Pittsburgh City Council poised to dismiss Wilkinsburg annexation proposal

Pittsburgh City Council appears poised to dismiss a proposal to annex neighboring Wilkinsburg.

Council President Theresa Kail-Smith introduced legislation Tuesday that would deny the proposal, which has generated controversy among residents and local leaders.

The Wilkinsburg Community Development Corp. — a nonprofit with which Wilkinsburg has since cut ties — gathered petition signatures last summer in favor of annexation. The group presented that petition to an Allegheny County judge in December, and the judge told City Council it must render a decision on the annexation request within 30 days.

If council had approved the measure, it would have been put to a vote on a ballot referendum in Wilkinsburg.

Although council held meetings on the matter, Kail-Smith said she felt council still did not have enough information to endorse annexation. She said unanswered questions remained on topics such as merging school districts, the amount of vacant property in Wilkinsburg and various financial ramifications.

“I just think there are a lot of people who are accountable who need to have those numbers,” she said. “If they don’t have those numbers, it makes me very suspicious of the whole process. I want numbers that are authentic from people who will be held accountable to the public.”

Councilman Ricky Burgess, whose district is adjacent to Wilkinsburg, said he felt Wilkinsburg residents weren’t properly involved or informed on the annexation. Both Wilkinsburg and his City Council district have a high population of Black residents, but Burgess said he felt Black residents weren’t the ones leading the annexation effort. He said he didn’t want them to be impacted by a movement of which they weren’t a part.

While not opposed to the concept of joining Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg, Burgess said he is opposed to the seemingly rushed process that may have left some Black residents feeling left behind.

“I do not propose to have a shotgun wedding with Wilkinsburg,” he said. “I intend to court her, to listen to her and to find common ground.”

Kail-Smith said City Council may continue to explore a potential merger if it would benefit both Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh. The decision to nix the current proposal, she said, came as the judge gave them limited time to make a decision without all of the information council members needed.

“We were ready to work and see what we had to do through this process. But when we got an order from a judge saying, ‘Make a decision,’ we thought, we’re not ready for this right now,” Kail-Smith said.

Kail-Smith said she and other council members also heard concerns from Wilkinsburg residents about what appeared to be a rushed process.

Pittsburgh voters would have had no formal say in the annexation decision, but Kail-Smith said it was important to also consider how an annexation would have impacted them. For example, she said many Pittsburgh residents waited longer than they wanted to see their streets cleared of snow following the latest storm, and as a result some Pittsburghers might not want to share precious resources with another borough.

“I don’t think our residents are ready for this right now, not until we perfect what we’re doing here,” she said.

Wilkinsburg Community Development Corp. Executive Director Tracey Evans said she felt the decision was political and noted that other members of City Council supported the annexation bid. She also said the group would’ve been able to provide council with some of the data they have been seeking, but that data is not yet publicly available.

“Pittsburgh City Council and city residents deserve the opportunity to review objective fact-finding reports and have their questions answered,” she said.

The measure could be ready for a final vote in as soon as two weeks.