Pittsburgh City Council President Darlene Harris says nearly half of her fellow council members were investigating the need for a new noise ordinance so she decided to gather them up into a taskforce. Today, Harris appointed council members Bruce Kraus and Patrick Dowd as co-chairs of the Noise Ordinance Task Force. Also on the task force will be council members Daniel Lavelle and Theresa Kail-Smith. Harris says she first found out that Kraus and Dowd were working on noise bills and then when she started to do some more investigating she learned that Smith and Lavelle were also interested. She says the members should be able to get better results working together than alone. Harris was worried that four different pieces of legislation may have been introduced if the taskforce had not been formed.

No timetable has been created for the group but Harris says since the council members were already into the process, “it should not take long.” She says, “The task force will work to develop legislation that will address excessive or intrusive noise as unwanted pollution. The goal of the legislation will be clear definition, distinctive regulations, and detailed enforcement where necessary.” She says she hopes the task force will reexamine current laws, simplify the City Code where necessary, and clearly set the standards for what citizens expect of each other in Pittsburgh.

Harris will serve as an ex-officio member of the Task Force but will be represented by her staff in order to avoid a quorum.