How far removed the City seems to be from the New Year’s rush to avoid a state takeover of the pension system, how plan after plan was tried until Council settled upon using the infusion of value of parking tax monies over the next three decades. All because the state would have been iron-fisted in its treatment of pensioners, at least according to proponents who pushed for the alternative plans.
Since that time the City has authorized the Urban Redevelopment Authority not once, but twice, to apply to the state’s Budget Office for permission to obtain funding from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) to help prevent the spread of blight and promote economic development. This week Council will give the URA its blessing to pursue $15 million for redevelopment of the Produce Terminal in the Strip, $4 million for the "Downtown Preservation" project, and $1.5 million for projects in Lawrenceville and the North Side. The RACP has assisted many projects around the state for 25 years.
When the previous Governor visited Pittsburgh in December bearing $84 million in RACP "gifts" he indicated that some of the money was committed but not all of it and "he said he was hopeful that [the] incoming governor…would honor all of the requests". Well, now that the new Governor’s administration has begun we will see how the RACP is viewed. The borrowing limit of the RACP increased 179% on the previous Governor’s watch (it took 16 years from the time RACP was created in 1986 to grow at a pace somewhat close to that) and now stands at $4,050 million.