PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Pittsburgh's new ruling body plays fast and loose with PA Sunshine Act.
by stephen donahue Saturday, Mar. 06, 2004 at 11:17 AM
412-361-3022 or 412-802-6542

Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority: THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY DOES NOT LOOK LIKE. Come to the next meeting of this unelected body is on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 in the Pitt Student Union at 3 PM.

There it is! In the Saturday, March 6 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in the classified pages, in the legal notices, a tiny (1.6 in x 1 in) notice is printed stating the time and place for the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority for Cities of the Second Class, a.k.a. Pittsburgh Fiscal Oversight Board. The letter of the law has been followed but certainly not its spirit.

Back in early February the PA General Assembly voted to estabilish an oversight board to run Pittsburgh's finances for the next seven years. This board was given a prestigious name to match it's powerful mandate. Indeed the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority will, in the words of State Rep. Joseph Preston, D-East Liberty, "be governing the city of Pittsburgh, not the mayor, not the council, for the next seven years."

This powerful oversight board is the brain child of Pittsburgh's neo-con suburban legislators like State Representative Mike Turzai and State Senator Jane Orie. They pushed and pushed for a powerful board to teach Pittsburgh fiscal discipline. Allies in this demand for a powerful oversight board were neo-liberal law makers who are convinced that Pittsburgh must surrender all its publicly owned assets and services over to the free market.

The oversight board's five members (all white and need it be said, wealthy males) were selected: one by the Governor and the other four by the PA Senate and House leaders. The people of Pittsburgh were given zero input into this board make up. The people of Pittsburgh have only been told that the city must give up some self-rule for the next seven years. Pittsburgh residents have also been told to expect some "tough love" from this board in the form of human services cuts, privatization/outsourcing of public services, undermining of union contracts, selling off of public assets and services and the imposition of fees for public services.

For the next seven years the Pittsburgh City Council will be relegated the role of rubber stamping the dictates of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. Should the city council fail to do so then the board will report this to the Governor and to the President of the PA Senate. Economic sanctions for Pittsburgh will follow.

The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority is mandated to function according to the provisions of the PA Sunshine Act. There are some serious questions as to whether they have been doing this. This board to date has met three times. Twice they have met entirely in private and at their one open meeting they kicked the public out for most of the meeting only to invite the public back in for a brief summary of the board's decisions. There was no time set aside for public comment at this meeting.

It seems that this board or authority or whatever they want to call themselves intends to conduct their business in private and allow the public to only witness the "voting" on decisions already made behind closed doors.

The oversight board has made it hard for the public to know about and attend their public meetings. The only notice they have given for the next meeting is a tiny post in the legal section of the local news papers.

The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority has followed the letter but not the spirit of the law -- or have they? One local Pittsburgh news daily is suing the board for violating the PA Sunshine Act. Reporters like the rest of the public have been kept out of oversight board meetings.

As if this was not enough, there is another small unelected group that is dictating policy to the city right now. They are called the Act 47 Distressed City Coordinators. This little group is made up of lawyers from Pittsburgh's Eckert Seamans law firm and the Public Financial Management firm from Philadelphia.

Basic democracy in Pittsburgh is in as much danger right now as are the city's finances.

The next public meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority will be on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 at 3 PM. The meeting will take place at the University of Pittsburgh, William Pitt Union, Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard. It is not known if they will allow public comment at this meeting.

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