This is Consolidation?

This past week, County Executive Onorato announced the appointment of a sustainability manager for Allegheny county.

If this man is actually serious about city-county consolidation, couldn't he have worked with Mayor Ravenstahl to perhaps create a partner for the city sustainability coordinator, Lindsay Baxter, instead of attempting to re-invent the wheel at the county level? In a time of contraction of jobs and supposed efforts to reduce duplication between the city and county, our illustrious leaders are showing that they have no desire to change going forward.

As a kicker (as the PGH Comet noted), the Allegheny county position is also being paid almost double the salary of the city coordinator - $85,000 starting salary versus $45,000.

Scorecard?

Pittsburgh - 2 for being ahead of the curve and more economically minded.
County - 0 for duplicating services and wasting taxpayer money. Dan, next time, look before you jump on the bandwagon.

When the green stimulus funds were announced and given directly to cities and counties, Dan Onorato said: "That allows us to be creative." A little too creative if you ask me.