Saturday, July 17, 2010

Public Project to Improve Local Government

The Pittsburgh Foundation is launching a major initiative to gather public opinion on improving the effectiveness of the 130 municipalities in Allegheny County including Pittsburgh. Foundation President and CEO Grant Oliphant says this will be the largest-ever project seeking public input about local government improvement...
“Strong, effective local government is essential to the overall quality of life for our community."
A special new website will be launched to invite residents and organizations across the county to provide ideas on-line about critical issues including water and sewer infrastructure, emergency services, and parks and recreation.
In addition, Oliphant says 300 randomly selected individuals will take part in a daylong forum in September..."“Our goal is to canvass a full and diverse spectrum of public opinion and provide those opinions and ideas to help inform future decision-making of public officials."
He hopes that as many members of the public take part because the issues are just too important to ignore.....“Strong, effective local government is essential to the overall quality of life for our community."

Oliphant says this initiative is not intended to replace the proposed consolidation of the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County government. He says this initiative could develop proposals for improving local government efficiency in the interim. The consolidation idea was proposed 2 years ago with the backing of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Dan Onorato but has stalled.

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