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Friday, March 29, 2002

By Jeffrey Cohan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The 80-page booklet bears the title "FY 2003 Allegheny County Federal Appropriation Requests."

Maybe a better title would be, "It Never Hurts To Ask."

Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey yesterday distributed the booklet and his 60-item federal funding wish list to southwestern Pennsylvania's congressional delegation.

The requests in the booklet total $271 million, with the biggest chunk, $105 million, going to transportation projects including the proposed high-speed magnetic levitation train and the North Shore Connector of the Light Rail Transit system.

Never before has the county government produced such a comprehensive, organized guide to give to the delegation.

"It makes a big difference to have a coordinated effort," said U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods. "For us, it's going to be a large help."

Other items on the list fall into the categories of security, water and sewer, economic development, work-force development, human services and public health.

The single biggest request is $28.25 million for the ongoing modernization of the Port Authority's rail system. That request is likely to be granted because the Federal Transit Administration has already agreed to fund a large portion of the $387 million light-rail project.

Roddey is seeking another $28 million to fund continued work on the region's magnetic levitation train proposal, which would offer high-speed travel between Greensburg, Downtown and Pittsburgh International Airport. That alignment is competing against a Baltimore-Washington route for $950 million in federal funding, tentatively scheduled to be awarded in May 2003.

But Roddey repeated yesterday that he has yet to receive a signal from the Bush administration about whether the federal government intends to stick to its maglev funding plans.

Outside of transportation, the biggest request is $22.5 million to further the efforts of the 3 Rivers Wet Weather Demonstration Program, which is working with 83 municipalities to stop releases of raw sewage into the county's rivers and creeks.

Roddey said sewer deficiencies in the 13-county region will cost an estimated $9.5 billion to correct.

Other funding requests of note include:

$24 million for final design work on the North Shore Connector, which would extend the Port Authority's "T" system to PNC Park and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

$22.4 million to provide housing for the homeless.

$15 million to complete the Moon Clinton Road interchange on Business Route 60, a project designed to stimulate economic development near Pittsburgh International Airport.

Roddey's wish list also features $23 million in requests for security-related projects. Included in that total is $6.9 million to create a computer center that would store backup databases for the county and its municipalities, where information would be preserved if a terrorist attack or other disaster destroys government buildings.

Another $210,000 is sought to purchase a "ballistic-engineered armored response vehicle," which Roddey joked would be transferred from the county police to the Office of Property Assessment.

This is hardly the best year ever to seek increased funding from Washington, given that the Bush administration is steering record amounts of money to defense and security to wage the war on terrorism while cutting taxes at the same time.

But Hart said Congress wants to fund development initiatives to give the economy a boost.

Roddey is planning to go to Washington April 9-10 to press for items on his 80-page wish list and to meet with new US Airways President and Chief Executive Officer David Siegel.

The county and the Port Authority jointly employ local attorney Chuck Kolling to lobby for them in Washington. The Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce also maintains a lobbying presence in Washington on behalf of the region.