"Transformational thinking,” he was saying.
If, following Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum, that being County Executive is a bully pulpit, then affable, articulate Dan Onorato is in his element. Sure, there’s a lot of political jaw-boning, and log-rolling, to running a 1.2-million-person county, the second largest in the state, but there’s also making people re-think their environs – a kind of political Dr. Phil.
“We’re our own worst enemy in this city,” he says, taking a breather in his County Courthouse conference room. “We’re harshest on ourselves – and of course that message gets transmitted to others. The good stories – the airport, for example, or the brownfields transformation -- get lost. Because of our mindset, what’s really happening is not being told. But it’s my firm belief that people want to hear good stories.
“And in Allegheny County things are going really well.”
Onorato’s in a position to know. As one of the three most powerful elected officials in the state – with the governor and Philadelphia mayor – he understands that the playing field has changed. Thirty years ago -- certainly 60 -- it was city horse pulling the county cart. Now, the opposite is true. With the county’s population base roughly four times larger than the city’s – and moving ahead at light speed -- the regional leader has moved up Grant Street, from the fifth floor of the City-County Building to the first floor of the County Courthouse.
A Fine BalanceOnorato, who will run unopposed for re-election in November (actually, having garnered a sufficient number of Republican write-ins in the May primary, he will run against himself), will have the County’s top spot through January 2012, should be decide to remain in office. He could also run again in 2011 for a third – and by law, final – term. That would have him leaving office in January, 2016.
That’s enough time for a long-term look on anybody’s calendar.
To the task, Onorato brings not only a politician’s eyes – he’s practiced in the art of the doable – but also an accountant’s pen – at the end of the day, the balance sheet has to come out right.
Outfitted with accounting and law degrees, Onorato has worked as both. Elected to City Council in 1991 from the Brighton Heights neighborhood where he and his family still live, he was re-elected four years later. After eight years on Council, in 1999 Onorato won the Allegheny County Controller’s race, taking four-year on-the-job training in how the County does business, encourages economic development, and spends – or misspends -- money. By 2003, he was ready for the top spot, winning election as County Executive.
With his first term nearly over, and a second a surety, Onorato understandably likes discussing his accomplishments. For one, he sliced some 500 positions from the County payroll – unheard-of for a Democrat in a Democratic Party stronghold like Pittsburgh. Leading the charge for Row Office reform – a source of patronage abuse since
Seneca Chief Guyasuta picked the wrong side in the French and Indian Wars – Onorato oversaw six previous political fiefdoms professionalized. “I continue to look for efficiencies in government,” he says. “If it makes sense for the taxpayers, we should do it.” Onorato pauses, knowing that those same taxpayers have a long – and understandable – history of not believing what politicians promise. “People are starting to believe that changes can be made,” he adds.
The greatest change will come from outside government, Onorato adds, as the economy – the tax generators, not the tax collectors – continues to improve.
The Long List of AccomplishmentsLeaning back in his chair, he ticks the points off his fingers, running the numbers like, well, an accountant:
“In economic development, we’ve secured more than $1.2 billion in state support for a wide range of county-wide economic development and capital construction projects. We’ve worked to keep important companies here, helping them grow, including
Westinghouse,
Medrad, Heinz, Verizon, Google,
Mitsubishi Electric,
USAirways,
NOVA Chemicals,
Lanxess,
Aethon, and American Eagle.
“In the airport area, we took some 4,000 previously worthless acres – meaning without water, sewers, and roads – and have already made 800 acres available for development – with more coming. That kind of effort has already attracted USAirways Operations’ 650 jobs. Among our many efforts, we provided some $2 million toward the Cherrington Parkway Extension to open 60 acres of land for the development of shovel-ready business sites.
“As for brownfields, the former, reclaimed industrial sites like Homestead’s Waterfront, South Side’s SouthSide Works, and Oakland’s Pittsburgh Technology Center, we’ve reclaimed some 2,000 acres, including Rankin’s famous 137-acre Carrie Furnace site. In Oakmont, we encouraged and enabled the development of 34 acres of market-rate housing. There are pockets all around the county,” Onorato adds, “McKees Rocks to Duquesne, Blawnox to Leetsdale, McKeesport to Neville Island, prime riverfront property just begging for redevelopment. We’re providing the environment clean-up and infrastructure development.” With this kind of land washed, combed, set, and ready, the market will take it from there.
It’s been a long morning’s journey into afternoon, and one might think that Onorato would tire of his subject. Hardly. Westinghouse, he points out, just brought 5,000 jobs to Southwestern Pennsylvania. US Steel’s research center came to the Waterfront. Bayer brought 500 jobs. Why? “Between infrastructure and incentives,” he says, “we can compete with North Carolina and Phoenix.”
One recent victory: when American Eagle looked for a world headquarters location, they traveled to a lot of big-ticket places. They looked in New York. They looked in Chicago. They looked in Los Angeles. Then they chose Pittsburgh’s SouthSide Works. Why? They liked the urban scale – and the access. Arts, culture, dining, wilderness, business, medicine, universities – all close, all compact -- “we’ve got it all right here,” Onorato says.
That’s what the CMU grads said when Google offered them jobs: “we like it here. We don’t want to move.”
“Intel, Microsoft, Google are all here,” Onorato says. “That says a lot about Pittsburgh.”
A lot of what it says is that some 7,000 jobs were created on his watch. “That’s our story,” he adds, smiling, thinking transformationally, “things are starting to happen.”
Abby Mendelson’s numerous books include
Ghost Dancer, a collection of short stories available at
bn.com.
Captions:
Dan Onorato on the phone
Office of the County Executive
Onorato talking with aide Kevin Evanto
Speaking with constituent
Press conference in Swissvale
Dan Onorato
Photographs copyright Brian Cohen