It’s that time of year again—the end of it. It’s a time to reflect, wrap up and peer ahead.
Looking over 2013 in the city of Harrisburg is no easy task, though.
In fact, it’s downright daunting. It was tiresome enough to go through it in real time—the tome-like plans, the endless public hearings, the continual chatter of truth and rumor in every nook and cranny of the city. Not to mention the constant burden of dissatisfying public services and the overgrowth of weeds, trash and strife.
Many of us may wonder, “What’s the point of exhausting oneself with the thought of going through it again?”
It’s enough to make us say, “Bah humbug!”
Humbug. We hear this word and use it profusely during this time of year, but its actual meaning is not commonly known or even considered. We just say it. Humbug.
It means deceit. Humbug is something devised as a fraud to mislead. Ebenezer Scrooge thought Christmas was humbug. Prior to coming face to face with his ghosts, he thought the yuletide season to be an overly sentimental occasion drenched in falseness and pretense.
Of course, as we all know, his mind was changed. Easier said than done in real life, most especially here in Harrisburg.
There’s lots of humbug around here right now. Humbug is being thrown around loosely and easily.
Some people think the outcome of the mayoral election is humbug.
Some people think the receiver’s recovery plan is humbug.
Some people believe the whole city is humbug.
While that attitude can be accused of being overly sour and peevish, there is indeed humbug in the city that we can all agree on.
It’s humbug that the city has been devastated by years of fiscal mismanagement and defective governance. It’s humbug that the capital city is physically crumbling and breaking. It’s humbug that this small city along the river is deficient in pride and unity. It’s humbug that the region scoffs at us. Humbug.
But, enough humbug already. Where are the ghosts to guide us to realization of other perspectives? Harrisburg has plenty of those—ghosts, that is. If we follow them, will our minds be changed so, like Scrooge, we end up shouting happily at the tops of our lungs in supreme celebration of a second chance given?
Absolutely. But how so? What has to be done?
We have to be engaged, get creative, be bold and find courage to do what needs to be done. There’s no more time for anything else. We’re at a crossroads, and, despite what the most pessimistic among us may say, we do have say in the direction this city goes.
The future of the city is ours for the taking.
Nothing is business as usual anymore. To say it is—or to attempt to make decisions like things are done now as they’ve been done before—is humbug. The next phase of Harrisburg’s prosperity is greatly contingent on the people who live, work and visit here and the decisions they make to pay attention, participate and promote.
With the implementation of the recovery plan, the playing field has been set. If all goes as planned, the massive debt will be eliminated, the city’s budget will be balanced, the incinerator will be gone, the parking system will be leased and generating revenue. Water and sewer operations have already been transferred to the experts, and, with a new administration about to take the reigns of City Hall, there’s new organization on the horizon.
As 2014 is about to commence, now is the time to generate community solutions and decisions that make sense and have lasting power to make Harrisburg prosperous.
The ideas are out there, topics of fruitful and merry conversations. There are suggestions on how to establish a smooth-running government to give us the semblance of competence we’re missing. There are recommendations for ways to strategically approach fixing the infrastructure and strengthening the fabric of community. There is support for smartly spending money for vital and necessary projects. There are volunteers, nonprofits and businesses standing ready to fill the gaps.
The city’s recovery will only succeed if we make it happen together.
There’s much being developed as cheerful and optimistic souls in the city discuss ways to make Harrisburg’s future comprehensively better. Naturally, some minds will not be dramatically changed by such ideas. There will be people who will not see the virtue of the offered proposals.
So be it.
However, one thing should be conceded—the efforts aren’t humbug. Someone may not like certain suggestions for various reasons, but, as long as the ideas come without deceit or pretense, they should be heard. They are ideas, specters of possibility. Creations of the situation we’re in. The fact of the matter is that Harrisburg must be handled smartly, positively, broadly and innovatively. And almost anything and everything should be a possibility.
It’s precisely that type of approach that will bring Harrisburg the gifts of fiscal stability, responsible and competent leadership and an influx of healthy businesses and residents.
Harrisburg has potential, incredible potential. This little capital city along the river. Humbug will ruin us. So let’s leave it behind as we move forward into the new year.
Tara Leo Auchey is creator and editor of todays the day Harrisburg. www.todaysthedayhbg.com
