City Credit Rating bumped up (Pittsburgh, Taylor: appointed, neighborhoods, buying)

[pman]

seemed fitting that an article referencing one of murphy's expensive failed gambits was in the paper the same day as the credit rating improvement

The credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has bumped up Pittsburgh's credit rating three notches to A, a move that could save the city money on future borrowing by improving the city's credit profile...
S&P analyst Andrew Teras also cited the city's debt management, increase in reserves and ability to manage long-term liabilities, like pensions.
"While these trends have progressed over the last several years, we believe that, at this time, the city has demonstrated a proven ability to maintain an enhanced credit profile featuring improved financial management and planning, consistently favorable budget performance, and strong reserves and liquidity," Mr. Teras said in a press release.
But S&P cautioned that the city would be challenged to improve its credit rating by its massive debt burden and underfunded pensions.

Read more: Standard & Poor's increases Pittsburgh's credit rating to A - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

, the structure had been boarded up since Lord & Taylor closed in November 2004, four years after it opened. The city sank $11.8 million into a deal to lure the retail chain Downtown as part of former Mayor Tom Murphy's strategy to revive the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor....That is Geoffrey Leah's way of saying that the old is being used again inside the former Mellon Bank on Smithfield Street, the ornate building controversially stripped of much of its grandeur when it was converted into a Lord & Taylor department store more than a decade ago.

Read more: PNC to restore splendor of former Lord & Taylor building - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[Joe Magarac]

The agency cited ... the presence of two state-appointed oversight boards that have kept close tabs on the city's budget since the state of Pennsylvania declared it financially distressed nearly a decade ago.

That's the real key. If Murphy had been under state oversight, he would not have been able to sink $11.8 into Lord and Taylor, and more into Lazarus, while selling the city's water department to the newly-created PWSA for $30 million and essentially crippling it in the womb. If the late Bob O'Connor and council, or Ravenstahl and council, had not been under state oversight, they too would have engaged in similar shenanigans.

I can only imagine the crazy and expensive schemes that Mayor Peduto will think up and try to push through council next year. The good news is that Peduto has the self-awareness to know this: he called on the city to stay under state oversight until it gets the pension mess sorted, whereas almost every other local politician wants to be free to borrow the city back into the grave.

[pman]

Originally Posted by Joe Magarac

That's the real key. If Murphy had been under state oversight, he would not have been able to sink $11.8 into Lord and Taylor, and more into Lazarus, while selling the city's water department to the newly-created PWSA for $30 million and essentially crippling it in the womb. If the late Bob O'Connor and council, or Ravenstahl and council, had not been under state oversight, they too would have engaged in similar shenanigans.

I can only imagine the crazy and expensive schemes that Mayor Peduto will think up and try to push through council next year. The good news is that Peduto has the self-awareness to know this: he called on the city to stay under state oversight until it gets the pension mess sorted, whereas almost every other local politician wants to be free to borrow the city back into the grave.

wow

In development, the city reaches an agreement with Lazarus to build a $78 million store at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street, Downtown, with nearly $50 million of the project subsidized by the city.

http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages...7/2025308.html

mind bogglingly stupid

[pman]

just kind of highlights the insanity. $21 million dollars ($11.8 million in public money) to destroy a building poorly suited to the stated purpose, it goes on to sell for $2.5 million six years LATER! a loss of $18.5 million! anyway, not to dwell on the past, sounds like many millions of dollars later the building has a good use and design

The retailer was enticed to buy the building when former Mayor Tom Murphy devised a plan to revitalize the Fifth and Forbes avenues commercial corridor. The city sank $11.8 million of taxpayer money into the deal once May Department Stores Co. bought the building for $9.25 million from Mellon Financial Services Group in 1999.

The building's layout did not fit the needs of a retail store. Lord & Taylor made major changes, turning a building with two floors into a five-floor store. Crews removed all but four marble columns, boarded windows with drywall and installed an escalator and new elevators.

PNC bought the building in 2012 for $3.85 million from J.J. Gumberg Co., which acquired it from May Co. for $2.5 million in 2005. It had remained empty once the Lord & Taylor store closed.

Read more: PNC restores historic Downtown Pittsburgh bank building as call center | TribLIVE
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[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Joe Magarac

...while selling the city's water department to the newly-created PWSA for $30 million and essentially crippling it in the womb.

I'm not sure what that means, but now I'm afraid to turn on the sink.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I'm not sure what that means, but now I'm afraid to turn on the sink.

haha!

im not sure that was an accurate statement - did the city "sell" anything to the PWSA? i thought the PWSA was created out of Public Works. i do not know if there was any concrete advantage in doing so....BrianTH, r u out there?!?!

Dept. of Public Works takes care of roads/bridges, and snow removal, among other maintenance issues. PWSA owns and cares for storm sewer lines, inlets, catch basins, and water supply lines.

ALCOSAN takes care of all sanitary.

am i correct in the above?

and i hesitate to criticize the mistakes of the murphy administration. had those risks (lazarus, lord/taylor, etc.) materialized into successes, he'd be a genius. i guess its like a fake punt in football - a big risk, but if you win the game, you are a hero....if not, your competency is questioned. but then again, he let Lazarus into a win-win situation (for THEM).

[pman]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

...
and i hesitate to criticize the mistakes of the murphy administration. had those risks (lazarus, lord/taylor, etc.) materialized into successes, he'd be a genius. i guess its like a fake punt in football - a big risk, but if you win the game, you are a hero....if not, your competency is questioned. but then again, he let Lazarus into a win-win situation (for THEM).

not exactly like a fake punt, more like buying buggy companies at the beginning of the car era. sure, if it were bad luck then he should be given a pass, but it was quote obviously not bad luck, but a foolish deal at a time when downtown retail made no sense. worse, the reason these subsidies were "needed" was that the fundamentals didn't make sense...the less they made sense, the greater the subsidy. for a city that had debt problems are risky investments with low probability of success the right move? you very much should judge politicians by the success or failures of their gambits. in retrospect, total failure seems to be the best thing to happen to the city. it put an end to a lot of the nonsensical projects like this though

[szug-bot]

fair enough. i recall more than a decade ago someone had mentioned, either in print, or a talk show forum (i cant remember who or where) that Murphy was trying to create something for a demand that wasnt there.

downtown still isnt what it CAN be.

(oh, and its interesting that you didnt take the opportunity for a personal jab when disagreeing. your skin is thicker than a lot of others on here, young jedi).

[szug-bot]

reputation for the comment above.....

pittsburgh is unusual in that its "downtown" really offers so little to the character makeup of this area, in my most humble opin-ee-on. exactly as eschaton touched on - we have a number of vibrant centers in other neighborhoods. east liberty is practically a 'central business district' at this point. not to the extent of its glory days of the early to mid-last century, but it has quite a pulse, and growing.

in addition to carson street as an example, there is ellsworth avenue/walnut street/south highland in shadyside, a few bars and a movie theater in Squirrel Hill, etc.

there is no way i am a 'cheerleader' (as if its wrong to tout success or pride in the good of your city - if it were a canadian or european, its perfectly acceptable), but if you dont get a stirring in your loin for what we have NOW, you 1) are from somewhere else, and have no realization of how boring and negative-minded a city CAN be (and once was), 2) you refuse, either unconsciously or not, to accept the status quo, and/or 3) you just enjoy distancing yourself from appreciating the area, meaning you are just difficult and pompous (my relatives in toronto do this all the time when they are here).

i even forget what this thread is about. i suspect why some veterans (Hopes, BrianTH) are never here anymore.

[zman63]

Originally Posted by pman

seemed fitting that an article referencing one of murphy's expensive failed gambits was in the paper the same day as the credit rating improvement

Read more: Standard & Poor's increases Pittsburgh's credit rating to A - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Read more: PNC to restore splendor of former Lord & Taylor building - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is still considered a below average credit rating for a muncipality, however it is better than the junk status rating we had.