Pittsburgh-Wilkinsburg Fire Merger (North Versailles, Oliver, Versailles: promotional, tenant, school)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pman

it's rare to find a group of politicians willing to vote themselves out of a job but it sounds like this would be good for wilkinsburg.

There is a fairly forward-thinking group of people who have currently gained a majority on the Wilkinsburg Council. I think it is fair to say they really are driven by what they think would be best for the area, in part because they undoubtedly have a larger stake as residents than they do as local politicians.

is there any advantage for wilkinsburg remaining an independent entity?

In my view, no. But I think the argument would be that if Wilkinsburg was merged into the City, it would become just another neglected, underserved neighborhood. People making this argument might point to Homewood, and suggest Wilkinsburg is better off, and that more local governance is the reason why.

I'm skeptical about those claims, but I do think you could make a not totally unreasonable case for consolidation of as many services as possible without actually going for a full merger. And personally, I think the schools are by far the biggest issue, so if I could only get that, I'd certainly take that deal.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by pman

it's rare to find a group of politicians willing to vote themselves out of a job but it sounds like this would be good for wilkinsburg. is there any advantage for wilkinsburg remaining an independent entity?

I gave this some thought, actually - and no, I can't think of one. I'd like to hear a cogent argument.

Thing is, while the borough obvious has considered further consolidation with Pgh and might well be willing to consider outright annexation, the real problem is the dreadful school district, which might just insist on prolonging its sorry existence even after Wilkinsburg was annexed.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I think the argument would be that if Wilkinsburg was merged into the City, it would become just another neglected, underserved neighborhood.

This is not exactly your point but it prompted my thought, which is that there will be objections on grounds of racial representation in political office. The overall number of black elected officials locally matters to lots of people, and also the number with imposing titles like "Mayor".

Wilkinsburg's mayor John Thompson is in no sense typical of the now-aging generation of black politicians (Burgess, Preston) who often had good reason to be concerned about things like the sheer number of black elected officials, but in the view of some it will be one fewer elected office open to black candidates. Same goes for the council, of course.

[BrianTH]

Unfortunately, you are probably right.

[pman]

does the school issue have to be handled by the school board? can council have a referendum?

[squarian]

It's been a while, but I did once look into that question, pman - PA has a complicated and (for practical purposes) useless provision for annexing or dividing municipalities by referendum, but AFAIK only the assembly can change school district boundaries, consolidate, or create new ones (oh please God no). I did my best to make a clean sweep of the relevant statute and case law, but I'd be happy to hear from anyone with reliable contrary information.

[BrianTH]

The other possibility is a court order. And it may come to that.

[grimacista]

Why did Wilkinsburg have a professional fire department if they couldn't afford it?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by grimacista

Why did Wilkinsburg have a professional fire department if they couldn't afford it?

I think the answer to that, and other similar questions, is basically that Wilkinsburg used to be able to afford some things that it can't afford now, thanks to declining population and property values.

[squarian]

Further rumblings re: police merger:

Pittsburgh safety chief ponders merger with Wilkinsburg police - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review