The air in Conference Room One of Pittsburgh City Hall was suffocating.
Around the long table sat seven or eight people in expensive suits.
They were the top administrative lawyers Karen Miller had urgently summoned from Washington and Philadelphia.
These people, whose hourly rates were as high as eight hundred US dollars, were now bickering endlessly like vendors at a market.
"No! This won't work!"
A lawyer wearing gold-rimmed glasses slammed the legal code in his hands down on the table.
"According to Title 74 of the Pennsylvania Comprehensive Code, while local governments have the authority to create regional logistics plans, they must conform to the guiding principles of state-level macro-regulation. That statewide synergy assessment is based on a higher law; we can't dismiss it on procedural grounds."
"Then cite the City Autonomy Charter!"
Another white-haired lawyer retorted.
