In December 2012, Pittsburgh City Council authorized the creation of a Department of Equal Opportunity, a director-level department that would report directly to the mayor on the city’s actual hiring numbers for minority contractors.
The legislation, sponsored by city Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess, came in response to a New Pittsburgh Courier article revealing the Equal Opportunity Review Commission’s 2011 Contracting Report had several minority contractors listed as receiving millions in contracts that they never did.
Late Review Commission Director Phil Petite said at the time he recorded the minority participation plans submitted to the commission by contractors working with the city or its authorities. Recording the actual utilization, he said was the responsibility of those departments or authorities.
“There is no comprehensive report of utilization by the city and its authorities,” he said.
The new department was supposed to fix that. Council also approved companion legislation submitted by Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle to spend $250,000 on a disparity study to get an accurate assessment of minority businesses in Pittsburgh. The last such study was conducted after the 2000 census and cannot be used to set contracting participation goals.
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