Last week Westinghouse Electric Corp., another famous industrial nameplate that was forged in Pittsburgh, made the right call in deciding to expand here.

In doing so, the nuclear energy company spurned the charms of Charlotte, N.C., in favor of a Western Pennsylvania development that will add 1,000 to 2,000 high-paying jobs (some up to $100,000 a year) to the region. That's on top of the 3,000 that Westinghouse already employs here.

To say that it's good news for southwestern Pennsylvania is an understatement. Coming as it did a day after Mellon Financial Corp. said it was merging with the Bank of New York, which might cost Pittsburgh 600 jobs in the short term, was all the sweeter.

Although Westinghouse officials, who already have a facility in Monroeville, are well acquainted with Pittsburgh's assets as a place to live, work and run a global business, it's doubtful that they would have decided to put their new engineering campus here had it not been for a competitive tax package offered by the state.

Last month the Legislature passed, and Gov. Ed Rendell signed, a bill to give 15 years of abatement on sales tax, corporate net income tax and capital stock and franchise tax to big companies that stay in Pennsylvania. Local elected officials and business leaders backed the bill as the key to winning over Westinghouse.

While we wish government didn't have to bid against competing states for business expansions and relocations, it's an economic fact of life. In this case, the economic spin-off of the thousand-plus new Westinghouse jobs, plus the strengthening of the company's already-significant presence here, will be worth the sacrifice in tax revenue.

Now it's up to Westinghouse to choose where to put its new facility -- in Monroeville or in Cranberry, the two places that insiders say are under consideration. Either way, the pivotal decision has already been made, and Pittsburgh wins.