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Councilwoman Kale Smith calls for public hearing on public safety after residents report vehicle-related incidents
Summary
Councilwoman Kale Smith asked council to hold a public hearing on public safety in response to residents' reports of aggressive driving, modified-exhaust vehicles and assaults targeting elderly residents; council agreed to work on scheduling the hearing in the community.
Councilwoman Kale Smith on Tuesday asked Pittsburgh City Council to hold a public hearing on public safety after receiving reports from residents about vehicle-related disturbances and attacks on elderly neighbors.
"I am hearing an increase of issues going on, especially with vehicles on Grandview Avenue, side streets, modified vehicles with modified exhaust," Kale Smith said during the meeting. She cited multiple incidents affecting older residents, including an elder hit in the face and another who was reportedly shot at with what she said may have been a pellet gun. "This is just out of control," she said, urging a community-level forum to discuss solutions.
Kale Smith said she will work with Councilman Caugill, who chairs the committee on public safety and wellness, to schedule a public hearing. The motion to pursue a public hearing was seconded and carried by voice vote.
Public comment at the meeting highlighted related community concerns and other neighborhood matters. In public comment, a registered speaker identified as Dr. Ronald Lynn Miller urged the council to consider local legal authority on policing and to pass a local law to assert municipal control in certain circumstances; his remarks were delivered as public comment and did not trigger a council vote. Other residents offered praise for downtown Market Square programming and called for more visible sanitation support in neighborhoods.
Why this matters: Council members said community members want clarity on how city public-safety resources and local judicial candidates propose to address escalating nuisance and violent incidents. Kale Smith framed the hearing as a forum for residents, police representatives and judicial candidates to discuss responses and prevention.
Next steps: Council agreed to work with the public-safety committee and schedule a community hearing. Council staff announced forthcoming committee and pre-agenda meetings; the clerk's office published registration details for standing committee meetings on the council web page.
Ending: Council members said they would coordinate timing and location with the public-safety committee to give community members a local forum to present testimony and questions.
