EDITORIAL – A good-looking city is an asset

Pittsburgh Councilman William Peduto doesn’t really care who put the “Shady” in Shadyside. He… Pittsburgh Councilman William Peduto doesn’t really care who put the “Shady” in Shadyside. He wants a more appealing city.

Two years ago, he sent a letter to two police commanders complaining about the graffiti epidemic in his district, District 8, which includes neighborhoods such as Bloomfield, Shadyside and North Oakland.

His letters did not go unanswered.

On Tuesday, Peduto and police brass announced the launch of an internal police computer database that Peduto described as “the latest crime-fighting tool against graffiti that would put Pittsburgh on the map,” according to an article on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Web site yesterday.

Police Commander Kathy Degler pointed out that the Police Bureau — historically low in manpower — is trying to “work smarter instead of harder to get this problem solved.”

The system was created by Millvale-based Internet technology firm Blue Archer, for $30,000. It’s good to see the region’s policy-makers choosing to utilize the region’s talent. Another $2,000 was spent on 10 digital cameras — two for each of the city’s five police zones.

Thanks to the new database, instead of laboriously looking through files to find graffiti patterns or other cases linked to the same suspect, police will now be able to search through the database for graffiti by the business vandalized, address, tag name, neighborhood or police zone.

Before the brand-spankin’ new database, Degler remembers a case that took two detectives 50 hours each for research.

Another benefit of the database is heightened communication between the police force and public works. With a section of the database reserved for updates on when public works crews remove graffiti and how much it costs, crews will no longer remove graffiti before a police report is taken.

It’s good that this database has been created. No one is arguing that graffiti should rise to the level of a felony, but it does paint the picture of a neighborhood in crisis. With an already low number of sunny days affecting people’s psychological state, vandalized buildings just add to the problem.

As for the shady Shadysider, that vandalizer is still at large. Fellow tagger “Mook,” who spray-painted his tag name on bridges throughout the city, was arrested and with a bond set for $100,000.

If there is a way to brighten Pittsburgh, and ensure it stays that way, this database could be a step in the right direction.