Picking through the mess that is Harrisburg’s financial calamity, it may seem hard to find anything that could be called a positive.
And yet there it is—and it’s no small thing.
Dauphin County commissioner Mike Pries made note of it during a recent community forum.
The forum, held early last month, featured Pries, state Sen. Jeff Piccola and City Council attorney Mark Schwartz and was most notable for the nasty barbs hurled between Piccola and Schwartz as they argued over Harrisburg’s sorry situation, which has led to a state takeover of the city.
But amid the name-calling on the stage and the cat-calling from the audience, Pries rightly applauded several Harrisburg residents for their activism, which has been spawned, in no small part, by the city’s financial crisis and political paralysis.
He praised Alan Kennedy Shaffer of Harrisburg Hope; Tara Leo Auchey of Today’s the Day Harrisburg; James Roxbury of Roxbury News; and Eric Papenfuse of Midtown Scholar Bookstore.
To that list, I would add Neil Grover and his group, Debt Watch Harrisburg, as well as a number of publicly minded individuals, including Bill Cluck, Nevin Mindlin, Les Ford and Brian Ostella.
All have carved out roles for themselves, using their particular expertise and talents to fill in policy and procedural gaps, disperse information and shine light on public actions. And, over time, they’ve stuck with it, committing vast amounts of time in the public interest for little if any, compensation.
Kennedy-Shaffer urges civility as he brings together officials for debate and discussion. Auchey’s Today’s the Day website is a virtual archive of the city’s financial calamity and political turmoil. Roxbury points his camera into the dustiest corners of government. Papenfuse has turned his bookstore into a center for public activity and discourse. Grover uses his skills as a lawyer to act as a citizen advocate.
At City Council meetings, you often see these people in attendance, speaking at the microphone, taking notes, tweeting to the world. Pries said he gets first word of what’s happening in city government by following Auchey’s real-time tweets.
For years under Mayor Stephen Reed, some council members complained of citizen apathy and inaction. Not anymore.
Today, council meetings often are well-attended, with more residents following on Twitter, which, despite its limitations, gives people their first opportunity to follow events remotely as they happen. Over at Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg Hope forums have been standing-room-only.
On daily basis, as I travel through Harrisburg, I get an earful as people complain about crime, city, services, the state of government.
There’s plenty to criticize, but some people are doing more than complaining. They’re taking it upon themselves, at their own expense, to try to make a difference.
Do I always agree with what they tweet, blog, broadcast, file, argue and their dedication to the community.
Harrisburg is in crisis right now, and our future, in the hands of others, is unknown. Yet there is something to celebrate—a group of mindful, concerned, active citizens, residents committed to finding out what has happened to their city then trying to influence what will happen next.
