On April 4, 2009, Pittsburgh experienced one of its darkest moments. In the early morning hours of a cold, rainy, spring day, three police officers lost their lives while doing their job. It is a moment that none of us will ever forget. On that day, a makeshift memorial was created in the neighborhood of Bloomfield — home to one of the officers, Paul Sciullo. Flowers, prayers and remembrances were displayed for months at the corner of Cederville and Liberty as a tribute to all three officers. And, on that tragic day, Father John Dinello of Immaculate Conception-Saint Joseph Parish lit three candles in blue glass candle holders and placed them on the altar. The three candles were lit as a special intention to the three fallen heroes and remained aflame on the altar of Saint Joseph Parish for the next two years.

But, something more needed to be done — something lasting and meaningful to the memories of not only these three heroes, but to all the public safety workers in the city of Pittsburgh. Thus began a community effort to construct a lasting tribute. Local artist James Simon, who grew up in Stanton Heights, was commissioned to create a sculpture of Saint Michael — the patron saint of police officers. Michael is regarded as an archangel in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths — a protector and the leader of the army of God. On Easter Sunday 2010 — the one year anniversary of the tragedy — the ground was blessed where the sculpture would be placed and a goal of raising funds for the memorial was set.

This year, in the last month of the drive, the committee found itself over $20,000 short of reaching its goal. A plea was sent out to the general community to help close the gap and to allow for the planned dedication of a permanent memorial on the second anniversary of the shooting. What happened next is an example of the true spirit of Pittsburgh. The needed $20,000 was not only raised — that amount was surpassed in just the first four days after the plea. By the time of the sculpture’s public presentation, the people of the Pittsburgh region had generously given over $51,000 to the memorial. Enough to pay for all of the costs, establish a permanent maintenance fund and provide insurance. On Monday, April 4, 2011, the Permanent Memorial for the Fallen Heroes was dedicated with hundreds of Pittsburghers participating. You can watch a video of the event below. And, Father Dinello was able to finally extinguish those three candles which had burned for two full years on the altar at Saint Joseph.

If you plan to visit the Memorial, be sure to see it at night! You’ll see three blue lights that shine upon the sculpture of Saint Michael and the shield behind him which is emblazoned with the number 4409 — a day none of us will forget. If you look closely, you will also see that those three blue lights are now joined by one white light: A dedication from the people of Pittsburgh to the people who protect us.

On Sunday, Pittsburgh Police Officers and Pittsburgh teenagers met at Mellon Park for the third annual Battle of the Badge basketball tournament.

Neighborhood teams from around the city came together for a day of basketball, live music and food.  Local businesses donated prizes food and raffle prizes, and The Marilyn G. Rabb (MGR) Foundation ran an art station.

The winning team came from Career Connections Charter High School.  Read more about the event here.

Last Friday, City Council was given its first look at the G20 budget.  The Mayor’s Office outlined a $16 million plan that would include $10 million from federal grants, $4.3 million from state grants and an additional $1.7 from the city’s capital budget.  The obvious question to everyone in the room was, where is the county?  Upset by this characterization of the budget and the comments from Council – myself included – the County Executive called for a meeting of City and County Council on Monday.  What he presented was a different budget – one that called for $25 million in spending and an unfunded mandate of over $7 million dollars that would have to be made up by the city and county.

Read County Executive Dan Onorato’s the Letter to City Council

Obviously, there was a problem.  The Mayor had submitted to Council a balanced budget of $16 million.  Council was told he had to take action no later than Tuesday in order to make the needed public safety preparations – the clock was ticking.  But, the County Executive told Council that the real budget was $25 million.  Both sides claimed to be correct, but there was little time and a vote was needed to provide the needed resources and minimize any additional costs to the taxpayers.

The Tale of Two Budgets

Late Monday evening, early Tuesday morning and into the afternoon, City Council worked with the Mayor and the Public Safety Director to create one budget for the event.  Because all of the money being spent upfront is being provided by the city, the Administration believes the reimbursement of funds from the G20 will come through the city.  In order to stay disciplined to a set budget and not wind up with several million dollars in unfunded expenditures, City Council and the Mayor amended the budget – raising it to $18 million and adding a line item of all expenditures and budgets for each.

The G20 Budget Solution

The new budget is balanced through a $10 million federal grant, a $4.4 million state grant, a $2.5 homeland security grant and $1.7 million from the city’s capital budget (in case it is needed).  Moments before Council had to take action, there were two competing budgets being proposed.  Through the actions yesterday, we now have a budget, a plan and the funds to make it happen.