Colin McNickle stories, Page 3
Colin McNickle: Darkness without dawn for Pittsburgh’s office vacancy rate?
The website writingexplained.org reminds that it was English theologian Thomas Fuller who coined the phrase “It’s always darkest before the dawn” in 1650. “The idea behind this is related to the literal of dawn,” the website notes. “Dawn (emphasis in the original) begins when the first light begins to show...
Colin McNickle: How the next Allegheny County executive can start fixing PRT
Change is in the air with the coming election of a new Allegheny County chief executive in November. And once the new leader takes office in January, he or she can help ensure that change is the operative word to begin fixing the long-out-of-step Pittsburgh Regional Transit, researchers at the...
Colin McNickle: The lose-lose situation of a $15 Pa. minimum wage
The Law of Unintended Consequences will come back to haunt Pennsylvania businesses, their workers and the commonwealth’s economy should the state nearly double the mandatory minimum wage by 2026, concludes an exhaustive analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “If the Pennsylvania Legislature enacts, and the governor signs, a...
Colin McNickle: Benefits, challenges in accelerated CNIT cuts
Legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate that would increase the rate of reduction for the onerous corporate net income tax (CNIT) has the potential to provide a triple benefit for the commonwealth, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. It could boost the economy with new...
Colin McNickle: High costs, poor results — the troubling PPS story
Despite per student annual expenditures of nearly $30,000 that rank among the state’s highest, Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) continued to be a major disappointment when it came to academic achievement in 2022, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Clearly, money is not the answer,” says...
Colin McNickle: The wrong kind of ‘growth’ for Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh’s office vacancy rate grew worse in the first quarter of 2023. And it likely will continue to do so for years, finds a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “It doesn’t appear the upward trend is going to change anytime soon,” concludes Frank Gamrat, executive director...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County does not have Pa.’s worst air quality
Allegheny County yet again has been maligned for its allegedly dangerous air quality. But this time around, it’s not from the usual suspect, that being the American Lung Association (ALA) and years of misrepresenting local air quality. No, this time it’s the University of Wisconsin, which recently claimed that Allegheny...
Colin McNickle: Reduce costs before adding new mass-transit taxes
Proposed legislation now before the House Transportation Committee in Harrisburg would enable specific counties to enact new taxes, surtaxes and fees to subsidize mass transit and fund transportation infrastructure. But a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says that as far as Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) is...
Colin McNickle: PIT’s misleading stats, rose-colored glasses
The Allegheny County Airport Authority used a misleading comparison to make it appear that passenger and operations numbers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) have improved more than they have, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. As it happens, the PIT decline in passengers from February...
Colin McNickle: The solid case for an Allegheny County reassessment
The next Allegheny County chief executive must make a critical decision on property assessments, says the research director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And it’s clear — as a matter of the state Constitution, basic fairness and repeated litigation, the latest of which is wending its way through...
Colin McNickle: 3 proposals to fix Pa. school funding mess
Now that the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has ruled the Keystone State’s school funding model does not meet the state constitutional standard of equity in education, the obvious question is “What’s next?” Sans a state Supreme Court reversal, “If the Legislature wants to focus on reducing the wide disparities in per...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh’s still stubbornly high office vacancy rates
Pittsburgh’s top-notch Downtown office vacancy rate remained stubbornly high at the end of 2022. And there are serious questions whether it will see much in the way of recovery in 2023. But one possible fix for the shortfall — a deficit pre-dating the coronavirus pandemic and further exacerbated by it...
Colin McNickle: Evergreen issues in the coming Allegheny County executive race
The race is on for Allegheny County chief executive (ACE). And a number of evergreen public policy issues — some would argue nagging — should dominate the coming debate, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(W)hile aspects of those issues may have changed, over all there...
Colin McNickle: Covid bailout dollars enabled transit inefficiencies
Mass transit use in Pittsburgh in 2022 continued to lag far behind the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And, despite the large shortfalls in recovery for Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) and many other systems, “there is apparently no urgency to...
Colin McNickle: Points of order on Gainey’s tax-exempt review
A City of Pittsburgh perhaps already licking its chops that a review of current tax-exempt properties will yield enough new tax dollars to make up for exhausted federal bailout dollars would be wise to consider looking more inward, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “If...
Colin McNickle: New steps to retiring Turnpike Commission debt
Immediate steps must be taken to begin reducing the legislatively spawned multibillion-dollar debt of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The state Legislature created this mess and should take steps to remedy the situation,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the...
Colin McNickle: The real & sobering story at PIT
The Allegheny County Airport Authority continues to paint a rosy picture of rebounding passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport. “PIT travel roars back,” part of a headline blared recently on the authority’s website. But an analysis of the latest publicly available numbers — for November 2022 — shows the Findlay...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh Public Schools must get on with right-sizing
Moving forward this year with a plan shelved two years ago to close six Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) buildings is imperative for the district to reduce its expenses for the benefit of taxpayers, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Those closures were part of a...
Colin McNickle: How to effect real change in Pa.’s failing high schools
Remedying the gross disparities in academic performance among Pennsylvania’s 634 public high schools is not a matter of throwing more money at the problem but one of returning foundational precepts to the educational process, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “What is needed is commitment...
Colin McNickle: A missed opportunity to right-size Pittsburgh Regional Transit
What can the public reasonably conclude when one of the very remedies required to help right-size the badly bloated, too-expensive and ridership-bereft Pittsburgh Regional Transit system yet again is contractually excluded from a new and too-lengthy labor agreement? That major policy changes are necessary to rein in the mass-transit agency...
Colin McNickle: Cheerleading aside, Pittsburgh International Airport’s struggles deepen
Much rah-rah-sis-boom-bahing has been coming out of the Allegheny County Airport Authority about how robust passenger and cargo traffic has been at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) as we continue to put the coronavirus pandemic behind us. But a new analysis of the latest-available numbers suggests such cheerleading is misleading, according...
Colin McNickle: The union elephant in PASSHE’s room
The 14-school Pennsylvania State System of High Education, or PASSHE, has been beset with many woes over the past dozen years. There’s the tanking enrollment. Then there’s a darn-near open acceptance policy for those who do enroll, which does a disservice to those wholly unprepared for college-level studies. PASSHE also...
Colin McNickle: PIT’s shale gas wells not living up to billing
A revenue stream once highly touted as being a double saving grace that not only helped make Pittsburgh International Airport’s (PIT) current $1.4 billion terminal modernization program possible but kept PIT from defaulting on its debt is struggling to live up to its original billing, according to a new analysis...
Colin McNickle: Right-size yourself, PRT, or see funding cut
Well past the deepest throes of the coronavirus pandemic, ridership on Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) buses and trolleys remains a shadow of its former self. And a new analysis of that paucity by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says Allegheny County’s mass-transit agency must right-size its many weak performing...
Colin McNickle: Don’t allow ‘jock tax’ ruling to strap Pittsburgh
The City of Pittsburgh should cut its losses and not appeal a Common Pleas Court ruling that found its “jock tax” unconstitutional, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Then, the city must cut its budget to help offset the loss of the proceeds previously garnered by...
