ICE in the Courthouse, Deluzio Evades Trump & Pittsburgh Needs More Trees

This is CityCast Pittsburgh. I'm Megan Harris, and here's what Pittsburgh's talking about. All right, it's Friday the 13th, everybody. That's Citigast contributor Colin Williams, and CityCast Pittsburgh producer Mallory Falk is with us too. Hello. Hi. Do either of y'all have superstitions about Friday the 13th? All of my superstitions are like Jewish superstitions. Like no one knew the name of my child until she was born. So Friday the 13th is fine with me, but there are other things that I'm extremely superstitious about. Wait, I just want to preview. What are your other superstitions? Give me one. Actually, I do have one that's not Jewish. But when I was a kid growing up, I did the thing where when you drive by a cemetery or walk by a cemetery, you hold your breath so that the ghosts can't, like their spirits can't enter through your lungs. I've never heard of that one. Okay. I actually, I think if anything, have maybe more positive associations with it because back in the day, that was the day you could get really cheap tattoos. Wait, of all reasons. Yeah, you used to be able to get tattoos for like 20 bucks. I have a tattoo of a ghost on my leg that I got for $20 back in like 2014 on Friday the 13th. I'm not sure that's the flex you think it is. I feel like that's anyone I know who has like a bloody molar tattoo got it at a Friday the 13th flash sale. Yeah, they've definitely gone up in price, unfortunately. Now you're looking at probably more like $100. But yeah, back in the day, that was the best place to get filler. Wow. Well, I am out of the loop. Well, if today's not your day, I'll look ahead to March because we have another one coming. March. Oh, wow. Yeah. We are going to talk today about. other forms of horror. We're going to talk about ice again because stuff keeps popping off here in Pittsburgh and we think you need to know about it. There's the governor's race that is also happening right now. There's some John Fetterman shenanigans. We're going to talk about street trees and international art and there is some good news coming. So, y'all please hang in here with us. Before we dive in, in addition to CityCast Pittsburgh today, we have some good news. So our larger national team is launching a new weekly show. and it's going to drop this week tomorrow in our feeds. It's called Your City Could Be Better and you're going to start seeing it right away. Yes, so this is hosted by CityCast CEO, David Plotz, and he's going to be talking to different hosts and producers from across the whole Citicast network about what our cities are getting right, doing right, and getting wrong. Whenever Pittsburgh's turn comes up here, you should definitely take some time to sing the praises of our awesome low-cost traffic calming initiatives. Oh, you mean like the speed bumps. The speed hums, the leading intervals on walk signs, the flex posts that people have used to fence off different parking areas. All of that stuff has been producing pretty good outcomes for Pittsburgh.

I will definitely talk up Little Swarvey. That's one of my favorites over in Brighton Heights. Yeah. So if you're going to start seeing this in your feed on Saturday here, if you are subscribed to CityCast Pittsburgh, but you can subscribe to it on its own, too, if you want to, it drops on Fridays. Yeah. And I mean, if you are the kind of person who's wondered things like... Is there a city that's figured out how to add a bunch of bike lanes without pissing people off? No, I don't think that exists. Well, we'll find out, I guess. But yeah, like if you're the kind of person who sees an issue here in Pittsburgh and wonders if somebody else has figured out how to address it, this is definitely the show for you. You'll hear about solutions that like maybe just maybe we could bring here to make our own city better. Yeah, or at minimum it'll give us something to talk about, to judge fiercely, to perhaps debate with our friends before or after the next city council meeting, right? I am going to be on the show too sometimes. We've heard from a lot of you that you really like the special episodes that we do with all of the city cast hosts at once. So this is hopefully a cool way to bring you a little bit more of that energy. And if you're like eager to start listening right away, again, the show is called Your City Could Be Better. It is already out on YouTube and in its own podcast feed today. It'll be in our feeds tomorrow. Take a listen and give us feedback. Let us know what you think. And also let me know what you think I should talk about whenever it's Pittsburgh's turn. I want to represent us well. But, you know, we try to be real about the city here. Sometimes it's good stuff. Sometimes it's a challenge that, you know, we could put it out to all of the other city-cast cities. What could we be doing better? I'm not above using this bully pulpit to try to get solutions for problems that we actually don't know the answer to. So you can give us a call at 412-212-8893. Or you can email us. Pittsburghers seem really more bent towards emailing, which I find funny. We're Pittsburgh at citycast.fm. Yes, what should we brag about? What should we ask about? Yes. Turning now to ICE. So we're going to start with what's been going down with county council. They are considering a bill barring county employees from cooperating with ICE, meaning like helping federal agents detain people, sharing info, using county resources for deportations. WBSA had a really good explainer on it. Basically that the bill would codify a series of formal policies and informal practices across. a bunch of county government offices. One thing that's maybe worth noting is that Tom Homan announced yesterday that ICE would be winding down their operations in Minnesota. So it'll be interesting to see sort of where they shift their focus next. I don't think anybody expects that these deportation efforts are going to stop anytime soon.

Yeah, I feel like there's been so much more urgency around all of this, like just the talk about ICE's budget federally. You know, we talked about this last week that it's like the biggest of any law enforcement agency in the nation. I heard someone say combined yesterday. I don't know if that's accurate. But, and, you know, we're also seeing stories pop about all the facilities that ICE is purchasing across the nation, including here around Pittsburgh and in Pennsylvania. Yeah, I did a little bit of digging into this after Wired published a really horrifying story on Wednesday about their campaign to expand their presence all across the U.S. And in Pittsburgh, it looks like they're going to be leasing some office space near the airport. There's a location at 2,000 Commerce Drive that has about 21,000 square feet listed as available for lease. That's one of the locations that Wired flagged and they're reporting among about 150 new leases and office expansion. that they're planning in the next few months. Yeah. And I think these are spaces where like street level agents and ICE attorneys are going to be located and operating out of. I saw that like in addition to the two in Pittsburgh. There's one in Philly, one in a suburb of Philly and one in York. And the one in York I thought was especially chilling because it's a space with medical offices. So they'll be located where people are going to get medical treatment. And in general, Wired talked about how a lot of these spaces that are getting leased like all over the U.S. are. Many of them are around sensitive areas like schools, hospitals. Yeah, one of the large warehouses out in Berks County that they're planning to turn into a very large detention center is located near schools in an RV park. So, you know, who wants to go vacation next to a concentration camp, I guess, is a question that we'll be finding out the answer to. Yeah. And we should say, too, ICE does have a presence in Pittsburgh. They have for a long time. There's that office in the south side 3,000 Sydney Street. That's been their field office for a long time. But it sounds like they may be expanding that space, you know, through these other leases. But so back to kind of what the county is considering in the midst of all of this. You know, Megan, you mentioned it would be sort of codifying policies that are. Yeah, stuff that's happening and has been on the books. But it's like marrying those two things, right? Like anytime it's an informal practice, it's a question as to whether like what's enforceable and what's not. But if you're wondering, like, well, how could the county actually cooperate with ICE? How could it share resources? Like, what would that look like? Why do we need to try to, like, codify not cooperating? That WESA article, you mentioned Megan, I read it too, and it has some examples. So, like, ICE could ask law enforcement agencies, especially ones that operate jails to notify them when a potential undocumented immigrant is taken into custody. There is something called a detainer or an immigration hold where ICE asks the local jail or another agency to, hold someone for up to 48 hours after they would have been released so that ICE can come detain them. And my understanding is this includes people that like haven't been convicted of anything yet that might have charges dropped or be found not guilty. And it the severity of the crime doesn't matter like somebody who was.

arrested for a traffic violation could be subject to a detainer. I actually saw in an article this morning that there is an Irish citizen who was taken into ICE custody and held in a detention facility for months over writing a $25 bad check in like 2014. So they're really looking for basically any pretext, even if it's flimsy, to try and haul people in and lock them up. Yeah, Mallory, you were talking about the county, you know, in the detainer system, like, because they're requests, not orders, right? Like, I thought it was interesting. County Council at their regular meeting last week, they had, I think it was over, it was close to 100 people that signed up for public comment to. let counsel know how they're feeling about this ice bill. One person who I didn't get to hear all of it yet, I'm still kind of going through all those comments. They held people to a minute and a half. Usually three minutes at public comment, but they were like, if we do the math on this, we're all going to be here for five hours. So we're actually going to do a minute and a half. You get 90 seconds. We'll do our best. I'm so sorry. But one person used their time to talk about how. those 48 hours are actually wildly expensive for the county. And if ICE has this office at the south side, like if you want somebody, it's not our job to hold them for you. Like we're not going to do that and put them at potential risk for like more time at local taxpayer expense when you already have this enormous federal budget. Like no. I just thought like taking the humanity. is important and the dignity. But also taking like that, even if you don't care about that, you should care about the money. Let's not blow county resources on making their jobs and this terrorizing easier. And for what it's worth, like our county jail right now does have a policy in place that it isn't going to honor detainer requests. But the sheriff's office, I guess, doesn't have a written policy. And so under this proposal, that county council is considering if a sheriff's deputy or a county police officer was accused of helping ICE, cooperating with ICE, that could get reported to the independent police review board. And then for any other county employee, the Human Relations Commission could investigate. So because that's kind of what I am always curious about of like, okay, you can say. we're not doing this. But what happens if someone goes ahead and does it? Because just having it on paper doesn't necessarily stop people. And let's be clear, that is absolutely the accusation that's flying around right now. As we're recording this, I actually just got back from talking to our county executive, Sarah Annamarado, about a lot of this. You're going to hear that in full next week. We are off for President's Day on Monday, so it'll be after that. But one of the things that we talked about is exactly how people are being snatched from the courthouse right now. Like that's Sarah's office. That's where the county executive's office is. And we know people are being detained while attending to a...

appointments there and not necessarily because they're facing any charges themselves, just that they are present in the courthouse. How is ICE getting that information? How do they know that vulnerable people will be present at exactly this time, in this moment, in this place? And the insinuation floating around is that it's the sheriff's office or the district attorney's office that they could be tipping off the feds. Anyway, please listen to the conversation, look out for that, but I just, I think that question. is at least one small part of why so many people are fired up about this county council bill and whether it stands to add at least some level of potential protection if it turns out that this is one way that ICE is able to get people downtown. Although one of the other things we talked about with Sarah is that it's not clear whether county council actually has the authority. Like can they tell the sheriff's office what they're allowed to do and enforce something? This is a real who watches the watchman kind of moment, I think, in terms of American law and the way that different jurisdictions are handling these interventions. Well, and I think all of that also ties into questions about like what is happening at the state level, what's codified, what's happening informally, what kind of loopholes are there. Spotlight PA just dropped a really strong story on this, which we will link to in our show notes. I'm sure we'll be talking about it more on an upcoming show. Stephen Cruz or the reporter there pointed out things like there's a policy in place where state police can't engage in immigration enforcement, but they can tell federal authorities if they've pulled someone over or interacted with somebody who is undocumented. So I think these questions are really circulating like at every level of government here in Pennsylvania. Like what's the policy now? What could get put in writing? And like who actually has what power and authority? One thing that is worth being aware of at the state level is that a lot of PA statewide offices are up for election this year. And to that point, actually... Pennsylvanians will have a real say in how cooperative the state government is going to be, particularly when it comes to choosing the next governor. So on the Republican side, the Republican frontrunner right now, Stacey Garrity, was recently quoted by WITF as saying, I would work with the Trump administration, obviously, because we need to turn our state around. And she was referring to election security, which Trump has made a central issue heading into this midterm cycle. For some background there, if you're not familiar, on a podcast. Not long ago, Trump said that the federal government should, quote, take over the voting. And this is in 15 states that he insists he won in 2020 and possibly also in 2016. And it's not a coincidence either that these are mostly Democrat-led states. And that, of course, includes Minnesota and our Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So. Garrity is the current PA treasurer. She was elected in 2022. And Trump has endorsed her for PA governor. So basically a vote for Garrity is a vote for continuing to work with the Trump administration on matters of election, security, immigration policy, and other things. Garrity notably called into question the 2020 election results one day before January 6th, 2021.

She claims that she got caught up in the moment at a Trump rally because they're, quote, kind of fun. But she has actually gone back to casting some doubt on 2020 and has really doubled down. Yeah, she really walked that back for a while, but not anymore. It wasn't cool for a while to be seen as an election denier, but Trump has essentially made that one of his loyalty tests. Make election denying great again. So. In addition to voicing support for federalizing elections, Garrity has also said that she wants to scrutinize the state's snap roles and the voter rolls and possibly hand that information over to the federal government. So to the point about the data that ICE might have, you know, that is a potential treasure trove of data on Pennsylvania citizens. Trump is also pushing for... proof of citizenship to be necessary at polling places and has advocated for ice presence at the polls. So these are things that Garrity presumably is at least passively endorsing. So it also is worth noting in all of this that Garrity's actually not on the same page as some other Republicans nationwide. The chair of the Ohio GOP said that they were not interested in federalizing the elections. And some other Republicans have spoken out against this as well. So it's interesting how closely she's positioned herself to the president on these issues. But seemingly, I mean, she's always been Republican and outspokenly so. But like. For a while, under the Biden administration, she had a different tone. So, I mean, I assume some of this has to be coming because she wants. to align herself with the sitting president as she approaches an election. I also think it's worth throwing out, too, like, she has some degree of experience in, like, detention settings. She's a veteran, if you didn't know, in the Army. I think she made it to colonel, if I'm remembering correctly. But in Iraq, she was for a time in charge of detainees there. Yeah, it's an interesting background to say the least. And yeah, I think when it comes to her current policy positions, a lot of this just has to do with the fact that if you disobey Trump essentially as a Republican, it's political suicide. So she's clearly taking steps to bring herself closer. We should, just to back up here, this is the gubernatorial election that's coming in November. But there'll be a primary before that. Governor Josh Shapiro is seeking re-election alongside. side, his current lieutenant governor, Austin Davis, who's from Pittsburgh or the Pittsburgh area. Josh Shapiro announced what two or three weeks ago now. I think he's sitting on quite the war chest as it relates to like fundraising and stuff.

Yeah, as far as the state of play on this is concerned, Garrity is very much the underdog. She has raised $1.5 million as of mid-January. So she's actually already equal Doug Mastriano's campaign hall from the 2022 gubernatorial race. But Josh Shapiro apparently has $30 million to Garrity's $1.5 million. And as far as polling goes, there is not a ton of polling out there on the PA gubernatorial campaign. But one October poll had Josh Shapiro ahead of Garrity by 56 to 39. The GOP, the state GOP, has said that the 2025 election results were pretty much a repudiation of the party. And I think a lot of people expect that to continue. Basically, all the polls have Josh Shapiro ahead by about 15%. And he's got a decent backstop with Pennsylvania voters where 51% of them say that he's either good or excellent per a Franklin Marshall poll. He's at around 60% approval in the state per Penn Live. And that is compared with Trump at 57% disapproval in Pennsylvania. So if Garrity is hitching her wagon to Trump, that... could eventually be a liability for her depending on where the political winds blow. Although, we'll see how long we even have access to polling data like this. I don't know if you saw the announcement that Gallup is no longer going to be publishing presidential approval polling. I wonder what the story is behind that one. But so I wonder if we're going to see a larger trend of moving away from that. I did not see that at all. I mean, polls aren't be all end all by any stretch, but it just seems like it's like another chip in the armor. You know what I mean? Another story that is sort of seeing Josh Shapiro square off against Trump is Trump recently snubbed a bunch of Democratic governors, including the country's only black governor, Wes Moore, and Maryland. The National Governors Association normally gathers in D.C. once a year and they have dinner with the president. But in response to Trump disinviting Democratic governors, the NGA has actually said that they are removing this from their official schedules. So a lot of bad blood going on between... statewide office holders in the federal government right now.

Today's episode is sponsored by YWCA Greater Pittsburgh. They're currently accepting nominations for the 26 Equity Awards, which honor community members who support their vision of a world where everyone has equitable access to professional and personal opportunities free from injustice. There are five award categories. Ally, Bridge Builder, Creative Arts, and Innovation, Emerging Leader, and Heroin. Nominations are going to be accepted through Friday, July 24th. YWCA Greater Pittsburgh also encourages self-nominations and especially wants to recognize women of color. So if you or someone you know has been stepping up for your community, this is the perfect opportunity to honor that work. And honorees will be recognized at the Equity Awards Luncheon on Thursday, November 19th, at the Weston Pittsburgh. Learn more about the awards categories and submit your nomination today at YWCAPGH.org. Okay, we're going to turn now to environmental justice. Colin, you brought this to the team. So tell us, tell us what you should know. So this is a really interesting issue. And what I'm talking about, of course, is shade cover in Pittsburgh. Canopies. Like green space in Pittsburgh. Yeah, our tree canopy in Pittsburgh is surprisingly important public health issue. And I want to actually shout out Allegheny Front NWESA for covering this issue going back about a decade. And what they're reporting and what data available locally has consistently shown is that poorer neighborhoods in the city have more surface asphalt that is just baking in the hot sun and they have fewer trees. which is essentially creating a public health issue. So the most recent study from Carnegie Mellon used machine learning to analyze the city's different neighborhoods. And what they found is that in poorer neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, in lower income neighborhoods, there are... more dark surfaces and more impermeable surfaces. And so these neighborhoods are hotter. And specifically what they found is that about 55% of Pittsburgh consists of impermeable surfaces. And 52% of those are a dark color. So we're talking about asphalt shingles. We're talking about paved roads, parking lots. Unfortunately, historically redlined neighborhoods in Pittsburgh actually have 12% more dark surfaces than other neighborhoods, and they have 10% less shade tree cover. So that averages out to a much hotter environment where neighborhoods such as the Hill Districts, different constituent neighborhoods or Homewood, are about 5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter on average, and they have higher social vulnerability scores as well. So this all kind of comes back to trees, which do a lot of different good things. They dampen sound. There are a bunch of studies out there showing them having a calming effect on people. They make sidewalks shady. If I'm stressed, I just look out the window and watch the wind for a minute. That's my go-to. I also get my toddler to do it. It's remarkable how well that works. And there's a reason that forest bathing has gotten so popular, right?

Trees also improve the air and the soil quality. So it's a pollution mitigator as well. And in 2018, basically, Allegheny Front found that the county had actually lost the equivalent of its entire park system in shade trees. So Pittsburgh has been trying to, you know, grow some of this back. But it's a slow process, right? Some of this is due to pests. But a lot of it is due to backyard tree removal, development projects in the city. And so the city and different nonprofits are kind of stepping into this void and quite literally trying to fill it with trees. So it's an interesting sort of constellation of issues. I'll also just add a quick shout out that some of these tree planting initiatives have been done in coordination with Allegheny goatscape. So there's also, there's been like a bunch of goats munching down all the invasive knotweed and then the city comes in and plants native species. I love it. So this is all great. I feel a pivot coming. This is all great. Your whole posture just changed. But city paper, you know, we corroborated a lot of what WESA and Allegheny Front had found. So our intern James Paul went way above and beyond and mapped trees using available data from 2014. And what he found is that the city's shade trees had mostly gone to wealthier and majority white neighborhoods. So you're talking about the ones that like people, like people can request a tree be planted in their neighborhood and like an empty well or, you know, wherever you think one can fit. This are the ones that were like city provided. Exactly. Yeah. So they're free too. We should say like if you request one, they are free. That's the nice part. Oh, it's an awesome program. Out in front of our house, the city planted a crab apple tree that's doing quite well. But yeah, James's reporting found that basically for every $10,000 increase in median household income, a given neighborhood's tree count increases by an average of 56 trees. So he talked to a bunch of different people for this story, including city councilor, Barb Warwick. And one of the things that she pointed out actually is that part of the problem is that lower income households have... less time available to bug the city and ask for their trees and may simply have a more difficult time navigating local bureaucracy. So it's a tricky issue to solve because there is this need, but it takes a lot of time. And the city is working on fixing this gap, but, you know, there's a 2021 equitable shade tree investment plan. Homewood Park is getting a renovation, things of that nature. But there seems to still be a real opportunity here for more and better tree plantings as well as potentially city building code amendments to encourage people to get lighter colored roofs or pave with permeable pavers. But yeah, such an inconspicuous thing can be such a defining public health issue, it seems. Colin, it's interesting you mentioned that like a. One of the reasons maybe these trees are going into white or wealthier neighborhoods is like people having more time and ability to be persistent because all can, like, I requested a tree from the city three years ago. I've still heard nothing, but I haven't followed up at all. I kind of submitted that form and sat back. And I didn't think about the fact that like that's not necessarily enough. I feel like if I've learned nothing from this job like chasing after city government things is that.

you have to say you need something more than what's. Like that is my largest takeaway as a resident of the city of Pittsburgh is ask at least twice, if not like seven or 17 or 47 times. Yeah, I definitely was on their case. Yes, and I will start applying that more to my own tree request. But I think it speaks to this larger issue of if you're setting up a system where people need to be persistent, maybe have connections, also have like the type of space, I imagine, on their street for a tree to fit. That's true, too. You also have to have that. You are going to end up with this kind of inequity. And I think that last point is a really interesting one, too, because if you look at some of these neighborhoods, the type of housing, whether it's, you know, row houses built right up to the front of the street versus something that's more of a single family home, that's going to make a big difference in how much available space there is. And I think one thing as well, and Counselor Warwick touched on this in our interview with her for that story. There's also a trust issue there where if you don't feel like you trust municipal services as it is, you're maybe less likely to reach out about getting a tree, for example. But Mallory, I encourage you to keep bugging. them. I made a couple of calls and my tree is growing very nicely now. Now I actually probably won't. My neighborhood has like decent tree canopy. So I want the trees to be going to the spots that could benefit the most from them. I wonder if that makes a difference though, genuinely. Like I don't know anymore. I know for a while it was that request we're outpacing their ability to fulfill them, which is why we have so many wonderful nonprofits in our community or organizations that work to try to do this when the city can't get to it. Tree Pittsburgh, of course, is one that's very close to our heart here on this show. But like, I think there's like 20 different organizations involved in the Pittsburgh Canopy Alliance. Like they're the ones who have been doing our canopy studies for years and years and years. So you actually can go back and look. I think the number that they used is that like the canopy was declining faster than we could fulfill it. The numbers, I recall though, Colin weren't nearly as dire as what you're talking about. But even in like our specific communities that can't, that aren't getting. aren't getting trees at the rate that they need them and are maybe suffering for that. There are programs that are targeting some of those. Like Tree Pittsburgh, for example, has something called a relief. program kind of fun kind of clever uh i think that's running in bell's hoover california kirk bride and the north side and homewood that's like planting trees yeah where they're just like not there's not being done at a fast enough cliff because like i mean trees take time like that this is the kind of thing you invest in now knowing that 20 years from now you're bettering the neighborhood everyone lives a little bit easier but yeah like

there is work happening. Like the city also has a shade tree commission. There's different ways to plug in on this if you're interested in getting involved. Yeah, there's, I think the city is taking great steps to try and fix this problem, but it's not going to be overnight. And I should note as well, the data in our article is about 11 years old at this point. So it remains to be seen in coming years if some of those gaps have been closed a bit. I think the most recent canopy study data. We'll link it in the show notes is I think it's from 2020 is like when it cuts off. Sounds like perhaps it might be about time to redo that. There's also, I was poking around on this, Colin, when you said you were interested in it. There's a 13-page report here about like planting 10,000 trees for a more resilient Pittsburgh. So it looks like this was released. I'm struggling to find a date, but maybe 2023. It's the city part was partnering with this national group called Resilient Cities Catalyst. It was a New York nonprofit. Anyway, it's all part of like climate action plans. It's really interesting. I want to dig in on this more. Now you've gotten me curious, Colin. But it sounds like there's been a lot of piecemeal work on this. But this is important. We need to keep talking about it. So people keep planting. And if you're listening to this and you want a tree. Call, call the city. Mallory, call the city again. Or fill out of 311. I think there is a separate form, but I'm a big believer in using 311 to push my agenda if needed. Like if you see something, you got to say something. So DPW and Domi and our street tree people, like they can come fix our stuff. This is where being nebby is absolutely an asset to the city. Yeah. I've never gotten a tree planted, but I have used 311 to get trees pruned. I think I submitted something like seven requests over the course of a year with photos and so much detail. But I don't know if I've ever been prouder as a taxpayer as when I came to work that day and saw that like seven overgrown city street trees had been pruned beautifully. They look so good. They need it again, though. I got to get back on that.

Okay, we've got a few neighbor shoutouts. Reminder, if you become a member of CityCast, Pittsburgh, one of our neighbors, then you get the great privilege of telling us a thing you love. Where it is, why you like it. I'm actually going to request from y'all, though, like, tell us more details. Like, those of you that have been submitting these, tell us more about what you like it. Like, you're not limited in characters here. Like, we want to know specifically, like, why you like the coffee shop. What are you ordering? Is it the vibes, the playlist? Like, really get in the weeds here. Yes, help us paint a picture. This week, we've got a shout out from Dana B. Dana is shouting out the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse and Point Breeze. Dana says, great peeps, great goods, great mission. If you listen to our Guide to February episode, I actually recommended an event that the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse is helping do where you can make your own cookbooks. So they do a lot of really great stuff. I love Creative Reuse. As an avid crafter, that is usually my first port of call for embroidery supplies or weird jars full of plastic eyeballs. Whatever you need, they've probably got it in some little corner or drawer there. Colin, now I'm picturing just like jars of eyeballs on display in your office. Yeah, and truly some of the most, like, helpful people there always. Like, if they've got it, someone in that building is going to help you find it. We've also got Lauren B shouting out Pittsburgh pinball dojo in Bellevue. I believe this has been a recommendation, Sophia. Our producer has made on the show before as well. Lauren says it's great for newbies and experts. And for $15, you can do open play Thursday through Saturday. So you can really do as much pinball as your heart desires. And over there, that little corner of Bellevue, like I just, I love Lincoln, the little main street they've got through there. There's, there's a lot more to do in Bellevue. If you haven't swung through the neighborhood, I highly recommend there's like a little brewery, there's lots of pizza shops, there's restaurants. That big restaurant that used to be a funeral home revival has amazing food and the cutest bar. The scoops shop, the ice cream spot is also great. Always pop in on the corner there. Don't sleep on Bellevue. It's fun. I love Bellevue, too. It's so cute. Oh, my gosh. Thank you to Dana and Lauren for your recommendations. If you want to share yours on the show, again, you can become a member at membership.citycast.fm. And thank you to our newest neighbor, Yongsung Yu, for signing up. Welcome to the neighborhood. Yes, and let us know what you love. We want to hear from you. And all of our folks that have been in the neighborhood for a while. Invitation is always open. Tell us what you love and be specific. So we're going to talk now about wins and losses and things to know. There's a lot. There's a lot this week. Yeah. The Post Gazette saga continues this week. There was a report from KDKA that heavily quoted local leader Kevin Acklin, who says that basically negotiations have stalled out. Man, this feels like such a play.

I have to assume that there's that at least part of that is applying pressure because the Penn's new ownership, the Hoffman family of companies, is also interested in potentially buying the PG. So there's. I was so surprised to see that. But they do own a lot of papers. So this isn't out of their wheelhouse. Yeah. I just think it's because there's still, to me, to me, a little bit of an unfamiliar player in the space, you know. And as I understand it, the Post Gazette is way bigger. than the other properties that they have. I mean, so is the penguins. The penguins are way bigger than the other hockey ventures they have. Yeah, I was just going to say the same thing. There are other teams that they own and the other papers that they own are all pretty small. So this is clearly like a, you know, a sizing up that they're in the middle of doing. And, you know, if they bought the PG, that would probably be a big get for them. But I also have a lot of questions about sort of how they would run it and how what they would preserve of the existing operation. Don't we all? Meanwhile, pour one out for a post-casat employee, if you know any in your life. Today is their last day in their office on the North Shore. They're going to be reporting virtually. From here on out? I believe so. So, you know, if you are unfamiliar with this story, they're supposed to cease operations on May 3rd. But they, before all of this happened, before the block said we're closing the paper, they were ending their lease in the building with the sign on it above Tequila Cowboy and moving across the street to a location I know, but I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to know. Anyway, I think that lease is still in play. So, you know, if someone. does buy it, I wonder if they carry that lease or not, or like maybe it just stays hybrid from here on out. I got a lot of questions. Like with everything with this saga, I got questions. They broke a lease with city papers offices. True. So there definitely seems to be some precedent here. Yeah. So anyway, no more Post Gazette. It's another ghost sign, I guess, living over there on the North Shore. I have it on good authority that the Trib sign on the North Shore Clark building is going nowhere. So there will at least still be some Pittsburgh journalism prominently displayed on the North Shore. You know why, though, right? Like, why that billboard is still there, even though, like, I mean, for a while, like after they shut down their Pittsburgh operation in 2016. And I think they always maintained a little bit of an office there. Another thing where they signed a lease and then changed the entire nature of the company. It's. There's a rule in Pittsburgh. I forget the details of it. But like where if you take down a massive billboard, then you can't put one back up. Like there's something to do with like our signage laws. But as long as it's there, it's grandfathered in. And I think you can replace. But I don't think you can erect new. So like even when businesses go away, that's why you don't see the billboards or the names like come down right away because of something to do with like the naming rights on our skyline. That's really interesting. You can see right now, actually, the BNY melon signage is still very prominently displayed, but they're only illuminating the BNY after they're rebranding. So another local sign curiosity for your listeners. I didn't even realize that, but I think, yeah, you're right. Interesting. I think that this also, like, plays into the stuff with, like, what used to be a clock and is now a law advertisement on our hillside by the incline, you know?

The Pond Lee Hockey banner, also known as the Iron City banner. It will forever and always be the Iron City banner. That was the best fit. When I moved here, it was, it looked like a giant alarm clock up there, like lubing over the city, which I thought was funny. Oh, yeah. I remember that. It used to say thank you for not drinking and driving as well, which was a nice, wholesome message. I live many lives. I live in many lives. One other PG-related update. You are actually going to be seeing a question on your ballot this May that is related to or was prompted by the closure of the Post-Gazette. So City Council voted this week to approve this ballot measure asking voters to allow our city to publish public meeting notices, not just in print, to be able to publish them online on the city's website. And again, like the whole trigger for this was the announced closure of the Post-Cazette. I don't know if that was the whole trigger. I think there is a state component to this, but I'm going to have to read up on it. Yeah, maybe it was one of several factors. But yeah, I think it's like the contraction of print media generally that like now organization, like government organizations are how having to contend with how to fulfill their obligations for public notices. But they're such gobbledygook. That's always like been my issue with public notices is that they're not really notifying you of anything. Anyway, maybe we can improve on all of this. Give us something else. What's a thing to know? So something that caught my eye this week was like maybe a sliver of hope that the next time Pittsburgh gets a giant snowstorm, it will not take weeks for you to be able to like use your sidewalk or step into the bus at your bus stop. So counselor Bob Warwick introduced this bill that would kind of direct the city to take an inventory of. areas that require free and clear access to curbs and sidewalks. So this is like community centers, daycares, business districts, places where it's really important to have streets and curb cuts be clear. And then by making this inventory DPW could prioritize clearing them the next time a snowstorm hits. I wasn't kidding when we were talking to city control of Rachel Heisler. Like I just want to know what their priority system is. Like, Give me, like, I know we don't have a grid per se, but like, give me a map. Show me where the A streets are. Show me where the B streets are. Like, it's the not knowing that I think is like more almost as frustrating as the not seeing the plows. But this is even like. That conversation with Heisler was about roads. And to me, it doesn't, it seems like nothing was actually done. At least roads were cleared. And then you could ask questions about how do you decide which ones to do. Some roads are cleared. Some roads still are not cleared. But like, you know, I, I walk my dog every day. And as I've been like trudging through piles of snow and curb cuts, I really have wondered, like, how do, how are wheelchair users navigating all of this? How is anybody with mobility issues, like, able to leave their homes? And we are weeks out from the storm at this point. Yeah. So this really, you know, I know one of the things that the bill would require being part of the inventories like accessible parking spaces, for example. So really thinking about like the places people need access to and how to prioritize the most vulnerable residents. That's the thing. That to me, that is the most important part is if you start from a place of like, let's make sure our most vulnerable can have access to stuff, then you don't have to worry about everybody else. Not for nothing.

I also think we should talk about bike lanes, because like, especially like over in Oakland. You can't get to anything. Downtown's still such a mess. No, bike lanes have just become like the dumping site for snow. Yeah, it looks like they plowed stuff just right into most of the lanes. I've also noticed, too, that the, it seems in some ways like DPW is working against themselves and that they've crushed and destroyed a lot of the flex posts setups along the bike lanes and they'll have to replace those again in the spring. That's what we're supposed to say our city is doing well and right. Well, we were doing it well until we plowed them all under. Another thing to know, our former mayor, Ed Ganey, has a new job officially. And y'all, did you see the salary? Not too shabby, Ed. So according to WESA, if he had been reelected, he would have made a salary of just over $140,000. Wait, he made that much? Yeah, not too shabby, right? I feel so silly. I didn't know he made that much as mayor. I thought it was lower paid. Well, now he's going to get a little pay bump from the gaming commission. Just a teeny tiny one. Okay. Well, I guess this isn't it as exciting then. This is going to be making about $5,000 more per year at $145,018. Probably a lot less for us, though. probably a lot less stress and probably fewer haters on X.com. I don't know. I think there's still going to be a lot of haters because we have not said what he's going to be doing. He'll be the commissioner of the gaming commission here in Pennsylvania. know a lot of people who are huge fans of our like our legalized betting gambling situation clearly there are a ton of users of it but i don't know a lot of people who like like it with the increased presence of skill games and bars and stuff like that uh you know there has been kind of this gaming creep in pennsylvania so one wonder is sort of what gainy's stances on all this stuff are yeah i don't think i've ever heard him talk about it This does seem like a moment where, like, if you want to come in with a real reform agenda, I mean, Governor Josh Shapiro is constantly talking about wanting to tax and regulate skill games and put that money back into the economy. Yep, just talked about it. But I don't know what, like, Ganey's priorities are. So it'll be kind of interesting to see what happens. Definitely. Well, I guess we can kind of stick in that, like, government space a little bit. When may, I don't know how you frame this one for Chris Deluzio, Chris Deluzio, a grand jury. defied President Trump and opted not to indict him this week. And this is just so complicated. Chris Deluzio, of course, represents, I believe, parts of Allegheny County and Beaver County in Congress. He served in the Navy. And so what happened is all over he and some others' statements to military. Including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, who's also a military veteran and former astronaut. Yeah. They made put out a statement. Made a video. Yes. telling military members that they should not follow orders from anyone that they know to be illegal. And the president was very mad about this. He called it seditious. He said that they deserve to be punished by death. And apparently put in motion. I'm sorry that that is just so beyond the pale. I know.

They should end Dow and editor position. The Heinz 57 editor-in-chief of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Oh, my God, right? They are still headquartered here. It's like a co-headquartered situation in Pittsburgh and Chicago. I feel bad that we didn't mention this last week, but of course it is my whole personality now off mic. The Olympics are happening and there are Pittsburghers involved in it. Yes, this Olympic Games has not disappointed with drama and all of that stuff. And on that note, there was quite a bit of drama when the United States absolutely beat the pants off of Canada in women's ice hockey. So this is a win for the U.S., but it's also a win for Pittsburgh, because Hannah Bilka, who scored two of the goals in that game, they... A number of these players played for the Penns Elite Hockey Club in Cranberry. So Layla Edwards also played for Penns Elite. She's also notably the first black woman to compete for the U.S. ice hockey team. And two goalies, Ava McNaughton and Gwyneth Phillips also passed through the Cranberry Academy. So some good Pittsburgh roots as the U.S. ladies head later this morning into a quarterfinals matchup with Italy. Good luck to Team USA. It's awesome to see him kick an ass. out there. I feel a lot of complications about rooting for USA at this moment in time, but I'm happy to root for Pittsburghers and Pittsburgh adjacent athletes. But I think that's the thing that I keep in my head is that like I don't want to let. the worst of our nation also own patriotism. Like protest is a form of patriotism. And if anything, like with all of the ugliness that's happening right now, there is so much desire to improve things. There always has been. That's always been part of our national narrative. And I never want to lose that. And it's that spirit that I hope is also like able to uplift some of our athletes, many of whom have used their actual podiums in Milan, right? now to say, yeah, I don't really like what's happening in my country either. I don't love wearing this flag on my chest, but I am proud to be here and I want to represent people back home too. One of Team USA's curling coaches actually gave a very impassioned speech about this because the curling teams are... There's a real overrepresentation of Minnesotans because of the history of the sport in the North Star State. And they basically use that opportunity to say, you know, what's happening in Minnesota is not okay, but we still play with a lot of pride for the people that we represent back home. So you're hearing a lot of these sentiments bubble up among different Olympians, some of whom have even taken flack from the, from President Trump over it. Okay, my weekend homework, I'm going to catch up on these speeches and get in the Olympic spirit. Oh, Valerie, if you say that until Colin and I start sending you all the stuff. Yeah, get ready. We've been obsessed. There's also like, you know, our penguins players, for example. I can't remember how many now, but like.

several are playing for different nationalities, are playing for the Olympics. Of course, Sydney Crosby, probably the highest profile playing for Canada. Men's hockey kicked off earlier this week. And the Olympics going two more weeks, two more weeks, all kinds of sports. Thinking more about winners and losers in the local arena, one loss this week, very sudden loss, is Kingfly Spirits in the strip district closed. And this is apparently just eight days after they announced that they were going to do a complete renovation and maybe change some of their programming. And then poof, they said, we're going out on a high note, close the doors, and that was that. And it left some local people a little bit sad about the loss of their favorite place to do salsa dance and drink cocktails and things of that nature. So. Very sudden departure from our local food scene. Yeah, I was really surprised to see that. I think I was reading maybe the same trip story as you because that salsa comment made me giggle a little bit. Yeah, I wonder what happened. Industry insiders basically say that young people drinking less. And things like dry January and, you know, people just being a little bit more health conscious have really hit craft beverages in the shorts. So, you know, beer consumption is down. Liquor consumption is down. Fine wine and good spirits has even reported some decrease in revenue. So. It's interesting, you know, to see these sort of market headwinds affect the local market. It makes me sad. As a craft beer enjoyer, I certainly don't want to see more of these local establishments go away. It is a weird, like, thing to grapple with because I don't want to be rooting for people to be less healthy. Like if people are trying to move in a healthier, more balanced direction and drink less, that's a good thing. But then you also want these places to survive. And so some nuance there. Yeah, and all of that may be a factor. It's just unusual to announce a renovation, then close with no notice and not go out with a bang, you know? Like, that's the piece that I'm more nebby about. That's the kind of thing that feels prompted by a look at a balance sheet somewhere along the line. Yeah, and just like, we hit our limit. We can't, we can go no further. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. We'll end on a win. The Carnegie International lineup dropped yesterday. The theme this year is if the word we. I got to check it out at a preview earlier this week. As always, a lot of intentionality, a ton of names, a lot of spaces. This thing goes on for months and months. I do think, like, the Carnegie International has such, like, an interesting history. It's been around for a long time. It pops up every four years. It really takes over a lot of our cultural institutions. they're talking at this preview event about like all these people who are going to come into town like I don't think this question really like fully manifested in its final form while I was sitting in that room but like as I sat with it I just kept thinking to myself like this is an international exhibition truly people travel from all over the world to be part of it to see it artists like collectives of artists like guests like all kinds of people

with what we started, like to end where we started, like all of the stuff happening with ice, increased ice activity in our city, all of the stuff happening at the federal level, I am really curious how the Carnegie Museum of Art folks are going to approach that this season. I wish I had thought of this in the moment to ask them the question. I have emailed them, have not heard back, but like, how do you work? How do you protect people? How do you support art in a moment like this? And also like protect the patrons who come see it, the artists who are creating it. It's a big question. Yeah, I mean, some of the past internationals have featured some pretty political art as well. There was a piece in one of the last ones that was a very direct response to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. There were pieces about the erasure of artists of color from the sort of Western canon, if you will. So it'll be interesting to see what kind of statements the artists make. And, you know, I've always really enjoyed the stuff that they've brought into town for the international. So I'm looking forward to seeing it, but that's a very valid question you raise. Yeah, it's such a huge thing for our city and it's really like it's a pride point and it should be. But also like, who in this moment, what are you going to do with all of this? A lot of commissions too. And I wonder like how that's going to play out as well. One thing that I would say is a concluding thought here is this is a great time to make art. There's certainly no shortage of subject matter. And it's also a great way to stay off screens. So I've been taking this week a little bit to work on some embroidery stuff. So I'm not doom scrolling quite as often.

That's all for today here on CityCast Pittsburgh. You can support us by becoming a CityCast Pittsburgh neighbor. All the details are always at membership.citycast.com. Our music is by Los Mococetes, Aaron Taylor Waldman, all the kimonos, The Verge, and SPD, with additional mixing by Tyler Lindgren. Mallory Falk is our executive producer. Sophia Lowe, Elizabeth Kama, and Matthew Rogers produced the show this week. Francesca DeBecco writes our newsletter, and I'm your host, Megan Harris. We will be back on Tuesday. Day and observance of President's Day with more from around the city. Have a great weekend, y'all. Wait, can I see something? Show me a piece. Oh, yeah. Colin, these are beautiful.