Sane or insane?
Such has been the debate around Harrisburg this week during the lengthy auction of some 8,000 Wild West artifacts on City Island.
Was former Mayor Steve Reed’s decade-long shopping spree and plan to build a museum of the old West in central Pennsylvania a legitimate economic development initiative? Or was it, well, crazy?
In my mind, there’s no question at all.
Insane. Really insane.
Touring the rafter-packed D&D Warehouse during the preview, all I could think about was how much effort went into accumulating this mass of stuff. People’s workdays, travel, expenses — all done apparently on the public time and dime. Then there’s the actual cost of the items. We’re told Reed spent about $8.3 million on them, but, without a thorough audit, we’ll never know for sure. It could have been much more.
As I snooped around, the overall impression I got was Reed as a latter-day Citizen Kane, whose obsessive accumulation of objects seemed to fill some type of hole in his psyche from his childhood. Heck, there was even a child’s sled (though it didn’t say “Rosebud”). A key difference was that Kane, if nothing else, spent his own money, not public funds he funneled through a utility authority.
But, evidently, other people disagree with me.
One of those people gave me a ride back to the office during one of my trips to the auction this week. He said it was “too bad” that Reed never got his Wild West museum, that it could have been a “great attraction” for Harrisburg. I thought, “Is he kidding me?” He was not.
The battle also has been waged on Twitter and even among people receiving a paycheck from the Patriot-News (or Pennlive or PA Media Group or Advance Digital or wherever). A couple days ago, reporter Don Gilliland pulled no punches, calling Reed a “huckster” and his artifacts “worthless crap.” Today, columnist Nancy Eshelman defended Reed as a guy who helped save Harrisburg from hookers, porn theaters and hot dog-based cuisine.
In fact, after a week’s worth of “Fair warning — Sold!” the debate seems to have shifted from a discussion of a Wild West museum in Harrisburg (insane vs. not insane) to one of Reed’s mayoralty (good vs. horrible).
Let’s face it: Reed would never have served for 28 years without some accomplishments, some reason for people to repeatedly vote for him. Eshelman cites the Civil War Museum, the Fire Museum, hotels and “the glitz that is 2nd Street” among his achievements.
Well, the Fire and Civil War museums are dubious accomplishments, as both are wonderful facilities that sit largely empty all day, out of sight and unintegrated with the larger city. Most people who live in Harrisburg don’t seem to know where the Fire Museum is, and many have never visited the beautifully designed Civil War Museum at all.
As for hotels and 2nd Street — that’s a tougher call. Reed certainly played a role in the construction of the city’s two convention-grade hotels. And with them came parking garages and parking garages and parking garages, which destroyed much of the historic architectural heritage of downtown, one of the things that now attracts people into cities.
Certainly, Reed liked to take credit for “Restaurant Row” on 2nd Street, but those restaurants didn’t appear until far into his mayoralty. Personally, I give the credit to pioneering restaurateurs like Steve Weinstock and Tom Scott, who took great financial risks to open downtown, seeding the ground for others to follow. Downtown also benefitted from a national movement back to cities that began during the 1990s. Reed was first elected during the absolute low-point of the American city (early 1980s), then was able to stick around long enough to see the pendulum swing back up.
But I judge Reed’s mayoralty not so much by Eshelman’s examples, which I view as a mixed bag. I judge his mayoralty on this: Harrisburg is effectively bankrupt. Harrisburg is the only city ever to go into state receivership in Pennsylvania and, without it, already would have been one of the few American cities ever to enter municipal bankruptcy.
When you serve 28 years as mayor and, after all that time, leave behind a financial catastrophe, you have failed. When you serve 28 years as mayor, leave behind a financial catastrophe and have engaged in no end of financial chicanery, you have failed and probably should be judged by a jury of your peers.
And no museums or art centers or a decent slice of pizza can change that.
