A Message from the Board of Directors
Continued Vandalism and Theft Target Lawrenceville United and Community Allies – A Message from the Lawrenceville United Board of Directors.
As our neighborhood grows, Lawrenceville United has organized the community around many issues, through open and inclusive processes that empower residents and the community to drive change and responsible growth. While our mission is to represent the majority of residents’ interests, we also realize that there can be a contingent that does not always agree with the majority. It is our hope that when someone is unhappy with our position on an issue, they can separate the Lawrenceville United representatives from the decision and understand that we are acting on behalf of the neighborhood at-large and always with the mission of our organization and the quality of life of the residents and stakeholders of the community in mind.
On September 27th, a brick was thrown through the window of Lawrenceville United, with a message painted on it directed towards our Executive Director, Lauren Byrne. This incident followed a number of incidents of harassment and vandalism that individuals, businesses, and community leaders have experienced in Lawrenceville since February of this year. The victims of these attacks and incidents have all been directly engaged in public meetings and hearings regarding high profile neighborhood issues and positions taken by Lawrenceville United. Most recently, Lauren’s car was stolen from her home in Central Lawrenceville this week. Although we do not yet know if this is related, we cannot help but suspect it could be targeted as other incidents have been, and want to make the community aware of these ongoing issues.
This behavior cannot be tolerated in our community. We are working with the Police to investigate these issues and to identify those who are responsible. Commander Eric Holmes, who is part of the ongoing investigation stated, “Our partnership with Lawrenceville United is an excellent example of engagement between the police and community that produces positive results. We cannot be and will not be complacent about the current crimes that appear to be targeting Lawrenceville United. Zone Two detectives are actively investigating these incidents.”
Following the September incident, the outpouring of community support was tremendous, with dozens of neighbors stopping by the office to visibly show their support on the makeshift window, writing messages to show that they appreciate the hard work of the staff and members of the organization. We are once again asking our members and the community at large to STAND UNITED with LU by taking to social media to announce their support. We are extending this effort with the #WeStandWithLU hashtag. We’d also encourage neighbors to write letters of support to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (letters@post-gazette.com), the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (opinion@tribweb.com) and the Bulletin (bulletin@bloomfield-garfield.org). We want to let these perpetrators know that our community has zero tolerance for any intimidation and crime.
Additionally, we are still in the process of raising funds to repair the broken window in the LU office. If you’d like to make a contribution to support that effort, please drop off or mail your donation to Lawrenceville United / ATTN: WE STAND WITH LU FUND, 4839 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15201.
If you have information on these incidents, please contact the Zone 2 Police at 412-255-2827.
Lawrenceville United is an inclusive, resident-driven community–based non-profit organization focused on improving quality of life of Lawrenceville residents and stakeholders through community engagement and advocacy, community restoration and beautification, and community planning and development.
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Contact:
Steve Sokoloski
President, Board of Directors
Lawrenceville United
(412) 389-1012
atnsoko@yahoo.com
