Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, South Side business owners discuss solutions to violence
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Mayor Ed Gainey is keeping his promise to residents and business owners on Pittsburgh's South Side to help curb the violence that has plagued the area.
More than a dozen business owners joined Gainey at the Carson City Saloon Wednesday afternoon to continue to search for solutions to make Carson Street a safer place to live, work and visit.
Minutes after the meeting, Gainey was positive and determined that a resolution to make the South Side safer will come to fruition. He said the key is working together but stressed this won't happen overnight.
A six-block stretch of Carson Street has seen reports of excessive littering, open containers of alcohol on the street, fights, stabbings and shootings.
Neighbors and business owners say they've had enough. Their hope is the latest meeting with Mayor Ed Gainey gets them one step closer to seeing change.
"This is a situation that has been going on for a while but again, we are confronting it, we're dealing with it, and we're putting the right procedures in place to make sure that we create a healthy and safe Carson Street," said Gainey.
At the last public meeting with the mayor, several things were put into place to help curb the violence, including adding more police presence.
Gainey said those things were discussed at the meeting and he feels they're already helping.
"I thought it went very well," Vetere said. "I thought the mayor paid attention. He gave us some promises. There's a lot of work to do but we just got to get the South Side area back to where it used to be, and it will be because it is a great place."
The mayor declined to go into detail about what exactly will be implemented to ensure a safer Carson Street. He said we'll see those changes in action soon enough.
For now, he stressed that behind closed doors, a promise was made to do this together.
"Will this happen overnight? No, this won't happen overnight. But we are making the right moves to ensure that Carson Street will become more and more safe. It just won't happen overnight. It will take time. But we're working toward that," the mayor stressed.
The next public meeting will be held July 12 via zoom.
