PITTSBURGH — Following a news conference Tuesday to discuss the city’s new 20-year development plan, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said the recent changes made to how the city responds to protests have lessened the tension on both sides.
Peduto said the city has been able to scale back its response from “domination” to one that “looks to de-escalate.” He said the changes in command and changes community development leadership positions have been essential for creating new strategies.
MORE DETAILS: Changes coming over how Pittsburgh police respond to protests
The mayor also thanked the people who have been marching and demonstrating in recent weeks. He said demonstrations have been mostly peaceful and organizers have responded in kind to the changes made within the city.
Peduto commented on the scenes playing out in Portland and Kenosha, and said there is a critical need for people to be able to express their First Amendment rights. He said that has to happen within the confines of the law, however.
>>>RELATED: Governor beefs up Portland patrols after fatal shooting
“At the end of day, sometimes the methods are more important than the message,” Peduto said, adding people can be alienated by the violence. He said the message still needs to get out about systemic racism and that Black lives matter.
“We ask people to take a breath and work together because that’s the only way to make real change,” Peduto said.
He said Pittsburgh was seeing the same thing as other cities around the country in terms of the racial tensions. He said it is happening “in every corner of the country” and that there needs to be a national message.
Peduto appeared to echo what Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday, in that on the national level there is a void in terms of lowering and de-escalating the amount of conflict and chaos. Peduto said what we’re seeing instead is “gasoline on the fire,” referring to recent comments by President Donald Trump as “not what we need as leadership.”
Additionally, Peduto said the city is aware of people locally who want to a similar situation to what is playing out in Portland. He said anybody who is calling people to arms and spreading hate is enticing people to violence, and pointed to what happened at the Tree of Life synagogue as evidence of what can happen.
Specifically, Peduto referenced the Zone 5 police station situation in East Liberty. He said there was over a year of public input before the station was moved to its current location, and people in the area were not happy that their only police station was going away. He said people have forgotten that happened, but that the city needs to listen to the people living there.
DETAILS: Crowds protest in East Liberty in response to possible relocation of police department
TRENDING NOW:
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
