Pittsburgh City Council

Some Pittsburgh City Council members want to turn city-owned vacant lots into plots for urban farming. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, councilors say there are increased concerns about a lack of access to food.

After Pittsburgh City Council voted to extend the city's Declaration of Disaster Emergency on Tuesday, the city will continue through May 5 its stay-at-home and social distancing orders to combat the coronavirus. But the conduct of the meeting raised questions about whether council was following rules ensuring public access to proceedings.

Pittsburgh City Council returned to a pair of issues that have been looming since late last year on Tuesday, revisiting legislation concerning alligators and other reptiles, and continuing debate on a citywide parks tax that has divided the body since voters approved it last fall.

City councilors decided on Wednesday to hold off on voting for a new bill that would add "hateful activities" to the city's code of conduct, and to see what the city's law department has to say about it. Councilor Ricky Burgess introduced the bill earlier this month, but colleagues on council said they need to know whether the bill, which could arguably limit speech rights, is constitutional.

Pittsburgh City Council resumed discussion of the city's parks tax on Tuesday, with the introduction of legislation to collect and spend the proceeds. And some council members want strict rules about who oversees spending, and guidelines for contractors paid for by it.

At Pittsburgh City Council's first full meeting Tuesday, Distict 9 City Councilor Ricky Burgess offered a bill that may either advance an anti-racist agenda for the future — or settle some old political scores. 

Pittsburgh City Council unanimously voted to make District 2 Councilor Theresa Kail-Smith Council President on Monday. Kail-Smith said her choice to run for the seat was an 11th-hour decision.

Eight of nine members of Pittsburgh City Council will be returning when the body convenes Jan. 6. But council will have a different look once that meeting is over. 

Emotions ran high at times as Pittsburgh City Council on Thursday held a post-agenda meeting on proposed legislation to acknowledge and address racial inequalities in the city.

Pittsburgh City Council will have just one new face in 2020, after Bobby Wilson won a three-way race in Council District 1 Tuesday night. Wilson bested independent challenger Chris Rosselot by a margin of nearly two-to-one according to unofficial vote totals. Malcolm Jarrett, of the Socialist Workers Party, finished a distant third.

Voters in the city of Pittsburgh may face a surprisingly crowded ballot – for a November off-year election, at least – when they head to the polls this fall. 

Darlene Harris’ political career may have come to an end on Tuesday, when she lost her bid to be re-elected to Pittsburgh City Council. But if it’s time to write her political epitaph, it may well read “Defiant To The End.”

In recent years, Pittsburgh City Councilor Darlene Harris has frequently opposed Mayor Bill Peduto's agenda. But if she's sometimes alone around the council table, she is now in a three-way race for reelection in City Council District 1, north of the rivers.

Pittsburgh City Council approved granting $77,500 to Gabriel Despres on Tuesday, a payment to settle a federal lawsuit Despres filed after former police Sgt. Stephen Matakovich beat him in 2015. Matakovich is serving a 27-month prison sentence as a result of the incident outside Heinz Field.

Two candidates running for the District 1 seat on Pittsburgh City Council, Quincy Swatson and Chris Rosselot, have withdrawn from the race.

Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner may be in a running dispute with police in Detroit, where she was detained last week, but she appears to have little to fear at home.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto put his support behind District 1 City Council candidate Bobby Wilson on Thursday. The endorsement distinguishes Wilson in a field that currently includes three other candidates seeking to challenge incumbent Councilor Darlene Harris. 

Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross has a Democratic challenger for the 7th district council seat in Deirdre Kane.

Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess made it official Thursday, announcing that he is running for a fourth term in office this year.

There are now two declared candidates in the race to represent Pittsburgh’s 9th city council district in the East End. Former Pittsburgh Public school board member Randall Taylor announced this week that he’ll run for the Democratic nomination in the May 21 primary. He joins activist and police shooting survivor Leon Ford in seeking the party's nod.

The May primary is a half-year away, but already Pittsburgh City Council races are drawing interest. And 27-year-old Quincy Kofi Swatson is seeking the City Council District 1 seat currently held by Darlene Harris.

Pittsburgh City Council will take a final vote tomorrow on whether to authorize the city to conduct a government-wide gender equity study. Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission would oversee the study.

On the sixth anniversary of the police shooting that left him paralyzed from the chest down, Leon Ford, 25, formally launched his campaign for Pittsburgh City Council.