By the time some of you read this article, the new mayor of the city of Harrisburg will be elected.
Yet, for some of you, this article will be in your hands only a few days before the election.
So, with the Nov. 5 election either merely days away or just passed, this article serves to assist the undecided or rally the winners and losers to demand the same thing no matter who has won: good leadership for Harrisburg.
The next mayor, may he be this—cosmopolitan.
This is important for Harrisburg because, after all, Harrisburg is a city.
Not only is it a city, it’s a capital city. As the chief city of Pennsylvania, it should be a prototype for innovative strategies, social ingenuity and upstanding practices.
A good leader for Harrisburg will be in tune with the rich opportunities that only the pulse and ways of a city can present. A city is a plethora of cultures, languages, faces and random conversations. It’s a place for variety and choice without exclusiveness. It’s a stronghold of perspectives and potential.
In the past, leaders have not realized this.
As a consequence, the city of Harrisburg has acted more like an overgrown town than a small city, which has stifled the dynamic energy of this urban place.
Harrisburg is a city, and I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “Call it a city, and it’ll act like a city.”
It will be important for our next mayor to embrace and foster the true essence of what a city is, should be, needs to be and can be.
May he not be this—vain.
We’ve had enough vanity in the mayor’s office to last generations.
While anyone who wants to get into elected office has to have a healthy ego (I mean, how could anyone handle the job without it?), Harrisburg can do without the inflated sense of self-importance that has gone hand-in-hand with “The Mayor” for the past two administrations.
No more should ego triumph over common good. No more should personalities take over projects. No more totalitarianism, referring to oneself in the third person or personal taste dominating decisions.
No more.
May he do this—mind the basic services.
It’s no secret over the past decades that the city’s infrastructure has been allowed to dilapidate. Aside from the decrepit and neglected underground network of pipes, there are blighted buildings rotting alongside overgrown and trashed lots posted with “City on the Move” signs, a leftover public relations initiative from Mayor Stephen Reed.
Streetlights are out. Too often, it’s a burnt-out bulb, but, in some places, a jagged metal stump sits where a post should be. Look into one of these orifices, and you’re likely to see garbage and muck. Of the lamps that do work, many of them are covered in dirty clumps of cobwebs and insects.
Roadways are rippled with cracks, indentations and pits growing into massively deep holes where quick fixes have been the norm.
Crosswalks are faded or nonexistent. Litter and leaves clog storm drains. Overgrown trees, bushes and weeds dangerously obstruct walkways and pathetically spread over city parks.
Ordinances are ignored, police are more reactive than proactive, and it’s a challenge for a resident to access clear, consistent information.
These are the daily quality-of-life issues, and, while money is always an issue, efficient management could go a long way as a remedy.
May he do this, too—use the citizens.
City government has been cut to the bare bone. Much institutional knowledge has gone or withered away in the past few years and, overall, morale is low throughout the city’s halls.
Antiquated procedures and strained management have created the appearance of incompetency. Certainly, most of the city’s employees are doing the best with what they have, but it’s been awhile since Harrisburg’s government has run smoothly or efficiently.
However, there is underutilized help out there, on-call and ready to serve.
Enter city residents and stakeholders.
From volunteer cleanup crews to organizations like Lighten Up Harrisburg!, there is a wellspring of sweat equity in this city.
Instead of being regularly encouraged and called to action, though, too often the citizens have been deemed intrusive, stepping on the toes of government instead of being looked at as vital assistance.
Hopefully, this leadership attitude will be gone in the new year.
Oh, and one last thing: may the next mayor of Harrisburg not continually confuse the public.
With Reed, it was a shell game and grandiose promises. With Thompson, it’s been a barrage of announcements and partially executed measures.
Despite a parade of press conferences out of both administrations, citizens are frequently asking, “What’s going on?”
Our former mayors seem either to not know or not want to tell, holding truth too close to the vest or spewing falsity all at once.
This public perplexity leads too easily to apathy, the very thing that will cause the ruin of the city.
To sum up….
This election may not yield an ideal leader or even an excellent one for that matter. Harrisburg might not be quite there yet.
But what we do get is a renewed chance to demand “good” based on the standards above, and that’s good enough. For now.
Tara Leo Auchey is creator and editor of todays the day Harrisburg. todaysthedayhbg.com
