Joseph Sabino Mistick: Safe communities at top of holiday wish list

Everyone has a personal holiday wish list, but we all should have a wish list for our communities, as well. These are not luxury items at all.

Those who live in Pittsburgh’s East End or pass through it for work or pleasure or to shop will have one wish come true with the opening of the new Fern Hollow Bridge in the coming weeks. The bridge collapsed less than a year ago on the very morning that President Joe Biden was headed to Pittsburgh to tout his $1.2 billion infrastructure bill.

The incredibly fast construction of the new bridge is an example of the very best that government can do. The collapse of the bridge represented the very worst of government. Our globe-trotting former mayor lost sight of government basics and his brainchild Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) apparently forgot that bridges are infrastructure.

Inexplicably, after that failure, DOMI was put in charge of redesigning the major intersection at the west end of the bridge. With typical bureaucratic arrogance, DOMI rushed forward with a plan that will disrupt thousands of motorists and the neighborhood. Hundreds of petition signers and local residents have been ignored.

This is just DOMI’s latest misstep — along with things like failed roundabouts and baffling hieroglyphic street markings. That is why dismantling DOMI can be found on a lot of Pittsburgh wish lists.

We all should be wishing for immediate progress in the fight against street violence in our city. It’s not just bad guys shooting bad guys. Innocent children and folks waiting for a bus or walking down the street or attending a funeral are getting caught in the crossfire. People are dying along with the hopes and dreams of the community.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is right when he says that we all must be part of the solution. But the fact is that government must lead the way with aggressive law enforcement. Reform-minded progressives have some good ideas, but nothing will come of those ideas until the bad guys are off our streets. For that, we need to support the police.

We all wish for the return of a vibrant and safe Downtown Pittsburgh. Employers are telling workers to head home before dark, public trash receptacles are overflowing, sidewalks and entranceways are being used as toilets, and more than a few Downtown residents are afraid to venture out day or night.

The solutions for this are not easy, but we cannot afford to lose the economic engine and the cultural and sports center of Southwestern Pennsylvania. When Aristotle said, “Towns should be built so as to protect their inhabitants and at the same time make them happy,” there was a reason why “protect their inhabitants” was first. Happiness is not possible unless people feel safe.

A national wish list might also be in order. Now that Republicans have a slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, both parties can show us that divided government can do good things through compromise. That would be a great gift.

The miracle of the Fern Hollow Bridge happened because highly capable government officials thought big. They were able to waive the bureaucratic rules. They assembled an all-star team of engineers and contractors. And they got the job done. That’s how you solve these problems.