That remains to be seen. Ed Rendell is a sleazy lying fucking Philly mobster thug. If you listened closely to what he said yesterday, several times he said “the commonwealth will cover that”. Well, the commonwealth is…taxpayers!
Government does not produce anything, so it cannot create wealth, it can only confiscate wealth(taxes). His “economic development fund” is taxpayer money. A “bond issue” is basically a loan that the taxpayers are on the hook to repay. I just do not trust Rendell.
As to economic development, quality of life, and retaining the young, Pittsburgh has to make some very fundamental changes(as does PA). Pittsburgh is one of the more business hostile cities thanks to 50+ years of one party rule, and the ensuing graft and corruption that accompanies that. Tom Murphy single handidly did more damage to Pittsburgh than any terrorist could have done. A city can not tax it’s way to prosperity, nor can it build it’s way there. Command economies do not work.
For there to be any kind of meaningful turnaround, Pittsburgh needs to do some serious tax cutting and service cutting. They need to break the stranglehold that the unions have on the politicians here once and for all. Taxes need to be slashed…then the economy will respond. It will take a few years, but it can be done. Many thriving cities have done it. The first few years are very painful, but the lasting result more than compensates for that.
Unfortunatly, i seriously doubt it will ever happen here. So we can build all the new sports facilities we want, but people and businesses will continue to leave.