In April of 2007, the City’s Mayor–a twentysomething himself at the time–announced the formation of the Propel Pittsburgh Commission, a 35 member panel chaired by the Mayor and comprised of City residents age 20-34 to “ensure that the city of Pittsburgh remains competitive to attract and retain young people”.  According to an article nearly four years after the Commission’s creation an article pointed out that the number of members were to be reduced by 20 down to 15 and the Mayor would no longer chair the panel.  One member viewed those two changes as critical to the Commission’s survival, a far cry from what was envisioned as a group that would produce quarterly reports and meet with the Mayor regularly.  A report to the former Mayor and City Council was presented in October of 2012.

The Propel Pittsburgh Commission appears to be going away based on a piece of legislation that is to come up in front of City Council that will create the Young Pittsburgh Advisory Commission.  The ordinance as proposed strikes most of the references to the Propel Pittsburgh Commission and replaces those with the name of the new Advisory Commission.  There will still be a total of 15 members and in its present form would allow for members who have been approved on the Propel Commission to carry over, and even if someone was on the Propel Commission and moved out of the City they could be tapped to serve in an advisory capacity.  Whereas the Propel Commission had the Mayor nominate and Council approve the Young Pittsburgh Commission will “appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council, after proposal by the Commission”.  The codified language for the Young Pittsburgh Advisory Commission, since it is supplanting the Propel Pittsburgh Commission, will be contained in Article IX of the City’s ordinances under “Community Advisory Boards”.

So how will this altered Commission, if it becomes official, avoid the fate of its predecessor?  The ordinance states that Council and the Mayor will work with the Commission to develop an agenda and will present any legislation that “addresses, concerns, effects or otherwise impacts, in any way, the demographic…shall be sent to the Young Pittsburgh Advisory Commission…”  Sounds like the Commission could be viewing every piece of City-initiated legislation as that would affect this age group as much as all others.