SHENANGO VALLEY Group plans meeting on future of the region

Development and municipal consolidation are just two of the topics.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- A community activist group is trying to attract 1,000 Mercer County residents to an Oct. 23 meeting to discuss the region's future.
Shenango Valley Initiative, a faith-based coalition of Shenango Valley churches formed in 1995 to take on community issues, has invited Gov. Ed Rendell to attend the session.
If the governor doesn't show up, SVI hopes to at least get a strong representation from the state's economic development arm, said Dr. Thomas Hawkins, SVI president.
To do that, SVI needs to draw a large representation of the county's residents to the meeting at 7 p.m. in St. Joseph's Church, East State Street and Case Avenue, he said, explaining why the goal has been set at 1,000 people.
The session will focus on four key issues: Economic and job development, development of a western Pennsylvania strategy for the equitable distribution of resources, consolidation and home ownership.
Job development continues to be a key SVI focus, Hawkins said, and it corresponds with the county's current efforts to update its comprehensive development plan.
That focus includes infrastructure development to prepare building sites to help attract business and industry to Mercer County, he said, citing county reports that there is very little "shovel-ready" land available for immediate development.
The cost of making infrastructure repairs and improvements may be too costly for individual municipalities, and a regional approach, such as the creation of a regional or county sewer authority, might be the best way to undertake some of that work, Hawkins said.
SVI has launched the Western Pennsylvania Organizations Working for Equitable Regional Strategies (WestPOWERS) to work with legislators to determine the best approach to ensuring the equitable distribution of resources and government funding among communities in the region. Smaller municipalities have to learn how to work with Erie and Pittsburgh to make sure they get their fair share, Hawkins said.
Consolidation will also be discussed. That will include both on a regional level such as a sewer authority and on a more local level, particularly the recently completed Shenango Valley Intergovernmental Study Committee look at consolidating the municipalities of Sharon, Farrell, Hermitage, Sharpsville and Wheatland.
SVI believes the committee should now undertake a public educational phase to inform people of its findings and SVI can help with that, Hawkins said.
Next steps
Some type of poll could be conducted first to find out how many people are familiar with the committee's work and how much public education would be required, he said. The question of consolidation should then be put on the ballot as a referendum question.
The study committee has already decided it won't be making any recommendations on the study, noting that the model consolidated municipality it created won't work financially.
Finally, SVI wants public support for its effort to launch a home ownership program targeting families with moderate incomes who could afford mortgages rather than pay rent for apartments.
Getting that group into houses would go a long way to improving the local housing stock, Hawkins said, noting that SVI is already working with local banks to make funding available for that effort.
The key to making all of these things happen is getting the public to participate, he said.