Pittsburgh council splits on planned public safety facility some deride as 'cop city'

Pittsburgh City Council members are sharply divided on whether to spend nearly $2 million to advance plans for a new public safety training facility amid concerns that it could become the kind of “cop city” that sparked protests elsewhere.

Council is considering a proposal to launch a $1.8 million master plan ahead of building training facilities for police, fire and emergency medical services on a sprawling 168-acre site that formerly housed the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Health Care System in the city’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood.

“This project is Pittsburgh’s own version of cop city,” Alexander VanLaningham told council members during a public comment period at Wednesday’s meeting.

He was one of several commenters who likened the proposed training site to the controversial “cop city” that sparked outrage in Atlanta, Georgia over concerns about the militarization of police.

But Jake Pawlak, director of the city’s Office of Management and Budget, said Pittsburgh’s project would be different. It would house training space for all public safety bureaus, he said, but wouldn’t be a hub for police operations.

The kind of facility officials are considering is a pared-down version of a vision first outlined under former Mayor Bill Peduto.

Earlier plans had included moving police headquarters or the Zone 5 police station to that location, but officials on Wednesday said that won’t happen.

What the site would include, officials said, are training facilities for all three public safety bureaus, a burn tower for firefighters, an emergency vehicle training course, an indoor firing range, a K-9 training site and multipurpose training and wellness spaces.

It could also house an evidence warehouse and additional salt and winter weather equipment for the Department of Public Works.

Change of heart

The city’s five-year capital budget allocates about $86 million for the project, though Pawlak said officials will have a better estimate of how much it will cost after the master plan is completed.

The plan, Pawlak said, would include analyzing the condition of buildings on the site, determining how existing utilities could serve the project and outlining the best ways to move ahead.

Seth Davis of Squirrel Hill urged council members to oppose the project, arguing it will bring “inevitable backlash” and cost too much money.

Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, who chairs the public safety committee, last week told TribLive he didn’t want to spend $1.8 million on a project he believed to be a “pipe dream.”

But that wasn’t his position this week.

The change of heart, he said, came after realizing that the city could lose the massive property if the master plan isn’t completed by next June. That requirement was part of the deal the city struck with the federal government when it bought the site. The agreement also limited the city to using the land for public safety purposes.

If the city does not complete the master plan by next summer, Pawlak said, there’s a risk that the federal government could take the property back and use it for purposes like immigrant detention.

“This is not cop city,” Coghill said in response to concerns that it would be used to militarize police. “This is fire city. This is EMS city.”

Cramped and subpar

Coghill said he would support the measure to “bite the bullet and spend $1.8 million” to avoid losing the site, even though he believes it will take years for the city to move ahead with the training facility.

Coghill said the city’s existing training facilities are subpar. He described the EMS training site within EMS headquarters as so cramped that people were sitting on the floor.

The city rents space from the Community College of Allegheny County for police classrooms. People living in the residential Highland Park neighborhood have long complained of noise from the outdoor firing range police use there. And Pittsburgh firefighters have to travel to North Park for some of their training.

But some of Coghill’s peers voiced strong opposition to the measure.

Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, said she felt the money could be better spent on “the core needs of public safety,” like ambulances.

Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, urged council to hold off on moving ahead until amendments could be made that clarify the site is not to be used to militarize police and to outline the city’s priorities for the site.

Council decided to hold the measure for two weeks to gather additional information and consider those proposed changes.