PITTSBURGH — Residents in Pittsburgh’s West End are frustrated after the parking lot at a local school became the latest location vandalized by racers.
Tire marks and rubber treads are all over the parking lot at a local school and residents say they are fed up with the noise and the destruction.
PHOTOS: Tire marks left behind at Pittsburgh school parking lot
Pittsburgh Public School Gifted Center in the West End is covered in marks after days of cars doing burnouts or drifting.
Neighbors say it’s been going on for more than a year and it’s becoming more frequent.
Earle: How frustrating is this, as a neighbor, as someone who lives right in the middle of this?
Ginny Hamer Kropf: It’s very frustrating. You know, it’s your quality of life. It’s peace on the weekends. We don’t need to be waking up to this every weekend.
It’s not just the school parking lot. It also happened here at the intersection of Chartiers and Hillsboro just last weekend.
It also happened in the parking lot of Giant Eagle on Noblestown Road.
Neighbors say it often starts around 11 p.m. and doesn’t end until 2 a.m. on some weekends.
Earle: What is your reaction when you see this?
Theresa Kail-Smith: It’s frustrating not only for me, it’s frustrating for the residents. It’s very aggravating because it’s not only happening here. It’s happening across my district.
We met City Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith on Charter Avenue...littered with tire marks. She says it’s also a safety concern, especially with a senior high-rise nearby.
“A lot of people come through on wheelchairs. They can’t access the local store if this is going on. They’re afraid to move around their own communities,” Kail-Smith said.
Two years ago, a driver fleeing the Fort Pitt Bridge, where more than 50 cars stopped to do burnouts, was accused of hitting a responding state police cruiser.
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A video from last weekend shows a driver doing donuts with a passenger’s legs hanging out the window.
“We have an almost two-year-old, and she’s been waking up scared, screaming in the middle of the night,” Kropf said.
After similar problems on Mt. Washington, the city put up signs prohibiting loitering and loud music after 10 p.m. and on two recent weekends, motorcycle officers moved in and took action.
“They were issuing citations and towing vehicles, talking to the kids, well, they’re not kids, they’re actually adults and a lot aren’t even from the City of Pittsburgh,” Kail-Smith said.
Councilwoman Kail Smith also plans to meet with the district attorney to discuss ways to crack down on this type of activity.
“The bottom line is you can’t deface public property and you can’t disturb the peace. And we need to make sure we’re addressing any laws, we need to make sure we’re addressing the laws we can,” Kail-Smith said.
Still, some neighbors in the West End say they’ve repeatedly called the mayor’s office and police...but the burnouts continue. Now, they’re desperate.
“If you have a game plan, please let me know,” Kropf said.
The councilwoman was recently in Virginia and she saw signs posted there that say no burnouts.
That’s one of the proposals now under consideration in her district.
11 Investigates reached out to Pittsburgh Public Schools about the damage to the parking lot, but has not heard back.
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