00:08 - Representative Lou Schmidt

00:10 - is a Republican from the Blair

00:12 - County Legislative District.

00:14 - For a Pennsylvanians

00:15 - who haven't visited Altoona,

00:17 - what sets it

00:18 - apart from other parts of

00:19 - the state representative?

00:22 - Well, first of all, if you

00:22 - haven't been Altoona,

00:23 - you don't know

00:24 - what you're missing.

00:25 - Seriously, Altoona.

00:26 - Altoona is a gem of a city.

00:28 - It is the 10th largest city in

00:30 - the state of Pennsylvania.

00:32 - We have about

00:33 - 42,000 people there.

00:34 - And when I was a boy, I

00:35 - was born and raised there.

00:37 - And when I was a boy

00:38 - growing up in the city,

00:39 - we really were dependent

00:40 - kind of on one industry.

00:41 - And that was the railroad.

00:42 - Pennsylvania Railroad

00:43 - at one time employed 17,000

00:45 - people in shops here locally.

00:47 - But the but the city has

00:49 - has really diversified.

00:51 - And now we have maybe four or

00:52 - 500 employees of the railroad.

00:54 - But we've got a lot of growth

00:56 - going on in the city now,

00:58 - which is really interesting

01:00 - because for a long time

01:01 - I was really concerned

01:02 - about the economic prospects

01:04 - of the city of Altoona.

01:05 - Once the railroad went bankrupt,

01:07 - the Penn Central Railroad

01:09 - went bankrupt in the late

01:10 - sixties, early seventies,

01:12 - and then for probably

01:13 - 20 years or so.

01:14 - Altoona really had hit

01:15 - hard times economically.

01:16 - We had a lot of population,

01:18 - like a lot of

01:19 - third class cities,

01:20 - but we've seen a renaissance

01:21 - recently in the city.

01:23 - Our downtown has

01:24 - started to revivify.

01:26 - Penn State Altoona moved

01:28 - some of their operations

01:29 - to our downtown

01:30 - area, and that kind of

01:32 - kicked in that town and

01:33 - gown model of development.

01:35 - And we've had a lot of boutiques

01:36 - and eating establishments

01:38 - and other businesses

01:39 - move into our downtown area.

01:41 - That's revitalizing and we are

01:43 - having good economic news.

01:45 - We were once a railroad town.

01:46 - We diversified our economy.

01:47 - And in fact, Amazon

01:49 - just announced recently

01:50 - they're going to be opening

01:51 - up a distribution center now

01:52 - that's been at about 300 jobs.

01:54 - So it's a beautiful place.

01:56 - We're surrounded by mountains.

01:57 - We're known as

01:58 - the mountain city.

01:59 - We're surrounded by mountains.

02:01 - We have some really

02:02 - interesting cultural

02:03 - and especially

02:04 - industrial, cultural

02:06 - and heritage attractions

02:07 - like the Horseshoe Curve,

02:08 - which is which is what it was.

02:10 - But it sounds like it's a

02:11 - it's a horseshoe

02:11 - curve in the rail line.

02:13 - The main

02:13 - rail line in the Norfolk

02:14 - Southern rail line between

02:16 - Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

02:17 - And we have we have the

02:18 - Altoona Railroaders Museum.

02:19 - Altoona was known

02:20 - historically as a railroad town.

02:22 - It was founded by

02:23 - the railroad in 1849.

02:24 - But we're much

02:25 - more than that now.

02:26 - We've seen a lot more

02:27 - young people downtown

02:30 - doing a lot more

02:30 - things in our city.

02:32 - And it really is.

02:33 - It's really an interesting

02:34 - time for Altoona,

02:35 - and I'm quite optimistic

02:36 - about the future.

02:37 - It's still a very safe city,

02:39 - and it is it's vibrant

02:40 - now in a way

02:41 - that it hasn't been vibrant

02:43 - in probably 40 or 50 years.

02:46 - And what's making the city more

02:47 - attractive for young people?

02:49 - Representative

02:51 - I think the fact that

02:52 - we do have such great

02:53 - educational institutions here,

02:55 - not only Penn State,

02:56 - Altoona has moved some

02:57 - of their operations

02:58 - downtown, but my alma mater,

02:59 - Saint Francis

03:00 - University, has moved

03:01 - some of their

03:02 - operations downtown.

03:03 - They've partnered up to do

03:05 - some very innovative things.

03:07 - Penn State Altoona offers

03:08 - a actually a railroad

03:09 - engineering bachelor's degree.

03:12 - That is the only one

03:13 - in the United States.

03:14 - So I think a lot of

03:15 - I think a lot of the

03:16 - young people come

03:17 - here to go to school

03:18 - and they realize it's really a

03:20 - great place to live and work.

03:22 - As I said, it's it's beautiful.

03:23 - So the outdoors here

03:24 - and if you like to hike,

03:26 - if you like ski,

03:27 - anybody likes to do those

03:28 - sorts of outdoor activities.

03:30 - It's a beautiful

03:31 - place to do that in

03:32 - and it offers a low

03:33 - cost of living as well.

03:34 - You can live very,

03:35 - very well here

03:37 - on a lot less than you

03:38 - can in a lot of other places

03:40 - in Pennsylvania, especially

03:41 - outside Pennsylvania.

03:43 - And so nowadays,

03:44 - when when young people

03:45 - can really work almost from

03:46 - everywhere to a great extent,

03:48 - and many of them,

03:50 - it's an attractive place

03:52 - for them to be because you can

03:54 - live here in a beautiful place.

03:56 - And there's more to

03:57 - do now for young people

03:58 - than there has been in decades

03:59 - and make a good salary and

04:01 - and be able to live affordably.

04:03 - And so I think there

04:04 - are a lot of things that are

04:05 - that are attracting

04:06 - young people.

04:06 - And when you get that

04:07 - core, that kind of that

04:08 - that that nucleus

04:10 - of young people that come

04:11 - down into our downtown

04:13 - area now and come to

04:14 - the city to go to school,

04:15 - when you get that nucleus

04:16 - of young people, kind

04:17 - of just builds on itself.

04:19 - And it's almost like a

04:20 - little capitalistic petri dish.

04:22 - ALTOONA And

04:22 - you're starting to see it

04:24 - expand and expand and expand

04:25 - and become a better place,

04:27 - not just for young

04:27 - people, but for every.

04:29 - Well, representative hearts.

04:31 - Consider your point of

04:32 - view as a state legislator.

04:34 - What could stand some

04:35 - more state funding in Altoona?

04:39 - I always say that as a state

04:40 - representative, there

04:41 - is an infinite demand

04:42 - on state resources and a finite

04:44 - supply of state resources.

04:46 - We need obviously to

04:47 - invest in our infrastructure

04:49 - and we're doing

04:49 - that in a big way.

04:50 - There is now the prospect of

04:53 - a second passenger train daily

04:55 - between Altoona and Pittsburgh

04:57 - in one direction and Altoona

04:58 - in Harrisburg in

04:59 - the other direction,

04:59 - which I think is

05:00 - really, really important.

05:02 - When I was a young, young

05:04 - man and even as a as a child,

05:06 - we had 16, 18 trains a day in

05:09 - both directions here in Altoona.

05:11 - And that's really a

05:13 - vital a vital transit area

05:15 - for people

05:16 - that were moving

05:16 - across the state and for

05:17 - people that wanted to live here

05:18 - and be able to travel

05:19 - to places by rail.

05:20 - So getting that second

05:22 - getting that second

05:23 - passenger train,

05:23 - I think is really,

05:24 - really important to us.

05:25 - It continue to invest in our

05:27 - in our local infrastructure,

05:29 - our highways, our bridges,

05:30 - and then within the city

05:31 - investing in parks and

05:33 - green spaces, bike paths.

05:35 - And those are

05:36 - the sorts of things

05:37 - that not only improve

05:38 - the quality of life

05:39 - for everyone, but are

05:39 - especially attractive

05:40 - to young people

05:41 - who we want to retain

05:42 - and we want to incentivize to

05:44 - come here to live in Altoona.

05:46 - So those sorts of things

05:47 - are always important.

05:49 - Let's consider the governor's

05:51 - new budget proposal.

05:52 - And I was looking

05:53 - at your website

05:54 - and I noticed that you said that

05:55 - there are some what you called

05:57 - red flags in the

05:58 - governor's budget proposal.

06:00 - Can you go over a

06:01 - few of those for us?

06:03 - Well, there were

06:03 - certain there were certain

06:05 - taxes and fees

06:06 - that kind of jumped out of

06:07 - me and jumped out at me

06:09 - in the governor's budget

06:10 - that are going to be tied to

06:12 - inflation or the cost of living.

06:14 - And that that really

06:15 - gives me pause.

06:17 - And that was one of

06:17 - the really big red flags,

06:18 - because what we

06:19 - certainly don't want

06:20 - are these sort of perennially

06:22 - increasing taxes going into

06:24 - the future ad infinitum.

06:26 - As far as as far as time

06:28 - goes, these things will continue

06:29 - to go up as long

06:30 - as there inflation.

06:31 - Rarely do we see deflation,

06:33 - and we almost always

06:34 - see some inflation.

06:35 - Of course, over the recent past

06:36 - it's been quite significant.

06:38 - And so I'm concerned

06:39 - that if we tight,

06:40 - especially these fees

06:41 - and taxes too increases

06:43 - in the cost of living

06:44 - or the consumer price

06:45 - index or whatever inflationary

06:47 - benchmark we tie them to.

06:49 - And that will just simply

06:50 - lead to knock on added taxes

06:53 - into the future.

06:54 - And of course,

06:55 - every time you add a

06:55 - percentage increase to a tax

06:57 - and then the next year you add

06:58 - another percentage

06:58 - increase, you don't add

06:59 - that second percentage

07:00 - increase to the original tax.

07:02 - You you add it

07:02 - to the to the tax.

07:04 - It's already been

07:05 - inflated by by inflation.

07:07 - And so that can really lead

07:09 - to wrenching higher taxes

07:11 - in a fairly short

07:11 - period of time,

07:12 - especially in times

07:13 - where we're dealing with

07:14 - inflation as we are now.

07:16 - Does Governor SHAPIRO

07:17 - propose dipping into the state's

07:19 - savings to accomplish

07:21 - his budget goals?

07:24 - Yeah, they're going to there

07:24 - is there is a program over a

07:26 - number of years to reduce the

07:28 - what's called the

07:29 - rainy day fund.

07:30 - It's really the

07:30 - budget stabilization.

07:32 - And that's the way

07:33 - we ought to look at it.

07:34 - It's a means for

07:34 - stabilizing the budget

07:35 - in a time of distress, in a

07:37 - time of economic downturn

07:39 - and who knows what events

07:41 - will unfold over the over

07:43 - the future yet to come.

07:46 - And whenever there's a shock

07:48 - to the state fiscal system,

07:50 - that rainy day fund is really

07:52 - meant to stabilize our budget.

07:54 - It's really only it's sort

07:56 - of like you see the signs

07:58 - on a on a fire

07:59 - extinguisher break only

08:01 - break glass only in

08:02 - case of emergency.

08:03 - That's the way I look

08:04 - at our rainy day fund.

08:06 - We should only invade that fund

08:07 - when it's absolutely essential

08:09 - in order to stabilize

08:10 - the finances

08:11 - of the Commonwealth,

08:12 - not to pay for programs

08:14 - that it would be nice

08:15 - to have that extra

08:16 - money to pay for

08:18 - because again, as I

08:19 - said at the beginning,

08:21 - there's an infinite demand

08:22 - on those resources.

08:24 - And even that even that rainy

08:25 - day fund, which now has in

08:27 - excess of $5 billion in it,

08:29 - we have a $45 Billion budget.

08:31 - A rainy day fund

08:32 - could be exhausted

08:33 - fairly quickly

08:34 - if you're just going to spend

08:36 - it on things that aren't part of

08:37 - the general appropriation, it

08:38 - really needs to be left there

08:40 - and to views only

08:41 - in an emergency.

08:42 - I don't like the

08:42 - idea of invading it.

08:44 - I was very proud

08:45 - to be part of the

08:45 - Appropriations Committee

08:46 - when we were able to

08:48 - save that much money.

08:49 - It's at historical levels

08:50 - now, our rainy day fund,

08:52 - and it needs to stay there

08:53 - because as we're looking

08:54 - at projections down the road,

08:57 - we're going to need that money.

08:59 - And now that

09:00 - you mentioned the Appropriations

09:01 - Committee representative,

09:02 - can you tell us more about the

09:03 - responsibilities of that job?

09:06 - There are a number

09:07 - of responsibility

09:07 - that come with

09:08 - the appropriation,

09:09 - with the appropriation

09:10 - committee.

09:10 - The appropriation committee

09:12 - negotiates the budget

09:14 - with the Senate and

09:16 - with the and with the

09:19 - governor's office,

09:19 - the administration.

09:20 - I shouldn't say the

09:21 - entire committee does.

09:21 - Usually the chair

09:22 - of the Appropriations

09:23 - Committee has

09:23 - a seat at the table.

09:24 - And we also conduct

09:26 - budget hearings

09:28 - where the secretaries

09:29 - of the departments

09:30 - come in and they have to

09:33 - answer questions that we

09:35 - have about the appropriations

09:37 - they are seeking for whatever

09:38 - their particular department is,

09:39 - whether it's the state police

09:40 - or whether it's the Department

09:41 - of Health, Department of State.

09:43 - And we question them

09:45 - about things that we need

09:47 - answers to

09:48 - before we appropriate the

09:49 - money that they're asking for.

09:51 - I'll just give you a quick

09:53 - a quick example.

09:54 - Last week,

09:55 - the Department of Health

09:56 - came in, and we have

09:57 - what are called disease

09:58 - line items, which the state

10:00 - appropriates money to help

10:02 - support people in their families

10:03 - who have to deal with diseases

10:05 - such as sickle cell anemia

10:07 - and leukemia and lymphoma

10:08 - and all these sorts of things.

10:11 - And all of them were level

10:12 - funded this year, except for

10:13 - there was a drastic cut of

10:15 - 40% to ALS support funding,

10:17 - which is a terrible disease,

10:18 - maybe the most terrible

10:19 - disease on that entire list.

10:21 - So I question the question

10:22 - that the Secretary

10:23 - of Health very closely

10:24 - about why

10:25 - they would cut an appropriation

10:27 - or a budget request for it

10:29 - for such a terrible disease

10:30 - and not touch any of the other

10:32 - disease line items.

10:33 - And she really didn't

10:33 - have a good answer for me,

10:34 - and I'm hoping that

10:35 - we can get that award.

10:37 - And that's sort of what we do.

10:38 - We ask questions about things

10:40 - that jump out at

10:40 - us in the budget

10:41 - and we and they have to

10:43 - defend those budget requests.

10:44 - And then we also

10:45 - try to advocate,

10:46 - at least I do, to perhaps

10:47 - get the secretaries to revisit

10:49 - some of those budgetary requests

10:51 - and either restore them, as

10:52 - in the case of the ALS support

10:53 - funding or perhaps

10:54 - cut them a little bit more

10:56 - in respect of some other

10:57 - request that they have.

10:59 - And we

11:00 - and we

11:00 - during that legislative

11:02 - year, we also outside

11:03 - of even the budget season,

11:05 - we a lot of legislation

11:06 - comes through appropriations,

11:07 - a lot of it is amended

11:08 - in appropriations.

11:09 - Literally.

11:09 - I don't think people understand

11:10 - this, but any bill

11:11 - could be referred

11:13 - to appropriations and

11:13 - come through appropriations

11:15 - to be amended, and

11:16 - that often happens.

11:18 - Representative, we only have

11:19 - a few minutes left

11:20 - on our interview,

11:21 - so let's shift the topic over

11:22 - to funding that's coming in

11:24 - to Altoona for various projects,

11:26 - namely school safety grants

11:28 - and coming to Altoona and try

11:29 - to spend about a minute on

11:32 - what those grants will pay for.

11:35 - The school safety measures

11:35 - that we recently got will pay

11:36 - for one extra security officer

11:39 - at the Altoona school district.

11:41 - They'll also pay for

11:42 - equipment, for instance,

11:44 - lawns and and

11:48 - metal detectors and

11:48 - those sorts of things

11:50 - to try and make our

11:51 - school safety training safer.

11:53 - Trying hard in our schools.

11:54 - It's it's hard for me to

11:56 - believe that we have to

11:58 - appropriate money and

11:59 - have these grants in order

12:01 - to try and make our

12:01 - school safeties safer.

12:03 - It's just it's beyond me how

12:04 - we've gotten to this point.

12:06 - But be that as it

12:07 - may, we need to try

12:09 - and make our schools as

12:10 - safe as we can for our children.

12:11 - So these grants will be

12:12 - very helpful in that regard.

12:14 - And I understand

12:14 - grant money is coming in

12:15 - for improvements

12:16 - to Garfield Park.

12:18 - So what kind of improvements

12:20 - can Altoona citizens

12:22 - look forward to?

12:23 - There'll be some improved

12:24 - walkways and some

12:25 - there'll be some improved

12:27 - lighting in the park.

12:28 - And that's a that's a it's

12:30 - a great it's a great park.

12:31 - It's actually my wife

12:33 - grew up in that neighborhood

12:34 - right up by Garfield Park,

12:35 - so I'm very familiar with it.

12:37 - And I was very happy

12:38 - that we were able to secure

12:39 - that grant for Garfield Park.

12:41 - We also got a grant recently,

12:43 - 2.3 million, I think, or

12:44 - something along those lines,

12:45 - or maybe was 3.2 million a month

12:47 - and can't remember any

12:49 - more for our local stadium,

12:51 - our people's natural

12:53 - gas field here.

12:54 - It's that we have

12:55 - for our Altoona curve

12:58 - minor league baseball

12:59 - team, which is also a great

13:00 - a great resource, a great

13:01 - gem for our community.

13:02 - So it's nice to be able to

13:04 - help those sorts of projects

13:05 - which not only make

13:06 - our community safer

13:07 - and better living, but make

13:08 - it more enjoyable to live in.

13:10 - Last question, Representative.

13:12 - We have less less than a

13:13 - minute left in our program.

13:14 - I understand

13:15 - you opened a new office

13:16 - in Altoona last November.

13:18 - So what kind of help can

13:19 - constituents get there?

13:20 - Tell us about this new resource.

13:23 - Well, it's a great office.

13:24 - We had to move.

13:24 - We were in what was

13:25 - called the Old Gables

13:26 - building downtown.

13:27 - And there were some there were

13:28 - some issues with the building.

13:30 - It's an older building and

13:31 - needs a lot of a lot of work.

13:32 - And we moved over to near

13:33 - the Jaffa mosque in Altoona.

13:35 - There's no outdoor and it's

13:36 - on the 2301 Beale Avenue,

13:38 - and it's Suite eight.

13:39 - We offer the same services

13:40 - that we always have.

13:41 - If people need real ideas, if

13:43 - they need birth certificates,

13:44 - if they need help with

13:45 - any PennDOT matters,

13:46 - they can come here with

13:47 - their own license plates

13:48 - and anything really to be

13:49 - with the Commonwealth,

13:50 - any interaction with the

13:51 - Commonwealth rebates,

13:54 - those sorts of things.

13:55 - We're offering the same range

13:56 - of services that we

13:57 - all we always did.

13:58 - It's just the office is in

13:59 - a, it's in a great location

14:01 - and I think it's more convenient

14:03 - and there's better parking.

14:04 - So it's really much

14:05 - more convenient

14:06 - for the people of

14:07 - the 79th District.

14:08 - Now to come to my

14:09 - office when they need help.

14:10 - And we're always

14:11 - glad to see them.

14:12 - Representative Lou

14:13 - Schmidt is a Republican

14:14 - from the Blair County

14:16 - Legislative District.

14:17 - Thank you for your

14:18 - time. Thank you.

14:20 - It's always good

14:29 - to see you guys.