Onorato, Swartz face off

One candidate wants to keep the county running as it is. Another hopes to change past… One candidate wants to keep the county running as it is. Another hopes to change past decisions. Dan Onorato will battle Rick Swartz next Tuesday in the May 15 primary election when voters will choose one as the Democratic candidate for Allegheny County Chief Executive.

Onorato, the incumbent county executive, is running for his second four-year term and pledges to continue revitalization efforts in the Pittsburgh region.

The primary thrust of Onorato’s campaign involves highlighting his current community projects. Onorato has recently worked alongside the Mon Valley Initiative, a non-profit community and economic development coalition, Allegheny Housing Rehabilitation and Corporation and Borough of Rankin officials to build housing facilities in Rankin.

“These affordable homes and apartments will help to instill a sense of pride and ownership for local families,” Rankin Borough Council President William Price said in a press release. “These two projects complement our development plan for Rankin, and we want to thank Chief Executive Onorato for his commitment to helping us revitalize our community.”

Onorato has not only directed county funds toward building new houses and residence complexes, but also towardhelping county residents improve their homes.

Onorato has set his sights on other areas for building projects as well.

He has a plan to develop the land around the Pittsburgh International Airport into an area that will be attractive to business. By developing the 9,000 acres in this area, Onorato believes many more jobs can be created, according to his campaign website.

Onorato also wants to transform 2,000 acres of brownfields with abandoned buildings such as steel mills into housing, shopping and business areas. “New development brings new jobs to our region, which in turn keeps young people and families in Southwestern Pennsylvania, making it a vibrant place to live, work and play,” his website said.

Representatives for Onorato were unavailable for comment.

Rick Swartz, on the other hand, has chosen a decidedly different bag of campaign issues. Swartz, currently the executive director of the non-profit community development organization the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, diverges strongly from Onorato on a slew of topics.

The major issue of his campaign is the Port Authority bus route cuts. Swartz does not want any community to be left without public transit, he said in an e-mail interview.

Currently, the Port Authority is expected to make a 15 percent bus route cut in June and a 10 percent cut in the fall and some areas will be left without any service.

Swartz is proposing the construction of a light-rail system for the Pittsburgh area, running from Downtown to the airport out to the Mon Valley and even North Hills.

“With gas prices rising, time is ripe to discuss the expansion of transit, not a contraction,” Swartz’s campaign website said. “The change won’t happen overnight, but we need to start planning now for transit that supports the future needs of Allegheny County.”

Swartz also wants to tax gasoline purchases to raise and place more money toward public transit and plans on proposing the idea through a public referendum if given the chance.

By taxing gasoline, Swartz thinks that a larger source of funding for the future can be built up.

Swartz would also like to increase the county’s funding for the Port Authority from $25 million to $32.5 million, he said, in an e-mail. He wants to reconfigure bus routes to cut excess costs as well, but still leave routes available in all neighborhoods.

Swartz, who said that people should always be given a choice of who they want to support when voting, will push for more interaction between the county administration and citizens.

For example, Swartz thinks that the government should have begun discussions with taxpayers, whether through public referendum or town hall meetings, regarding the Penguins’ ownership and new arena when negotiations were started. Swartz believes that taxpayers may have offered money or ways of raising it for the new facility, according to his website.

The bus cuts may also not have been made if the citizens had been listened to, according to the website.

Swartz has lately made himself available to citizens. People have shared their thoughts with Swartz on street corners and buses, which he has been riding to meet potential voters. They can even call his house phone because he is listed in the phone book.

Communication is important to him.

“The current style of leadership leaves the impression that we’re afraid to go to the public on the tough issues for fear of what they may tell us,” Swartz’s website said. “The county executive needs to be willing to sell his or her solutions on the larger challenges to the public, and let them be the ultimate arbiters. We don’t need to ask their opinion just once every four years.”