public safety and police presence (Pittsburgh: apartment, leasing, crime)

[art harris]

good morning,i wanted to make a small comment on what i see is the lack of concern with public safety in the city,i,m in town quite alot and i see,on a regular basis,people stoned on drugs,harassing shoppers and people just trying to enjoy the downtown corridor,to me,this poses a major problem and i,m sure others see this but my question is why are we not discussing this?,why is there no viable plan in place to make downtown and the city as a whole safer for people who simply want to enjoy themselves?.


i would like to see beat officers,not just two or three,we need a major police presence in town and everywhere in this city,all the talk in the world amounts to nothing if you have no action to follow it up with, and as it has always been in this city,we talk and act on things that are not of major concern,sure,pot holes and parks are a good thing to consider when it comes to the city,but we have senseless murders comitted,we have a out of control viscous dog problem,we have abandoned and delapadated properties that need to be torn down,and even though some might not think so,we have a major drug problem in this town,any kid can go to any neighborhood and buy a gun,i could go on and on,the bottom line is the city of pittsburgh needs to start adressing these major issues and stop procrastinating on them,one of these ways is a major,physical police presence,start putting these officers out of the cars and out on the streets.


remember,the job of our elected officials is to take care of it,s citizens,run the city in a productive way that benifits all who live in it,sure,the city looks good,pittsburgh has it,s good points,but there are things here that need to be adressed,i see them and it disturbs me grately.im not a politician but i can offer a few things that can help,or if you would like,add my name to the list of people who want to run for a seat on the counsel,i don,t have a degree,but i can,t do no worse than the ones in there right now and i see things they can,t.in closing let me pose a couple of questions to the counsel,how much time do each of you get out of your offices and actually walk some of our run down parts of the city?,how many city residents do you talk to on a daily basis,(IN PERSON)about their respectful neighborhoods and the problems in them?,you guys also,need to get out of your offices and get involved with the town you were elected to help,just keep in mind,YOU CAN,T SECOND GUESS THE STATUS OR WRONGS OF THE CITY FROM AN ARM CHAIR,THATS NOT HELPING,IT,S HURTING!,thanx for listening.you may contact me [mod]using a direct message or send an email through c-d, posting your personal info in public is rarely a good idea[/mod]

[SteelCityRising]

First of all, I wouldn't post your personal phone number or e-mail on a message board, and I'm going to recommend that Yac, our moderator, remove them. Coming from someone who has been stalked in real life, been threatened, been terminated from a job, and even had someone from here impersonate my former apartment community's leasing office staff to trash-talk me to my current landlady I wouldn't dare advise you that giving out such personally-identifiable information on one of the world's leading websites is a good idea.

With that being said I feel as if this city's financial conditions don't afford us the luxury of implementing your ideas. I agree that it sucks sauntering around Downtown trying to help merchants and restaurateurs and being subject to loud vulgarities, panhandling, and downright rude behavior, especially around certain bus stops. I never felt "unsafe", though---just annoyed---and we can't hire more police officers to babysit the harmless dregs of society.

Our city's infrastructure is collapsing. Mayor Peduto, whom I voted for and still ardently support, just grudgingly lamented that we're in for bombed-out roads for the foreseeable future because the MAJORITY of city streets need to be repaved (not just patched), yet we can only afford to pave a small fraction of them. We are being strangled by pension obligations, and while we now have an increasing tax base (especially via the wage tax as more higher-earners are moving in) expenses such as employee health care costs are also rising on annual basis, wiping out most of the increased revenue. Short of raising taxes (and Lord knows everyone on this sub-forum gets the fangs out when I suggest this) there's no way we can afford to repave 60% of the streets in the city, rebuild our sewage infrastructure to appease the EPA, hire "quality-of-life" cops to cite unruly hooligans Downtown, hire litter clean-up crews, etc. We just have to settle for an "above-average" quality-of-life instead of an "excellent" quality-of-life. Considering most native Pittsburghers I've met have the "that's good enough, n'at" mentality I don't foresee us loosening our pursestrings to make these quality-of-life improvements anytime soon.

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

We are being strangled by pension obligations

This is a major problem, one we desperately need to address. In my opinion, we need to reduce these pensions. If I'm not mistaken, former employees receive pensions until they die, and then their surviving spouses receive those pensions. Furthermore, they're given raises every year, adjusted for the COL. The city is in a financial crisis, so this is foolish. This is a completely unnecessary burden on the city's limited resources, as well as on taxpayers. Yes, we can fix our roads and hire more police officers (we absolutely need to hire more police officers; this is of the utmost importance), but we need to reform the pension system. We must substantially reduce pensions, and decrease their growth if we want to make the city a better place for all to live.

[UKyank]

We really need to move away from public employee pensions to a 401k type retirement plan. It's way too easy for politicians to promise the moon to public unions & not have to deal with the repercussions of meeting said financial obligations until they are out of office.

[gg]

I have never had any problems in the city. I don't let my guard down considering the Knock Out Game is out there now and again, but I really haven't had any issues. I tend to profile the people around me, like most city folks do and if people wearing certain clothing are around, you need to keep a close watch. I don't think we need a zillion cops all over the place. I think there are more than enough police officers and to be honest, I think it could be cut by about 1/4.

[art harris]

the message put here by me is simply my thoughts and feelings on what i see is a real time problem that will get worse with summer coming on,i,m not doing this for some kind of political fame nor do i fashion myself a scholar,i have no intent on being perfect,i just want my message out,and as far as not hiring more police for this city,well i understand that some will feel this way because their lives have not been affected by crime in a very personal way,also,ive been in this city all my life and i see whats coming in the future.i apologize if i ruffled a few feathers,this was truly not my intent,and even though i did not use a spell checker or punctuate or capitalize,everyone still understood what i was saying,i thank you for telling me not to submit phone# or e-mails,as soon as i find out how to delete them ,i will.thanx for your comments everyone.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by art harris

the message put here by me is simply my thoughts and feelings on what i see is a real time problem that will get worse with summer coming on,i,m not doing this for some kind of political fame nor do i fashion myself a scholar,i have no intent on being perfect,i just want my message out,and as far as not hiring more police for this city,well i understand that some will feel this way because their lives have not been affected by crime in a very personal way,also,ive been in this city all my life and i see whats coming in the future.i apologize if i ruffled a few feathers,this was truly not my intent,and even though i did not use a spell checker or punctuate or capitalize,everyone still understood what i was saying,i thank you for telling me not to submit phone# or e-mails,as soon as i find out how to delete them ,i will.thanx for your comments everyone.

Spaces after periods and commas help, too. I haven't read anything but your first couple of lines and your last couple of lines. Therestissosqueezedinithurtsmybrain.

[sealie]

He just said we need more cops, which we do. He misspelled vicious with regard to the dogs and said that we have vicious out of control dogs, derelict properties, a drug problem, guns. Pick your inner-city problem and it was probably in the list. Even outside of inner-city neighborhoods, we've got nuisance stuff like unleashed dogs in Frick and people tearing through Polish Hill at high speed which the cops apparently have been things to do than ticket for. And icy sidewalks, which never seems to get cited either. I have to conclude that they don't have the cops they need.

To the original poster: I have had decent luck getting council members on the phone and asking what they are doing about one thing or another. Sometimes there are state laws getting in the way of dealing with something like derelict properties. Sometimes there is conflict between people wanting to save a building that nobody wants to pay for versus people who would like to knock it down. Sometimes work is being done that isn't obvious, like changing a law or studying the problem. And sometimes it is just a matter of money and priorities. (and graft). You're not going to get any useful answers on city-data, just guesses and accusations. Contact your council member.

[gg]

Originally Posted by sealie

He just said we need more cops, which we do.

NO, we don't need more cops! This isn't Detroit, Miami or LA, this is Pittsburgh. I think the police force needs to be more engaged with the people instead of them being so separate though.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

NO, we don't need more cops! This isn't Detroit, Miami or LA, this is Pittsburgh. I think the police force needs to be more engaged with the people instead of them being so separate though.

I agree.