On Jan. 5, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor will take the reins of a city not yet in crisis, but quite possibly on a trajectory toward crisis. The coming months will be remembered as an inflection point for the city, during which either renewed leadership led to renewed vibrancy, or hesitant leadership led deeper into stagnancy, or even into decline.

Among the challenges Mr. O’Connor will face are the anemic staffing of the Bureau of Police; a shortage of housing stock affordable for the lowest-income Pittsburghers; cratering trust in the efficacy and efficiency of city government; a stagnant business and development scene; and, above all, a badly mismanaged budget that will likely require a combination of austerity and tax hikes to stabilize.

Despite these headwinds, Mr. Conno

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