Cultural Trust Shines Light On Growing Downtown Crime Problems
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Fourth of July shooting in Katz Plaza where teens brought their neighborhood disputes into Downtown Pittsburgh triggered a three-page letter from Kevin McMahon, CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, to Mayor Peduto about the growing crime problem in Downtown Pittsburgh.
"I've seen it. I've read it. He couldn't have put it in any better words," says Len Semplice, the owner of Redbeard's Sports Bar & Grill on Sixth.
McMahon won't appear on camera, but KDKA money editor Jon Delano talked to a number of bar and restaurant owners downtown who say it's time for the city to get serious about the problem.
"That affects us," says Semplice. "When that happens a lot of people that live in the western Pennsylvania area don't want to come to the city for different events that are going on because they're scared."
City police seem to get it, as Commander Victor Joseph recalled after the Fourth of July incident, a gathering of young people often exacerbated during the school year around the Wood Street T-stop.
"They come from all different parts of the city and outside of the city, and often times it turns a little chaotic," said Joseph.
Until now, leaders of the Cultural Trust, Visit Pittsburgh, and the Downtown Partnership have been reluctant to shine a public light on this.
What really brought home the Downtown crime issue to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was when bullets from that Fourth of July incident struck the door of the Benedum Center.
As McMahon told the mayor, we were really lucky that there was no performance that evening.
While the shootings are sporadic but dangerous, a constant issue is the growing presence of panhandlers, some of whom are hustling diners eating at the outdoor tables, says Semplice.
"People are sitting there, a nice family, couple, they're sitting there eating and all of a sudden they're coming up begging for money."
Delano: "Right at the tables?"
Semplice: "Right at the table."
Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich says the city is on top of the problem.
"We monitor the Cultural District on a daily basis," he says. "We have a substation down there. We have police officers down there."
Hissrich says the problem does increase during the summer months, but that violent crime is actually down.
People tell KDKA they would like to see more cops walking the streets in the Cultural District between 5 pm and 11 pm.
And they'd like to see the city remove the panhandlers whom, they say, are not homeless but just small-time hustlers.
Hissrich says he's open to meeting with anyone about the problem.
And with the Three Rivers Regatta coming up, everyone hopes the city can get a better handle on the situation.
