A look at how the media and the mayor’s office uses petty crime for political gain. Originally published on February 16, 2023.
Last Thursday, in a highly anticipated “town hall” meeting with local residents and business owners, Mayor Gainey revealed his new plan to control crime downtown. In addition to the Allegheny Police officers who had already been deployed to the area, Gainey promised another 18 Pittsburgh officers and a larger downtown substation to replace or complement the existing facility at 600 Liberty Ave. The move was prompted by vociferous complaints from Pittsburgh’s Downtown Partnership, yuppie condo dwellers, as well as heavy coverage in the media of recent incidents, including shootings, in the area. Downtown crime, suddenly, was a huge problem that must be addressed immediately, before it spiraled out of control.
Lost in the fuss was the fact that the city had been here before, and not long ago either. As recently as last summer, the media was fulminating about crime and lawlessness – but in Southside in the East Carson Street bar district. Gainey reacted predictably. He called a community meeting to address concerns and announce his plan, which, you guessed it, was to increase the number of cops assigned to the area and remind everyone that the Southside police substation was almost finished being constructed. The move was effective, politically at least. The media over the next few months transitioned to amplifying complaints about panhandling and occasional shootings in the downtown triangle instead of Southside. Actual shootings continued to occur on and around East Carson Street, but they were now being treated as isolated events rather than an existential threat.
It’s not surprising then, that the mayor went back to the same playbook this time around. Early returns seem encouraging for him. Even conservative District Attorney Stephen Zappala, who has no love for Gainey, was fairly muted in his criticism. Fraternal Order of Police local president Bob Swartzwelder was a bit more vehement, but the substance of his complaint was only that officers assigned to downtown would not be available elsewhere, which is simply obvious. A critical op-ed in the Post-Gazette demanded that Gainey demonstrate “effective leadership” and reassure the cops that they are “valued and respected”, but this appears to be an outlier. Liberal groups such as Black Political Empowerment Project and Alliance for Police Accountability have not weighed in, further contributing to what is becoming an extended honeymoon for Gainey with his base.
This leaves a glaring question: What is the mayor’s strategy actually going to accomplish besides maybe getting KDKA off his back for a while? For starters, substations cost money, money that would be better spent on affordable housing. Gainey claimed at the town hall that 45 new single room occupancy units were on the way, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to the need. More broadly, we need to recognize that in both Southside and downtown, Gainey is pandering to the demands of white yuppies, business owners, and corporations. Shootings are just the excuse. Black teenagers are shot nearly every week in Pittsburgh, in neighborhoods across the city, but new police substations only appear in areas that the ruling class considers important. Quotes from recent media coverage reveal a lot of concern for issues like parking and aggressive panhandling, but little for human life. Most respondents only mention shootings that affected them personally, such as when a stray bullet broke one of their windows. The following quote from an article in Trib Live about crime in Southside is pretty typical: ‘“We are a college bar,” he said. “If we don’t stay open late, we don’t stay profitable and we go under.”’ This bias is an effect of the media’s habit of ignoring the views of those actually being shot at, but it does provide an accurate reflection of elite attitudes.
There is a silver lining here. Per Swartzwelder’s point, police assigned to harass Black students as they change trains downtown after school won’t be available to harass the same students when they get home. Officers concentrated on East Carson Street can’t simultaneously patrol other Zone 3 neighborhoods like Carrick and Beltzhoover. The side effect of beefing up police presence at sites of capitalist production is a corresponding neglect of the outlying neighborhoods where most poor people live.
This shouldn’t stop us from recognizing how Gainey’s approach to policing downtown fits into his broader strategy. As the liberal Black politician who knocked off the hated Bill Peduto, Gainey is highly insulated from criticism from other Black liberals. They don’t want to take any chance of opening the door to a white challenger in 2025. White liberals, inculcated as they are with the theory of white allyship, are following the lead of their Black counterparts. This leaves Gainey free to mollify conservative business interests with measures like evicting homeless camps and building substations. As long as he doesn’t piss off either side too badly, he can continue in office as the compromise candidate that no one hates quite enough to make a serious attempt to dislodge. Radicals should not be taken in.