Keep those facts coming: Let's endow the Pittsburgh indicators project championed by the late John Craig
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John G. Craig Jr.
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Those of us who care about the future of Pittsburgh have been saddened by the loss of one of this region's champions, former Post-Gazette editor John G. Craig Jr.
The newspaper's Sunday editorial about him could not have been more aptly titled: "Citizen Craig." It has a ring that dates back to antiquity when a man's duty included not only his family and his work but also the city where he lived. And perhaps in such a classical manner, John was fond of referring to what he called "The City State of Pittsburgh."
I had the pleasure of serving as co-chair with John on The Riverlife Task Force at its inception and in the past six years as co-chair with him of Pittsburgh Today, the regional indicators project John created and led until his death.
The indicators project embodies what I believe is John's crowning journalistic achievement -- one he started after "retirement" at the age of 70. After more than 25 years with his hand on the tiller of the Post-Gazette and viewing the vagaries of the Information Age, John came to believe that a city could forge the best decisions only when its citizens and leaders were armed with the best facts.
The idea is simple: A city needs reliable information. Sifting and acquiring that information, however, is anything but simple. Today, we face all manner of bits and bytes masquerading as fact, but much of it does not bear up under scrutiny, whether due to unsound methodology or partisan motive. And too often our civic actions, while well intended, go awry for lack of a sound factual foundation.
In order to gather the best information about Pittsburgh and other cities, John cajoled a group of the region's best minds to help him gather data, which he then disseminated in a variety of media, but especially on the project's Web site PittsburghToday.org.
John won the support of the region's major universities and foundations and ultimately achieved his goal -- creating a world-class, real-time information system about our city and region.
First Published June 4, 2010 12:00 am
