optional reading

Seems like a theme this weekend. If you think the oped in the PG today by Dr. John Murray promoting city county consolidation is an important piece to read, it is.. but something that is a little more surprising was that the Trib ran a piece on Sunday looking the impact of fragmentation on school financing.

John Murray's piece is based on his role chairing the Committee to Prepare Allegheny County for the 21st Century (otherwise known as COMPAC 21) which I have here:

COMPAC21 - Preparing Allegheny County for the 21st Century. A Report to the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners by the Committee to Prepare Allegheny County for the 21st Century. January 1996

To understand COMPAC 21, here are just a few other documents that you have to read along with it to understand how it evolved in local politics:

The Vital Vote: Home Rule in Allegheny County. by Frank Lucchino. Allegheny County Controller. March 23, 1993.

Metropolitan Organization: The Allegheny County Case. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, February 1992

Aspects of Public Opinion About Cooperative Services Between the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County by James P. DeAngelis, July 1993.

Pittsburgh: A Regional City With a Local Tax Base. Executive Summary. Pennsylvania Economy League, 1982.

Strategy 21. Pittsburgh/Allegheny Economic Development Strategy to begin the 21st CENTURY. a proposal to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. June 1985

Strengthening Pennsylvania's Local Governments - Implications for the Mon Valley.Christine Altenburger, Kevin Kearns, B. Guy Peters, Prepared for the President's Conference on Mill Towns, May 5-6, 1988.