Leaders in Homestead are taking action ahead of any possible unsupervised teen gatherings this weekend.

Mayor John Burwell told KDKA no one will be allowed at Frick Park in Homestead after 2 p.m. Saturday over concerns about a pop-up teen party.

Vaughn Rivers of Pittsburgh’s violence intervention team, Reach, is an outreach worker trying to stop violence before it happens.

“This generation’s creative in how they do these things,” Rivers said.

He said teens are savvy these days, and he and others had doubts when they recently came across a flyer on social media for a pop-up teen party Saturday at Frick Park.

“This one really alarmed us just because some of the wording, some of the things that they were talking about bringing to this party,” Rivers said.

The flyer asked kids to bring their own drugs and alcohol to the event, which is scheduled to take place at a park with rules that include no alcohol, drugs, or unsupervised children.

Reach wanted to get in front of it, especially after what happened in East Liberty last month, when what he said was a pop-up party turned violent, with more than a dozen hurt in a shooting.

“Unfortunately, at some of these parties, mixed with some of the wrong drug activity and the wrong characters coming out, it’s just been a bad scene at some of them,” Rivers said.

Rivers said the day after that incident in East Liberty, Reach came across an event at Ammons Pool. In that case, things went smoothly.

“Outreach did what we were supposed to. We got a call, and we went and intervened,” Rivers said.

As they do the same in Homestead, Mayor Burwell told KDKA that when the park closes early, it will have borough officers monitoring the area and neighboring departments from Munhall and West Homestead ready to assist.

On Friday, KDKA witnessed public works crews putting up barricades near each corner of the park.

“It’s going to take a village approach, organizations that are in this work that want to help out teens, the parents being involved, as we continue to work with the schools,” Rivers said.

Rivers said that by coming together as a community and providing teens with other ways to spend their time at activities like cookouts, they can make a difference.

“We want to give them a space to have fun just as long as it’s positive and there’s no violence,” Rivers said.

Reach is hosting multiple events the rest of the summer, including one Friday night in East Hills Park from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Pittsburgh Public Safety is trying to crack down on the South Side’s rowdy crowds, asking businesses to consider closing earlier while threatening to get bars serving alcohol to underage people labeled as nuisances. 

So far, every single weekend, large clouds are flooding East Carson Street.

“Too many people and just no destination, everybody drunk,” said Tay Williams.

A city spokesperson told KDKA-TV that efforts are underway to work with local businesses that close after 2 a.m. and recommend an earlier closure.

“Would you be open to closing earlier if it meant decreasing the crowd sizes?” KDKA-TV’s Mamie Bah asked Rich Cupka, the owner of Cupka’s Café II.

“You can’t make no money when you’re closed,” Cupka said. “We’re allowed to be open till 2, it’s the city’s responsibility to keep the people and public safety.”

The city is also working to identify businesses serving alcohol to people who are underage. Then it will work with the district attorney’s office to get them classified as nuisance bars.

“My life right now is consumed with the issues on South Side,” said Councilman Bob Charland. 

Charland said one bar was labeled as a disruptive property last week. That means anytime fire, EMS or police are called, the owners will be billed. The city is working with the district attorney’s office to take the next step.

“I don’t believe that closing one establishment is going to solve all of our problems but I will say being out on the street and seeing it firsthand, there’s one bar that’s an entirely different strata in what it does to affect the district,” Charland said. 

On top of all this, city leaders are also considering closing East Carson Street if crowds persist after 2 a.m.

Pittsburgh police say the safety plan will be unveiled publicly in the coming weeks. Residents and visitors aren’t sure if it’ll help.

“People still going to do what they want. If they gonna to party, they gonna to party,” said Williams.

One resident believes it’s all being blown out of proportion. 

“They’re just kids and they misbehave and the police seem to have them in check. And, you know, they need to grow up a little bit.”

Allegheny County and Pittsburgh want to increase access to property data in the region. 

Now, a new online platform will do just that, and local leaders believe it will also play a role in fighting blight by holding property owners accountable.

Natalie Merola, director of operations for the Turtle Creek Valley Council of Governments, knows the cost blight has on communities.

“Every municipality in Allegheny County is impacted by blight to a certain degree,” Merola said.

They create eyesores, reduce property values and can be a serious danger hazard. She said tackling the problem can take significant time and resources.

However, they and other agencies in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh have a new online platform at their disposal.

“It’s a tool that will help developers, neighborhood leaders, community leaders, businesses,” Mayor Ed Gainey said.

It’s called Parcels N’at, created by the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, an open data partnership between the county, city, and the University of Pittsburgh. It brings together a variety of data sets for properties in the region.

On one website, you can find county assessment data, foreclosure records, city permits, code violations and more.

Merola said they’ve already integrated the tool into their software, allowing code enforcement inspectors to instantly review owner and parcel data.

“It provides details to aid in action on blighted properties and hold problem property owners accountable,” Merola said.

Code enforcement officer for the council, Alex Coyne, said that with the tool he can see previous code violations and guilty convictions.

“If I see that there are multiple blighted properties across multiple jurisdictions, it can make it easier for me to formulate an argument why the property should be demolished,” Coyne said.

It’s giving him and other municipalities leverage to deny permits and punish irresponsible property owners, reducing the blight in the community.

“It gives me leverage to get them into compliance. We’ve seen it with a lot of previously irresponsible property owners that now I don’t have a problem with,” Coyne said.

If you’re interested in using the new tool, you can find it online.