James Rohr laid out his vision for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development yesterday, saying the venerable economic development group needs to be more focused and responsive to better help increase Pittsburgh's competitiveness and put the area back in the international spotlight.

James Rohr

Mr. Rohr, also chief executive officer of PNC Financial Services Group, has been closely involved in the group's planning for the last three months since taking over as conference chairman, often leading strategy meetings and having a great say in the agenda. He wants the conference, the influential business-backed public policy group that dates back to the city's initial renaissance, to no longer be the answer to "everybody's questions."

The conference, for example, cannot fix the dilapidated Fifth and Forbes shopping district, Downtown, he said. Nor does Mr. Rohr believe it should be involved in planning an event such as the Bassmaster Classic, as it did last year. The Bassmaster was a "very good thing," he said but "not particularly strategic in nature. We lost a little bit of our strategic focus.''

The conference began in 1944 as an answer to some of Pittsburgh's most severe problems -- its smoky skies, floods and a rag-tag Downtown business district. The problems were large, but the conference got it done, with help from Pittsburgh Mayor David Lawrence and banker Richard King Mellon.

But the conference has been under increased scrutiny lately from funders who fear it may be too scattered and involved in too many things. In trying to tighten the conference's focus again, Mr. Rohr outlined two major areas of concentration over the next three years: To make the region more competitive as a place to do business and live and play; and to improve Pittsburgh's image through marketing.

Many of the initiatives designed to achieve the two objectives have already been made public or are included in a preliminary work plan obtained by the Post-Gazette in January. That work plan showed the conference spending $8.2 million on 26 different projects in 2006.

Yesterday, Mr. Rohr emphasized:

Potential consolidation of the city and Allegheny County. "We have the most complicated and overburdened government structure in the United States," Mr. Rohr said, and the conference this year plans to undertake a study of where duplications exist. He mentioned the fact that the city and county both have purchasing departments, economic development departments, tax collection departments and police forces.

The preliminary work plan obtained in January showed the conference spending $480,000 this year on the issue of city-county consolidation. Mr. Rohr said a report would be issued in the next six to seven months. Conference board member and The Heinz Endowments President Max King is leading that effort.

Get business taxes down, particularly Pennsylvania's corporate net income tax, which is the second highest of any state in the United States. Mr. Rohr called that tax a "red flag" to companies considering the Pittsburgh area. "We have to get off the top of that pile," he said.

Figure out how to hook up Oakland, Hazelwood and Downtown via new transportation. It could be rail, Mr. Rohr said, citing a line that runs through Junction Hollow in Oakland. All options will be studied and a report will be issued in six months. Carnegie Mellon University President Jared Cohon is leading that effort.

Develop better education and training programs.

Aggressively pursue out-of-town life sciences, advanced materials and information technology companies and convince them to move operations here. Also, call on all big companies already here, asking what more can be done to help them expand.

The goal is to double the number of "wins" -- companies that locate in the region as result of help from the conference -- from 20 in 2005 to 40 per year by 2008. "That is a pretty heady goal," said conference Chief Executive Officer Mike Langley. John Friel, head of medical device maker Medrad, is leading that effort. January's preliminary plan allocated $2.1 million to the effort for this year.

Bring back international service to Pittsburgh International Airport.

Celebrate Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary in 2008 and use the event to generate publicity for the city and shape its identity locally and nationally. The conference's preliminary plan envisioned spending $1.6 million this year on planning for that event. But the effort, led by Marc USA President Michele Fabrizi, "has nothing to do with a party," Mr. Rohr said. Instead, it is a project designed to change "how we think about ourselves."