Amy Whipple

Cleaning endless litter, catching illegal dumpers, automating traffic tickets and repairing city steps.

Opening up to more sidewalk vendors, emergency grants for social service orgs, and revising the Lower Hill’s community benefits agreement.

Update on “protected classes.”

Council did not cast its final vote to simplify language in the city code for protected classes. Council Member Erika Strassburger of Upper Squirrel Hill said the legal department advised them to…

Community benefits agreement reinforced for Lower Hill.

After the Pittsburgh Penguins skated away from redeveloping the Lower Hill Special Planning District, last week, the council member representing the area moved to make sure the community benefits…

The city releases its plans for block grant money.

A bevy of social service and community groups across the city are set to receive more than $4 million from the city’s Community Development Block Grant funding.

Vendors may be back on the sidewalks again.

For $135, small vendors might be able to sell food and merchandise on sidewalks and in parking spaces, as long as they pay for metered parking.

The saga of inclusionary zoning takes another plot twist.

An effort to mandate affordable housing in large new or renovated developments has been stalled again. City council voted 5-4 to amend the inclusionary zoning (IZ) legislation, which sent the bill…

City’s vehicle fleet barely limping along.

The inaugural fleet oversight report painted a picture of despair.

Coghill finds money to repair a playground and buy a garbage truck.

Council Member Anthony Coghill of Beechview wants to use $415,000 saved on lower interest payments to buy a garbage truck and for Brookline Memorial Park playground upgrades.

Three Sisters Bridges, Schenley Park and Pump Stations are on the verge of historic designations.

Pittsburgh has a long history and now more of it is about to be designated as “historic.”

Inclusionary Zoning Takes New Turn While Pittsburgh Addresses Failing Fleet and Preserves Landmarks.

Weighing Neighborhood Meeting Reforms, Reviewing Storm Damage and a Contentious Snow Removal Debate.

Warwick looks to use unspent fuel money on new snow plows.

A separate bill from Council Member Warwick would transfer $750,000 from an overlooked liquid fuels trust fund to the Equipment Leasing Authority. The money, Warwick said, should cover four new…

Community groups may be out of the business of organizing neighborhood development meetings.

Council Member Theresa Kail-Smith of Westwood proposed suspending the city’s use of registered community organizations (RCOs) to manage community meetings with developers.

A plan to have Munhall assist with plowing the streets gets kicked to the curb.

A plan to ask Munhall to plow three neighborhoods was met with hostility by council members who accused the proponent of giving up on Pittsburgh workers.

Duquesne Light’s infrastructure took a hard hit during April’s storm.

Five months after a storm left some city residents without power for nine days, city council members sat down with representatives of Duquesne Light and the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission…

Petition Calls for Pittsburgh to declare itself a Sanctuary City.

West End sidewalk, bus stop repair program gets $100,000 boost from the county.

Allegheny County’s Redevelopment Authority has provided an additional $100,000 toward developing a West Pittsburgh mobility plan. This doubles its contribution to the project to $200,000.

Petition calls for Pittsburgh to declare itself a Sanctuary City.

Nearly 1,500 city residents signed a petition to declare Pittsburgh a sanctuary city. Doing so would prohibit all city agencies from cooperating with federal Immigration, Customs and Enforcement…

Private vendor’s contract may be extended for city police promotions.

City council is planning to take up a measure to extend a contract with a private company to provide police lieutenant and sergeant selection services for next year.