David Unkovic, former receiver of the City of Harrisburg.
“I think part of why Harrisburg has succeeded to this point is because of the people who live there.”
So said David Unkovic, former receiver of the City of Harrisburg, during a talk to McNees, Wallace & Nurick law firm colleagues, various elected officials, and other interested persons who gathered in a room last month at the Hamilton Club in Lancaster to hear him give a presentation entitled “Harrisburg: A National Model for Addressing Municipal Distress.”
He called the story of Harrisburg remarkable. He said the sequence of events of Harrisburg’s debt crisis were serendipitously just right despite the strife, fight and controversy that encompassed the saga.
In fact, he believes all of that was perfectly part of what happened.
As someone who closely watched and engaged with the unfolding events over the past five years—and studied the story much farther back—I agree. The strife reflected the complexity of the situation.
The fight pushed for substantive solutions.
The controversy attracted attention.
Without all of it, Pennsylvania’s capital city would be much worse off.
Now, not everyone concurs, and Unkovic acknowledged that.
He spoke of the contingent who believe the city should have been permitted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, convinced that was the only correct answer to solve Harrisburg’s incredible fiscal crisis. “There are some people who think the city would have been better off in bankruptcy, but I don’t think that’s true.”
Aside from the cost and the unfortunate stigma, he pointed to the certainty that nothing is guaranteed in bankruptcy. “Everything is tested in the court,” he said.
However, such a position is not acceptable to those who think the city’s current path to recovery is bogus. Some citizens feel the so-called Harrisburg Strong Plan is the wrong plan for the city’s betterment, designed for the creditors and not for the people.
Unkovic sees it differently. “The plan for Harrisburg really got it right.”
What he didn’t say outright is that the plan only works if the citizens make it work. It’s all about the citizens. But, of course, he did say Harrisburg has some pretty special citizens.
For far too long, the citizens of Harrisburg were encouraged to disengage. Okay, so this may not have been the exact message that leaders splayed on flyers, declared in public service announcements or proclaimed in the media, but, all the same, the sentiment was loud and clear. For 28 years, Mayor Stephen Reed took care of things. He didn’t require citizens to give input or involve themselves in the business he conducted on behalf of the city. He didn’t need them to ask questions or offer suggestions. He merely needed them to listen to the pontifications he famously expounded.
Then came Linda Thompson. She modeled the reign that she observed for years, the reign she pined for and seized. When she became mayor, she adopted the attitude of power that separated her from the citizens. Rather than partner with people and their attempts to contribute, she had a tendency to appropriate projects and call them her own, cutting out the credit where credit was due.
Receivership changed all of that. Just as the state usurped the authority of the city, so could the citizens. For the first time in decades, the people of Harrisburg had the capacity to be heard and effective. And the strife, fight and controversy helped the cause along.
Our jobs have only begun, though.
Last month, the state filed a motion to end Harrisburg’s receivership. It is deemed no longer necessary. The plan is accepted, the debt is paid off, and, theoretically, the potential for stability has been set in place.
With the receiver soon to be gone, the onus is now on the citizens to make the city’s success happen. It is up to the citizens to engage, participate in the plan’s implementation, sit on boards, offer counsel and hold leaders accountable.
Sure, there are people frustrated, people still apathetic, and people not happy with how the events unfolded. Yet, it’s difficult to dispute that the citizens didn’t have an influence.
Unkovic said it was the citizens who impressed him the most during his time in Harrisburg. What he didn’t say—or really need to—is that it was the citizens who inspired him to do what he did for Harrisburg.
It hasn’t been an easy road for anyone involved, nor does it look like the challenges will disappear anytime soon. The virtue, though, is that we’ve gotten this far.
It’s not a bad place to be, and the next steps are essentially ours to take.
That means the future is filled with possibility and promise because, after all, the citizens of Harrisburg are pretty remarkable.
Tara Leo Auchey is creator and editor of today’s the day Harrisburg. www.todaysthedayhbg.
