Pittsburgh invokes eminent domain to seize Homewood apartment building
Pittsburgh City Councilman Khari Mosley is invoking the city’s eminent domain powers in an effort to preserve a 100-unit apartment complex in Homewood as affordable housing. “We’re really trying to do three things: prevent displacement, preserve affordable housing and prevent the property from going into the hands of another bad...
Pittsburgh council votes to scrap contracts for $6M master plan, but Gainey refuses
Pittsburgh City Council on Monday voted to cancel a pair of contracts prematurely for a 25-year master plan, which could save millions of dollars — but Mayor Ed Gainey said he won’t abide by the decision. The $6 million comprehensive plan is meant to guide zoning and development through 2050....
Tax trifecta: Pittsburgh property owners take it on the chin
For Pittsburgh property owners, there’s no escaping a triple tax whammy. The city and school district are raising property taxes in 2026, piling on the pain of a 36% hike by Allegheny County that took effect this year. With the three tax increases, a Pittsburgh resident with a property assessed...
Where was Coghill? Veteran Pittsburgh councilman misses key budget vote
Sunday’s vote on the Pittsburgh budget wasn’t Anthony Coghill’s first rodeo. The Pittsburgh councilman, who was just elected to a third term, has voted on budgets each year since 2018. That track record is tarnished now. When the time came for a final City Council vote on the $693 million...
5 things to know about the Pittsburgh budget, tax hike approved by City Council
Pittsburgh City Council on Sunday approved a 2026 budget with a 20% property tax increase, the first tax hike the city has implemented in more than a decade. Council members and Pittsburgh residents were starkly divided over the tax increase. No tax hike was included in Mayor Ed Gainey’s initial...
Pittsburgh City Council approves 2026 budget with 20% property tax increase
Pittsburgh City Council voted Sunday to raise property taxes by 20%, down from an earlier proposal for a 30% tax hike. Council supported the 20% tax hike — the first increase in more than a decade — in a 6-2 vote after hours of deliberation Sunday. “I do feel this...
Pittsburghers share mixed opinions on significant tax hike proposal as council remains divided over budget options
About 24 hours before Pittsburgh City Council is scheduled to vote on a 2026 budget, council members remained divided on whether to cut services, raise taxes or find a middle ground that combines both approaches. Council on Sunday will take preliminary and final votes on the tax increase and budget....
Pittsburgh City Council continues to hammer out 2026 budget as vote deadline nears
Pittsburgh City Council members failed Thursday to hash out all their differences over the 2026 budget they’ll vote on this weekend and temporarily left unanswered the biggest question: Will there be a tax hike? In a daylong meeting, council spent hours debating preliminary votes on dozens of amendments to the...
Point State Park upgrades finish early as Pittsburgh preps for 2026 NFL Draft
A $3.4 million upgrade to Downtown Pittsburgh’s Point State Park is done ahead of schedule, months in advance of the 2026 NFL Draft. The 36-acre park, which sits at the confluence of Pittsburgh’s three rivers, will be the site of some of the draft activities in April, as well as...
ICE involved as feds violently detain Latino man in Mt. Washington
Neighbors living on Norton Street in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood woke Wednesday morning to sounds of screaming. Witnesses told TribLive they watched federal agents hit, tackle, pepper spray and arrest a Latino man between 8 and 8:30 a.m. “This is a new level of violence than we’ve seen in the...
Pittsburgh scraps plan for $6.9M salt storage unit amid budget crunch
A salt storage dome along Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Pittsburgh’s Duquesne Heights neighborhood is so dilapidated there are holes in the concrete, the steel is corroding and the ventilation system stopped working. “The building itself is a safety hazard,” said Chip Gaul, assistant director of the Department of Public...
Pittsburgh City Council grants historic designation to Westinghouse Park
In 1871, George Westinghouse bought a property in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood that would be his home for the next 50 years. He built a mansion called Solitude, where he would conduct experiments, dig a gas well and create a personal laboratory as he became a flourishing inventor and engineer....
Pittsburgh mulls skipping annual $10M earmark for anti-violence program
Pittsburgh City Council has promised nothing is off limits as it tries to fix what members claim is a broken budget. On Tuesday council President R. Daniel Lavelle put his money where his mouth is. The Hill District Democrat proposed deferring a $10 million payment next year to a program...
A guide to Pittsburgh’s budget crisis
Pittsburgh City Council members agree they won’t pass the 2026 budget Mayor Ed Gainey proposed. Though the Gainey administration is staunchly defending its budget, council members aren’t buying it, and neither is the city controller or council’s budget director. They claim the spending plan is not balanced and grossly underestimates...
Pittsburgh looks into worst-case budget scenario of missing New Year’s Eve deadline
Pittsburgh officials expect the city will have a 2026 spending plan by their New Year’s Eve deadline. But Jake Pawlak, the architect of outgoing Mayor Ed Gainey’s budgets, is already exploring what would happen if they don’t. “That has not happened in the modern era of the city,” Pawlak told...
Black-owned businesses host market in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District
The Black Market: Holiday Edition will showcase Black-owned businesses in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District during the holiday shopping season. The indoor pop-up will be open Thursday, running through Sunday and again December 18-21 on the ground floor of the Encore Building at 100 7th St. in Downtown Pittsburgh. Shoppers will find...
Same budget, different universes: Pittsburgh council, mayor diverge on 2026 spending plan
Depending on who’s talking, Pittsburgh’s 2026 spending plan is either absolutely fine — or a complete disaster. City Council members, their budget director and the Pittsburgh controller seem to be living in a totally different reality than Mayor Ed Gainey’s top officials. Detractors have blasted the Gainey’s final budget as...
‘Grim picture’: Pittsburgh council meets in private to hear options for tax hike, budget cuts
Pittsburgh City Council members met Tuesday behind closed doors to hear a presentation about ways to fix a gaping hole in the 2026 budget. Council Budget Director Peter McDevitt showed council options including tax increases at various levels, scaled-down pay raises for nonunion workers and cuts to the city’s workforce....
Who are Pittsburgh Mayor-elect O’Connor’s latest picks for his administration?
Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor this week announced his picks for more key posts in his administration. Sharon Werner — a former chief of staff to U.S. Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch — will be the city’s chief operating officer. Sophia Shapiro, the daughter of Gov. Josh Shapiro, will...
Mum’s the word: NFL, Visit Pittsburgh host private town hall on draft plans
As a Pittsburgh councilman, Anthony Coghill chairs City Council’s public safety committee and serves on the Sports & Exhibition Authority’s board. But even those credentials could not score him an invitation to a closed-door “town hall” Monday with NFL officials about the 2026 NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh in April....
Budget bombshell: Pittsburgh councilwoman proposes 30% tax hike in 2026
Pittsburgh Councilwoman Barb Warwick dropped a budget bombshell on Monday, proposing a 30% property tax hike to balance what she and her peers see as a disastrous final spending plan by the outgoing mayor. A tax increase of that magnitude is only path to forward without axing services, Warwick said....
As budget deadline looms, pressure mounts on Pittsburgh council to reject Gainey spending plan
There’s a rebellion underway in Pittsburgh’s city hall. Frustrated with outgoing Mayor Ed Gainey’s 2026 budget proposal, City Council members are increasingly plotting how to blow up his spending plan. Gainey’s budget avoids tax increases and layoffs. But critics have derided it as dishonest and “sloppy.” As Pittsburgh barrels toward...
Bomb squad sweeps Pittsburgh Symphony’s chartered plane in response to threat
Allegheny County Police on Thursday investigated a security threat impacting a plane chartered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. A note “that was deemed to be potentially threatening” was found at Pittsburgh International Airport around 10:35 a.m. Thursday, Jim Madalinsky, a county police spokesman, said Friday. The county’s bomb squad swept...
Allegheny County homicide detectives probing West Mifflin man’s death
Allegheny County homicide detectives are investigating the death of a West Mifflin man in July that has been labeled a homicide. William Daley Jr., 58, died July 12 in a hospital, according to information released Thursday by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. The medical examiner ruled he died of...
Pittsburgh council pauses $10M for affordable housing fund as it scrutinizes budget
Faced with a grim fiscal outlook and a dicey 2026 budget, City Council is taking a hard look at whether it can spare $10 million on affordable housing initiatives next year. Council members on Wednesday delayed by two weeks a vote on funding the Housing Opportunity Fund’s 2026 budget as...
