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Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Bill Urbanic from the City Council Budget Office, Molly Onufer from the Office of Community Affairs, and Todd Smith from the Department of Innovation & Performance.
A
Welcome
to
city
talk
I'm
John
McIntyre.
This
is
the
program
where,
among
other
things,
we
prove
that
the
people
who
work
for
the
city
government
are
not
just
nameless,
faceless
bureaucrats
but
actual
human
beings
with
actual
names
and
faces.
For
example,
Bill
Urbanek
is
here
the
City
Council's
budget
director
bill.
Welcome
to
the
program.
Thank.
B
B
It
really
isn't,
but
it
is,
as
we
know,
the
the
council
is
the
only
folks
that
can
put
forth
legislation
all
that
legislation
has
a
policy
impact
and
fiscal
impact
as
well
too.
So
our
job
is
to
follow
the
the
accounts
of
the
city
and
to
make
sure
that
legislative
proposals
are
able
to
meet
within
those
fiscal
guidelines.
How.
B
B
Of
money,
if
you
count
the
capital
and
the
operating
bunch
of
the
operating
budget
is
about
five
hundred
sixty
million
dollars.
The
capital
budget
varies
because
we
have
monies
from
previous
years
that
we're
still
holding
on
to
so
a
couple
hundred
million
there,
as
well
too,
that
pass
through
our
office
on
an
annual
basis
and.
A
B
Ak-47
was
a
double-edged
sword
yeah.
It
was
a
burden
to
some
extent
because
it
put
sort
of
a
cloud
over
the
city,
but
on
the
other
hand,
what
it
did
was
help
to
open
us
up
and
put
some
controls
over
over
a
spending
and
assisted
us
in
doing
something,
that's
even
more
important.
That
was
changing
some
of
the
culture
in
the
city
as
well.
To
what
do
you
mean
by
culture?
B
We
we
learned
first
off
to
do
a
five-year
plan,
as
opposed
to
just
voting
on
a
budget
on
an
annual
basis.
Taking
a
look
at
a
five-year
plan
helps
give
you
a
forecast
into
the
future
and
allows
you
to
adjust
your
spending
for
that
particular
year
and
understand
that
maybe
other
expenses
rather,
revenues
will
be
coming
up
in
the
future
that
you
can
depend
on
or
need
to
plan
for
as
far
as
the
expenditures
go
I.
A
B
Has
been
very
successful
up
to
this
point,
we're
going
to
continue
on
there
are
times
and
there's
different
pressures,
obviously
pressures
from
citizens
that
want
to
park
on
every
corner.
You
have
labor
unions
that
want
all
the
extra
benefits
that
they
can
possibly
have
and
and
pensions
that'll
go
on
and
double
forever,
but
you.
C
B
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
From
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
area
I
was
born
and
raised
in
Dormont
and
Scott
Township
I
went
to
chartreuse
Valley
High
School.
Both
my
parents
are
from
Pittsburgh.
My
father
grew
up
in
Spring
Hill.
My
mother
grew
up
on
Ridge
Avenue
in
the
north
side
and
with
her
family.
So
I
had
an
Italian
family
on
the
on
the
north
side
and
my
Hungarian
Romanian
family,
from
Spring
Garden
and.
A
B
B
B
A
A
A
D
D
D
So
garbage
in
the
neighborhood
is
a
good
example.
I
just
helped
a
resident
in
Sheridan,
his
neighbor
had
been
whose
bags
had
broken
and
there
was
sort
of
garbage
all
over
the
yard.
So
we
were
able
to
send
out.
You
know
I
made
contact
with
Environmental
Services.
They
sent
out
the
foreman
and
worked
with
the
the
neighbor
to
you
know.
A
D
D
D
Is
but
it's
it's
a
lot
of
fun
too,
so
we
go
into
the
community.
We
split
the
neighborhoods
up.
We
go
to
evening
meeting
we're
out
anywhere
between
one
and
four
nights
a
week
at
community
meetings
and
those
are
really
important
because
you
know
it's
our
opportunity
to
let
everyone
know
what
the
city's
got
going
on.
So
we
work
with
all
the
internal
departments
and
authorities
and
gather
all
the
news
of
upcoming
events,
new
initiatives,
resources
reminders.
A
D
Yep
just
fun
things
like
that
to
make
sure
people
know
what's
going
on,
but
then
it's
also
important.
For
you
know,
the
mayor's
office
really
places
a
high
importance
on
understanding
what's
going
on
in
the
neighborhoods.
So
we
also
report
back
once
a
week
to
the
mayor's
office
about
you
know:
I
was
in
Sheridan
this
week.
This
is
what
they've
got
going
on
you
know
and
and
and
it's
good
to
keep
a
to
keep
a
pulse
on
the
neighborhoods.
So.
A
D
You
know
it's
it,
it's
all
relative
right,
so
you
know
what
affects
someone's
quality
of
life.
Is,
you
know,
there's
sort
of
when
they
reach
us.
It's
there
at
the
end
of
their
rope,
they've
tried
everything
that
they
could
and
you
know.
Sometimes
people
are
a
little
impatient,
but
we
understand
that
because
it's
something
that's
an
you
know
impacting
their
day-to-day
and
that's
that's
a
bummer.
We
want
to
try
to
resolve
that.
How.
D
Love
it
I
really
do
it's
really
fun
to
be
out
in
the
community
and
meeting
new
people
and
really
directly
engaging
with
folks
and
another
thing
that
we
also
do
is
help
our
internal
departments
play
in
their
public
meetings.
So
when
they
have
to
get
community
input
about
something
you
know,
we
help
them
design
that
meeting.
What's
going
to
work
for
that
neighborhood,
you
know
collect
dates
and
then
get
the
word
out
about
it
too.
So
it
really
is,
you
know.
D
No
two
days
are
the
same,
which
I
really
like,
and
it's
I
get
to
learn
a
lot
about
the
process
in
city
government.
So
I
always
say:
I
know
a
little
about
a
lot,
but
it's
cool
to
you
know,
engage
with
the
community
and
departments
and
people
out
in
the
field,
and
you
know
elected
officials.
You
know
we
really
get
to
engage
with
a
lot
of
folks,
which
is
cool,
but.
A
D
A
D
A
A
A
D
D
D
D
D
D
A
A
A
A
E
E
E
Innovation
summit:
it's
an
annual
event
that
happens
at
the
end
of
Women's,
History
Month,
so
at
the
end
of
March,
beginning
of
April,
and
we've
been
doing
this
for
about
four
years.
This
is
part
of
an
initiative
through
the
mayor's
office,
our
department
InP
in
the
URA
that
envisions
how
the
city
could
be
more
part
of
the
conversation
of
how
we
can
promote
the
organizations
who
are
committed
to
a
more
inclusive
city
for
our
residents.
So.
E
So
I
think
we've
really
grown
since
the
inception
of
the
vision
for
inclusive
innovation,
so
it
is
kind
of
a
wide
net,
but
some
of
the
focus
areas
around
accessibility,
gender
equity
opportunity
and
definitely
stuff
around
just
general
awareness
around
technology,
sometimes
and
how
we
can
share
best
practices
with
other
I.
Don't
know
organizations
who
might
not
be
so
sophisticated
in
that
field.
Yeah.
E
Well,
you
know
at
the
democratization
of
communication
and
we
have
a
rise
of
a
lot
of
amateurs
out
there,
which
is
good
and
bad,
but
it
definitely
waters
down.
What
is
true
and
what
is
fake,
and
you
know,
I
think
the
city.
It's
also
an
opportunity,
though,
for
the
city
to
own
their
own
narrative
and
really
share
stuff
that
sometimes
it's
not
on
earth
and
I
think
something
like
City
talks,
great
right,
because
you
know
you're
talking
about
what
individuals
in
city
government
are
doing
and
that
sometimes
shapes
the
work
that
we're
doing.
E
So
we
had
a
little
over,
a
thousand
people
show
up
for
the
event
and
the
event
was
held.
Downtown
Point
Park
University
hosted
most
of
the
programming
and
we
also
had
another
venue,
the
former
Art
Institute,
building
at
4:22
Boulevard,
the
house,
which
is
now
owned
by
the
city,
the
housing
authority
and
the
URA,
and
we
had
a
really
cool
kind
of
pop-up
coffee
shop.
We
had
a
kind
of
an
immersive
photo,
exhibit
there
that
was
cool,
and
then
we
did
lunch.
On
the
eighth
floor,
several.
A
E
Killed
the
food
this
year,
it
was
such
a
highlight
and
it
was
great
to
hear
not
only
from
attendees
who
were
trying
this
food
for
the
first
time.
We
also
heard
back
from
some
of
the
caterers
that
they've
been
asked
to
do
some
future
gigs
through
that
experience,
and
so
that
is
one
of
the
nice
parts
about
doing
a
big
event
around
Pittsburgh.
Is
you
create
opportunities,
awareness
that
might
result
in
continued
business
for
those
organizations,
so.
A
E
We
took
a
major
step
this
year
in
previous
iterations.
This
event
has
happened
across
a
week
and
it's
happened
across
all
over
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
and
it
was
very
hard
to
manage
accessibility.
So
speaking
about
people
with
physical
disabilities
to
make
sure
you
have
an
accessible
entrance,
an
accessible
bathroom.
We
really
did
well
this
year
to
provide
all
those
amenities
for
the
disability
community,
but
then
we
forgot
to
provide
easy
access
for
accessibility,
seating
at
some
of
the
seminars
and
so
we're
continuing
to
always
learn.
E
We
also
have
done
some
really
great
work
with
the
mental
health
community
to
help
us
think
about
how
we
could
design
sat,
save
quiet
spaces
during
the
summit,
but
one
of
the
feedback
was
we
had
one
space
in
the
basement
of
the
URA
building
at
the
former
art
Institute
building.
But
since
most
of
the
programming
was
at
Point
Park,
we
should
have
had
a
room
over
there.
So
live
and
learn.
Yeah.
C
E
E
I
mean
every
person
helped.
It
was
great
to
see
this
year,
city
employees
involved
from
a
volunteer
standpoint.
We
really
appreciate
human
resources
providing
City
fit
credit
for
our
employees
that
take
advantage
I
think
we
had
almost
30
people
volunteer,
including
you
also
Point
Park,
students
were
awesome.
They
were
great
I.
E
Think
Point
Park
is
an
underutilized
arm,
that's
so
close
to
the
city
of
Pittsburgh,
and
they
have
such
great
talent
there
and
I
think
there's
a
lot
of
potential
to
keep
giving
them
real-world
experience
to
work
with
our
team
and
beyond
the
community
and
create
a
mutual
kind
of
product.
So
you're
from
here
originally
I
am
from
here.
Originally
I
grew
up
in
Point
Breeze
and
then
you
went
to
San
Francisco
for
a
little
while
yeah
I
mean
everybody
goes
to
San
Francisco
right
to
check
out.
E
A
E
This
is
where
my
family
is
I'm
in
San
Francisco.
The
fabric
of
this
city
has
changed
a
lot
even
since
I
left-
and
you
know,
I
was
really
impressed
with
what
was
happening
here
and
I.
Think
it's
a
smaller
palm
where
you
could
be
a
bigger
fish,
have
a
bigger
impact,
and
you
know
it's
been
great
to
be
home.
Todd.