Colin McNickle stories, Page 3

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

A contingent of Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) officials, along with local business and community leaders, is in London this week hoping to convince British Airways (BA) to expand its four-day-a-week service to seven days. But as a fresh analysis of pertinent data by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy concludes,...

Should Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) not soon make serious cost-containment efforts, state legislators who hold the purse strings should consider pulling those strings tighter to force the issue, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The renamed PRT must focus intently on the factors it can control...

Private employment in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had still not returned to pre-pandemic levels in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). And that remains a dysfunction of the same old — and same wrong — calcified government practices, concludes an analysis by the...

News that Pennsylvania’s onerous Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) will be cut by five percentage points over the next nine years is welcome and long overdue. But the questions writ large are whether the commonwealth can sustain the phasedown, from 9.99% to 4.99%, reduce other business taxes, and enact legislation...

You’ll recall that some observers in Pittsburgh pooh-poohed the prospective sale of two hallmark commercial properties owned by a North Carolina company as being any harbinger of poorer things to come for the city’s office occupancy fortunes. But a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy posits that...

One thing is clear: Passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), which had been rebounding as the covid-19 pandemic subsided, faltered in June. But another thing is quite unclear — the reason for that slippage, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “PIT is struggling to get...

The General Assembly’s steadfast refusal to mandate that every Pennsylvania county conduct regular property reassessments for tax purposes is patently unconstitutional, reiterates a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The Pennsylvania Legislature has known of the property tax problem for a long time,” says Jake Haulk, president-emeritus...

Gaming in Pennsylvania continues to be strong. But there remain cautionary examples of how existing robust state income from gambling might not end up as the be-all and end-all that some portray it down the road, warns a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(K)eep in mind...

Pennsylvania’s private employment and labor force are trailing national gains and lagging far behind the fast-growth states as the economic recovery from the covid-19 pandemic continues, finds a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And one of the root causes is the state’s latest exercise in its...

A third round of government school “emergency relief/rescue” dollars is wending its way to school districts in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Whether it is the final round of funding related to issues wrought by the covid-19 pandemic remains to be seen. But there are critically important questions that still envelop such...

Myriad challenges must be overcome if there is to be anything approaching significant passenger traffic growth at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And it’s all because some prior endemic issues are colliding with newer ones in very turbulent times, says Jake...

The Port Authority of Allegheny County’s light-rail per vehicle revenue hour costs were near the top nationally while the rail system’s share of total mass-transit trips was near the bottom of respective systems’ nationwide, concludes an analysis of pre-pandemic 2019 transit data by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And...