EDITORIAL: Last stop for the Port Authority

‘ ‘ ‘ Across the city of Pittsburgh, Port Authority buses are a familiar sight as they traverse… ‘ ‘ ‘ Across the city of Pittsburgh, Port Authority buses are a familiar sight as they traverse their routes and carry thousands of people to destinations across the city every day. According to Port Authority data, more than 70 million rides are taken on the system every year in an area with fewer than 2 million people. ‘ ‘ ‘ Given that, it’s difficult to see why Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato and Port Authority CEO Steve Bland seem content to see the system go bankrupt. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The Port Authority’s not going to survive,’ said Onorato in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday. ‘The service probably won’t survive through the end of the year.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Onorato has refused to release the roughly $27 million in county funds gained from the much-debated alcoholic drink and car rental taxes, money which is legally necessary for the Authority to receive the nearly $185 million in state funds that comprise nearly half the service’s yearly budget. ‘ ‘ ‘ According to Onorato, the money would have simply been a ‘Band-Aid’ measure that wouldn’t prevent the service from going bankrupt under its existing contract, and he is withholding the funds in an effort to threaten the union back to the bargaining table. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85’s president, Patrick McMahon, rejected the recommendations of a fact finder’s report that Onorato said he believes would have solved many of Port Authority’s budgetary concerns, but McMahon has said that the union is still willing to negotiate. ATU Local 85 represents the unionized workers of the Port Authority. ‘ ‘ ‘ What’s difficult to understand is why Onorato and Bland are willing to allow the Port Authority to crash and burn within the next year. Onorato is withholding the funds needed to keep it running, rather than taking part in negotiating a solution that both parties are roundly willing to accept. Instead, Onorato has criticized McMahon for rejecting the fact finder’s report without allowing all union members to vote on it, a practice with which the union executives strongly disagree. ‘ ‘ ‘ In other words, Onorato has decided that the fact-finder report was as good as the deal is likely to get, and he has closed down negotiations single-handedly with an autocratic gesture that could put thousands of union employees out of work. ‘ ‘ ‘ It is true that the Port Authority contracts have some major issues, that the system operates at a heavy loss and that the retirement pensions and medical benefits outclass the public transport systems of other cities with many times more employees. ‘ ‘ ‘ But in the report, fact-finder Jane Rigler said that the Port Authority’s employees comprise a vital portion of the region’s economy, and any shutdown or significant shrinkage of service could have dire effects across the entire county. ‘ ‘ ‘ The fact that Onorato is willing to let the system shut down before negotiating further, at the cost of disrupting the lives of not only the union’s rank-and-file members but of the thousands of people who rely on the buses and other Port Authority services every day to get around, is an act aimed at enforcing his will while trying to absolve himself from any blame. ‘ ‘ ‘ Ultimately, all he will accomplish is either a heavy-handed deal that hurts the members of Local 85, or the total and irreversible disruption of Allegheny County’s services and economy. Neither alternative sounds promising.