City Services & Neighborhood Restoration

Problem:

Real estate speculation & the musical chairs process

For over half a century, our government, under the hand of the Allegheny Conference for Community Development (a.k.a. the Conference) has forced the public to massively subsidize real estate speculation in southwestern PA. Our region has one of the highest rates of land consumption and suburban sprawl in the United States at the same time that we have been the only major metropolitan region with a continually declining population. The result has been a musical chairs process with public funds used to underwrite new construction that often pays little or no taxes for as long as a generation or more.

With fewer people in the city and the region as a whole, the occupants for new construction must either come from existing buildings or, at the least, not move into them. While others may move into those emptied buildings, they too tend to come from other existing buildings ... until at the end of the line is a building with nobody to fill it and that is usually in our already distressed neighborhoods, which are left to suffer an accelerating decline as the number of decaying and abandoned buildings in them skyrockets.

The movement from taxpaying properties into new, subsidized properties -- which aren't paying their share for City services -- has reduced tax revenues, increased the cost of City operations, and caused the City's current financial crisis. What is more, the whole of our City government is structured in such a way as to facilitate and encourage it --- from its authorities and subsidiary agencies, to the administration's departmental structures, to the City Council committee structures. No matter what any dedicated City employee(s) may want to do differently, such efforts are thwarted when they hit bureaucratic walls which are designed to channel everything into creating more subsidized real estate speculation.

Has anything changed?

You need only take one look at the response of the current administration and City Council to Act 47, to the ICA, and to our current fiscal crisis. It is not hard to see that their goal is to get back to doing more of the same things they have been doing to put us in the mess we are in.

A few weeks ago, Council gave the go ahead for preparation of a new series of real estate speculation subsidies for projects that, according to their proponents, would proceed even without subsidies. Flying in the face of the obvious need to stop this damaging musical chairs process, it places even more financial burden upon those paying full taxes who must also cover the cost of city services used by the subsidized properties. We are left to ask, have they learned anything from the City's virtual bankruptcy?

Mayoral candidates' weasel words

Both Democrat Bob O'Connor and Republican Joe Weinroth give lip service with ambiguous words that portend continuaton of the process. O'Connor says he will "build upon what we have." But, what we have is a governmental structure that can't do anything else, and what we have is the legacy agenda of the Allegheny Conference which is based entirely upon doing more of the same. Some people may read their own meaning into Bob's words and think things will be different. He himself may honestly think we can have it all, that we can satisfy the Conference agenda and restore our disadvantaged communities. Unfortunately, that is merely more of the same wishful thinking that created our problem in the first place.

Weinroth says the Republicans will cut the fat in government. Maybe you've noticed, it doesn't apply to them; when the Republicans cut taxes, they take it out of public services, not the subsidies for real estate speculation. When the Republican's took over Allegheny County in 1996, they cut the smallest of our real estate taxes and crippled the County's ability to provide public services while at the same time increasing subsidies for real estate speculation. But we shouldn't be surprised, the Republican elite run the Allegheny Conference and tell the Democrats what to do. --- BTW, one of the County services that was cut under the Republicans was the Health Department's rodent control program. Now if you take a walk downtown just after sunset and cross Mellon Square (across from the Conference offices and the Weston William Penn), you must wait for the scurrying rats (Rattus norvegicus) to get out of the way.

Unreasonable expectations

Yet these are not dastardly individuals ploting against the city. The other candidates, our city employees, and every other person dealing with these issues are simply human beings who respond to the structures in which they find themselves. No matter what they may promise or even want to do, it has them going back to doing the only things they know how to do. Unfortunately, that is exactly what sunk the city in the first place.

Let's face it, folks. If the machine you are given to operate is a crane with a wrecking ball hanging from it and you try to use it to fix up an existing building, you're going to make a big mess of everything and there won't be much left when you're done. Or, think of trying to mow your lawn with a bulldozer, or trying to polish your floor with a chain saw.

To do the job correctly, one needs the right tools for the job.

A new City government

Well, the same applies to City government. During the past six decades, the Allegheny Conference has determined the structure of our region's governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. They designed them to either implement, or at least be compatible with, a scorched earth renewal process that they've used in seeking to "make Pittsburgh what it ain't!"

The Conference goal, succinctly put, has been to culturally cleanse the region of its working class and convert the city and surrounds into a resort-style playground for the affluent. (As recently as this summer, a Post-Gazette article acclaimed the strides made in turning Pittsburgh from a working city into such a playground.) Pittsburghers can't expect anything different if we continue to rely upon the same bureaucratic structures, however the other candidates might propose to shuffle them around.

It would be unreasonable to expect the finest craftsmen on earth to accomplish much if all they have to work with is a sledgehammer. It's no more reasonable to expect even the most caring and competent public servants to produce positive results if they must function within Pittsburgh's existing bureaucratic structures.

We have the wrong machine and the wrong tools for the job. The purpose of City government must be to take care of the people who live here; to provide improved city services to the neighborhoods; and to ensure the quality restoration of buildings and public spaces which make up our neighborhoods and city. The biggest challenge for the next mayor will be to create a new government that provide's the tools for our public employees, our community agencies, and concerned citizens to meet these needs.

Synopsis 1 2 3 - Next >> The Solution: Reform City Govt.

	He's nobody's boy! David Tessitor for Mayor Make Pittsburgh once again "the City that works!"	The only independent candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh!
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:: Main Menu Home News Vision for the City Platform What Dave's done Current efforts Qualificatons Articles about Dave Articles by Dave Dave's Writings Contact us	The Tessitor Platform the article (p1) City Services & Neighborhood Restoration Problem: Real estate speculation & the musical chairs process For over half a century, our government, under the hand of the Allegheny Conference for Community Development (a.k.a. the Conference) has forced the public to massively subsidize real estate speculation in southwestern PA. Our region has one of the highest rates of land consumption and suburban sprawl in the United States at the same time that we have been the only major metropolitan region with a continually declining population. The result has been *a musical chairs process* with public funds used to underwrite new construction that often pays little or no taxes for as long as a generation or more. With fewer people in the city and the region as a whole, the occupants for new construction must either come from existing buildings or, at the least, not move into them. While others may move into those emptied buildings, they too tend to come from other existing buildings ... until at the end of the line is a building with nobody to fill it and that is usually in our already distressed neighborhoods, which are left to suffer an accelerating decline as the number of decaying and abandoned buildings in them skyrockets. The movement from taxpaying properties into new, subsidized properties -- which aren't paying their share for City services -- has reduced tax revenues, increased the cost of City operations, and caused the City's current financial crisis. What is more, the whole of our City government is structured in such a way as to facilitate and encourage it --- from its authorities and subsidiary agencies, to the administration's departmental structures, to the City Council committee structures. No matter what any dedicated City employee(s) may want to do differently, such efforts are thwarted when they hit bureaucratic walls which are designed to channel everything into creating more subsidized real estate speculation. Has anything changed? You need only take one look at the response of the current administration and City Council to Act 47, to the ICA, and to our current fiscal crisis. It is not hard to see that their goal is to get back to doing more of the same things they have been doing to put us in the mess we are in. A few weeks ago, Council gave the go ahead for preparation of a new series of real estate speculation subsidies for projects that, according to their proponents, would proceed even without subsidies. Flying in the face of the obvious need to stop this damaging musical chairs process, it places even more financial burden upon those paying full taxes who must also cover the cost of city services used by the subsidized properties. We are left to ask, have they learned anything from the City's virtual bankruptcy? Mayoral candidates' weasel words Both Democrat Bob O'Connor and Republican Joe Weinroth give lip service with ambiguous words that portend continuaton of the process. O'Connor says he will "build upon what we have." But, what we have is a governmental structure that can't do anything else, and what we have is the legacy agenda of the Allegheny Conference which is based entirely upon doing more of the same. Some people may read their own meaning into Bob's words and think things will be different. He himself may honestly think we can have it all, that we can satisfy the Conference agenda and restore our disadvantaged communities. Unfortunately, that is merely more of the same wishful thinking that created our problem in the first place. Weinroth says the Republicans will cut the fat in government. Maybe you've noticed, it doesn't apply to them; when the Republicans cut taxes, they take it out of public services, not the subsidies for real estate speculation. When the Republican's took over Allegheny County in 1996, they cut the smallest of our real estate taxes and crippled the County's ability to provide public services while at the same time increasing subsidies for real estate speculation. But we shouldn't be surprised, the Republican elite run the Allegheny Conference and tell the Democrats what to do. --- BTW, one of the County services that was cut under the Republicans was the Health Department's rodent control program. Now if you take a walk downtown just after sunset and cross Mellon Square (across from the Conference offices and the Weston William Penn), you must wait for the scurrying rats (Rattus norvegicus) to get out of the way. Unreasonable expectations Yet these are not dastardly individuals ploting against the city. The other candidates, our city employees, and every other person dealing with these issues are simply human beings who respond to the structures in which they find themselves. No matter what they may promise or even want to do, it has them going back to doing the only things they know how to do. Unfortunately, that is exactly what sunk the city in the first place. Let's face it, folks. If the machine you are given to operate is a crane with a wrecking ball hanging from it and you try to use it to fix up an existing building, you're going to make a big mess of everything and there won't be much left when you're done. Or, think of trying to mow your lawn with a bulldozer, or trying to polish your floor with a chain saw. To do the job correctly, one needs the right tools for the job. A new City government Well, the same applies to City government. During the past six decades, the Allegheny Conference has determined the structure of our region's governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. They designed them to either implement, or at least be compatible with, a scorched earth renewal process that they've used in seeking to "make Pittsburgh what it ain't!" The Conference goal, succinctly put, has been to culturally cleanse the region of its working class and convert the city and surrounds into a resort-style playground for the affluent. (As recently as this summer, a Post-Gazette article acclaimed the strides made in turning Pittsburgh from a working city into such a playground.) Pittsburghers can't expect anything different if we continue to rely upon the same bureaucratic structures, however the other candidates might propose to shuffle them around. It would be unreasonable to expect the finest craftsmen on earth to accomplish much if all they have to work with is a sledgehammer. It's no more reasonable to expect even the most caring and competent public servants to produce positive results if they must function within Pittsburgh's existing bureaucratic structures. We have the wrong machine and the wrong tools for the job. The purpose of City government must be to take care of the people who live here; to provide improved city services to the neighborhoods; and to ensure the quality restoration of buildings and public spaces which make up our neighborhoods and city. The biggest challenge for the next mayor will be to create a new government that provide's the tools for our public employees, our community agencies, and concerned citizens to meet these needs. Synopsis 1 2 3 - Next >> The Solution: Reform City Govt.	Question: Can an independent ever win? Answer: Two (2) of the last four (4) mayors of Pittsburgh were elected as independent candidates!