HILL CITY YOUTH MUNICIPALITY-Friendly Service Bureau, Department Of Public Safety, Pittsburgh PA. The James S. Robinson Jr. Project

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
Special Report
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Pittsburgh PA. July 1, 2010
BBNS
Pittsburgh PA..... Blogger Black Buzz's father James S. Robinson, Jr. was employed by nationally acclaimed Hill City Municipality from 1942 to 1953.
The James S. Robinson Jr. Project-Part II HILL CITY


HILL CITY OFFICIALS
HONORARY PRESIDENT
Hon. David L. Lawrence
Mayor of Pittsburgh
PRESIDENT
Louis Little, Esq.
VICE PRESIDENTS
COL. George E.A. Fairley
Hon. Lois Mary McBride
P.L. Prattis
SECRETARY
Paul F. Jones, Esq.
TREASURER
James B. Fleming
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Thomas Barton, Esq.......................R. R. King
Andrew Berhard.............................William Koehler
William Block..................................Hon. Artemus C. Leslie
Jacques Blum.................................. Mrs Daisy Lampkin
Mrs William E. Booth.....................Charles C. McCarey
Mrs. George H. Born......................Frederick C. McKee
Miss Eugenia Brunot.....................Miss Adeline McKibben
Miss Ella M. Carnahan.................James F. Mcknight
Dr. Charles H. Carroll..................Walter C. Monaghan
Andrew L. Charles......................... Dr. John H. Mogart
Richard J. Cook.............................Mrs. John M. Philips
George W. Culberson.................... Edward J. Priddy
Willaim H. Davis.......................... Walter J. Rome
Lonnie Fisher.................................Levi Saunders
Joseph C. Fitzpatrick....................Hon. Gustav L. Schramm
Gurdon F. Flagg........................... Harvey Scott
Rev. C.H. Foggie........................... Hon.Cornelius D. Scully
Mrs. Robert J. Frank...................Mrs Joseph D. Schuman
Sig J. Hahn................................... Mrs Joseph R. Silberstein
John H. Harris.............................. M. A. Silver
Harry Hendel................................ Emanuel Spector
Mrs Alma Illery............................. W. Wendell Stanton. Esq.
Henry J. Jackson........................... Rev. H.R. Tolliver
Oliver L. Johnson, Esq..................Mrs. Robert L. Vann
Mrs John J. Kane........................... Rev. O.M. Walton
John Kappel....................................Rev. J. O. Williams
Hon. Thomas E. Kilgallen..............Robert E. Williams
Hon. A. L. Wolk
Administrative Staff
SUPERVISOR
*James S. Robinson, Jr.
ASSISTANT SUPERVISORS
James H. Williams
John A. Cundieff
Eunice W. Cook
2038 Bedford Avenue * AT lantic 5908
Hill City
what it is
what is does
how it affects you !

What is is.....

Hill City, is a formally chartered organization, a youth municipality devoted to the prevention of juvenile crime and delinquency. During the depression era, the number and variety of crimes committed by youths increased alarmingly throughout the city, and particularly in the Hill District, where 80 percent of the inhabitants were dependent upon government dole and the remaining 20 percent were existing on an average of $ 20.00 per week per family. False fire alarms alone cost the city thousands of dollars. Business houses, schools, and private homes were looted. Vandalism was rampant. Youth gangs were well organized and numerous. A group of public spirited citizens met to consider ways and means to meet this emergency. Police officials, judges, lawyers, educators, social workers, and business men attended this meeting. The result was Hill City. The idea was great one. It worked. Juvenile crime began to drop rapidly. The idea has since been copied by other cities in the United States of America.

Four college trained social workers, attached to the Friendly Service Bureau of the Public Safety Department of the city of Pittsburgh are sworn in by the Director of Public Safety to supervise and control the management of the building and activities of the boys and; girls of Hill City. Through the generosity of civic-minded citizens who are keenly interested in the prevention of juvenile delinquency, a building at 2038 Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh was recently purchased.

What It does
Hill City functions as a city within a city. It is governed by the youth themselves, under the supervision of trained workers attached to the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety. Hill City has its own Mayor or, Council, Judges, District Attorney, Police, and every department and bureau found in the City of Pittsburgh. Through this organization the citizens are taught good citizenship and the value of leading constructive lives. They in turn attempt to lead their friends into ways of good citizenship.
Hill City conducts vocational training and provides recreation for the delinquent or problem child as well as for its citizens.

How it Affects you....

Its work saves the City, of Pittsburgh an estimated 25,000.00 annually by the prevention of fires and false fire alarms.
It has reduced shoplifting in the downtown stores about 63 per cent.
It has reduced gang activities 96 per cent.
It has reduced vandalism more than 60 per cent.
A decrease in Juvenile court costs in the County courts, has been attributed to the efforts, of Hill City.
Unestimated amounts in property damage have been saved by the prevention of riots, among both juveniles and adults.
Many children have been saved from reform school and made decent, law abiding citizens through the efforts of Hill City.
All this saves YOU money !

The James S. Robinson, Jr. Project Part II

New Training Course Starts At Hill City, The Pittsburgh Courier, May 12, 1944.
Junior Firemen
Big Factor
Down False Alarms
What's Halloween without at least a few false fire alarms and police calls reporting the garbage can stolen.
Hill District people know. The night of October 31, last was a quiet one on the Hill, with much of the credit going to Hill City's " municipal government" and particularly to members of the Junior Fire Department who have roamed and terraced streets up there for the past eight years, investigating false alarms, reporting loiterers about call boxes, and otherwise policing the area.
Six Months Course Starts
About 20 boys form the Junior Fire Department under Chief Stanley Kane, Assistant Chief Herman Durr, and Captains Floyd James and George Hugley. The chief and his assistants have been trained at the Fire School Academy of the City of Pittsburgh in the Chamber of Commerce building and pass along their knowledge of the city fire-alarm system to the firemen who educate the entire neighborhood.

Last night the Junior Fire Department with its personnel changing, began a six-months' training course for new members at Hill City, the famed juvenile youth municipality of the Friendly Service Bureau, Department of Public Safety.

City Within a City

Hill City functions as a city-within-a-city, with a major, council, and judiciary elected yearly. James S. said last night night that his fire Department, working in conjunction

Robinson, Jr. director of Hill City,
with the " Bureau of Investigation" and other of the municipality's agencies, has reduced the number of false alarms in the Hill district from 16 a month to less than two a month, saving the City of Pittsburgh $ 15,000 annually.  Assistants to Mr. Robinson are James H. Williams, John A.Cundieff and Eunice Cook.

 The above weapons were taken from Gang members. When my dad started at Hill City in 1942 there were 26 organized gangs in the Hill District. When my dad left Hill City in 1953 there were zero gangs in the Hill District.

In 1955 there were two main gangs in the Hill District, the Cavaliers and the Cherokees along with a wannabee gang called the Jr. Ace's