Preparing our City for the next generation:
Pittsburgh is the seat of Allegheny County and with a population of over 307 thousand, is the
second-largest city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
To prepare our City for the next generation we need to address how the City performs on
various measures of local government functions; how much it spends, taxes, how many people
it employs, its legacy costs, and its authorities and schools. The Allegheny Institute in 2004
created the concept of the Benchmark City. The Benchmark City allows for an approximation
of national norms of city governing by taking four regional hub cities from across the U.S. (Salt
Lake, Omaha, Columbus, and Charlotte) and amalgamating them together to form a construct
with which to gauge Pittsburgh’s performance.
The Allegheny Institute found in 2013 that on a per capita basis Pittsburgh spends more overall,
collects more taxes and more non-tax revenue, and spends more on police and fire than the
Benchmark City. On the key measure of general fund spending, the gap between Pittsburgh
and the Benchmark City was 46 percent ($1,539 to $1,051). When staffing levels are examined
(on a per 1000 person basis), Pittsburgh is higher on total employees, total police, and total
fire. It has higher per capita debt obligations, a lower pension funded ratio, and pays out more
in workers’ compensation. City authorities employ many more people and have much more
assets. Meanwhile, school spending and school taxes per person are considerably higher.
As Mayor, Josh will not employ the same old worn out excuse “yea but there is nothing we
can do about it” or “blame it on the county, state, or Federal government.” Josh has masters
degree in public affairs and will take bench marking seriously and find ways to work with the City
Council, labor unions, and citizen committees to prepare our city for the next generation. If we
fail in this endeavor our City will see further decay as people speak with “their feet” and leave for
cities that benchmark better.
Leadership
The flaws with city government began first and foremost with the mayor. While we have the
obvious situations with the mayor being AWOL when Pittsburgh gets a record snow and
inadequate control over the police department, the real problem is about the relationship
between the mayor and the special interests that play significant roles in the mayor’s election.
Why does Pittsburgh have higher costs when we benchmark our city against comparable cities?
It goes right back to the mayor’s inability to be an independent voice for the people because
he or she is elected by special interest. As the people’s candidate Josh will not be holding
$500 a plate fundraisers or seeking political action fund money. Josh will not be beholden
to Pittsburgh’s politically connected accounting, law, and consultancy firms. He will not be
beholden to any vendor or labor union. Josh will provide the leadership needed to consolidate,
privatize, and establish co-operative services with the county to save money for the taxpayers of
Pittsburgh.
Community security
Security is a major concern and particularly in certain communities in Pittsburgh. Josh is committed to
establish strong ties between each community and the Pittsburgh Police force.
As Mayor, Josh will be in the communities and not on Grant Street or on the golf course. He has made a
personal commitment to visit our Black communities weekly and to make sure the police force is highly
responsive to the needs of the Black Community. That includes officers who know the community and
develop a firsthand relationship with community leaders, including clergy, educators, and concerned
parents. These steps will enable the law abiding citizen to become an agent of change instead a victim of
fear.
Police Protection and Police Brutality are critical issues and involves trust. Josh is a combat veteran and
an experienced PA State Constable. The community will only respect a police force that has their back
and does not look the other way to protect special interest. Police protection and discipline starts at the
top. That is why the City of Pittsburgh has its current police department problems. When it comes to
selecting law enforcement leadership, seniority, and experience are not enough. Personal character is
critical.
When it comes to protecting our communities there will be no special interest. Josh will work with
community groups to develop criteria for the new police chief. Josh will Pittsburgh communities
involved in the selection process. In fact Josh plans to have the final candidates for police chief visit our
communities and engage in community question and answer meetings. Their ability to respond to the
community will be an important consideration.
However at the end of the day it is a myth to believe that politicians can replace the family, church, and
community organizations with more government programs. Josh will work to enable our communities
and reduce dependency on the political class.
Community services
As a resident of Pittsburgh, Josh Wander, like all residents has been subjected to plenty of “election
campaign-speak” every four years. Meanwhile, our elected political class is focused on “department
stores,” market square, and stadium venues for the good folk that visit but live in the suburbs. Josh will
continue to make Pittsburgh a fun and shopping destination but his number one priority is to serve the
residents of the city. This really does mean engaging with the community. This really does mean street
repair, snow removal, and trash removal right here in the communities we call Pittsburgh. To make
these services cost effective and responsive to the needs of Pittsburgh residents some will be privatized
and others will be combined via a cooperation agreement with Allegheny County. For example, in the
benched marked cities, Pittsburgh alone has not privatized its trash collection services.
