Pittsburgh's City Council presses for more information on G-20 legislation
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Michael Glasser, chairman of the Oakland Business Improvement District, far left, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, right, pause near the Doors of Oakland public art project during the mayor's G-20 sweep in that city neighborhood yesterday. It was the fourth of five planned sweeps the city has undertaken as part of its cleanup efforts in advance of next month's international summit.
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No G-20 legislation without information.
That was the mantra of a Pittsburgh City Council that met yesterday -- four days before they had planned to end their August recess -- at Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's request and allowed the introduction of bills that lacked some key details.
The legislation would allow the city to spend $16 million on next month's G-20 summit of world leaders, get $14.3 million from the federal and state governments, rent out-of-town police for $9.5 million, and arrest people wearing masks or carrying materials with the intent of foiling police.
Councilman Patrick Dowd, a former teacher, compared the administration to "a student submitting a paper and saying a cover page is the equivalent of a whole paper, when it's not."
He said council doesn't yet know who would pay compensation if an officer from another jurisdiction was hurt or killed during the summit, or if a protester was hurt by out-of-town police and successfully sued the city.
Others wondered about what they called a $1.7 million "gap" between what the city expects to spend and what it will get from Harrisburg and Washington.
"There's clearly a gap" in the budget for the summit, expected to bring world leaders and big protests, said council Public Safety Chair Bruce Kraus. There's also a gap in services in city neighborhoods, like lot clean-up, building demolition, and the kind of preventive policing needed to stem murders in some neighborhoods, he said. "I cannot, in all good conscience, authorize a penny [of city money] for this G-20."
Council members also want to probe provisions that would allow the city to enter into G-20-related contracts without competitive bidding.
Public Safety Director Michael Huss said the city is looking for other federal money, perhaps including Urban Area Security Initiatives program funding, to cover the balance of G-20 costs.
He said that today the administration will give council the boilerplate agreement that the city will enter into with other governments that are providing police for the event. The city will pay the officers at their overtime rate, he said, plus expenses that will be worked out up-front so the city won't be surprised at the tab.
The agreements will leave workers' compensation costs to the officers' home governments, but the city will insure the visiting officers against any lawsuits.
Council Chamber is now the center of the brewing storm over the rights of protesters during the Sept. 24-25 summit of leaders of nations that hold the vast majority of global wealth. Yesterday council accepted petitions from residents calling for a hearing on the rights of G-20 protesters.
Protesters shouldn't be treated "like criminals," said Edith Bell, of Highland Park, one of the Pittsburgh Raging Grannies, during council's public comment period. One of the people seeking a permit for a tent city, she said people should have opportunities to say their piece regarding the leaders who "make decisions to benefit the financial interests of the richest nations and the profits of the largest corporations."
Mr. Ravenstahl's legislation would give police the ability to cite people for wearing masks or hoods to conceal their identity, or to carry things like pipe, concrete containers, handcuffs, chains or other locking devices with the intent of obstructing public areas. It would also bar possession of noxious substances, certain weapons and gas masks for the purpose of thwarting crowd control. Violators would be fined as much as $300 and jailed if they couldn't pay.
Council members said they want to know whether the city can write laws based on the intent of the actor. Council President Doug Shields said none of the protest-related bills would come up for a vote until after the as-yet-unscheduled public hearing.
First Published August 25, 2009 12:00 am
