In April the blue-ribbon citizens committee chaired by Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg presented its recommendations on consolidation to the Allegheny County executive, the Pittsburgh mayor and the public.

In an important speech Tuesday before the League of Women Voters, Mr. Nordenberg gave an update on implementing the results of the group's study. Speaking gently but clearly, he described the work on consolidation so far as "a disappointment." He said it was hamstrung by "political inertia" and that there was "little momentum, if any."

In the spring County Executive Dan Onorato welcomed the report as "a golden opportunity." Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, although previously a skeptic on consolidation, also embraced the findings. But nearly half a year later nothing has happened.

Even those who have reservations about city-county consolidation acknowledge the problems. City and county agencies duplicate services when government must find ways to be more efficient. The Pittsburgh region was second only to New Orleans in population loss in the years after 2000. The region is characterized by low job growth and low wages, while the city is still under fiscal oversight by the state.

The committee's chief point was to use cooperation between Allegheny County and Pittsburgh to realize efficiency and savings through consolidation. Who could be against that?

When the mayor and county executive named the citizens committee in October 2006, they offered a ray of hope for a region in trouble in terms of economic, governmental and social health. The panel worked on the project for 18 months and presented its prescription. Now it appears that, for lack of leadership by Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and state legislators, its recommendations have fallen by the wayside.

The question is, will the region's old-time thinking be allowed to smother the effort to move on this critical issue one more time? The answer, unfortunately, seems to be yes.