Tuesday, February 26, 2008
City Pledges to Make Next 250 Years Better
We would be remiss not to mention that in the spirit of celebrating Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday that the Mayor and City Council opted to craft a pledge that will guide their efforts in the coming years. They plan to focus on five areas: the city’s long-term financial health, the performance of city services, equitable land-use and planning, environmental stewardship, and a redoubled commitment to the highest ethical standards of behavior.
To be sure, that’s a full plate, but it is not groundbreaking to say that the City’s elected leaders are going to focus on the most pressing issues. For whatever the reason, they decided to put forth the Proclamation of Pledges to Improve Governance in Pittsburgh. Of course long-term financial health is an issue, the primary issue—that’s why there is an Act 47 recovery team and a state oversight board in place. Under the action items, the City wants to finally look for operational efficiencies with the County and the school and in the authorities (Water, Redevelopment, Parking, etc.) and to improve its pension plans by trading off a lower debt service payment (moving to a system where capital needs are paid for with available money) and reallocating those savings to pension funding.
There’s more: the City wants to begin “the publication of performance measures and standards established initially for the departments of Public Works, Police, Bureau of Building Inspection, City Information Services, Finance, Parks and Recreation, and Personnel; establish regular quarterly meetings at which Directors report departmental performance to the Mayor, the City Council, and the citizens of Pittsburgh”.
We guess that hindsight is 20/20, but wouldn’t these good governing principles been useful decades ago before the City began its slide? Many other cities across the nation have already achieved efficiencies and benchmarking departmental performance. Pittsburgh is late to the party.
To be sure, that’s a full plate, but it is not groundbreaking to say that the City’s elected leaders are going to focus on the most pressing issues. For whatever the reason, they decided to put forth the Proclamation of Pledges to Improve Governance in Pittsburgh. Of course long-term financial health is an issue, the primary issue—that’s why there is an Act 47 recovery team and a state oversight board in place. Under the action items, the City wants to finally look for operational efficiencies with the County and the school and in the authorities (Water, Redevelopment, Parking, etc.) and to improve its pension plans by trading off a lower debt service payment (moving to a system where capital needs are paid for with available money) and reallocating those savings to pension funding.
There’s more: the City wants to begin “the publication of performance measures and standards established initially for the departments of Public Works, Police, Bureau of Building Inspection, City Information Services, Finance, Parks and Recreation, and Personnel; establish regular quarterly meetings at which Directors report departmental performance to the Mayor, the City Council, and the citizens of Pittsburgh”.
We guess that hindsight is 20/20, but wouldn’t these good governing principles been useful decades ago before the City began its slide? Many other cities across the nation have already achieved efficiencies and benchmarking departmental performance. Pittsburgh is late to the party.
