Colin McNickle Columns category, Page 4

Attendance matters. And a new crunching of the data comparing attendance in Pittsburgh Public Schools and others across Pennsylvania by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy yet again confirms the axiom that attendance is closely correlated to academic performance. “That is not to say that high absenteeism is the only...

Just-departed Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) Superintendent Anthony Hamlet promised “good things” when he was hired as head of the outlandishly expensive and academically struggling city school district in 2016. You might recall the prose from the 2017-22 strategic plan in which problems such as a falling graduation rate and declining...

The City of Pittsburgh has finalized how it will spend more than $335 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) money. But serious questions abound, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “With the resolutions approved and a reporting system established, there are public policy questions that remain...

Past likely being prologue for Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), a billion-dollar-plus reconfiguration of the Findlay Township facility’s landside terminal could be a very expensive failure, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Given recent history, and travel that has been negatively affected by the pandemic,...

Neither a financial nor moral (and certainly not a “good-government”) case can be made for using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the uber-rich sport of professional golf at the Oakmont Country Club, says a senior scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “In sum … there is no reasonable case...

Pittsburgh’s central business district office vacancy rate remained stubbornly high in 2021’s second quarter. And trends — those eminently controllable by public officials and those totally out of their control — are not encouraging for improvement, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. The wild card of...

It might be tempting to pronounce Pennsylvania’s economy as “recovered” as revenues rush into state tax coffers with the many effects of the coronavirus pandemic waning. Tempting, but not necessarily wise, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. For the impetus for “recovery” has been, in no...

Recently released May 2021 employment data for Greater Pittsburgh show a significant jump from the covid-depressed May 2020 level. But an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy suggests the numbers could have been even better had Pennsylvania been a Right-to-Work (RTW) state. “It is, in large part, a...

The Port Authority of Allegheny County could find itself between a rock and hard place given its rising budget, higher employee count, still-flagging ridership but higher fares and uncertain future funding, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(T)the egregiously high costs at (the Port Authority) …...

Billions of dollars in coronavirus pandemic relief money will have flowed into Pennsylvania public schools’ coffers when it’s all said and done with. But a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says plenty of questions remain and pitfalls loom large for taxpayers going forward. “(I)t is easy to...

State-sanctioned gambling appears to be on the rebound and, in fact, growing in Pennsylvania as the coronavirus pandemic wanes and life in the Keystone State returns to some semblance of normal. But that has prompted the revival of an important and evergreen question from a researcher at the Allegheny Institute...

Right-to-work (RTW) states so far have experienced a better jobs recovery than non-right-to-work (NRTW) states as the coronavirus pandemic fades, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. But a move by the federal government to effectively kill right-to-work laws “would be a disaster for the nation’s economic...

The trend is not good for the prime office vacancy rate in Pittsburgh’s central business district (CBD). And it is difficult to see things changing, given the marketplace and government policies, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Unfortunately, if the past is prologue, there appears to...

Despite repeated efforts to generate higher passenger counts at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) through subsidies to both domestic and international flights, the airport has lagged well behind the average passenger increases at the nation’s top 50 airports, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Between 2009 and...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to loosen its grip on Pennsylvania, the state’s economy appears to be strengthening. But an analysis by scholars at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy shows the rebound has been lackluster, and prospective government policies could retard it further. “Indeed, the latest statewide employment report...

Allegheny County Council could not muster enough votes to override the county executive’s veto of a mandatory paid sick-leave ordinance for private businesses. Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald said that while he supports paid sick leave, the legislation did not originate where it should have — with the county health board...

Those in some quarters are predicting dire business, consumer and commuter behavior consequences should PennDOT toll nine interstate bridges across the state to pay for much-need repairs and maintenance. But an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy suggests the effects will be relatively minimal and likely the best...

There can be no doubt that Greater Pittsburgh’s jobs situation for 2020 was, in a word, disappointing, concludes the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic warrants the lion’s share of the blame. But the Pittsburgh think tank’s analysis also puts into stark perspective a nagging fact....

The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy is reiterating its long-standing call for the state Legislature to repeal Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage law. “Many studies over the years involving many states have demonstrated the higher construction costs … that are caused by prevailing wage laws that require ‘prevailing wages and benefits’ be...

It was seven years ago this month that pension reforms for the Allegheny County Retirement System took effect. But it is not out of the woods yet and additional steps would be prudent, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. There has been no talk of...

The coronavirus pandemic hammered Pennsylvania’s economy in 2020. But the key to economic recovery — once a more predictable regimen of vaccinations is firmly in place and covid-19 begins to abate — must be a careful study in what government should and should not do, stress researchers at the Allegheny...

These hardly are halcyon days for Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). Its operations have been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. And there’s great uncertainty ahead, what with the discombobulated vaccination regimen and new covid-19 mutations being reported on a regular basis. “The board of the Allegheny County Airport Authority must take...

Concrete steps must be taken to reduce the Port Authority’s costs but also to find a better dedicated funding stream for the mass-transit agency, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Whatever the Legislature comes up with, the egregiously high costs at the Port Authority of Allegheny...

Awash in rising debt because of dubious public policies and struggling to overcome the financial effects of the continuing coronavirus pandemic, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) could find its very ability to operate in jeopardy, finds an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The PTC has been placed...

Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) yet again used fund reserves to balance its 2021 general fund budget, a practice it has employed since 2016. But the school district has a long way to go to address its high expenditures, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “PPS’ trends...