In a two-pronged effort to reduce summer mischief, Pittsburgh will hire some 250 young people and beef up police patrols in coming weeks.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's Safe Summer Pittsburgh effort, to be announced today, expands on last year's youth employment program, which drew 800 applicants for fewer than 200 jobs.

This year, there will be more jobs, bolstered by grants from The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, and some federal funding.

"Unfortunately, [the number of jobs] will still be lower than the applicant pool," Mr. Ravenstahl said.

The young people will work with the nonprofit Student Conservation Association and the city Department of Public Works to clear and beautify lots and do manual labor in parks and elsewhere.

The program is expected to cost $726,000.

City Councilman Ricky Burgess, who advocated for the expansion of the youth employment program, said he was a summer parks worker back in the day.

"I know intimately how important it is to young people to have summer employment in terms of their self-esteem and their ability to manage money," he said.

"To have a visible police presence to deal with the increased activity that comes with the summer months is also important," said Mr. Ravenstahl.

The crime prevention prong will place extra officers on walking or bicycle beats in all six police zones for 22 weeks. Each zone will have one additional beat officer three days per week and two officers four days per week, for eight-hour shifts. The officers will be paid overtime for the work, at a total cost of $541,000.

Police commanders and council members will jointly pick the areas to be covered, the mayor said.

Mr. Burgess said he thinks the business districts should benefit.

"Seniors who are going shopping and participating in daily activities will have a stronger sense of safety and security while they go about these tasks," he said.

He said the jobs and policing are warranted because summer is a time of "more activity" when children are not in school and daylight hours are longer.

"This two-pronged approach is designed to set the proper tone so that our summers can be spent in productive ways," he said. "It certainly makes the atmosphere very different in the community during the summer."

Applications will be taken at the personnel department desk on the fourth floor of the City-County Building, Downtown.