Pittburgh city council member, frustrated residents want help from Gov. Shapiro in cleaning up trash

PITTSBURGH — Residents from Pittsburgh’s Knoxville community expressed their concerns about illegal dumping and its impact on their neighborhood during a news conference held by City Council member Bob Charland on Tuesday morning.

“It’s deeply troubling that we are forced to live in such filthy and unsafe conditions. These aren’t isolated instances; this is systematic dumping,” one resident said.

Charland, who represents District 3, stated that the trash situation has escalated to a crisis level throughout the city. In recent years, Pittsburgh has only declared a state of emergency for major events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse and the Second Avenue Commons shelter fire last year.

“Today, I am calling on Governor Shapiro to declare Pittsburgh’s trash situation a state of emergency,” Charland said at the news conference.

However, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey strongly disagreed with Charland’s request for assistance and held a separate news conference with Director of Public Works Chris Hornstein.

“To ask a governor to deal with a garbage situation that we are already addressing doesn’t make any sense at all,” Mayor Gainey said.

Hornstein mentioned that in 2024, the administration supported more than 337 volunteer cleanup events. He also noted that the current budget includes the addition of eight new anti-litter inspectors and an allocation of $465,000 for a new cleanup program, which the city council has approved.

“Just this year, the city council authorized over $400,000 for the neighborhood assistance program administered by the Department of Public Safety, and that work is beginning this month in Homewood,” Hornstein said.

When asked about the neighborhood assistance program, Charland admitted he was unfamiliar with it. Although several council members acknowledged that trash is a significant issue in the city, they did not support the idea of a declaration of emergency. Ultimately, Council President Dan Lavelle suggested changing the wording to remove the term “state of emergency.” Charland agreed, and the revised request now asks the governor to help supplement the city’s efforts in removing trash from public and private land. The new request reads:

“The Council of the City of Pittsburgh calls on the Governor to render essential the Commonwealth’s supplementation of municipal resources to remove trash debris from publicly and privately owned land and to restore public health in our most livable city.”

Channel 11 News will continue to follow this developing story.

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