PITTSBURGH \u2014 City leaders from across the U.S. gathered in Pittsburgh this week for the Strong Cities Mayoral Retreat, where officials are sharing strategies to combat rising hate crimes, extremism and violence targeting public officials.<\/p>\n
The retreat, hosted at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in East Liberty, brought together leaders from cities including San Diego and Seattle to discuss programs that have worked in their communities and identify ways municipalities can better respond to growing threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cPittsburgh is such a great place for this conversation,\u201d said Eric Rosand, executive director of the Strong Cities Network. Rosand said this year\u2019s retreat has expanded its focus to include the increasing number of threats and acts of violence directed at local elected officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a session for the first time on violence and hate targeting local elected officials,\u201d Rosand said. \u201cAnd so I think one of the most, I would say, depressing trends in the country is the uptick in local officials being targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event first came to Pittsburgh in 2023, when city leaders shared lessons learned five years after the synagogue shooting in Squirrel Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing so much hate speech, and we do know the incident that occurred obviously in Pittsburgh that we want to talk about and then show how our city came together after the fact and became stronger,\u201d said Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor also highlighted one of the city\u2019s newest public safety initiatives \u2014 the hiring of five violence prevention specialists \u2014 while emphasizing the importance of learning from other municipalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think obviously hearing about what other cities are doing, how they\u2019ve organized to get people\u2019s voices at the table,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cI think if we have more and more cities and mayors rowing in the same direction, we\u2019ll get a lot accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Strong Cities mayoral retreat continues through Friday.<\/p>\n
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