Mike Huwar and Tom Melcher: Focus on critical issues in county executive race

The next Allegheny County executive will face unprecedented challenges that will affect the future of our region.

Allegheny County voters should conduct rigorous and productive job interviews with anybody who applies for the job.

To help accomplish that, the business-organized labor alliance Pittsburgh Works Together is launching an initiative intended to maintain focus on the most critical issues facing Allegheny County. Our “Your County. Your Vote. Allegheny’s Future” initiative will compile and publicize candidate policy positions, host a candidate forum and provide extensive research and analysis to help inform voters and the media.

Those issues start with Allegheny County’s unique population challenge.

Of the 50 largest metro regions in the U.S., ours is the only one where the central urban county is suffering from more deaths each year than births. At the same time, the Census Bureau estimates that the number of Allegheny County residents 65 and over has increased by nearly 20% over the past decade. Now, one in five people in the county is a senior citizen.

This aging population will place greater demands on the social services that are at the heart of county government.

A vibrant economy with robust job opportunities can provide more resources for the social safety net while attracting new residents to Allegheny County. Unfortunately, we’re falling short of where we need to be.

Federal employment data show that Allegheny County lost nearly 50,000 jobs over the past five years, more than any other county in Pennsylvania.

The central counties at the heart of the other three major metro regions in the two states — Philadelphia, Hamilton County (Cincinnati) and Franklin County (Columbus) — all performed better as well.

No matter what county- focused issue most concerns a voter — criminal justice, affordable housing, poverty and inequality — they will be easier to solve if we have a vibrant, growing economy. And they will be impossible to solve if we do not.

We saw what happened to our community when the industrial shutdowns of the ’70s and ’80s drove people from the region. We may be starting to see the same thing. Allegheny County gained population in the 2020 census thanks to people choosing to move here. But Census Bureau estimates indicate that the flow of people into the county changed to an exodus in recent years.

We think that the job- interview questions that county executive candidates should answer include:

• What, specifically, will you do to create conditions that will make private-sector companies want to locate and expand here? And since manufacturing jobs provide one of the best paths forward for those who most need economic opportunity, what will you do to support the heavy industry that is at the foundation of our economy?

• Shale gas is the economic resource that makes this region important on a global scale. At Pittsburgh International Airport, natural gas production has been combined with a solar microgrid to produce millions in revenue for the airport while cutting carbon emissions. How will you support the natural gas industry if you’re elected county executive?

• Gov. Josh Shapiro highlighted the delays in permitting that U.S. Steel faced when it wanted to invest here as a reason that he is reforming environmental permitting in Pennsylvania. Do you agree that cumbersome permitting procedures in Allegheny County discourage business investment, and if so, how would you address that?

We know that others will disagree with Pittsburgh Works’ perspective on the issues and will have other priorities. That diversity of thought is one of America’s strengths.

But anything of value doesn’t come without hard work. We all need to educate ourselves on the issues that we care about, and force candidates to give specific answers on how they would address them.

Don’t just vote based on what your neighbor or social media feed tells you, or on the personality of a candidate, or the slogans on a bumper sticker.

Learn about the issues you care about and put in the work to hire the best candidate you can. The future is too important to do anything else.

Mike Huwar is president of Peoples Natural Gas. Tom Melcher is business manager of the Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council. They co-chair Pittsburgh Works Together (pghworks.com).