Pittsburgh once called itself the “City of Champions.” We could be again, but to merit that designation, we are calling for stronger leadership that is grounded in the values of democracy, human dignity, public health, and justice.
It takes courage to take on these big questions, and courage is a primary virtue of effective leadership. This is what is missing from our region’s institutions, which suffer from a history that allows the hard questions to go unasked and our problems unaddressed.
This gap is being filled by the voices of the community. People are speaking up for themselves so that their concerns can be heard and to signal that avoidance behavior is not acceptable.
These are just some of the questions we demand leadership address:
- Why did ACHD ignore +80,000 Smell Pgh. App odor complaints shared by Create Lab @ CMU since 2016
- Why have UPMC and AHN ignored repeated requests to engage in ANY dialogue whatsoever in the hope that they might facilitate a dialogue at the highest level in our community?
- Why are the dangers of air pollution not even on the agenda of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a group founded over 75 years ago to address air pollution and environmental conditions in our region?
- Why is our Allegheny County Executive a cheerleader for polluting industries, repeatedly and publicly highlighting cherry-picked, unrepresentative air quality statistics to downplay health risks, rather than serving as an advocate for a more forward-looking health-centered economic base for our region
- Our community spoke out in our last town hall and their stories are tragic and far too common. Join your voices with theirs by signing a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, urging that they visit our region as soon as possible and help us get answers to these and many other questions.
Sincerely,
Howard M Rieger, Ph.D.
Convener, SWPA Resident-Led Air Quality Town Halls