At a town hall meeting in Homewood, attended by city council members Ricky Burgess, Tonya Payne and Darlene Harris, members of the community debated the best course of action for improving their neighborhood.
Among requests for improvements at the meeting on Aug. 14 was the debate over what should be done first. Some participants claimed it was important to reduce crime before development and others felt development would reduce crime.
“We have to have jobs and academic development for our people,” Burgess said. “If we can make the place safer we can get more investment.”
For most of the meeting city council members heard questions and comments from citizens in attendance. All the people in the group agreed that Homewood receives little to no attention from city government and services.
“It’s time that investment dollars be shared in the poor communities,” a Homewood resident said.
Residents expressed deep dissatisfaction with Pittsburgh’s non-emergency services 311 Response Line. Several complained about dangerous structures that have been reported but received little response.
“One thing that’s really concerned me is that in our area of the city there’s always been a slower response,” Homewood resident Kirk Davis said. “Nobody’s going to come to our community if the problems we report don’t get addressed.”
Many members of the community requested councilman Burgess to walk around his district. Burgess reported that during the time before his election he “door-knocked over 70 percent” of his district. He also said he conducts walking tours with citizens on Thursdays and Fridays if requests are made to his office.
Another major concern for the citizens was employment and some citizens expressed concern over minority employment specifically. One Homewood resident claimed that Homewood citizens have the education required for jobs, but do not get hired. Some citizens also related the lack of jobs in the community to the increase of violence in the community
Councilwoman Harris emphasized that the city has been working on programs to increase employment. She focused on a high school training program waiting to be installed.
“There are programs out there,” Harris said. “You also have to go back to the Pittsburgh Public Schools and ask them to install the programs.”
Violence in the community was also at the forefront of the citizen’s concerns. Many asked what was being done by city council and the mayor’s office to keep guns off of the streets.
However, in the midst of all the criticism facing the council and questions regarding what the city government was doing to improve the community, one resident placed some of the responsibility on the citizens.
“There’s only so much our council and mayor can do,” Homewood resident Terry Fluker said. “We talk about why our Black brothers don’t have jobs. We fell victim to drugs. We must tell our brothers to pull their pants up and put the drugs down.”
