City council visits Pitt, talks dorm registration fees

‘ ‘ ‘ A new registration process for rental units should include dormitories,’ city council… ‘ ‘ ‘ A new registration process for rental units should include dormitories,’ city council members said Tuesday night. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ After tabling the possible exemption for a second time two weeks ago, Pittsburgh’s city council visited the William Pitt Union for a meet-and-greet hosted by the College Democrats. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Dormitories are rental units and should fall under rental registration,’ said councilman Bruce Kraus at the event. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Requiring dormitories to participate in rental registration would force Pitt students to pay a $12-per-tenant fee and to register each tenant. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The council couldn’t come up with a clear definition of a dormitory that would differentiate it from an apartment complex, Kraus said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Councilman Bill Peduto said the council couldn’t exclude dorms because the exemption would favor universities over other institutions, such as nursing homes. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘You can’t specifically exempt one group,’ said Peduto. ‘If it is done, it has to be done uniformly.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The new rental registration process currently excludes hotels and motels because of the temporary nature of the occupants, he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The city council members also discussed the proposal to merge Allegheny County with Pittsburgh. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Mayoral candidate Patrick Dowd said he disagreed with the proposal, but he thinks Allegheny County and all of the municipalities within it, not just Pittsburgh, should merge as soon as possible. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Allegheny County contains 131 different municipalities, and this high number of governments leads to inefficiency, Dowd said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We are fragmented, we’re overbuilt, and we’re overgovernmented,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pittsburgh borders 36 municipalities, more than any other city in the nation, Dowd said, and all of these municipalities suffer from the same problems. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Kraus said he would rather see Pittsburgh slowly expand to include the municipalities around it instead of a sudden merger. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s going to be a slow process but not an impossible process,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Peduto agreed with Dowd and said he doesn’t understand the benefits of the current proposal. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Having grown up in Chartiers Valley, a Pittsburgh suburb, Peduto said he used to watch snowplows deliberately not plow part of a street because it belonged to a different municipality, but would continue to plow farther down the road. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Mergers between counties would eliminate this kind of inefficiency, he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Dowd said that even if all the municipalities cannot immediately combine, some of the smaller municipalities should begin to merge. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Let’s at least start to see ourselves as a confederacy of municipalities,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ During the event, the council members also gave advice for those looking to get into politics. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Kraus said he learned more about his flaws in his two campaigns for city council than he has ever before. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘You have to have a very thick skin,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Dowd encouraged those at the meeting to get involved with Pittsburgh politics. The city government needs to make changes about how it runs and students need to help, he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We’re in one of those moments where we can say, ‘Yes, everything’s OK,’ or we can change things,’ said Dowd.