So far, the highlight of Pittsburgh City Council this week took place outside of council chambers. On June 17, more than 100 food and commercial workers held a rally on the steps of the City-County Building demanding paid sick-leave and urged city councilors to join them in their fight. 

"A lot of food businesses are not giving sick days. I think it's very important that you really look at that because I talk to a lot of people who work in the food industry and I have family, I have friends, and they don't have sick time," said Carmen Brown, a Pittsburgh committee woman who attended the rally and later testified at council. "A lot of them are working six days a week, overworking.

"As a consumer that's a concern to me because you have people coming in sick and dealing with food."

City Council is looking into supporting paid-sick leave legislation but did not provide details.

Also at the June 17 meeting, City Council approved the transfer of a liquor license to Mixtape LLC, a restaurant, entertainment and event space. A public hearing was held two weeks ago and concerns were raised about potential noise pollution, but the venue's owners and members of the community have since reached a compromise. The soon-to-be-opened venue is located in Garfield on Penn Avenue.

District 9 Councilor Ricky Burgess, who represents the area, did not attend the public hearing or yesterday's vote but has been supportive of the venue.

"We're pleased that  there are several other interested parties along this stretch of newly repaved Penn Avenue," said Councilor Deb Gross, who's district borders Burgess' and also includes parts of Penn Avenue.  "We're finally starting to see business and property reinvestment, and we look forward to seeing some other businesses come down the pipeline."

At the Wednesday meeting, District 1 Councilor Darlene Harris repeated her request for a special meeting on police officer and firefighter staffing.