Pittsburghers are hearing less and less these days about the Nordenberg report, and it's too bad.

That is the report submitted two years ago to the people of Allegheny County by the committee headed by University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg. The panel studied the bureaucratic duplication and administrative overlap of city, county and municipal governments, not to mention the added public costs and the economic hurdles associated with so many layers.

The report called for three broad actions: enhanced efforts by the county executive and Pittsburgh mayor toward cooperation that leads to efficiency, a formal agreement by the city and county to pursue these steps in the future and placement of a ballot question before voters on consolidating city and county governments.

With one party -- the Democrats -- running both Pittsburgh and Allegheny County governments and controlling the local legislative delegation to Harrisburg, one might think the political chances of implementing the Nordenberg report would be good. Not so. Little has happened since 2008 and all citizens hear is that the will to implement the plan doesn't exist.

Shame on the Democrats. They have missed a historic opportunity. Now the panel's recommendations gather dust on the shelf next to previous documents outlining local reforms.

We refuse to lose hope, however, and we challenge forward-looking leaders -- of any party -- to shake off the cobwebs of the status quo and take up the cause of the Nordenberg report.

Until that day, Pittsburghers may have to be content with other initiatives, the latest of which is the Allegheny Forum, developed by The Pittsburgh Foundation. The project aims to continue the discussion and ultimately leverage constructive action on municipal services in Allegheny County.

It will pursue that in three ways, one of which is a citizens' deliberative poll in September of 300 randomly selected residents on the topic of policing in the county. Deliberative polling is a sophisticated exercise that involves a representative sample of the community; it educates those citizens on a problem or issue, fosters their discussion and then seeks informed feedback toward solutions. With any luck, this will be a way for grass-roots thinking to influence local leaders on how to cut the cost and improve the efficiency of multiple local police forces.

The other components of the Allegheny Forum will be a poll of county residents on their attitudes toward municipal services and a website that invites people to express their views and ideas on issues of concern to their communities.

This is a far cry from the Nordenberg report and its call for a vote on city-county consolidation. But it's an important way to keep the conversation going on how to transform local government's costly, fragmented and antiquated approach to providing essential services. We salute The Pittsburgh Foundation, four partner foundations and other groups promoting this enterprise.

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.