Will saving Pittsburgh solve the gas crisis? | Philly

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Will saving Pittsburgh solve the gas crisis?

I remember when gas prices began their inexorable rise a few years ago, there was a spate of stories asking how high the price of gasoline would have to go before people started changing their behavior. I think we now know the answer: $4 a gallon. As Atrios pointed out earlier today, virtually every newspaper in America is running an article about a flood of commuters flocking to trains or buses.

But for the millions of Americans who work in the suburbs or live in one without trains or inadequate bus service, that's not an option. Clearly, the best way to decrease energy use would be to get more people to live in so-called "livable cities" where stores and entertainment are walkable and where mass transit is also on the table. A place like Pittsburgh, for example. I was thinking about Pittsburgh because of this story I read the other day:

PITTSBURGH — This city has passed a grim demographic milestone: More people are dying here than are being born.

The consequences are widespread:

Hospitals are closing obstetrics wards and converting them to acute care. Local governments and other social service providers are adjusting to the emergence of entire neighborhoods where the average age is soaring, and private foundations are awarding scholarships to retain students and attract new ones.

In Pittsburgh, public school enrollment plummeted from about 70,000 two decades ago to about 30,000 and continues shrinking by about 1,000 a year.

If you've ever spent time in Pittsburgh -- as I did a generation ago as a young journalist for the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter -- you know that it's a city with a number of livable neighborhoods. The mass transit isn't quite as good as here in Philly, and I can't speak so much to the schools there, but I know the crime rate is fairly low for a big city. The New York Times story says a number of neighborhoods are well-kept and dominated now by senior citizens.

So you have to wonder what's the best way to get people out of their gas-guzzling cars and into livable cities like Pittsburgh as the available housing stock rises, and with undercrowded schools. Will the free market solve that problem at $5 gas (or $15 gas), or is their a role for government in encouraging re-population of these shrinking cities, without hurting the folks who live there now.

It's the kind of issue -- tying urban renewal to energy policy -- that nobody was talking about when gas was $1.34 a gallon. But we should be talking about it now, right?

Posted by Will Bunch @ 8:22 PM Permalink | 20 comments

Comments

Posted 10:07 PM, 05/27/2008

Archimedes

The only answer for country folk is cars (and tractors) that use less fuel. We moved from the suburbs to the country in 1995 largely because we wanted more land to garden and fewer neighbors and less traffic. We got what we wanted, but did not realize that the nearest supermarket is 5 miles away (and we are lucky to be that close, for most of the country north of us has no supermarkets at all) and it is a half-hour drive each way to see a movie or to buy an article of clothing or an electronic device of any kind. The answer to living out here is our hybrid car and shopping on line. Living a neighborhood in a city is fine for city folk, but some of us are not prepared to give up the country.

Comment removed.

Posted 06:49 AM, 05/28/2008

montani semper liberi

Batboy, calm down, your basement is safe as long as you do your chores.

Posted 07:46 AM, 05/28/2008

db_cooper

"or is their a role for government in encouraging re-population of these shrinking cities, " From what I've seen, young workers nowadays want to live in a more urban, vibrant and exciting cityscape. Not sure how government goes about accomplishing that. Places such as South Street, Manyunk and Nothern Liberties arose on their own as artists sought out run-down areas with cheap rents. The trendy types followed, shops and clubs and restaurants were next, and then the artists were priced out of the rents as a result and moved to the next run-down neighborhood to start the process all over again. But it would be hard, IMO, to re-fashion the Burg in a manner that appeals to younger workers. It's main reason for being is an old industrial town. It doesn't have proximity to New York like Philly.

Posted 08:05 AM, 05/28/2008

They're hardly cities, but I've noticed town center type developments popping up in the region. townhomes and singles built next to new shops.

Posted 08:11 AM, 05/28/2008

jmc

How dare you make your own decisions on where to live! The nerve of people moving out of out of our urban socialist utopias. I mean liberalism is great, and it's results are on display in great American landscapes such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. So please get back to the cities, or we'll encourage re-population by putting you there FDR style.

Posted 08:46 AM, 05/28/2008

montani semper liberi

Well, since socialism isn't the answer for some folks, let me suggest we follow their thinking. We could shut down the greatest socialist achievement in history, the interstate highway system. That will reverse the great exodus from the cities, hah!

Posted 09:10 AM, 05/28/2008

tockeyhockey

good point! or perhaps we could shut down the other greatest socialist achievement: the US water system, which has allowed suburban sprawl to go on unchecked in desert cities like phoenix, LA, and las vegas. my theory is that suburbanization was a socialist program. and the funny thing about suburbanization is that somehow, the people who move to them are more likely to be or to become conservatives. it's quite an interesting conundrum.

Posted 09:14 AM, 05/28/2008

E.Plebnista

...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth... Yes, the "conservatives" have given up the very things which the greatest Republican president noted that Americans gave their lives for in the Civil War. And that's sad.

Posted 09:44 AM, 05/28/2008

Politburo

Can you people have one discussion without resorting to strawmen and red herrings? No one is talking about forced moves or dictating where people can and can't live. The government encourages certain behaviors all the time through policy. Some common examples: the giant tax break given to homeowners, tax breaks based on saving for retirement (401k), health insurance premiums not being taxed, tax breaks for hybrid vehicles, etc..

Posted 10:11 AM, 05/28/2008

jmc

Politburo: We're making fun of typical liberalism. Oh my, another crisis! Someone, somewhere is a victim, and we have to do something dammit. What's the answer? Oh right, the government. They'll fix it all. Liberals try so hard to mold every aspect of our lives into what they think it should be. We think you should live in cities. We think you shouldn't eat fast food. We think you shouldn't drive SUV's. It goes on and on. Everything that isn't exactly the way liberals think it should be is a crisis that requires government intervention. Don't you get tired of it?

Posted 10:17 AM, 05/28/2008

We think gays shouldn't marry, we think abortiosn should be illegal, we think wiretaps shouldn't require warrants, we think drugs should be outlawed, we think our ports should be privatized.

Posted 10:52 AM, 05/28/2008

Politburo

You're making fun of the strawman of liberalism that you have in your heads. There's absolutely nothing in liberalism that "[tries] so hard to mold every aspect of our lives" or that says "everything that isn't the way it should be is a crisis that requires government intervention." No rational person is calling for the government to dictate where you should live, what you should eat, or what you should drive. I know it's fun to claim intellectual superiority over myths and fantasies, but don't you get tired of it?

Posted 10:53 AM, 05/28/2008

montani semper liberi

"Everything that isn't exactly the way liberals think it should be is a crisis that requires government intervention. Don't you get tired of it?".....................It all depends on what you consider a crisis, doesn't it? Conservatives fall into the same trap whenever somebody mentions islamofascists, abortions, gay sex, drugs, a teet exposed on national TV, or whatever the kids are listening to right now on their ipods. Then it's all about Government solutions to make things good and wholesome again, right? Maybe we can distinguish liberals from conservatives by their priorities for government action. Libs want government to fix economic problems by balancing wealth, cons want government to fix personal behavior by balancing freedom. In the end, government can't fix either, and we just continue to argue past each other.

Posted 11:23 AM, 05/28/2008

cavjam

tax breaks for hybrid vehicles, etc.. Posted by Politburo Part of the Cheney admin's energy package, these tax breaks were partnered with tax breaks for vehicles > $50K, mostly Hummers and other gas guzzlers. Difference - there were (are) waiting lists for hybrids, not so much for gas guzzlers; ergo the tax policy actually encouraged more gas consumption.

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About Will Bunch

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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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