UPDATED with Council Reaction: Mayor Ravenstahl's Budget Message Breakout Quotes

UPDATE 2: Reactions from City Council members to Mayor Ravenstahl's address which warned of a coming "financial nightmare" in 2016 :

Council Finance Chair Bill Peduto:

• "Under his scenario which he presented today which is using one sided numbers, sure you can make that argument. But is it reality? No. Not unless we choose to go down that path. That's a path I will never travel."

• "We had a scolding, if nothing else,of city council -- and it wasn't even based on reality."

• "He's still trying to push an idea, even at the point of today, which was harmful to Pittsburgh."

Council President Darlene Harris (via written statement):

• "We have no intention of selling ourselves short, and no plan to initiate debt that will destroy future generations."


• "We also have no intention of foregoing billions of dollars of revenue over the next 50 years so that investment bankers can drain the life out of our City."

•"...In the coming weeks we will be actively working - day and night - to produce a decent, working solution to the immediate crisis, and thereafter this body intends to address the very core of the issue - the pension funds themselves.

Councilman Doug Shields:

•"I was little chagrined, to say the least, to hear that it's all council's fault, number one. Number two, there is a viable plan that the council enacted on the table."

• "I never saw a mayor come into the chamber and essentially insult the council."

• "It was like, 'okay, I'm coming into council to yell at the council about something, to basically throw this in the council's face, and blame them for everything."

Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak:

• "He said the actions of a few. I think there was clear majority that rejected the one option. there are still other options on the table."

UPDATE 1: Here are some key quotes from Mayor Ravenstahl's budget message delivered to City Council. (I posted a version of this earlier via mobile e-mail, but thumbtyping via BlackBerry leaves something to be desired in the way of formatting.) I've also expanded some quotes.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl:

• "It appears that Pittsburgh must return to the years of deficit spending..."

• "Council...is forcing us into a financial culture that looks too much like our past".

• "I submit five year plan today that does not raise taxes. That does not make draconian cuts to basic city services."

• "...makes sure that Pittsburghers can get through the next five years unharmed, even when confronted by pension payments that double and triple..."

• "We will do that by using our fund balance to ensure that we survive through 2015."

• "In 2016, the first year following the five year plan, our fund balance will be depleted."

• "(In 2016) we will be forced to make a $91 Million payment to the state pension system.."

• "...that is a quarter of our city's entire budget...more than it costs to operate any city departmentt."

• "After 2016, I cannot tell you how Pittsburgh will..deliver..core services without severe cuts & tax increases."

• "Pension payments after 2016 are even more staggering."

• "With a fund balance that is dried up, Pittsburgh will have to make a $127 Million pension payment in 2017. "

• "...our city walks with its eyes wide open into a fiscal nightmare."

• "I saw this day coming and prepared city for it as best I could."

• "...presented City Council with a solution that could have saved us from this..."

• "...some members of City Council chose the short term, irresponsible approach..."

• "...it is not too late to prevent an eventual Pittsburgh bankruptcy."

• "...if five members of council choose to do the right thing."

• "We can still avert pension crisis by making a large cash infusion into our pension fund immediately..."

• "...and fighting for a new revenue stream to increase our pension payments..."

• "...ignoring these solutions...will in time force us....back to the dark days..."

• "That is not what I wanted. It is not what is best for Pittsburgh..."

• "Nonetheless, if that is the path Council chooses, we must live with it, regardless of how disastrous the long term consequences will be."

• "The budget and five year plan I present today balances."

• "It maintains services without raising taxes through 2015".

• "...but Pittsburgh will not be able to absorb the costs of state takeover in 2016 or beyond."

--
Sent from my mobile device

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UPDATED: New City Government Web Design Lowers City Council Profile

[UPDATE 1 : The city's now changed its website since this blog post -- and I have some new information. I've added my e-mail exchange with Mayor Ravenstahl's Press Secretary Joanna Doven to the end of this post. A hat tip to Tim McNulty of the PG's Early Returns, who spotted the website change as of 11:15 AM.]

The "Emergency Information Page" on the City of Pittsburgh's website is apparently a sneak preview of a site re-design in the works -- one that literally takes City Council down a notch.

You can compare the before and after looks at these links.

Blogger-on-hiatus Bram Reichbaum and Pittsburgh Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak were discussing it recently via Twitter.


In the old website design, the link to City Council appears immediately to the right of the link to the mayor. (You can click on any of this images to enlarge them.)


The new design replaces the "Council" link with a generic "Government" link.



The link to City Council only appears if you hover your cursor over the word "Government".


Curiously, the link to the mayor's office appears both immediately after the home page link and as the first link under "Government", above City Council -- a sort of first among equals.

UPDATE 2 : Here's my e-mail exchange with Mayor Ravenstahl's Press Secretary Joanna Doven since my original blog post. At some point during this e-mail exchange the city restored City Council to the new website masthead. The Howard Stern mentioned in the cc: heading is the the city's Director of Information Systems.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mayo, Bob
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:27 AM
To: Stern, Howard; Doven, Joanna
Subject: City website changes

...Is this arrangement final? What went into the decision to drop City
Council down in the web link hierarchy?

Thanks.
Bob Mayo

----- Original Message -----
From: Doven, Joanna
To: Mayo, Bob E
Cc: Stern, Howard
Sent: Tue Feb 23 10:31:07 2010
Subject: RE: City website changes

I will consult with our web designer on this "concern" I assume council has. If Council has a concern, they may also consult with him. Nothing has been brought to our office's attention regarding arrangement yet.
The redesign is still in its infancy stage.

Thanks,

Joanna

-----Original Message-----
From: Mayo, Bob
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:47 AM
To: Doven, Joanna
Cc: Stern, Howard
Subject: Re: City website changes

No one from council pointed it out to me or expressed a concern. I noticed the change and am asking questions based on observation. Was the web designer instructed to make that change or did he/she do it without guidance? Was it done in house or contracted out?

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: Doven, Joanna
To: Mayo, Bob
Sent: Tue Feb 23 11:55:16 2010
Subject: RE: City website changes

In-house. No instruction from this office.

According to web designer...

The idea for Government was to have a page that describes city government (the elected bodies) to citizens. This page was an exploration of the concept:
http://redesign.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/government/


The drop-downs were a more recent addition in the latest design, allowing us to have links to all of the most prominent resources.

Here's an image from the updated city website.

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The Ticket?

UPDATE 7: [Councilman Bill Peduto on Twitter: "Ravenstahl backed City Council President slate lacks experience AND independence - it must be stopped. Not sure that I will be able to get the needed fifth vote, but we cannot let any Administration control Executive & Legislative branches."]

UPDATE 6: [Councilwoman Smith to Trib: "This is something that came to me on Tuesday, and, quite honestly, it's not something I'm seeking...I'm trying to find anybody but me."]


UPDATE 5: [Councilman Peduto, via Twitter to supporters: "Despite rumors, I am still a candidate for Council President with 4 votes and working for one more - thank you for kind words of support."]

UPDATE 4: [Councilman Burgess, via spokeswoman: "No comment".]


UPDATE 3: [Councilwoman Theresa Smith responds to my e-mail: "I appreciate the opportunity to comment; however, I will decline at this time and refer you to the Council members mentioned in your email for their comments. Thank you for the opportunity to comment and I look forward to working with you on additional reports in the future."]

UPDATE 2 : [Dayvoe of 2 Political Junkies notes: if true, Smith would become council president with 8 months experience, Lavelle would become finance chair with 0 days experience.]

UPDATE 1 : [Patrick Dowd confirms he now backs Smith for Council President. Says they need someone who can work together with others and reach across divides. Says Smith has shown that capacity and will serve them well, moving forward.]

The latest political buzz? That Theresa Kail-Smith has the votes to become Council President -- and that she will reward new Councilman Dan Lavelle for his vote by appointing him Finance Chair, the second most powerful position on council.

Anything can change between now and Monday morning's vote -- but the predictions now are that Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess will abandon his hopes for council presidency and throw his support to Kail-Smith, with Patrick Dowd and Darlene Harris providing the rest of the five votes needed.

Still awaiting callbacks from council members -- there are other scenarios.

Other sources say that Councilwoman Darlene Harris is herself a candidate for council president.

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The Sunshine Law & City Council's New Year's Eve Veto Override Attempt

Okay, I think I've solved this.

• There's nothing in the City's Home Rule Charter that bans council from holding a meeting on less than 24 hours notice. You can check the pdf file here.

• There is something in the Rules of Council (incorporated into the City Code) that says the city clerk should give council members (not the public) at least 24 hours written notice of a special meeting.

• That 24 hour notice requirement can be waived by a vote of 6 out of 9 council members.


...BUT...


• A special meeting of City Council called with less than 24 hours public notice would violate Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law.


Here's the quote. The PA Sunshine Law says:

" An agency shall give public notice of each special meeting"..."at least 24 hours in advance of the time of the convening of the meeting specified in the notice".

Section 709 adds that a "Public notice is not required in the case of an emergency meeting" -- but it strictly defines an emergency as:

"A meeting called for the purpose of dealing with a real or potential emergency involving a clear and present danger to life or property. "

So, hypothetically, if Council had mustered the six votes, first to hold the meeting on short notice and then to override Mayor Ravenstahl's New Year's Eve veto, what could have happened?

The Sunshine Law says a legal challenge to the meeting could be filed within 30 days. If a judge ruled the meeting broke the Sunshine Law, he or she would have the option of invalidating any action taken at that special meeting. Note the passage uses the words "may" and "discretion". It's not an automatic loss.

"Should the court determine that the meeting did not meet the requirements of this chapter, it may in its discretion find that any or all official action taken at the meeting shall be invalid. "

(That's in Section 713, titled "Business transacted at unauthorized meeting void". )


What's the punishment the council members involved would have faced? A hundred dollar fine:

Section 714. Penalty
"Any member of any agency who participates in a meeting with the intent and purpose by that member of violating this chapter commits a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $100 plus costs of prosecution."

[Update: Chris Potter also fact-checks these topics in a comment here and in his City Paper blog posts .]

A couple of open questions:

1) Are there any previous cases anywhere in which legislative bodies were stymied from taking override votes because of the timing of vetoes?

2) Does anyone see anything in the law or in court rulings that addresses the legality of a veto or an override vote in a case like this? Let me know.


Below are some document links, if you want to check them out.

• City Home Rule Charter

• Pittsburgh's City Code

• Rules of City Council

"The Clerk shall give written notice to the members of any special meeting not less than twenty-four hours previous to such meeting."

See Article V: Legislative, Chapter 151: Council, § 151.01 Regular And Special Meetings, , section (c).

"No rule shall be suspended except by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected and such vote shall be taken without debate."

See Rule VIII h.

• Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law

See Sections 709, 713 714.

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Mayor Ravenstahl's New Year's Eve Veto

Notes & quotes from my New Year's Day interviews

Council Finance Chair Peduto
Councilman Dowd
&
Mayoral Chief of Staff Zober

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have read my tweet-by-tweet reports of The New Year's Eve Veto. (See here .) Mayor Ravenstahl's maneuver is sparking bitter divisions. His opponents call him "undemocratic"; his supporters are comparing the other side to "fascists". The bill would have forced developers getting big taxpayer subsidies for large projects to pay workers prevailing wage rates. The mayor's tactic killed a bill unanimously approved by council. Since mayoral critics were more readily available than the mayor's staff last night, I'll start this post with the Ravenstahl administration's side.


Mayor Ravensthal's Chief of Staff Yarone Zober chose to meet me New Year's Day at the East Liberty site under consideration for construction of a new Target store. Zober used the site as an illustration to critique the prevailing wage bill:

• "..Whether it puts at risk things like nine acres of development, 500 jobs that could be created here, a hundred-million dollars of investment, put that all at risk."

Zober said the mayor had tried to talk with council members, but that:

• "The bill was rushed through. So much so, that there's so much vague and ambiguous language in this bill."

The mayor's chief of staff says that Ravenstahl tried to talk to council members, but they were frightened by potential political retaliation if they opposed the bill. Zober emphasized that the mayor's veto came within the 10 days required by law:

• "Everyone should have been quite aware of where this bill was, and council could have scheduled a meeting if they'd wanted to."

• "If we want to talk about undemocratic, there was a meeting that was held by council yesterday without required notice, against a city ordinance."

• "We followed the rules, we followed the democratic principles and, frankly, council did not."

• "Look, this is no 'gotcha' game. This is about making sure great investments can happen in neighborhoods like this."

• "There are things we can do to make this bill better. Less vague, less ambiguous, and allow developers and investors the right to figure out what they're doing when they come and invest in Pittsburgh."

Councilman Bill Peduto met me in the Shadyside business district for our interview. He appeared as much sad as angry as he talked about Mayor Ravenstahl's New Year's Eve veto tactic, which stymied any council override:

• "You are denying the American democratic process in that situation. You are basically saying this is a totalitarian society."

• "That's not good political maneuvering, that's stripping away the democratic process and taking the public out of it."

• "Under the new council session, it will be debated, it will be passed."

Peduto argued that the mayor's ends don't justify the means he used, adding:

• "there are others who would say the means are the way of judging a person's character."

Councilman Peduto also criticized a colleague:

• "You had Councilman Dowd who announced as he was standing there (in council chamber) that 'I am not present' for this vote, so that he could stay aligned with the mayor."

• "I don't know what Councilman Dowd is doing and I don't know why he's doing it. I feel disappointed by Councilman Dowd, and other than Joe Lieberman, (he's) probably one of the greatest political disappointments I've had in my life."

• "He began to heckle the council president during the hearing itself, and then moved to another part of the council chamber and continued to shout from that part of the chamber as well. In 15 years of working in that building, one the lowest points if not the lowest point I can think of."

On Monday, 2010 City Council members are expected to choose between Peduto and Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess in a vote for Council President. Peduto comments:

• "Are we going to have a council that is a rubber stamp for the mayor, or are we going to have an independent body that can make its own decisions?"

• "What I saw from the other side was complete confrontation -- a confrontation against the democratic process that we're sworn to uphold. I would consider it one of the lowest marks in my 15 years in city council."

On claims Mayor Ravenstahl's charges that the prevailing wage bill was vague, ambiguous, in need of more input, and has the potential to hurt Pittsburgh:

• "The mayor was silent on it for the seven weeks that it was before us. He never had an opinion, he never reached out to council."

• "He waited until the very last minute, when council didn't have the ability to fulfill it's democratic process and obligations, and then he made his position known. that's no way to govern, that's no way to lead."

Councilman Patrick Dowd wasn't available for an on camera interview. Dowd explained that New Year's Day is his wedding anniversary and that last night's meeting took him away from his family.

Here are some notes from our phone conversations. Most of this was not recorded, so I don't have a full transcript.

Dowd compared Mayor Ravenstahl's New Year's Eve veto maneuver to a chess game, saying:

• "Tactically, he beat us."

and adding:

• "Shame on us for not anticipating" it.

• Dowd faults his fellow council members for what he describes as a "total ignoring of the rules" by meeting and attempting a veto override. The city code require 24 hours public notice before a council meeting, or a six vote majority to waive that rule.

• I noted that Dowd had been part of the 9-to-0 unanimous vote for the prevailing wage bill, and asked why he himself didn't provide the 6th vote to waive the 24-hour notice requirement. Dowd answered there are "ways to deal with this, and it's not by bending the rules".

• Dowd dismissed the attempted veto override as a "goofy maneuver" and said he presumed the prevailing wage bill would simply be reintroduced for 2010.

• The councilman recalled that during debate of the legislation others on council "outmaneuvered" his attempts to amend the bill. Councilman Dowd calls it :

• "poetic justice they were outmaneuvered" by Mayor Ravenstahl.

• Dowd quotes:

• "..you can't bend the rules. And that's what fascists do -- and in the 30s, particularly. And that's what my colleagues were trying to do last night."

• "Two wrongs don't make a right".

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City Government Summer Hockey: 5 on 4 Power Play

Imagine the shock waves in Washington if U.S. Senate Democrats used a filibuster-proof majority to approve a raft of President Obama's appointees without interviewing the nominees first.


The Post-Gazette's initial web story on Tuesday captures a flavor of the unusual nature of what happened in city government:

"Pittsburgh City Council divided sharply today before taking the unusual step of opting not to interview 12 nominees to city boards prior to approving them."

Today's PG account notes that about half of the large number of simultaneous appointments had already been approved by City Council in a matter of a few weeks:

Mr. Ravenstahl made 21 nominations on June 22, and council interviewed and confirmed nine of them within the usual two- or three-week time frame.

Council members Jim Motznik and Theresa Smith are quoted in the PG:

Mr. Motznik said the nominees "have been scheduled for interviews, only to have them canceled the night before" by Council President Doug Shields, calling such tactics "the gamesmanship, the political crap that we have to go through."

"I know what my community wants," countered Ms. Smith. "They have elected a mayor of the city of Pittsburgh, overwhelmingly," and mayors pick board members.

The Trib's council coverage doesn't touch on the no-interview approval process, opting for a four sentence story about the opportunity to apply for a new city commission.


Over on Pittsblog 2.0, Mike Madison offered analysis weeks back in June about the background of some of Mayor Ravenstahl's appointments. Council's action passes on the opportunity for citizens to hear from the nominees.


There's conversation about the story in the comments section of this post by on The Pittsburgh Comet.


2 Political Junkies has critical commentary and a biting editorial illustration.

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Act 47 Team Letter to Council

click to enlarge

[As commenter Monk pointed out, copying and pasting from BlackBerry's Mail into GMail made a scrambled mess of the text. My apologies.]

Here's the text of the letter:

June 29, 2009

The Honorable William Peduto
Chair, Finance Committee
Council of the City of Pittsburgh
City-County Building, 5th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Dear Chairman Peduto:

We appreciate your ongoing work with us to develop a final Amended Act 47 Recovery Plan.

Pursuant to Council’s expressed intent last week, our subsequent discussions with you and your colleagues, and with the guidance of the Mayor, we have developed the attached package of amendments to the Amended Recovery Plan. Please note that in addition to the amendments, we will make certain conforming changes to the Executive Summary, Introduction and other portions of the Amended Recovery Plan to make them consistent with these amendments.

We would be most appreciative if you would introduce this package of amendments to the Amended Recovery Plan and the relevant ordinance at tomorrow’s City Council session. If enacted without modification, these amendments have our consent as Act 47 Coordinator.

Thank you again for your tremendous leadership, good counsel and advice in bringing us to this point.

Sincerely,

James H. Roberts Dean Kaplan

c: Members of City Council
The Honorable Luke Ravenstahl, Mayor
Yarone Zober, Chief of Staff to the Mayor
Scott Kunka, Finance Director
Bill Urbanic, Council Finance Director

--
Sent from my mobile device (and later reformatted).

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Your Tweets on Mayor Before Council

Readers provided a lot of feedback via Twitter as I did my live tweeting of Mayor Ravenstahl's appearance before City Council:

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Tweeting the Mayor Meeting with Council

Here's my Twitter coverage of Mayor Ravenstahl's appearance before City Council to discuss the Act 47 financial recovery plan. For those not used to reading tweets, the entries below are in reverse chronological order, with the most recent listed first. Please pardon the typos, these are thumb-typed in a rush.

I did correct one embarrassing typing error: some comments were attributed to Councilwoman Burns instead of Harris. Of course I know better. That's an interesting subconscious slip; using the name of a former North Side council member instead of the current one. At least I didn't call Doug Shields "Jeep".

The tweets follow:

1. Mayor tells reporters his side comment was to the effect the proceeding was a joke. Remark was in a moment of frustration.about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry
2. Peduto says it's not a threat, but council will not pass plan as is. Done w mayor.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
3. Mayor at Council meeting for more than 2 1/2 hours. Still going.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
4. Shields tells mayor he wants to work with him to fight in Harrisburg for city.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
5. Shields: says this mayor cares about this city -- he has no doubt about that.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
6. Shiellds: this plan is a little screwy if you ask me.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
7. Councilman Kraus, I am told, thinks he heard the mayor mutter that kraus "is a joke".about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
8. Mauor expresses concerns that expections are being created there can be widespread changes in the Act 47 plan. Doesn't think it's the case.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
9. Some here think the mayor's muttered side comment was "this is such a joke".about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
10. Kraus apparrently thought he overheard mayor mutter "joke" as Kraus was talking. Kraus called him on it, Mayor said he was talking to Huss.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
11. Mayor to Kraus: he was highly offended by council's criticism of his being away on vacation last week. Kraus said problem was timing.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
12. Peduto notes his sense is that council will not support the Act 47 plan as is.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
13. Dowd tells Ravenstahl he cannot suport raising taxes as the plan's "failsafe option"mabout 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
14. Mayor says plan provides options .... Says not passing it is "a blueprint for disaster".about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
15. Dowd: concerns about whether mayor can implement in time to get budget without tax increasesmabout 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
16. Burgess says that will put city in "state receivership.". Calls for meeting with council, mayor, Act 47 team to reach unity.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
17. Burgess says if don't adopt plan by June 30, may as well not adopt it ever. Says not approving by then leads to union arbitration costs.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
18. Burgess says his concern is unity. Suggests working together to craft agreement.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
19. Councilman Burgess says he doesn't like to do policy "under the lights".about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
20. Peduto: the plan is bad for Pittsburgh if council doesn't amend it.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
21. Peduto tells finance director council will put the options the mayor describes into the plan in writing because "they're not in there".about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
22. Peduto: Act 47 "failsafe plan" increases local taxes. Mayor says he's pursuing leasing parking garages instead.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
23. Peduto to Mayor: do you support closing the Greenfield fire station. Mayor: "yeah".. But says at end of day it's Act 47's plan.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
24. Pedutoh plan leaves only options of raising property taxes and wage taxes and real estate transfer taxes on city residents.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
25. Peduto to Mayor: legislators say $145 a year isn't going anywhere. Peduto says voting this plan today will raise taxes on city residents.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
26. Peduto to mayor: hope you had nice vcation. Mayor jokes "firefighters are asking for 5th week of vacation, I can't even has one"..about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
27. Mayor's chief of staff Yarone Zober tries to interject during Shields' questioning of Ravenstahl. Shields tells Zober he's out of order.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
28. Mayor: I'm sitting her talking to you nowm Shields: under motion to compel. Mayor: it has nothing to do w/ motion to compel.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
29. Shields complains of mayor's past "resounding silence". Mayor : "I'm here". Shields how do you build relationship if don't meet?about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
30. Shields says mayor did not answer his repeated requests to discuss problems. Tells mayor unity is built before, not after.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
31. Mayor: not his plan, would he draw on differently...it's the Act 47 team's plan. He's asking council to approve it.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
32. Mayor to Shields question on call foe council unity: mayor says need to act to approve this plan. Says will work w/ council afterward.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
33. Council Prez Doug Shields to Mayor: bottom line is the plan has a $15M hole. Says Act 47 and ICA doesn't have weight to carry city's case.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
34. I'm going to ease off of tweet-by-tweet coverage now, but if anything big comes up, I'll let you all know.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
35. Harris: we've had 5 years for the state to come in and do something and they haben't done enough.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
36. Councilwoman Harris continues to press City Solicitor Specter: show in writing where June 30 is deadline for Act 47 and contract talks.about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
37. Mayor: says if if state legislature were to approve increase in LST tax from $52 to $144 and payroll prep tax on non-profits., won't be backabout 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
38. Mayor: doesn't necessarily disagree. But says he's a political realist. Says still facing uphill battle in Harrisburg.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
39. Mayor notes local services tax apply to everyone who works in cituy, not kust city residents. Payne says she'd like commuter tax.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
40. Councilwoman Payne: hopes he's not saying will still raise taxes, but not just those city residents alone pay.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
41. Huss: says he'd rather deal with provisions of plan than eliminating jobs.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
42. Councilwoman Smith: asks for info on impact of potential public safety retirement. Director Huss and administration provide.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
43. Kraus: tells mayor wants cooperative relationship, door is open but says mayor hasn't used it yet.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
44. Mayor: choices are extremely limited... Again points to his proposal to monetize assets to put large influx of cash to pension fund.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
45. Mayor: we have to think outside the box. Need $ for pension fund.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
46. Mayor to Kraus: nobody is losing their jobs here. Kraus: says his concern is ability to recruit and retain workers, including police.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
47. On labor issues, in response to Kraus, mayor supports plan as is. Says plan should be approved by June 30th.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
48. Councilman Kraus to mayor: says he personally has had no communication from him. Doesn't want to hear by press release.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
49. Mayor: if don't approve plan, everything city's accomplished will go up in smoke.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
50. Says guarantees he won't support tax increases . Says if none od other options are implemented, will be back with cuts.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
51. Mayor: depends more on council leadership more than anything he as mayor will do.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
52. Dowd to mayor: you need the $15M by the time you present budget by Sept?about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
53. Kunka: any combination of these totalling up to $15M will do job.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
54. Dowd: how do you do this in 2010 without avoiding tax increase? Mayor defers to finance director Kunka.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
55. Tells council not to delay approval......failure could bring state sanctions.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
56. Option E: staff reductions, services cuts, tax increases that he does not support.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
57. Another option: surcharges. Poss. On garages, hospital bed fees, head tax on college students.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
58. Another option; apply payroll prep tax to non profits.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
59. Another option: increase local services tax from $52 a year to $144 a year. (Would need state legis. approval.)about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
60. Mayor element one: "monetize assets"....that's selling or leasing parking garages.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
61. Mayor: four elements to his plan to raise revenue to meet long term obligations.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
62. Mayor will not support tax increases that are solely on city residents.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
63. Mayor: Not like cuts other cities are seeing now. Need to be able to make difficult decisions now.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
64. Mayor says city workfoce is overworked and underpaid. Plan woulg give bonuses, modest raises.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
65. Mayor says time to approve Act 47 plan is now.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
66. Mayor says his powerpoint presentation will answer. Says has sufficent savings to get through next 5 years. Plenty of work still to do.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
67. Dowd to mayorh do you support this plan, if so, why? Can you implement. Will you have a tax increase?about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
68. Dowd tells mayor plan is a mountain of service cuts combined with tax increase or increases.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
69. Mayor says he has presentation, but Dowd wants to start with Q&A.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
70. Mayor allowed to table with staff.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
71. Dowd asks for Mayor alone, not staff. Burgess says if that happens, he'll invoke right to block mayor speaking.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
72. Burgess motion to approve Act 47 plan fails for lack of 2nd. Dowd moves to reject, asks mayor to come to table.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
73. Peduto: no issue more important -- affects everything, including public safety for next 5 years. Mayor will go first.about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
74. 10:59: mayor back in room, last public speaker wrapping up.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
75. Darren Kelly (sp?) Of fire union: points to closing of fire station, elimination of deputy chief positions.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
76. 10:50: mayor and his bodyguard just stepped out and headed into his office as unrelated citizen public comment continues.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
77. 10:40: Mayor sitting in audience as citizens speak out on other concerns during public comment period.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
78. O'Hara says pool of potential applicants is falling. Says council should think about safety implications.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
79. Police Union prez Dan O'Hara: public safety is first, not looking to raid coffers. If you vote for plan as is, city will see deterioration.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
80. Finance chair Peduto apologizes but keeps King to the 3 minute comment for now. Union will get to say more later.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
81. Fire union prez Joe King: there is not a time limit for you to pass this by June 30th. Says current Act 47 plan would still be in place.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
82. 10:18. Mayor Ravenstahl just entered. Meeting about to start. Public comment normally comes first.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
    

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