No, Coghill dumbed down topography to “we have hills”. And no one is arguing that the idea the city is hilly alone is ridiculous, but it was a ridiculous thing to say in the context of that conversation. Especially because the only thing council was seriously considering at the time was diverting a measly $5 million out of the police budget and zero officer cuts.

I think it’s pretty easy to understand that even if we cut our police force by half, you still wouldn’t have to have a car from Shadyside respond to calls in the South Hills. So, for Coghill to use the topography of the city during the debate around police funding where we were never in danger of having so few officers the hills would become an issue was a strawman.