Julia Felton stories, Page 7
Pittsburgh to extend lease on North Side police HQ with option to buy
Pittsburgh City Council voted Thursday to renew the city’s lease on its North Side police headquarters, a week after opposing the measure in a preliminary vote. The city has been leasing a Western Avenue building for its police headquarters for 20 years. The existing lease was set to expire at...
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy wraps up 1st project funded by parks tax
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is completing its first project partially funded by the city’s controversial park taxes, with four more projects in the works for the new year. The 0.5-mill parks tax — or $50 per every $100,000 of a property’s assessed value — was first collected in 2021 after...
Christmas tree recycling programs open drop-off sites
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials are encouraging residents not to let their live Christmas trees end up in a landfill after the holidays. Both the city and the county launched their annual recycling programs on Tuesday. Pittsburgh’s program allows people to drop off trees at one of 11 drop-off sites...
Pittsburgh’s foie gras ban prompts threat of lawsuit
A New York company plans to sue Pittsburgh over its ban on the French delicacy foie gras. Pittsburgh City Council on Monday voted to ban foie gras. A spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey could not immediately confirm whether the mayor planned to sign the legislation or offer additional comment on...
Pittsburgh bans foie gras, pauses efforts to bar fur sales, horse-drawn carriages
Pittsburgh City Council on Monday voted to ban the French delicacy foie gras. The measure — sponsored by council members Bruce Kraus, D-South Side, and Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill — bans the sale of force-fed animal products. Foie gras is created by forcing a foot-long tube down a bird’s throat...
Pittsburgh City Council opposes re-upping lease for North Side police headquarters
In a preliminary vote Monday, Pittsburgh City Council opposed extending a lease for the city’s police headquarters, which expires at the end of January. Council could take a final vote on the measure next week. A proposal before council would extend the city’s lease on the North Side police headquarters...
Pittsburgh City Council approves 2024 budgets, taxes remain unchanged
Budgets adopted Monday by Pittsburgh City Council won’t result in a tax increase next year. The $686 million operating budget and $158.7 million capital budget have been largely unchanged since Mayor Ed Gainey formally introduced them last month. Council made a series of tweaks last week, including giving themselves a...
Pittsburgh’s URA to invest more than $2M in affordable housing preservation
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority plans to spend more than $2 million to preserve over 420 apartments as affordable housing. The money comes from the URA’s Housing Preservation Program, which the authority created in April with $8.9 million in pandemic relief money. Wood Street Commons in Downtown is set to receive...
Steelers to build community field, youth recreation complex at Hazelwood Green
The Pittsburgh Steelers announced plans Thursday to build a new community field and youth recreation complex at the Hazelwood Green site in Pittsburgh. The Steelers Charities will operate the complex, which will be branded with the NFL team’s logo. Kids will participate in youth football, clinics with current and former...
Proposed apartment building in Pittsburgh’s Bluff would feature local art on facade
A proposed six-story apartment building in Pittsburgh’s Bluff neighborhood would prominently feature 10 large panels of artwork on the building’s façade. Pittsburgh-based GSX Ventures has proposed the 211-unit apartment building on a 1.4-acre site that occupies nearly an entire city block bounded by Forbes Avenue and Watson, Marion and Van...
Pittsburgh considers extending lease on police HQ for 6 years, with option to buy
A proposal before Pittsburgh City Council would extend the city’s lease on its North Side police headquarters for six years, after which it would have an option to buy the building. The city has leased the building on Western Avenue for 20 years. The current lease is set to expire...
Pittsburgh City Council tweaks mayor’s budget proposal, to vote on spending plan next week
Pittsburgh City Council advanced a package of budget-related legislation Wednesday after tweaking the spending plan proposed by the mayor, including more than doubling a would-be pay raise for council members. The proposed 2024 budget includes no tax increase, though City Council Budget Director Peter McDevitt has said that the city...
Pittsburgh to use money from anti-violence trust fund on parks, recreation
Money from Pittsburgh’s anti-violence trust fund can now be used on parks and recreation projects. City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to allow up to 10% of the money in the Stop the Violence trust fund to go to the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill...
Pittsburgh City Council members propose 7.1% pay raise for themselves
Pittsburgh City Council members are proposing to increase their pay by 7.1% in the city’s budget for next year — more than double the raise that Mayor Ed Gainey had proposed for council members. Gainey had included a 3% increase for council members in his proposed budget. Council members introduced...
$13M project to address landslide risks in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington
Pittsburgh is spending $13 million on a project that officials say will reduce landslide risks in Mt. Washington. The neighborhood has endured several significant landslides in recent years, with debris falling onto streets or walking paths where hillsides are unstable. City are focusing the latest project on three areas that...
Pittsburgh Land Bank completed 1st sales in 2023, looks to ramp up work in new year
Nearly a decade after it was created, the struggling Pittsburgh Land Bank this year finally sold its first batch of blighted properties in the city — and optimistic officials said Friday that they have major expansion plans for 2024. The land bank, an affiliate of the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority,...
Pittsburgh looks to use some money from anti-violence trust fund on parks, recreation
Pittsburgh officials are considering allowing a portion of its Stop the Violence trust fund money to go to the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. The trust fund currently must use 60% of its budget to support outside organizations. That money goes to nonprofits across the city in the form...
Pittsburgh considers banning fur sales, horse-drawn carriage rides, foie gras
Animal-rights legislation being considered by Pittsburgh City Council would ban fur sales, horse-drawn carriages and the French delicacy foie gras in the city. The would-be ban on fur sales and manufacturing is needed because of the “tremendous suffering” that millions of animals face each year when they are killed for...
$10M to go toward affordable housing programs in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh City Council has approved a $10 million budget for a trust fund supporting affordable housing programs in the city. The amount of money provided to the Housing Opportunity Fund in 2024 could be adjusted in the coming weeks as City Council finalizes the city’s budget, Councilman Bruce Kraus, D-South...
Pittsburgh looks to extend police headquarters lease for $1.3M
Pittsburgh officials are considering a six-year lease extension for the police bureau’s headquarters for more than $1.3 million per year. The city has leased the Western Avenue location in Pittsburgh’s Chateau neighborhood since it sold the prior police headquarters building in 2002. The old site is now a parklet near...
Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority ‘confident’ it will meet Biden’s goal of replacing lead water pipes
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority said Friday it is confident that it can meet a new Biden administration goal of removing lead water pipes within a decade. Strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency this week would require most U.S. cities to replace lead water pipes within...
Morning Roundup: Pittsburgh police investigate synagogue threat; Orthodox priest accused of stealing $117K from parish
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Dec. 1: Pittsburgh police investigate reported threat against synagogue Pittsburgh police said they are investigating a reported online threat made against a synagogue. Officers checked and secured all of the city’s synagogues and will maintain a presence there,...
Pittsburgh police to launch new street crime team, hire community aides next year
Pittsburgh police plan next year to launch a new street crime team and hire a dozen people to respond to calls that don’t require an armed officer. The new street crime unit will be comprised of 18 officers, including two sergeants and a lieutenant. It will focus on reducing violent...
Pittsburgh Fire Bureau looks to boost recruitment of women
The Pittsburgh Fire Bureau is working to boost recruitment efforts, particularly for women, according to Chief Darryl Jones. A performance audit released this week by City Controller Michael Lamb found that last year fewer than 1% of the bureau’s roughly 700 firefighters were women. The national average was around 5%,...
New Public Works facility in Pittsburgh’s South Hills won’t be ready in time for this winter
A new Public Works facility that was supposed to bring snow plows, road salt and other supplies to Pittsburgh’s South Hills neighborhoods won’t be ready in time for this winter. The facility has been delayed repeatedly. The project has been in the works for more than six years, but has...
