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Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Blake Plavchak from Pittsburgh City Council District 4 Office and Drew Sansone from 311.
A
Welcome
to
another
zoom
edition
of
city
talk,
needless
to
say,
we're
all
broadcasting
remotely
from
our
individual
cubbyholes
because
of
the
covet
19
crisis.
I
say
needless
to
say,
and
yet
I
say
it
anyway
say
hello
to
our
guest.
Today,
the
chief
of
staff
or
councilman
anthony
coghill,
blake,
flapjack
blake.
Welcome
to
the
program,
hi
john
thanks
for
having
me.
B
A
B
Well,
I'm
born
and
raised
in
brookline,
and
I
still
live
here
so
I've
been
in
in
brookline
for
my
entire
life
and
went
to
brashear
high
school.
Then
once
I
graduated
brashear,
I
went
to
decayne
and
I
did
a
lot
of
coursework
at
duquesne,
where
I
I
studied
rhetoric
and
in
my
time
there
I
ran
for
the
democratic
committee
for
allegheny
county
got
a
little.
A
B
So
it's
the
formal
organization
for
the
democratic
party
in
the
region
and
our
responsibilities
include
helping
neighbors
understand
how
to
vote
when
to
vote
where
to
vote
and
then
who
the
endorsed
candidates
are,
who
the
the
candidates
that
that
sought
endorsement
are
or
were,
and
to
to
work.
The
polls
on
election
day,
you
know,
pass
up
slate
cards
and
and
basically
support
the
democratic
candidates
during
the
elections
and
started
doing
that
for
a
while
came
to
know
anthony
a
couple.
B
Well,
it
depends,
I
think,
that's
up
to
each
council
person
and
kind
of
what
they
look
for
in
a
chief
of
staff.
I
know
with
anthony
it
was
important
that
he
has
someone
who
can
kind
of
advise
him
on
policy
and
help
organize
and
structure
his
his
calendar
and
his
schedule
for
him
work
closely
with
his
office
staff
and
someone
who's
involved
in
the
community.
A
Oh
yeah,
when
we
spoke
before
about
doing
this
interview,
I
mentioned
that,
and
I
know
it's
a
city-wide
problem,
but
litter
seems
to
be
a
problem
that
never
goes
away
in
pittsburgh.
Maybe
nowhere
else
in
the
country
either
for
all
I
know
I
don't
know
what
that
may
not
be
the
biggest
problem
on
the
agenda.
But
what,
if
anything,
can
we
do
about
that.
B
Yeah
well,
yeah.
I
think
one
thing
that
we've
been
seeing
across
the
city
during
the
the
sort
of
pandemic
has
been
a
little
bit
more
trash
everywhere.
I
know
that
a
lot
of
the
community
groups
have
had
to
pull
back
on
some
of
their
events,
so
a
lot
of
beautification
teams
have
had
to
kind
of
postpone
or
rethink
how
they
do
community
cleanups.
B
Members
is
going
to
be
working
and
beats
you
and
we're
going
to
try
to
have
a
little
bit
of
a
an
inter-office
competition
to
see.
You
know
which
community
can
can
pick
up
the
most
garbage,
but
we
always
encourage
people
to
go
out
and
try
to
pick
up
litter
when
they
see
it
and
always
throw
garbage.
In
our
city,
trash
cans
when
they're,
when
they're
near.
B
Yeah,
so
department
of
public
works
will
pick
up
all
the
garbage,
so
every
community
will
designate
a
pickup
spot
and
they'll
report
back
how
much
they
get
department
of
public
works
will
collect
all
the
the
garbage
and
then
give
us
a
tally
and-
and
I
think
in
this
case
it
might
help.
If
you
know
your
chair
of
public
works
committee,
but.
B
So
I
I
studied
rhetoric
at
duquesne
and
rhetoric
can
be
understood
just
as
communication
argument
persuasion
it's
at
duquesne.
They
take
a
very
philosophical
approach
to
it
and
we
ground
our
kind
of
understanding
of
of
that
in
a
philosophy
of
communication,
and
it's
it's
something
I
honestly
can
talk
about
for
a
long
time,
but
it
it
it
can
easily.
B
Hope,
I
think
so
right
you
know,
knock
on
wood,
it's
so
far,
so
good
but
yeah.
It's
definitely
something
that
I
I
need
to
rely
on
like
that
that
training
and
education
sort
of
every
day,
even
if
it's
just
something
as
simple
as
how
we
put
together
a
facebook,
post
or
announcement,
we
need
to
think
about
all
of
the
audiences
that
we
might
be
reaching
and
how
we
can
can
deliver
that,
so
that
the
message
is
clear
to
all
the
audiences
we've
lost
pirate
yeah
and
I
think
it's
midday
snack.
B
C
D
B
B
So
I
have,
I
have
an
american
army
with
different
armor
and
transports,
and
I
have
a
german
army
with
some
different
armor
and
transports
and
they're
both
generally
modeled
towards
like
1942
to
1944,
and
I
try
to
to
keep
the
era
around
normandy
and
d-day
just
because
it's
easier
to
to
make
it
historic,
because
I
ca
no
true
miniature
war.
Gamer
doesn't
like
to
make
things
historically
accurate.
So
I
mean
I'll,
try
to
replicate
certain
battles
and
and
and
represent
what
kind
of
units
were
in
that
engagement.
So.
B
Yes,
absolutely
and
if
you're
not
making
sound
effects,
you're
not
doing
it
right,
but
they
there
are
some
really
cool
things
you
can
do
like
you
can
get
cotton
balls
and
put
them
on
top
of
the
tea
light.
Like
one
of
those
flickering
tea
lights.
Can
you
paint
the
cotton
ball
to
look
like
smoke
and
if
you
blow
up
a
vehicle
you
just
you
put
the
tea
light
there
and,
and
it
looks
like
it's
smoking
and
smoldering.
B
I
have
a
roommate
who
I
play
with
otherwise
it
I
wouldn't
be
able
to
do
this,
but
you
play
with
other
people
and
I've
gone
to
conventions,
big
gatherings
of
people
where
it's
large
games
of
you
know
six
or
twelve
people
on
the
side
and
it's
multiple
12-foot
tables.
And
it's
really,
you
know
an
event.
B
B
I've
been
reading
a
bit
and
you
know
just
a
lot
of
little
ways
that
I
try
to
distract
myself
and
get
kind
of
pull
myself
out
of
the
monotony
over
the
summer.
I
I've
been
going
to
schenley
park
to
throw
frisbee
golf.
I'm
a
big
advocate
and
fan
of
frisbee
golf.
I
got
into
it
in
high
school
because
of
a
city
school
teacher
who
is
a
was
a
professional
frisbee
golfer,
and
I.
B
B
Well,
so
september
is
national
recovery
month
and
the
councilman
has
been
working
on
trying
to
advocate
for
some
more
awareness
around
issues
related
to
substance
use
disorder.
So
one
thing
that
we
were
working
on
earlier
was
a
will
of
counsel
to
promote
person-first
language,
it's
language
that
helps
to
humanize
individuals
that
suffer
with
a
substance
use
disorder
instead
of
stigmatizing
them.
One
of
the
things
that
we
find
that's
a
barrier
to
people
seeking
help
when
it
comes
to
their
substance.
B
Use
issues
is
the
stigmatization
that
they
experience
and
instead
of
referring
to
people
with
harmful
or
negative
language.
If
we
can
focus
on
trying
to
rephrase
and
focus
on
an
individual's
humanity,
it
makes
them
more
likely
and
willing
to
seek
out
help
when,
when
they're
ready
for
it
and
when
they
need
it,
and
it
helps
them
to
reduce
the
the
harmful
behaviors
that
that
they
do
engage
in.
B
A
B
A
B
I
played
fall
baseball
in
carrick
every
year
and
I'm
incredibly
happy
to
to
have
an
opportunity
to
help
the
people
that
I
grew
up
in
grew
up
with
and
around,
and
if
the
opportunity
arises
that
I
can
continue
to
help
people.
Of
course
I
want
to
do
that.
So
I'm
just
going
to
see
where
it
takes
me
where
life
takes
me
and
I've
trusted
it
so
far,
and
I've
done
all
right
so.
A
C
A
Welcome
back
to
city
talk
one
of
the
more
interesting
jobs
within
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
At
least,
I
think,
is
to
be
a
3-1-1
operator.
These
are
the
people
who
take
all
the
comments,
questions
and
complaints
about
non-emergency
items
as
part
of
the
department
of
innovation
and
performance
and
one
of
the
operators
drew
sansone
joins
us
right
now.
Drew
welcome
to
the
program.
D
Correct,
I
am
actually
originally
from
miami
florida,
and
I
moved
here
because
of
an
internship
that
I
had
with
the
sustainability
and
resilience
department
of
innovation
and
performance,
and
then
after
I
ended
that
internship,
we
basically
went
right
into
covid.
So
I
was
very
fortunate
to
have
this
job
in
the
meantime,.
A
A
D
I
think
cranky
is
a
tough
word
to
give
the
constituents
specifically
just
because
that
I
think
everyone's
kind
of
in
an
unsettled
time
as
there's
people
that
need
to
eat,
there's
people
that
need
a
place
to
live
and
to
say
that
you
know
they're
cranky
is
less
than
harsh.
I
think
that
these
people
are
scared
for
their
own
well-being.
A
That
is
accurate,
very
diplomatic
and
it's
why
you're
on
the
3-1-1
and
they
won't.
Let
me
near
it.
Congratulations,
but
you're
also
getting
calls
about
people
who
might
be
on
one
side
or
the
other
like
we
like
the
protesters.
We
don't
like
the
protesters.
We
like
the
police,
we
don't
like
the
police
and
that's
sort
of
a
different
kind
of
3-1-1
call.
D
D
D
D
A
D
So
the
environment
is
dying
and
sustainability
is
sustaining
the
resources
that
we
have
specifically
left
on
earth,
whether
they're
renewable,
like
solar,
wind,
hydroponic
and
then
resilience
is
how
cities
are
currently
planning
and
adapting
to
any
kind
of
catastrophic
events
that
may
happen
within
the
city's
area,
so
whether
that
be
like
in
california
with
wildfires
the
plans
that
they
have
in
place.
Those
are
resilience
plans
and
then,
when
you
look
at
solar
farms,
those
are
sustainability
plans.
D
Yes,
actually
without
working
in
pittsburgh,
I
probably
would
have
never
looked
at
colleges
up
here,
but
the
university
of
pittsburgh
has
a
sustainable
engineering,
ms
degree,
that
I've
been
very
much
looking
into,
and
I
definitely
wouldn't
have
even
thought
about
this
school
without
working
here.
First.
A
A
D
A
D
Go
ahead,
I
think
it's
it's
something
as
well,
that
I
know
a
lot
of
either
my
friends
still
in
school
are
working
through
their
masters
is
I
mean
they
are
still
having
in
person
classes
and
as
much
as
I
want
to
get
sick?
Well,
I
don't
so.
I
wouldn't
want
to
attend
a
university
currently,
and
I
know
that
universities
do
have
a
lot
of
health
plans
in
place
and
they
have
threshold
limits
on
whether
they
would
cancel
classes
after
they
hit
a
certain
amount
of
cases
that
there
are
plans,
but
it's
just
not
a
risk.