Pittsburgh is expected to move ahead with its plan to launch a city-sponsored Juneteenth event next month — a plan that has sparked controversy over how to mark a holiday meant to celebrate the freedom of Black Americans.
City Council preliminarily authorized funding for a contract with an event planner sought by the Gainey administration Wednesday. A final vote is scheduled next week.
But controversy surrounding the idea was on display during a tense, two-and-a-half-hour debate at City Council’s table, where members accused the mayor’s office of trying to eclipse another, more-established celebration
“We have a known entity that has a good economic impact on the city,” Councilor Anthony Coghill said. “Why would we compete with that?”
The mayor’s office wants its celebration to be handled by Bounce Marketing & Events, and has proposed spending $125,000 in federal pandemic aid to support it. The proposal comes after a formal contract procurement process selected Bounce as the most suitable bidder.
But the organizer behind Pittsburgh's existing large-scale Juneteenth event said those funds were promised to him.
William “B” Marshall launched the Western Pennsylvania Juneteenth Celebration in 2014. He's held the annual event since then, at times with support — financial and otherwise — from the city.
“They took this funding away from us to deplete our Juneteenth celebration,” Marshall told reporters Wednesday. He alleged that he was blocked from receiving funds after his outspoken criticism around the city’s rules for last year’s event.
Some City Council members agreed, citing the city’s 2023 legislation to authorize up to $250,000 in federal pandemic grant money to support two years of Juneteenth celebrations. The city last year awarded a one-year $125,000 contract to the Poise Foundation, Marshall’s fiscal sponsor.
Coghill said he voted to authorize that money with the understanding that the city would support Marshall’s event for two years.
“I was under the impression that this was going to be for the Poise Foundation,” Coghill said. “For us to step out on our own and say we’re doing to do our own [event] now … to me is disingenuous.”
But budget officials noted that while the legislation authorized the funding, it did not guarantee a two-year contract with the Poise Foundation and Marshall. City records show the 2023 contract was for one year only, and did not promise an automatic renewal or preference for future events.
“It’s up to the [mayor] to determine the terms of that contract agreement,” said Pete McDevitt, City Council’s budget director.
The director of the city’s Office of Management and Budget, Jake Pawlak, explained that the city wanted to initiate a formal contract procedure this year. The administration was criticized last year for awarding funds to Marshall without giving other organizers an opportunity.
Gainey’s chief of staff Jake Wheatley — who made a rare appearance in council chambers Wednesday to defend the mayor — said that criticism prompted the city to follow a formal contract procedure this time.
Wheatley said Gainey charged his team with ensuring the Juneteenth event would receive the same resources the city provides for the city’s annual Independence Day celebration.
“That's how important this holiday is to this administration," Wheatley said.
Pawlak claimed that the Poise Foundation was told about the need to complete another contracting procedure. “We communicated clearly to the applicant that we would be [issuing requests for proposals for] the support for the second year,” Pawlak contended.
The Poise Foundation did not respond to WESA’s requests for comment.
According to public records, three bidders responded to the city's call for proposals: Poise Foundation, Bounce Marketing, and Rainbow Serpent, an arts nonprofit co-founded by Pittsburgh-based artist Mikael Owunna. A four-member panel evaluated the proposals and selected Bounce.
Bounce Marketing says it has organized events locally and nationally. Among those events was Gainey’s own inaugural swearing-in and gala, but other credits include the National Urban League 100-year anniversary campaigns as well as events with Walmart. Locally, Bounce has organized the August Wilson Birthday Celebration Block Party over the last seven years, and put together a 2023 celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.
Council members questioned the mayor’s staff about why the city would need its own Juneteenth celebration when Marshall’s has been successful.
Noting the city hasn’t launched its own version of other large-scale events like the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or First Night, Councilor Deb Gross questioned why the city stepped in here.
“What I don't understand here is why we have something … that has really been successful, that we're trying to duplicate and compete with,” Councilor Deb Gross said.
But the mayor’s staff argued the city is not endeavoring to compete with Marshall’s event. Instead, the city plans to host its own celebration after Marshall’s event concludes. The city has not set a date for its own Juneteenth, but Marshall’s is slated to run June 14-16.
The staff did not disclose many details about why Bounce was chosen over the other applicants: Pawlak said the city was not authorized to publicize details about competing proposals until a contract was formally awarded.
Wheatley claimed that Bounce’s proposal caught the city’s eye because of its emphasis on local artists. He declined to say whether Marshall’s proposal emphasized local artists, but his previous Juneteenth celebrations have brought in local talent.
“Juneteenth is a holiday ... not owned by one person," Wheatley said. "It's a holiday that's owned by all of us."
Drawn out process
Prior to awarding a contract, the city typically must complete a formal process that allows multiple vendors to respond. And the Gainey administration has come under fire over the last year — from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office among others — for using so-called “sole-source” contracts in which one vendor is deemed the only suitable partner.
Some members of council have been especially critical of the mayor for awarding a sole-source contract to an agency that studied the city’s ongoing police staffing problem. Among them is Councilor Theresa Kail Smith, who on Wednesday said she was pleased to see the contract process be followed, but criticized the administration for not selecting Marshall.
Councilor Bobby Wilson noted the irony that after the mayor used a formal contracting process for Juneteenth, members “still don’t like it.”
“You've been questioned several times about a process that we've been asking you to do,” Wilson told Pawlak. “And here you've done it… I’m just a little beside myself.”
Other members sought to determine how the city could move forward with its own event while also offering support to Marshall. Coghill and Gross suggested the city find resources to contribute toward Marshall’s event.
“If the administration puts legislation through for $125,000 … so we can make whole what I feel that we promised… I would be willing to do that,” Coghill said.
Wheatley noted that Coghill himself had the authority to propose a grant, and that the mayor’s office “would engage in that conversation.”
City Council President Dan Lavelle, one of council's two Black members, echoed a similar sentiment, challenging "all the members" who wanted to see Marshall's event get funding to use "their bully pulpit ... beat down the foundations, beat down corporations and get as much funding to that festival as possible."
He added that voting against the contract with Bounce would not compel the city to award the money to Marshall and the Poise Foundation.
"We cannot force the [Gainey] administration to expend those dollars," he said. "We can authorize it, we can say this is what we believe you should do... we can't force them to do it."
Ultimately Coghill registered the lone vote in opposition of the city’s contract with Bounce. Kail Smith and Charland abstained, while other members voted in support.
Marshall said Wednesday that he’s still waiting for final approval of his permits through the city for the parade portion of the event.
“It seems like every year there's a delay with the city and processing our permits,” Marshall said. “The only way our Juneteenth celebration becomes in jeopardy is when the city slow-walks our permits.”
Marshall said his event is slated to go on at Point State Park, but the city could block his use of Market Square and a parade on Liberty Avenue.
The mayor’s office claimed that Marshall has changed the specifications for his event since his initial application. But his permit application has not reflected those changes, which include the location of some event activities.
“If you keep changing … how you’re going to execute your event, that’s going to change what’s needed in your permit," mayoral spokesperson Olga George said.
George said as of Wednesday, the city had not received a completed permit application for use of Market Square or Liberty Avenue.
“Every event has to follow the same protocol,” she said. “And that’s all we’re asking here.”
90.5 WESA’s Bill O’Driscoll contributed to this report.
