Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved two more appointments to city departments by Mayor Ed Gainey.

Gainey appointed Heidi Norman as director of the Department of Innovation & Performance and Karen Abrams to head the Department of City Planning.

City Council interviewed both before approving their nominations.

In her interview with City Council, Abrams said her top priorities are revitalizing Downtown after the covid-19 pandemic and bolstering affordable housing initiatives in the city. She said she also is open to conversations about overhauling the city’s zoning code.

“We want to plan for growth,” said Abrams, who has worked for the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and The Heinz Endowments. “We want to plan for people to stay in place and thrive.”

Norman, who has been acting director of the Department of Innovation and Performance since November 2020, told council that the department has already accomplished several goals of hers since she took the helm.

She said the department has moved much of the city’s data and other systems to a cloud-based storage system and installed new Wi-Fi infrastructure at City Hall under her leadership.

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