As the weather warms up and the city of Pittsburgh tries to lure residents back Downtown, Mayor Ed Gainey says visitors can expect a safer, cleaner, more hospitable neighborhood than in recent years.
During a press conference Thursday, Gainey highlighted an increased police presence, a recently launched ambassador program, and a new cleanup crew. Members of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership also announced that it will be working with artists to paint the front of 15 vacant storefronts.
Gainey said these efforts are part of a broader effort under his first budget to follow-through on his administration’s promises. “We are living up to what we said we would do,” Gainey said. “We said we were going to increase patrols. We've done it. We said that we would start cleaning more Downtown. We've done that.”
Gainey administration officials said they’ve increased the number of officers Downtown from 4-5 to now between 8-12, some of whom are county police officers. Gainey said the public needs to feel welcome if they’re going to continue to return to the neighborhood for events like large conventions and concerts. Last year, Gainey said the city hosted four concerts at PNC Park drawing 160,000 people downtown. This year, Gainey said, the city plans to host 19 major concerts.
“People only come back if they feel safe,” Gainey said. “ That's the reality.”
Jeremy Waldrup, the president and CEO of the Downtown Partnership, said 11 full-time, Downtown ambassadors are now working Downtown seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. to provide hospitality and monitor the Downtown area for any problems at a cost of a little more than $1 million.
Waldrup announced that a new team of five people will work to clean up alleyways and powerwash the streets. That increases the Downtown cleanup budget to $1.9 million, Waldrup said, an increase of 15%. Waldrup’s organization was already employing 13 workers to help clean the streets seven days per week, including removing an increasing amount of graffiti, he said. That’s on top of the work by the city’s public works department, which cleans Downtown at least twice per week, according to the mayor.
John Valentine, the executive director of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, said the city is working to fill empty storefronts with business, but — in the meantime — it’s going to work with local artists to paint storefronts to make them look more inviting. Valentine said there is already funding in place for the first 15 storefronts. Valentine also mentioned that Downtown would be experimenting with some popup stores that could potentially turn into more permanent presences if they are successful.
Valentine said an increased police presence Downtown has helped. “What I find amazing is that you don't see progress week by week, we’re actually seeing it day by day,” he said. “So I think things are going to be better. They are already getting better.”
Representatives of Gainey’s administration said they continue to work on several other issues, including finding additional services for the homeless population in the Golden Triangle, who routinely fill up homeless shelters. And they are looking into providing public restrooms to try to limit the amount of public urination and defecation Downtown.
