Equity and Regionalism: The Impact of Government Restructuring on Communities of Color in Pittsburgh

1
Equity and Regionalism The Impact of Government
Restructuring on Communities of Color in
Pittsburgh
Keynote address for Sustainable
Pittsburgh November 19th 2004

• john a. powell
• Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties,
  Moritz College of Law
• Director, Kirwan Institute of Race and Ethnicity
• The Ohio State University
• http//www.kirwaninstitute.org/

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Introduction

• What is happening in Pittsburgh?
• An undercapitalized city within a region
  suffering from severe regional problems (sprawl,
  fragmentation, inequity, economic distress)
• A push for sustainability in the Pittsburgh
  region
• Sustainability is based on the principle of
  balancing social equity, economic growth and
  environmental health to improve the health of the
  entire region and quality of life for everyone
• Consolidation proposal as a first step toward a
  more regional approach
• Will consolidation address equity and what
  considerations are needed to assure equity is
  addressed?

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Overview of todays presentation

• What issues are impacting equity in Pittsburgh?
• What is regionalism (and consolidation)?
• What will consolidation address?
• What needs to be addressed?
• Advancing the agendawhat to do next?

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What issues are driving inequity and impacting
regional health in Pittsburgh?

• Economic transition
• Sprawl and disinvestment
• Opportunity segregation
• Fiscal inequity
• Educational inequity
• All of these factors work together to create
  cumulative barriers to Pittsburghs communities
  of color and drive the racial inequity of the
  region

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The Challenge for Pittsburgh and other Midwestern
Cities

• Pittsburgh is not Alone The challenges faced by
  Pittsburgh are not entirely unique
• Geography What Pittsburgh is facing is part of a
  larger phenomena impacting the rust belt and
  other Midwestern states
• Population loss aging population, brain drain
  of the young and educated, central city
  population loss
• Economic transition and job loss
• Regional fragmentation
• Tremendous segregation
• Sprawl and urban decline
• Extensive inequity

The Core Rust Belt Region
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Urban Hardship in the Rust Belt

• Despite the challenges shared by the rust belt,
  urban hardship (based on poverty, economic
  health, investment and population change) varies
  significantly by region and several rust belt
  cities are performing well..why?

Source An Update on Urban Hardship The Nelson
A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. State
University of New York. 2004
Most Hardship
Least Hardship
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Economic Transition in Pittsburgh

• Although employment increased in the Pittsburgh
  region during the 1990s the more recent economic
  downturn has reversed this trend
• This decline in job gains may also reverse the
  decline in out-migration from the region in the
  1990s

Source Taken from Employment Dynamics in
Metropolitan Pittsburgh 1998-2002. Carnegie
Mellon University Center for Economic
Development. October 2004
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Sprawl

• The Pittsburgh region is experiencing marginal
  population growth but is rapidly sprawling
  outwards
• Housing overproduction
• The region built 4 new housing units for every
  new household added in the 1990s
• Excessive land consumption
• The region consumed 8.5 acres of undeveloped land
  for every new household between 1982 and 1997

Source Back to Prosperity by the Brookings
Institute (2003)
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Growth and Sprawl

• Although the regions developed land has grown
  significantly in the past 60 years, population
  growth has been stagnant

Source Taken from the following presentation A
strategic vision for public transportation in
Southwestern Pennsylvania. Southwestern
Pennsylvania Commission
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Central City Disinvestment

• Like many central cities, the City of Pittsburgh
  and some older suburbs have lost population and
  investment while suburban communities grew
  throughout the past half-century

• City of Pittsburgh
• The City of Pittsburgh has lost half of its
  population since 1940
• This dramatic population loss has fueled the
  fiscal crisis facing the city
• Older Suburbs
• Population and investment loss has not been
  limited to the City and now is impacting older
  suburbs (who have fewer resources to address the
  problem)
• 55 Allegheny County municipalities (42 of the
  total local government units) have experienced
  declines in the taxable value of property since
  1980

Sources Shrinking Tax Bases Crippling Suburbs.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. March 7, 2004
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Growing Fiscal Distress and Disinvestment

• Fiscal distress and disinvestment in Allegheny
  County is not isolated to Pittsburgh and is
  spreading to other communities
• There are six officially distressed (Act 47)
  communities in Allegheny County
• Current trends of property value decline and
  rising public service costs could expand this
  number

Graphic taken from Shrinking Tax Bases Crippling
Suburbs. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. March 7, 2004
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Job Sprawl

• Job opportunities are also moving to the regions
  periphery
• In the 1990s the City of Pittsburgh added 16,000
  jobs while the suburbs added 81,000
• In 1994 over 35 of the regions jobs were found
  within 5 miles of the Pittsburgh Central Business
  District (CBD), by 2001 only 33 of the regions
  job opportunities were found this close to the
  CBD
• Since 2001, Allegheny County has experienced the
  greatest job losses in the region (over 24,000
  jobs lost)
• The rest of the region gained a net total of
  1,192 jobs during this time period, with 1,800
  new jobs in suburban Butler County (some suburban
  counties lost jobs during this time)

Source Office of Labor Market Information and
Back to Prosperity by the Brookings Institute
(2003)
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Racial Segregation

• Although residential segregation has decreased in
  recent decades, the Pittsburgh region remains
  severely segregated
• 67 of the regions African American households
  would have to relocate to fully integrate the
  regions housing stock
• Nationally, Pittsburgh was the 73rd most
  segregated region in 1989 and the 43rd most
  segregated in 2000

Source Mumford Center 2004
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Residential Segregation A closed housing market
(due to cost) for African Americans enforces
residential segregation in the region
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Opportunity Segregation

• Residential segregation is a proxy for
  segregation from opportunity such as..
• Jobs, well performing schools, services, child
  care and stable neighborhoods
• As seen in this example recent job opportunities
  are not growing in the African American
  communities
• This physical separation is a tremendous
  impediment to the 39 of African Americans with
  no automobile

Source State of Black Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
Urban League
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Fiscal Inequity

• The spatial patterns of population loss and
  disinvestment in the region produce vast
  inequities in tax value
• This fuels inequity in public services, public
  education and taxation rates for the regions
  poorest communities and most communities of color

Source Pittsburgh Metropolitics A Regional
Agenda for Community and Stability. Myron Orfield
1999
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Fiscal Inequity

• Fiscal inequity is growing between communities
  and becoming more racialized as older suburbs
  with growing minority populations become more
  distressed
• In Allegheny County the richest 25 communities
  are 5.5 times wealthier in tax base than the
  poorest 25 communities, in 1980 this disparity
  was 2.2
• African Americans are paying tax rates that are
  on average 43 higher than Whites in Allegheny
  County

Sources Local Taxes Display an Uneven Bite.
March 8, 2004 and Shrinking Tax Base Cripples
Suburbs March 7, 2004. Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Educational Inequity

• The residential segregation (and fragmentation)
  in Pittsburgh impacts school segregation
• The regions schools remain economically and
  racially segregated
• The average African American student attends a
  school that has a poverty rate of 65, for White
  students this figure is 28
• 73 of the regions African American students
  would have to change schools in order to
  desegregate the regions elementary schools

Source Mumford Center 2004
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Educational Inequity

• The limited resources and economic segregation
  found in the regions core school districts
  depresses student academic competency

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What is the solution?

• Regionalism
• Regionalism or regional strategies are the most
  effective solutions to addressing the issues
  impacting Pittsburgh and other major regions
• Racial and social inequity
• Urban/exurban sprawl
• Jurisdictional fragmentation
• Central city disinvestment
• Fiscal distress

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What is regionalism?

• Regionalism a structural approach that
  emphasizes the region as the primary geographic
  unit determining the distribution of opportunity
  and resources
• Consequently the region is the best geographic
  entity to base some level of decision-making
• Can work to enforce inequity or improve equity,
  depending on the focus of regionalism
• What is the focus?
• Economic efficiency, fiscal efficiency,
  infrastructure efficiency, environmental quality,
  racial social equity
• These goals can work in concert or in conflict
• When goals are aligned to combat inequity,
  regionalism can be powerfully effective in
  addressing racial disparities

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Why focus on the region?

• The importance of the region
• The spatial orientation of todays economy,
  housing market, infrastructure, and labor market
  are no longer locally focused
• Local conditions are under the influence of
  regional forces outside of local control
• There is a need for structures and solutions to
  better link city/suburb/exurb and reflect the
  regional economy
• Local initiatives alone are not enough

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What is regionalism addressing? Fragmentation and
Localism

• Fragmentation The fracturing of a region into
  multiple autonomous local jurisdictions of local
  government
• Localism is synonymous with fragmentation
• Many autonomous local governments directing
  policy based on an insular perspective
• Fragmentation and localism results in decision
  making that is good at the local level but
  detrimental to the region
• Decision making is on the local level
• Opportunities are allocated on a regional level,
  beyond local control
• Economic opportunity, labor force, housing
  opportunity, educational opportunity
• This creates less than optimal decisions for the
  region

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Fragmentation and Inequity

• In 1942, we had 24,500 municipalities and special
  districts in the U. S. By 2002, that number had
  more than doubled to 54,481
• Over 87,000 local units of government, school
  districts and special districts existed in 2002
  in the U.S.
• Fragmentation facilitates race and wealth
  disparity through territorial segregation and
  fiscal separation
• It is the control of the following that matters
  for equity
• Zoning
• Planning
• Taxation
• Education
• Public Services

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How does fragmentation localism hurt the region?

• Fragmentation and localism have worked on a
  structural level to maintain and reinforce racial
  and social inequity, encourage sprawl and central
  city abandonment
• Political fragmentation and localism exasperate
  the flow of resources to the urban periphery as
  communities compete over commercial investment
  and high income population (the favored quarter)
• Fragmentation allows communities to sort what
  people and business they wish to attract
  (strengthen economic and social isolation and
  segregation)

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How does fragmentation localism hurt the region?

• Fragmentation makes the region less economically
  competitive by restraining the labor market and
  discouraging a unified regional economic
  development strategy
• Fragmentation creates substantial redundancy in
  government services, creating fiscal
  inefficiencies for the entire region (and
  ultimately impacting the regions taxpayers)
• This factor (and depressed tax base) contributes
  to the tax disparity for African Americans in
  Allegheny County
• African Americans on average pay property tax
  rates 43 higher than Whites

Sources Local Taxes Display an Uneven Bite.
March 8, 2004 Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Fragmentation in Pittsburgh

• By multiple measures, Pittsburgh is one of the
  most fragmented regions in the nation
• The Pittsburgh MSA has over 418 local governments
  or 17.7 local governments for every 100,000
  residents in 2002
• The region ranks 1 nationally based on this
  measure
• With 130 municipalities, Allegheny County has
  more local governments per capita than any county
  in the nation
• Fragmentation is not limited to just municipal
  government but includes schools, water/sewer
  providers and dozens of special service districts

Sources In Allegheny County, towns increased
from 7 townships to 130 municipalities
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8.8.04 and Back to
Prosperity A Competitive Agenda for Renewing
Pennsylvania The Brookings Institute 2003
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Consolidation and other regional strategies

• There are multiple regional strategies to address
  fragmentation, sprawl, inequity and fiscal
  distress (consolidation is only one approach)
• Regional Governance
• Annexation
• Mergers Consolidation
• Regional Functions
• Tax base (revenue) sharing
• Opening the regional housing market
• Regional land use control
• Regional Infrastructure
• Infrastructure related growth management

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What is consolidation?

• Consolidation is a form of regionalism
• Consolidation involves either a merger of county
  and city government (including unincorporated
  land) or a merger of multiple incorporated areas
  to produce a larger government which is more
  representative of the region
• No clear model of consolidation exists
• The methods utilized vary significantly by
  community

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What is being discussed for Pittsburgh?

• Preliminary discussion around consolidation
  between the City of Pittsburgh and the County
  Government
• Discussion motivated by the City of Pittsburghs
  fiscal crisis
• Discussion still ongoing
• Creates an opportunity to address equity issues
• Need to be proactive to impact the agenda

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What is being discussed for Pittsburgh?

• What would consolidation (as being discussed)
  look like?
• Could result in combining services provided by
  the county/city and other strategies to promote
  fiscal efficiency
• The other 129 municipalities in the region are
  not being included at this point in the
  discussion
• Possibly could produce a more cohesive voice
  for economic development and spending federal
  funds
• Legitimate concerns regarding suburban interests
  overtaking the public agenda
• Consolidation Light
• Due to the lack of unincorporated land in the
  County (as found in other regions), consolidation
  would not increase population or the tax base

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Other examples of consolidation, what has been
learned?

• Consolidation has occurred in many regions and in
  both the United States and Canada
• Indianapolis, Louisville, Jacksonville,
  Nashville, Toronto, Ottawa and more
• In general, consolidation has helped in improving
  efficiency and fiscal health in many regions
  within the U.S. and in Canada
• This is a generalization based on the majority of
  research, some research contradicts these
  findings
• The discrepancy is due to the difference in types
  of consolidation and varying local economic
  conditions

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Consolidation and Positive Outcomes

• Economic development
• Research has found consolidation in Indianapolis
  to produce more efficient use of economic
  development subsidies to encourage growth
• Efficiency in government service
• Canadian consolidations have reduced disparities
  in public services between communities
• U.S. consolidation studies have found conflicting
  evidence regarding service efficiencies from
  consolidation
• Generally cost savings do occur but sometimes are
  off-set by the transitional cost of consolidating
  governments

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Consolidation and Positive Outcomes

• Reducing regional political conflict
• Consolidation in many regions has been found to
  reduce conflict over annexation and local
  competition over business investment
• Fiscal savings to tax payers
• Canadian consolidations (Ottawa, Toronto) have
  produced tax rate reductions for residents
• Tax rate reductions also occurred in Nashville
  and Lexington following consolidation

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Consolidation and Negative Outcomes

• Generally, consolidation has not helped in
  addressing equity issues such as schools, housing
  and tax disparity
• Indianapolis Unigov
• Schools originally not addressed in
  consolidation, fragmented tax districts also
  maintained, political disenfranchisement of
  African American community, the current mayor is
  seeking to expand the power of the Unigov due to
  recent fiscal crisis
• Consolidation also diluted the Democratic voting
  block within the city

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Consolidation and Negative Outcomes

• Minority representation
• In most regions, consolidation has resulted in a
  reduction in the concentration of African
  American voters (and in some cases elected
  political representation)
• Louisville
• Recent research has found suburban political
  interests (and development) to be dominating the
  political agenda at the expense of African
  American central city neighborhoods

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Have other places improved regional equity
without consolidation?

• Minneapolis-St. Paul
• The twin cities region remains highly fragmented
  (the 2nd most fragmented region per capita
  nationally) but equity has been improved through
  regionalized tax base sharing
• Additional initiatives to equalize school funding
  have also improved equity
• Portland
• Portlands regional planning authority has
  extensive power to manage growth (increasing
  inner city investment) and coordinate land use
  (providing more open housing markets)
• Both of these factors have improved equity in the
  Portland region

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Have other places improved regional equity
without consolidation?

• Pre-consolidation Louisville
• Prior to the consolidation in Louisville, the
  city and county developed an agreement to share
  occupational tax revenues and jointly manage land
  use planning and development
• During the this time period, investment increased
  significantly in Louisville and indicators of
  disparity were improved
• Source Suburbs without a city Power and
  City-County Consolidation Savitch Vogel (2004)
• Columbus
• Columbus has been proactive in utilizing its
  annexation powers (with water and sewer service
  as a bargaining chip) to expand the citys tax
  base and population
• As a result, the citys population base has
  expanded to include almost half of the regions
  population (46), in contrast Cleveland and
  Cincinnati have lost population and currently
  only contain approximately ¼ of their regional
  population base

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Lessons learned what issues would the proposed
consolidation address?

• Positive Outcomes
• Fiscal health government efficiency
• Potential to reduce redundancy in government
  services, efficiencies of scale
• Reduce cost of government services
• Relieve citys fiscal distress
• Creating a more powerful regional actor
• More potential for a unified voice in attracting
  economic development and competing for investment
• More unified strategy for use of federal funds
  and targeting public resources

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Lessons learned what issues would the proposed
consolidation not address?

• Most equity issues
• Opening the housing market
• The housing market would remain as segregated and
  closed as it is now (the county already runs the
  subsidized housing program and consolidation
  would do nothing to impact zoning control)
• Reducing tax disparity
• Consolidation alone would not foster any
  additional tax revenue sharing for the County or
  region
• Reducing educational disparity
• The racial and economic segregation found in the
  Countys 45 school districts would remain
• Sprawl and disinvestment
• Managing regional growth
• Consolidation would not have any impact on the
  regional sprawl moving opportunity and resources
  to the regions periphery

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It is crucial to address the issues impacting
equity

• Equity issues will matter most to the regions
  communities of color and are crucial to
  addressing the key problems plaguing the region
• .if regionalism isnt dealing with land use,
  fiscal disparities, housing and education then
  regionalism isnt dealing with the issues that
  count
• Rusk, David (2003). Little Boxes Limited
  Horizons A Study of Fragmented Local Governance
  in Pennsylvania Its Scope, Consequences, and
  Reforms.
• There may be significant resistance of
  communities of color to adopting a regional
  approach or policies, especially consolidation
  proposals
• Why?
• Regionalism without an explicit racial equity
  component can cause communities of color and
  low-income communities to be further marginalized
  in its pursuit through power dilution

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It is crucial to address the issues impacting
equity

• Ignoring issues of equity has hindered
  initiatives in similar regions
• In both Buffalo and Cleveland significant central
  city resistance has mounted to municipal
  consolidation and service consolidation proposals
  that dont address equity
• Buffalo Example
• "If we want to talk about regionalism, let's talk
  about regionalizing education
• Buffalo City Council member Antoine Thompson on
  his adamant resistance to plans for consolidation
  in Buffalo
• Cleveland Example
• If regionalism is to work in Northeast Ohio,
  Clevelands suburbs must help the city deal with
  unemployment, homelessness and a cash-strapped
  school systemwere wasting our time if we
  dont deal with the substantive things
• Cleveland City Council president Frank Jackson on
  his concerns about consolidating public services
  in Cleveland

Sources Jackson lays out stand on regionalism.
4.24.04 and Rust belt sister city sees reform as
a race Cleveland, Buffalo face same challenge to
remake themselves. 2.15.04. The Cleveland Plain
Dealer
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What should the agenda concerning consolidation
address?

• Consolidation can be a positive force for the
  citys fiscal health, government efficiency,
  economic development
• But equity issues must be addressed, especially
  if consolidation is to be supported by the citys
  communities of color
• Requires a multi-dimensional approach
• Consolidation combined with other regional
  solutions to address equity
• Also must include measures to assure African
  American power dilution does not occur (federated
  regionalism)
• Must address the true region
• Growth and opportunity has stretched beyond
  Allegheny County, must look to solutions that
  spread beyond the Countys borders

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Creating a regional agenda that works with
consolidation to address equity

• Advocate for consolidation of school districts
  and/or funding equalization initiatives
• Push for open housing markets
• Adopting an opportunity based affordable housing
  model for the region and reduce exclusionary
  zoning barriers
• Advocate for more tax revenue sharing
• Find ways to reduce the disparity between
  communities
• Advocate for more regional growth control
• Utilize the citys control over key
  infrastructure (sewer) to leverage for more
  growth control

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Support existing regional structures than could
function to promote equity

• Work with the existing regional structures in
  Pittsburgh to promote equity issues
• Southwestern Regional Commission
• Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization with
  responsibility for allocating 33 billion in
  federal and state funds over the next three
  decades for transportation and economic
  development
• Needs reform to assure better regional
  representation
• Allegheny Regional Asset District
• Example of tax revenue sharing (1 sales tax) for
  issues of common concern and local tax relief
• 75 million generated for supporting arts,
  recreational and cultural facilities, 75 million
  generated for local governments
• Occupational Privilege Tax
• Another form of limited tax revenue sharing,
  income tax paid by employees who come from other
  communities

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Assure power dilution does not occur for
communities of color

• Work to assure that consolidation does not result
  in power dilution for communities of color
• Federated Regionalism Approach
• Voting and representative strategies to assert
  minority rights
• Cumulative voting, decision-making bodies which
  allocate seats to assure minority representation
• Neighborhood control over allocation of resources
• Require a supermajority to approve regional
  actions

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Build coalition of support from multiple
stakeholders in the region

• Coalitions are critical if regional initiatives
  and consolidation are going to gain popular
  support
• Consider building support among key stakeholders
• The business community
• The private sector can have a significant role in
  regionalism initiatives
• Distressed older suburban communities
• Faith-based organizations

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Must look beyond Allegheny County for true
regionalism

• True regionalism must work with the entire region
• Regional growth is moving beyond Allegheny County
• This growth will hinder the Countys power in
  impacting the regions growth patterns and
  resources in the future

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Must look beyond Allegheny County for true
regionalism

• Work to expand the consolidation to Allegheny
  Countys other 129 municipalities
• Work to change state laws that are road blocks to
  future regional cooperation
• Explore opportunities for regional initiatives
  for the entire region
• Build upon the success of initiatives in
  Allegheny to approach the other regional entities
• Empower the SPC (regional MPO) to advocate for
  true regional decision making in controlling
  growth
• Leverage infrastructure (sewers, roads, transit)
  to assist in managing growth and opening housing
  markets

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Concluding Thoughts

• Consolidation will provide fiscal benefits but is
  not going to improve equity for communities of
  color or manage regional growth and revitalize
  the central city
• Must be proactive at this critical time, work to
  influence the agenda before plans are finalized
• Must devise other strategies to work alongside
  consolidation to address the crucial issues
  impacting equity in the Pittsburgh region
• Land use, housing, fiscal resources, education
• Must assure that consolidation does not
  disenfranchise the regions communities of color
• Federated regionalism

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For more information and a copy of today's
presentation please visit us on-line at
http//www.kirwaninstitute.org/