Pittsburgh City-County Building closed for Inauguration Day out of 'overabundance of caution'

Offices in the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh will be closed Wednesday out of an “overabundance of caution” as rumors persist regarding potential unrest on Inauguration Day.

In a letter to city employees Thursday, Mayor Bill Peduto said those who normally work in the Grant Street building should work from home that day, and any employee who reports to the building will have to show identification.

He stressed that there are no known threats against the City-County Building or any other city facilities.

“This closure is being implemented merely due to an overabundance of caution,” he said.

The announcement comes a day after Pennsylvania State Police and state Capitol Police in Harrisburg detailed their preparations for any unrest that might come to the capital between now and President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.

Authorities there also said there are no specific threats, but rather vague rumors of possible armed marches on state capitals.

“We have no specific intelligence relative to the Capitol Complex,” state police Lt. Col. Scott Price said during a virtual press briefing. “There’s a lot of generalized intelligence, and we continue to scour various platforms incessantly in an attempt to get a very robust operational picture.”

Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday announced that an additional 1,000 Pennsylvania National Guard members will be sent to Washington, D.C., to assist authorities there. So far, 2,000 Guard members have been sent to the U.S. Capitol, and around 450 have been activated to assist authorities in Pennsylvania if necessary.

Pennsylvania has the second-largest National Guard in the country with around 19,000 members.

“By having one of the largest Guards in the nation, the Pennsylvania Guard has the trained resources needed to respond to concurrent missions within our commonwealth, across our nation and overseas,” Wolf said in a statement. “I am thankful for their selfless service, as well as the sacrifices of our service members’ families and their employers, especially during these unprecedented times in our nation’s history.”