Authorities are working to take on problems facing Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood and business district from more than one angle.Pennsylvania State Senator and Democratic leader Jay Costa said he’s hopeful state and city leaders, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and state Liquor Control Enforcement may confer about South Side issues on Thursday.Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 spoke Monday with people who live and work in South Side about a pilot program of traffic pattern changes the city and PennDOT has instituted for Friday and Saturday nights.”As a resident, I appreciate the effort. I also just feel bad for the local businesses on South Side as well, because there’s less Ubers and Lyfts allowed to go through (under the traffic restrictions), so I feel like that might affect their business, too,” Alyssa Rein, who lives and works in South Side, said. “I completely understand where it’s coming from. I live here so I’m glad that they’re trying to come up with a plan to fix the violence going on.”The resurgence of crowds in South Side late-nights on weekends has been accompanied by more crime.Traffic on Carson Street on Fridays and Saturdays between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. is being restricted to one-way, eastbound between 10th Street and 18th Street with detours and parking restrictions posted and enforced by police.The manager of one South Side business thinks in their case, the effects of the detour may actually help and not hurt them.”Our volume has been going up. We’re open to three in the morning Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So we’re pretty much open here for the whole traffic change and, like I said, it’s been increasing our foot traffic a lot,” Ella Blue, General Manage of Fudge Farm, said. “Honesty, it really helps us because it creates more foot traffic and there’s less danger of cars and things like that around.”Josh Jan, who lives and works in South Side, said, “I saw this weekend, it kind of gave me Nashville vibes because they have that whole street blocked off, the same as here. It’s just a little easier for the pedestrians and people going out late at night.”Zoe Rivet works in South Side and said, “I understand the reasoning for wanting to do it and I know that they’re trying to make things a little bit easier, less congested on the side streets, easier for residents and also reduce some violence issues. But my fear for it is it’s actually going to affect the businesses who do thrive off of everything that happens late at night. It’s’ going to be harder for people to get here and especially people who want to safely travel here.”Stephanie Rizzo who works in South Side, said “I’m curious to see what actually will come of it because I don’t see the correlation as much. I think it’s probably going to cause a lot more traffic and make things really chaotic and maybe lead to higher traffic issues.”Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson Maurice Matthews responded via email, saying, “We are still going over events from this previous weekend.”South Side Community Council’s president, Barbara Rudiak, responded via email, saying “We are still working on feedback from residents about the weekend.”
PITTSBURGH —
Authorities are working to take on problems facing Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood and business district from more than one angle.
Pennsylvania State Senator and Democratic leader Jay Costa said he’s hopeful state and city leaders, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and state Liquor Control Enforcement may confer about South Side issues on Thursday.
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 spoke Monday with people who live and work in South Side about a pilot program of traffic pattern changes the city and PennDOT has instituted for Friday and Saturday nights.
“As a resident, I appreciate the effort. I also just feel bad for the local businesses on South Side as well, because there’s less Ubers and Lyfts allowed to go through (under the traffic restrictions), so I feel like that might affect their business, too,” Alyssa Rein, who lives and works in South Side, said. “I completely understand where it’s coming from. I live here so I’m glad that they’re trying to come up with a plan to fix the violence going on.”
The resurgence of crowds in South Side late-nights on weekends has been accompanied by more crime.
Traffic on Carson Street on Fridays and Saturdays between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. is being restricted to one-way, eastbound between 10th Street and 18th Street with detours and parking restrictions posted and enforced by police.
The manager of one South Side business thinks in their case, the effects of the detour may actually help and not hurt them.
“Our volume has been going up. We’re open to three in the morning Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So we’re pretty much open here for the whole traffic change and, like I said, it’s been increasing our foot traffic a lot,” Ella Blue, General Manage of Fudge Farm, said. “Honesty, it really helps us because it creates more foot traffic and there’s less danger of cars and things like that around.”
Josh Jan, who lives and works in South Side, said, “I saw this weekend, it kind of gave me Nashville vibes because they have that whole street blocked off, the same as here. It’s just a little easier for the pedestrians and people going out late at night.”
Zoe Rivet works in South Side and said, “I understand the reasoning for wanting to do it and I know that they’re trying to make things a little bit easier, less congested on the side streets, easier for residents and also reduce some violence issues. But my fear for it is it’s actually going to affect the businesses who do thrive off of everything that happens late at night. It’s’ going to be harder for people to get here and especially people who want to safely travel here.”
Stephanie Rizzo who works in South Side, said “I’m curious to see what actually will come of it because I don’t see the correlation as much. I think it’s probably going to cause a lot more traffic and make things really chaotic and maybe lead to higher traffic issues.”
Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson Maurice Matthews responded via email, saying, “We are still going over events from this previous weekend.”
South Side Community Council’s president, Barbara Rudiak, responded via email, saying “We are still working on feedback from residents about the weekend.”
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