PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigates broke the story last month about a plan to address violence in the South Side.
Now, Chief Investigator Rick Earle is questioning city officials about the new South Side Street Fest that begins this Saturday night.
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Officials say the community approached them about the plan to hold a street festival every Friday and Saturday night during the summer.
The police chief and the public safety director both expressed support for the event that will shut down six blocks of East Carson Street beginning Saturday night.
“We’re running this as a pilot to see how it goes this summer,” Police Chief Jason Lando said. “If at the end of the summer, we say this didn’t hit the mark, we will shift and refocus.”
Lando is talking about the community-led effort on the South Side that begins this weekend.
On Friday and Saturday nights through the summer, East Carson Street will be shut down between 12th and 18th streets for a festival with music and vendors from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
No one under 21 will be allowed inside, in an effort to cut down on the violence.
“That South Side plan is to try and make sure that we try to address some of the behaviors that we have seen in the past,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Sheldon Williams said. “So, implementation of that is in response to what we have seen.”
Some business owners fear it will chase away customers, while some residents are concerned about getting to and from their homes on the southside.
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For years, the city has attempted to address problems outside bars and nightclubs on East Carson Street, even closing down one side of the street years ago.
Now the entire road will be shut down, and private security guards using metal detectors will ID everyone entering the festival.
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Organizers received a $125,000 state grant to pay for security every weekend during the summer.
Chief Lando says his officers will be on hand as well.
“We don’t have an unlimited amount of police officers, so as the Zone 3 commander and the community members and business owners were building this plan, we determined some private security could handle the carding and ID’ing at the entry and exit points, and police officers could be free to be rovers in the area ... and close down some of the streets so it was really a team effort,” Lando said.
This weekend will prove if that team effort paid off.
The festival begins this Saturday night, and it runs every Friday and Saturday night through Sept. 15.
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