UPMC wants tax credits on the donations to the Pittsburgh Promise

They are trying to pull a fast one!

What the heck. Heads up!

The Pittsburgh Promise is making waves. And the city administration (Mayor Luke Ravenstahl) is pushing to get a bill to the table and rush it along.

OKAY to rush include: Motzink, Boadack, Deasey, Koch, Harris and Payne.

Peduto and Shields voted no.

We need a petition from the citizens of Pittsburgh to call for a public hearing on this bill.

This is inside baseball. But, here at the end of the year, there is a meeting in City Council today (Monday). At this meeting, that is generally scheduled on Tuesdays, comes the introduction of new bills. Today's new bills included one about UPMC and the Pittsburgh Promise.

It seems that UPMC and the city want to give extra 'tax credits' to UPMC for the money it donates to the Pittsburgh Promise. This smells bad.

Furthermore, city council members -- with the exception of Bill Peduto and Doug Shields -- pushed to waive rule eight. Humm... That means that the bill will be able to be up for discussion tomorrow, not next week.

Generally, a bill gets put out to the public and there is a week before it comes up for a preliminary vote. When the council votes to waive the traditional roles of council, the preliminary vote can occur within 24 hours.

When a bill gets introduced to city council, the citizens have three days to call a public hearing on the bill. The public hearing helps to put more examination and attention on the bill. The public hearing is the best way to get public input for the bill.

The next meeting of city council is at 10 am on Tuesday. That is the standing committee. Those meetings are generally held on Wednesdays.

The last meeting of the year, and with these eight members of city council, is slated for December 27. That's when the final vote on all bills needs to occur. Otherwise, the year ends. New bills need to be re-introduced.

Next year there are three new members of city council to come to the table.

The Pittsburgh Promise tax credit for UPMC needs attention. It can be resolved next year after we know what's what and have a full discussion.