In the final of three public meetings hosted by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, residents and business owners gathered at the Greenfield Senior Center Wednesday night to talk about the mayor's plan to lease the city's parking garages and meters for 50 years to boost a troubled pension fund.

The mayor again tried to hammer home the dire financial straits the city would be in if his plan was not implemented.

In a PowerPoint presentation, he laid out the need for the plan, the details of it and what would have to be done if the city's parking amenities were not leased in a series of pie charts and bullet points.

He has said the deal would generate at least enough to cover $100 million to cover parking authority debt and pump $200 million into the pension fund and avoid a state takeover.

Under a takeover, he said, the city will have to boost its $45 million annual pension obligation by an extra $30 million next year. He offered three ways to raise that money: raising property taxes 24 percent, raising wage taxes 44 percent or reducing the police force by 400 officers, or nearly half of its current force.

"The bottom line is it's really ugly and it will kill the city," he said.

But attorney Beth Henke accused him of using "bogeyman tactics," and challenged him to come up with another way to raise the money needed to fill in the gaps.

"It seems so short-sighted," she said. "That's all that's been done for plan B, essentially?"

The mayor reiterated that he was not exaggerating the devastating effect that not fulfilling the city's pension obligation would have.

Still, few of the 50 or so people at the hearing supported the plan, and many expressed concerns over the impact of rising parking rates.

They also expressed concerns over whether the mayor would accept a deal that would benefit him financially, through campaign contributions or if he chose to take a job with the chosen vendor after he left office.

But the mayor insisted that the process has been transparent and refused to commit to not taking campaign contributions from the chosen vendor.

City Council will host two more hearings on the parking plan, including one at 6:30 tonight at Pittsburgh Public Schools headquarters in Oakland.

Moriah Balingit: mbalingit@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2533

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