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Forum: Let's kick-start waterfront development Recreational boating is one key to enlivening our rivers, says Jim Schmitt, but leaders seem only to talk about making the waterways boater-friendly Sunday, June 13, 1999
There's been a lot of talk lately about development of Pittsburgh waterways, including a recent spate of articles concerning the need for water taxis on the three rivers. As publisher of a Western Pennsylvania recreational boating magazine, I have been a longtime advocate of development of Pittsburgh-area waterways for recreational purposes. I champion any effort in that direction. But I have to ask the question: "To where would people ride the water taxis?"
Baltimore has a water taxi service that hauls 400,000 people a year around the famed Baltimore Inner Harbor. It's no wonder. The shore lines surrounding the Inner Harbor are loaded with literally hundreds of points of destination - restaurants, museums, shops, restaurants, night clubs, marinas, restaurants, amusements, amphitheaters, aquariums . . . did I mention restaurants?
Besides a handful of waterfront restaurants dotting the Allegheny River, what do Pittsburgh rivers have to offer besides the decaying Lawrence Paint building across from the Point at the foot of the Duquesne Incline? (Why doesn't the city do something right now about that hideous eyesore? If there was ever a textbook case for a city exercising its powers of eminent domain, it is that blighted building.)
The problem is twofold:
First, most of the available waterfront property is owned by a handful of people who are restricting development while the owners wait for the property to reach its full resale value (which, of course, would happen much sooner if they fostered economic development rather than thwart it).
Second, the city and county governments lack the leadership and vision of their contemporaries in Baltimore in recognizing and promoting the recreational development of its waterfront.
Cleveland is another city akin to Pittsburgh that has developed its waterfront to attract countless visitors and millions of tourist dollars to its economic and tax bases. Other cities such as St. Louis and Toledo have also developed their downtown waterfronts. But in Pittsburgh, all we get is talk . . . talk . . . talk . . . and more talk . . . but no action.
Why, when Baltimore's beautiful Inner Harbor was developed 25 years ago, is the leadership of Pittsburgh still only talking about developing the area's most abundant natural resource?
It's because - even though the area's basic industries, such as steel, collapsed over two decades ago - the city leaders still fundamentally see the area waterways as a vehicle for industrial barge traffic.
A good example is the ongoing campaign by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to curtail access to the locks on the Allegheny River now that barge traffic has declined. In fact, the corps wants to close some of the locks on the upper Allegheny, blocking passage by boat to some of the most pristine and scenic waters in the country.
The corps sees its role only as facilitating industry - essentially commercial barge traffic - while failing to see the economic impact recreational boating has on the economy of this area.
This region constitutes a huge recreational boating market. In Western Pennsylvania, there are well over 100,000 registered boats and hundreds of thousands people enjoying recreational boating, not to mention visitors from New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.
The area has well over 300 businesses directly providing products and services to the recreational boating industry, such as boating dealers, marinas, marine equipment suppliers, maintenance and repair services, canvas shops, boat rentals and bait-and-tackle shops. This doesn't include the businesses that are not directly tied to the boating industry, but which benefit economically from its existence, such as insurance agencies, lending institutions, sporting goods shops, waterfront restaurants and sign shops.
These businesses collectively employ thousands of workers and pump millions of wage and tax dollars into this economy.
It is obvious that, while recreational boating may seem like a sleepy, mom-and-pop cottage industry, it is, in fact, a huge industry in Western Pennsylvania - one which warrants the same care and feeding that the state, local and federal governments provide for other economic interests in the region.
However, the issue is much deeper than the mere spending by members of the recreational boating communities. Bringing people back to the waterfronts for all forms of recreation and enjoyment is essential to the future growth of this region. And recreational boating is a key to this development.
The presence of recreational boats in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and the famed Cleveland Flats go far in helping to create a cosmopolitan, festive atmosphere that draws millions of people and many more millions of tourist dollars to those cities each year.
But Pittsburgh has taken many actions that have resulted in discouraging waterfront development. While Baltimore and Cleveland have provided public docking facilities along their waterfronts, Pittsburgh has painted signs along the wharf at the Point that say "No Docking During Events." Where's the forward thinking in that?
The region's leadership has yet to grasp the concept that there are huge economic gains to be made for the region through the recreational development of its waterways.
Unfortunately, when looking at the slate of political candidates running for office, one pretty much sees the "usual suspects" that have been running the government from both elected and appointed offices for the past three or four decades.
We really need someone like the late Richard Caliguri. The Pittsburgh mayor forged a cooperative effort with elected and civic leaders, such as then-Gov. Dick Thornburgh and the late Sen. John Heinz, to move the city and region forward again after decades of neglect by his predecessors. But unfortunately, since his death a decade ago, no one has stepped up to fill his shoes.
We need to look to our three rivers for Renaissance III, as Cleveland, Baltimore and so many other American waterfront communities have done to reinvent their regions over the past two decades - while Pittsburgh has watched from the shoreline.
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