How fucked up is it that Team Thompson and the current city council have had about eighteen months to file for Chapter 9 and they haven’t done it yet?

The way I see this whole situation is simple: Harrisburg has enormous debt that – even on a modest payment plan- would take hundreds of years to pay off. On top of having hundreds of years worth of debt on the table, the current budget needs aren’t being met by the revenues generated by the city assets, taxes and fees. And when your debt and budget needs aren’t met by available resources, what the hell else is there to do?

FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY, HARRISBURG!

Brad, Wanda, Susan, Gloria, Patty, Kelly and the other new girl…grab your balls and DO IT.

I’d apologize about the blunt nature of this blog post, but I’M NOT SORRY!

Two of three options leave us totally, utterly and completely…redundantly….FUCKED.

1. Accept the Act 47 plan in it’s current state: lease or sell the parking garages (lose annual revenue), sell the incinerator (lose annual revenue), eliminate a number of city departments, police officers, firemen and other services in order to meet the budget and still try to pay back the debt…but WITHOUT REVENUE FROM THE ASSETS.

2. Reject the Act 47 plan in it’s current state and risk being TAKEN OVER BY THE STATE (I can’t even believe that’s an option. A state takeover!? Think about how crazy that is!!). And when the state takes over, they’re going to: lease or sell the parking garages (lose annual revenue), sell the incinerator (lose annual revenue), eliminate a number of city departments, police officers, firemen and other services in order to meet the budget and still try to pay back the debt…but WITHOUT REVENUE FROM THE ASSETS. (Sound familiar?)

And the 3rd and final option (as I see it) – Brad, Wanda, Susan, Gloria, Patty, Kelly and the other new girl can grab their collective balls and do what should have been done 18 months ago and file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Just do it. Rip the band-aid off. We’ve been dancing around this for years now. How much worse can things get?? So we suffer a ding on our credit for a few years? So what! It’s the AMERICAN WAY!

Oh, but the bondholders? FUCK EM! That’s what THEY SAID when the debt was issued. SOMEONE at some point in this whole debt-accumulation process MUST HAVE said “Hey guys, you know what? These bonds don’t really seem like the most…um…ethical? things to be issuing…things might not work out well for the taxpayers of the city at some point in the not-too-distant future…maybe we should consider alternative financing options…or call the whole thing off altogether”

To which, someone likely replied “The taxpayers? FUCK EM! My kids don’t go to the city schools. Shit, we barely ever cross the Harvey Taylor Bridge. Let’s go swimming in my new pool!”

What’s that you say? The state doesn’t want the stigma of the Capital city going officially broke? FUCK EM! Where was the concern for the past two decades while this was happening? Too many of our state politicians were getting kickbacks and payoffs from the seeming ponzi scheme of deals in this city.

And the bond market? Does the bond market care about safe streets in Harrisburg? Does the bond market care what the kids of the Harrisburg school district have at their educational disposal? Does the bond market give a flying fuck whether or not the giant sinkhole at the corner of Third and Boas EVER gets repaired? Does the bond market care about whether or not Metro Bank gets off it’s ass and sends someone out to MOW THE FUCKING JUNGLE that’s grown in front of the failed Capitol View Commerce Center on Cameron Street?

I think you know the answer…

Chapter 9 is Harrisburg’s ONLY ANSWER…if we want any semblance of control of our destiny as a city…we NEED the parking garages. We NEED a better and fuller police force. And we NEED to eliminate the albatross that is the massive debt suffocating this fine little city by the river.

C’mon, council. You’re in a heated race. We voted for you because we had faith in you. Would SOMEONE please step up and do something for the residents of this promising little city?

Because either you can do it…or the suits from the Capital will.

And here, my friends, is the clip.

BBC Harrisburg Debt

James Gordon reporter, copyright BBC.

They call it “exodus”. Movement of jah people.

Word on the street tells me that many (if not all) of the higher-ranking Reed Administration members have sold or are selling their homes in the city and moving to the surrounding, more stable suburbs.

Funny that’s happening now…do they know something us commoners don’t?

Methinks they do. Considering lame-duck Mayor Reed still hasn’t officially conceded the May primary to democratic victor Linda Thompson and also considering that Republican nominee Nevin Mindlin has been hitting the streets hard for months now…it almost seems as if Reed wants to see Thompson take his throne from him.

The reason for my thinking that is simple: a Reed write-in campaign simply cannot win. There are far too many variables which need to be precise in order for a single write in vote to even count…much less the three thousand-or-so which would be necessary for Reed to even stand a chance at winning.

Meanwhile, Reed could simply concede the election to Thompson and put 100 percent of his support behind Mindlin….getting the last-standing Reed supporters to guarantee a fighting chance for a relatively hopeful future for our city.

Linda Thompson is not a sound choice for Mayor of Harrisburg.

Let me repeat that: Linda Thompson is not a sound choice for Mayor of Harrisburg.

Considering the fact that she fails to acknowledge Mindlins repeated requests for three public debates; considering the questionable financial records of her non-profit “Loveship”; considering her emotional outbursts, delusions of grandeur and outright abuse of the English language while serving as president of City Council…this woman would not make a level-headed and educated-enough Mayor of a financially distressed city such as ours. (And don’t forget about the rumors of a couple of arrests back in her college days which have neither been denied or confirmed)

We’ve had entirely too much secrecy in the halls of the Martin Luther King building over the past twenty five years. And a vote for Thompson will almost certainly lead to more of the same.

This November, vote Mindlin.

It’s the smartest thing you can do.

“Yes we can” beat the hype machine that is Thompson and Co.