As Port Authority of Allegheny County riders adjust to the latest service reductions, I have introduced legislation (H.B. 1162) that would reform the process of appointing members to the PAT Board of Directors. Multiple independent analyses of the authority have identified a lack of diverse viewpoin...

The number of children experiencing homelessness is on the rise. In Allegheny County, the number of children receiving homeless services increased more than 38 percent to 875 in January 2009. The average age of these children is 7.5 years old. The report for 2010 is expected to show a further increa...

This is Pittsburgh: A city with four distinctly different seasons. Our challenge is to keep up with the results of those changing seasons. I’m talking about snow. We all remember the problems we had getting around in the Big Snow Storm of 2010. Hospital workers lived at the hospitals to give optimum...

A few months ago, I wrote about Team Pittsburgh and its service to the community through its dek hockey program and how that program is utilized as a productive venture for youth in the community. The new dek hockey rink is getting a lot more attention too — it was recently named as one of Pittsburg...

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The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps low income people pay their heating bills through home heating energy assistance grants and crisis grants that are paid directly to your utility company. You need not have an unpaid bill to receive home heating energy assistance. If you or someone ...

When I was first elected in 2005, one of the first calls that I received was from a property owner who was fed up with how bad the house next to her looked. It was an eyesore in the neighborhood and although the community had tried to get someone to make improvements to the property, the owner was a...

2010 is coming to a close. As we think about all the preparations we do this time of year for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the New Year, we look back on the year that was. My year was so full — with both good and not-so-good things. I started the year becoming city council presiden...

A new community is coming to the Northside, with construction on the Columbus Square development in Manchester set to begin early next year. I was happy to support a $250,000 grant from the House Democratic Caucus that will benefit this project by Manchester Citizens Corporation and Fourth River Dev...

I am pleased to report that an anti-blight bill I authored was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 28. This bill (H.B. 1322) passed the House 181-19 in July. It is designed to reduce the number of abandoned properties in Pennsylvania communities by changing state law on "adverse ...