Any BALANCED Views of the State of the City? (Pittsburgh: rentals, condominiums)

[lifepgh2op]

I don't know if this is relevant (sorry if it's not)...but Austin, TX annexes land each year.

City of Austin - Annexation Process

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

It doesn't seem like we have ruled out the possibility a lot of these geograhically large cities have been annexing land relatively recently (and Pittsburgh last annexed land about 100 years ago, so "relatively recently" covers a lot of time). But again I'm not interested in chasing down all those timelines personally.

Well, I can't think of an answer to that that is on the topic of Pittsburgh.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

I don't know if this is relevant (sorry if it's not)...but Austin, TX annexes land each year.

City of Austin - Annexation Process

It is certainly relevant to our subconversation on annexation, since it expands our list of cities with recent annexations from three to four. On the other hand, I think it is over thirty cities that pass Pittsburgh when you move from the MSA rankings to the incorporated city rankings, and I'm not sure exactly how many of those cities would have to have added how much land area how recently in order to convince others it was in fact legitimate to raise annexation as part of the explanation for Pittsburgh's relatively low incorporated city ranking.

[ScranBarre]

Speaking of municipal fragmentation and the need for annexation and consolidation, here's a little "digging" I did from the most recent 2007 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau:

There are 130 independent municipalities in Allegheny County. Of these, the following all have less than 5,000 residents:

1. Aleppo Twp.===> 1,254
2. Aspinwall===> 2,725
3. Avalon===> 4,849
4. Baldwin Twp.===> 2,053
5. Bell Acres===> 1,377
6. Ben Avon===> 1,760
7. Blawnox===> 1,447
8. Brackenridge===> 3,251
9. Braddock===> 2,687
10. Braddock Hills===> 1,841
11. Bradfordwoods===> 1,085
12. Bridgeville===> 4,910
13. Chalfant===> 795
14. Cheswick===> 1,754
15. Churchill===> 3,276
16. Crescent Twp.===> 2,755
17. Dravosburg===> 1,843
18. East Deer Twp.===> 1,332
19. East McKeesport===> 2,152
20. East Pittsburgh===> 1,853
21. Edgewood===> 3,037
22. Edgeworth===> 1,600
23. Elizabeth===> 1,471
24. Emsworth===> 2,393
25. Etna===> 3,589
26. Fawn Twp.===> 2,325
27. Forward Twp.===> 3,512
28. Frazer Twp.===> 1,206
29. Glassport===> 4,582
30. Glenfield===> 218
31. Green Tree===> 4,363
32. Harmar Twp.===> 3,035
33. Haysville===> 73
34. Heidelberg===> 1,149
35. Homestead===> 3,518
36. Ingram===> 3,398
37. Kilbuck Twp.===> 664
38. Leet Twp.===> 1,505
39. Leetsdale===> 1,125
40. Liberty===> 2,453
41. Lincoln===> 1,129
42. McDonald===> 382
43. Millvale===> 3,685
44. Mount Oliver===> 3,683
45. Neville Twp.===> 1,132
46. Oakdale===> 1,446
47. Ohio Twp.===> 3,993
48. Osborne===> 526
49. Pennsbury Village===> 689
50. Pitcairn===> 3,370
51. Port Vue===> 3,874
52. Rankin===> 2,124
53. Reserve Twp.===> 3,556
54. Rosslyn Farms===> 427
55. Sewickley===> 3,590
56. Sewickley Heights===> 922
57. Sewickley Hills===> 704
58. Sharpsburg===> 3,289
59. South Versailles Twp.===> 321
60. Springdale===> 3,514
61. Springdale Twp.===> 1,662
62. Tarentum===> 4,569
63. Thornburg===> 432
64. Trafford===> 34
65. Verona===> 2,864
66. Versailles===> 1,579
67. Wall===> 670
68. West Elizabeth===> 520
69. West Homestead===> 2,013
70. Whitaker===> 1,226
71. Wilmerding===> 1,966

In plain English, 71 out of 130 communities in Allegheny County (55%) are home to fewer than 5,000 residents. Residents of the other 45% of the county pay taxes to the county to be redistributed to help upkeep duplicate municipal services in the 55% of the county that has fewer than 5,000 residents. How is this at all efficient?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

In plain English, 71 out of 130 communities in Allegheny County (55%) are home to fewer than 5,000 residents. Residents of the other 45% of the county pay taxes to the county to be redistributed to help upkeep duplicate municipal services in the 55% of the county that has fewer than 5,000 residents. How is this at all efficient?

Obviously I agree given my points above. It is a truly ridiculous situation in my view, and your data does a good job demonstrating that.

[Katiana]

I agree, but I think you will find these communities are fiercely protective of their little kingdoms, and are not going to agree to any kind of actual merger. They may agree to some inter-government agreements, such as shard police, fire dept, library services, etc. I believe some of that is happening, at least in Beaver County.

[ScranBarre]

Believe me, Katiana, I am all too familiar with the "fiefdom" mentality. Here in Luzerne County we have 76 municipalities, with many of these also having fewer than 5,000 residents. Just over the county line in Moosic, a suburb of Scranton, a borough councilman was quoted several years ago as saying more or less "I'm tired of people who live outside of Moosic trying to tell us how to run our town" in response to opposition from environmental and pro-urban renewal groups when council was deciding on whether or not to approve a new mega-lifestyle center. Needless to say it passed. These little "fiefdoms" do nothing but leech off of their host cities. At least in your area, Katiana, the suburbs like Louisville, Parker, Littleton, Commerce City, etc. are all of a respectable size; you don't see dozens of little townships and boroughs out there with 2,000-5,000 residents. In Pennsylvania untold BILLIONS of dollars are wasted each year on providing duplicate police, fire, and EMS services, DPWs, mayor/council/supervisor salaries, etc. Consolidation is the key to the future in Allegheny County, but sadly far too few realize it.

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

Consolidation is the key to the future in Allegheny County, but sadly far too few realize it.

AMEN! Agreed...just wish more people were in support of it.

A little bit of info from WTAE last week:
"Allegheny County has 130 municipalities. That's more than eight states -- New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Wyoming, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island."

"Allegheny County's 43 school districts are more than you'll find in five states -- Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Utah and Nevada."

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by raynist

Someone is always going to have to drive through the city to get to the airport though. This only affects people in the east primarily. I live in the southern part and don't have to do this.

My Dislikes:
...
5. Fort Pitt Bridge/Tunnel congestion/mess

I think you could build a road to the airport that went around, rather than through the city (some sort of beltway/bypass). Part of the reason Fort Pitt Bridge/Tunnel is such a mess is that all the major highways converge on that one point right in the very heart of Downtown. If it has problems, everything else around it collapses in congestion.

(the other big reason downtown highways are a mess is the poor layout of the highway ramps and merging points)

[BrianTH]

The State and County potentially have the authority to override any small municipalities that would want to remain independent in the face of a broad consolidation. Politically, though, that means convincing enough total people in the County that consolidation would be in their best interests. I think that is doable, but not easy.