Harrisburg City Council
It’s nearly the New Year, and, for many of us, that means making resolutions that, we hope, will survive past January. In this spirit, I’ve put together a few resolutions for Harrisburg, things I’d like to see us, as a city, achieve over the course of 2026.
Mayor/Council peace. Ideally, I’d like our elected officials to band together and work collaboratively for the good of our shared city. However, based upon recent events, I now realize this may be too much to ask. So, my more modest request is for some type of peaceful coexistence between the two warring bodies—think a 1970s-era U.S./Soviet détente, in which the antagonists cooperate on their most pressing issues. As to who’s to blame for the current Cold War between mayor and council . . . don’t know, don’t care. We elect our public officials to work for us, and for the betterment of our troubled city, not to focus their time and energy battling one another.
William Penn decision. How long can a single can get kicked down a single road? The Harrisburg School District is testing the distance limits with its decade-long indecision over what to do with the former William Penn school and campus. Over the years, the district has weighed everything from re-use to sale to re-development to demolition, only to back down and/or reverse course every time. The result is a boarded-up building that gets more dilapidated with each passing year. For 2026, be it resolved that the school district will make a final decision on the fate of William Penn—and stick to it.
Broad Street wishes. In recent years, the Broad Street Market has come to embody the deflating sense that, in Harrisburg, if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Therefore, for 2026, my hope is that the curse will lift, at long last. No more fires, no more delays, no more collapsed walls, no more infighting, no more design distractions—and, importantly, a competent, caring and stable board of directors. Is it possible that, 365 days hence, the market reconstruction will be progressing, the budget will be balanced, and we can look forward to a 2027 building completion? Or am I just Charlie Brown, once again, charging like a blockhead towards the football?
Blueprint beginnings. Harrisburg is a city in transition. The downtown, especially, is undergoing a painful transformation from government town to—well, something else, something not yet defined. Therefore, it’s vital that, in 2026, an economic development plan for the downtown is finalized and that implementation is started. Fortunately, there’s reason for hope, thanks to entities like the Harrisburg Regional Chamber/CREDC, area legislators and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, which have taken first steps. I’m reasonably confident that, a year from now, we’ll see positive momentum on this resolution.
Hope for housing. In recent years, numerous affordable housing projects have been started or completed in Harrisburg. Fortunately, I expect that to continue in 2026, as developers take advantage of subsidies and other assistance that make affordable projects possible. In contrast, lacking these incentives, market-rate projects have lagged—many proposed, few built. So, for 2026, I hope to see some of those projects finally get off the ground. Harrisburg needs all types of housing—and it needs people who will patronize our small businesses, who will pay taxes, who will add life to our sidewalks and streets. It also needs public officials who realize that adding residents is the solution to many of our city’s woes.
Ounce of kindness. Finally, I hope that we, as a people, can resolve to treat each other with respect and kindness in 2026. Yes, this city of ours can be frustrating, sometimes making compassion challenging, whether in person or online. But, personally, I’m going to do my best to fulfill this resolution.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Lawrance Binda is publisher and editor of TheBurg.
