A Delicious Coincidence

The Bookmark bookstore in downtown Oakland, CA is a great little indie with new and used books that supports their public library.  A few months back I picked up a copy of “Cheesemonger – A Life on the Wedge” by Gordon Edgar.  It finally made it into my summer reading rotation this past week.  Edgar is a punker turned cheesemonger-of-the-highest-degree.  He notes that it was thought provoking how he went from someone who simply needed a job, and found one at San Francisco’s famed Rainbow Grocery Cooperative, to a speaker at the American Cheese Society’s annual conference.  Who knew there was a cheese conference?  Who knew there was a cheese society!

And then the next day, by coincidence [though metaphysics teaches us there are no coincidences; only synchronicities] the Pittsburgh “Post Gazette” featured a story on two Pittsburgh cheesemongers attending this year’s ACA Conference.  And interestingly, their description of their first conference echoes stories Edgar relayed about his early attendance: awe over the cheese knowledge gathered and being star struck by the culinary firepower.  Here’s the link to the P-G story.  http://www.post-gazette.com/life/food/2014/08/21/Local-cheesemongers-take-a-cheese-field-trip/stories/201408180112

What’s great about the P-G piece is that it was 20 years ago that San Franciscan Edgar attended his first cheese conference, returned to his grocery cooperative and raised the bar on the City’s food culture.  That’s now happening in Pittsburgh.  All things happen in their own time so Pittsburgh might be 20 years behind the City by the Bay when it comes to food appreciation, but by my observation, it’s catching up fast.  From what I see, read and eat in Pittsburgh, the food culture has practically exploded.  What took other more recognized foodie towns decades to develop, Pittsburgh has taken on in the space of about 5 years.  Goodie foodie for us.  The momentum is unstoppable and it all goes to making Pittsburgh, like any city, a more livable and enjoyable place.

Revving Up Pittsburgh

A piece in this week’s “Pittsburgh Business Times” TechFlash section detailed a roundtable meeting Mayor Peduto hosted to discuss accelerating Pittsburgh’s technology sector.  Giving emphasis to these types of issues is a step forward and keeps this particularly important issue at the forefront.  The new Mayor should be praised for this type of initiative.

I noted the items discussed and some of the suggested actions needed to address perceived failings Pittsburgh and its region’s resources.  As a not exhaustive summary, mentioned were: lack of non-stop air service to the West Coast, a generally poor transportation grid, assistance to startups in obtaining customers, an organized marketing effort touting Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurial scene, a defined process for networking startup businesses and local resources, and consideration as “desirable” businesses those other than “high tech”.

All of these ideas are important, especially taken as a whole.  I believe I’ve made this point before: that an ecosystem needs to develop where each aspect feeds on the others and that in turn accelerates the overall economic development.  Is this circular logic?  In a way, yes.  But how did “creation” begin?  With a Big Bang we are told.  But what initiated the “big bang”?  What was the ultimate void from which the universe exploded?  No one has still answered that one.  Well, city and regional [and national] socio-economic ecosystems are similarly created, especially in a knowledge based economy that doesn’t depend on natural resource availability [as a nascent Pittsburgh did when coal, iron ore and limestone came together to start a steel industry].

I agree with one of the roundtable participants who stated with appropriate faith and belief that Pittsburgh feels like it’s on the edge of another rebirth – something is about to explode are words close to what was said.  I agree.  You can feel a big bang about to happen.

However, allow me to add an item that I still believe is most important: money.  Or a more precise definition: the local availability of financial resources, since “money” sounds a bit snarky.  One roundtable participant commented that when a local startup gets to a certain level of growth, outside investors come in and “harvest the companies and take them away”.  Well, outside investors do that everywhere and all the time.  Pittsburgh is not alone in that respect.  The financing is concentrated in the Silicon Valley, Boston, Seattle and increasingly, New York.  So that will continue until Pittsburgh develops more of an angel investor, later stage investor, and venture capitalist sub-ecosystem, shall I call it.   And while that can be encouraged by the Mayor’s office, or local economic development agencies, it mainly comes from individuals who believe in a location [Pittsburgh] and will invest their success in the efforts of others.  Here’s hoping more of those for Pittsburgh.

Free The August Wilson Center

The ongoing saga of the bankruptcy sale of the August Wilson Center is an embarrassment to Pittsburgh and hearkens back to the bad old days of industrial city machine politics.  Except that the “machine” in this case is a quasi-government agency, the Urban Redevelopment Authority.  As Pittsburgh grows into an attractive investment location for private development, the value of the URA has diminished.  But the URA, instead of realizing that their admirable efforts in previous decades have helped make this possible, is instead using this particular case to block the Center’s recovery from initial missteps in a bid to preserve their political power.

As Dollar Bank has stated in its most recent court filing, a high rise tower of some sort was always contemplated as part of the overall development.  Early in my career life I was a banker on Wall Street, schooled in the logic of lending.  I can absolutely imagine Dollar Bank staff viewing their initial loan for the Center as an investment that would ultimately be taken out – that is, paid off – by proceeds from a more fully utilized development.  I suspect it was the faith Dollar Bank placed in the ultimate growth of the downtown market that led them to make this risky loan.

The URA has already “peed on its own shoes” as they in sales situations.  By making this overall process so difficult for Dollar Bank, I can say with confidence that no other credible financial institution will ever again enter into a lending situation where the URA is involved.  By reaching for a one-sided solution they have ensured their own demise.  Further, they are denying downtown Pittsburgh the chance for a new “luxury hotel” to be built.   Think of the possibilities. We know there is demand downtown for another 4 or 5-star hotel property given the success of The Fairmount Hotel.  Marriott’s Ritz Carlton brand as well as The Fairmount’s fellow Canadian chain The Four Seasons, have holes in their listing with no properties in Pittsburgh.  Either one of those or any number of others are a natural for that space.

But the worst indictment of the URA’s actions is the obvious abuse of public funds that are involved.  That’s taxpayers’ money they are playing with and Pittsburgh and Allegheny County taxpayers should be outraged given the many budget shortfalls still coming their way.  And as part of the URA’s plan, they want the Pittsburgh Foundation to chip in some millions of dollars; money that could be put to other uses not as attractive to private investors.  Sadly I believe there is not much to be done at this point other than let this soap opera play to the end.

Organic Growth

Anyone with an interest in economic development, whether in Pittsburgh or Palo Alto or Penang, should read this piece linked below.  I believe urban history has shown us that sustainable, long lasting economic prosperity is organic.  It’s created of a place and not transferred in from somewhere else.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/at-the-watercooler/2014/07/hell-mess-with-texas-recruiting-expert-says-state.html

PIT to OAK direct!

No I am not talking about establishing non-stop airline service between Pittsburgh and Oakland, CA, although some in the Allegheny County Airport Authority would like to see that happen.  I am talking about connecting Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood with Pittsburgh International Airport, via downtown, in one continuous “spine line” light rail extension.

Hey, it’s time to dream bigger these days.  Pittsburgh is finally coming into its fully realized renaissance self.  And the rest of the world is taking notice – taking notice with their moving feet and investments, more importantly.  If Pittsburgh is to grow and keep up with other economic centers in the US, even more so with world economic capitals, it needs a better transportation grid.  While highways are realities that will be part of any overall plan, I focus on a public transport extension here.  That piece of the solution will probably require a larger tax-payer commitment as well as the political leadership to create the momentum to build it.  So here’s my call-out to political leaders like Mayor Peduto or Allegheny County Executive Fitzgerald and all other mayors and State Legislators in southwestern PA locales: start to get serious about building a world class transportation structure for a region that has not had one; at least not since river transport for humans passed.

Popular will is building for funding a better transportation infrastructure.  This past week, the “Pittsburgh Business Times” featured comments from 82 regional business leaders giving their top priority for the region leading up to the year 2020.  Out of 82 comments, 33 noted “transportation” as their top priority and out of those, 10 specifically mentioned public transport between downtown and Oakland and/or the airport.  Transport was the single issue most often mentioned and the overall percentage was 40%.

And Pittsburgh is not alone.  A reading of business publications both national and regional show transportation infrastructure is an issue of greatest concern among economic leaders, along with job creation and educational opportunities.  Economic growth is usually a positive for most citizens, raising living standards and creating opportunities for self enrichment.  But growth comes with costs and responsibilities.  Cities in Texas, of which I have personal experience, are strangling themselves in traffic problems.  Traffic is consistently listed locally as the chief complaint by ordinary voters in this economic boom State.  Pittsburgh is growing again and even though it’s current traffic issues pale in comparison with say, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta or Washington, D.C., from what I read in Pittsburgh media, traffic is considered a major problem.  But let’s go beyond relieving traffic congestion.  Emerging world capitals from Shanghai to Lagos to Rio are building clean, efficient, fast transport modes between their airports – the gateways to the rest of the globe – and their city centers.  Pittsburgh needs to do the same between its doorway to the world and its downtown economic hub and then on to its creative hub in the Oakland neighborhood.

A Cracker and Some Sweets

Recent articles have noted what I think should have been obvious from the get-go regarding the proposed Shell Oil cracker natural gas cracker plant in Beaver County: that it will have a net additive effect to the region’s [the earth’s] air pollution.  C’mon folks, all you have to do is drive along Interstate 10 from Houston to New Orleans to get an idea of what fossil fuel processing facilities can do to the environment.  The good news, as stated by Shell spokespeople, is that we know a lot more about controlling pollution today than when many of “Chemical Alley’s” facilities were built.  And as a brand new greenfield plant, the opportunity for the best technology is there.  Metropolitan areas such as New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago – not to mention Houston and New Orleans, are all home to several oil and gas processing plants and their pollution levels are better than Pittsburgh’s according to recent reports.  Once the issue of particulate pollution generated in Pittsburgh’s neighboring Midwest power plants is solved, a new cracker facility should have a relatively small effect on regional air quality.

A “sweet” couple pieces about Pittsburgh’s emergence as a “creative capital” – to use that overused moniker – appeared recently in two different sources which I have linked here.  The “Austin Business Journal” featured a reporter who touted Pittsburgh’s growing appeal in relation to Austin’s reputed hipness.  Go here:  http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/06/jans-must-reads-walkable-cities-heywood-hotel-and.html.

And in a related source piece, the “Pacific Standard” notes Pittsburgh’s rise among young creative types seeking a more affordable locale but one with “authenticity” along the lines of Brooklyn.  Go here: http://www.psmag.com/navigation/business-economics/talent-migration-work-creative-much-new-york-poor-pittsburgh-rich-82894/.

All of which makes sense to us – we’re so trend forward.

Those Who Cannot Remember the Past …

A current series of articles in the Pittsburgh “Post-Gazette” is highlighting issues around immigration to Pittsburgh in the new economy, and rightly so.  Immigration is one of this country’s seminal political issues and one that is central to the Pittsburgh region’s economic success.

But written between the lines of this and so many other pieces on Pittsburgh’s shortcomings is the subtext that, in fact, Pittsburgh’s situation is the result of some self-inflicted wounds and “the region should have known better”.  After all, look at how other regions have done it better, prima facie, their growth outstrips ours.  As usual in these pieces, there are quoted experts in the appropriate fields: everything from social sciences to economic development to corporate leadership and all of them have theories as to what Pittsburgh could have done better.

I have to question the ages and backgrounds of these people.  After reading the first two pieces in the “P-G” series I realized how old I am and how long ago was the time of Pittsburgh’s great economic upheaval – the complete death of the steel industry.  I suspect that many of the experts, especially those located in Pittsburgh, are too young to have lived through that era.  So despite the fact that I’m about to give a hint at my age, let me say I did and ….

Pittsburgh in 2014 is a modern miracle!  Detroit’s debacle in 2014 is nothing compared to the decimated economy that was Pittsburgh.  It was literally an economic collapse of “Great Depression” proportions.  I cannot exaggerate the shadow that was thrown over daily living; even the weather seemed grayer.  And yet, Pittsburgh survived.  And then it stabilized.  And now it is growing again.  The past is not prelude.  Great societies revive and renew and reinvent themselves.  Great people do as well.  As do great, truly great cities.  That’s happening in Pittsburgh now.  With acknowledgements to Santayana and exhortations from Gautama Buddha to enjoy the present moment. Peace out for now.