Pittsburgh activists call for budget transparency during hearing

They repeated those concerns during the two-hour hearing.

Peduto’s Chief of Staff Dan Gilman said the administration has hosted a series of community budget forums to seek public input and offers free childcare at the forums. He said the city offers interactive tools where residents can set capital budget priorities and estimate taxes, among other things.

According to Gilman, the administration is holding public meetings to gather input on Community Development Block Grant funds and fair housing priorities. He said the mayor recently met with members of the Economic Justice Circle and promised to work on addressing their concerns.

“Any suggestion that this budget process lacks transparency, citizen participation or a focus on equity is disingenuous at best,” Gilman said.

Speakers at the hearing urged council to increase funding for such things as affordable housing, food distribution for the poor, programs that aid small businesses owned by women and minorities and the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions.

Council President Bruce Kraus of the South Side said he plans to introduce a budget amendment that would appropriate an additional $250,000 for food distribution.

Ronell Guy of the Pittsburgh Union of Regional Renters, said the budgets contain less money for affordable housing and for the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which provides funding for such things as housing and small business programs.

“The budget is so opaque and so convoluted that we had to stand up,” Guy said. “We had to say everybody is paying taxes, and none of us really knows where our tax dollars are going and that’s appalling in this technological age. Not only can’t we find where the money is going, but they’re still trying to cut money from housing budgets.”

Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith of Westwood said the Peduto administration’s budget process is one of the most transparent in her memory.

“To say there’s been no transparency and no cooperation in the budget is not accurate,” she said.

Pittsburgh is funneling $10 million per year into a fund that has provided money for new and renovated housing for low-income families.

Other speakers called for more capital spending to make city buildings more energy efficient. Peduto has pledged for city government by 2030 to reduce energy and water consumption by 50% and convert the city fleet to fossil-free fuel for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Speakers said the city won’t hit that goal unless it spends more on renovating buildings.

Many in the crowd voiced objections to a proposed street known as the Mon-Oakland Connector that would link the Hazelwood Green development with Oakland universities.

Speakers said the neighborhood needs flood control and asked council to defer money for the new street to transportation improvements in Hazelwood.

Councilman Corey O’Connor of Swisshelm Park said the city is spending more than $40 million on a flood control project in Panther Hollow and construction should begin in the spring.