Gov. Tom Wolf Visits Greensburg As Part Of His Restore Pennsylvania Initiative

GREENSBURG (KDKA) -- Governor Tom Wolf is touring parts of the state and his administration is trying to figure out ways to tackle blight in our communities and Thursday he made a stop in Greensburg.

For Governor Wolf and his Restore Pennsylvania Initiative, when it comes to bringing back blighted business districts statewide, X literally marks the spot.

"It's really hard to attract private sector development, this is a discouragement, it says OK, we don't really want you," Governor Wolf said. "If you do build something really nice next door you're going to have blighted buildings. It's not an incentive for anyone to come and invest."

Flanked by local political leaders, Wolf toured Greensburg, getting a look at buildings that have seen better days, but now need to be erased from the landscape.

"What's standing in the way of places like York or Greensburg are places...that are blighted."

A classic case and point is a building on Main Street in Greensburg that has grass growing, mold and collapsed ceilings. That's an expensive cleanup, so how would one go about paying for all the cleanups like that one?

"We're the only gas-producing state in the country, maybe the world, that doesn't have a severance tax," Wolf said. "It's the goose laying the golden eggs, so we don't want to do anything to harm that goose, but we do want to take some advantage of those golden eggs, though, from a public point of view."

Thousands of towns and cities statewide have main drags dragged down in recent years by industries long gone or floundering, but according to Wolf, there is a market for renovated downtown properties.

"The irony is, this where people actually want to live," he said. "Millennials want to want to live in places where you can walk to something, so the form of a city has a real future."