« Mayor claims he's human | Main | Art showdown this weekend »
October 03, 2007
Caffeinated Samaritans
Something good on the North Side
Last Sunday, while most Pittsburghers were gritting their teeth during the Steelers game, an employee at Beleza Community Coffeehouse took a bite out of crime.
At around 5 p.m. two thieves snatched up a laptop belonging to a customer who was sitting at an outdoor table. The customer stepped inside to use the restroom and left the computer unattended. The culprits ran off with the computer, a purse and a bag and headed toward Sampsonia Way.
Beleza’s Garret Cassidy, the victim and another customer chased the bandits and cornered them near Sampsonia and Buena Vista.
“It was beautiful,” said Lee Hodsoll, the neighborhood’s Zelig for North Side crimes. “I saw the whole thing go down and thought ‘with all the shootings lately, these kids weren’t afraid to chase after them.’”
The good Samaritans not only retrieved the stolen items, they also made the culprits lift their shirts to see if they had stolen anything else.
Cops arrested the thieves minutes later a few blocks away.
October 3, 2007 in Caffeine, Mexican War Streets, North Side | Permalink
Comments
John your point is very well expressed and taken. I can see what you mean by the negative coming out a lot as of late. This is the result of a lot of negative activity that has been perpetrated by the dirtbag undesirables, and Dish’s attempt to bring you the news that a lot of local sources simply brush-off. With that said, as the “official” photographer I can honestly say that Dish does make every single attempt to cover positive news as well (please look at last week’s articles on the playground construction, the cartoon exhibit at the Children’s Museum, and the Big Brothers Big Sisters articles as examples). Personally, I would love nothing more than to cover another story about bettering the neighborhood or a program for kids. If you, or any other reader, happens to come across an event that you think Dish should cover please email it right away to editor@pittsburghdish.com. We are a very small group of people here at Dish but we make every attempt to bring our readers the sweet with the sour. And as Senior Dish mentioned we are always open to submitted pieces.
Thank you for your insightful comment, and with any luck you will see a rash of upbeat and positive articles.
Posted by: Frank | Oct 4, 2007 2:26:29 PM
You make a good point, John, but it's tough for us. We want to promote all the wonderful things going on in the War Streets and the North Side in general, but we also think it's important to write about the less savory issues as well. At eh end of the day, though, the last thing we want to do is dissuade anyone from joining the community.
Please never hesistate to email us story ideas. Heck, if you're interested in a particular topic and would like to write about it yourself, let us know.
Posted by: Mr. Dish | Oct 4, 2007 1:37:07 PM
I like this site and refer to it often. You should know that it is a prominent search engine result for someone considering moving to Pittsburgh, so congrats on your success. I am just concerned that too much bad news would prevent GOOD people from moving to some of the beautiful neighborhoods on the Northside, as well as Pittsburgh itself. Then all that will be here eventually is lowlifes runnning around shooting each other, and what's left of the good people who have worked so hard to make it great again. Just my humble opinion, that's all.
Posted by: John | Oct 4, 2007 1:18:52 PM
Wow, talk about lucky. But who would've thought you can't safely leave hundreds of dollars worth of electronic equipment unattended around here?
And thank you for covering the shooting news, life ain't all puppies and sunshine. Though you do advance a fair share of stories on both those topics, which I also applaud. Dish rules!
Posted by: Emilia | Oct 4, 2007 11:57:54 AM
John,
We love it here as well, but people are being shot (and shot at) and we don't think it's bad form to write about it.
Don't you think that there's a fair mix of positive stories on Dish's front page? If you've got some positive news you'd like to share with us, please do. We're certainly not predisposed against writing about that sort of thing.
Thanks for reading.
Joe & Colleen
Posted by: Mr. Dish | Oct 4, 2007 10:25:23 AM
Does anything happen in War Streets/Northside besides Crime? I know better, but some would think so from what they read here. Had I read all these crime articles when I was researching Pittsburgh, I'd be living elsewhere, but I love it here.
Posted by: John | Oct 4, 2007 10:11:08 AM
YAY Beleza employees! Though I do have to say it was pretty silly to go inside and leave the laptop unattended even if there were other people sitting around.
Posted by: katy | Oct 3, 2007 11:53:04 AM
Recent Comments