AntiRust

Erie, Industry and Ayn Rand

I am not sure if this involves one of those public-private development partnerships. (I imagine it does. It almost has to.) But all politics aside, it's pretty cool. Seems that a shipbuilder named Dirk Van Enkevort is thinking about operating a new shipyard in Erie. Not for a Disney cruise ship or something designed for intimate dinner cruises, but a big damn barge. And big damn tugboat. From the Erie Times-News:

Van Enkevort, 49, met with the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority and economic development officials throughout the day to talk about details of plans for a shipyard in Erie. While nothing was signed, both sides seemed to think a deal is likely. ...

If a contract is signed, Van Enkevort Tug and Barge Co. will operate as a full-service shipyard and build a 740-foot barge and a 135-foot tug at the Erie site. Currently the business is in Escanaba, Mich., in that state's Upper Peninsula. The company, which does not have a shipyard now, employs 30.

Van Enkevort said he plans to hire 150 to 200 people if he moves to Erie.

The Port Authority has been keeping the 11-acre site and building since January, when Metro Machine announced it would not continue its $500,000-a-year lease. ...

Van Enkevort said his shipyard could start work as early as December.

His company built the Great Lakes Trader barge, which began operations in 2000. It was the first barge built on the Great Lakes in 20 years. The project, including the barge and tug, cost $38.3 million.

The barge he is hoping to build in Erie would be a sister ship to the Great Lakes Trader. It would carry up to 39,000 gross tons.

So credit where credit is due, to whomever is involved. This is not a stadium. And it is not a convention center. Erie has industry, commerce and the lake in its blood. Anything that can keep that pumping--while recognizing that the economy is not like it was in 1950 and never will be again--seems like a step in the right direction.

And you have to love any maneuver that adds someone named Dirk Van Enkevort to western Pennsylvania's economy. Sounds like some sort of improbable hero out of an improbable Ayn Rand novel. No, she wouldn't like the "partnership" either. But she'd like the big boat. I'll leave the Freudian speculation to readers.

Not sure if the folks from the Tube City Almanac are reading, but this seems like something along these lines.

Paint, Steel and the Future of Western Pennsylvania

Get thee to The Tube City Almanac. Immediately.

It's the best damn editorial I have seen in months. TCA turns a simple coat of paint into perfectly pitched musings on:

• The woefully misunderstood steel industry;
• That industry's complicated relationship with local communities;
• Recent efforts to create alternatives to that industry; and
• Just about everything else that matters

But enough of my dumpings and chumpings. Hit the link. You won't be sorry.

Note to TCA: You ought to pitch this to the Post-Gazette for the Sunday Forum section.

Beer Query: Is Pittsburgh a Mean Drunk?

Forget about politics and crime and redevelopment and smoking and (dare I say it) sports. The Post-Gazette is soliciting comments on something every right-thinking Pittsburgher views as a critical issue:

Beer.

Reporter Bob Batz Jr. is soliciting readers' favorite beer stories. (Sort of.) You can call, mail or e-mail him. The project seems geared toward discussing why you prefer one brand of beer over all the others (That is, I think he is after "stories about your favorite beer" rather than your "favorite beer stories") but your preference will surely have a lot to do with when, where and why you came to favor that beer. Sure, a lot of folks will talk about "malty finish" and "hints of beechwood infused with overtones of fruity Austrian hops." Which is great. But I suspect just as many will be more like me: We don't think about "taste" so much. (Don't get me wrong. I do like me a good, cold Straubs. A greenie back home, please. But a brownie as far away as Allegheny County.) I think we favor  cheap, plain old American beers primarily because we learned to like them in the dangerous but immensely entertaining fog of teenage excess and early-adult carousing. And we associate that taste, as unsophisticated as it might be, with reckless derring-do and other irresponsible fun. Or maybe I'm just a drunk.

Either way, I hope Batz gets an earful, a mailboxful and a screenful. I'm interested to see what the query generates. You know how they say you can tell what people are really like by getting them drunk: Their inherent niceness/meanness/anxiety/slutiness emerges. Now we get to extrapolate that theory out to a whole city. Collectively speaking, is Pittsburgh a mean drunk? A slut? A crybaby? We will soon know. But only if you send your story in. So send your stories in to Mr. Batz. How often do you get to see your drinking stories in a major metropolitan daily, other than in the police blotter?

Kane Hardwood: The Old Economy, Looking Young and Fit at 150

The Kane Republican reports that the Collins Companies are turning 150. Anyone interested in the history--and the future--of Pennsylvania industry should take a look.

The Kane Hardwood Division of Collins Pine employs 120 people in Pennsylvania alone. They grow and process wood--much of it some of the world's finest veneer. The company also owns 125,000 acres in Pennsylvania, making it the state's second-largest landowner, according to the paper.

Collins, a major player in American timber, is now based in Oregon, but got its start in the wilds of Pennsylvania in 1855. More important, Collins has never fit all that comfortably into the rapacious Big Timber sterotype activists like to portray. The company was one of the first to seek and receive certification qualifying its operations as sustainable from the Forest Stewardship Council. (A process which scored points with a lot of green groups before green groups moved the goal posts.)  Much of the company's original PA forest was set aside as a trust for the benefit of the missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Maybe you don't find business and industrial history as fascinating as I do, and maybe I drank a little too much of the Collins Kool-Aid, but I promise this is pretty neat. Collins is not a relic. It is a living, breathing company that has survived a lot. And continues to survive. By being (get this) innovative and forward looking. In an Old Economy industry. Which should be heartening for the rest of Pennsylvania. No, the company isn't perfect. But it's a whole lot better than a lot of what you see from Big Business. Judge for yourself.

OK. Back to complaining about stuff.

Kelo Decision, Meet Boogersburg

A while back I wondered how long it would be before someone used the Kelo decision to go after a wilderness area or historical property. Looks like it's happening already, although it appears to be the real deal rather than a political maneuver designed to sink Kelo.

I suspect if it succeeds, the name of the historic community will have had something to do with the public's apathy. It's Boogersburg. Seriously. I am sure it's a nice place, but it's clearly not as sexy as, say, Fallingwater or Mount Vernon.

Convention Center Redevelopment: Reality Sets In

A truly amazing story in today's Baltimore Sun. It comes regarding maneuvers to gain support for a $305 convention-center hotel built with city money: Well, it looks like no one is even pretending that the hotel will bring redevelopment anymore:

With a vote to move the publicly funded hotel bill out of committee coming as early as this afternoon, and with a close vote expected, the plan's supporters have waged an intense campaign in recent days to win over the few still-undecided council members.

Siding with inner city clergy who have demanded that if the city supports the $305 million hotel it must invest equally in efforts to combat blight, some council members who have opposed the hotel now say they will support it in exchange for redevelopment dollars.

"I see it as an opportunity to go to bat for the community," said Councilwoman Helen L. Holton. "I've thought long and hard about this. If they think this is such a great idea, ... let's spread the wealth."

So these people are saying they will build the hotel--but only if redevelopment is part of the package, too. But the hotel is supposed to be redevelopment, remember? It's supposed to bring jobs for everyone, a rising tide lifts all the boats, right? People are starting to see through that. Unfortunately, they seem willing to support it as long as they get their cut, too.

The O'Malley administration is pushing the convention center hotel, which would be the city's costliest public project, as the only way to save the faltering downtown convention center. ...

... Bishop said O'Malley is considering several ideas to improve neighborhoods, such as using part of the planned hotel's occupancy tax to fix schools, pave streets or build community parks.

I'll admit it, I am sounding like a broken record. But does anyone recall convention center backers detailing how a better facility would draw investment? Like, maybe, people who would build a hotel? And all the tax reveniue that generated would help ailing neighborhoods, uh, fix schools and pave streets? Redevelopment. Simple.

But now the city has to build a hotel to save the convention center. Apparently so the convention center can do a better job of redeveloping city neighborhoods. Which it will do, of course, but only as long as the city spends another couple hundred million dollars to redevelop the neighborhoods that need redeveloped.

Like I said. Simple.

Hello. Pittsburgh. Take notes. 

More Smoke and Mirrors from the Post-Gazette Smoke Police

Pittsburgh's paper of record offers a terribly misleading lede in today's story about the danger second-hand smoke can cause to a fetus.

It's not enough for a woman to stop smoking when she becomes pregnant, a new study suggests. To protect the developing fetus, other family members should stop smoking too, and expectant mothers should stop contact with anyone who smokes.

Well, no, that's not what it says. At least according to the story that follows. With a lot of qualifiers, it says that the smoke itself might cause the kinds of problems that people with leukemia have. And it is simply a mish-mash of data from other studies. But fine. We'll assume second-hand smoke is bad for baby. In fact, I was worried enough about that when my wife got pregnant seven months (Make that eight. Oy.) ago that I stopped smoking. Cold turkey. No patch. No bitching. The wife gave it up, obviously, so I thought I would take one for the team anyway.

But note that had I not, this study would indicate that my wife should stay out of contact with any adjacent cloud that I generate. Not that she should stay out of contact with me. For instance, we never smoked in the apartment. We went outside. So let's make this clear: Say I went outside and sucked down a lung snack. The baby would have been fine if the wife stood next to me 10 minutes later. Second-hand smoke is not so dangerous that "mothers should stop contact with anyone who smokes."

Is this just sloppy writing, or does the Post Gazette have a history of hyperventilating about the issue? Why not check out the editorial in which the fourth estate, rather than doing some reporting to check on claims that second-hand smoke kills 50,000 per year (there is no indication that the paper ever actually looked for a victim), said that bartenders and waiters exposed to it are, literally, "flirting with death." Rubbish.

Even if this new study is 100 percent accurate, this story is not. Expectant mothers do not need to cut off all contact with smokers. Not everyone who smokes is so hard-headed that they insist on smoking around pregnant mothers in their midsts. Now if only people who didn't smoke were so gracious. Note to the Post-Gazette: Take a deep breath--I know you can, you pink-lunged devils!--and drop the evangelical crap, please.

Erie's IP Site: More Details--and Questions

The Erie Times-News has more details in today's paper regarding plans for industrial development on the former International Paper site. (I finally figured out how to capture the direct link to ETN stories. Sorry for my failure to do so in the past). I posted on this issue yesterday. I admit I might have been a bit harsh (judge for yourself after reading the post and a dissenting comment), but the deal still seems a bit strange. And I continue to hold that this is a pretty inefficient way to do things. Here's part of today's story:

The potential of Erie Management Group's project was enough to grab the attention of Gov. Ed Rendell, who came to Erie on Saturday to outline a package of state incentives. Those incentives, which total $4.85 million, will allow the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. to buy about 200 acres of the former paper mill property and install the necessary infrastructure for Erie Management Group to begin developing the site.

Erie Management Group then plans to invest about $40 million to build a 50-acre industrial complex that will house those five companies. ...

...Still unclear is how much the state and GEIDC will pay Presque Isle Downs Inc. for the property.

Presque Isle Downs bought the 214-acre former home of Hammermill and International Paper in October for about $2 million and will keep 14 acres of lakefront land at the north end of the property once the sale is complete. It will also keep a strip of land west of the Greater Erie Community Action Committee charter school that will be used by the company to access the lakefront land from East Lake Road.

GEIDC executive director Monica Brower on Monday would not disclose the land purchase price until the deal is closed. That is expected to happen during the next 60 days.

But while the price isn't set, a city official said it will likely come close to the $2 million Presque Isle Downs paid for the site.

Maybe I am missing something here, but it looks like Presqueisle Downs paid $2 million for the site, took the 14 prime waterfront acres plus a strip of land for access, and now has plans to sell the land to GEIDC for--$2 million. Moreover, GEIDC seems prepared to spend several million more "to install the necessary infrastructure." I mean, that seems like a pretty sweet deal. Didn't Presqueisle just get 14 free waterfront acres and arrange for someone else to pay for infrastructure upgrades?

Granted, this is a very complex deal. And I don't have all that complex a mind. Still, I think this rises to the level of inefficiency, which was my initial charge.

And my second concern: Why doesn't Erie Management Group pay for the property and the infrastructure upgrades? They seem to think the project will fly. And I certainly hope they are right. I would love to see that property put to good use. And the jobs are desperately needed. But I am not a shareholder, and I do not stand to gain. Is this smokestack chasing in another, more complex guise?

I invite the commentor from the last post to set me straight if he/she sees this. Particularly on whether Presqueisle just managed to get 14 acres of prime waterfront property for free. I would love to report good news on industrial development. Perhaps a bit of explaining is all that's necessary. I will gladly post that explanation if it is forthcoming.

The Inner Harbor: Wild Success, or a Cautionary Tale?

I just noticed this outstanding story in the Baltimore Sun offering a retrospective on Harborplace’s first 25 years. The reporters seem far more charitable than I might have been. But it is certainly even, and I think it points to some important realities about “revitalization.”

Harborplace is widely lauded as one of the most successful redevelopment efforts in urban history. It had a lot going for it. The stuff it replaced really was blighted. Second, it is near some other very large metropolitan areas like Philly and DC, making it an easy day trip for tourists. The waterfront made it naturally conducive to restaurants and shops. There was very real political drive to get it done, and as the prototype for many similar projects that would follow, it got a lot of free and positive media. There are other selling points, but for now those will suffice.

Given this embarrassment of redevelopment riches, Harborplace as a redevelopment project must have proven an unmitigated success, right? Wrong. While the Sun’s story is largely positive, it points out some problems:

Yet while the blocks within shouting distance of the water thrived, Harborplace's magic touch never reached the vast majority of Baltimore's ailing neighborhoods. Its rush of tourists rarely ventured past its heavily trafficked promenades. "None of it solves a lot of the city's base problems. It doesn't fix schools, or solve crime or clean up the alleys," Millspaugh says. "But it does very well for this corner."

That is something of an understatement. There are places within a stone’s throw of Harborplace that are still extremely ragged. The project simply did not fix the neighborhoods it was supposed to fix. That’s why the city has been involved in a series of similarly well-intentioned—and ultimately unsuccessful—redevelopment efforts ever since.

So yes. Redevelopment officials can build a restaurant that people like. Which of course benefits the people involved in that restaurant and the people who eat there. But even in the very best of circumstances, these projects fail to deliver on their central promise: Large-scale redevelopment “synergies.” More from the Sun:

But charm doesn't make money. National chains such as the Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen and Hooters do.

While tourists didn't seem to mind, harder-to-please locals stayed away.

So we take away property from local owners and turn it over to developers so people from out of town can get pizza they like?

But, optimists say, Harborplace gave the city courage to hope.

To Gary Oster, a Baltimore-area native and Renaissance Harborplace Hotel general manager until 1996, the pavilions seemed to be whispering their hometown a message: "We can do it."

That’s the problem. No one doubts that Harborplace is prettier than what it replaced (although anyone who has been there in a while will certainly notice that the facility, which was designed in the late 70s and opened in 1980, is beginning to look like—it was designed in the late 70s opened in 1980.)

But given that it had so much going for it, and seeing that it is now operating right next to an expensive convention center, Camden Yards, Ravens Stadium, the National Aquarium, and seeing that it cost as much as it did, shouldn’t we expect such a facility to do a bit more than “whisper a message”?

Unless, of course, that message is, “Stop confiscating private property and spending gobs of public revenue on big projects that promise redevelopment but instead deliver really profitable Hooters franchises.”

The other message: If that is all Harborplace accomplished despite all it had going for it, we might want to be cautious when planning similarly ambitious projects elsewhere. Like Pittsburgh.

More Convention Center Hotel Ramblings

So the Baltimore Sun editorial board supports the city's plan to build and operate a $305 million hotel near the convention center, the one that backers say is necessary because no p[rivate developers will submit an acceptable plan. Part of the reason for that support, oddly enough, is the notion that the $305 million investment isn't really a $305 million investment.

...The O'Malley administration proposal - a city-financed hotel developed for a fee by the RLJ group and managed by Hilton - would require a city outlay of about $13 million. That figure is based on projections for a successful hotel, with revenues, room taxes and property taxes paying the debt service and excess revenue being returned to the city. The city would own the land and hotel. ...

Do urban planners have a strong track record of accurate prognostication? The ones who suggested that the convention center would draw sufficient private investment for a hotel were certainly off the mark by a good deal.

Moreover, I am not an accountant, but an outlay is still an outlay, right? If I invest $100,000 in a college education, I can't just say that I am making $900,000 simply because I might make that much more over the course of my career. That's a big "might." THe laon is still a loan. And I still owe $100,000 when I am done. And when someone asks, I say I am $100,000 in debt. My balance sheet reflects reality, not potential.

Now consider whether someone should loan me that money if I have already borrowed $500,000 to attend five colleges and dropped out every time. At some point the money is going to dry up. Or at least it should.

Urban planners have been revitalizing downtown Baltimore for decades. It's still not vital.