►
Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Tiffini Simoneaux from the Mayor Peduto's office, Steve Rothhaar from the Department of Parks & Recreation,, and Kate Brownlee from the Department of Innovation & Performance.
A
Welcome
to
the
new
edition
of
city
talk
while
we
try
to
figure
out
exactly
what
it
is
that
people
do
around
here
all
day
and
by
around
here
I
mean
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
as
and
employees
in
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
meet
one
of
them
right
now
here
is
Tiffany
Simoneau
of
the
mayor's
office.
Tiffany
welcome
to
city
talk,
oh
thanks.
So.
A
B
Things
so
I've
been
in
my
position
for
about
three
years
now:
I'm
the
early
childhood
manager,
so
I
work
within
the
mayor's
office
and
the
office
of
equity
and
I
really
work
around
education
and
specifically
early
childhood
education.
My
position
is
kind
of
interesting
in
that
the
mayor
is
a
strong
supporter
of
early
childhood
in
universal
pre-k,
so
he
was
very
interested
and
then
we
had
a
group
of
four
City
Council
members
who
had
a
Women's
Caucus
and
they
wanted
to
really
position
someone
within
the
mayor's
office
to
focus
on
early
childhood
and.
B
C
B
Kind
of
the
extent
of
my
political
involvement
but
yeah
so
I
my
background
I
was
a
preschool
teacher.
I
was
a
out-of-school
time.
Teacher
I
ran
a
summer
camp
and
then
kind
of
moved
up
and
became
a
director
of
a
childcare
center
in
the
north
side.
So
I
was
there
for
about
seven
years
before
I
came
to
the
same
awesome.
B
B
What
the
majority
of
that
happening
between
the
ages
of
zero
to
three
so
I
think
there
has
been
a
lot
of
awareness,
especially
through
pediatricians
and
other
kind
of
medical
care,
folks
to
kind
of
educate
parents
that
you
know
young
children
when
there's
they
start
to
babble
they're,
not
just
making
sounds
that's
really
the
beginning
of
talking,
and
you
know,
reading
to
your
child,
and
speaking
with
you
to
your
child,
is
really
the
beginning
of
kind
of
building
that
brain
architecture
that
lasts
with
them
throughout
their
lives.
But.
A
A
B
As
well,
yeah
so
I
take
a
lot
of
calls
from
early
childhood
facilities,
so
they
could
be
home-based
or
community-based
childcare
facilities.
So
a
couple
weeks
ago,
I
had
a
call
from
a
childcare
facility
on
the
north
side
that
had
some
ground
hogs
that
were
starting
to
infest
their
playground
and
they
wanted
to
know
how
to
who
they
should
call,
so
they
were
able
to
get
in
touch
with
animal
control.
So
that's
one
of
the
things
that
I
do
so
I'm
able
to
connect
those
providers
to
some
of
the
city
services.
B
There's
also
been
a
change
statewide.
There
was
a
tragic
fire
in
Erie
at
a
home-based
childcare
facility,
and
so
the
state
has
changed
some
regulations
around
smoke,
alarms
fire
detectors,
so
we've
had
some
facilities,
call
us
to
say:
I,
don't
know,
can
I
have
someone
come
out
and
check
my
facility
because
I
want
to
make
sure
that
we're
safe
so
being
able
to
then
connect
them
to
the
fire.
Bureau
has
been
something
we've
been
doing.
Also,
that's.
B
Do
yeah
so
I
have
a
great
relationship
with
the
Pittsburgh
Public
Schools
early
childhood
program
and
they
serve
a
huge
number
of
children
over
3,000
children
and
their
infant
toddler
and
then
especially
their
preschool
programs
so
working
closely
with
them.
I
sit
on
the
Head
Start
policy
ward,
so
I
sit
with
a
group
of
other
community
representatives
and
parents
that
really
look
at
the
program
there
to
make
sure
that's
supporting
young
children
and
their
families
to
be
successful.
I.
A
A
B
That
the
the
fact
that
parents,
administrators
teachers
are
paying
more
attention
to
that,
but
I
think
you
know
we
live
in
a
different
world.
I
know
like
I
hated
middle
school.
You
know.
Middle
school
is
hard
for
everybody,
but
when
I
went
home
for
middle
school,
I
didn't
then
have
to
deal
with
people
texting
me
or
responding
to
things
on
Facebook
or
Instagram.
B
Sure
so
we
we
do
provide.
We
sit
on
a
couple
different
groups
that
kind
of
look
at
like
social-emotional
learning
early
childhood
education
really
does
a
lot
of
that,
so
just
making
sure
that
kids
feel
comfortable
to
kind
of
communicate
and
be
themselves
I
think
that's
a
big
part
and
I
think
also
just
teaching
kids
how
to
be
kind
and
giving
them
the
chance
to
kind
of
you
know,
communicate
to
each
other
and
realize
that
we're
all
coming
from
different
places
and
that
we
all
should
be
nice
to
each
other.
B
My
family's
from
Carrick,
so
they
are
very
Pittsburgh
and
that
they
all
kind
of
live
in
the
same
area.
So,
like
my
grandma,
my
aunt
great-uncle.
So
if
you
drive
up
to
where
most
of
my
family
lives,
you
have
to
make
sure
you
honk
your
horn
at
the
top
of
the
hill,
because
if
you
bump
into
someone
it's
going
to
be
a
relative
and
I
live
in
Stanton
Heights
now
so
where'd.
B
I
went
to
school,
a
small
liberal
arts
college
called
Antioch
and
that's
in
Yellow,
Springs
Ohio,
and
when
I
finished
college
I
moved
back
to
Pittsburgh
thinking.
I
would
stay
for
like
a
year.
I'd
had
an
internship
in
San,
Francisco
and
loved
it
and
came
back
just
to
save
up
some
money,
but
really
it's
very
easy
to
live
in
Pittsburgh
and.
B
B
B
So
one
of
the
things
that
we've
been
focusing
on
back
in
May,
we
opened
the
Dolly
Parton
Imagination
Library
program,
which
is
a
international
program
that
we've
brought
here
to
Pittsburgh
due
to
some
generous
funding
from
a
local
foundation.
But
basically
we
provide
free
books
for
children
under
the
age
of
five.
B
We
have
about
2400
kids
that
are
enrolled
now,
so
we're
looking
to
get
every
child
under
the
age
of
five
that
lives
in
the
city
limits
signed
up,
they
can
just
go
to
Dolly
Parton
Imagination
Library
com,
or
they
can
just
google
city
of
Pittsburgh
imagination,
library
they
go
online.
They
can
sign
up.
It
takes
about
a
minute.
We
also
have
paper
forms,
but
once
they
sign
up,
they
get
their
first
book
after
about
two
months
and
then
ongoing.
They
get
a
book
every
month
until
their
child
turns
five.
So.
B
Do
yes
and
I
the
best
part
of
the
program
is
that
it
comes
in
the
child's
name.
So
the
book
comes
in
the
mail,
it's
wrapped
in
cellophane,
so
you
get
it.
It's
a
bright
colored
book,
they're
brand,
new
hardback
books
or
softback
books
for
the
older
kids,
but
it
comes
in
their
name,
so
they
get
to
kind
of
rip
that
open
and
say.
Oh
it's,
my
book
that
comes
so
that's
one
of
the
big
things
we're
also
opening
within
the
next
couple
months,
a
quality
fund
for
child
care
providers.
B
So
it's
a
two
million
dollar
fund
that
community-based
childcare
facilities,
home-based
or
centers
can
apply,
and
maybe
they
want
to
redo
their
playgrounds.
Maybe
they
have
to
do
some
led
abatement
or
something
like
that.
They
can
use
the
money
for
that
or
they
can
also
purchase
materials
like
a
curriculum
classroom
materials,
furniture
with
the
goal
of
having
more
high
quality,
early
learning
and
in
the
community.
You.
B
Probably
a
hundred
and
twenty-five
children
in
our
program
and
I
knew
that
you
know
all
the
time
they
were
ongoing
budget
concerns.
So
every
time
we
had
to
look
at
the
budget
quarterly,
we
were
trying
to
figure
out
how
to
make
ends
meet,
and
we
were
a
very
you
know,
blessed
facility
and
that
we
were
served
by
a
foundation.
So
we
owned
our
building.
We
had
a
really
beautiful
building
great
staff.
B
We
were
a
high
quality
facility,
so
we
had
all
of
those
positive
things
going
for
us,
but
we
still,
you
know,
struggled
to
make
sure
that
we
were,
you
know,
paying
our
staff
decent
wages
being
able
to
keep
up
with
the
facility
and
that
sort
of
thing
so
being
able
to
look
at
it
from
a
systems.
Level
within
my
position
is
kind
of
a
dream,
job
and
yeah.
So
it's
something
I
love
it's
a
little
different
than
working
with
kids
every
day,
but
but
I
like
being
able
to
make
that
positive
impact.
Tiffany.
B
E
Hi
I'm
Maura
Kennedy
director
the
department
of
permits
licenses
and
inspections.
We
have
many
resources
available
to
community
members
and
business
owners
to
learn
more
about
PLI.
One
of
them
is
a
monthly
newsletter
to
communicate.
Change
is
occurring
in
our
department,
just
go
to
this
website
and
you
can
put
in
your
name
and
email
address.
E
A
Welcome
back
to
city
talk
from
the
Department
of
Parks
and
Recreation,
say
hello
to
Steve
Rother
Steve.
Welcome
to
city
talk.
Thank
you
for
having
me,
so
you
are
involved
in
a
number
of
sports
and
organizing
huge
leagues
around
the
city,
but
as
you're
primarily
is
your
primary
thing.
Baseball.
Yes,.
F
F
F
A
F
We're
trying
to
involve
the
the
participants
in
the
league
as
much
as
possible,
so
if
we
can
get
them
do
to
participate
in
some
meetings
and
some
rules,
interpretation
meetings
and
anytime
there's
a
big
conflict,
we
can
kind
of
send
that
out
and
put
a
little
bit
more
on
them
because
it
is,
it
is
their
league.
You
know
we're
here
to
try
to
administer
it
and
make
sure
everything
gets
done,
right
and
funded,
but
all
in
all
it's
it's
it's
the
people's
league
and.
F
A
F
F
A
A
F
F
F
F
A
F
Indoor
thing
it
used
to
be
indoor
soccer,
where
you
were
playing
balls
off
the
walls
and
things
like
that.
Ball
is
just
bouncing
all
over
the
place
and
it
wasn't
a
lot
of
control
this
futsal,
you
have
to
be
controlled.
It
builds
your
skills
and
really
lends
to
going
back
outside
onto
the
soccer
field
and
there's
those
skills
kind
of
transfer.
You
still
playing
any
sports
yourself.
I
play
a
lot
of
volleyball
I
coach
I
play
sand.
A
F
F
You
City.
D
Hi,
my
name
is
Lorena
Townsend
I'm,
a
paramedic
for
the
city
of
Pittsburgh.
For
25
years
now,
I
started
out
as
a
paramedic
with
the
program
through
the
city
of
Pittsburgh.
They
trained
me
while
I
worked
for
them.
I
became
a
paramedic
because
I
wanted
to
help.
People
have
worked
all
over
the
city.
I've
worked
Homewood
to
Easton
the
Weston
I,
like
my
job,
because
I
get
to
meet
all
kinds
of
different
people.
I've
met
a
guy
who
was
a
Tuskegee
Airman
on
a
call.
I
also
have
almost
deliver
babies.
D
A
C
A
C
So
I
didn't
know
what
to
expect
really
coming
in
I've
worked
in
different
capacities.
I've
I
was
a
teacher
for
ten
years,
and
I
worked
for
UPMC
for
12
years.
So
I
didn't
really
know
what
to
expect
city
workers.
Don't
almost
have
the
best
reputation,
but
everyone
I
have
worked
with
universally,
so
far
has
been
fabulous
and
you
are
a
performance
coach.
Yes,
I'm,
a
performance.
A
C
We
work
with
folks
throughout
the
city
to
try
to
help
them
look
at
their
processes
and
think
about
how
they
can
improve
them.
So
sometimes
processes
don't
work
as
smoothly
or
as
quickly
as
citizens
would
like,
and
so
we're
working
with
the
data
team
to
try
to
help
people
understand
how
they're
doing,
and
then
we
coach
them
on
thinking
through
how
they
could
do
things
a
little
better.
So.
A
C
A
C
Exactly
so
they
got
permitting
for
if
you
want
a
tree
removed
down
from
I
think
two
days
to
about
20
minutes.
It's
big
yeah.
It's
a
lot
of
savings
on
the
part
of
the
resident
and
also
the
city
workers,
and
so
they
can
work
on
getting
other
stuff
done.
It
saves
the
inspectors
from
having
to
go
out
and
make
a
physical
trip
to
the
to
the
tree,
and
so
we're
really
providing
people
with
tools
to
sort
of
ask
better
questions
about
how
they
do
their
work.
But.