Allegheny County Council Regular Meeting
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ALLEGHENY COUNTY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING - - - BEFORE: John P. DeFazio - President, Council-At-Large Nicholas Futules - Vice President, District 7 (Via Telephone) Heather S. Heidelbaugh - Council-At-Large Thomas Baker - District 1 Jan Rea - District 2 Edward Kress - District 3 Michael J. Finnerty - District 4 Sue Means - District 5 John F. Palmiere - District 6 Dr. Charles J. Martoni - District 8 Robert J. Macey - District 9 William Russell Robinson - District 10 Terri Klein - District 11 James Ellenbogen - District 12 (Via Telephone) Amanda Green Hawkins - District 13 (Via Telephone) Allegheny County Courthouse Fourth Floor, Gold Room 436 Grant Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - 5:00 p.m. SARGENT'S COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. 429 Forbes Avenue, Suite 1300 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 232-3882 FAX (412) 471-8733 IN ATTENDANCE: William McKain - Allegheny County Manager Joseph Catanese - Director of Constituent Services Jared Barker - Director of Legislative Services Walter Szymanski - Budget Director Jack Cambest - Council Solicitor PRESIDENT DEFAZIO: We're going to lead off with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, and then remain standing for silent prayer or reflection, but I want you to remember what's happened in Paris and other parts, the tragedies there in your prayers, so I'll start off with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) (Moment of Silent Prayer or Reflection.) PRESIDENT DEFAZIO: We'll have a roll call. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Baker? MR. BAKER: Here. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Ellenbogen? MR. ELLENBOGEN: Here. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Finnerty? MR. FINNERTY: Here. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Futules? MR. FUTULES: Here. MR. CATANESE: Ms. Green Hawkins? (No response.) MR. CATANESE: Ms. Heidelbaugh? MS. HEIDELBAUGH: Here. MR. CATANESE: Ms. Klein? MS. KLEIN: Here. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Kress? (No response.) MR. CATANESE: Mr. Macey? MR. MACEY: Present. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Martoni? DR. MARTONI: Here. MR. CATANESE: Ms. Means? MS. MEANS: Here. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Palmiere? MR. PALMIERE: Here. MR. CATANESE: Ms. Rea? MS. REA: Here. MR. CATANESE: Mr. Robinson? MR. ROBINSON: Present. MR. CATANESE: Mr. DeFazio, President? PRESIDENT DEFAZIO: Here. MR. CATANESE: Thirteen (13) members currently present. PRESIDENT DEFAZIO: 92 ---. MR. CATANESE: Let the record show Councilman Kress is present. PRESIDENT DEFAZIO: Okay. 9275-15. MR. CATANESE: Proclamation congratulating NewsRadio 1020 KDKA, the world's first commercial radio station, upon the momentous occasion of its 95th anniversary. Sponsored by Council Members Macey, Baker, DeFazio, Ellenbogen, Finnerty, Futules, Green Hawkins, Heidelbaugh, Klein, Kress, Martoni, Means, Palmiere, Rea and Robinson. MR. MACEY: Hello. Good afternoon everybody. Would Mr. Michael Young please come up to the podium? Mr. Michael Young is a senior vice president and Pittsburgh marketing manager for CBS Radio Pittsburgh. You know, Pittsburgh's been known for a lot of firsts. And now with Westinghouse and KDKA being the first radio --- and we know it's our 50,000-watt blow torch --- it provides great opportunities for our businesses to advertise. It's a great place to receive information and also to have a dialogue with many of our broadcasters so we can express our opinions and also get some feedback. Now, this radio station started 95 years ago. Now, you remember that, don’t you, Michael? MR. FINNERTY: Certainly do. MR. MACEY: You were there. And I just think that when businesses, people, organizations reach milestones they should be recognized and especially KDKA. It all started here. So with that said, I'd like to read this proclamation. WHEREAS, the science and arts of radio began on November 2nd, 1920 when Westinghouse Electric Corporation's KDKA Radio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, transmitted the world's first commercial radio broadcast inaugurating a new science connecting the people of America and paving the way for other technologies such as television and the internet. AND WHEREAS, in that historic broadcast, the U.S. Harding/Cox Presidential election returns were announced from a shed on the roof of the Westinghouse East Pittsburgh Works. With upgrades in technology over the next several years, KDKA's signal would reach audiences across most of the eastern part of the United States and into Canada. AND WHEREAS, a myriad of firsts in sports broadcasting helped KDKA bring the action right into the people's homes. The first live sporting event was Johnny Ray versus Johnny Dundee fight in Pittsburgh at Motorsquare Garden on April 11th, 1921. On July 2nd, 1921, KDKA broadcast the world heavyweight championship between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier for the first time. On August 5th, 1921 the first ever play-by-play of a baseball game was sent over the airwaves by KDKA as the Pittsburgh's Pirates beat the Phillies. And on October 8th, 1921, Pitt's football win over West Virginia became the first football game broadcast by KDKA. AND WHEREAS, in addition to sports broadcasting, KDKA's lineup consists of music, news and politics until April 10th, 1992 when the station aired its last song and transitioned to a strictly news/talk radio format. Today, KDKA is owned and operated by CBS Radio airing news, talk programming 24 hours a day to over 50,000 signal --- 50,000 watt signals from its studios in the Borough of Green Tree. AND WHEREAS, throughout its 95 years, KDKA Radio has been nationally recognized and awarded for its excellence in news reporting. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Allegheny County Council does hereby congratulate NewsRadio 1020 KDKA, pioneer broadcasting station of the world, upon this momentous occasion of its 95th anniversary. And we commend NewsRadio 1020 KDKA for its commitment to having a positive impact on the quality of life for the residents of Allegheny County and our region. Sponsored by myself and the rest of Allegheny County Council. Presented the 17th day of November, 2015. Congratulations. (Applause.) MR. YOUNG: I'd like to thank Bob for having me here today and also would like to thank County Council for this recognition. It's an honor to be leading KDKA today and to be so much of an important part of the fabric of southwestern Pennsylvania. As we reflect on 95 years, one of the things that I try to do to our staff and also to our audience and wanted to share with you on this honor is kind of make a delineation between old school and new school. And old school is we're going to continue to do what we did 95 years ago. We're going to be a part of this community. We're going to share information when information needs to be shared. We're going to entertain. We're going to make people laugh, cry, bring them joy and hopefully also get them to and from work, tell them what the weather is, and make sure that we're all around news. That part won't change. What is changing is technology, and we're trying to distribute our product in more ways than just over the air. We have a website. We have digital means of getting out our information so that in the next 95 years we continue to be such an important part of Allegheny County. Thank you very much for this recognition, and I hope on your way home tonight from tonight's meeting you'll all listen to NewsRadio 1020 KDKA. Thank you very much. (Applause.) (Pictures taken.) PRESIDENT DEFAZIO: 9276-15. MR. CATANESE: Proclamation honoring Dr. Jonathan Pruitt, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Kathryn Whitehead, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, for being recognized as two of the Brilliant 10 for 2015 by Popular Science. Sponsored by Council Member Heidelbaugh. MS. HEIDELBAUGH: The coolest part of this job is doing the Proclamations, I have to tell you. Under no circumstance would I be cool enough to stand even in proximity to this genius, but because I'm giving you a proclamation, I get to stand close to you. Come even closer. Okay. So recently Popular Science magazine which I always used to read when I was a kid --- if you can even believe it, they had Popular Science when I was a kid --- honors the ten brightest young minds in the entire United States in science, engineering or math. And because we have such a wonderful region, we were lucky enough to have two. And standing to my right is one of the honorees, Dr. Jonathan Pruitt. He is a behavioral ecologist. I'm going to tell you briefly what he does, but we are so privileged to have him and to meet him and for him to have decided to live in our community. I want to give most of the time for him to explain what it is that he does. Dr. Pruitt was recognized for his research of the social lives of colony-building spiders. His findings provide the first evidence that individuals in the wild sometimes sacrifice their own genetic survival for the sake of the group. I could talk to you about that. I'm a mom. Evolutionary models suggested that such group selection must be occurring, but Dr. Pruitt is the first scientist to find solid proof that group selection matters. His research has implications far beyond a single species and will improve our understanding of how societies work. He earned his Doctorate degree in ecology and evolutionary biology with a focus on animal behavior from the University of Tennessee. We're not going to hold that against you. And a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California. He joined the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in 2011. Also being honored tonight, but unavailable to be here, was his co-honoree, Dr.