Yet another shooting at the Wood Street T Station (Pittsburgh: pictures, cities)

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by Enough_Already

Certain parts of downtown are not safe. It is the area around the Wood Street station which is the focus of the problem. It is wrong to call people "racist" for pointing out the problem

Of course. I was being EXTREMELY tongue-in-cheek when I wrote the post that you quoted.
The area around the Wood Street Station needs a dedicated 24/7 foot patrol by police - where all they do is walk circles around that station and enforce the law. It has been allowed to be a cesspool for far too long.

[Enough_Already]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Of course. I was being EXTREMELY tongue-in-cheek when I wrote the post that you quoted.
The area around the Wood Street Station needs a dedicated 24/7 foot patrol by police - where all they do is walk circles around that station and enforce the law. It has been allowed to be a cesspool for far too long.

A strong police presence might control the problem but does not eliminate the forces causing the problem. The port authority needs to review the bus routes and the Pittsburgh public schools need to look at schedules etc. Those two situations are promoting a dynamic of violence in that area.

[28CarsLater]

Originally Posted by Enough_Already

A strong police presence might control the problem but does not eliminate the forces causing the problem. The port authority needs to review the bus routes and the Pittsburgh public schools need to look at schedules etc. Those two situations are promoting a dynamic of violence in that area.

Well put, and very simple/cheap to implement.

[gg]

Guess someone is paralyzed from a fight there. https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-storie...=storyItemList

[gg]

Originally Posted by gg

Guess someone is paralyzed from a fight there. https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-storie...=storyItemList

What gets me about this is the people cheering about it. We are talking about adults, not 6th graders. That tells me downtown isn't where I want to go or spend my money. I'll stick to the burbs where there is still people living in a civil manner. I am formally done with downtown. Not worth it unless there is a show I want to see and I will take an Lyft and hopefully get a police escort or hire protection. Sad, but that is where we are today with the likes of Peduto.

[Independentthinking83]

Originally Posted by gg

What gets me about this is the people cheering about it. We are talking about adults, not 6th graders. That tells me downtown isn't where I want to go or spend my money. I'll stick to the burbs where there is still people living in a civil manner. I am formally done with downtown. Not worth it unless there is a show I want to see and I will take an Lyft and hopefully get a police escort or hire protection. Sad, but that is where we are today with the likes of Peduto.

Didn’t he say to shop in the suburbs anyways a few months ago? I love this parks tax that just passed. If anything that money should be going to beef up police patrols downtown.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by Independentthinking83

Didn’t he say to shop in the suburbs anyways a few months ago? I love this parks tax that just passed. If anything that money should be going to beef up police patrols downtown.

don't get me started on that - a tax for parks, when we have too many that are too underused. i heard the school board is going to request a 2% hike in property taxes soon. why buy in the city?

and voters put through without question the thing about the parks. it is not a huge increase, and the parks are great, but i think in the weeks leading to the election day, their value was trumped up and exaggerated.

that, and - all the college-affiliated people using schenley park for soccer, flag football, and whatnot. you know where I'm going with this. Maybe the Universities should help out a little - Schenley Park MUST be a big selling point for student recruitment.

Increase fees for soccer/softball leagues for non-city residents, too. i'm off topic - sue me. never mind, my taxes have already gone up and are in jeopardy for another 2% increase within the next year or two. meanwhile, the sink holes in my area swallowed up a bus full of japanese tourists.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by Independentthinking83

Didn’t he say to shop in the suburbs anyways a few months ago? I love this parks tax that just passed. If anything that money should be going to beef up police patrols downtown.

As Peduto noted, those trends — at least for violent crime — are up, for the moment.

But he defends the constitutional right of anyone to ask someone on downtown streets for money.

“You will see poor people, you will see minorities, you will see people asking for help downtown,” Peduto said. “If you don’t expect to see it, go to a shopping mall.”
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019...s-panhandling/

That brought a sharp rebuke from business owners downtown.

“It was an insult,” said Richard Bufalini, co-owner of Olive or Twist. “It was an insult to all the people down here working hard, busting their hump to have a business, pay taxes, employ people.”

“That’s a real crazy statement,” added Rex Streno, who owns Ullrich’s Shoe Repair on Liberty Avenue. “Go to the suburbs? What are people going to take from that?”

Business owners reacted angrily to what seemed like a snub to those working downtown and a willingness by the mayor to just accept panhandling, which they say is hurting the Cultural District.

“You know you have a major problem, address it,” said Len Semplice, owner of Redbeard’s Sports Bar & Grill.

“We do have a problem here. And if we lose our businesses here, we’re going to have empty storerooms like you had ten years ago,” said Semplice.

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019...-mayor-peduto/

Originally Posted by szug-bot

why buy in the city?

Because its what the cool kids do - and its diverse in every way: except ideologically, there's none of those rascally Republican haters to worry about. Just tax-and-spent gentrifying Progressives

[Independentthinking83]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

don't get me started on that - a tax for parks, when we have too many that are too underused. i heard the school board is going to request a 2% hike in property taxes soon. why buy in the city?

and voters put through without question the thing about the parks. it is not a huge increase, and the parks are great, but i think in the weeks leading to the election day, their value was trumped up and exaggerated.

that, and - all the college-affiliated people using schenley park for soccer, flag football, and whatnot. you know where I'm going with this. Maybe the Universities should help out a little - Schenley Park MUST be a big selling point for student recruitment.

Increase fees for soccer/softball leagues for non-city residents, too. i'm off topic - sue me. never mind, my taxes have already gone up and are in jeopardy for another 2% increase within the next year or two. meanwhile, the sink holes in my area swallowed up a bus full of japanese tourists.

Pittsburgh is a majority renter city. The vote was 52 to 48 or something like that. The same percentage of renters to homeowners. Ironic, the vote was probably spilt via renter and homeowner.

Parks are great. Pittsburgh has too many parks and not enough revenue to support them, hence raising taxes. Just like with the city pools 10 years ago. There was 70-90 pools and the city closed most of them. In growing cities park support is never an issue. New playground equipment and park sites just happen. New parks in growing areas usually have enough land to build a school there due to the growth.

I’d rather have that tax money spent to dig up and replace lead water lines. We just have our priorities backwards in this city. Fix infrastructure and attract jobs. The parks and bike lines take care of themselves.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by Independentthinking83

I’d rather have that tax money spent to dig up and replace lead water lines. We just have our priorities backwards in this city. Fix infrastructure and attract jobs. The parks and bike lines take care of themselves.

I'll agree with you that the City's priorities are skewed.
The lead lines get a lot of attention because of Flint - but I assure you as someone who deals with these issues at work (and my work has an oversight role over this) that the bigger lead risk is from lead paint in homes, due to the age of housing stock in this region.
Lead pipes get the attention. But lead paint is a far bigger threat.