What a waste of energy!

Jason Fincke is executive director of the Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania, Inc., and former chief of staff of the Port Authority of Allegheny County.

No one wants to see this city and region grow and prosper more than I do, a lifelong Pittsburgher for more than 50 years. It's a wonderful place to live and raise a family: quality education systems, excellent health care, outstanding sports and recreational facilities, a rich and diverse history, wonderful cultural attractions, fine restaurants and shopping centers, a diverse and talented workforce, and a beautiful landscape with our hills, rivers and changing seasons.

Unfortunately, there is a flip side: overcast skies, petty politics, Monday morning quarterbacks and traffic on the Parkway East. Oh, and something else: an unwillingness to change and a compulsion to find any reason not to do something exciting and progressive, particularly when there is public funding involved.

Take a new hockey arena or the North Shore Connector, for example. Most cities would jump at the opportunity to have a new civic center built for them at little or no cost to the taxpayer. Most cities would love to boast of having a professional hockey team with the best young talent in the league. Most cities would also want to build or extend a light rail system where the federal government is paying 80 percent of the cost and construction would have minimal traffic impacts.

Most cities would see how a new arena or light rail extension would stimulate new business and development. Most cities would appreciate the number of quality jobs that such projects would create during and after their construction. Most cities would see a new arena as a lure for new entertainment or the extension of a rail system as just a stepping stone to other areas, like, say, the airport corridor or the North Hills. But alas, this is where Pittsburgh parts company with most other cities.

We would rather sit back and whine about the salaries of our hockey players or lack of public transportation. We would rather see our sports teams fail and leave the city rather than have to admit that using our tax dollars to prevent their departure would be prudent and money well spent. We would rather see our public agencies flounder from a lack of initiative or resources so that we can berate them and tell everyone how mismanaged they are. We would rather support corporations where senior management earns millions of dollars and stock options in the name of capitalism than see our tax dollars support some middle-class citizens.

Let's find every excuse not to build something. I don't like hockey so why should I support it; besides, they're all a bunch of foreigners. The Penguin owners have plenty of money. Let them pay for it, but don't raise ticket prices. And as for that North Shore Connector, it's too expensive. Let's find something that will cost four or five times as much, like an extension to Oakland. We'll surely be willing to pay for that. Besides, the T should go over the river, not under it. The view will be better and it won't leak.

Who are we kidding?

If all the nay sayers would have their way, the Steelers would still be playing at Pitt Stadium, the Pirates would have left town years ago and the only bus in town would have been Jerome Bettis. There's a reason public transportation exists. The private sector can't afford it. That's why the Port Authority was created. And as far as the North Shore tunnel goes, it's going under the Allegheny River, not the Atlantic Ocean. There are garages in Fox Chapel longer than this tunnel.

But that's just the way it is in the 'Burgh. For all that we have going for us, we just don't want too much of a good thing, and we definitely don't want it handed to us without a struggle. We need time to waste and years to complain before we succumb to progress. And if there's a penny of public funding involved, it can't possibly be a good idea or investment. How long did it take to build the East Street Valley Expressway (Parkway North)? Who would want to watch a game at Heinz Field or PNC Park? Do we really need a new airport? The subway can't possibly be safe.

No, we need to move more slowly and be more cautious when it comes to Pittsburgh. We need to create a crisis before we find the courage to act. The Penguins will have to declare bankruptcy or come within a hair of relocating. The Port Authority will threaten to eliminate service and raise fares to levels its most loyal riders can't afford.

Eventually we'll come around and progress will be made. Someday a new arena will be built and the light-rail system will cross under the Allegheny River, but not before we've wasted a lot of time, money and energy. Not before we've criticized every public official and employee in the region. Not before we've second-, third- and fourth-guessed every decision that's been made on a project. Not before our air waves and editorial columns are filled with vitriolic name calling and scapegoating.

But progress will come ... eventually. It's just a shame that we have to drag ourselves and so many others through the mud to get there.