Organizers Of Soul Food Festival Answer Concerns From Pittsburgh Leaders

PITTSBURGH (KDKA)--An African American group called 'Stop the Violence Pittsburgh' is asking the city for a permit to hold an event Sunday, September 1 in Market Square.

It will be a food fest called "A Soulful Taste of the Burgh."

Organizer, William Marshall says the city expressed some initial concerns. "They are alleging that they are concerned about food vendors being in market Square, when every Thursday they have the Farmer's Market in Market Square."

The things the city is concerned about include the number of vendors, where they will be, who is going to take care of the trash and, of course, porta johns.

When organizers met with the Special Events Committee at a hearing in the City County Building those concerns and others were addressed and more.

Questions came from many of them including the Pittsburgh Fire Chief and the Director of Public Safety.

"If we shut the streets down, we need some sort of hard barrier, can't afford to have just wooden barriers, need hard barriers. Yeah, that would be a vehicle. OK," said Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich.

"I know there will be deep fryers and propane tanks, if there is a fire, I need to be able to get my rigs inside. Will there be access. Yes, all the way around," said Fire Chief Darryl Jones.

Five hundred to 1,500 people are expected to attend with eight food vendors and 20 vendors selling merchandise.

Special Events Manager, Brian Katze explains how the permit process works. "We will go back to the table and discuss as a group what we learned from them and table it for a week so we can do research and planning and it will come up for a vote next week."

"I feel the meeting went well today. They just had concerns about making sure we have security precautions to make sure we have a safe event," Marshall said.