The City of Pittsburgh's current budget crisis has been a long time coming. But with no one seemingly willing to make or support necessary tough decisions is the city doomed to continue in its downward spiral?

Staggering under the weight of a $1.68 billion debt , the City of Pittsburgh is obviously doing something wrong. But what? According to numerous experts, it is compilation of problems:

• Dwindling population - Pittsburgh's population is down by more than half (327,898) from its peak of 676,806 residents in 1950, according to an estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau. As population decreases, the needs of the city do not. Police protection, road maintenance, and garbage collection still need to happen. "It [Pittsburgh] has the same number of roads, the same acres of parks and a growing acreage of tax-exempt properties [such as hospitals and universities]," Joseph Sabino Mistick, a Duquesne University law professor and former executive secretary for Mayor Sophie Masloff, told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "That is a recipe for failure."
  
  
• Old infrastructure - Crumbling bridges, abandoned buildings, and antiquated sewers are all signs that Pittsburgh is an old east coast city. And while the city needs new development to grow, it also has to maintain what's already there.
  
  
• Mounting public safety costs and other debt - More than a third of the City of Pittsburgh budget pays for public safety, including firefighters who are protected by a contract clause that doesn't allow the mayor to close firestations or layoff firefighters. Another fifth of the budget goes for debt payments.
  
  
• Image problems - We all know Pittsburgh's still struggling with its old dirty, steel town image

So, who's to blame?

• Most Pittsburgh residents seem to place the blame solely at the feet of Mayor Tom Murphy and the six city council members who voted for the $60 million unbalanced budget in the first place. And they sure have created one whopping mess, primarily because they don't have the political guts to make the hard decisions. That budget shouldn't have been passed on the chance that the state legislature would allow tax reforms, the necessary cuts should have been made then and there. But, to be fair, they've received little support from Pittsburgh residents who scream at every proposed cut and concession.
  
  
• Mayor Murphy says he inherited the problems from his predecessor, Sophie Masloff, who cut the Pittsburgh wage tax from 2% to 1% in 1989. He also lays blame on the Pennsylvania legislature who went into summer recess before voting on whether to allow the City of Pittsburgh to overhaul its tax structure. While I think our legislators should have worked a bit harder (who else can take a one month vacation without getting their work done first?) to get through their calendar, this is ultimately Pittsburgh's problem. There are plenty of other tax increases and spending cuts which can be addressed right now - even if they aren't as easily blamed on the state down the road.
  
  
• Pittsburgh residents who cryed foul when 731 city employees, including police officers, EMTs, recreation center managers, and school crossing guards, were pink-slipped last week, are the same ones who went ballistic when Murphy proposed charging for city garbage collection a few years ago. Surprise! the guys who drive the trash trucks don't work for free, and the trucks don't run on garbage juice, says McKeesport resident, Jason Togyer. Most people living in boroughs and townships around the city pay for garbage collection, neighborhood pools, and the like. Why not city residents?

The only way to save the city of Pittsburgh is for everyone - from the mayor to the residents - to face reality and make some tough, but necessary changes. The politicians need to start worrying about the city more than their popularity, and the residents need to start putting what's best for the city as a whole, over what's best for them as an individual. There's plenty of blame to go around.