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Pittsburgh City Council

City is renting rooftops for surveillance cameras.

Written by Amy Whipple

  • Despite a vote in support of installing rooftop cameras in the city, Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park expressed concerns about their use.
  • The bill, if it passes final adoption, authorizes the continued use of a condominium roof in Mount Washington for video cameras and related equipment. The legislation says the equipment is “for the purpose of providing enhanced security to [the city’s] citizens.”
  • The city first entered a memorandum of understanding with the Plaza at Grandview Owner’s Association in 2010. Gross said the Sept. 10 meeting was the first she had heard about the cameras and that council had been previously surprised by a similar agreement for cameras on top of the U.S. Steel Tower.
  • Schmidt said that the Grandview rooftop is used primarily for camera network equipment with “one or two” cameras there that monitor traffic-level incidents but do not have the capacity to zoom into license plates or faces as Gross feared. She said she would take Schmidt up on his offer to see the cameras herself.
  • The new five-year agreement will begin Jan. 1 and will cost the city a total of $105,600.

Connections to this story

Topics:
Public Safety & EMS
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · September 9, 2025
Sources:
Resolution 2025-2184 — authorizing the Mayor and Director of Public Safety to enter into a License Agreement or Agreements between the City of…

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