The San Francisco-based company has been running sites in Pittsburgh for more than two years and has expanded to at least 67 neighborhoods, Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary said at a morning news conference.
Ms. Leary said the current sites were started by residents in each of the individual neighborhoods. The site verifies users' addresses and then allows them to communicate privately with one another, sharing information about block parties, stolen dogs, burglaries and more topics.
The new partnership allows the city to post messages to specific neighborhoods' community pages. The city, including the public safety department and public works, can see responses when people comment on its posts, but city workers cannot see posts written by other neighborhood users.
Cmdr. RaShall Brackney of the city's Zone 1 police station on the North Side said officers in her area used the tool to help residents catch a man accused of burglarizing eight locations.
Mayor Bill Peduto said he felt the site combined the 21st century technology he hopes to increase in Pittsburgh affairs with the values of Pittsburgh icon Fred Rogers: "Won't you be my neighbor?"
©2014 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
