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Brawl At Mellon Park Prompts Call For New Rules

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A Pittsburgh city councilman is calling for new rules to put an end to the unruly behavior at Mellon Park.

Two fights – a small one involving two young men, then one that involved dozens of young women, happened at a church-sponsored picnic at the park this summer.

O'Harold Edmonds shot the video.

"I actually didn't get all of it," he said. "There [were] fights on that side, on that side, everywhere. It was wild over there."

He says it was a threat to families trying to enjoy the day.

"Yes it was because there were little kids, there were older people. There was a variety of people just trying to have fun, come out with the family."

Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto says neighbors have been complaining about loud events in the park for four years now.

He says the city has to start enforcing the same rules for its parks that it does for street festivals.

"If you want to close down a public street, it depends on how many blocks, how many police officers you'll need, EMS has to be there, guidelines of operation and everything else," Peduto said.

"We don't have that for neighborhood parks around the city."

Edmonds says more security is a good place to start.

"I don't even know that there was any security now that I'm thinking about it," he said. "It was just a lot of people – just the church people – and they didn't have any respect – the kids didn't have any respect – for the authority."

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