Ten candidates; four seats; one stage.
The dais at Midtown Scholar Bookstore was so packed with City Council hopefuls that incumbent Kelly Summerford was forced to hover behind challenger Ron Chapel, leaning into the microphone from the rear of the stage whenever his turn came to address the crowd.
Harrisburg may have a lot of problems, but lack of civic involvement wasn’t one of them on this night.
The 10-candidate/two-hour debate, sponsored last month by Harrisburg Hope, probably didn’t change many minds in the packed-to-the-gills bookstore, as the candidates agreed on many of the issues.
Better crime-fighting, yes.
More youth involvement, yup.
Cleaner streets, you bet.
But, if nothing else, the debate did provide a fascinating glimpse into the changing priorities of the Harrisburg body politic.
Two years ago, during the last council election, the debate focused almost entirely on the city’s financial crisis. Did you support municipal bankruptcy? Were you willing to risk a state takeover? Would you go to jail for refusing to follow the mandates of a receiver?
This year, moderator Alan Kennedy-Shaffer did ask the candidates about the still-unresolved financial catastrophe, but their answers hinted that official Harrisburg is preparing to move beyond it.
“The first three years of my job on the council were working on the financial difficulties in this city,” said incumbent Eugenia Smith. “Hopefully, we’ve laid a foundation now that we can move forward.”
Two years ago, Smith had vehemently opposed imposition of the receivership. She was among the council majority that attempted to declare municipal bankruptcy to prevent a state-appointed receiver from forcing a solution on Harrisburg. However, these opponents now are believers, having warmed to the receiver’s financial recovery plan.
According to the incumbents at the debate, receiver William Lynch is about to unveil a comprehensive solution to the financial crisis, which has buried the city under some $350 million in incinerator debt and led to three straight defaults on its general obligation bond payments.
“This receiver is willing to work with us,” said incumbent and council President Wanda Williams. “We assure you that revenue will come into the city of Harrisburg. In the next six or seven months, we will be financially stable so we cay pay our creditors.”
The details of that solution were left unmentioned, though it’s widely believed to be some combination of asset sales, union concessions and maybe a creditor haircut. The incumbents, who have been thoroughly briefed by Lynch, are under orders not to reveal specifics, they said.
The challengers have not been privy to Lynch’s behind-the-scenes moves, so they mostly gave ground on the issue. To a person, they said they wanted to avoid bankruptcy if possible and would like to keep the defined pension plan for existing city workers. They further agreed that any solution must address both the incinerator debt and the city’s recurring structural deficit.
“We have to look at how we spend our money,” said challenger Shamaine Daniels. “We have to look at all of the budget items, put them on the table and examine the debit side and the revenue side. Until we address this, these issues will keep coming up.”
For much of the rest of the debate, the candidates knocked around the issues of crime and trash.
Challenger Chapel said both problems were symptomatic of greater societal dysfunction. Some people, he said, stop caring because they feel alienated from the larger community.
“They feel despair and unemployment,” he said.
Challenger Ellis “Rick” Roy, a former city policeman, seemed surprised at the sudden focus on trash and dumping, which has been the subject of several recent community meetings and mayoral press conferences.
“Illegal dumping has been going on for as long as I can remember,” he said, advocating a return to the “Adopt-a-Block” program.
Other suggestions included paying youth to pick up trash (Williams); improving communication between residents and sanitation workers (challenger Robert Drum); razing houses after three warnings if landlords don’t act to fix blighted properties (Roy); working to get empty houses reoccupied (Daniels); and instituting better bulk trash pickup (challenger Ben Allatt, among others).
As per crime – the candidates mostly argued that the city needed to provide more opportunities for youth involvement and for the re-integration into society of ex-offenders.
“We need to get people re-acclimated into our communities,” said challenger Pat Stringer, who served on council previously. “Residents and businesses won’t want to come here until they believe that crime is under control.”
Both incumbents and challengers were reluctant to criticize Mayor Linda Thompson, even after Kennedy-Shaffer asked the group about the relationship between council and the mayor’s office, which has been rocky under both Thompson and former Mayor Steve Reed.
“I know very well all the people running for mayor, and I believe I will be able to communicate with all of them, no matter who wins,” said challenger Camille Erice in a typical response.
Only Allatt offered a somewhat different answer, saying, “you got to stand tall, fight for what you want.”
Allatt also was an exception as, unlike the other candidates, he repeatedly returned to the issue of how the Harrisburg government functions. He advocated the reform of government processes and an upgrade to the city’s embarrassingly inadequate website to improve service delivery and communication with residents.
“We have to get these basic city processes down to address issues like crime and trash,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re operating behind the eight ball.”
