We don’t know whether to give Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) the 2025 Government Chutzpah Award or the 2025 Government Foppery Award. But it deserves at least some recognition-slash-scrutiny for its latest attempt to shake down taxpayers in an attempt to save its sorry, bloated self.
Nearly 30 years after a much touted “transit-oriented development” at the Castle Shannon light-rail park-and-ride station first was proposed by a private developer in conjunction with what then was the Port Authority – one that kept collapsing under its own failings — PRT is back with a none-too-dissimilar scheme at its Dormont Junction stop.
You may recall that it was back in 1998 that the $38 million Castle Shannon Transit Village first was proposed. It turned out to be such an ill-conceived project that it couldn’t even secure a combined $10 million in “needed” federal, state and local funding.
Now comes PRT and the borough of Dormont, all newly bright-eyed and Easter Bunny bushy-tailed with a new scheme.
As the Post-Gazette reports it:
“[PRT] is seeking a business partner to transform two parking lots near Dormont Junction into a mixed-use development — a move that the agency says will create a new revenue stream as it faces a grim financial outlook.”
And, according to PRT CEO Katharine Kelleman:
“We’re very excited about this project. It has the potential to become a true win-win that brings more riders to our system and adds to the vibrancy of Dormont. We’re eager to hear from developers to help make this dream a reality.”
The P-G says Dormont Council President Jen Mazzocco predicts the proposed development would be an “extremely important” economic boon.
“Not only will it bring new residents who will ride the Red Line and 41 bus route but it will also help us redevelop the West Liberty Avenue corridor, with new small businesses and a people-centered streetscape.”
That remains to be seen, of course. So does the question of how much public money any “private” developer will attempt to shake out of taxpayer pockets. Past being prologue, surely it will be oodles and boodles.
And there’s one giant red flag already, per the P-G’s reportage:
“Developers should ensure that their plans facilitate opportunities for ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘diverse’ businesses, and ‘incorporate elements of environmental sustainability,’ according to the project outline.”
And at least 15 percent of the housing constructed on the plot should be “affordable to rent or own for households making below 80 percent of Allegheny County’s median income, it said.”
Which, of course, will inflate the cost of the project and inflate the cost of “market” rentals or mortgages, which will only fuel any developers’ “justification” for higher and broader taxpayer subsidies (that shouldn’t come).
Pittsburgh Regional Transit and, before it, the Port Authority of Allegheny County, have a long, long history of dissing the very public that it is charged with transporting.
Its recalcitrance to right-size its operations and its steadfast kowtowing to organized labor will be its death. And no amount of increased public subsidies – or fanciful follies for “transit-oriented development” — can alter PRT’s death spiral.
Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of the Allegheny Institute, calls the Dormont proposal a “pipe dream.”
“This project will take many years to complete, get leased out and start any minor increase in ridership,” he says. That is, if it ever gets off the ground.
But the bottom line remains that “PRT must bite the bullet and start making plans to cut back service offerings, reduce employee count and save serious money,” the Ph.D. economist says. “Taxpayers must not be called on to solve the problems PRT and its unions have created for themselves.”
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
