District 1 News: Councilman Wilson

Hello everyone, In this month’s column, I wanted to share some work that my office recently completed, in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Works to improve access to our city’s sports facilities. Over the last couple years, I kept hearing from youth sports leagues on the Northside about the difficulties they were facing in reliably securing access to our city’s soccer, baseball and dek hockey facilities. Working with Council President Theresa Kail-Smith, who was hearing about similar difficulties that youth sports leagues were encountering in her neighborhoods on the western side of the city, I recently co-sponsored legislation to implement a fair, equitable and comprehensive plan for ensuring access to our city’s sports facilities.

This legislation will prioritize the following organizations when they submit applications to use the city’s sports facilities: The first priority will go to our Pittsburgh Public Schools’ athletics programs during the school year, on weekdays between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. The second priority will go to parochial and private schools’ athletics programs whose rosters contain a majority of city residents. The third priority will go to the City of Pittsburgh’s CitiParks and CitiSports-affiliated programs, upon verification of their status as such through CitiParks. The fourth priority will go to any youth sports leagues or organizations that do not fit the above criteria but whose rosters consist of a majority of city residents. The fifth priority will go to any adult sports leagues or organizations that also do not fit the above criteria but likewise consist of a majority of city residents. The last priority will go to any youth and adult sports leagues which do not fit any of the above criteria.

The goal of this legislation is to ensure that our children are always able to play at our city’s sports facilities, whether they are arriving at these facilities through their school or through a sports league. Working on this legislation also made it clear that we need to allocate more money in the coming years to construct more sports facilities to lessen citywide pressure on getting access to our city’s limited number of sports facilities.

I also want to publicize the efforts of the city’s Office of Special Events to invite all interested musicians, entertainers, and food or beverage vendors to complete an interest form ahead of this year’s summer events season.

If you are part of a local band, orchestra, or any other kind of musical group and are interested in playing approximately two-hour concerts at city-sponsored events this summer, please express your interest here: https://bit.ly/3ZgdPw6.

If you are a food or beverage provider who is interested in selling refreshments onsite to attendees at city-sponsored events this summer, please express your interest here: https://bit. ly/3kou5wv.

The Office of Special Events has produced free summer musical series in various CitiParks venues for over 40 years, including a summer jazz concert series at Riverview Park. These events typically showcase local musicians as well as food and beverage vendors from the area.

These forms will remain open through this summer. However, consideration for summer 2023 programming will be given to submissions received on or before March 15. While completing the form does not guarantee a contracted performance or vending space, the Office of Special Events will retain a list of all submissions for all future events. For more information on the Office of Special Events and its summer event series, please visit pittsburghpa. gov/events or email specialevents@pittsburghpa.gov.

If you have any questions or concerns, call us at (412) 255-2135, email us at district1@pittsburghpa.gov, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. My staff and I wish are looking forward to serving all of you!