Jersey Mike

“So close”

That should be the city of Harrisburg’s tagline.

“We are so close to Baltimore. We are so close to Philly. We are so close to Pittsburgh, NYC and DC”

And to go even further….we are so close to having a competent administration. We are so close…well, not really, to having our city finances in order…with that, we’re pretty far off.

Swing and a miss.

One thing we’re not very far off on is the viability of Harrisburg being branded as a full-on music city. Not unlike Asheville, NC or Austin, TX-

Sure, we’ve only got 46,000 (and dropping) residents where other cities that have multiple venues boast populations in the six-digit range, by comparison, I think that we’re pretty well satisfied, musically.

Considering our “tertiary” status in the eyes of the major booking agencies, we still do pretty okay with getting good names through town.

This past weekend sounds like it was pretty rockin’ on all accounts. Sunday night had four bands doing a fundraiser for Haiti- Koji, A Public Betrayal, the brand-new In Wilderness and Wade Yankey played to a capacity crowd at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore. The night before, The Greatest Funeral Ever had a solid showing at the HMAC while we had a capacity crowd at The Abbey Bar for Pan.A.Ce.A, …soihadto… and East Hundred from Philly. Out in the reaches, Malone’s on Derry was jumping on Thursday for Adam Ezra and on Friday for Mark Santanna. Add to that all of the Morgan’s Place, Brewhouse Grille, Pep Grill and other downtown spots hosting acoustic music, there was, seriously, something for everyone.

Our venue choices are growing as well. You see, when I started in this business six years ago, all that anyone would talk about is how great things “usedta” be with the Metron and The Vault and concerts on City Island. Today, however, we’ve got the Whitaker Center (despite a current lag in relevant shows on their calendar, I’ve got faith that will change), we’ve got the bar shows in and around the area, we’ve got the questionably-attained-from-the-city HMAC (we’re an arts center, er…music venue, er…pool hall) who, despite the drunken-ways of John Traynor seems to be a place that the kids like going and, of course, The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company. (Don’t worry, I won’t leave my self out of the zing-ing. I’ve joked that they should change the name to Appalachian Banquet Company with all of the private parties that get booked in there….and I realize how long it can take to get a beer on the busy nights).

But this isn’t about me.

Harrisburg doesn’t have an identity. York is almost synonymous with Harley Davidson Motorcycles. Lancaster is known for how butter-churningly-Amish they are (but still rock shit at the Chameleon Club) and Reading…well, reading has that murder-rate thing going for them.

So why, with all of the winds of change blowing in this city, have we not begun thinking about branding ourselves?

Population is dropping. Businesses are fleeing for the suburbs. Crack dealers and prostitutes are just as plentiful as construction-hustlers. And we finally got what we wanted with the removal of Reed from office.

So? Where’s the change?

If the Thompson Administration wants to do some good in this “sit-tee” then they better start making a gameplan. Because they clearly didn’t have one going into office. So here’s my suggestion – brand and market Harrisburg as a music-hotbed of the midstate. Blast it out there. Make it “our thing” because, even though I just rattled off a half dozen venues and great bands in the area, I left a lot out. I don’t even know what goes on up on the hill, but I’m sure there’s music up in those parts. So then Linda doesn’t have to feel like she’s turning her back on anyone.

This city is “so close” to being attractive. It’s like, if you saw that pretty girl but she was wearing an ugly sweater…she’d still be good looking if she took that ugly sweater off. So, there you go, Harrisburg. Take off that ugly sweater and make us look good. So good that ALL the boys will want us. They’ll be lining up to bring us flowers and chocolate and get into our…

You get my point.

Harrisburg needs ideas? There’s one. Now you can’t say that I never contributed anything.

Certainly, if this were to occur, something would need to be done about the amusement tax. But with a budget that’s seven figures in the red, what’s a couple hundred thousand more in the name of progress?

U.S. District Court Judge Blanche M. Manning last week dismissed a lawsuit against eBay by the city that claimed the auction Web site is a “reseller’s agent,” which would have made the site liable for collecting the 9 percent (5 percent for many cultural events) amusement tax on resold tickets.

Way to go, Chicago. You greedy bastards.

Hey Harrisburg- maybe we’ll just start selling all of our tickets on Ebay….

I just watched her acceptance speech.

And Linda, we’re not off to a good start.

You see, I don’t practice any organized religion. I don’t “rejoice” or “pray” and the only “laying of hands” that happens in my house happens behind closed doors with my girlfriend and I.

And it’s going to be a VERY long four years if you don’t stop with the religious crap that you’ve been spewing. I’m not alone in saying that “I don’t want to hear it.”

In fact, this is right about where you lost me when you were on council. All of the “glory be to god” stuff.

Don’t take this the wrong way; I respect your beliefs. Just as I respect the beliefs of all of my fellow human beings.

But the difference between them and people like you is that most people don’t quote the bible in regular conversation.

Oh, god told your sister to tell you that the darts would keep coming?

Get used to the darts, sister.

There’s no place in government for bible thumping.

And as soon as we have that understood, then I’ll consider taking your Mayorship…er, Mayoral Tenure seriously.

After three years of blogging against Mayor Reed, we’re here with two very different choices for Mayor of Harrisburg.

One has been President of City Council for the past few years and the other is a Legislative Director of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

One rents an apartment in the upper floors of a high rise near Midtown and the other owns a home in the 3000 block of 2nd Street.

One runs a non-profit and apparently exists on a salary of about $20k/year and the other earns over six figures.

One has run a loud, boisterous, in-your-face and very well funded campaign and the other has been relatively quietly plugging along on the streets.

And for the first time in this writers life, I’ve been volunteering at a poll this morning handing out literature and attempting to sway those few undecided voters to elect Mindlin.

In the big scheme of things, I’m a relative newcomer to Harrisburg politics. I only started paying attention when a good friend brought me to my first City Council meeting sometime in 2005. Back in the Vera White days. And it was at that meeting that I wondered to myself how a person like that; so seemingly clueless and uneducated, so out of touch and delusional could ever possibly get elected to anything, much less president of City Council.

But then I got to know the players. Clare Jones. Andy Giorgione. Randy King. Judge Kleinfelter. Roxbury. Waters. Patty Kim, Gloria Martin Roberts and Susan Wilson. James Ellison. Bill Cluck. Darnell Williams. Gerald Kohn. Linda Thompson, Dan Miller and even Steve Ketterer.

This local election is historic for SO many reasons. And bloggers and independent media can deservedly take credit for enlightening the public to a lot of the murky underlinings of our local government that undoubtedly influenced the election results over the past couple of elections. So for that, I’ll never complain about Steve Reed being out of office.

But what I will make note of today is how incredibly uneducated many voters appear to be. How many voters I heard saying that they’re voting for Linda simply because they don’t KNOW Nevin.

Apparently, their decisions weren’t swayed by the massive amount of negative stories that have recently surfaced about Thompson. No, these voters who I spoke with didn’t care that she took a $5,000, zero-interest loan from her non-profit and refused to explain what it was used for and how she got such wonderful terms on it. No, these voters didn’t care about the fact that Linda Thompson- a “champion” for home ownership for the urban-dwellers is actually a renter, herself. No, these voters didn’t care that Thompson was recently sued for $1,400 by Discover Card for defaulting on a credit card. And no, apparently these voters didn’t care that, through nearly every debate and interview over the past three months, Linda Thompson did not clearly answer a single question asked of her.

You see, the way I view an election like this is that I want to know EVERYTHING about the person who is running. The person who is running is telling me that they are the best person to represent me as a constituent and they will have my best interests in mind when making decisions about what to do with city finances, public safety, economic development and quality of life in the city where I reside.

I want to know about what you’ve been doing for the past twenty years.

I want to know whether you own or rent.

I want to know what your credit score is.

I want to know who your campaign contributors are.

I want to know who you are beholden to in the event that you win.

And on many accounts, I’m simply not happy with what I’ve heard about Linda Thompson.

Nevin Mindlin, on the other hand, has never sued anyone after spilling gas on himself or getting into a fender bender. Nevin Mindlin appears to have AAA credit and a good grasp of how the financial system in the city works. Nevin Mindlin has verifiable employment and tax records. Nevin Mindlin, after speaking with him on many occasions now, seems to be a very calm, balanced and humble individual.

THAT’S who I want running this city for the next four years.

Whomever wins this election is going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. Not necessarily in a good way, but Steve Reed has twenty eight years worth of connections, alliances, contacts and contracts already in place. Most of his problems were able to be solved with a single phone call.

Mindlin OR Thompson will be starting nearly from scratch. Which is certainly a good thing, but it comes down to savvy. Are we better off with someone going in, aggressively swinging a battle axe and taking no prisoners? Or will it be better to have a calm, reasonable and more gentle hand who will facilitate the changeover smoothly? Will our basic services like police, snow removal and staffing of city offices suffer during the transition?

All of these are relevant questions and concerns.

And all of the campaigning, muckraking, dirt-digging and mud-slinging is over now. It’s in the voters hands.

But what REALLY wins an election? Sadly, it’s looking like the most qualified candidate will, again, lose this race. And if there’s one thing I learned from the people hanging out at the polling station at 15th and Market today (South Allison Hill) is that they’re not voting for Thompson because she’s the best candidate. They’re not voting for Thompson’s non-existent plans for doing the things she says that she wants to do. They’re not voting for Thompson as the best candidate to oversee a budget which barely buoys above hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. No, they’re voting for Thompson mostly because they know who she is. Her face is recognizable city-wide.

I heard it ALL morning. “How am I supposed to vote for Mindlin when I don’t even know who he is?”.

That’s the thing about our election process- those who are campaigning do the best they can with the resources available to get their name into our collective consciousness. Thompson out-fund raised Mindlin exponentially and was able to buy more propaganda and pay more campaign workers than Mindlin.

And it’s unfortunate. Unfortunate in this day and age that the most qualified candidate nearly never wins the election.

Most people aren’t voting for a policy or morals or philosophies of a candidate. They’re voting for the most well known name.

And in the City of Harrisburg, there hasn’t been more of a prominent name in the press over the past several years than Linda Thompson.

And that’s not a good thing.

According to the Harrisburg Forward blog, yesterdays suspicion of the Linda D Thompson arrested in DC in the early eighties is a different Linda D Thompson than the one who is running for Mayor of Harrisburg.

Regardless, it was a fair question to ask, all things considered.

The blog goes on to say this:

Both the Patriot and abc27 News have checked and found the woman in the criminal case has a different birthday and which makes her a few years older than our Linda D. Thompson.

There is some additional verification underway, but we’re also inclined to believe the two Thompsons are different people. If our Linda D. Thompson was going to falsify her birthday, we think LT’s vanity would preclude choosing a fake birthday making her older than she is.

But really Linda, the threat of a libel suit? “It’s libelous and me and my lawyer are taking action.”

If the threat of litigation is going to be your response every time you’re asked an impertinent question, you’d better stop using “transparent” as an adjective.

Let us be VERY clear:

We never said you were the heroin-possessing Linda Thompson; we asked you if you were. That is the huge difference.