Onorato calls for merger referendum
The window for merging Pittsburgh and Allegheny County governments is cracked open, and voters have about a year to act before it closes again, maybe for good, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said.
Speaking at a forum on consolidation sponsored by Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project, Onorato said Thursday night he wants a referendum on the ballot in either November or May 2005, so voters can decide whether to merge the city and county and eliminate all duplicated services and departments at once.
It worked well for Louisville, Ky., said William Summers IV, deputy mayor of the city that in 2000 merged with Jefferson County. The move catapulted Louisville from the 67th largest city to the 16th largest. Pittsburgh would go from 50th to seventh in size if it did the same, Onorato said.
Summers was part of a five-member panel invited by PUMP -- an organization aimed at increasing young people's participation in regional affairs -- to discuss combining governments.
Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy made opening remarks to an audience of more than 50 at the Hot Metal Grille on the South Side. None of the panelists argued against consolidation.
"I'm convinced the window of opportunity is very short," Onorato said. The issue has to come to a vote before the mayoral race next year "or the opportunity begins to slip away," he said.
Louisville was chosen as a model for Pittsburgh because similar concerns have risen in both areas, such as the reticence of many suburbanites to saddle themselves with Pittsburgh's money troubles.
When Louisville and Jefferson County merged, officials left the 83 other towns in Jefferson alone. Allegheny County has 130 municipalities, which Onorato said should not be a part of merger talks now.
To overcome public fears, merger proponents in Louisville launched a six-month, $1.2 million public relations blitz -- complete with focus groups, Republican and Democratic operatives and the political resurrection of a popular former mayor -- to curry voters' favor, Summers said.
Pennsylvania law currently prevents voters from deciding the issue. Panelist and state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, said he recently introduced a bill in the Legislature to change that law.
Along with making the referendum legal, Onorato and Murphy said the state would probably have to pay for some one-time costs of merging the governments.
Frankel said debate over Pittsburgh's plight during the last year has been contentious, and talk of merging governments has always turned vicious, but the change is vital to the region's survival.
"If 130 municipalities across Allegheny County is such a great idea, why aren't other governments looking at our way of doing things," he said.
