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Group prepares to devise a Plan C Committee to focus on economic growth of outlying counties Friday, March 13, 1998 By Dan Fitzpatrick and Ernie Hoffman, Post-Gazette Staff Writers
In what they are terming Plan C, regional leaders said yesterday that an 18-member committee would propose what economic developments should proceed in the outlying counties and how to finance them.
The news conference was called by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission and state Rep. Allen G. Kukovich, D-Manor, to announce a cooperative effort to seek economic revitalization aid.
"This is truly a bipartisan effort to improve the economy of Western Pennsylvania," Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Balya told attendees at the Westmoreland County courthouse.
The 18-member "policy committee" will include four yet-to-be-named state legislators, a representative from Gov. Ridge's office, Pittsburgh Planning Director Eloise Hirsch and commissioner chairs from nine outlying counties.
Also helping form this committee will be the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and its chairman Richard Simmons, who has agreed to identify three Pittsburgh-area business leaders to sit on the 18-person Plan C policy group.
The more than 20 elected officials at yesterday's meeting stressed that unity has replaced the divisiveness that marked the failed effort last fall to increase the sales tax in 11 counties -- the Regional Renaissance Initiative.
Money from the tax would have been used for development projects, most notably new sports stadiums and an expanded convention center in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer said yesterday's gathering was an example of what Pittsburgh and Allegheny County learned from the defeat: "We must work together.
"We even drove out here in the same car," Cranmer said, pointing to fellow Commissioner Mike Dawida and Pittsburgh Mayor Murphy.
"We as a region are joined at the hip," Cranmer said. "We share populations, we share industry. Our airport is one of the largest employers of both Beaver County and Washington County as well being a significant employer in Allegheny County."
It was Murphy who approached SPRPC Executive Director Bob Kochanowski in January, asking if SPRPC could tackle the job of identifying funding sources for projects not part of Plan B, the $803 million proposal to pay for new sports stadiums and a larger convention center.
Also at the meeting yesterday, state Rep. David Levdansky reiterated his earlier proposal to provide regional economic development funds by legalizing slot machines. He said that he'll be ready in about two weeks to introduce legislation to legalize slot machines at race tracks.
No other potential funding sources or specific projects were identified yesterday, though officials expect several others to be forthcoming.
Kukovich said the region needs to make a major change in the way funds are obtained and spent. For years, he said, it's been easy for the federal and state governments to deny requests from this area because there have been too many asking for too much.
Kukovich said officials here now must use a dual approach: think locally and act regionally.
Jim Scahill, Armstrong County commissioner and chairman of the SPRPC, said the group is in the process of preparing a comprehensive development plan that he called "a 20-year vision of our development, our hopes, our dreams and the public investments that will support that vision."
Scahill said he hopes to have a comprehensive list by fall.
The SPRPC, working with elected officials and others, recently prepared an inventory of all the development proposals within the region, Scahill said, adding: "It shocked us when we found out how many projects we actually had." The tally amounted to 531 projects.
SPRPC's board includes commissioners from eight counties and representatives from the city, state and federal government. It is this board, and other political leaders in the region who will consider recommendations made by the 18-member group and make a final determination on funding and projects.
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