►
Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Sally Stadelman from Pittsburgh City Council District One and Dana Robinson from the Department of Innovation & Performance.
A
Hello,
everyone
and
welcome
to
another
zoom
edition
of
city
stalkers,
we're
still
dealing
with
the
pandemic
as
well
as
many
other
crises
that
I
probably
don't
have
to
brief.
You
on
I'm
recording
this
live
from
on
that
live,
but
live
on
tape,
as
they
say
from
the
City
County
Building,
due
to
technical
difficulties
beyond
my
control,
I
couldn't
do
it
out
of
my
home
and
believe
me,
most
technical
difficulties
are
beyond
my
control.
A
A
B
I'm,
actually,
in
year,
six
of
working
for
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
I
started
out
in
the
Office
of
Community
Affairs
in
Mayor
Bill
Peduto
as
office
from
there
I
moved
to
work
with
the
chief
operations
officer.
Guy
Kosta
I
then
managed
an
app
for
people
experiencing
homelessness,
and
anybody
in
need
called
Big,
Bird
comm,
which
is
still
available
still
a
great
service
from
there.
A
B
A
B
So
yeah
the
pandemic
has
really
affected
the
office
in
some
interesting
ways.
I
just
was
talking
to
a
woman
this
morning
who
usually
gets
her
taxes
done
by
Vita.
The
free
tax
service
program
and
most
places
have
actually
suspended
their
in-person
tax
help,
and
so
you
know
we're
now
looking
for
some
kind
of
option
for
her
so
that
she
can
get
her
taxes
done
for
free
and
she's.
You
know
she's
intimidated
by
the
online
the
online
form
doing
that
herself
so
kind
of
thing.
B
B
B
B
A
B
Know
John
I
did,
but
the
interesting
thing
was
that
I
thought
I
was
going
to
be
working
in
international
politics,
I
an
internship
at
in
Brussels
with
the
European
Parliament
over
the
summer
and
was
translating
letters
from
English
to
Spanish
Spanish
to
English
to
condemn
human
rights
violations
in
South
America,
and
you
know
I,
don't
think
I
ever
would
have
guessed
that
I
was
gonna.
You
know
stay
in
my
my
my
hometown.
Doing
working
for
unit
municipal
government.
B
Yes,
it's
there
is
something
so
satisfying
about
being
involved
at
the
local
level.
You
know
knowing
everybody
that
you're
working
with
the
folks
that
you're
helping
you
know,
there's
one
degree
of
separation
between
most
of
the
you
know,
constituents
and
folks
I
work
with
at
the
city,
and
it
really
you
know,
I
talked
to
friends.
B
Sometimes
that
will
talk
about
how
overwhelmed
they
feel
about
all
the
terrible
things
that
are
happening
in
the
world
today
and
there's
there's
something
so
nice
about
working
in
local
government,
where
you
really
feel
like
as
as
big
as
some
of
the
challenges
are,
that
we're
facing
it
still
feels
like
you
can
get
your
arms
around
it
in
a
way
that,
when
I
think
about
how
do
we
solve
you
know,
global
issues
feels
a
lot
more
overwhelming.
So
I
am
really
grateful
for
that
that
that
hands-on
aspect
so.
A
B
Right
exactly
you
know:
I
am
really
passionate
about
vacant
and
blighted
property,
and
you
know
what
we're
going
to
do
to
address
vacant
lots
and
vacant
and
abandoned
homes
and
the
effects
that
they
have
on
our
neighborhoods.
We
really,
you
know,
do
two
of
myriad
of
reasons:
don't
have
strong
land
recycling
tools
and,
of
course,
we're
talking
about
land
recycling.
You
have
to
be
really
hyper
aware
of
the
effects
they
have
on
the
neighborhood
and
making
sure
that
you're
protecting
affordability.
B
A
B
I
I
think
you
know,
no
model
is
perfect,
but
I
do
think.
We
have
some
some
good
examples
in
the
city.
I
think
anytime,
that
you're
able
to
first
preserve
affordable
rental
housing.
So
you
could
look
at
Manchester
even
in
the
worst
streets
to
to
a
bit
of
an
extent.
We
have
a
little
bit
of
that
where
there's
been
stabilization
of
the
rental
market
before
the
the
real
estate
market
took
off,
and
so
those
units
are
protected
and
they're
and
they're
not
subject
to
the
the
high
market
rate.
A
B
B
I
think
people
generally
their
hair
was
low
back
to
really
when
they
came
to
learn
and
understand
the
breadth
and
width
of
city
government
and
all
that
we
do
so.
You
know
and
those
hopefully
that
program
continues.
But
you
know
anybody's
interested.
They
applications
usually
started
in
late
fall
or
a
late
summer.
A
One
thing
I
find
interesting:
is
people
like
yourself
have
a
really?
You
have
a
lot
of
enthusiasm
about
your
job.
I
mean
you
really
like
being
in
public
service
and
maybe
that's
not
as
rare
as
it
should
be,
or
maybe
that's
less
fair
than
I
think
it
is.
But
anyway
you
seem
to
really
enjoy
your
work.
Yeah.
B
Yes,
I
am,
you
know,
I'm,
definitely
a
nerd
about
municipal
government
and
you
know
enjoy
reading.
You
know
catching
up
on
on
Muni
code
and
it's
and
it's
really
one
of
the
the
most
exciting
aspects
of
this
new
position
that
I'm
taking
on
is
really
getting
to
understand
in
a
lot
more
detail
how
the
legislative
process
works.
You.
A
B
I
mean
it's
definitely
not
for
everybody.
You
know,
I
I,
think
that
we
have
lots
of
constituents
that
you
know.
I
I
am
always
I,
always
honored
that
I
get
to
pick
up
the
phone
and
and
be
able
to
offer
help
to
the
person
at
the
other
end.
But
sometimes
you
know
working
with
folks
that
like
to
to
care
loudly,
isn't
for
everybody,
and
you
know
when
you're
working
in
a
big.
You
know
big
bureaucracy.
B
A
B
B
A
B
I,
you
know
I,
think
that
that
we
are
very
fortunate
that
we're
a
small
office
we're
just
it's
the
councilman
and
I'm
two
staffers
right
now
so
I
think,
unlike
some
of
our
department,
it
was
pretty
easy
for
us
to
just
kind
of
pick
up
shop
and
and
not
miss
a
beatin
and
and
keep
working
from
huff,
so
we're
just
trying
to
figure
out.
You
know
what
that
looks
like
going
forward.
You
know,
are
we
are
we
still
at
home
for
the
summer?
Are
we
gonna
come
in
sometimes?
B
A
A
A
D
A
That's
a
huge
responsibility,
but
before
I
ask
you
about
it,
this
is
how
good
your
team
is.
There's
this
knucklehead,
who
hosts
the
program
called
city
talk,
and
he
tried
to
do
it
from
his
house
today,
but
he
doesn't
even
know
his
own
Wi-Fi
password,
so
he
scrambled
into
the
building
and
got
two
members
of
your
team
who
quickly
hooked
him
up
with
this
fine
set
up
at
the
last
minute,
even
though
they
were
already
working
on
many
other
projects.
That's.
A
D
A
D
That's
it
yeah,
it's
what
we
call.
So
if
a
problem
comes
in
when
there's
an
issue
with
your
computer,
we
call
it
an
incident.
If
it's
just
a
request
for
services,
we
call
it
a
request.
So
what
we
do,
what
our
department
has
recently
done
is
everybody
in
our
department
has
become
article
certified
for
those
that
don't
know
what
that
is,
that's
a
framework
of
best
practices,
for
you
know,
information
technology,
for
you
know
a
people
that
are
an
IT
field
to
better
manage
control
and
understand.
D
A
D
From
the
north
side
of
Pittsburgh
I'm
a
hometown
guy
born
and
raised
here,
I
left
I
left
for
a
little
bit,
I
moved
to
New
York
me
and
my
brother.
My
sister
start
a
business
start.
Our
own
company
I
have
a
few
brothers
and
sisters
by
the
way,
but
yeah
we
are.
We
went
up
there
and
started
a
clothing
business,
and
that
was
you
know.
We've
seen
some
success
with
that.
But
then
I
am
I.
Don't
know.
I've
always
had
a
it's
for
computers.
How.
A
D
A
D
Correctly
yeah
curriculum,
I'm,
45
and
I'm.
You
know
I'm
still
in
class
I'm
still
taking
classes
I'm
still
in
school.
You
know
learning
outside
of
that
I
try
to
pick
up.
You
know
books
or
you
know,
go
online
and
look
and
see
what
new
trends
are
coming
out.
It's
very
important
in
this
field
to
stay
on
top
of.
What's
going
on
paint.
A
D
Still
I'm
still
like
a
little
kid
for
me,
you
know
I
mean
just
seeing
the
new
things
that
come
out
I
get
excited
when
I,
you
know
hear
about
technology
and
new
technologies
that
are
coming
out,
I
like
to
follow
the
trends
too,
because
sometimes
you
know
when
you're
in
it
this
long.
Sometimes
you
can
kind
of
tell
if
something's
gonna
go.
If
it's
gonna,
you
know
go
to
distance
or
not.
D
Exactly
a
little
bit
above,
I
I
started
working
for
the
city.
First,
that's
back
when
our
department
I,
am
P,
used
to
be
called
CIS,
which
is
City
information
systems,
but
I
started
in
the
mailroom
I
used
to
deliver
these
these
old.
These
big
reports,
like
like
big,
binder
full
of
reports
and
they
used
to
be
on
old,
dot-matrix
printers
very
cumbersome,
very
heavy,
but
then,
as
the
technology
advanced
I
had
a
chance
to
get
promoted
right.
So
there
was
a
big
project.
This
is
when
the
city
started
getting
out
of
those.
D
The
old
CRV,
I'm
gonna,
see
I'm
sorry
CRT
monitors
like
it
was
just
like.
We
called
dumb
box
right
and
it
didn't
really
do
too
much.
It
just
did
like
basic
computing
and
they
were
moving
it
to
these
compact
desktops
with
monitors.
So
the
whole
entire
city
switched
to
that
and
I
was
a
part
of
that
process
in
installing
those
devices
and
out
of
that
I
got
my
shot
so
to
speak
and
from
their
low
back.
When.
A
A
D
A
D
I
would
if
I
will
say
this
if,
if
you're
a
person
that
likes
likes
to
give,
if
you're
a
person
that
believes
in
civil
service
ooh
taking
the
job
in
weathers
local
state,
you
know
federal
if
you
enjoy
that
type
of
work
and
like
seeing
what
you
do
as
a
profession,
help
the
people
of
the
city
get
things
done
and
help
other.
You
know,
co-workers
and
other
departments
in
the
city
to
see
things
get
accomplished.
I
would
definitely
I
would
recommend
it.
D
A
D
So
we've
been
doing
pretty
good
I,
say
first
and
foremost,
nobody
on
my
team
has
has
been
sick
or
been
diagnosed.
So
that's
you
know,
that's
a
great
thing:
that's
a
blessing
in
itself,
so
we
were.
We
were
in
in
the
office
every
day,
I
say
for
about
the
first
month
from
from
March
I,
think
March
9th
to
maybe
first
week,
first
second
week
in
April,
and
during
that
time
we
were
provisioning
machines
for
all
the
users.
I,
don't
say
all
to
use.
But
you
know
what
majority
uses
that
are
working
from
home.
A
D
D
It
wasn't
I
think
we
were
so
we
were
so
entrenched
in
determined
to
make
sure
that
we
got
the
equipment
out
to
the
users
and
that
they
could
work
and
that
you
know
they
were
functional
at
home.
I
think
we
we
more
or
less
focused
on
that
and
I
believe
that
it
made
our
team
stronger
or
camaraderie
got
it
got
better.
You
know
the
way
that
we
work
with
each
other
improved
in
them.
You
know
it
was
it
actually
turned
out
to
be
a
good
thing.
You
know.
Oh.
D
So
I
know
so,
if
we're
talking
from
a
technology
perspective
like
so
you
have,
you
know
autonomous
cars.
Now
you
know
self-driving
cars,
I,
think
you're
gonna
see
more
the
evolution
of
AI,
artificial
intelligence,
the
the
use
of
automation
in
everyday
computing,
some
a
lot
of
things
in
the
beginning,
I'm
saying
with
Manuel
but
you're,
starting
to
see
that
progression.
Change
from
you
know
putting
in
a
command
request
to
just
writing
a
script
and
making
it
run
automatically.
D
D
You
never
know
I,
think
they're
doing
that
already
I
know
there
are
there
are
some.
You
know
machines
like
like
bio
machines,
that
can
you
know
they
read
your.
You
know
the
temperature
or
your
heart
rate.
They
can
tell
what
kind
of
moods
are
in
the
different
things
like
that,
it's
kind
of
crazy
but
yeah
I
think
just
for
the
average
person
I
think
you're
gonna
see
a
lot
more
automation
in
your
home.
D
You
know,
even
with
you
know,
artificial
intelligence,
the
ability
to
feel
the
bill,
the
ability
to
be
able
to
comprehend
to
be
able
to
make
a
decision
not
based
on
statistics
but
on
just
you
know,
intuition
I
guess
is
the
word.
Come
you're
always
gonna
have
a
place
for
human
interaction
in
life.
The.