GSPIA attempts to aid PA’s economy

Pennsylvania is taking a few tips from one of the nation’s leading policy think tanks on… Pennsylvania is taking a few tips from one of the nation’s leading policy think tanks on ways to revitalize its economy.

Acting on the recommendations of the Brookings Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy research group, the University’s Graduate School for Public and International Affairs held a conference on Friday outlining the proposals and examining the prospects of Pennsylvania’s economic revitalization, “Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania.”

The conference’s goal was to determine how to enact the mandates of the Brookings Institute’s 2003 report on Pennsylvania’s economy.

“Cities the size of Pittsburgh, and my city, are facing challenges that are the same — an eroding tax base, loss of industry, the consequent loss of jobs and lack of taxable property in general,” Joseph Sinnott said, the mayor of Erie.

The first portion of the conference focused on how institutions of higher learning such as Pitt can partner with civic leaders in local communities in order to assist in economic revitalization.

The second portion of the day focused on creating recommendations on the best methods to renew the region’s cities. These ideas will later be presented to the state legislature in Harrisburg, Pa. Conference participants discussed issues ranging from affordable housing to environmental economics, and many expressed their attitudes toward shared governance, or administration over a jurisdiction by more than one body.

“First of all, we must correct our financial situation,” Sinnott said, referring to the financial woes experienced by many former industrial cities.

“The other facet is to bring people back to the cities,” he said.

The biggest challenge to bringing business and jobs back into Pittsburgh is “the lack of a track record,” according to Sinnott.

“[You’re] asking businesses to come into an area where businesses have not been for some period of time; taking something and reinventing it where there’s basically nothing,” he said.

Sinnott’s other approaches to revitalizing urban areas included creating market-rate housing and diversifying urban demographics in which lower-income residents and the elderly are disproportionately represented.

Another goal of the conference was to create an Urban and Regional Affairs Network, an “informal network of scholars, students, elected officials and practitioners who share our concerns and want to keep these issues at the forefront of public discussion,” according to GSPIA’s Web site.

According to Sinnott, there is hope for the future.

“There’s a trend all over the state of people wanting to move back to the city,” he said. “The things that drove them to the suburbs 25 years ago are no longer there. They’re not concerned with school districts, and they don’t want to mow the lawn.”