Pittsburgh officials organizing the G20 Summit still do not know where security perimeters will be set up but they know there will be more than one kind and they say businesses better start making plans. A secure perimeter will be placed around various venues including the convention center and the Phipps Conservatory through which no one without a credential will be allowed to pass. A wider traffic perimeter will be established around those same venues where only foot traffic will be allowed. The third type of perimeter will be a “rolling perimeter” which will be used when dignitaries are being transported from one location to another.
The Secret Service is in the process of contacting business owners and residents that may be within a secure perimeter and will be issuing credentials to allow them access. In the meantime, the Pittsburgh G20 Partnership is asking everyone to check out the web site PittsburghG20.org to get the latest information on the planning process. Spokesperson Bill Flanagan says there is also a great deal of information there about building an emergency plan.
The partnership says businesses downtown should look at everything from the relatively small problem of traffic congestion to planning to shut down in a protest zone to credentialing employees to get to work. Pittsburgh Business Coalition for Homeland Security Director Loren Roth says his web page prbchs.org is another good resource for planning for everything from a power outage to a full closure. At the same web site business owners can sign up for nearly instantaneous updates from the county emergency operations center through the “Beacon” program. Mayoral spokesperson Joanna Doven stresses, “no one will be kicked out of their homes and no businesses will be forced to close.”
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is asking all downtown residents to call 412-325-0159 to sign up for updates concerning closures and other summit related announcements.
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