Pittsburgh City Council cuts 'red tape' by eliminating several business licenses

Pittsburgh City Council voted Tuesday to eliminate several business-related licenses that the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections deemed unnecessary.

Licenses eliminated included ones for transient merchants, trade fairs and amusement places and producers. It also nixed a sign maintenance certification.

“It’s a good example of cutting some of this red tape,” Councilman Bobby Wilson said of the legislation.

Wilson said it eliminates licenses that were unnecessary and created extra work for PLI and added complications for businesses.

For example, he said getting rid of the mechanical amusement license means the city won’t charge businesses for simply having a jukebox or an arcade machine. Eliminating the sign maintenance certification means businesses won’t be charged for having a sign displayed, he said.

Wilson said the transient merchant license is unnecessary when people can instead get a temporary occupancy permit, rather than going through the licensing process.

“This is a good relief for a lot of people that work in this area,” Wilson said.

Councilwoman Deb Gross had expressed concerns about the measure at last week’s City Council meeting, when she questioned whether there could be “unintended consequences” that create new complications. She said she also was wary of retreating from business licenses.

On Tuesday, she said she had since met with PLI Director Sarah Kinter and Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak about her “misgivings.”

“We really had a good debate about the upsides and downsides of retaining our business licensing jurisdiction and weighing that against relying on zoning and building code jurisdictions,” she said, explaining she was now comfortable with the bill.

The measure unanimously passed.