A team of blue- and golden-clad ambassadors will soon hit Downtown Pittsburgh (Portland: neighborhood, price)

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Pittsburgh has had these for over a decade now. This will be in addition to what is currently in place. The current crew assists visitors and workers as needed throughout downtown. The are also responsible for litter and Market Square seating / upkeep.

Link to this? What’s the job title of those that have been doing this for over a decade?

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Pittsburgh has had these for over a decade now. This will be in addition to what is currently in place. The current crew assists visitors and workers as needed throughout downtown. The existing crew's main focus is litter and Market Square seating / upkeep.

Yeah, I was surprised that something like that didn't exist already. I think it was an idea that was popularized in downtowns during the 1990s. 5 years ago, the Phillies owner John Middleton foundation's Project Home partnered with the police/city/center city district association to create the homeless outreach squads which is what this new unit in Pittsburgh seems akin to. Let's hope for good results!

[svband76]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Pittsburgh has had these for over a decade now. This will be in addition to what is currently in place. The current crew assists visitors and workers as needed throughout downtown. The existing crew's main focus is litter and Market Square seating / upkeep.

LOL, no we don't. I'm downtown daily and it's garbage, poop, pee, druggies and homeless everywhere. Not to mention pretty darn quiet. I see no "ambassadors" anywhere in sight. Please.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by svband76

LOL, no we don't. I'm downtown daily and it's garbage, poop, pee, druggies and homeless everywhere. Not to mention pretty darn quiet. I see no "ambassadors" anywhere in sight. Please.

I live in the city and worked in downtown for 16 consecutive years. I know my city very well. I also know that the yellow jacket street cleaners are there for assistance as well as clean up. My former employer is a major sponsor. I am downtown often for work, dining and entertainment. Downtown feels different with the absence of office workers. I have not witnessed poop but have witnessed multiple overdoses prior to the Ed Gainey administration. The drug problem has been brewing since the early 2010s. The addicts are no longer lost among the everyday people. You may need glasses. The uniforms and receptacles are highly visible throughout downtown.


https://downtownpittsburgh.com/about...reach-program/

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

I live in the city and worked in downtown for 16 consecutive years. I know my city very well. I also know that the yellow jacket street cleaners are there for assistance as well as clean up. My former employer is a major sponsor. I am downtown often for work, dining and entertainment. Downtown feels different with the absence of office workers. I have not witnessed poop but have witnessed multiple overdoses prior to the Ed Gainey administration. The drug problem has been brewing since the early 2010s. The addicts are no longer lost among the everyday people. You may need glasses. The uniforms and receptacles are highly visible throughout downtown.


https://downtownpittsburgh.com/about...reach-program/

Obviously accountability needs to be taken with this program as the area continues to get worse that new positions have been created to try to help the situation.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Pittsburgh has had these for over a decade now. This will be in addition to what is currently in place. The current crew assists visitors and workers as needed throughout downtown. The existing crew's main focus is litter and Market Square seating / upkeep.

Correct. The yellow shirt folks primarily were intended to clean garbage and greet/direct tourists, though. They weren't supposed to offer homeless outreach, narcan addicts, act as the eyes and ears for police officers, etc.

Things have obviously deteriorated Downtown since the yellow shirts were launched.

[svband76]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Correct. The yellow shirt folks primarily were intended to clean garbage and greet/direct tourists, though. They weren't supposed to offer homeless outreach, narcan addicts, act as the eyes and ears for police officers, etc.

Things have obviously deteriorated Downtown since the yellow shirts were launched.

Oh, you mean the few yellow shirt people I see emptying garbage cans occasionally? I've never seen these people interact with anyone. Ever. I've been in town daily since oh the last 35-40 years. It's the worst I've ever seen in my life. Even in the Liberty Avenue days there wasn't as much druggie/homeless activity. Let's just hope it gets drastically better and fast. Especially for business owners and residents who've spent their life savings to live and work downtown.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by svband76

Oh, you mean the few yellow shirt people I see emptying garbage cans occasionally? I've never seen these people interact with anyone. Ever. I've been in town daily since oh the last 35-40 years. It's the worst I've ever seen in my life. Even in the Liberty Avenue days there wasn't as much druggie/homeless activity. Let's just hope it gets drastically better and fast. Especially for business owners and residents who've spent their life savings to live and work downtown.

Only everyday for 35-40 years. No no no, you just need glasses.

It’s not going to change anytime soon, but I’m greatly looking forward to hearing about these new workers that are supposedly going to help whip it into shape. Though I didn’t see anything about them being called to police scenes to help whip the criminals into shape which is what Big Ed has been parroting for over a year.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Those progressive urbanists are silent because they are finding out that the end result of consistently fewer and fewer police officers, which is what they wanted, along with more lax views on incarceration, which is also what they wanted, are now leading to an increasingly undesirable city for many.

Maybe now that there was a random homicide in Bloomfield and a man banging on doors in Stanton Heights in the middle of the night after being shot in the face some of these activists will quiet down with their disdain towards the police.

They obviously didn't care when stealth defunding of the police (keeping the budget the same on paper but not hiring any new officers to replace those who are leaving) was only affecting "other" neighborhoods like my own. Maybe now that this is beginning to affect wealthier and generally "safer" neighborhoods more people will wake up.

Interesting, as some of us said it was a problem to begin with and going to get worse, while being told that it’s just normal city living, it’s no worse than anywhere else, just suburbanites spouting off and don’t know what they’re talking about because they don’t live in or frequent the city to actually see what’s going on, etc…

hUUUge problem is deflecting from it and defending it while it’s been easy to see by many now that it’s so bad, including businesses, citizens, the police, community “leaders”, Big Ed, etc…, so it’s going to be a lonnng time before anything changes because folks couldn’t see 15 minutes in front of themselves while continuing to vote status quo, dumping shooters and killers back onto the streets, blaming police, and let’s not forget the last vote putting Fetterman and Summer Lee in with the powers that be that are soft on crime political figures. Folks enabled this situation to happen.

[gmagoo]

Of course we always have that knee-jerk reaction to anything French, but Paris has found a way to deal with the poop and the pee. They`re called Sanisettes and they`re self-cleaning and usually free.

https://europeforvisitors.com/paris/...ic-toilets.htm