New ambassador group aims to make Downtown Pittsburgh safer

PITTSBURGH — Many different groups are working together to try to make Downtown Pittsburgh the place to be again.  

Pittsburgh police and Allegheny County police are stepping up patrols. In addition to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Clean Team, there’s a new group called the Golden Triangle Ambassadors.

“We’re another piece of the pie that will probably help in its totality to resolve a lot of the issues,” said Clean, Outreach & Hospitality Program General Manager James Wimberly.

Some people who live or work downtown tell us they see the issues daily.

“We had a guy who overdosed in our lobby building,” said Matt Karazsia. “It’s sad. It really is.”

“It’s the homelessness, and the drug use that’s got to stop,” said Joe DeNardo.

A new group hitting the city’s streets hopes to help and act as another set of eyes.

“If they see someone who is under a period of substance abuse or if they see someone using, they can contact the outreach individual and that person can directly engage with that person in that population as well as if they see something that is not very presentable in terms of cleanliness,” said Wimberly.

There are now eight full-time ambassadors, two supervisors, and a dispatch officer who will be working every day of the week downtown from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.

“I think it’s well intended,” said DeNardo.  “I’m happy to see that the Mayor’s Office and the City are trying their best to make a concerted effort to clean up the streets, I just question how effective it’s going to be.”

“We know the ambassador program is not going to be the cure-all, but it’s certainly going to help adding another layer of presence, and I think that is very important,” said Wimberly.

Matt Karazsia sees the importance of that presence and wants even more of it.

“If they don’t hire more police officers,” said Karazia.  “If they don’t hire more ambassadors. More social workers. More people to come down here and help these people. It’s only going to get worse.”

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership plans to track the effectiveness of the ambassador program and share those results with the community.

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