Library Wants Tax Vote

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh wants to know if city residents are willing to raise their property taxes to help keep the system in the black. The library and its volunteers have launched a petition drive to place a referendum on the November ballot that would ask voters to raise their property taxes by .25 mills.

“That would be used exclusively, only, for the operation and maintenance of this system, which thousands upon thousands upon thousands of us across this entire city, and really this region, value as a corner stone,” said Library Board Member and Pittsburgh City Councilman Patrick Dowd.

The tax amounts to $25 dollars for every $100,000 of assessed value on residential and commercial property. The millage rate increase would raise between $3.25 and $3.5 million dollars a year. The library system is facing a projected deficit of $5 million in 2014.

Board Member and Allegheny County Judge Frank Lucchino says the library is looking at other income generating options. Also being pursued is a campaign to increase the library’s endowment, asking the Regional Asset District for more money, doubling individual giving, increasing corporate and foundation giving and working with state and local governments to find ways to boost revenues. Lucchino tired to fend off arguments that a tax increase would make the city less competitive in the fight for economic development. “The library is the future of the city and the library makes it more competitive.”

“115 years this library has been here and now the people will have a voice on deciding do they want this library to continue,” said Lucchino, “It will be up to them.”

To get on the ballot, supporters need to collect about 2,800 signatures. Lucchino has set a goal of collecting 9,000 signatures to avoid any problems if names are disqualified.

Incumbent Dowd Wins City District 7

In 2007 Patrick Dowd says he won his party's nomination by a mere 91 votes, but this year he cruised to comfortable 64 to 35% win over challenger Anthony Mark Ceoffe. Dowd says he feels his win is a mandate to continue fighting for the issues that are crucial to the city - "Saving our public assets, whether we're talking about parking, pensions, the libraries. We also want to make sure we're focused on the city's financial health." He says constituent services have been crucial to staying in step with the needs and concerns of the community and he hopes to expand those dialogues in the future. No Republican filed in the primary, so Dowd's of a second four year term is assured this November.

Council, Mayor Spar Over $45 Mill

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has asked city council to approve a plan to use reserve funds to pay off old debt and then issues new lower interest bonds but some council members are less than will to go along with the idea. As much as $45 million has been built up in reserve in recent years and had been earmarked by council to help pay off old debt or to shore up the pension fund. The administration is now asking council to use a portion of the money to pay down non-callable bonds through a tender offer and place the rest in a special account that would be used in 2012 when the city has its first opportunity to call the bonds. At the same time the mayor wants to issue 45 million dollars in “Build America” bonds. The “Build America” bond program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the federal government will pay 35% of the interest on the bonds. The proceeds from the bonds must be used for infrastructure projects. The non-callable bonds carry a rate of 6.5% and City Finance Director Scott Kunka says the new bonds would carry substantially lower rates.

The request upset several members of council. Councilman Bill Peduto says the city may need the money to either pump up the pension fund to lower minimum annual pension fund payments in the future or to get from 2016 when pension payments spike to 2018 when the city’s debt service payments drop. Councilman Patrick Dowd voiced many of the same concerns at a council meeting earlier this week. “This account… could potentially play a roll in being the solution to the pension problem,” says Dowd, “I understand that [the mayor’s office wants] to transfer funds and issue new debt to retire old debt, and I understand all that and I support that concept, but I do not support that absent our larger goals and strategies.”

Other council members questioned the mayor’s commitment to lowering the city’s debt. In recent weeks the mayor has rejected the so-called Council/Controller plan saying he will not issue any new debt. The Council/Controller plan involves selling city owned parking meters, surface lots and one parking garage to the Pittsburgh Parking Authority in return for $220 million. The money would then be used to boost the pension fund. To make that payment, the Authority would have to issue new bonds. City Finance Director Scott Kunka says the difference is that council wants to issue new debt and the mayor wants to refinance debt.

The mayor’s office says the proceeds from the Build America bonds would be used to “keep the capital program going.” In recent years the city has been using a pay-as-you-go approach to capital improvements.

Patrick Dowd asked for a three-week hold on the legislation, “while we find a solution to the pension problem.” Kunka argued that he needed the approval sooner or the tender offer would expire. Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak complained that the Ravenstahl Administration is always coming to council “at the least minute.” “Everything is rush, rush, rush,” says Rudiak. Council eventually decided to hold the legislation for two weeks. Kunka thinks he may be able to keep $7 million in tender offers alive until then.

Group May Pay City's Bill to Fight Shale Drilling

Legislation that would ban drilling for Marcellus Shale within Pittsburgh city limits has been held for three weeks to allow bill sponsor Doug Shields to set up a post agenda meeting. Shields hopes to bring in a panel of experts to give council more information about how the ban would work. The ban was the subject of an emotional public hearing this week and while most council members are in favor of the idea, most, like councilman Patrick Dowd, also believe it will eventually lead to a lawsuit being field against the city. The measure seems to run afoul of state law. Dowd says he wants to hear from the city’s legal department about how they will defend council’s position. During today’s City Council meeting Councilmen Bill Peduto and Doug Shields noted that they have been contacted by the Chambersburg based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. Peduto says the group’s the Projects Director, Ben Price, seems to be willing to cover the city’s legal costs. Shields was unwilling to expand on his conversation with Price. Councilman Dowd says he has never been contacted by Price and he demanded to know more. Shields says he will learn more during the post agenda meeting. Council hopes to be able to hold that informational meeting some time in the next three weeks. Dowd says his goal is to “look after the health, safety, and well being” of all Pittsburghers and since he has “serious concerns” about the safety of shale drilling he is not in favor of it happening in the city or in any part of the watershed that feeds into the city’s drinking water supply. However, he says he is not always able to do what he wants, “Passing a ban, I think, is what we all want, but what we want is not always the right thing. I love to eat greasy foods but if I want to live to be 90 that’s not the right thing.”

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund did not return calls for comment on this story.

Mayor Wants Bids For Parking Lease By September 15

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has released a final request for proposals (RFP) to 7 pre-qualified investors to lease city parking garages and meters for 50 years. The mayor is hoping that a lease agreement will bring a minimum of $300 million upfront....$200 million to bring the pension fund up to 50% of its $967 million liability, and $100 million to pay down the City Parking Authority debt. Ravenstahl said adjustments were made to the original RFP following 3 neighborhood meetings...
“We have addressed the concerns of residents, small business owners and council members as best as we could while still ensuring that the upfront value is generated to protect those same constituents from drastic tax increases, service cuts, or a combination of both. Unfortunately, we have inherited this serious problem and are now forced into a situation where doing nothing is not an option. This solution is the best solution for our City.”
Unless the city funds the pension obligation by at least 50% by January, the state has threatened a takeover and would require the city to increase annual payments to the pension fund by $30 million.
Councilman Patrick Dowd says the mayor is just making minor adjustments and is sticking with his plan to privatize public assets(garages and meters)....
"Controller Michael Lamb, Council President Darlene Harris and I have been very patient..allowing the mayor to put this out to bid and see what kind of number he can catch. For the sake of the city, we're hoping he gets a great number, but we're skeptical and concerned, and think there are other ways to accomplish the same goals."

Some of the adjustments involve enforcement. Currently parking meters are not enforced on Sundays. The mayor's original proposal would have allowed enforcement after 1 p.m. on Sundays. There would be no Sunday enforcement under this final plan. Under the original plan, all city meters would have been enforced until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The revised plan halts meter enforcement at 6 p.m. in Allentown, Beechview, Carrick, East Liberty, Lawrenceville and the West End.

There have been concerns about huge jumps in parking meter rates. The original plan would have allowed rates in Carrick to rise from the current 50 cents an hour to $1 by 2014. The final plan freezes the 50 cents an hour rate for 5 years because of competition from neighboring suburban business districts. The 50 cents an hour rate in Bloomfield, which will lose hundreds of jobs at West Penn Hospital will remain till January 2012 and then would increase to $1.50 an hour by 2014.

The revised plan also calls for the city to share advertising revenue with the contractor. Councilman Dowd called that a small concession because it's hard to predict what advertising revenues would be available over the next 50 years.

The mayor said the city had to make some concessions to get these adjustments....
"we also had to compromise on other changes to ensure that we receive an upfront value that is significant enough to shore up our pension fund and save our residents from the ramifications of a state takeover.”

Those concessions include expanding the non-compete zone into an area that extends further into the Golden Triangle that discourages the building of new parking garages by the city or the Parking Authority.

The deadline for the bids is September 15 and the mayor wants council to approve the legislation by October 1. Councilman Dowd says the mayor is constricting the process..."This is a decision that will affect the city for 50 years...we should spend more than 2 or 3 weeks debating it."

Council Wants A Stop to New Marcellus Drilling

Pittsburgh Council has approved a resolution supporting State Senator Jim Ferlo's legislation that calls for a one-year moratorium on new drilling in the Marcellus Shale and the awarding of new drilling permits by the state. Ferlo, a Democratic from Pittsburgh, wants to provide time for Pennsylvania's leaders to create and implement new regulations on Marcellus Shale operations.
Patrick Dowd, the sponsor of the resolution, says the moratorium is important..."I think it makes sense for us all to take a breath, not permanently, but for right now, to make sure we understand what the consequences might be."
Dowd says there are dozens of leases being negotiated in his council district especially in the Lawrenceville area....."Wherever there is Marcellus Shale, this could be happening and there's Marcellus Shale all over the ground underneath the city of Pittsburgh. So, it's not unlikely this could potentially happen here. But before we let that happen, we want to make sure we have safety regulations and all sorts of things in place."

Kathryn Klaber, executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition called council's action unnecessary and ill-advised.....“Unfortunately, Council appears to have bought wholesale into the argument that Marcellus exploration represents a threat to our water and surrounding environment, notwithstanding a mountain of evidence from EPA, DEP and a just about every environmental regulator across the country that says precisely the opposite."

Klaber says Council is taking a position that’s unsupported by science and an affront to the rights of landowners.

Meantime, Councilman Dowd says he's expecting a legal opinion from the city law department by early next week on legislation he and 4 other council members introduced that would limit drilling and excavation in the city to urban industrial and general industrial zoned areas.

Historic Designation of IC Brewery Gets Friendly Hearing

Pittsburgh City Council this morning held a hearing on the possible historic designation of the old Iron City Brewery facility in Lawrenceville. The company and all speakers were in favor of the designation and City Planning Department Historic Preservation Planner Katherine Molnar says all the letters her office has received have been in favor of the designation. The designation means any future development at the site must preserve the historic nature of the shell of the buildings and the historic review commission must approve all work. Often a building owner fights the designation but in this instance Iron City Brewing President Tim Hickman says he has been behind the idea from the beginning. Hickman says, “This is part of the history of Pittsburgh. The buildings that are being designated historic have a lot of reuses, have a lot of value… You can’t build buildings like that in today’s environment.” He says they do not see the designation as an impediment to the site development. The site holds more than 20 buildings that have been built over the years by various owners since Frauenheim, Miller and Company built the first building in1867. One building has already been torn down and the company would like to remove two more “tank buildings.” The buildings were built to house steel tanks and now that the tanks are removed the structures have no floors and no roofs. Hickman says every developer who has come though the site says the buildings need to be razed.
A final reuse has not yet been designated. The Lawrenceville Community Development Corporation has received a grant to help pay for a master plan to be drawn up for the site. Iron City has added money to the effort and Pittsburgh City Councilman Patrick Dowd says they are looking for more funding. Dowd’s district includes Lawrenceville. He says he would also like to see transportation and market studies done before the project moves forward. Dowd calls the old brewery, “Extremely attractive.” “Just thinking about it from a site standpoint it is the most important next generation development site in the city of Pittsburgh. There is just a tremendous amount of potential and energy possible at that site,” says Dowd. The councilman says he would like to see a mixed-use development including residential, light industrial and commercial use. IC will keep its corporate offices at the site.

City Sits on Miles Report

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says the city will not yet close its investigation of the alleged police assault of CAPA high school senior Jordan Miles this January.

The mayor says the Office of Municipal Investigations will wait until a federal grand jury inquiry is complete.

"It would be inappropriate for me or us to take any action before the federal authorities complete their investigation," says Ravenstahl.

Police officers Richard Ewing, David Sisak and Michael Saldutte remain on paid leave.

City Councilman Patrick Dowd says the city is unnecessarily holding back its findings on the case. He says it's an "off chance" that the federal investigation will find anything different than the OMI report.

Dowd wants PWSA Chief Out

Pittsburgh City Councilman and Patrick Dowd today called for the Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to resign his post. Dowd is also a member of the sewer authority board. The move came as council was holding a public hearing into the controversial line insurance being offered to ratepayers. Yesterday Executive Director Michael Kenney disclosed he held a 20% share of water line warranty company “Utilishield.” Utilishield does not have the Pittsburgh contract but the co owners of the firm also own Utility Line Security and Resource Development and Management. Both of those companies do have contract with the PWSA. Dowd says he has been asking Kenney to make full disclosure of his businesses interests for months but has had no luck. Now he says he has no confidence in Kenney and he says other ratepayers should be suspect of contracts let under his leadership. Dowd admits that there is no law that requires Kenney to make such disclosures but he says it is a clear ethical issue. He says he will call for a new bidding process for the warranty contract. Dowd says it is very possible that the contract with Utility Line Security is the best option but the public needs to see that there is no appearance of conflict of interest. The controversy over the line insurance did not originally stem from how the contract was bid or who held the contract. The controversy revolved around a change from an opt-in program to an opt-out program where all ratepayers are charged $5.00 a month unless they ask to not have the insurance. In the past rate payers had to ask to be part of the program. Many apartment dwellers and commercial water users were upset that the insurance for which they were being charged would not even cover their lines.

City Passes Prevailing Wage Legislation

Pittsburgh City Council today approved a bill that would guarantee that workers in future developments that contain city funding earn wages that are based upon the average earnings of their peers in the market. The vote on the legislation was unanimous but came after a shouting match devolved in council chambers. Councilman Patrick Dowd tried unsuccessfully to un-table a series of amendments that he voluntarily tabled when the bill was still in committee and eventually ended up in a shouting match with Council President Doug Shields over his right to be heard by the council. Councilman Peduto was able to introduce amendments that clarified how grocery stores were to be considered and also added a fine for violating the measure and eased reporting regulations among other things. The legislation will apply to projects of more than 100,000 square feet or 25,000 square feet for grocery stores that get $100,000 or more of city grants, favorable loans, financing, discounted land or infrastructure help. When approved the legislation received a standing ovation from the members of the audience.

Also passed today was the city's budget that did not include the 1% student tuition tax.

City Council Takes Action On Series Of Amendments

Pittsburgh City Council today approved a handful of amendments to the 2010 budget that, among other things, replaces funding that would have come from the city's proposed 1% student tuition tax. The amendments that replace the revenue from the proposed tuition tax come from multiple sources throughout the city. They include money taken from the city's debt service fund, anticipated savings as a result of a new financial reporting system and better collection of fee's and fines citywide. Council approved the measure by a vote of 6 to 1 with Councilman Patrick Dowd voting no. Dowd says he voted no because he wants more information on how the Mayor was able to calculate anticipated savings and because he does not want to use money designated for debt service to pay for budget gaps. The move allows for council to discuss and debate the budget on Wednesday and still gives them the ability to make any changes they feel necessary before taking a final vote. Council still have to vote two more times before the budget can be finalized.

Councilman Gets Promise from Ravenstahl on Garages

Pittsburgh City Councilman Patrick Dowd is backing off a bit in his effort to pass legislation requiring the Council’s input on the sale or lease of the Parking Authority’s garages. Last week Dowd his bill on hold for two weeks saying he was seeing positive signs fro the Ravenstahl administration. He says he has been given assurance that a member of council will be placed on the committee charged with drawing up a request for proposal to sell the garages and other authority assets. Dowd says the mayor has also told him that he will appoint a member of council to the authority’s board. Other council members have also voiced concerns that the parking authority board members are all serving expired terms and that could jeopardize any contact signed by the board. Ravenstahl says he will reappoint those members or submit new names in the New Year. The mayor wants to sell or lease the garages and use the money to shore up the city’s under funded pension program. Dowd says he wants to tweak the legislation while it is on the table to give it more teeth and work out any legal issues. He says that way if the administration shows signs of backing off of its commitments the council will be ready to “stake its flag” in the process.

Ravenstahl Not Magnanimous in Victory

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl grabbed 59% of the vote in yesterday’s three way democratic mayoral primary for the city of Pittsburgh. Councilman Patrick Dowd came in second with 28% and Lawyer and former Pittsburgh Police officer Carmen Robinson rounded out the field with 13%. Ravenstahl says keeping the budget in the black will continue to be a top priority of his administration but he has an 11-point blue print for the city that includes other items such as public safety, diversity and government transparency. Ravenstahl says the city is poised for a third renaissance and he is looking forward to rolling up his sleeves and getting to work like those who have come before him for the last 250 years. He says its residents have built the city in the past and the residents will do it again. At his election night party, Patrick Dowd, told supporters he wants to "continue the conversation" that began during his mayoral campaign. Dowd was a schoolteacher before he entered politics and he says this election was kind of like taking a test. He says he's looking forward to seeing the final tallies so he can see where voters liked him, and where he could have done better. It's all a learning experience, he says. And one thing Dowd says he's already learned is that it's hard to compete when your campaign war chest is so much smaller. Dowd says the candidates had their differences and that was a good thing. He says, "it was important to get in and take a stand on these issues, and make sure Pittsburghers had a choice on these issues. And I think we had three good choices in this election." Carmen Robinson says she is also ready for more after running her first campaign. She says she was pleased with the campaign she ran but was disappointed at voter turnout levels. She says running for office is “in her blood” and she cannot wait until four years from now to try again. During his acceptance speech Ravenstahl congratulated Carmen Robinson for her campaign but did not mention Patrick Dowd with whom he clashed regularly on the campaign trail and on Grant Street over the last several months. Ravenstahl says his mother taught that if he had nothing nice to say he should say nothing at all and that is what he chose to do election night.

Mayoral Campaigns' Integrity Graded

The Clean Campaign Committee, organized by the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh (LWVGP), has graded the integrity of each of the mayoral campaigns based on four main categories. This is how the candidates fared:

Honesty: Dowd (C+), Ravenstahl (C), Robinson (A-)
Fairness: Dowd (C), Ravenstahl (C), Robinson (A)
Transparency: Dowd (B), Ravenstahl (B), Robinson (B)
Responsibility: Dowd (A-), Ravenstahl (B-), Robinson (A)

The committee, composed of 12 citizens, was co-chaired by Director of Baierl Automotive William Baierl and LWVGP President Suzanne Broughton.

Baierl says Carmen Robinson received the highest marks overall, despite her relatively small amount of material to examine. "Carmen actually has a lot on her webpage. We were able to see what she is about in the debates. Really the lack of volume of information was why she didn't receive exceptional scores, but we saw a high level of transparency and honesty in what she was doing," says Baierl.

Broughton says incumbent Mayor Luke Ravenstahl received the worst marks in the "Honesty" category because he claimed credit for things he should not have. "On one piece of literature, he said, 'I'm helping to upgrade the Pittsburgh school system,' and then he cites the Pittsburgh Promise. Well, yeah, he was instrumental in the Pittsburgh Promise, but as mayor, he has no control over the school system itself. I guess we thought some of the ways he stated things were a little misleading," says Broughton.

Baierl says despite the Ravenstahl campaign's shortcomings, Councilman Patrick Dowd's attacks on the mayor may have been a bit heavy-handed. "While Ravenstahl maybe is being characterized as taking credit for stuff he didn't do, he still was able to marshal some things forward that maybe he didn't initiate. We felt that Dowd really wasn't giving him enough credit for that end," says Baierl. Broughton added that both Ravenstahl and Dowd received Cs in "Fairness" partly because of their spat over the rescheduling of the debates, which she said "could have been a little less accusatory."

Overall, though, the Committee decided that the campaign was relatively clean. Says Broughton, "In our grading, A is exceptional, and we only gave a few exceptionals. B is good, so when you take the goods and the exceptionals, there's not a whole lot of fair, and nobody was rated poor, so I think it's fair to say that this has been a campaign of integrity for the most part, with a few slips."

Dowd Campaigns to End "Pay-to-Play" Politics

Mayoral candidate Patrick Dowd wants voters to "wake up and smell the coffee." The Pittsburgh City Councilman gave away cups of coffee this morning to raise awareness of unethical politics he says occur in city government on a regular basis. Dowd attacked current mayor Luke Ravenstahl for awarding no-bid city contracts in return for campaign contributions. He says these types of policies hurt taxpayers and the city everyday, and are not enough to win re-election. "You can sell city contracts," says Dowd, "but you can't buy votes." Dowd's campaign will consist primarily of canvassing and talking to voters. The primary election is set for May 19th.

Councilman Dowd Announces Mayoral Candidacy

Pittsburgh City Councilman Patrick Dowd yesterday announced he will challenge Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in the May 19th primaries. Dowd says he has been considering running for the office of mayor for some time. He says now is a very important time for the city and it will need strong leadership at the helm. The councilman will formally announce his campaign and platform at a press conference on Thursday.