This week on The Editors, a new report suggests the future of Pittsburgh's economy is in bringin manufacturing back to the city.

Dawn of a New Steel Age chronicles the Steelers coaching transition, and the Carnegie welcomes the Heinz Architectural Center.

Year after the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh, a task force reports that our economic future lies in luring manufacturing back.

In our first segment, John Craig and Steve Massey meet Doctor Robert Mehrabian, president of Carnegie Mellon, to examine the theory.

Robert nice to have you on the editors.

What we're going to talk about is this report.

It's quite created, quite a star, and it's talkin about the future of this region in terms of economic development.

Quickly.

What what is it?

Where did it come from?

Well, it's it's a white pape that, Dr.

Moravian and 13 other, business and academic leaders put together for the Allegheny Conference on our community development.

And it's more in terms of looking future and more looks in the past.

So from an economic assessment of where this region is compared to, the 24 other large metropolitan areas in the country, and that looked, from the period of 1970 through 1990.

It was pretty dismal finding that it showed that, proportionately we lost more manufacturing jobs than any of the other 24 major metropolitan areas.

We added fewer service jobs and that, we actually had a real decline in wages during that period.

And of course, we had the largest population decline as well.

So you add all those things up and that's not, a real healthy picture of a vibrant economy that's entering the, the new century with, a lot of growth.

And but one of the underpinnings of the report is that, the decline in manufacturing is probably the most significant feature because we're down to abou 11.7% of our total employment.

This region, manufacturing, it had been as high as 27%.

And studies have shown, obviously, that manufacturing creates the most wealth in terms of spin off job and in terms of good paying jobs in manufacturing alone, service industries that have grow here, on average, pay between, I believe, was, like 24 to 36% less than the manufacturing jobs that were lost.

Now, is that an accurate summary of what.

Yes, I think Steve, Steve's done a good job of summarizing it.

The only numbers I would offer is that in manufacturing jobs today, the average wages are about $37,000.

Average wages in service jobs are only like 24,500.

On the other hand, most of our growth in jobs, new jobs, which is very, very small, it's the smallest growth in total number of jobs in the nation have come.

Half of them have come in the retail trade section and in the retail trade sectio you get about $13,500 per job.

So consequently, if you look at the average wages, as Steve noted, our average wages have actually declined by about $503 during that period because of the switch from manufacturing to service to retail.

Now, let me ask you a question.

Why did you choose 20 years?

Because 20 years really gives you a picture of a long term economic viabilit and trends that you can study.

Plus, the latest dat that's available from the Census Bureau is the 1990 data that came out two years ago.

You could take 1982, 1990.

You'll get the same results between 1979 and 1985, as an example.

40 major plan closed their doors in Allegheny County and know.

Right.

Well, that's the thing that was really behind my question, because you had a period here with which everybody is very familiar with it.

The bottom fell out of things roughly in a five year period between 79, which is a high point in employment here in 1984.

So, so when you look a statistics about what happened, I mean, doesn't that skew the thing?

No, it doesn't because you have to look at it nationally.

You know, you can you can single ourselves ou there and say, well it skews you But you look at the 25 other regions in the nation during the same period and you say, what happened to them?

Well, in the nation during the same period, we created 50 million new jobs.

You know, not to belabo this point, though, because but, some researchers at Pitt have argued tha if you look from 1986 to 1992, you looking at the data that we actually have outperformed the nation in terms of jobs and growth and in fact, the census data shows that in 1991 we actually started adding population.

So we have hit our neighbo and are starting to grow again.

And they're saying that we loo at it from that point of view.

Then we actually are seeing a restructuring in our economy already.

I, I think, Steve you can argue about the numbers any way you want.

We've lost 300,000 people in our population.

12.2% of our population over the 12, 20 year period.

Now you come up and you say, over the last four years, we have gained 11,000 people, which is the number plus I don't know where they get the census because the census data only is available for 1990.

But arguing about whether we gained the 11,000 people out of 300,000 that we lost, where we actually have the largest declining population in the nation.

That's not really that important.

What is important is to recognize that we have shifted our economy in a way that is not healthy for our people.

We don't have the tax base to support our infrastructure and the services.

Our population is growing older.

We have the second highest number of people, over 65, in the nation between Tampa and Miami.

That's where we are located.

And those people see their children and their grandchildren leaving the region because they don't have jobs.

So the issue is you study tha we ought to leave that behind.

Then you go around the country, which is what we did, and looked at how other regions have been successful.

And you look at what did they do?

How did how did they create new jobs?

How did it revitalize their economy?

And then we look to the future.

The important part is to look at the data, see where how we got to where we got to.

But how do we rebuild our economy and move towards the future?

But let's let me ask you in that regard, let's take what's going on in California right now where you used to live.

Yes.

Now, they couldn't do a damn thing about that, could they?

Well, California has some unique problems, but if you look at Silico Valley, Silicon Valley lost jobs to Oregon because o the problems they were having.

Silicon Valley right now has a coordinated effort to capture jobs and create new jobs and manufacturing.

So you say that the proper strategy can also ameliorate national international trends that may affect certain citie or regions disproportionately.

Absolutely.

Look at the Rust Belt, which are the states right next to us, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc.. The Rust Belt is a very has a very viable manufacturing base and a good economy.

They export $100 billion worth of manufactured goods every year, 9 billion to Japan alone.

And there are strategies that have been put in place, coordinated strategies.

What we found that in regions.

Take Seattle as an example.

If you go to Seattle and you talk to peopl and you say, what is the vision for the economy of the future, they'll talk to you about, we're going to be a World Trade Center, and we're going to maintain our quality of life at the same time.

Everybody will talk about that.

People from Seattle go all over the country and they benchmark.

They look at how other people succeed.

You don't have to go that far.

Go to Cleveland.

Cleveland you have 20% of the employment is in manufacturing versus 12% of ours.

Why?

Because about 12 years ago they had a whole range of people that got together and decided on an agenda for Cleveland tomorrow.

And they've been working very hard to maintain their base.

Now, in our case if you compare us to Cleveland, we have assets that they don't have.

We have wonderful assets in the region.

First we have, for example, $4 billion invested in waterways and roads.

We have a history unmatched by any region in addressing our economic problems.

We did Renaissance one.

We need resonance.

On two, we did strategy 21.

There are a lot of lesson to be learned from what we did.

We have $4 billion in asset in philanthropic organizations.

We have major R&D centers.

So we have to build on our assets and find a way, a shared vision of where our economy can go in the future.

Now, I've actually written, but my sense is from looking at this report, that you conclude that we need to do something, that we need to be some kind of a manufacturing center with high value added with, with a strong technical orientation.

Is that is that fair?

That's fair.

We need to have a balanced economy.

What the report basically say that you can't have an economy that's based on service alone, because service manufacturing is the core of an industrial society.

Every manufacturing jo creates 3 to 4 associated jobs in high technology and service industries, in accounting and finance and construction.

Those are good jobs that ar created by manufacturing jobs.

And the report says that we have to have a balance economy, and we should try and rebalance our econom and create more jobs in a sector that brings real value added.

Now, in the end we just quickly before we stop in the next month, or 3 months, are you going to be sort of on the road selling this report and what's going to happen quickly?

Well, the first the report really outlines a process.

It doesn't presume to give the answers.

The process is a nine month process.

It says the first month we should take all the major stakeholders in the region, which includes business, labor, government, foundation, civic organization and develop a shared vision of where th economy of the region should go.

So that's what we're going to be watching then for the next month or so, then that for the first two.

Well, I think when you get to that we're going to have you on here again and talk about what happens next.

That's terrific.

Okay.

Thanks a lot.

The Steelers may have been a dynasty under the reign of Chuck Noll, but Bill Cowher seems determined to continue the winning tradition.

Next, Bob Smizik discusses th team's destiny and their future with Ed Bouchette at Post-Gazett Sports writer and author of Dawn of a New Steel Age.

Ed they say timing is everything, and you come ou with a book about the Steelers just when the Steelers are not only the darling of Pittsburgh, but getting a lot of national attention.

How did you come abou to write the book at this time?

Well, I planned it that way, but you're sharp.

And, actually, as you well know, we had a strike last year, a newspaper strike, and, the opportunit came along to write a book and, I got permission from John Kerry to get the Post-Gazette to do it, because they kept me employed and kept me traveling with the team.

So it was a really an opportune time to do it.

Plus, the Steelers were undergoin a huge change, as everybody in Pittsburgh knows that it was, not only Bill Cowher becoming the new coach after, Chuck Nolls, 23 years here, but Tom Donahoe becoming really the first boss in there.

Not a member of the Rooney family.

Dick Haley left.

Tom Modrak was given a new job in there.

And there was really this, this whole change in the organization.

And then the more I looked into, for example, Chuck Nolls retirement the more intriguing that became, it wasn't strictly just a, you know, I'm 60.

It's time to pack it in story.

There were really a lot of thing that led up to his retirement, and it was almost a reluctant retirement.

You know, you talk about the newspaper strike, and in fact, the book is enhanced by the newspaper strike because so many, so much of what went on during last year was not written about it, at least in the Pittsburgh media.

So there's so much new stuff in there.

There are just so many fascinating chapters.

Tell us about the Greg Lloy chapter, because that truly is i shows a different side of him.

Yeah, it's a story.

You know, I sat down with Gre and he really opened up one day, and, he came from a family.

He still doesn't know.

His fathe doesn't care to know his father.

His mother, when he was two years old, they drove up from Miami with, five of his brothers and sisters.

And she dumped them of with his, aunt and Bertha Mae.

And in Georgia.

And, she had four children of her own.

So there were ten kid brought up by this Aunt Bertha in a two bedroom apartment.

And, Greg was one of them.

And Greg went to a high school, Peach County High School in Georgia in the early 80s.

That, incredible as it sounds, it sounds like it's something out of the 50s.

They had a separate prom, for the black students and a separate prom for the white students.

The white students.

I said to Greg, where was their prom?

He said at the nice Holiday Inn.

And I said, where was yours?

He said, some YMCA camp out in the woods.

And, it's really it's kind of sad, but, and they had a black homecoming queen and a white homecoming queen.

But it really, it it kind of formed what we see of Greg today.

He became, and Jerry Glanville called him the coach of the Atlanta Falcons, the meanest man in the NFL.

And if you ever see him play on a football field, you can understand why.

I mean, he's a vicious hitter.

So I went in a little bi with him on that, how he became such a big time hitter.

And he said when he used to go to games as a kid playing midget ball and stuff, he said everybody else, their parents would be there and he didn't.

He didn't have parents as far as he was concerned, and nobody'd show up, maybe his brother or sister.

So what he did was he would try to hit the kids, the other kids, as hard as he could so that he could look up the in the stands and say, take that mom and dad about the other kids.

And that was, he is reall an interesting, interesting guy.

So is Rod Woodson.

Rod has just undergone, has been in the news for, being taunted b one of the Cincinnati Bengals.

And he should be used to that, right?

Yeah.

Rod Rod's mother is white and his late father is black.

And when he was a kid, and growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was taunted a lot about it and, learned to fight at an early ag because, he was taunted so much, and it was a really a sourc of pride to him, his heritage.

And it just made him angry when he was taunted that way.

Well, then, Rod is now married to.

He has an interracial marriage, too.

He's married to a white woman.

And, his, he was playing against Cincinnati a couple weeks ago, and Carl Pickens, the wide receiver, started taunting him about his his heritage.

And rod waited till after the game and then had words with, with Pickens.

So we're kind of seeing that that come out this fierce pride in Rod's heritage and I it was an interesting twist to racial taunting.

You know, if this team goes on to greatness and right now it's sort of on track, I think Neil O'Donnell and Bil Cowher will be linked together.

But who is the guy that really, insisted the Steelers draft?

Neil almost discovered Neil O'Donnell.

You know, that's a funny story because Chuck Noll really took an interest in Neil O'Donnell in this.

This story is going to show two things.

Number one, that Chuck still coul evaluate talent, but number two, how he and the scoutin department really there was not great communication there and they still weren't on the same page.

Chuck loved Neil.

They saw him as a classic quarterback.

His release, the, his, mannerisms, his control on the field.

And he wante to draft him in the first round.

And the scouts told him, Chuck, he.

We know you like him, but nobody else is goin to draft him in the first round.

Let's wait.

So the first round went, Chuck said, okay, let' get him too soon, yet too soon.

Let's wait.

So they had two picks in a third round, and they wanted it to to take Neil with the second pick in the third round.

But Chuck said if this guy is gone you guys are going to pay.

So they said, okay, we'll take him with the first pick in the third round.

And they did.

And both of them were right.

I mean, he lasted till the third round, but Chuck's vision was really good.

I mean, that was one one thing, Chuck.

Good spot was talent.

Ed.

Dan Rooney is I guess, in his early 60s now.

What is the future of the team as far as ownership is concerned?

Bob?

They're, they're talking they've been discussing that right now.

They did that before Art Rooney died, in 1988.

He transferred ownership to his five sons.

And the five sons and Jack McGinley owned the ball club.

Well, now that the five sons are getting older, they're starting to get concerned about what's going to happen to this team when maybe they pass on.

And, we've seen this in Chicago and in Miami, the kind of family splits that can develop once members of the family die and the shares get passed on and there's a lot of infighting going on they don't want that to happen.

So Art Rooney, the second Dan's eldest son, they think the brothers.

I talk to them, think that he is the logical guy to own this ball club with, with eithe with his father or by himself.

And they'd like to sell this to Art and his dad, Dan.

But what has happened in the meantime is the team has just soared in price.

Every National Footbal League team has soared in price.

Expansion teams cost 140 million, which pegs the Steelers at least at 140 million.

Dan Rooney and his so do not have that kind of money to start buying up these shares.

So, it's ongoing now, have loosened up the corporate ownership rules in the NFL.

So we may see some corporation also get involved, and we don't have a lot of time.

How far can this team go?

This year?

Yeah I think to the Super Bowl, Bob, I think, the game over, Buffalo Monday night, showed that this team can play at a top level against some of the top, talent and, top teams in the league.

And they did that against New Orleans, too.

I think they can goal.

Thanks for joining us.

The name of the book, Daw of a New Still Age by Ed Bouchet It's a great read.

Thanks, Bob.

The Carnegie has opened a new center dedicated to the appreciation an understanding of architecture.

Next, Donald Miller meets Christopher Monkhouse, curator of the new Heinz Architectural Center Mr., Exactly what is the center and what do you think it's, world wide significance is.

Well done.

The center was just, so founded in 1990 just opened its doors last week.

Is really meant to be a memorial to Jack Heinz given by his widow, Drew.

And it really is to build on his great interest in and commitment to architecture in this city.

We think of Heinz Hall and Dave Bennett, in which he made such a commitment to and so and in fact many of his friends have said, had had life been different he would have been an architect rather than hea of a major company here in town.

So we're building on that, that memory in that tradition and that commitment to Pittsburgh.

Therefore, we will look at architecture both past and present, beginning with Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania, and then build on that, always trying to put it in a broader national international context, which is rather easy when we consider how many architects from away, like H.H.

Richardson, right through Ludwig Mies van der Rohe have contributed to the rich architectural legacy of this city.

What would you say are the principal, features of the center?

Well, the center itself is dealing with, first of all, architectural fragments, sort of a memory garden of of of Pittsburgh's past three buildings that are, alas, no longer beautiful phrase.

Well, I think of one, actually, the Pittsburgh history and landmarks in the late 60s, early 70s built on the north side.

And we're building on that.

In fact, they've been very generous with a terrific making fragments available.

And then there's the component dealing with, architectural drawings and models.

And we have several galleries permit galleries to show I call them permanent galleries, but of course, very nature drawings as such you can't show them permanently because they're very a fugitive.

And watercolors, in fact, one of the complaints when people come to the galleries is the light levels have to be low.

But if we want these drawings to survive into the 21st century, that's part of our role to not only to exhibit, but to conserve.

And so we also have two, large conservation and, storage areas and the galleries and the special office.

And then there's a very special office in, in addition to my own office, there is the office of Frank Lloyd Wright.

This is actually rather unusual because it's the very first period room the Carnegie has ever had though, just across the street.

And of course, in the cathedral learning, we've had period rooms there for a very long time.

But for us this is particularly relevant because this is Frank Lloyd Wright's office, which he occupied in San Francisco from 1951 to 1959.

It survived until the 1980s, when the building in which it was changed hands, it was dismantled, had been in storage for the last few years, and we have the grea good fortune to bring it back, and it fills a sort of gap in a way, for Pittsburgh, because many of you probably realize that right has a real link here.

We think of Fallingwater immediately.

And the man who commissioned Fallingwater and Edgar Kaufmann, of course commissioned an office himself for his department store downtown.

And that office has just ended up in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In fact, you've written about it.

And, so in a sense, we filled in a gap with another office, but we think it's even better in a way, because it's an architect's office, and it's a direct link to Fallingwater to direct those who come here.

And and beyond that it also speaks for the unbuilt projects of Frank Lloyd Wright in Pittsburgh.

Some of you may not realize it, but he again, with Edgar Kaufman's help, produce a series of very ambitious, visionary schemes for the the triangle downtown, where the Monongahela and the Allegheny formed the Ohio.

And he and he saw a twin bridge project with a civic center as the centerpiece.

And actually, fortunately, in 1986, the Carnegie, several of four years before the Heinz Center was even thought of, acquired one of those great visionary drawings, through the help of the Women's Committee.

And so that, in a way, is the foundation store in the store, stone of the Heinz Center.

What is the siz of the permanent collection now?

Well, the collection, which when I arrived, a couple of years ago, was about six drawings, including the Frank Lloyd Wright drawing.

Of the bridge is now between 3 and 4000 drawings.

And that has been achieved through the help of a lot of people, some acquisitio through purchase, but many, many I think the vast majority are gifts.

And that's a combination of drawings that deal with the local, scene, but also national.

And there's a European and actually we even have some Australian drawings as well.

That's terrific.

And this is from, as a result of the, $10 million grant from the Drue Heinz Foundation that that magnificent, gift of Drue Heinz.

It certainly played a very very significant role in that.

And and the center is was budgeted around 4.5 million for the the actual construction design, fees as well as furnishings.

Yes.

And, what has been you response over the, the two years with, the architects, Pietro Cicognani, Carla.

Well, Pietro Cicognani and Carla have just been a joy to work with.

It was very nice to get a team that, again, speaks so much to the center's goals.

That is.

And Carl, who's from Pittsburgh, trained at Carnegie Mellon, then went on to Columbia, where she met Pietro Cicognani from Rome and Bologna.

So here we have somebody who grew up in Pittsburgh working somebody, with, European background.

And I think the results that we have reflect that certainly shows really does, what's your next show going to be?

Well, our next show is called Pittsburgh, circa 1990.

And, this agai addresses Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania.

Today, we've asked all the registered architects in western Pennsylvania, which is over 600.

I was amazed by that number to contribute projects to form a time capsule, as it were, of when the Heinz Center was formed.

Everybody to present one project representative their work at this time.

When will that open?

And that opens in February an that will run through October.

And in fact, we've had so many drawing that we may have to change them midway through, which would be terrific.

We like that kind of warm and enthusiastic response.

Thank you, Christopher Monkhouse, for being on The Editors.

We really enjoyed your little look at the, Heinz Architectural Center.

Well done.

Great to be here.

Thank you.

That's it for this week.

Thank you very much.

And good night.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please write to John Craig.

c/o of The Editors WQED TV 4802 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.