Police substation coming to Pittsburgh's South Side

Pittsburgh police will open a substation on the city’s South Side to help better handle the influx of calls that come each weekend when patrons flood into the entertainment district along East Carson Street.

The new facility on South 18^th Street will be a substation of the Zone 3 station in the city’s Allentown neighborhood. Zone 3 includes the South Side Flats, South Side Slopes, Mt. Washington and the city’s hilltop neighborhoods from Allentown and Arlington south to Overbrook.

Councilman Bruce Kraus, whose district includes the South Side, called the substation an exciting development for the neighborhood’s residents and business owners, who he said “have called for increased patrols to protect the safety of our community of residents and visitors.”

Officials said the substation will cut down on response times to East Carson and allow for officers to be more visible and active in the area. Officers will staff the substation during high-traffic times like weekends.

“Models like this help officers to be able to walk the beat and become familiar with the community, which builds trust,” Kraus said.

Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said the substation also will “provide a respite for officers working long hours in the busy South Side corridor.”

Construction and renovations have already begun, officials said, and stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan will be used to finance the project. Officials did not immediately provide a budget or total cost of the project.

The busy nightlife strip of East Carson Street has been of increased concern to Public Safety officials since pandemic-related restrictions began to lift in late spring. Crowds spilled into the street, authorities said, creating dangerous conditions for drivers, pedestrians and any emergency vehicles that might need to pass through.

An increase in violence, including several shootings during the height of summer, pushed police and city officials to implement a plan that restricted traffic and flooded officers into the area during the busy weekends.

Officials last month declared that progress had been made, and they rolled back some of the traffic restrictions, including the limiting of East Carson traffic to one direction on Friday and Saturday nights. Over four weekends in September, authorities made 12 arrests, seized one firearm, towed 69 vehicles and issued 371 citations.

Parking remains prohibited starting at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday between South 10^th and South 18^th streets.

The nightlife on the South Side has long been a headache for city and public safety leaders. A 2018 report commissioned by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority noted the neighborhood needed to overcome its image as the “Jersey Shore of Pittsburgh,” and business owners have complained that previous campaigns to stomp out bad behavior have backfired.