Yarone Zober: Innamorato needs big action for an Allegheny County that has been thinking small

In January 2024, after 12 years as Allegheny County chief executive, 64-year-old Rich “Fitz” Fitzgerald will be replaced. If voting patterns hold, his successor, in a county with a Democratic voter registration edge of 2-1 over Republicans, will be Tuesday’s newly minted Democratic nominee for the seat, 37-year-old Sara Innamorato, a woman young enough to be his daughter.

If, as the saying goes, 80% of success is showing up, Fitz’s three-term tenure gets an A for attendance. He is perhaps best known for showing up to just about any public event that will have him. If graded on accomplishment, he misses the honor roll, as the Fitz years might be remembered most for the county getting and thinking smaller.

The population of Allegheny County is getting smaller. Between 2021 and 2022, it was among the biggest population losers in the country, shrinking by over 12,000 residents in a single year. Since 2020 alone, population has declined by 1.4%.

The assets of Allegheny County, like our airport, are getting smaller. Under Fitz’s direction, $1.4 billion is being spent on shrinking the Pittsburgh International Airport’s gate capacity by 30%. On Fitz’s watch, the enrollment at the Community College of Allegheny County has shrunk in half between 2010 and 2023, from over 20,000 students to 10,000.

One of the only things to get bigger during his tenure is the Allegheny County operating budget, which has ballooned from $800 million to $1 billion since he took office.

To reverse Allegheny County’s ever-shrinking trend, Innamorato, a three-term Pennsylvania state representative, will have to think, and act, big. She certainly knows how to win big. She did not win a majority of the votes cast in a crowded, six-candidate primary field, with only 37% of the total Democratic vote count going her way. However, to get the win she had to best some of the biggest names in Pittsburgh politics. Primary runner-up County Treasurer John Weinstein had run virtually unopposed for nearly 20 years. City of Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, who came in third, has been on City of Pittsburgh ballots since 2007, with a family that has held state and federal public offices since the 1950s. To take these two on, and win, is big.

So how to translate her big win into big action after so many years of small thinking in Allegheny County?

She can act big on city/county consolidation. Pittsburgh’s popular Mayor Ed Gainey was a big supporter of Innamorato’s candidacy. Political and policy interests are aligned. Consolidation would streamline processes and eliminate red tape that slow down and hold back redevelopment efforts. Consolidation would save tens of millions of tax dollars by merging redundant city and county administrative departments, funds that could be spent to pursue growth initiatives like rebuilding distressed neighborhoods county-wide.

She can act big on economic development and job growth. Swing for the fences in recruiting businesses to Pittsburgh. Take big steps to bring Downtown Pittsburgh back to life by bringing to the table private and public Downtown stakeholders and commit to making the changes needed to bring employees back to the office, tourists back to cultural attractions and new residents to the growing number of vacant downtown buildings. Attract students back to community college by luring them with free and reduced tuition and a direct pipeline to employers.

She can act big on neighborhood main streets. Allegheny County is composed of 130 separate political subdivisions, many of which contain at least one struggling business district. The county has traditionally taken a backseat role in helping communities bring these former hubs back to life. These are the places losing population. If we want Allegheny County to grow again, we need neighborhood main streets to grow again in places like McKeesport, Braddock and Homewood. This will take a “Marshall Plan”-like effort that can be led most effectively at the county level, working with the communities in need.

On Tuesday, out of a shrinking population of 1.2 million, only 64,000 cast their ballots for Innamorato for county executive. Pretty small number.

But, right now, given the rare political alignment between city and county and the reputation she’s built beating some of the biggest names in the region, Innamorato can reverse the trend of managing decline in Allegheny County — if she takes office with big thoughts followed by big acts.

Yarone Zober served as deputy mayor and chief of staff to Pittsburgh’s mayor from 2006 through 2013 and is a former chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.