About a dozen residents of Pittsburgh’s Banksville neighborhood on Tuesday told the Planning Commission they did not want to see a custodial care home housing about 100 federal inmates in their neighborhood.
They raised questions about safety and whether students at a nearby school could be at risk if an inmate escaped from the former police union headquarters on Banksville Road, where Louisville, Ky.-based Dismas Charities wants to open the re-entry facility. They voiced concerns that having such a facility nearby would drop their home values.
“I can honestly say I’m scared,” Denise Reder, 68, of Banksville, told commissioners. “I am very, very scared.”
The commission sided with residents, sending a negative recommendation to City Council, which will make the final decision.
The vote was split with Commissioners LaShawn Burton-Faulk, Gerardo Interiano, Darrin Kelly and Diamonte Walker voting to give the proposal a negative recommendation. Commissioners Justin Hunt and Bob Reppe voted the opposite way, while Commissioner Rachel O’Neill abstained.
Dismas Charities operates 40 re-entry facilities across 15 states, said Kathy Bellew, vice president of development. They’ve served about 39,000 people in the last five years.
Dismas is looking to convert the Fraternal Order of Police building on Banksville Road — a 14,000-square-foot building that sits on a roughly 10.6-acre site — into its newest location. It would house up to 92 men and a dozen women who are transitioning from federal prisons back into the community.
“This is their last step before permanent release,” Bellew said, adding that it gives people an opportunity to secure housing, employment and other resources as they move out of the corrections system.
Banksville residents have said they don’t want to see it in their neighborhood.
“I think the community has been very clear about their position,” Walker said ahead of the vote. “I have pervasive concerns about the operations model and the communications model.”
Ralph Sicuro, who heads the city firefighters union and lives in Banksville, pointed to previous incidents at other Dismas facilities, including a fatal stabbing in one of their homes in Kentucky in 2008.
In 2018, a man left a Dismas facility in Kentucky and fatally shot a police officer.
“This is not an abstract concern,” Sicuro said.
Michelle Bertini, a psychotherapist who has lived in Banksville for 15 years, said she understands that people leaving the justice system need rehabilitation. But she pushed back on the notion that Banksville is a suitable location.
“There are so many reasons why the FOP building is not compatible for felons,” she said, pointing out the proximity to Banksville Elementary, barely over a mile away, as a prime example.
Banksville resident Dianne Arnold described her community as a “safe, affordable neighborhood.” She’s afraid the community could change — and her property value could plummet — if a re-entry house moves in.
“The biggest investment we have is in our homes,” she said. “For many of us, Banksville, our home, is our largest asset. We’re being asked to absorb a risk to that without our consent, without compensation.”
County Councilman Bob Palmosina, who lives in Banksville, directly addressed representatives of Dismas who presented to the commission Tuesday.
“I believe that you want to do what’s best for these individuals, and so do we,” he said. “I just do not believe in where it’s going. You’re right next to a school, right next to a vibrant city neighborhood.”
Representatives of Dismas Charities acknowledged that the property could house violent offenders or sex offenders. They said a network of 40 cameras and monitoring systems aim to ensure nothing goes awry.
Bellew told commissioners the site would be staffed 24 hours a day. During daytime and evening shifts, that could include up to eight staffers, she said. Overnight shifts would see up to three workers on the premises. The facility would not have armed security.
Commissioners peppered them with questions about safety plans, staffing ratios and how the community would be notified in the event of an escape.
Many were not satisfied with the responses they received and what Burton-Faulk described as a lack of “more granular details.”
“I think if that would’ve been explored a bit more with the community, there could potentially be less hesitation,” she said.