Sasha Machel has watched huge crowds of teenagers in Pittsburgh’s Market Square grow unruly.
In the last few weeks, she’s heard a teenager scream that he had a gun, watched young kids wander the square with no supervision and felt uneasy as dozens of young people have sought to “cause chaos” outside of Medi’s on Market, the Mediterranean restaurant she owns there.
“It’s just the wild, wild west,” Machel told TribLive Thursday, sitting at a table outside her restaurant, looking out at the square as a smattering of people strolled by with coffees and chatted at outdoor dining spaces.
She’s in favor of a new, temporary policy that mandates anyone 18 or younger be accompanied by someone over the age of 21 to enter Market Square from Thursday to Sunday between 3 p.m. and midnight.
The rule went into effect last weekend. Cool, rainy weather largely deterred people from mingling in Market Square then anyway, Machel pointed out.
Machel acknowledged that the age group singled out in the new policy isn’t the only one that can cause problems but kids and teens are the “main issue.” She said young people are the ones shouting obscenities, “trying to cause chaos” and filming their bad behavior for social media.
“They don’t think they before they act,” she said. “It gets hectic. It’s a feeling of uneasiness.”
The new restriction
Restricting unaccompanied minors from the square, she said, is a good first step. She also wants to see more policing and robust after-school programs to give kids something better to do than cause problems Downtown.
“It’s just one part of the puzzle,” she said.
Not everyone is convinced it should be even a piece of the solution.
“This policy is discriminatory,” said Tanisha Long, a Crafton Heights resident and organizer for the Abolitionist Law Center. “This policy is disturbing.”
She raised concerns about how such a policy could go into effect with no public process and whether other areas could see similar restrictions.
“Right now, this policy makes it feel as though Market Square is a private area,” Long said.
She pointed out that several schools in Downtown Pittsburgh — like Pittsburgh CAPA and City Charter High School — are nearby.
“A lot of these kids use Market Square after school to get drinks. Some of them work in Market Square,” she said.
Long also questioned how the rule will be enforced, as not everyone carries identification that could verify their age.
On Thursday, as the curfew went into effect, no one seemed to be checking IDs or otherwise inquiring about people’s ages as they entered the square. A representative from a private security company enforcing the policy declined to speak to TribLive.
Security guards and workers from the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership — the nonprofit group that spearheaded a $15 million renovation of Market Square and has partnered with the city to implement the new rules for minors — moved pieces of temporary fencing into various entrances to the square. The metal fences had signs welcoming people to the square and noting that children must be accompanied by an adult.
Though workers milled about the square, no one seemed to be stationed at chokepoints entering the square to check whether kids were coming into the area.
Outreach workers with the violence prevention organization REACH were also present. They declined to speak with TribLive.
City and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership spokespeople did not respond to questions about who is paying for the private security, how the policy is being enforced or what consequences teens could face for violating the rule.
Camden Wright, 21, of Penn Township, told TribLive he thought mandating minors have adult supervision made sense.
“I don’t think it’s safe for minors to be down here by themselves,” he said as he pushed a bike through the square Thursday.
Eric Ditullio, 57, of Harmony, concurred. He said he’s generally comfortable in Market Square during the day but fears being in the vicinity at night.
“The perception is don’t come down after dark,” he said, adding he’s heard “horror stories” of kids getting into fights.
Previous incidents
In March, multiple juveniles were arrested after a brawl that saw dozens of people fighting in the square. Teens — and later police officers — deployed pepper spray in the scramble.
Fights also broke out there during the city’s annual Light Up Night celebration last November. A man was shot in the leg there about a month later.
Teaira Collins, a Greenfield resident and mother of five, this week told Pittsburgh City Council the restrictions on unaccompanied minors weren’t addressing the broader problems, like young people needing more structured activities to keep them out of trouble.
“There’s no programming,” she said. “There’s nothing for them to do.”
Kids, she said, aren’t facing consequences for bad actions.
“The system has failed the parents and the children,” Collins said.
Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, was skeptical, too.
“At first blush, I am very uncomfortable with that policy,” she said. “I have a teen who goes to school Downtown and walks through Market Square. Not only does this feel highly unwelcoming to families with teens, it also seems questionable in terms of enforcement.”
She introduced legislation this week that would require council receive quarterly reports with detailed breakdowns of crime statistics, including locations and ages of perpetrators.
“We’re talking a lot about violent crime. We’re talking a lot about kids,” she said. “While I recognize there are a lot of feelings around that, I think we really need some numbers.”
Warwick said she did not want to spread “this notion that our children are a danger to the city,” which she feared the Market Square policy may evoke.
“I’m very uncomfortable with the demonization of our kids overall for the behaviors of what I assume are a small few,” Warwick said.
Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, who chairs council’s public safety committee, said there are no easy answers. He wants to see public safety officials probing how kids use social media platforms to coordinate and post footage of the large meet-ups that sometimes get out of hand.
Coghill said he felt something needed to be done to rein in the unruly teenage crowds. But he’s not entirely convinced the rule now in effect is the ticket.
“I applaud the administration for being proactive, because it was a problem,” Coghill said. “Will that work? I don’t know.”