As alluded to in Re-imagining Pittsburgh Part 1, this post will be how I would propose consolidation among Allegheny County's municipalities.
Currently, there are 130 municipalities in Allegheny County ranging in size from the City of Pittsburgh (334,563 pop. as of Census 2000) to Trafford (pop. 25...yes, 25). Each of these municipalities has a Manager, a Tax Collector (at least until 2012), a Police Chief, a Public Works Director. And some of these places are as a big as a good sized suburban housing development. Actually, one of them IS a suburban housing development (Pennsbury Village, pop. 741). All of these places are fighting over the same, small piece of pie in terms of funding...how many park upgrades, recreation centers, and police department renovations can we sustain?
Test yourself for 12 minutes on how many of the 130 you can name with this addictive Sprocle quiz...go ahead...I'll wait.
How many did you get? Probably a lot less than you thought you would get (I got in the mid 60's).
Take a look at this map and you can see the size discrepancy by some of these boroughs and townships....
There's too much waste of salaries being spent in the little municipalities. There is a saying that every crisis is an opportunity. Well, this recession is the opportunity to help consolidate some of these municipalities that are struggling and attempt to make the services better for their residents. There are quite a few that are in Act 47 bankrupt status, or very close to it.
Dan Onorato has proposed a consolidation plan solely on school districts. I believe his plan takes the number of municipalities down to 27. That's a good start, but I believe that consolidation should happen with equivalent economic-level communities as much as possible. However, even under my plan, some "big brother communities" have to absorb a struggling neighbor. You'll also seem some groups of struggling municipalities lumped together. At least then they may have a puncher's chance of making it.
There should also be some consideration to communities that share common transportation links. Major roadways/interstates could be used by the police and public works to access the span of these newly combined communities more efficiently.
To that end, here is my proposal for consolidation:
1. City of Pittsburgh + Dormont + Mount Oliver + Homestead + West Homestead + Wilkinsburg + Rankin + Braddock + Swissvale + Millvale + Etna + Reserve + Sharpsburg (est. pop 420,950)
2. Marshall + Bradford Woods + Franklin Park + Pine + Richland (est. pop 35,423)
3. McCandless + Ross + West View (est. pop 68,850)
4. Shaler + Hampton (est. pop 47,283)
5. West Deer + Indiana (est. pop 18,372)
6. Fawn + Frazer + Harrison + East Deer + Tarentum + Brackenridge + Cheswick + Springdale Township + Springdale Borough + Harmar (est. pop 35,404)
7. O'Hara + Fox Chapel + Blawnox + Aspinwall (est. pop 18,791)
8. Avalon + Bellevue + Ben Avon + Ben Avon Heights + Emsworth + Kilbuck + Glen Osborne + Aleppo + Haysville + Glenfield (est. pop 21,602)
9. Sewickley + Sewickley Hills + Sewickley Heights + Bell Acres + Ohio + Edgeworth + Leet + Leetsdale (est. pop 14,544)
10. Moon + Crescent + Coraopolis + Findlay (est. pop 35,880)
11. North Fayette + McDonald + Oakdale + South Fayette (est. pop 26,490)
12. Oakmont + Verona + Plum (est. pop 36,975)
13. Penn Hills + Monroeville + Pitcairn (est. pop 79,847)
14. Glassport + Liberty + Port Vue + Lincoln + Elizabeth Borough + West Elizabeth + Dravosburg + Clairton + Forward + Elizabeth Township (est. pop 43,399)
15. Mt. Lebanon + Upper St. Clair + Bethel Park (est. pop 86,666)
16. Jefferson Hills + South Park + Pleasant Hills (est. pop 32,403)
17. Robinson + Pennsbury Village + Collier + Bridgeville + Kennedy (est. pop 31,140)
18. Crafton + Ingram + Thornburg + Green Tree + Rossyln Farms + Carnegie + Scott + Heidelberg (est. pop 42,912)
19. Baldwin Township + Baldwin Borough + Castle Shannon + Brentwood + Whitehall (est. pop 55,709)
20. West Mifflin + Duquesne + Whitaker + Munhall (est. pop 43,398)
21. North Versailles + Versailles + East Versailles + White Oak + McKeesport + East McKeesport + Trafford (est. pop 48,038)
22. Churchill + Wilkins + Chalfant + Turtle Creek + Wilmerding + East Pittsburgh + North Braddock + Braddock Hills + Forest Hills + Wall (est. pop 37,570)
Wow...Pittsburgh picked up 12 municipalities, most of them struggling, in bankruptcy, or on the verge of bankruptcy. This plan takes us from 130 municipalities down to 22. Way, way more manageable.
For the most part, the Rule Of Thumb Of 30,000 residents for a normal-sized municipality idea worked out. There are some exceptions. For instance, I think those scrappy kids in the Sewickley configuration will make it with just over 14,000 people.
It's not a perfect idea. But it is an idea. An it's an idea that is long past due. It is time to re-open the Pennsylvania State Constitution and make it way more easier for municipalities to consolidate than it is today.
Showing posts with label Re-imagining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Re-imagining. Show all posts
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Re-imagining Pittsburgh (Part 1)
And now for Part 1 of an infrequent and open-ended series that I would like to call:
Pittsburgh in a Perfect World
I love the city of Pittsburgh. I love cities in general, but Pittsburgh in particular. The downtown is walkable and safe. Pittsburgh is full of interesting neighborhoods like the Strip District, South Side, Shadyside, Bloomfield, and Oakland, to name just a few.
But it has its quirks. Hey, don't we all.
If you had the chance to change something about Pittsburgh...like waving a magic wand over the city...what would you do? That's what I would like this post and subsequent ones (and your comments) to focus on.
For this first post, I wanted to discuss my thoughts about transportation in and around the city...
Make an Light Rail System out to the North Hills
I always used to refer to the HOV lane of I-279 as the "HIV" lane...It's there, but nobody wants it.
If this financial boondoggle of a multi-modal transportation center is going to be shoved down our throats on the North Side (complete with our own tunnel!), let's put it to good use. The HOV lane is criminally under-used, so let's re-purpose it to good use by making it a Light Rail line out not only to its current terminus, but extending it out to the intersection with I-79.
It would have limited stops along the way, perhaps only 3 or 4 at the key population nodes: McKnight Road, Camp Horne Road, and Wexford (and North Shore of course). The North Hills is already the easiest direction to travel into the city, but imagine the usage a Light Rail would get in the North.
Dissolve the Port Authority and make it a privately-owned entity
I'm not exacting breaking new ground here, but it needs to be said. There are many facets of why the Port Authority does not work, but the bottom line is that it is a beached whale. A large part of the problem is the current union structure, the pension problem, and insurance costs.
Port Authority needs to be torn down and started over. This time, make it a privately run enterprise with either a more favorable union contract or a non-union entity. It needs to be sleeker, more efficient, less stops and perhaps less routes. It should encourage more park and rides in the suburbs to concentrate pickups. It should work with planning departments to create more walkable neighborhoods in the city for urban users.
I would even like to see the new Port Authority explore water transit. Some entreprenuers are giving it a go in the Strip District during summer time months, but get serious about it with decent sized, powerful boats. There are plenty of marinas that would probably love a little extra revenue by acting as a daytime park and ride facility.
Make all planning and land development be completed at a county-wide level
There are too many municipalities in Allegheny County. Again, no surprise to many, but that will be a subject for Re-imagining Pittsburgh Part 2 probably.
However, not even discussing municipal consolidation, I'm proposing that we handle land development and land use on a county-wide basis. It can eliminate the urban sprawl and "me-first, gimme-gimme" attitude that suburbs have right now. Everyone is grasping to find tax revenues to keep their municipalities afloat, so they will develop any piece of land no matter how detrimental it may be to the greater region around them.
Case in point: Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer.
When it was proposed, it was going to be a regional mall that would attract a wide range of shoppers because of its unique-to-the-region stores. To that end, millions of taxpayer dollars were committed to adding new lanes to Route 28, new on and off-ramps at the mall's entrance points. Multiple acres of prime wetland, vital to the recharge and filtering of pollutants, were destroyed in the process.
The end result? A white elephant of a mall that was Dead on Arrival. The developer went bankrupt right before the mall opened. The unique stores proposed did not come. Today it is just another homogenous suburban mall, with the same restaurants and stores that you can find anywhere in the Pittburgh region.
Why was it a bad idea from the start? If you want to build a regional mall, you need to have a corresponding increase in regional population to support it. Pittsburgh's region does not have that. As a result, the Mills was like a shell game with a street hustler. You're just shifting the same money around from the Waterworks mall and Ross Park Mall and Monroeville Mall.
The ironic part is that Ross Park Mall, in order to compete, had to re-imagine itself as an upscale mall. Now, Nordstrom's, Burberry, Kate Spade, LL Bean, Tiffany's and other either unique or high-end stores occupy this mall, with Crate and Barrel on the way. In other words, it is exactly what the Mills was billed as being.
County wide planning would have potentially steered this development in a different direction. By taking a wider picture, it could have seen that this region did not need another milquetoast mall to suck the life out of the existing retail centers.
Please feel free to leave your comments about this topic or other future topic ideas in the comments.
Pittsburgh in a Perfect World
I love the city of Pittsburgh. I love cities in general, but Pittsburgh in particular. The downtown is walkable and safe. Pittsburgh is full of interesting neighborhoods like the Strip District, South Side, Shadyside, Bloomfield, and Oakland, to name just a few.
But it has its quirks. Hey, don't we all.
If you had the chance to change something about Pittsburgh...like waving a magic wand over the city...what would you do? That's what I would like this post and subsequent ones (and your comments) to focus on.
For this first post, I wanted to discuss my thoughts about transportation in and around the city...
Make an Light Rail System out to the North Hills
I always used to refer to the HOV lane of I-279 as the "HIV" lane...It's there, but nobody wants it.
If this financial boondoggle of a multi-modal transportation center is going to be shoved down our throats on the North Side (complete with our own tunnel!), let's put it to good use. The HOV lane is criminally under-used, so let's re-purpose it to good use by making it a Light Rail line out not only to its current terminus, but extending it out to the intersection with I-79.
It would have limited stops along the way, perhaps only 3 or 4 at the key population nodes: McKnight Road, Camp Horne Road, and Wexford (and North Shore of course). The North Hills is already the easiest direction to travel into the city, but imagine the usage a Light Rail would get in the North.
Dissolve the Port Authority and make it a privately-owned entity
I'm not exacting breaking new ground here, but it needs to be said. There are many facets of why the Port Authority does not work, but the bottom line is that it is a beached whale. A large part of the problem is the current union structure, the pension problem, and insurance costs.
Port Authority needs to be torn down and started over. This time, make it a privately run enterprise with either a more favorable union contract or a non-union entity. It needs to be sleeker, more efficient, less stops and perhaps less routes. It should encourage more park and rides in the suburbs to concentrate pickups. It should work with planning departments to create more walkable neighborhoods in the city for urban users.
I would even like to see the new Port Authority explore water transit. Some entreprenuers are giving it a go in the Strip District during summer time months, but get serious about it with decent sized, powerful boats. There are plenty of marinas that would probably love a little extra revenue by acting as a daytime park and ride facility.
Make all planning and land development be completed at a county-wide level
There are too many municipalities in Allegheny County. Again, no surprise to many, but that will be a subject for Re-imagining Pittsburgh Part 2 probably.
However, not even discussing municipal consolidation, I'm proposing that we handle land development and land use on a county-wide basis. It can eliminate the urban sprawl and "me-first, gimme-gimme" attitude that suburbs have right now. Everyone is grasping to find tax revenues to keep their municipalities afloat, so they will develop any piece of land no matter how detrimental it may be to the greater region around them.
Case in point: Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer.
When it was proposed, it was going to be a regional mall that would attract a wide range of shoppers because of its unique-to-the-region stores. To that end, millions of taxpayer dollars were committed to adding new lanes to Route 28, new on and off-ramps at the mall's entrance points. Multiple acres of prime wetland, vital to the recharge and filtering of pollutants, were destroyed in the process.
The end result? A white elephant of a mall that was Dead on Arrival. The developer went bankrupt right before the mall opened. The unique stores proposed did not come. Today it is just another homogenous suburban mall, with the same restaurants and stores that you can find anywhere in the Pittburgh region.
Why was it a bad idea from the start? If you want to build a regional mall, you need to have a corresponding increase in regional population to support it. Pittsburgh's region does not have that. As a result, the Mills was like a shell game with a street hustler. You're just shifting the same money around from the Waterworks mall and Ross Park Mall and Monroeville Mall.
The ironic part is that Ross Park Mall, in order to compete, had to re-imagine itself as an upscale mall. Now, Nordstrom's, Burberry, Kate Spade, LL Bean, Tiffany's and other either unique or high-end stores occupy this mall, with Crate and Barrel on the way. In other words, it is exactly what the Mills was billed as being.
County wide planning would have potentially steered this development in a different direction. By taking a wider picture, it could have seen that this region did not need another milquetoast mall to suck the life out of the existing retail centers.
Please feel free to leave your comments about this topic or other future topic ideas in the comments.
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