Sunday, October 21, 2007
Reaction was mixed among council members.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato wants to restrict the county’s online real estate assessment Web site so people cannot search by owner name.
Onorato said he has been made aware of instances in which people have searched for law enforcement officials, teachers, judges and crime victims.
Onorato asked county council to limit searches by parcel number and street address. The Web site lets users search for the assessed values of 550,000 properties.
“The purpose of the county’s real estate Web site is to allow public research on individual parcels, including assessed values and taxes paid, as a means of determining fair and consistent property valuations,” Onorato said. “The purpose of the site is not to provide information on individual property owners.”
In his proposal, Onorato included a list of other counties and comparable metropolitan areas that restrict Web searches to parcel numbers and addresses. Among those were Erie and Philadelphia counties and Atlanta, Denver, Detroit and Seattle.
Council reaction was mixed.
“I understand people get on there [and] like to search for Steelers, Pirates, people around town,” said Council President Rich Fitzgerald. “I’m reluctant to take information off of the Web site. ... I’m mixed on it right now.”
Councilman Matt Drozd said he would prefer allowing property owners to remove their names if they choose, but he acknowledged that might be too costly.
“First and foremost, we have to protect individuals,” Drozd said. “We’ll have to get more feedback from people, but I would say most of the people in the county would be in favor of it.”
Tim Potts, co-founder and president of Democracy Rising Pennsylvania, said he does not see the need.
“They should be able to get [information] as conveniently as possible,” Potts said. “That’s like saying you shouldn’t be able to look in phone books.”
Council is expected to consider the request Tuesday.
In June 2005, the county removed the names of about 100 judges from the site. Officials acted after the husband and mother of a federal judge were killed in Chicago and a county judge was killed in an Atlanta courthouse.