State Sen. Wayne Fontana says he’s convening a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing on Monday to begin discussing ways to fix what he calls the state’s “dysfunctional property reassessment system.”
It’s all part what the Post-Gazette reports is the Allegheny County senator’s “push to require routine revaluations in a bid to eliminate many of the inequities now plaguing the system.”
Fontana tells the P-G he’s hoping to use the hearings as a platform to craft legislation to require regular reassessments in each of the state’s 67 counties.
“This will be about why we need it and why we should do it,” he says of the hearings.
That’s all fine and dandy, we suppose. Will small wonders never cease, and all that. But the need for regular reassessments long has been self-evident – first and foremost with the state Constitution’s mandate for uniform taxation that has all too regularly been dismissed by the political expedients.
And this problem has been festering in Allegheny County for a dozen years, after festering for many prior years and leading to a lawsuit that led to a court-ordered reassessment. A new lawsuit wending its way through the court system undoubtedly will lead to a similar court-ordered reassessment.
But there’s absolutely no need for long and arid political discussions with the usual suspects (i.e. “stakeholders”) “about why we need” regular reassessments “and why we should do it.” That’s abundantly clear and has been for years.
Just do it.
Not to be outdone in this policy-come-lately era is the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.
As the P-G reports it:
“A series of high-profile and seemingly random assaults across downtown Pittsburgh this summer prompted city police to ramp up patrols in what officials are calling a ‘high-visibility police patrol initiative.’
“The changes include ‘additional support’ for the Downtown Public Safety Center — a substation dedicated to the Central Business District — including police dogs, bicycle units and violence prevention officers. The violence prevention officers will ‘focus on specific areas and issues of concern Downtown.’ Those areas, according to the release from the city’s Public Safety Department, will be chosen by police supervisors.
“Plans also include more visible nighttime patrols, although the most recent incidents happened either during daylight hours or around dusk.”
Well, duh.
The story of a downtown Pittsburgh in civil and criminal disorder has been long running and oft told. Open-air drug-dealing. Urination and defecation on Downtown streets in broad daylight. And savage, heinous assaults, also in broad daylight in the heart of the Golden Triangle.
There have been at least four such assaults in the last six weeks.
Said Police Chief Larry Scirotto in a statement:
“The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is committed to ensuring the Central Business District — and all Pittsburgh neighborhoods — remain safe and welcoming for all. We believe these measures will enhance public safety and provide a highly visible reminder that police are available and operating in the area throughout the evening.”
Again, this is all fine and dandy but sorely overdue. Why has it taken years and at least two iterations of police commands to implement what long has been a standard of police procedures?
Both aforementioned developments represent what we’ll call Johnny-come-lately public policy – a dire need for direct action presents itself repeatedly over many years but policy makers move to address that need in sloth-like due haste.
They are but two examples of a governance pathology that has fueled malaise in population, economic growth and torn the heart out of a once great city.
And unless such recidivist behavior is vociferously challenged, and checked, the future of the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County will be chiseled in stone – crumbling stone.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
