Pittsburgh City Council took the first step toward a citywide network of security cameras today, voting tentatively to allow the mayor's administration to accept $2.59 million in federal grants that would pay for the backbone of the system.
Councilman William Peduto asked that the administration add language promising to draft a privacy policy to the legislation before a final vote set for Tuesday. City Information Systems Director Howard Stern said he would comply.
"We plan on having conversations with the [American Civil Liberties Union," Mr. Stern said. "We are not going to just jump into this quickly. We are going to look at what other cities have done."
The first use of the grant will be the hiring of a consultant to evaluate a pile of concepts the administration received in response to a request for ideas for an anti-crime video camera system. Twenty-one firms sent in their ideas.
Mr. Stern said the consultant will be picked from among five or six national experts and will not be affiliated with any of the firms seeking a camera contract. He said a committee of city, county, Coast Guard, and parking and water authority officials will pick the consultant, go through the 21 submissions, and then craft specifications for a system.
The federal grant, for port security and from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will likely only cover part of the cost of the technological backbone of the system, and perhaps the installation of cameras in areas near a few port facilities. The city will have to find further funding if it is to meet Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's stated goal of putting cameras in many or all neighborhoods.
Council also voted to contract with a veterinarian and buy drugs so that Animal Control workers can euthanize captured wildlife. The total cost is set at $135,000 over three years.
Council postponed a vote to hire Pine Township-based Co-exprise Inc. to conduct an auction and identify a new electricity supplier for city facilities. Mr. Peduto demanded a special meeting on the subject before any vote.
First Published: September 19, 2007, 5:45 p.m.
