What a difference a year makes. Or not -- in the case of city-county consolidation.

It was 12 months ago that the citizens committee led by Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg issued its progressive plan for the future. The call for a staged approach to merging the governments of Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh was embraced by County Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Business leaders said it was necessary. Civic leaders said it was about time.

But state legislators in the city and the suburbs, along with many local officials, pretty much shrugged -- as if to say cynically that this, too, shall pass. That's a shame, because their failure to step up and support a modern form of regional government is largely what has stalled the plan and blocked it from being discussed in the Legislature for placement in a referendum.

Only the voters can enact the change and, with different forms of consolidation being floated over the years, the people's say is long overdue.

The public has heard every excuse imaginable for why this proposal is wrong. Suburbanites might have to bear the city's debt. City dwellers might lose representation in a government unit with more suburbanites. Racial minorities might not get a fair shake from the new system.

But instead of sitting down and discussing these concerns with an eye toward fixing them, local leaders merely wave them as red flags -- as a way to warn of the risks of progress. That head-in-the-sand attitude traps the city and county in the status quo -- governments that leave residents disgruntled about services, agitated about taxes and suspicious that every job and contract goes to a favored nephew or political contributor.

Although the Nordenberg plan won't wring politics out of government, it is just the ticket to streamline and modernize how government is organized. It won't even touch the dozens of other municipalities in Allegheny County; all those local fiefdoms, for better or worse, would remain.

After a year's lost opportunity, it's time for real leadership to revive interest in the merger idea. There is much to do, and too many excuses for not doing it.