The South Side Street Fest added additional metal detectors and ID scanners, plus a dedicated line for locals, to help people get in faster after long lines were reported for the event’s first outing last weekend.  

There were no lines at 11 p.m. on Friday, the event’s second night, but an organizer said Saturday, when they usually see larger crowds, will be a better test of the new measures. While attendees praised the event’s first night from a safety standpoint, with no arrests and an average number of citations issued, some criticized how long it took to get in on June 20.

“It’s a little overkill. I kind of had to wait 30 minutes,” Justin McCord said. “The line was just startling to me.”  

John DeMauro, a business owner and member of the South Side Hospitality Partnership, which is working with the city to put on the event, said leaders have heard the feedback.   

“We got more people than we thought there [would be],” DeMauro said. “There was a little bit of a wait to get into the entrances.”

They’ve since added four ID scanners and two more metal detectors, he said.   

“We should be able to move those lines along fairly quickly this week,” DeMauro said.   

The event is restricted to people 21 and up, but anyone under 21 who lives within the footprint can still get through. They’ll be escorted to their homes, a police commander told KDKA-TV, adding that few kids live inside the event’s footprint.   

They also have a new solution for South Side residents to enter the footprint faster: a local lane pass. Acting just like a fast pass at an amusement park, those who have it can go through a dedicated entry line.

“Wanted that to be quicker, wanted that to be not as cumbersome,” he said.   

Anyone who lives in the 15203 zip code, which covers the entire South Side, can register for the pass online, he said. At the 18th Street security checkpoint on Friday, residents had to show their ID with the 15203 zip code to go through the local lane.   

Because the zip code is used, it means it’s not just for people who live inside the footprint. Anyone who lives on the South Side can enter using the pass, for instance, if they want to grab something from a corner store. Fifty people had registered as of 7 p.m. on Friday.   

The line also helps to get delivery drivers through, Zone 3’s police commander said.   

A bar owner within the footprint told KDKA-TV last week that during the fest’s debut, they saw a lot of people on the street but fewer in bars. But because it’s so early, they said they weren’t concerned.

“I think that’s the general consensus,” DeMauro said. “It was a really good start to it, but our intention is to make it grow. I think that’s the biggest thing we want people to understand.”   

He added that the intention moving forward is to keep listening to feedback and making changes to improve the festival. He also encouraged people to come down to test the improved security measures themselves.

A proposal to earmark some future tax revenue to Golden Triangle developments was met Thursday with stiff opposition from residents.

“Right now, it seems like this approach is aimed more for developers than the benefit of the citizens of Pittsburgh,” Tim Stevens, founder of the Black Political Empowerment Project, told City Council members during a public hearing.

City officials are contemplating creating a special district that would allow 75% of new tax revenue from developments Downtown and parts of the North Shore and Strip District to go back into improving Downtown.

That money could fund transit upgrades, business district projects, economic development initiatives or new housing, according to Tom Link, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s chief development officer.

The area, known as a Transit Revitalization District, would not cut into property taxes already being generated in the area. Allegheny County and Pittsburgh Public Schools would also need to vote on whether to allow their portions of property taxes there to be invested in the program.

The tax diversion could be worth up to $200 million, officials estimated. It would last 40 years.

Pittsburghers on Thursday urged council to reject the proposal.

They argued that the new tax revenue created by any Downtown developments should be equitably distributed throughout the city, not focused on Downtown. Several questioned whether it was appropriate for private developers to receive any cash from the effort.

“This is literally a project to grab money and rob people in the city for four decades, masquerading as a TRID,” said Andrew Hussein.

Danielle Wenner, of Polish Hill, said she’d rather see new tax revenue go towards replacing deteriorating bridges or buying new city vehicles instead of supporting Downtown developers.

“The tax revenue generated by development belongs to the entire city and its population,” she said.

Several people questioned how the district would benefit all of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods.

“That money rightly belongs to all city residents,” Greenfield resident Matthew Cartier said.

Some council members, however, argued that the Golden Triangle needs to do well for the city as a whole to be financially stable. About 25% of the city’s real estate tax revenue comes from Downtown, Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side, pointed out.

“If we don’t have a strong Downtown, we can’t do anything anywhere else,” Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, said. “For me, anything we can do to stop the bleed in Downtown means that we don’t have to raise taxes on folks that live in Allentown, folks that live in Knoxville. We want a healthy Downtown that we can tax. This is a way to create a healthy Downtown for the future.”

Since the covid-19 pandemic shifted people out of Downtown offices, officials have been concerned about plummeting property tax revenue in the area. Mayor Corey O’Connor suggested the district as a way to spur economic growth in the Golden Triangle.

The city faces serious financial challenges and is on track to end the year with a deficit of roughly $24 million. Some council members during a preliminary discussion on the special district earlier this month questioned if the city could afford to divert tax revenue when money is tight.

“This is diverting 75% of tax revenue in a huge part of the city,” Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, said.

Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, said the district would be “a lot of money we are not reaping as various bodies of government,” but she pointed out that money could fund much-needed projects like affordable housing.

“We’re being asked to give up income for the city of Pittsburgh at a time when we’re struggling to produce a balanced budget,” Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, said.

Council scheduled a meeting to further discuss the proposal next Wednesday.

A woman from Armstrong County is accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from the Penn Hills refrigeration company that she used to work for. 

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Ashley Apperson, 34, of Leechburg is facing multiple charges after police she say she stole nearly $300,000 from Ventec Refrigeration.

According to the criminal complaint filed by police, detectives said that Apperson worked for the company from nearly four years and was responsible for things like processing payroll and other accounting duties and was terminated last month for performance issues.

Investigators said that the alleged thefts were discovered shortly after Apperson was terminated when an employee was looking up a check in the company’s computer system when a typo led to the discovery of a non-payroll check made out to Apperson in a large amount.

A further search of the computer system, according to police, showed that between January 2025 and last month, approximately 88 non-payroll checks were issued to Apperson. None of these checks were authorized by the business, police said. 

Police said they obtained a search warrant for the bank account where the unauthorized checks were deposited and learned it belonged to Apperson.

In addition to the unauthorized checks allegedly being deposited into Apperson’s account, police said purchases were made by Apperson on a company credit card at places like Dave and Buster’s, PayPal, and Amazon. 

Police said that when they questioned Apperson about the alleged thefts, she admitted to using funds for online gambling and that she wanted to take responsibility for wheat was stolen.

Investigators said they determined that the approximately amount of money stolen from the company by Apperson came to just shy of $300,000.

According to online court records, Apperson was arraigned and released on nonmonetary bail and is set to face a preliminary hearing early next month on charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, among others.