Johns Hopkins to study permit delays, $25K grant to document LGBTQIA+ history, and budget tools renewed for residents

This Week in City Council

• University partnership aims to take the guesswork out of the building permit process
• Documenting Pittsburgh's LGBTQIA+ history with a $25K state grant
• City renews tools that let residents tinker with the budget

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University partnership aims to take the guesswork out of the building permit process 🔗

The Department of Innovation and Performance (DIP) could figure out how to make the city’s permitting process more accessible to residents during a three-year partnership with Johns Hopkins University.

City council voted to move forward with a data sharing agreement with the university as part of the Data Science for Social Good program. If the measure gets final approval, researchers will focus on identifying common causes of incomplete applications and review delays. They will also look at systems to improve consistency in applicant guidance and intake determinations, and support earlier identification of required reviews and documentation.

“Equity is at the heart of this process,” said special projects manager Ben Forstate at the May 13 council committee meeting.

“Some of the burdens of this process are the hardest on people who don’t have the means to navigate the system,” he said. For instance, it takes a week longer for people in low-income communities to start the application process for single-family home projects. 

Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park asked for the project to include gender data given the number of women-owned small businesses in her district. “They very often have told me about their difficulties with PLI and felt that maybe they were being treated unfairly,” she said.

The agreement comes at no cost to the city.

Documenting Pittsburgh's LGBTQIA+ history with a $25K state grant 🔗

After a failed bid to name the city’s first gay historic landmark, the Department of City Planning (DCP) would like to learn more about Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ history.

The department requested council’s approval to receive a $25,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to conduct a community context study. The funds require a $7,500 match from the city. 

Kevin Kunak, assistant director for DCP, said that historic nominations typically include a study to identify the history of a place, people or buildings. This process did not happen with last year’s nomination of Donny’s Place, a gay men’s bar on Polish Hill.

The bar operated from 1972 to 2022 and served as an outreach center during the AIDS crisis. Its current owner, the Planning Commission, and council did not support the nomination.

“This is going and starting at the beginning to see if there is context and a story here to celebrate in Pittsburgh,” Kunak said at the May 13 committee meeting. DCP will work with the LGBTQIA+ Commission as well as community groups for research.

Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park said the public hearing for Donny’s Place yielded a moving history of queer Pittsburgh. “The stories are rich and wonderful and definitely worth saving,” she said.

Council voted to move forward with the request.

City renews tools that let residents tinker with the budget 🔗 🔗

 The city’s budget website, in which residents can set their own priorities and see how they are reflected in the city budget, may survive the current budget crisis. 

Council voted to move forward with a request for $13,000 to extend a contract with Balancing Act by one year. The online tool educates and engages residents on budget priorities. One feature produces a tax receipt that breaks down, as low as cents, what users paid for with their income and property taxes. The platform also allows users to add and subtract expenditures from the preliminary operating and capital budgets and submit their results to the city.

“They’re very cool tools. I’ve explored all of them,” said Council Member Erika Strassburger of Squirrel Hill North during the May 11 committee meeting. She noted, however, that even $13,000 needs to be scrutinized during tight financial times.

David Hutchinson, assistant director for capital and asset management, said resident use depends on promotion. He said they’ll likely be featured in upcoming public budget meetings  

Rea Price, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the city is creating an in-house version of the platform to save money. 

Council also voted to move forward with a request for $286,740 to cover a three-year extension with Euna Solutions, Inc. The company provides the city’s budgeting and performance management system.