Rich Fitzgerald: Reflecting on 12 years of service

As I near the end of my third and final term, it provides a perfect opportunity to say thank you to Allegheny County residents. It has been the privilege of my life to serve in this position, and to represent you as county executive.

Together, we have accomplished a great deal over the last 12 years. There’s no possible way to list them all, but several important ones come to mind. We’ve worked to make county government fiscally sound. And while keeping a low and stable tax rate, we invested in jobs, infrastructure and quality of life.

Job opportunities continue to grow in our diversified economy with more opportunities in more industries than at any other time in our history. In addition, according to the last census, Allegheny County’s population grew over the last decade — the first time that has happened in 60 years. And it’s growing in youth and diversity. The county saw a 20% increase in its 25-34 age group, nearly twice the national average, reflecting that we’re keeping our young people and new young people are coming. We’ve seen a nearly 80% increase in our Hispanic and Asian populations as well.

We’ve invested in infrastructure and our parks. By the end of next year, the 72 bridges that were rated “poor” will all have work completed or will be in design. For the last 10 years, we’ve met the civil engineering standards to maintain our roads, paving 414 miles in that time.

Park improvements probably have been the most noticeable. We’ve planted over 12,000 trees. We’ve painted, repaired and upgraded our shelters, pavilions, dog parks, benches, ice rinks, ski slopes, golf courses, trails, swimming pools, concert venues, meadows and more. The improvements to the parks have been noticed by 23 million visits each year.

We’ve also invested to make two of our nine parks net zero. The solar panels and other sustainable energy work done by our facilities workers will allow White Oak and Deer Lakes parks to produce more energy than they consume. We have invested in trails, in connecting communities and working with our municipal partners to that end.

While growing the economy, creating jobs and investing in our infrastructure and quality of life, we have vastly improved air quality. Our work and that of our partners has resulted in an 80% drop in hazardous air pollutants. And for the first time in this county’s history, we made EPA attainment at all eight air monitors in 2020. Then we did it again in 2021. And we did it again, even better, in 2022. And we are on track in 2023 to have better results than all three previous years.

While our economy continues to grow, one of our biggest challenges remains connecting people to jobs. Through existing partnerships and relationships with labor unions, educational institutions, businesses and others, we can address that challenge and ensure that everyone enjoys the prosperity that we are seeing in our county.

I’m not going far with my new job and will still have an opportunity to work on all of the issues that are important to me and that I’ve prioritized in the last 12 years — infrastructure, economic development, workforce growth and more. With a strong foundation, I’m bullish about what the future holds for the new administration and wish them all the best as County Executive-elect Sara Innamorato takes the reins on Jan. 2.

Thank you again for the privilege of serving as your county executive for the last 12 years. I wish you all a joyful and prosperous 2024.

Rich Fitzgerald is Allegheny County executive.