Pittsburgh has real problems — an affordable housing shortage that keeps getting worse, a city budget stretched so thin you can see through it and a school district fighting to recover after years of decline, to name just a few. And now, we are facing a tidal wave of chaos and confusion caused by a barrage of executive orders from the Trump administration. At a time when we need our collective efforts focused on addressing critical issues for Pittsburghers, we are instead spending our time fighting off an ideological stunt that will harm our city if it succeeds.
For the third time, a special interest group is working to disrupt our local government, first at Allegheny County Council and now at the city level. This time, it is a ballot referendum from a group called Not on Our Dime, which is as catchy as it is misleading. They claim they want to hold the city accountable for its international business dealings. What they’re actually doing is attempting — again — to force Pittsburgh to cut ties with entities they personally disapprove of, even if it means violating state law, endangering public health and draining city resources.
The measure, if passed, would cut us off from crucial resources, such as Narcan — the medication that reverses opioid overdoses — and Duquesne Light Company, the city’s largest electric provider. Given the reality of our interconnected global economy, there is no viable way for the city to broadly divest from select countries. To do so would require giving up software, hardware, vehicles, medications, utilities and more that Pittsburghers rely on.
Thankfully, Pittsburgh City Council is stepping up to safeguard our city. Council Member Erika Strassburger, along with several colleagues, introduced two ordinances — 1425 and 1426 — to prevent future attempts to hamstring city operations. These ordinances would ensure that Pittsburgh’s government cannot be forced into discriminatory or harmful policies. The council members who supported both of these measures — R. Daniel Lavelle, Robert Charland, Anthony Coghill, Bobby Wilson and Theresa Kail-Smith — understand that city government is supposed to serve the people of Pittsburgh, not the latest political purity test.
Unfortunately, Council Member Barb Warwick, who regularly aligns herself with activist allies at the expense of her constituents, supported just one of the measures and has not used her voice to oppose Not on Our Dime’s referendum effort. The first attempt at this referendum effort benefited from the support of multiple members of Warwick’s staff and presented an even more draconian “threat to public safety,” according to City Controller Rachael Heisler. In spite of this, Warwick called the effort “passive and peaceable.”
Enough. Pittsburgh’s resources are already stretched to the limit. We cannot afford to waste time and money on repeated disruptions of local government. We have a choice. We can let our city become a testing ground for bad-faith political experiments or we can demand a government that works for us. I hope Mayor Ed Gainey strongly supports ordinances 1425 and 1426 and that the voters of Pittsburgh vote yes on both when they appear on our ballots in May.
Yael Silk is a Squirrel Hill resident and a Pittsburgh Public Schools director in District 4.