City Council
City looks to keep more compostables out of the landfills.
Organics like food scraps and yard waste made up 24-28% of the county's municipal solid waste, a 2022 study found. Soon, three city departments will start phase two of a community composting pilot. It'll explore collection options, like curbside pickup on request or farmers market drop-offs. Still, a city official said the city can't afford pickup at every home.
Written by Amy Whipple
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is trying to divert the compost the city currently sends to landfills over to a composting program in order to create richer soil.
DCP, the Department of Public Works and Citiparks will soon dig into phase two of SoilMill PGH, a community composting pilot program. It seeks to improve soil quality in Pittsburgh through composting.
A 2022 waste characterization study determined that food scraps, yard waste, and other organics comprised 24-28% of Allegheny County’s municipal solid waste.
Flore Marion, assistant director of sustainability and resilience, said 300 city residents participated in SoilMill PGH’s first phase. “People are really eager to do composting, but we cannot afford to do pick up at every single home,” she said.
The department’s phase two plan will include finding feasible collection solutions, potentially including resident-requested curbside pickup, farmers market drop-offs or a dedicated year-round drop-off site. It will also update the city’s 2017 Zero Waste Plan. The initiative seeks to divert 90% of waste from landfills or incineration by 2030.
DCP requested council approval for a $125,000 agreement with the county’s Congress of Neighboring Communities (CONNECT). The money is CONNECT’s half of a joint 2024 US Conference of Mayors prize. The organization will use the money to perform similar work to what SoilMill PGH does in neighboring municipalities.
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- City Council · November 10, 2025
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City Council
Vendors may be appearing on city sidewalks again.
Street vendors are a step closer to selling on city sidewalks. After a two-week hold, council members added limits, including keeping vendors 150 feet from competing storefront businesses. The bill also allows vending in parks, though specific spots will need a separate public process. Next week, council will take a final vote.
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New contract could bump up household hazardous materials collections.
Old paint, electronics, and household chemicals should be easier to get rid of next year. Council has moved forward with a recycling contract with Noble Environmental Specialty Recycling. It includes twice weekly drop-off hours at five neighborhood centers and curbside pickup on request, both for a fee. The one-year deal costs $571,250, but Noble hasn't released its fee scale yet.
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It will be a long climb to fix the city’s steps.
Pittsburgh has more stairs than any other city in the country, with 45,000 steps in all. This week, the mobility and infrastructure department requested $705,180 for final designs on the next set of repairs. That brings total design costs to nearly $1.4 million. Construction will begin next year, the acting director said.
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Clean ups barely make a dent in litter problem.
Every year, the city's 311 line gets 6,000 litter complaints. On Oct. 28, public works staff told council the problem keeps getting messier despite cleanups. The director estimated that handing out trash cans with tight lids would cost $8 to $9 million. Meanwhile, the Clean Pittsburgh Commission recommended public education about litter and a staff member to coordinate volunteers.
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City may borrow cameras to catch illegal dumpers.
Illegal dumpers target vacant properties, alleyways, and hillsides, leaving items like construction debris. Now, Allegheny CleanWays has agreed to lend the Department of Public Works surveillance cameras at no cost. An enforcement team will place the cameras and share data with law enforcement. Other terms aren't set yet, though the public works director said the deal will likely cover two years.
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Police traffic ticket books may be a thing of the past.
City police still hand-write traffic tickets, and a police commander said manual entry causes a lot of errors. So the Department of Public Safety has asked council to let it use free ticketing software from state police. He said it would also ease reporting of traffic stop data, which a state law passed last year will require.
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Community benefits agreement reinforced for Lower Hill.
The Penguins no longer hold development rights to the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill. Their agreement expired Oct. 22, returning those rights to two public authorities. Now, council has given preliminary approval to amending the community benefits agreement that gives residents a voice there. Back in 1955, the city displaced 8,000 residents and 400 businesses to build the arena.
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Vendors may be back on the sidewalks again.
Small vendors might get to sell on sidewalks and in parking spaces, if they pay the meter. City departments have now proposed looser rules, including a $135 annual permit to sell on private property. Some council members, however, said they didn't want the change to hurt storefront businesses. For now, the bill is on hold in committee for two more weeks.
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The city releases its plans for block grant money.
Social service and community groups across the city are set to receive more than $4 million in block grant money. Council takes a final vote next week. However, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank's share won't arrive before federal food assistance funding expires Nov. 1. So far, neither the legislation nor council members have said when the money will be released.
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Update on “protected classes.”
A plan to simplify the city code's language on protected classes isn't final yet. Council held off on its final vote after the legal department advised waiting for technical changes, a council member said. Those changes weren't named. For now, council will discuss the legislation again at its next committee meeting.
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Pittsburgh forgot to pay its light bills.
Some of the city's electric bills went unpaid, a Public Works audit found. Now, council has agreed to pay off the debt, which the department negotiated down to $204,750. A department official said the city hasn't had a utilities manager since 2012. He said procurement card payments could make the city eligible for an $11 to $15 million rebate.
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Warwick tries to keep trash from piling up in Hazelwood.
A Hazelwood recycling facility sits 300 feet from homes and has a longstanding rat problem, a council member said. Its current owner is seeking a 2019 state permit to convert it to hold raw garbage. Now, she has proposed barring such sites within 500 feet of homes, businesses, schools, and parks. Next, the bill goes to the planning commission for its approval.
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Protected classes to be simplified in city code.
Residents' protections against discrimination could be gathered into one master list in city code. Now, council has moved that bill out of committee, sending it to a vote at a legislative session. It covers housing, employment, and public accommodations. It would also preserve the civil rights agency's power to act against policies that seem neutral but have a discriminatory impact.
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City’s vehicle fleet barely limping along.
To replace its older, high-mileage vehicles, the city would need about $22 million a year, according to its fleet manager. An Oct. 15 report, the first of its kind, found police, EMS, and trash vehicles are the most overused. The fleet manager recommended speeding up their replacement. Council's budget director suggested a dedicated fleet fund, but council didn't plan any immediate action.
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Three Sisters Bridges, Schenley Park and Pump Stations are on the verge of historic designations.
The Three Sisters bridges, two pump stations, and Schenley Park are close to gaining historic protection. Council gave them preliminary approval, and final designation is expected next week. Separately, a pending nomination already protects the former Office of Municipal Investigations building, which council approved selling in June. Council plans a public hearing on it, though no date is set.
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The saga of inclusionary zoning takes another plot twist.
An effort to require affordable units in large new or renovated developments has stalled again. Council voted 5-4 for an amendment that would instead offer developers tax breaks and faster approvals to include them voluntarily. That sent the bill back to the Planning Commission, which has 90 days to review it. After that, council has 120 days to hold a public hearing before its vote.
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Coghill finds money to repair a playground and buy a garbage truck.
Brookline Memorial Park's busy playground has broken equipment, some of it roped off, a council member said. Now, he wants to spend $415,000 in interest savings on playground upgrades and a garbage truck. Still, a 2023 controller's analysis ranked the park near the bottom of the priority list. Another council member said her district needs playground upgrades too.
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Duquesne Light’s infrastructure took a hard hit during April’s storm.
Some city residents went nine days without power after the April 29 storm. Five months later, a Duquesne Light official told council the storm did more damage than the company usually sees in a year. The company will invest $2.7 billion over five years, he added. Still, a state utility commission official said burying most city power lines won't be feasible.
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Community groups may be out of the business of organizing neighborhood development meetings.
Since 2018, neighborhood groups have run the community meetings developers must hold for projects that need city commission approval. On Oct. 8, a council member proposed suspending that, saying the city relies too much on nonprofits. The Planning Department wants to run the meetings itself, the council president said. For now, council agreed to the department's request for a two-week hold.
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A plan to have Munhall assist with plowing the streets gets kicked to the curb.
Snow removal is a long-standing frustration across the city. On Oct. 8, a council member proposed exploring a services swap so Munhall could help plow three harder-to-serve neighborhoods. Another member said the plan threatened the jobs of union workers who plow city streets. In the end, a majority voted against advancing it.