{"id":140806,"date":"2026-03-17T16:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/140806\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:20:09","slug":"east-liberty-town-hall-journalism-should-enable-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/140806\/","title":{"rendered":"East Liberty town hall: Journalism should enable engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents say they want to show up for their community. They just need local media to help them know how.<\/p>\n

This was the commonality between about two dozen people who gathered Monday afternoon at Catapult Greater Pittsburgh in East Liberty to participate in the fourth \u201cYou Have the Floor\u201d town hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s some of the best, Pulitzer-worthy local independent journalism in the States right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Public Source member Laura H.<\/p>\n

Join thousands of Pittsburghers by signing up for Public Source’s newsletter today.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by local artists\u2019 paintings lining the walls, attendees discussed topics ranging from housing issues to Pittsburgh\u2019s unique neighborhoods. An overarching theme of the session was that people want to help underserved communities, such as Pittsburgh\u2019s youth and those affected by addiction, and local media can help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note<\/p>\n

For our town hall series<\/a>, Public Source is asking participants to speak from their own experience and listen to understand. To preserve that openness, this recap doesn\u2019t include names or attributed quotes. To attend a future town hall, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another common refrain was that Pittsburgh has so many aspects that set it apart from other cities and foster pride, but you might not know it from the news. One participant from Squirrel Hill shared that he recently found joy traveling to Bloomfield to explore the area, and he said he has made it a goal to travel to each Pittsburgh neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Participants agreed they\u2019d like to see Pittsburgh\u2019s communities highlighted through human interest stories to help build up underserved neighborhoods. They stressed the importance of coverage that includes real, human voices with which they can connect, saying such stories can lead to progress on some of the community\u2019s issues. Several also felt featuring community gardens and unique, historic buildings in the area would build on community identity.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lajja Mistry, Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source K-12 education reporter, compiles notes from small group discussions during Public Source\u2019s \u201cYou Have the Floor\u201d event series on March 16, at Catapult in East Liberty. The event was one of seven in seven days across the Pittsburgh region to bring neighbors together to reflect on what local media can be. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Attendees broke into small groups, almost all of which ended up discussing three issues: affordability, housing and public transportation. One participant described how it\u2019s difficult to see the gentrification of her community through luxury apartments while she deals with issues with her landlord. Others agreed and said they want to welcome everyone, but they don\u2019t want high-end apartments squeezing out affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You Have the Floor<\/a>\u00a0is a seven-day series of community town halls hosted by Public Source across the Greater Pittsburgh region.<\/p>\n

A non-car-owning participant said she cares deeply about public transportation. Others agreed that they\u2019d like to attend more council meetings and community events, but struggle without reliable transportation. They said this is something local media could help with by covering local council meetings and relaying the issues, opportunities to participate and decisions to residents. They said they struggle to keep up with the vast amount of information available, and they rely on journalists to analyze data pertaining to their area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"APeople share ideas from their small group discussions on neighborhood issues during the Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source \u201cYou Have the Floor\u201d event on March 16, at Catapult in East Liberty. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

As a whole, the group agreed that residents can attend more community events and advocate for their neighborhoods \u2014 and local media outlets can collaborate to provide the information residents need to advocate more effectively.<\/p>\n

Sophia Lucente is a freelance reporter and photographer in the Pittsburgh area and can be reached at sophia.lucente@outlook.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source. Since 2011, we\u2019ve taken pride in serving our community by delivering accurate, timely, and impactful journalism \u2014 without paywalls. We believe that everyone deserves access to information about local decisions and events that affect them.<\/p>\n

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If you learned something new from this story, consider supporting us with a donation today. Your donation helps ensure that everyone in Allegheny County can stay informed about issues that impact their lives. Thank you for your support!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents say they want to show up for their community. They just need local media to help them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5466,73,75,74,64098],"class_list":["post-140806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-leadstorynoshow","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-youhavethefloor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}