Public Safety Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. (Photo by Juliana Morello)

By Juliana Morello, Pittsburgh Latino Magazine

Pittsburgh’s downtown is many things — an economic hub, cultural center, and tourist attraction, among others. Is it a crime hotspot as well?

Downtown Pittsburgh has long been the subject of criticism regarding its status as a safe place in the city. There have been several incidents downtown lately which could indicate that there may be a problem with violence and crime.

Most recently, a 73-year-old man was attacked by a stranger while he was walking down Fourth Avenue. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition, and after watching surveillance footage, Pittsburgh Police arrested the assailant.

A similar incident occurred at the beginning of June, when an 18-year-old intern for Flying Scooter Productions was assaulted by a stranger on Smithfield Street in the middle of the afternoon, just two blocks from her job.

Flying Scooter Productions issued a statement on LinkedIn, stating “As most people who work downtown know, downtown is not safe…As business owners who have been downtown since we opened seven years ago, we have seen the steady, unmanaged, and unprecedented increase in crime, prostitution, drug dealing and homelessness while our city officials do nothing…We are asking for less talk and more sustainable action…How can we ask clients to come and meet at our offices? How do we run a business when we are not assured general safety measures?”

Mayor Ed Gainey and his administration have faced criticism regarding their handling of the problem downtown. Some sources allege Gainey hasn’t been upfront about the state of downtown, while others think the administration isn’t doing enough to clean it up.

Regarding the action city officials have taken to curb the violence and crime downtown, Mayor Ed Gainey has supported Police Chief Larry Scirotto’s reorganization efforts, which included reducing late-night/early-morning shifts to make it possible for four 10-hour shifts a week.  Scirotto made this change to allow officers more days off, in addition to prioritizing shifts with the most service calls. According to Scirotto, 33% of personnel were working the 3am to 7am shift, despite having only 8% of call volume during that time.

The City of Pittsburgh also revealed via public safety blotter that the police will be expanding its patrol presence downtown, with a new High-Visibility Police Patrol initiative. According to the blotter, the initiative, which includes a dedicated patrol vehicle with active overhead lights and additional support from K-9, Cycle Unit, and Violence Prevention Unit officers, will be implemented in coming weeks.

“The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is committed to ensuring the Central Business District — and all Pittsburgh neighborhoods — remain safe and welcoming for all,” said Scirotto. “We believe these measures will enhance public safety and provide a highly-visible reminder that police are available and operating in the area throughout the evening.”

The police are also adding a new Violent Crime Division, in order to focus on reducing crime and gun violence. These changes come as the City of Pittsburgh opens a new expanded police station downtown, on Wood Street. The station, called the “Public Safety Center,” will entail police working alongside teams such as the city’s co-response unit and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Downtown Ambassadors program.

There are various organizations working alongside the police and the mayor’s administration in order to improve downtown. When asked about the initiatives the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is undertaking to make downtown safer, Richard Hooper, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the PDP, replied that the organization was able to increase its clean and outreach services by 100%. Furthermore, the PDP is hiring off-duty officers to patrol park spaces and commercial corridors.

Hooper also mentioned that, when polled in the PDP’s annual Downtown Satisfaction Survey, the majority of participants responded that they feel safe ‘most of the time,’ though there was a slight increase in participants who responded that they feel ‘often unsafe’ when downtown. These responses included concerns about aggressive behavior, the presence of unhoused individuals, and apparent illegal activities, such as drug use. However, there was an overall improvement in sentiment toward downtown from last year.

“The wide range of PDP’s work, such as cleaning and pressure washing, events and programming, and streetscape enhancement efforts, are widely recognized as having an overall positive impact on how people perceive Downtown as a welcoming and vibrant place,” Hooper said.

Another organization working to improve downtown Pittsburgh is the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. The Conference has invested in downtown Pittsburgh, raising $2 million to spend on public bathrooms and cleaning crews, among other things. They have also launched IndexPGH, a dashboard meant to track “the vital signs of downtown Pittsburgh.”

Safety and public health is one of the four buckets they track, providing real information as to the status of downtown. The other factors they track include vibrancy, economy, and cleanliness and beautification. The idea is that one single factor will not rejuvenate downtown — improving our city requires an in-depth response.

Santiago “Chago” Gotay, a longtime resident of downtown originally from Puerto Rico, said he hasn’t witnessed much crime or violence, but that homelessness is a huge issue. He said that he feels that Pittsburgh’s placement of these unhoused people downtown is counterintuitive.

“There’s so much space in Pittsburgh — outside of the city, outside of the South Side, outside of the North Shore — that you can place these indigent people,” said Gotay. “And you place them downtown — where there are restaurants, where hotels are, and where people have come in for the Steelers games and baseball games and hockey games.”

Gotay, who has also lived in New York City, in Chelsea “back when it was bad,” said that living in any city requires one to have their wits about them. Street smarts include looking around, being aware of your surroundings, and knowing where not to walk around, especially at night.

“When you live in the city, you gotta have a sense of safety. Being on the lookout over your surroundings is part of living in the city,” said Gotay. “I know where to walk through, during different hours of the day. I wouldn’t walk down Smithfield between the Boulevard, and maybe Oliver Street, at night. I may not walk down to, either the Boulevard of the Allies and close to PPG at night, because I know what happens. Even Market Square.”

He also mentioned that safety and cleanliness downtown isn’t a problem specific to Pittsburgh. However, he said that the city needs to be doing more to resolve it.

“Don’t get me wrong, this is not only a Pittsburgh problem. Every city in the country has this problem, blue or red. But the government has to be more proactive,” said Gotay. “In Spanish we call it ‘tapando hoyos.’ In English that would be ‘filling holes,’ just to have a temporary solution. It’s gotta be a long-term solution for this, and there’s ways to do it, it’s just a matter of the will to do it.”

While the city has faced pressure to take more drastic measures to curb the crime downtown, Mayor Gainey maintains that Pittsburgh is a safe place for everyone. In November, at his State of the City address, Gainey stated that the city is making progress in turning Pittsburgh into “the safest city in America.”

“We made our emergency services bureau faster, smarter, more capable, and more accountable. We’ve expanded our capacity to respond to social, behavior, and mental health emergencies with compassion and care,” said Gainey.

Like any city, Pittsburgh isn’t perfect. However, city officials and various organizations are actively working to make downtown a better, safer place for everyone.

As always, there are a few things you can do to prioritize your own safety. Staying off your phone while walking and not wearing headphones in public are just a few simple ways to increase your awareness. Not to mention, it’s important to follow your instincts, and listen to your gut if you feel something’s not right.

Change doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s important that we all work to make sure we’re staying safe, whether downtown or elsewhere.

For emergencies, call 911. To contact the Pittsburgh City Police for any non-emergencies, call 311 or 412-255-2621. Requests can be sent anonymously.

Juliana Morello is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns. Juliana is interning with Pittsburgh Latino Magazine.