A local newspaper has editorialized for the formation of a “national Department of Urban Affairs.”
“Cities are the backbones of interconnected metropolitan regions, where 80 percent of Americans live. They deserve a federal department to advocate for them,” the Post-Gazette opines.
Of course, unmentioned in the lengthy editorial are the root causes of the rot that has become the urban core – decades of liberal policies (in truth, illiberal policies, given the classic meaning of “liberalism”) that have sucked cities dry with “progressive solutions” that are flight-inducing regressivism at its worst.
The last thing American cities need is a new national bureaucracy that will do everything except what is proponents promise it will do.
Speaking of the urban core, a Post-Gazette news story on the malaise that now afflicts downtown Pittsburgh concludes that “more residential, retail a must as concerns grow over possible office building defaults.”
The story is based on an entreaty from the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) real estate company “amid concerns that some older office buildings could default on their loans over the next few years as vacancies increase and revenues decrease with fewer people working in the center city as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
But as we’ve noted many times over the past few years, while the pandemic certainly exacerbated Downtown office vacancies, the trend clearly began before COVID hit.
And as we’ve also noted, this continuing push for converting office buildings into residential units should be, in general, a nonstarter. That’s evidenced by the hands being stuck out for taxpayer subsidies to effect such cost-ineffective conversions.
There’s also the continuing problem of lawlessness Downtown. While officials first publicly pooh-poohed that as being a perception void of reality, steps have been taken to beef up law enforcement in the Golden Triangle.
John Valentine, of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, tells the P-G that “one way or another, it’s ‘imperative that we reimagine Downtown.’
“’I believe that if we have the political will to get this done, we have a lot to offer that other cities don’t.’”
But “political will” to get things done suggests government must “fix” what ails Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle. Other than providing for effective public safety, functional public infrastructure and keeping onerous regulation at bay – and otherwise getting out of the way — it must be left to the private sector and the free marketplace to find solutions to fix this problem.
Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis would not confirm to the P-G Irish media reports that the authority is prepared to offer millions of dollars to Aer Lingus to initiate direct service between Pittsburgh and Dublin.
But she did say:
“We definitely are prepared to demonstrate a commitment to the market and to make sure the airline understands that we have skin in the game.”
Additionally, Cassotis said:
“It’s a good market and it’s a good time because [British Airways] is doing well.” A Dublin route would be a “good complement” to the London service, she said.
Both Aer Lingus and British Airways are part of the IAG Group. British Airways is being paid $3.5 million to provide service between Pittsburgh and London.
Two points:
While the Airport Authority keeps saying the British Airways flight “is doing well,” we’ve seen no numbers to buttress the claim.
And if it’s such “a good market,” why is there a need for subsidies in the first place – for BA, Aer Lingus or any airline?
Neither governments nor quasi government agencies such as airport authorities create demand. That job is for the marketplace, not government attempts to command it with public dollars.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
