Allegheny County Council lifts restrictions on needle exchanges in Pittsburgh

The Allegheny County Council acted on several pieces of legislation on Tuesday as it eyes its six-week summer vacation.

In a unanimous vote, council removed restrictions that banned needle exchanges within 1,500 feet of schools, day care centers and drug treatment facilities in Pittsburgh. The ban confined Prevention Point Pittsburgh to running only two locations in the city, one out of a van, despite an increase in heroin use, advocates said.

“We couldn't even talk to anyone before, but now we can have a broader conversation,” Stuart Fisk, board president of Prevention Point, said about opening new locations.

New locations in Pittsburgh will be subject to approval from the county Board of Health and the City Council. The ban remains in effect for the rest of Allegheny County.

Council voted to raise the price of lift tickets, rentals, lessons and tubing at the Boyce Park ski area in Plum. The increases — daily lift ticket rates will go up between $4 and $8, rentals will jump $5 — could generate about $200,000 in additional revenue.

Council members Heather Heidelbaugh, R-Mt. Lebanon; Sue Means, R-Bethel Park, and Bill Robinson, D-Hill District, voted against the proposal.

Heidelbaugh called the plan a tax increase.

Also concerning the parks, council lowered the fine for parking violations to $50. In May, county police issued tickets that cost nearly $400 to people who parked on the grass at North Park.

Council members unanimously approved an $18 million bond issue for Chatham University to help fund a $450 million sustainable green campus at Eden Hall Farm in Richland. Heidelbaugh abstained from the vote because she sits on a Chatham board.

Council will meet on July 8 before recessing for the summer.

Aaron Aupperlee is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.