Pittsburgh, Allegheny County to explore merging

See "County, city want to merge: Ravenstahl, Onorato announce 'bold' plan" from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

I guess this is an advantage of having had the "boy mayor", Luke Ravenstahl re-elected. Because of his relative youth, he may be willing to give up power. After all, one less political body reduces the number of elected positions, and the opportunities to be the big chief--Mayor or County Executive--get reduced by one.

For most center cities in weak real estate markets, this can make sense. It can also make sense for smaller counties with a decent sized city, but mostly less developed county.

From the article:

After 17 months of study, looking at places like Louisville, Ky., where the city merged with Jefferson County in 2000, Chancellor Nordenberg issued his report yesterday and concluded that city-county consolidation "is an idea from which good things will flow."

Mr. Nordenberg's 21-page report, "Government for Growth: Forging a Bright Future -- Built on Unity, Efficiency, Equity and Equality -- for the People of Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh," made three key recommendations:

The city and county must move to end duplication of services; form a cooperation compact to guide both governments beyond the terms of the current leaders; and then ask voters to approve the consolidation through a referendum.

In embracing the recommendations, Mr. Ravenstahl and Mr. Onorato said local government consolidation is an elemental way to pull the region's economy out of a decades-old slide. "We can no longer afford the status quo," said Mr. Ravenstahl, noting talk of consolidation has "stymied" other economic development efforts. "Every time the city tries to solve a problem, the question comes up: But aren't you going to merge? We must embrace change in a historic way," said Mr. Ravenstahl, who was reluctant to embrace the concept when it was first proposed.

Citing his efforts to consolidate six of 10 county row offices and eliminate five 911 call centers, merging them into one center in Point Breeze, Mr. Onorato said he has long been a proponent of streamlining government.