Jersey Mike

This is a post taken (without permission) from the PennLive Harrisburg Forum. It was written by the veritable Webmaven and is, in my opinion, the most poignant, well written and wholesome post to ever have appeared on that forum. Thank you, Webmaven, for this post.

Speaking as someone who lived in Harrisburg pre-Reed, I well remember the mess the city was in under Tim Doutrich. Accounting procedures were so bad Harrisburg was the only city in the country that had its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds frozen.Doutrich, a Republican, was such an unmitigated disaster that a chimp could have beaten him at the polls. But a chimp didn’t run. Reed ran, won and things improved. Because. They. Couldn’t. Get. Any. Worse.

That said, Reed isn’t the mayor he was 30 years ago. Far from it. It’s time for other voices and other visions to lead this city into the future.

Reed hasn’t been doing his job for years.

Instead of working to make this is a city that functions for the people living and working here, Steve has been pursuing his “visions.” Our quality of life matters naught to him. Before the Wild West Museum came to light, Steve was quoted as saying he didn’t find the minutia of governing particularly interesting anymore. No kidding. We’ve noticed issues with snow removal in recent years among other things.

Steve’s visions are what have commanded his attention, so let us speak to those.

Reed’s overarching “vision,” if one can call it that, has been to transform Harrisburg into a tourist destination.

His poorly conceived plan, cobbled together in secrecy with no public knowledge let alone input has resulted in two museums out of an envisioned five. The Pennsylvania National Fire Museum (one of scores of such museums nationwide so why this one qualifies as “National” remains a mystery) and The National Civil War Museum which has siphoned money from the city and utterly failed as the magnet for tourist dollars Steve promised it would be.

But wait, said our visionary Mayor, in order to get the hordes of “Heritage tourists” we must provide a critical mass of museums that will appeal to a wide variety of interests. Let’s add even more poorly conceived museums to the mix!

A quick review: The National American Museum of African American History (it’s being built on the Mall in D.C., not in Harrisburg), The Wild West Museum (that one garnered international ridicule), and finally, The Intergalactic Invisible Sports Hall of Fame (which appears to be nothing more than a sweetheart deal for the Mayor’s very special friend).

In pursuit of this “critical mass” Steve has secretly squandered millions of public dollars acquiring artifacts of questionable provenance and value while neglecting the job he was elected to do. He has morphed into Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria; squandering the treasury on his personal obsessions.

Additionally Reed’s vision has, in fact, hindered progress in Harrisburg. The two sites once considered for the African American Museum (6th and Boas; The Furlow Building and HHA’s building) are in a state of vacancy and disrepair. Pretty shortsighted for a visionary.

Reed was absolutely the right choice when he ran against Doutrich. Stephen R. Reed is no longer the right choice. Eventually there WILL be a post-Reed Harrisburg. That is the reality.