The City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania took a rare step this week and filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy allegedly was necessary because the City took on a debt level of over 4 times its annual budget and in particular because a large municipal project did not live up to the financial expectations that were projected at the time it was built.
Harrisburg like many midwestern cities has seen its population shrink from a high of 89,544 people in 1950 to a low of 48,950 in the 2000 census completing a drop of 45% in only 50 years. During the last decade population has stabilized and is currently at 49,528. Harrisburg which is the capitol of Pennsylvania saw continuous growth prior to 1950 but has been declining since then.
In an effort to satisfy the newly created EPA back in the early 70’s, Harrisburg embarked on an incenerator project that was touted to be a money maker. That performance never panned out leaving the people of Harrisburg holding the bag for the debt that was incurred to build it.
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Building big debt that will be left for others sounds like Weinzapfel and his cronies, Sorry about your future fellow taxpayers. More of the same old same old will not produce the future growth needed to pay for what this bunch of crooks or incompetents have created!!!
In case you have not been informed, Harrisburg Pennsylvania has filed for bankruptcy. If you think such a thing could never occur in Evansville Indiana, you had better think again. One party rule will always end in disaster:
Mayor Stephen R. Reed (Democrat)
In the Democratic landslide victory year of 1974, when he was 25, Reed campaigned hard for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and upset four-term Republican incumbent George Gekas, who later became a Pennsylvania state senator and U.S. Congressman. He would go on to serve three terms as a member of the state’s House of Representatives until 1980. Re-elected to the state house in 1976 and 1978, Reed was elected Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Commissioner in 1979 and Mayor of Harrisburg in 1981. He has won re-election as Mayor in 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2005. (looks kind of like mayor for life)
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Harrisburg Pennsylvania City Council Members
District Name Took Office Party
1 Gloria Martin-Roberts†2004 Dem
2 Patty Kim* 2004 Dem
3 Brad Koplinski 2007 Dem
4 Susan Brown Wilson 2007 Dem
5 Wanda D. Williams 2004 Dem
6 Eugenia G. Smith 2010 Dem
7 Kelly D. Summerford 2010 Dem
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Population (2010)
– City 49,528
– Density 4,344.6/sq mi (1,677.4/km2)
– Urban 383,008
– Metro 528,892 (97th)
– CSA 647,390 (56th)
Historical populations
1890 39,385 +28.0%
1900 50,167 +27.4%
1910 64,186 +27.9%
1920 75,917 +18.3%
1930 80,339 +5.8%
1940 83,893 +4.4%
1950 89,544 +6.7%
1960 79,697 −11.0%
1970 68,061 −14.6%
1980 53,264 −21.7%
1990 52,376 −1.7%
2000 48,950 −6.5%
2010 49,528 +1.2%
In 2010 Forbes rated Harrisburg as the second best place in the U.S. to raise a family. Despite the city’s recent financial troubles, in 2010 The Daily Beast website ranked 20 metropolitan areas across the country as being recession-proof, and the Harrisburg region landed at No. 7. The financial stability of the region is in part due to the high concentration of state and federal government agencies.
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Forbes and The Daily Beast were absolutely proven wrong in their predictions on Harrisburg. And those predictions were made just last year!
This is what a 1 party system of tax and spenders can do for your city, As we have seen with the spending that has taken place in Evansville by the Weinzapfel administration and the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation, Evansville is not immune.
Vote smart in November, the city you save may be your own.
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Votes on November 7th should be cast in a manner that is most likely to break the current machine. That may require voting for members of both parties.
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According to the “occupy” mantra, this Harrisburg problem is simply solved. The debt Harrisburg owes that is causing its bankruptcy should just be erased. The greedy corporate firms Harrisburg owes the money to should just give up trying to collect. Instead, these greedy firms should write off the debt, take an enormous loss, and lay off their employees. Then those laid off employees can collect an “occupy – approved” living wage, whether the former employees are working or not.
Chaulk Harrisburg’s problem up to politicians (are they all Dems?) who wanted to show they were green in spite of the obvious economics that the project had no business case. I know “business case” is a four letter word to occupiers.
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