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From YouTube: CityTalk with John McIntire: Itha Cao & Marcelle Newman
Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Itha Cao from the Mayor's Office and Marcelle Newman from the Department of Public Works.
A
A
Welcome
to
city
talk
where
we
continue
to
endeavor
to
answer
the
musical
question
or
perhaps
not
so
musical
question.
What
do
these
people
do
around
here
by
these
people?
I
mean
city
employees,
including
the
one
we
have
sitting
next
to
us
today
and
that
is
eat
the
cow,
a
policy
analyst
for
Mayor
Bill
Peduto
is
office.
Etha
welcome
to
the
program.
B
B
It
absolutely
is
so
I
guess
I've
been
here
for
about
two
years
now,
a
little
over
two
years.
Time
flies
in
here
having
fun.
So
I
worked
for
the
mayor's
office
in
the
brand-new
office
of
equity,
the
mayor's
very
forward-thinking,
I
think
as
Pittsburgh
moves
forward
as
a
tech
city,
and
now
you
know
it's
known
internationally
as
a
hospital
City,
the
mayor
often
mentions
you
know,
branding
it
and
also
making
sure
that
no
one
gets
left
behind,
because
I
think
we've
seen
that
in
the
past
and
that's
something
with
the
city
wants
to
improve.
When.
B
A
B
Your
job,
yeah,
absolutely
I,
would
say
it's
my
job
and
everyone
on
my
floor.
I
think
I
can
safely
say
that
all
of
us
really
care.
That's
why
we
work
for
the
government,
because
you
know
it's:
it's
a
public
service,
type
of
job
and
I.
Think
really.
The
focus
is
that
I
have
managing
special
projects,
but
also
you
know,
as
a
policy
analyst
wearing
a
couple
different
hats.
So
my
focus
is
in
my
portfolio:
food
insecurity,
land
recycling,
as
well
as
some
financial
and
digital
literacy.
B
Really,
the
know-how
and
the
skill
set
to
have
opportunity
whether
it's
moving
forward
in
jobs
or
you
know
getting
access
to
healthy
food
for
youth
and
families.
These
are
some
of
the
basic
needs
that
we
have
in
the
city,
but
everyone
on
my
floor.
You
know
they
work
from
sectors
like
working
for
affordable
housing,
to
improving
the
homelessness
situation,
to
the
opioid
epidemic
and
also
with
the
influx
of
more
and
more
immigrants
and
refugees,
families
we're
trying
to
provide
services
because
we're
all
neighbors
here
in
Pittsburgh.
B
Sure,
yeah
so
I
would
say
food
insecurity,
definitely
thinking
about
a
lot
of
our
partners
that
are
strong
in
this
space,
because
you
know
we
are
a
smaller
government
entity,
but
there
are
experts
in
the
field.
So
in
the
food
insecurity,
space
I
definitely
rely
heavily
on
the
food
bank.
You
know
they
serve
11
counties
in
this
area
and
really
there
are
a
huge,
huge
proponent
of
family
health,
as
well
as
improving
childhood
hunger,
which
is
one
of
the
mayor's
big
issues.
So.
B
Yeah,
how
to
get
access
to
it,
I
would
say,
because
we
at
the
city
we
own
a
couple.
We
own
recreation
centers,
we
own
senior
facilities.
We
have
the
power
to
service
low
income
folks,
this
way
so,
for
example,
working
with
the
food
bank,
as
well
as
for
run
to
food
rescue
during
the
federal
furlough
during
Christmas,
to
kind
of
react
to
the
families
that
were
not
able
to
access
food
stamps
for
two
and
a
half
months.
B
Some
of
them-
and
you
know
typically,
food
stamps-
should
only
last
a
month
and
sometimes
it's
not
even
that
sufficient
and
as
a
family
that
grew
up
on
WIC-
and
you
know
myself,
snap,
it's
it's
pretty
it's
pretty
hard
to
make
that
penny
stretch
so
I
coordinated.
You
know
in
a
couple
days
just
emergency
food
drop-offs
for
those
families,
we
had
a
ton
of
families
who
came
out
and
we're
very
grateful
because
of
that
type
of
emergency
help.
So.
B
Sure
absolutely
so,
my
parents
are
immigrants
from
northeastern
China
sealian
province
specifically,
and
they
came
here
30
over
35
years
ago.
My
dad
at
that
time
got
a
government
scholarship
to
get
his
PhD
in
the
US,
and
at
that
time
it
wasn't
brand
new
thing.
They
didn't
even
know
what
it
was
and
so
yeah
he
brought
my
mom
over.
She
was
a
teacher
of
English
in
China,
but
you
know
to
support
the
family.
B
Both
of
them
worked
very
hard,
but
you
know
I'm
very
grateful
because
I
think
my
mom
has
really
taught
that
and
both
my
parents
have
taught
that
really
strong
work
ethic.
She
worked
a
lot
of
part-time
jobs,
is
housekeeper,
delivering
newspapers,
a
lot
of
part-time
jobs,
so
I
think
really
it's
it's
very
important
for
me
to
give
back
then,
but.
B
Motivated
yeah
yeah
for
sure
I
think
you
know
growing
up
in
a
family.
It
was
all
about
saving
money,
so
really
I.
Think
working
with
my
colleague
Henry
Horne
Pyatt,
who
is
the
manager
of
small
business
and
redevelopment
on
launching
the
financial
empowerment
centers,
which
is
the
free,
one-on-one
financial,
coaching
that
we
have
at
the
city
that
just
launched
it's
spread
across
the
city
in
different
locations
and
commingled
with
social
services.
That's
something
that
was
very
important
to
me
personally,
because
that's
something
that
I
always
learned.
Is
you
know?
B
A
B
I
think
dependent
on
which
program
so,
for
example,
connectome
I
think
it's
a
pretty.
You
know
quantifiable
goal,
but
it's
also
it's
difficult
to
measure
because
thinking,
okay.
Well,
we
connect
to
34
residents.
They
got
their
computers,
they
got
their
workforce
certificates.
You
know
like
following
up
I
think
is
difficult,
but
also
thinking
about
you
know
the
number
of
families
that
we
serve
for,
like
food
drop-offs
right
sure
we
solve
the
problem
in
the
short
term,
but
how
can
we
give
them
the
skill
set
so
that
they'll
achieve
opportunity
and
success
in
the
long
term?
B
I
think
that
really
takes
you
know
a
dedicated
mayor
like
we
have,
as
well
as
dedicated
staff,
to
continue
keeping
in
contact
and
really
you
know
again
relying
on
our
partners
that
do
a
lot
of
the
community
outreach.
We
have
a
community
affairs
team,
you
know
I,
think
they're,
fantastic,
because
they're
out
in
the
community,
every
single
night
going
to
all
the
community
meetings-
and
there
really
are
point
people
who
are
interacting
and
interfacing
with
the
public
sounds.
B
Yeah
absolutely
I
think
you
know
my
background
after
graduate
school
at
the
Graduate
School
of
Public
and
International
Affairs,
my
the
mayor
and
I
believe
are
the
only
two
graduates
of
that
program
in
the
mayor's
office.
Yeah
I
think
a
lot
of
other
people
got
their
graduate
degrees
at
CMU,
which
you
know
the
Heinz
College
is
fantastic
as
well,
but
it's
a
point
of
pride
for
me.
I
think.
Definitely
that's
where
you
know.
I
met
a
lot
of
the
best
friends
that
I
have
in
the
city
as
well.
B
A
C
I'll
never
forget
the
day.
Our
landlord
called
and
said:
read
your
lease.
No
pets
allowed,
my
owner
tells
them
my
dog
ate
the
lease,
but
that
didn't
work
and
now
I'm
stuck
in
a
shelter.
But
this
pitbull
is
ready
for
a
new
cred
I'm,
loving,
loyal
and
play
well
with
others.
So
don't
be
intimidated
by
all
my
muscles,
because
the
biggest
one
I
have
is
my
heart.
That's
right,
I
said.
A
D
I
was
born
in
Lebanon,
but
my
grandparents
emigrated
here
back
in
the
20s.
So
as
the
old
traditions
were,
the
men
would
go
back
to
Lebanon,
get
married,
raise
a
family
and
things
were
really
good
back
in
the
60s
and
70s.
But
then
we
immigrated
here
the
whole
family
moved
back
here
to
Newcastle,
actually
in
77,
so
I've
been
living
in
Newcastle
and
now.
Pittsburgh
is
home
and
also
lived
around
the
country
ten
years
in
Salt,
Lake
City
a
little
bit
of
Baltimore.
So
would.
D
D
D
D
A
A
D
A
D
D
A
D
The
has
put
us
in
a
bind
a
little
bit
plus
a
lot
of
our
folks,
not
just
our
folks,
but
nationally
things
collected
for
recycling
aren't
truly
recyclable.
So
you
have
a
single
stream
here
in
the
city
of
Pittsburgh.
Everything
is
thrown
in
the
one
been.
However,
sometimes
folks
are
not
very
good
at
cleaning
up
the
recycling.
D
D
D
A
Also
deal
with
litter
I
remember
years
ago
the
guy
who
succeeded
mayor
Murphy,
your
original
boss,
Bob
O'connor,
unfortunately
had
a
short-lived
term,
but
have
the
read
up
program
and
I
know:
mayor
Peduto
is
also
concerned
about
litter,
I,
don't
know
what
we
can
do
to
make.
People
stop
littering
possible.
D
A
D
D
A
A
D
D
It
I
really
do
everything
every
day.
There's
something
new
to
learn.
There's
you
know
we
meet
with
other
departments.
We
try
different
processes.
We
get
a
lot
of
feedback
from
partner
organizations
from
the
public
about
ways
we
can
improve,
and
so
we
try
those
things.
We
have
different
tests,
different
theories
and
see
what
works.
D
A
D
D
Exactly
and
we're
doing
all
new
our
little
censored
little
cans
so
instead
of
having
a
crew
go
from
each
division
every
day
to
investigate
on
the
little
cans.
Now
we
have
a
program
with
the
sensors,
they
will
print
the
form
of
a
Panero
report,
of
which
cans
are
filled,
say
at
a
certain
70%
or
80%,
and
that
way
we
only
go
to
those
cans.
So
we're
not
wasting
time
service
and
cleanse
that
are
not
being
used.
I.
A
A
D
Absolutely
especially
if
you
care
about
the
environment,
if
you
care
about
you,
know,
process
improvements,
there's
there's
a
lot
of
things.
You
know
we're
doing
a
lot
of
interesting
things.
If
you
care
about
technology,
you
would
want
to
come
work
for
us,
we're
doing
like
that.
Little
can
sensors
and
we
have
a
team.
It's
not
just
public
works,
but
a
team
and
iymp
helping
us
with
that
we're
doing
the
lurkin
sensors,
the
GPS
routing
for
snowplows
yeah.