and
then
I
moved
to
pittsburgh.
So
it
was
only
there
two
years.
A
D
Was
exhausting
because
you
know
if
you
know
you've
been
in
you've,
been
in
the
news
business,
so
you
know
tv
in
particular,
I
mean
I
did
radio
as
well,
but
tv
in
particular.
Is
you
know
it's
time
consuming?
You
gather
all
your
elements
and
you
shoot
all
your.
You
know
all
the
interviews
that
you
need,
but
what
would
happen
there
is
you'd,
be
ready
to
go
to
air
and
the
story
would
100
change
on
a
daily
basis.
Almost
you
know
with
one
tweet
or
one
you
know.
D
A
Do
you
I,
I
don't
want
to
make
you
the
spokesperson
for
all
of
canada,
but
how
do
your
fellow
canadians
and
I
know
you're
an
american?
I
should
be
a
dual
citizenship
now
or.
D
D
I
think
I
mean
it's
funny
like
the
saying
in
canada.
Is
you
know
if
the
u.s
sneezes,
canada
catches
a
cold
and
it's
like
it's
a
very
it's
very
americans.
Don't
think
about
canada
much.
But
canada
thinks
about
the
us
constantly.
D
So
everything
from
trade
and
tourism
and
and
all
the
all
the
politics
really
affected
canada
very
deeply,
because
it's
a
country
of
35
million
people.
So
the
u.s
is,
you
know
10
times
larger,
and
you
know
the
auto
sector
depends
on
the
us
everything
you
know
it's
and
and
a
lot
of
people
have
family
ties.
I
don't
really
know
very
many
people
who
I
grew
up
with,
who
didn't
travel
to
the
us
a
lot
or
have
family
in
in
the
u.s,
so
it
it
was
a
tumultuous
time
for
even
canada.
A
I'm
sure
that
it
was
so.
How
did
you
end
up
making
the
switch
from
dc
journalist
to
a
public
information
officer
in
pittsburgh?.
D
Okay,
so
my
husband
is
american
and
he
and
he
got
transferred
to
pittsburgh,
and
so
I
decided
yeah.
You
know
what
I'm
able
to
try
time
to
try
something
new,
because
you
know
quite
honestly
was
very
taxing
doing
what
I
was
doing
in
dc.
You
know
interesting
every
day,
but
you
know
I
thought
at
this
point
in
my
career.
I
wanted
to
try
something
different,
and
this
was
the
perfect
job
for
someone
just
out
of
journalism,
just
because
you're
learning
something
every
day
you
don't
have
to
know.
D
You
can
ask
all
these
people
all
the
stupid
questions
you
have
and
it's
it's
really
been
a
remarkable
transition
for
me
and
and
a
good
one
people,
because
police
will
always
ask
me.
Why
do
you
like
this
job?
They
constantly
say
that
to
me.
Why
do
you
like
this
job?
I'm
like
you,
you
can't
go
from.
You
know
broadcast
journalism
to
you
know
I
mean.
Maybe
some
people
can
go
to
a
very
staid
corporate.
You
know
communications
job,
but
I
don't
know
this
is
a
great.
This
is
a
great
landing
spot.
D
And
you
know
the
media
in
this
in
this
city
has
been
they've,
been
really
respectful
and
really
I
don't
really
respectful
of
my
time
overnight.
They
know
not
to
call
they
know
the
email
and
they're
always
I
mean
they
don't
have
to
apologize,
but
they're
always
very
apologetic
when
they're
you
know
emailing
at
three
in
the
morning.
I've
had
really
great
experiences
with
with
people
here,
and
you
know
I
they've
helped
me
I've
helped
them.
They
were
it.
I
think
pittsburgh
is
also
special
that
way.
D
D
Very
much
and
you
you
hear
people
like
even
young
people
saying
like.
Oh,
I
gotta
get
home
and
watch
thing
what
you
know
most
places
it's
it's
all
online
and
you
know
that's
people
are
not
even
they're
streaming,
even
the
news,
so
yeah.
A
It's
interesting
so
how
so
you're
in
the
city
county
building,
as
as
I
am
for
just
for
this,
as
we
speak
correct
you,
you
still
go
in
a
lot,
even
though
the
building
is
often
largely
empty.
I.
D
Do
so
I
I
actually
spend
a
lot
more
time
at
police
headquarters
than
I
do
at
the
city
county
building
and
then
when
the
pandemic
hits
they.
You
know,
we've
been
working
off
laptops.
They
just
have
you
know
ports
at
you
know
at
city
county
and
that
and
that
police
and
fire
and
everything
so
oftentimes
I'll
get
you
know
working
at
on
my
computer
at
home
and
and
I'll
have
to
run
out
to
something.
D
A
D
A
D
D
Exactly
so,
for
the
first
part
of
to
answer
your
question
and
to
be
completely
honest,
since
he
is
not
here,
it
was
terrible
and
we
could
kill
each
other
yeah.
How
about
that?
Yes,
indeed,
and.
D
A
A
A
Otherwise,
how
are
you
coping
with
covid?
Just
you
know
the
isolation
you
can't
go
everywhere.
You
used
to
be
able
to
go,
etc.
D
Yeah,
it's
funny.
I
was
saying
to
someone
today,
I
miss
you
know.
Sometimes,
if
I'm
writing
a
news
release
or
something-
and
I
need
to
get
out
of
my
you
know
just
out
of
the
space
I'm
in
to
go
to
you
know
one
of
the
great
coffee
shops
in
the
strip
or
somewhere
and
just
you
know,
pound
out
something,
but
it's
there's
no
gathering
culture
anymore.
D
D
Oh,
I
just
I've
been
so
lucky
that
this
with
this
job
I
mean
I
did
when
I
first
moved
here
was
a
little
hard
actually
to
find
a
job.
I
think
a
lot
of
it
was
my
my
resume.
You
know
has
a
lot
of
canadian
things
on
it
that
people
are
not
are
kind
of
confused
by,
and
so
I
was
grateful
that
someone
noticed
that
I
you
know
could
I
could
add
to
the
you,
know
public
safety
and
it's
been
a
great
landing
pad
for
me.
I
loved
it.