Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
Mayor says eastern communities forgotten
Brian Bowling can be reached via e-mail or at 412-325-4301.
"Monroeville is more than a retail center; we are a community that can offer a business a well-trained work force with access to all the major roads in the county," Lomeo says in his address.
Eastern communities need to band together to fight the perception that no nonretail business should locate east of the Squirrel Hill tunnels, the mayor said.
"Plum, Penn Hills, Turtle Creek, North Versailles and Wilkins Township -- I think we all have the same issues," he said.
The county recently loaned GAI Consultants Inc. $2 million so it could move its headquarters from Monroeville to The Waterfront in Homestead. The state chipped in $350,000 in grants and tax credits to move the 220 jobs west of the tunnels.
"People assume that Monroeville is strong, so why not help GAI Consultants move to The Waterfront, where they probably need businesses?" Lomeo said.
Despite the effect on his municipality, Lomeo said neither the state nor county talked to him about the deal. He learned about it from news accounts.
The county just as easily could have put together a package to keep GAI in Monroeville, Lomeo said.
Kevin Evanto, spokesman for Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, said the choice wasn't between Monroeville and Homestead.
"GAI was talking about moving out of Allegheny County altogether," he said.
While the taxes paid by the company have shifted between municipalities, the 220 people who work at the company still have jobs, he said.
The county is currently talking to Westinghouse about expanding its Monroeville facilities, and it's willing to work with the municipality on whatever goals it wants to set, Evanto said. "Nobody from Monroeville has ever called Allegheny County and asked for help," he said.
Lomeo's address points out that retail development brings in less in tax revenues and more traffic congestion than high-tech business. Evanto said a lot of other municipalities "would probably kill to have even a fraction of the retail that Monroeville has."
"If Monroeville wants to sit down and talk about shifting from an economy based on retail to one based on high-tech, we can do that. We can help them with that," Evanto said.
Lomeo said his address wasn't meant to deride the big box retailers that have located in Monroeville but rather to point out that the municipality needs an economy that doesn't rely too much on any one sector.
"I'm trying to get diversity into our business district," he said.
More East headlines
- Small towns set scene for Monroeville storyteller's new tome
- Scare-free, safe event in Monroeville draws hundreds on Halloween
- Students acquire taste for studying about fruits, veggies
- Fire chiefs mull options to continue service levels in Monroeville
- Electronic progress reports to make their way to Gateway
- Green Tree mayor, Penn Hills school director beaten
- WPIAL top seeds share fine pedigree
- Power line idea creates buzz in Plum
