Future not necessarily gloomy

Editor’s note: This is the final part of a five-part series on various efforts to revitalize… Editor’s note: This is the final part of a five-part series on various efforts to revitalize Pittsburgh.

The last several decades haven’t been very kind to the city of Pittsburgh. The city’s population, according to the 2000 census, is falling every year and currently sits at 334,563, almost 100,000 less than in 1980.

Young professionals flee the city in high numbers under the impression that job opportunities are becoming scarce. With a city in decline, what is the outlook for the future?

“It’s about job growth,” said Dan Gilman, spokesman for city Councilman Bill Peduto. “We absolutely need Pittsburgh to become economically competitive in the 21st century. We need developments that attract and retain new workers.”

Pittsburgh has tried to revitalize itself before.

In the 1980s, local government and businesses joined forces to revitalize the Cultural District Downtown. Other efforts focused on the historical restoration of South Side. However, Gilman thinks progress this time must begin in more of the city’s diverse neighborhoods.

“Our neighborhoods need to be revitalized,” he said. “Pittsburgh has amazing neighborhoods, but decisions cannot be made on Grant Street.”

Chris Briem, of Pitt’s Center for Social and Urban Research, offered a little optimism concerning the regional economy.

“While population has been dropping, as has been typical of many older cities, the number of jobs actually in the city has been stable or increasing,” he said. “People are shocked to learn that there are actually more jobs located in the city now than there were 40 years ago.”

In another attempt to revitalize the city, the Allegheny County Commissioners created RAD, the Regional Asset District tax, in 1994.

RAD raised Allegheny County’s sales tax to 7 percent, an increase of 1 percent from the state normal of 6 percent.

The extra revenue generates support for local projects ranging from parks to libraries, sports to cultural programs. However, Briem says that RAD may end up hurting the local economy in the future.

“The nature of the tax structure here means that all those jobs located in the city, though a great benefit for the region, only have marginal impacts on the city of Pittsburgh’s revenues,” Briem said. “The state of the city’s finances are quite dire.”

Another realm of revitalization in Pittsburgh lies in transportation. Most Downtown workers don’t actually live Downtown. Many of them pour in from surrounding regions.

“Literally 180,000 people commute to work in the city each day, and it remains the primary concentration of jobs for the region,” Briem said.

Faster modes of transportation may help the city’s economy and encourage growth in the city’s suburbs. A revolutionary transportation mode already used in China could have potential for the city and its commuters.

Maglev – short for magnetic levitation – is a train that floats over magnetic rails and can reach speeds exceeding 310 mph.

Pennsylvania is one of two finalists competing for a proposed project from the Federal Railroad Administration.

The Pennsylvania High-Speed Maglev Project proposes a 54-mile track stretching from the Pittsburgh International Airport to Greensburg. The commute would take 35 minutes, at speeds up to 240 mph. Each train would be able to hold 400 passengers.

Although the project might exceed $3.7 billion if constructed, it would generate 10,000 temporary construction jobs and 1,200 permanent jobs, according to www.maglevpa.com.

Bob Grove, spokesman for Port Authority, speculated on the possibility of a maglev in Pittsburgh.

“It takes a lot of money, and the federal government is going to fund most of the project if it ever becomes reality,” he said. “The Port Authority conducts environmental studies, but we have no money involved in the project. It is a public-private partnership between Maglev, Inc. and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.”

Grove said the process will continue after four public hearings, one of which has already been held. The first of the meetings, which Grove described as “lightly attended,” was held last week Downtown.

He also said that planning may be complete in late 2006 or early 2007, at the earliest.

“The Federal Railroad Administration and Congress direct where federal money goes, and that process takes a couple of years,” Grove said. “There is also a lot of information that the FRA requires, and we’ve been refining that information.”

Another transportation project is the proposed subway extension under the Allegheny River to the North Shore. The $390 million project will be funded mostly by funds from the federal government.

“The project is in the final stages,” Grove said. “It has been approved by the Federal Transit Administration and funding has been authorized.”

Construction may start as soon as next year, if a private company bids successfully for the project, with a completion date of late 2006. However, Grove described this prediction as “optimistic.”