Thirty-or-so minutes later, I returned to my car to find a bright green envelope stuffed under my windshield wiper.

——-

Last week, Roxbury tweeted that City Hall was now requiring residents show their identification before entering the building for any reason. He accompanied the Tweet with a photo of a uniformed Harrisburg police officer at the greeters booth (formerly used as a place for publications, flyers and community newspapers). So I was prepared to face the greeter when I entered the building.

As expected, there she was. A uniformed Harrisburg police officer sitting at the entrance booth to City Hall, stopping everyone who entered and asking each of them to “please sign in”.

I stopped. But only to question the new policy. “But I’ve been paying at least one parking ticket here per week for the last ten years, I’ve never had to sign in before”, I protested.

“Sorry, new rules. You need to sign in if you want to enter the building.”

Politely, I retorted “And what if I refuse to sign in? Does that mean I can’t enter the building?”

“There’s a payment drop box out back that you can use.”

“So I can’t come in?”

“No.”

Coupled with the recent raging against the Thompson Machine that’s been happening in the city, this seemed like the icing on the proverbial cake of the apparent paranoia displayed by our newly elected Mayor. Why would a resident need to show identification or sign a log to pay a water bill or parking ticket or get a permit for a block party?

Seems odd.

For a person to enter our State Capitol, Federal Courthouse or virtually any other government building, one must empty one’s pockets of all metallic items and pass through a metal detector in an effort to keep out guns and weapons. Guns and weapons can kill someone. This, I understand. Many known criminals enter courthouses en route to a trial date or to pay a fine. Likewise, our State Capitol houses important government employees and offices which could potentially attract an element that would wish harm on certain individuals.

I get it.

And if this is the concern at Harrisburg City Hall, then maybe it’s time to install metal detectors and a conveyor belt/x-ray system similar to those used in the state and county government buildings.

A quick Ebay search shows the cost of a walk through metal detector at about thirty eight hundred bucks. And finding an exact match on the conveyor x-ray machines used in airports and other secure locations was difficult, but I was hard pressed to find ANY x-ray machine for under fifty grand.

Add to that, a minimum of two security personnel at any given time, you’ve got a pretty hefty investment to secure a building in a bankrupt city.

—————

So is this latest scheme a poor-mans security tactic by the Mayor? Or is it that Ms. Transparency herself wants to track each and every citizen who enters the building and learn where we are going and what we’re doing there?

The latter seems plausible.

Because without being required to show identification, I could have signed in as Mickey Mouse. Or Dirk Diggler. Or Chuck U. Farley. Or any name, for that matter. Further, I could have just signed in with this fictitious name, went to pay my parking ticket and went on with my day.

But this is a matter of principle, my friends. The principle of being asked my business when I walk into a public building is an intrusion of privacy. And I’m no lawyer, but it seems like a violation of my civil rights.

Don’t we have the right to enter our government headquarters without being forced to declare our reason for visiting? I was merely trying to give the city money, after all. Wouldn’t they have record of my being there once they processed payment of the fourteen dollars attached to license plate “STEADY” for the ticket issued at about 9:45 this morning? Why waste the manpower of the extra step?

And the worst part of this? The officer couldn’t even give me a straight reason for the new policy. “Just doing my job, sir.”

I asked. I asked why this is happening, whose order it was and how long this has been in place. The only answer I was given was that this began last Monday.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety” Benjamin Franklin (1759)

So here, in no particular order, are my Top Ten Potential Theme Songs for The City of Harrisburg. ©

Tennessee Ernie Williams- Sixteen Tons
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

Merle Haggard- Working Man Blues
Sometimes I think about leaving, do a little bummin around
I wanna throw my bills out the window catch a train to another town
But I go back working I gotta buy my kids a brand new pair of shoes
Yeah drink a little beer in a tavern,
Cry a little bit of these working man blues

Desmond Dekker – The Israelites
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir,
so that every mouth can be fed.
Poor me, the Israelite. Aah.

Cast of Annie – It’s A Hard Knock For Us
It’s the hard-knock life for us
It’s the hard-knock life for us
No one cares for you a smidge
When your in an orphanage
It’s the hard-knock life
It’s the hard-knock life
It’s the hard-knock life!

Elvis Presley – In The Ghetto
Then one night in desperation
a young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car,
tries to run, but he don’t get far
And his mama cries

As a crowd gathers ’round an angry young man
face down on the street with a gun in his hand
In the ghetto

Steve Miller Band- Take The Money and Run
Billy mack is a detective down in texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He aint gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin off of the peoples taxes

Bobbie sue, whoa, whoa, she slipped away
Billy joe caught up to her the very next day
They got the money, hey
You know they got away
They headed down south and they’re still running today

The Beatles- Taxman
(if you drive a car, car;) – I’ll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) – I’ll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) – I’ll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) – I’ll tax your feet.

Bruce Springsteen and The Sessions Band – Pay Me My Money Down
Oh pay me, oh pay me,
Pay me my money down,
Pay me or go to jail,
Pay me my money down

Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want –
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration
If we don’t we’re gonna blow a 50-amp fuse”

P. Diddy, Puffy Puff Daddy – All About The Benjamins
You should do what we do, stack chips like *Hebrews*
Don’t let the melody intrigue you (uh-uh)
Cause I leave you, I’m only here
for that green paper which lead you

But this, I’m going to urge you to support.

The wind of change is clearly blowing in Harrisburg. For the first time in nearly three decades, we’ll see a Mayoral race in November that does not include Stephen Reed on the ballot. Without a doubt, we’re going to witness an unprecedented change in the way that this city handles it’s business.

With that change, I want to turn up the heat on the Amusement Tax issue. What, to me, seems like a simple piece of legislation to be removed is, in reality, falling on deaf ears with City Council.

Last month, we witnessed GreenWorks Properties and Vartan finagle a piece of legislation that aleve them of a quarter-million-dollars per year in tax requirements.

Which lead me to conclude that- because little old Jersey Mike doesn’t own hundreds of properties in the city and doesn’t make thousand-plus dollar “contributions” to the campaigns of council members and Mayoral candidates that his voice doesn’t matter.

Sure, they’ve listened to me- but their inaction has left me frustrated, disappointed and, generally, bummed out about how our local government works.

So now, I’m going to ask you- the readers and supporters of this site to do a simple thing: copy and paste the following paragraphs, sign your name, and email them to all of city council and the Mayors office. Send more than one. Send one every day. But please- for the good of the entertainment of this city, send a simple email.

(If you choose to participate, please leave a comment below saying that you did it. Just so I can get an idea of whether or not this message is going through)

I’ve been harping on this for nearly five years now- and just as you’re probably sick of hearing about it, I’m tired of complaining about it. (A list of council members email addresses follows the body of the email)

Power to the people, right on-

Dear Council and Mayor of Harrisburg,

I’m writing today to urge you to please reform or remove city ordinance 32-1982 (Amusement Tax) from the rolls of the city charter.

We have concluded that this tax-which burdens independent concert promoters- is the single-biggest factor preventing the regular use of venues like the Forum, The Zembo Temple and City Island for larger, A-List concerts.

Driving to Philly, Lancaster, Baltimore, Reading and State College to see a great concert does zero-good for the City of Harrisburg- but benefits those communities in more ways than just a great concert. We patronize their restaurants. Stay in their hotels. Pay to park in their garages. And take all of that revenue away from the great City of Harrisburg.

Please support Mike Van Jura’s plight to reform this tax and create a level playing field for all local concert promoters.

Sincerely,

lthompson@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
wwilliams@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
sbrownwilson@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
bkoplinski@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
dmiller@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
gmartinroberts@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
kimpatty@hotmail.com
bgabler@harrisburgcitycouncil.com
mayor@cityofhbg.com