Squirrel Hill business people came out of a closed-door meeting with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl yesterday with the impression that they got what they wanted: a beat cop.

"My understanding is, we're going to get one," said Joel Sigal, owner of Little's Shoes on Forbes Avenue, and host of the meeting. Others said that the administration representatives in the meeting named a specific officer who would be walking the beat every day, from 3 to 11 p.m., starting next week.

But as Mr. Ravenstahl stood across the street from the store not long after, he hedged. With 14 business districts in the Police Bureau's Zone 4, it's "obviously difficult for one beat cop officer to cover all of those areas."

"We're going to go back and have a conversation about perhaps having a full-time dedicated beat cop officer that will focus primarily on the Squirrel Hill area, but [include] all of the communities and neighborhood business districts in the zone."

And by day's end, the Police Bureau declined to detail officer assignments in the area.

The mayor went to Little's, and then walked parts of Forbes and Murray avenues as the latest in his series of business district tours. The goal is to get business owner feedback and then set in motion cleanups, the planting of street trees, decorative lighting or other measures.

"We don't have any big, bad issues," said Mr. Sigal. Businesses have had some problems with the area teens, some of whom skateboard on the sidewalk, drink or smoke marijuana in the back alleys, climb up on roofs and light small fires.

Police Cmdr. Kathy Degler said that in the past month, her officers have written 17 citations and made two arrests for such behavior on Forbes and Murray.

The business owners, though, want a beat cop.

They had one 30 years ago, said Mr. Sigal. "We knew them. They knew us," he said. "I remember getting a call late at night, 'Your back door is open, Joel. Somebody forgot to lock it.'"

"This business district brings an awful lot of revenue into the city," said City Council President Doug Shields, who was in the meeting and left believing the administration intended to provide a beat cop. "We're not asking for a reorganization of the police department."