Metropolitan Initiative Forum:
Sustainable
Development in the
Pittsburgh Metropolitan Region
Briefing Paper
August 4, 1997
Prepared By:
Melisa Crawford, Michele Kanche Fetting, Andrew S. McElwaine
The
Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Heinz Endowments would like to thank the many individuals and organizations that contributed to this briefing paper. Over the last several years, numerous reports and studies were completed that made a valuable contribution to this initiative. These findings, viewed collectively, provide an opportunity to learn about where we are as a region, and to understand where we need to go to become a more sustainable community in the next century.
This briefing paper could not have been prepared without the generous assistance of the many professionals in the region who unselfishly shared their knowledge and expertise and who are committed to making Pittsburgh a sustainable community:
Court Gould, a conservation consultant; Grant Oliphant, Pat McElligott, Joe Dominic, Heinz Endowments; Nicole Newburn, Amy Burnis, Environmental City Initiative; Ray Christman, Pittsburgh High Technology Council; Rhonda Schuldt, Working Together Consortium; Rob Rogers, Commission for Workforce Excellence; Ann Gerace, Conservation Consultants; Bob Kobet, Conservation Consultants; Larry Schweiger, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy; Rebecca Flora, Green Building Alliance; Davitt Woodwell, Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
This paper is specifically for the purpose of the Metropolitan Initiative Forum -- a project of the President's Council on Sustainable Development and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, August 4, 1997, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The many initiatives currently underway in the Pittsburgh region reflect a mix of attention to the economy, the environment, education, quality of life and local communities -- approaches which reflect the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable Development, as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development "meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
Sustainable development must take into account the larger picture -- adopting a holistic approach to the way we live, construct our homes and neighborhoods, build our businesses, and use our open space. Several major themes which support a sustainable future for Pittsburgh are driving many of the strategies of the region's private, public, and non-profit organizations. These initiatives include:
Sustainable development strikes at the core of many of society's ingrained yet inefficient behaviors. With the region at the crossroads of another renaissance, and major policy decisions being made, Pittsburgh has a unique opportunity to become a sustainable community. This paper looks at the range of strategies and initiatives underway in the region and identifies opportunities for the federal government to play a key role in ensuring that Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania are sustainable well into the future.
I. OVERVIEW
Physical Description and Historical Growth Patterns
Pittsburgh is located at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, which carve out the hilly terrain and distinguish one of the most unique urban environments in the world. Throughout the early and mid 20th century, the city was known as (and indeed was) the "smoky city". But today, from the Mt. Washington overlook, Pittsburgh is a spectacular sight. Gleaming office towers, a 10 block cultural district, a park and fountain at the point where the renowned three rivers meet -- and more bridges than any other city in the world.
Pittsburgh's beautiful landscape was transformed during the industrial revolution into a city of billowing smoke and pollution --- it was "hell with the lid off" by the end of the 19th century. Access to transportation and natural resources fueled large-scale industrial activity and provided the foundation for heavy industry -- especially steel.
The population of the city grew exponentially, from 50,000 in 1860, to over 300,000 in 1900 becoming one of the largest cities in America. The jobs attracted thousands of immigrants, largely from Central and Eastern Europe, who settled in the ethnically diverse neighborhoods of the South Side, Oakland, Lawrenceville, Polish Hill and Bloomfield. Much of the African American population migrated north to Pittsburgh during World War I as steel industry employment opportunities increased. Today, these neighborhoods still articulate the cultural diversity of Pittsburgh and in many ways, continue to hold true to their cultural roots.
The City of Pittsburgh's greatest crisis was the decline and collapse of the steel industry. Over 125,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared from western Pennsylvania in the space of a few years, and the city's population fell from 700,000 in 1950 to approximately 360,000 in 1990. The result transformed the city. What was once prime riverfront lands was now abandoned, contaminated brownfields, often with rusted skeletons of mills still present on site. And the working economic base of Pittsburgh was gone.
The legacy of Pittsburgh is a tribute to the clean up of the effects of past environmental abuses. A birthplace of environmental regulations and standards, Pittsburgh has an international reputation of facilitating public/private cooperation in cleaning up its air and water. The renaissance continues as Pittsburgh is making a name for itself in brownfield redevelopment, riverfront restoration, remediation technologies and resource efficiency in business and residential areas.
Historically, Pittsburgh has been an extraction-based economy, depleting the region's natural resources including vast supplies of coal and oil. Over the last several years, the economy has shifted to become more knowledge-based, still retaining a large manufacturing sector, but creating new industries, in some cases through the region's university research and development programs.
A comprehensive report produced by the Pittsburgh High Technology Council and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center indicated five target clusters of growth in the Pittsburgh region.
Metalworking
Chemicals and Plastics
Biomedical Technologies
Information and Communications
Environmental Technologies
The Environmental Business Network
Under the Pittsburgh High Technology Council, the Environmental Business Network is building an alliance to promote the regionís environmental technologies and manufacturing processes in domestic and international markets. The EBN is working in cooperation with the World Trade Center of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, the regional office of the US Department of Commerce to create major export opportunities for environmental service companies.
Metropolitan Governmental Structures
The Pittsburgh Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area was defined by the Census Bureau in 1990 as consisting of six counties -- Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland. These six counties contain 413 municipalities, each with independent taxing authority.
In Allegheny County alone, where the City of Pittsburgh is located, there are 130 separate municipalities, more than any other county in the nation. Several of these areas do not have zoning codes and there is great resistance to merging municipalities or consolidating boundaries. The governing structure of the county government is a three county-commissioner system and a county manager position was recently created and filled.
Located at the head of the Ohio River, Pittsburgh is the focal point of the Ohio River Basin -- a region of 204,000 square miles, covering parts of 14 states and including a population of nearly 25 million (almost 10 percent of the US population).
The state of Pennsylvania has more miles of rivers and streams than any other state except Alaska. The beauty of southwestern Pennsylvania, especially the Laurel Highlands with its hiking and biking trails and ski areas, and Ohiopyle with canoeing, kayaking and whitewater rafting, attracts tourists from all over the country. The three rivers of Pittsburgh -- the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny -- are also one of the city's greatest assets, attracting thousands of recreational boaters each year.
During the height of the steel production days in Pittsburgh, the soot and smoke in the air were so bad that the street lights were often kept on all day and it wasn't unusual for the portions of the Monongahela River to top 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Although the city has come a long way since then, fish and wildlife are returning to the rivers after being absent for decades, it is still struggling to improve its environmental record.
The decrease in population in the region has also influenced environmental quality. Between 1970 and 1990, Pittsburgh lost almost 30% of its population, which improved the environment through decreases in power production, waste water and transportation emissions, but hurt the city economically. The region has a very close mix of urban and rural lands, creating an overlap of environmental impact and bio-diversity. As the city has lost population, many residents have moved to the suburban developments, cut out of rural areas surrounding the city and causing significant environmental impact, typical of suburban sprawl.
Air Quality
Pittsburgh has a strong tradition of environmental stewardship and leadership. In 1941 it became the second city in the United States to incorporate air quality standards (St. Louis was the first). But, in 1948, 22 people died and 7,000 were hospitalized in Donora, when a severe inversion trapped poisonous air over the Monongahela River town.
Pittsburgh's air quality has improved significantly since then -- and continues to improve. However, in a benchmarking study conducted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper, the city ranked 11th out of 15 similar metropolitan areas. The study measured a region's air quality by looking at its pollutant standards index (PSI), the number of days its air pollutants exceed federal standards and measurements of ozone and particulate.
The topography of the region poses a challenge to improving air quality standards. The area's rolling hills, especially along the rivers, often trap and concentrate smog and pollution. In addition, the county still retains some industrial activity and two coke plants (a third, the LTV plant in Hazelwood was closed recently) which contribute significantly to the air quality problems.
Pittsburgh is also located downwind from major coal-fired electric utilities in the Ohio Valley. These facilities, which were grandfathered under the original Clean Air Act of 1970, are major sources of nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide. Recent modeling completed for a regional ozone stakeholders process revealed that, at times, transported air entering the region can, without any additional increments from local sources, cause Pittsburgh to violate federal health-based standards.
Water Quality
Pittsburgh's water quality has improved dramatically since 1907, when over 600 people died of typhoid fever from waterborne contaminants. Nevertheless, the region's profusion of local governments has made it difficult to establish an overall program of sanitation and clean water.
Coal extraction and other mining activities continue to cause significant damage to the region's rivers and streams. Most significantly, acid mine drainage, the greatest water quality problem in the region, severely reduces the oxygen levels and impacts the ecology of the watersheds. And practices such as longwall mining negatively affect the landscape by causing subsidence and erosion. According to a 1996 report by the Environmental Working Group in Washington, DC, the Monongahela River received the second highest amount of toxic pollution in the Commonwealth.
The region also has serious problems managing combined sewer overflow, which has caused several water quality alerts to be issued for the three rivers. Older sewer systems are beginning to fail while the region struggles to separate storm water from sewer water. The large number of municipalities and limited cooperation beyond their boundaries has limited watershed approaches to dealing with shared problems. In addition, the region faces three other serious water quality issues: non-point source pollution, sediment due to run-off and toxic chemicals.
Without a new regional effort to develop effective water quality programs, the region's municipalities face an almost insurmountable task in meeting federal and state water requirements.
Land Use and Brownfields
The decline of the steel industry has left thousands of idle, vacant properties in western Pennsylvania. Many of these sites, still contaminated from years of industrial activity, are located on prime riverfront property in, and around the city of Pittsburgh. Addressing these brownfields and the obstacles they pose to economic development is one of the city's greatest challenges. For many developers, the true impediment to locating on these sites is not clean-up itself, but uncertainty about the scope and cost of such an undertaking. These sites could become attractive for a variety of new uses if the total environmental development cost for assessment and remediation were already known. Pittsburgh is addressing the issue of brownfield development and environmental renewal through a number of projects.
However, Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh region lack a land use policy. The state's aging Metropolitan Planning Code (MPC) leaves most land use decisions in the hands of local government -- (county plans are not enforceable because they are mainly advisory and have no force of law). In a region with over 400 municipalities the failings of the MPC have been obvious. While the City of Pittsburgh has lost nearly half of its population, outlying communities have exploded in size.
In recent years, the state government has issued so-called "comfort letters" to brownfield developers, providing them with clear requirements for site reuse, and assuring them that no further action will be required if those procedures are followed. The Federal government, to date, has refused to provide a similar process of closure to the clean-up process, and retains the right to re-open the remedy selection process, or to second-guess state decisions, at any time.
Population and Societal Change
The Pittsburgh region has a large elderly population and a small, out-migrating young population. According to the Post-Gazette "Benchmarks" of 15 similar metro areas, Pittsburgh has the lowest percentage of population between the ages of 25 and 34 and nearly the highest percentage of population over the age of 65 (only Dade County in Florida surpasses the region).
Racial diversity in Pittsburgh is slight. Hispanics represent less than one percent of the region's population, while non-Hispanic whites represent over 70 percent. In the City of Pittsburgh, the black population is approximately 25 percent while other minority groups represent only less than one percent of the total population (however, the universities tend to attract a strong, diverse international population).
Class, Race and Distribution Issues
In the Pittsburgh region, a majority of the African-American population faces poor economic conditions, high poverty rates and high unemployment. In 1989, the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County ranked 47th in poverty disparity among the 50 largest cities and counties in the U.S.
The ratio of income inequality between black and whites was just slightly below the median of racial inequality in large U.S. cities in 1989. Pittsburgh's African American male teenage unemployment rate in 1990 was 49 percent, the fourth worst among large cities in the nation.
And unemployment rates among black women age 25-54 were among the highest in the nation. For both black men and women, unemployment rates were about three times white rates.
The poverty concentrations in the region are mainly located in the city of Pittsburgh and along the rivers in the old industrial corridors. Although the employment and income rates for African Americans in the region are well below average, whites also face some of the worst economic conditions compared to that of other large cities and counties.
Economic Development
In the early 1990s, following the decline of the steel industry, the leaders of the city and region collaborated to try to revitalize the economy. The Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a regional economic development organization comprised of the city's major industry leaders, appointed a task force to conduct a benchmarking study of other US cities of a similar size and character. The study revealed that, despite its many remaining assets, Pittsburgh had experienced the slowest employment growth of any comparable city in the nation and faces a challenging future unless the community mobilized immediately to build a new economic base.
The Conference responded to this challenge by putting in place a phased economic revitalization process which became known as RERI -- the Regional Economic Revitalization Initiative. By late 1994, RERI had led to the formation of an action group called the Working Together Consortium, a group of roughly 100 corporate and civic leaders that set forth an ambitious agenda of collaborative activities aimed at rebuilding the regional economy. The most ambitious and widely publicized goal was the creation of 100,000 new jobs by the end of the century.
Although Pittsburgh continues to lose its young population and lags far behind other cities of its size in terms of business vitality as measured by new jobs, business start-ups, exports, construction spending and new plants and expansions, the region is showing signs of increased cooperation and collaboration on economic development strategies.
For example, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA) was created to coordinate local economic development efforts among six agencies: The Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, Penn's Southwest, the Regional Industrial Development Corporation, the World Trade Center, the Pittsburgh High Technology Council and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. PRA's mission is to nurture the start-up and growth of new enterprises, help existing business grow and expand and retain them in the region, and market the region and attract business from outside.
The PRA resulted from the work of a broad coalition of business and civic leaders, and particularly from the Working Together Consortium. It is comprised of the leading economic development organizations in the region and will be relied upon to be a focal point and to collaboratively facilitate the region's strategic initiatives.
Business Attraction and Retention
Although Pittsburgh ranks low in overall job growth compared to other cities of its size, it ranks very high in average annual pay, productivity and "high quality" job growth -- such as executives, engineers, doctors and teachers. And today, Pittsburgh ranks 8th nationwide in terms of major corporate headquarters.
Significant challenges for the Pittsburgh region include efforts to make the city more business-friendly -- including the reduction of corporate income taxes, reforming the state's worker's compensation system and improving the quality of the labor pool. Many of these issues are state-wide in nature and in recent years state government has made significant improvements in the Commonwealth's tax and regulatory climate.
There are several other major initiatives to improve the region's core, including the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, an effort to make the central business district more appealing to merchants, shoppers and new businesses. In 1997 the Regional Renaissance Partnership was created to find nearly $1 billion in state and local funds to expand and rehabilitate the convention center, build two sports facilities and complete a construction project to enhance the Cultural District.
Last year, 30 local businesses, foundations and individuals contributed $40 million to a private fund (the Strategic Investment Fund) that will invest in local job creating projects, complementing similar funds set up the city and Allegheny County. Today, there are approximately 15 venture capital firms in the Pittsburgh area -- in 1980 there were two.
Quality of Life
The communities of southwestern Pennsylvania enjoy a high quality of life. The region has world-renowned cultural institutions and architecture, recreational, outdoor and sports amenities, and top colleges and universities. Pittsburgh's crime rate is among the lowest in the nation, the region has one of the lowest rates of high school dropout in the country and housing is affordable with an overall low cost of living. The people and the diverse ethnic neighborhoods of Pittsburgh also make a strong contribution to the quality of life. The city is known to be one of the friendliest in the nation.
Allegheny County voters recently approved a 1% sales tax increase to create and support the Regional Asset District (RAD). The RAD supports and finances regional libraries, parks and recreation, arts and culture, sports and civic facilities and programs.
Land Use
Pittsburgh is facing significant urban sprawl and population outmigration issues. Between 1980 and 1990, the population density of the Pittsburgh CMSA (excluding Butler County) area decreased by 7.3 percent, but the urban/suburban portion of the CMSA actually increased in area by 9.1%, absorbing farmland and open space. Actual growth occurred primarily to the north and west of the urban core.
Re-establishing population density in the urbanized areas is currently a priority of city government. Committed to attracting the middle class back into the city, the mayor and his housing deputies are focusing on building housing communities within the urban core and rehabilitating the existing housing stock. Successful models include Crawford Square, South Side, Washington's Landing and the North Side -- some of which are on former industrial sites. A positive element of "in-fill" housing is that for every acre of urban land restored, seven acres of farm land can be saved.
Transportation
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission (SPRPC) is in the process of developing a new Long Range Plan as required by the federal Inter-Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Since the implementation of ISTEA, transportation planning in the region has changed dramatically for the better through the efforts of SPRPC.
Economic revitalization is tied to the region's Long Range Plan for transportation, as well as preservation of the region's assets: its communities, the environment, and cultural resources. The majority of the Plan's new transportation corridors are targeted towards older industrial areas which are in need of redevelopment and are likely to become an important economic resource for the entire region. While improving access to these areas is a high priority of the region's county commissioners, urban sprawl is explicitly discouraged, yet remains a contentious issue. Some of the major transportation projects planned in southwestern Pennsylvania include an airport busway and multi-modal corridor, the Allegheny Valley Expressway, the Mon-Fayette Expressway, the Southern Beltway, and the Spine Line.
Alternative Transportation Initiatives
There are an increasing number of initiatives to create alternative modes of transportation. Trail systems for bike and pedestrian travel have been planned and partially completed. The riverfronts have been targeted to incorporate a large portion of the trail system as it links communities in the region.
There is also a comprehensive Rails to Trails project linking Pittsburgh to Washington DC. A number of organizations are involved in this initiative, including: The Allegheny Trail Alliance, a coalition of trail groups responsible for most trail planning in the region; and Friends of the Riverfront, which has been focusing on the urban trail portions of these projects in conjunction with the City of Pittsburgh. In all cases ISTEA and private funding streams have been critical to the work on these trails.
The Environmental City Initiative
Convinced that Pittsburgh could take advantage of the growth of environmental commerce, and of the opportunity to reclaim riverfronts and brownfields, and to promote environmental research and education, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy in 1995 commissioned a task force to see whether the city could take a leadership role in this field. The five-month study revealed the existence of a rich network of environmental companies, most of them the product of many years of clean up and remediation, as well as a range of environmental research and teaching activities at the region's major universities.
The task force produced a strategic report and a blueprint for what has become known as The Environmental City Initiative — a partnership of public sector, private sector, and foundation activities aiming to unite the region's environmental efforts. The plan also includes fostering an expansion of university research and academic programs related to environmental technologies, and supporting a wide range of "greening" activities in the city and region.
The three formal areas of concentration of the Environmental City Initiative are: Environmental Knowledge, Environmental Renewal and Environmental Enterprise. Each of these clusters has an existing base of support, but the parallel efforts of each cluster had never been combined to create a competitive advantage.
Sustainable Development
The Pittsburgh chapter of the American Institute of Architects' Committee on the Environment has developed a plan for creating a sustainable future for western Pennsylvania. The project identifies the region's strengths and focuses on the challenges of creating a sustainable community.
The project is bringing together stakeholders -- including municipalities, citizens, and community and environmental groups to foster greater cooperation and encourage better planning, resulting in a greater quality of life. The objective is to design more sustainable plans for land use and growth patterns. One of the first projects includes advocacy to adopt regulations that will result in higher standards for private development in one of the region's fastest growing corridors, the Parkway West.
In an effort to define "sustainability" the AIA has identified guiding principles for all communities working towards this goal. Some of the elements of sustainability include:
Sustainable Industry
A central goal in this area is to create an industrial base that reduces its use of toxins and looks towards energy efficiency, waste minimization and pollution prevention. Outdated organizational designs and the challenges to improving production facilities often cost companies unnecessary time and money. Although most of these manufacturers are aware of and even in compliance with environmental regulations, many are not aware of the economic benefits of reducing pollution at the source rather than mitigating its effects. In addition, even fewer companies are aware of the significant cost savings associated with adopting energy efficient practices.
To assist regional manufacturers, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center (SPIRC), an affiliated organization of the Pittsburgh High Technology Council, has developed a methodology to assess energy, waste and productivity in local manufacturing facilities.
SPIRC is addressing a significant concern of regional manufacturers -- improving environmental performance in ways that increase productivity and improve the overall economic performance of the companies. Ultimately, the program strives to strengthen the region's capacity for growth while promoting environmentally aware business practices.
There are also efforts underway to develop networks of companies to address these issues on a collaborative basis through Duquesne University's Institute for Economic Transformation and the World-Class Industrial Network (WIN). The Institute is working to create regional and state-wide industrial networks committed to pollution prevention and efficient use of resources to improve environmental performance. WIN is also collaborating on this project with Business for Social Responsibility, a Washington, D.C. based not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving economic and social performance in all industries.
Sustainable development offers the prospects of economic prosperity, new job creation, revitalization of the inner cities, development of new industries and promotion of environmental causes. It is not merely the creation of environmental remediation technologies; it is the resolve of industry to avoid environmental degradation to the extent possible, based not on altruistic but economic concerns. Industry is awakening to the fact that a basic redesign of their processes may not only help the environment, but their bottom line. If successful, sustainable economic development may become the only kind of economic development.
Green Neighborhoods
The Green Neighborhood Initiative is a program which targets low to moderate-income neighborhoods for significant energy, water and resource savings in order to increase household income and spur neighborhood redevelopment. The initiative concentrates these activities within specific neighborhoods that will serve as showcases for energy efficiency and sustainable design.
The Green Neighborhood Initiative, managed by the local nonprofit, Conservation Consultants Inc. (CCI), is currently operating in several Pittsburgh neighborhoods and has expanded its focus to include lead risk reduction and open space programs for participating neighborhoods. It has already produced tangible results in two communities, Carrick and Tarentum, where the program has helped to reduce pollution, improve business profits and increase the value of local housing.
Green Buildings
Last year, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy created the first "green" building in downtown Pittsburgh. The organization was looking for an opportunity to create a sustainable, environmentally sound location for its new headquarters, and chose to retrofit a historic downtown building to showcase energy efficiency and green redesign. The Conservancy is also working to promote public awareness of cost-effective, environmental building principles through an exhibition in the new ground floor resource center. A number of local organizations were involved in providing technical support for the project, including Conservation Consultants, Carnegie Mellon University and the Green Building Alliance.
Brownfields
In 1995, Pennsylvania created the Land Recycling Program, the most comprehensive state brownfields in the nation. The four cornerstones of the program are: uniform clean up standards based on health and environmental risks, standardized review procedures, and releases from liability and financial assistance.
In dealing with its legacy of environmental degradation, Pittsburgh has turned adversity to advantage and built a sizable environmental remediation industry. Local expertise has been applied to local challenges, making Pittsburgh a world laboratory for pollution prevention and redevelopment of brownfields. The industry is now exporting its expertise to domestic and international markets.
The region is home to hundreds of brownfields , many of which remain idle or underutilized while farmland and open space are being transformed into strip malls and industrial parks. Site and infrastructure reuse are critical to the long term sustainability of Pittsburgh. The region is addressing the issue of brownfield development and environmental renewal through a number of projects:
Nine Mile Run
· A partnership between the Environmental City Initiative and the City of Pittsburgh has been formed to support the design of public greenspace in the context of redeveloping the largest vacant brownfield site in the City of Pittsburgh. The project aims to turn the massive slag pile affecting 238 strategically located acres into a thriving urban community, while showcasing innovative solutions and addressing the full range of development challenges for urban brownfield sites. The Nine Mile Run project is expected to produce approximately 1000 new housing units (developed at an urban rather than suburban density), access to public transportation, commercial support facilities and a greenway traversing the site -- providing a connection from the 470 acre Frick Park to the Monongahela River.
Phoenix Land Recycling Company
· The Phoenix Land Recycling Company is a non-profit corporation that facilitates the assessment and remediation of "brownfield" sites for economic reuse. The organization partners with local economic and industrial development agencies, commercial realtors and developers to identify locations with a high potential for economic reuse. Phoenix conducts comprehensive assessments and develops remediation plans for these sites, and with the remedial requirements and costs quantified, it assists in marketing the sites to prospective purchasers. Phoenix is also working with the PA Department of Environmental Protection, which is committed to establishing a model land recycling program throughout the state.
Pittsburgh RISES
· Efforts are underway to attract companies to old industrial sites such as the Pittsburgh RISES project, a collaborative project between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Pittsburgh RISES will maintain a centralized, graphically-based inventory of available industrial property and provide the means to conduct custom physical, economic and environmental analyses, so informed decisions and comparisons can be made by prospective developers, planning organizations, community groups and policy makers.
South Side Local Development Company
· The South Side Local Development Company (SSLDC), a non-profit developer in Pittsburgh, is building environmentally advanced housing on one of the more visible brownfield sites, the barren wasteland that was once home to USX's South Side steel mill. The plan, called "New Birmingham", offers moderate and middle-income home buyers the opportunity to purchase a home in the city's first cost-effective environmental housing development.
Riverfront Development
· Since the shift away from riverfront industry, long stretches of riverfront land have been abandoned, underdeveloped and left environmentally unsound. The City of Pittsburgh Planning Department, in partnership with a broad cross-section of other organizations, is developing a comprehensive riverfront development plan. The objective is to articulate a vision for all riverfronts in the city, detail the projects currently underway and identify the resources it will take to make the various development plans a reality. The plan will reflect the best practices of riverfront development based on the experiences of cities throughout the country. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail now being developed is expected to provide significant contributions to quality of life and economy.
Education and Workforce Development Initiatives
Education is a critical element to sustainability and quality of life. It facilitates the development of personal well-being and community empowerment. It is also essential to developing a population that is literate, educated, and that possesses lifelong learning skills. Education helps to increase good health, development of cultural institutions, and a social and physical environment that allows citizens to participate fully in a community. Community empowerment evolves from a well-educated population with individuals that are able to support and sustain themselves. It allows citizens from diverse populations the opportunity to have meaningful participation in government, cultural, education, health and social service institutions.
The Pittsburgh region is currently engaged in several innovative programs that address education and workforce development on several levels -- from early education to post-graduate research.
The Early Childhood Initiative
· The Early Childhood Initiative (ECI), is a comprehensive public/private partnership aimed at significantly improving early learning and development opportunities for thousands of low-income, preschool children in Allegheny County. The ECI is a five-year, $59.4 million initiative to ensure that children born into poverty can achieve healthy lives and productive futures. The bottom line for the Early Childhood Initiative is education. Low-income kids enter first grade with a 1000-2000 word vocabulary gap compared to middle-income kids. The deficiency often grows to 20,000 words by the time they are 16. ECI is an ambitious effort to address that gap before it develops and prepare children to learn by the time they reach first grade. Its overarching goal is to reach out to the vast majority of low-income children in Allegheny County and give their families access to quality childcare and early education programs.
Commission for Workforce Excellence
· The Commission for Workforce Excellence "stimulates regional economic growth by promoting the development of the greater Pittsburgh region's workforce through education, training and placement programs that meet the needs of business and industry." The Commission is developing a strategic workforce development plan for the nine-county region.
Some of the current projects of the Commission include:
1st Stop -- a clearinghouse for job training and placement agencies;
WorkKeys -- a collaboration between the Community College of Allegheny County and American College Testing to develop skill profiles for 150 key occupations in the region and a potential evaluation tool to measure school or program effectiveness in preparing individuals for specific occupations; and
Workplace Skills Network -- with approximately 200,000 employed individuals deficient in basic skills in the region, the Network will provide employers with easy access to basic skills training that is customized to a firm's needs.
The Human Capital Initiative
· The Pittsburgh High Technology Council has developed the Human Capital Initiative to address the development of key industry sectors in the region. This initiative focuses on three areas: Repatriation -- Attracting talent to the region by focusing on people who grew up in the Pittsburgh region or went to school here; Recruiting -- Work with smaller companies in the region to assess needs and develop a recruiting strategy; and Retention -- This aspect focuses on retaining the population of students who are currently attending school in the region.
Pittsburgh Voyager
· Pittsburgh Voyager is an organization that offers river-based educational adventures for students, teachers and the community on-board two US Navy ships that have been retrofitted as classrooms. Its mission is to motivate students to develop critical thinking skills using hands-on approaches and technologies. Voyager's programs combine a multi-disciplinary classroom with hands-on, experiential learning program on Pittsburgh's three rivers. The program's goals include: creating an understanding of the environment and instilling a sense of stewardship towards it; developing an appreciation for the history and geography of the three rivers; and providing opportunities to develop interpersonal skills such as teamwork, effective communication and leadership.
3 Rivers University for the Environment
· In order to foster the growth of research and technology commercialization in a variety of fields related to the environment, the Initiative sponsored the formation of an alliance named the 3 Rivers University for the Environment. This is an academic partnership by the regionís major universities with environmental programsóCarnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, and Chatham College--to integrate academic programming and environmental research and offer a unique forum within which to share and strengthen programs in environmental studies. The alliance is an effort to educate future generations of experts, and create opportunities for scholars from around the world to carry forward the responsibility of environmental stewardship.
Government Reform
Many Pittsburgh residents believe that modernizing local government is a primary concern. Recently, a referendum was approved for the November elections that would replace the existing 3 county commissioner system with a single elected county executive. There would also be an unpaid county council to provide a system of checks and balances and an appointed county manager. The plan emanated from a report titled ComPAC 21 (Committee to Prepare Allegheny for the 21st Century).
The region's fragmented governmental structure and large number of municipalities are also barriers to sustainable land use planning. The state of Pennsylvania does not have any land use guidelines at this time and, therefore, municipalities are not required to coordinate any economic or zoning decisions with neighboring communities. This has resulted in urban sprawl with municipalities competing for new business and residents. There is an absence of a level playing field with regard to the subsidies and tax incentives that can be offered for new development.
Economic Growth
In 1996, Carnegie Mellon's Center for Economic Development produced a report on the entrepreneurial vitality of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The report was designed to produce a "scorecard" of the region's progress in terms of RERI's goal to create 100,000 new jobs by the year 2000.
The report argues that with small and new firms generating between 40 and 80 percent of new jobs in the U.S., entrepreneurs are an essential element to achieving economic growth. The Pittsburgh region faces significant challenges in this area. Although the region has produced a number of successful new companies over the last several years and has experienced some diversity and stability in its economic growth, the overall economy lags behind both the state of Pennsylvania and the nation.
Population Loss
Intimately tied to the challenge of economic growth is population. Pittsburgh's stagnant population and declining, outmigrating young population has been detrimental to the entrepreneurial vitality of the region.
The region ranks 24th among the 25 largest MSAs in the proportion of its population in the 20-34 age group. The region ranks last in overall population growth between 1985 and 1992.
III. THE POSSIBILITIES
Environmental Preservation and Restoration
The Pittsburgh region is home to severe ecological degradation as the result of past industrial practices, natural resources extraction, commercial and residential development patterns, ineffective point and non-point source controls, and agricultural practices. Damage includes contaminated soils and groundwater, acidified rivers and streams, chemicals and sewage in surface waters, fish kills, declining forests, soil erosion, and a rise in the number of candidate endangered species. To counter these effects of human practices on the natural world we need to look to a variety of changes in public policy and the way in which we protect-preserve-restore land and water.
Air Quality
Air quality is one of the most serious problems in the Pittsburgh area. Pittsburgh is in non attainment status as designated by federal air standards. Ozone is particularly problematic for this region. To date, there have been more than 10 ozone action days due to the high levels in the air. While it is estimated that one-third of the ozone is transported from sources in West Virginia and Ohio, it remains a problem for the regions economic development efforts and is a significant point of contention among the industrial community.
For each new or expanding facility, emissions offsets must be obtained. While this helps to protect Pittsburgh's environment, it hinders opportunities for business growth. On the other hand, it presents an opportunity to work with companies to assist them in the design of products and processes that might reduce pollution, making them require fewer offsets. There is also a need to raise public awareness and understanding of the implications of ozone action days.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Environmental Preservation and Restoration
Water Quality
In 1996, the Monongahela River received the second highest toxic release level of all rivers in the United States. Water quality continues to be a challenge for the region and is vital to the long term ecological health of Pittsburgh's rivers and streams.
Most of the attention must focus on sewage treatment facilities, non point source pollution, and erosion issues related to development and mining activities. Acid mine drainage in rural parts of western Pennsylvania is a primary threat to water quality. The rivers, urban and rural, are important ecological, economic and recreational resources for this region. Attention must also be focused on combined sewer overflows and aging infrastructure which causes problems such as the pollution in Nine Mile Run.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Water Quality
Land Use
With a heavy inventory of existing infrastructure of housing and industrial sites, urban in-fill is a needed focus of any regional planning process. Yet, in deciding what communities benefit from federal programs, agencies need to take into account whether they are undertaking comprehensive planning and whether it addresses issues such as transportation, water pollution control, and low income housing needs.
While federal policies cannot govern state land use policies, since this activity is generally regarded as a state issue, there are federal programs which can play a role in supporting comprehensive land use planning.
Water and sewage treatment capacity and meeting federal regulations is one of the foremost concern of this region's municipalities at this time. Land use planning is an excellent opportunity to address some of these issues while tackling other issues of sustainability.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Land Use
Transportation Policy
Current transportation infrastructure in southwestern Pennsylvania suffers many of the same ills as other regions; a lack of funding sufficient to maintain what we have, and too big a push to add new highway facilities. There is no doubt that our transportation facilities, highways, bridges, mass transit, rail, barge, and air -- could all be improved for the benefit of all constituents.
However, the region lacks an integrated and sustainable Long Range Plan for transportation spending and investment. The efficacy of such a plan as a tool for encouraging and ensuring sustainable decision making in the area is further hampered by provisions of state law which have allocated authority over for land use planning to the Commonwealth's almost 2600 municipalities.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Transportation Policy
Transportation Alternatives
Approximately 50% of the downtown commuters travel by bus each day. Alternative modes of public transportation is an important need in this region as it faces serious air quality problems much of which can be attributed to mobile source pollution.
It is important for Pittsburgh to be supported by federal program which support the city's transportation and air quality needs.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Transportation Alternatives
Brownfields
The federal Superfund program has chilled reuse of non-Superfund sites (i.e., brownfields) out of fear that they might someday come under EPA jurisdiction. In addition, the EPA almost never provides a new owner/operator who has engaged in clean up with any assurance that the site will not be subjected to further action at some time in the future.
The result has been an incentive to convert pristine lands to industrial use. While some EPA regions have sought to create partnerships with state programs in order to ease developer concerns about contamination (e.g., EPA Region V in Chicago), others have not followed suit. In addition, many brownfields cannot compete with the subsidies offered to greenfield development in the form of new water, sewer, road and other infrastructure that is not available in older communities.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Brownfields
Energy Policy / Energy Efficiency
Energy policy is a critical element of life in western Pennsylvania. Energy usage impacts economic development as well as air, water and land use patterns. While Pennsylvania is currently going through a process of deregulation of its electric utility and gas industries, there is a tremendous opportunity to improve the energy picture of this state.
Currently, the state of Pennsylvania does not have a model energy code for buildings. A model energy code (Act 222) was written but not passed that would have ensured energy efficiency, matching national guidelines for buildings and heating, cooling and ventilation systems.
Although Act 222 has not been passed, the low income utility programs in western Pennsylvania have the highest utility savings for retrofits of existing housing in the nation
-- with an average savings of 38% per household.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Energy
Community and Economic Development / Revitalization
Sustainable economic development is the very heart of the modern environmental movement. It represents the melding of environmental and economic agendas, technological progress, and individual and corporate interests. Supporting sustainable economic development is the single most important, broad goal of environmentalism. It implies wise land and transportation systems, energy efficient buildings and processes, and the protection and preservation of forests and bio - diversity. Because it is so broad an undertaking, it requires a mass of support from the grass roots level -- up to the federal government.
Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania have a strong community economic development movement. Community development corporations exist in over 50 communities in distressed areas in the city and the former mill towns. Their commitment to revitalizing their declining areas has resulted in the creation of thousands of square feet of commercial and residential properties, the development of new businesses and the gradual stabilization of communities that might otherwise have been lost. Revitalization activities mounted by these small organizations are often the only efforts underway to turn around distressed communities.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Community and Economic Development
Education and Workforce Development
Education and workforce development is one of the most critical challenges of the Pittsburgh region in creating a truly sustainable city. The region must look beyond cliché responses to tough questions on economic development, environmental restoration and quality of life issues -- and recognize that our workforce is an essential key to creating a competitive, sustainable, global economy in the future.
Two critical issues in workforce development in southwestern Pennsylvania are the outmigration of young people from the region and the anticipated influx of over 200,000 current welfare recipients into the workforce. The region must find ways of reducing "brain drain" by offering our younger, best educated talent the kinds of career opportunities that flourish in other parts of the country. At the other end of the employment spectrum, the thousands of people who will be forced off of the welfare rolls in the next few years must receive the training and other opportunities necessary to enter the economic mainstream--ideally at a living wage.
Opportunities for Federal Support: Education and Workforce Development
Few communities can match Pittsburgh's experience. From Asia to Eastern Europe, former manufacturing centers look to Pittsburgh as an example of how to clean up and revitalize an older, industrial community. Pittsburgh's renaissance is uniquely predicated on a combination of environmental improvement, economic diversification, and urban revitalization.
In its efforts to become healthy, economically vibrant, and environmentally-sound, the Pittsburgh region presents a challenge to regional and national policymakers. To be successful, a much higher degree of intergovernmental cooperation will be required; and flexibility from all sides will be needed. The federal government, by emphasizing cooperation over confrontation and assistance over mandates can be an important partner in the Pittsburgh region.
For nearly 50 years national policy has favored greenfield development and suburbanization at the expense of the urban core. In transportation, housing, water and sewer construction, America's main streets have been abandoned in favor of asphalt-lined burger-and-taco strip malls. Most people now experience communities by watching them through a windshield.
Pittsburgh has for many years avoided the creation of so-called "edge cities" because of the strength of its neighborhoods and the difficulty of its topography. As federal and state investment continues to flow to the outer suburbs, however, those neighborhoods are being eroded away. The next few years will determine whether the city retains its status as a livable community, or withers.
As documented in these pages, the region has begun to lock horns with major problems. From child care to riverfront clean-up, the region has proposed ambitious programs that may create another Pittsburgh renaissance. No region can achieve such ambitious goals alone. It will require federal and state cooperation as well.
Pittsburgh is positioned to create a model of just this kind of development. Once an economy based on extraction of raw materials it is becoming one based on amenities and quality of life. Few cities on earth can make such a claim.
"Basic Skills Training Lacking Among Many Manufacturers"; Pittsburgh Post Gazette; June 15, 1997.
"Survey Finds Half of Region's Manufactueres Need Their Workers Trained in Basic Skills"; Mfg. A Resource for Southwestern Pennsylvania Manufacturers; Volume 1, Number 1; May/June 1997.
A Region on the Move: A Transportation Investment Strategy for Growth and Renewal in Southwestern Pennsylvania; 2015 Long Range Transportation Plan; Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission; November 1994.
A Survey of Venture Capital in Pittsburgh; The Enterprise Corporation of Pittsburgh; 1994.
An Action Plan for Improving the Entrepreneurial Vitality and Technology Economy of the Pittsburgh Region (Executive Summary); Prepared by the Technology Commercialization and Entreprenuership Task Force for the Working Together Consortium; April 1997
Carnegie Mellon University, "A Partner In Strengthening Our Region Through Business Growth"; 1997.
Commission for Workforce Excellence Profile and Agenda 1997-1998.
Economic Benchmarks: Indices for the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County; Economic Benchmarks; October 1994.
Estimating Allegheny County's Future Population Without Migration; The Monaco Group, Inc.; November 1995.
In the Creation of a Strategic Plan for Regional Workforce Development: "50" Things to Remember; Pennsylvania Economy League, Western Division; June 1997.
Investing in the Future: Strategies for Strengthening Southwestern Pennsylvania's Regional Core and Restoring Its Manufacturing Base; Southwestern Pennsylvania Strategic Investment Partnership; November 1995.
Investing to Build Our Entrepreneurial Vitality: From Acorns to Oak Trees; The Enterprise Corporation of Pittsburgh; November 1994.
PG Benchmarks; A Special Report of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette; PG Publishing Co.;1996.
Pittsburgh's Environmental Profile; A Consulting Study Addressing Historic Environmental Performance in Pittsburgh for the Howard Heinz Endowment; Monaco, E.V.; June 1994.
Pittsburgh Benchmarks: Black and White Quality of Life in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County; University of Pittsburgh; September 1996.
Pittsburgh Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability; Myron Orfield; January 1997.
Policy Opportunities for a Sustainable Bioregional Approach in Western Pennsylvania; Environmental Law Institute; September 1994.
Preparing Allegheny County for the 21st Century; A Report prepared for the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners by The Committee to Prepare Allegheny County for the 21st Century; January 1996.
Reshaping the Region: Planning for a Sustainable Future; A project of AIA Pittsburgh's Committee on the Environment; 1996.
Southwestern Pennsylvania's Business Climate: Reality vs. Perceptions; A report to Penn's Southwest Association by A.T. Kearny, Inc.; February 1995.
The 1996 Entrepreneurial Vitality Scorecard: The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area; The Center for Economic Development, Carnegie Mellon University and The Enterprise Corporation of Pittsburgh; 1996.
The Allegheny Regional Asset District; 1996 Annual Report.
The Allegheny Regional Asset District; Questions and Answers Profile; 1997.
The Greater Pittsburgh Region: Working Together to Compete Globally; A Report for the Regional Economic Revitalization Initiative by Carnegie Mellon University and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; November 1994.
Thinking Differently About the Region: Southwestern Pennsylvania's Manufacturing and Technology Assets; Pittsburgh High Technology Council and Southwestern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center; November 1994.
Toward a Shared Economic Vision for Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania; the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; November 1993.
Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century; Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, Carnegie Corporation of New York; January 1990.
Two Key Environmental Issues Facing Southwestern Pennsylvania: Brownfields and Air Quality; Institute of Politics Status Report; Lewis - Clemons, Laura; June 1997.