Roll call...

[damont]

To all my friends in the Pittsburgh area:

I gather that things are kinda ugly. I know psywildfire is out of town, and it appears that adelheid_p is okay. But are the rest of you okay? And just how bad is it there right now? Are we talking Seattle '99 bad? (For all I know it isn't nearly that bad. I'm just asking for information.)

Comments

[cellio]

Err, what? There have been some arrests and some vandalism from people who seem to want to get arrested, but it's not widespread. Downtown is a ghost town, but that's not because of protesters per se: it's because they have turned downtown into a fort and it's too much trouble to try to get in. It seems to be a lot of sound and fury over nothing.

I have not personally seen a protester yet, though I live all the way out in Squirrel Hill. :-) (That's a couple miles from Oakland, Bloomfield, and Shadyside, where there have been scuffles.)

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I know where Squirrel Hill is, having visited various friends there before. The same friend-of-a-friend who was reporting "Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets, Bricks through windows in the next part of the city over, Refugees" apparently also said something about Squirrel Hill being a ghost town, which actually concerned me more than reports from closer to downtown.

I'm glad to hear that things are basically okay where you are.

[cellio]

I know you know where it is, but I figured I'd fill in for the sake of your other readers. :-)

Refugees? Either I'm not watching the right news sources or someone is exaggerating a wee bit. Mind, the gaggles of media people who were sent to cover this must be pretty darn bored, hence some of the national news I've seen...

Squirrel Hill doesn't seem to be a ghost town; it just seems to be normal. I guess my walk to shul tonight will provide more input there. There were fewer cars on the road than normal during my commute, but a fair bit of the regular traffic goes to or through downtown, so that doesn't surprise me. I stopped at the pharmacy this morning and the number of people there and on the streets seemed normal. There were extra police on the streets this afternoon, but I think they're preventative, not responding to something. Small data set, I know, but that's what I've got.