She was the only person that could beat Mayor Reed and Mayor Reed had to go!
Last night I went to a seminar called “Money Matters 2011” sponsored by the Pennsylvania Securities and Exchange Commission (PASEC). As I stood in line to get my registration assignment papers for my sessions, an employee of the PASEC came up to me and said, “I know you. You are the person that goes to City Council meetings. I see you on TV. We have a local celebrity here.” All I could do is say “thank you very much” and continue with my business. I get this in supermarkets, malls, at the bank, and at work.
Seeing me on TV means many things for many people based on their own needs and view of City politics. Some people think that I attended to support Mayor Thompson. Other people believe that I am in support of City Council. Many people think that I hold an office in the City like City Council Member. Yet other people think I am present because I am going to run for office.
What they do not understand is that I am involved in City government representing three people, me, myself, and I. In the lunch room at work, two fellow employees stopped me and wanted my opinion on the situation in the City. What they really wanted to know was what side did I support, the mayor or the “Gang of 4.” After the conversation they still did not get their answer.
The reason why they are so confused is because all they get on the news is sound bytes. People really do not get real information that they need to know to figure out how the issue relates to them. The media is a business and must sell advertising to stay in business. The job of telling you the real problems in a complicated story like the Harrisburg Financial Crisis takes a multiple hour program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkFQh_UeGxA
Click the link above to see a sound byte from TV8
This sound byte talks about lawyers going head to head with each other over a bankruptcy filing. However, it says nothing about how the City should pay it bills with no money in the treasury.
TV21 News did suggest that the City can't make payments if they do not have the money. The old Governor talked about selling assets to pay its bills. But TV21 did not come back and ask the governor "once the assets are gone, who will pay the bills next year?" By the way, I wrote and called the old governor's office in 2007 telling him that this day was coming and asked him to meet with me on this issue. He nor his staff would give me the time of day.
TV21 News is the only mainstream network to give any detailed news to the City story. But as Linda Thompson said, she is not an expert but she thinks that with the help of the state she can get out of act 47. They did not ask the mayor "What help?" since the old Governor told the City that they are on their own. The new Governor is only interested in making sure the bondholders are paid.
I am not the only person that was telling the public that the clouds of doom was near. The Financial Coach Bryan Binkholder (http://www.FinancialCoachShow.com) examined the Municipal Bond failure of Harrisburg Pennsylvania and what it means to other bondholders.
Thanks to people outside the mainstream media, people can get information on what the real issues are because the Internet has become more popular with area citizens.
Education Malfunction
This crisis should point out another problem that the people of Harrisburg need to correct.
Most people do not know how their government functions especially their local government. In my opinion, this is a malfunction of the school district. If you don’t know how your government works, how can you petition your government for your needs? How can you vote for a representative that has the same government view as you? I know a person who ran for a city office thinking that he was going to use that position to change the school district. That person did not realize that the school district falls under the State Department of Education and was separate from the local municipal government.
With this type of malfunction, a smart politician like Mayor Reed could manipulate the voting population into believing anything that he wants. He could mismanage the incinerator project and blame the problems on City Council. Then he can run “Yes” people against City Council Members. Mayor Reed did just that and changed the make up of City Council every two years. In affect, he hid his City “screw ups.” He changed City Council keeping new members ignorant of the system. That gave him full control of the government for two decades. Mayor Reed did not want anyone to know what was going on and how the Harrisburg political system worked.
When I started going to City Council Meetings 10 years ago, many people living in the City did not know that City Council Meetings were public meetings. Many times, I sat in the meetings as the only citizen in the audience. Fewer yet knew about the City Council Committee meetings where the actual discussion takes place about the issues and the action that City Council would take to proceed. At first, the 2002 President of City Council tried to intimidate me so that I would not attend anymore meetings. At one point he told me not to come back. From that attitude I thought that I should continue to attend because knowing my history of governments, something was wrong.
No public participation meant that public official can do whatever they want in secret. Here is why the people did not know that the incinerator project was going south and the Mayor was able to blame City Council. They did not know that less and less police officers was on the police force from 1990 to 2009. No one told them that the City over the years was moving into insolvency.
TV21 News did suggest that the City can't make payments if they do not have the money. The old Governor talked about selling assets to pay its bills. But TV21 did not come back and ask the governor "once the assets are gone, who will pay the bills next year?" By the way, I wrote and called the old governor's office in 2007 telling him that this day was coming and asked him to meet with me on this issue. He nor his staff would give me the time of day.
TV21 News is the only mainstream network to give any detailed news to the City story. But as Linda Thompson said, she is not an expert but she thinks that with the help of the state she can get out of act 47. They did not ask the mayor "What help?" since the old Governor told the City that they are on their own. The new Governor is only interested in making sure the bondholders are paid.
I am not the only person that was telling the public that the clouds of doom was near. The Financial Coach Bryan Binkholder (http://www.FinancialCoachShow.com) examined the Municipal Bond failure of Harrisburg Pennsylvania and what it means to other bondholders.
Thanks to people outside the mainstream media, people can get information on what the real issues are because the Internet has become more popular with area citizens.
Education Malfunction
This crisis should point out another problem that the people of Harrisburg need to correct.
Most people do not know how their government functions especially their local government. In my opinion, this is a malfunction of the school district. If you don’t know how your government works, how can you petition your government for your needs? How can you vote for a representative that has the same government view as you? I know a person who ran for a city office thinking that he was going to use that position to change the school district. That person did not realize that the school district falls under the State Department of Education and was separate from the local municipal government.
With this type of malfunction, a smart politician like Mayor Reed could manipulate the voting population into believing anything that he wants. He could mismanage the incinerator project and blame the problems on City Council. Then he can run “Yes” people against City Council Members. Mayor Reed did just that and changed the make up of City Council every two years. In affect, he hid his City “screw ups.” He changed City Council keeping new members ignorant of the system. That gave him full control of the government for two decades. Mayor Reed did not want anyone to know what was going on and how the Harrisburg political system worked.
When I started going to City Council Meetings 10 years ago, many people living in the City did not know that City Council Meetings were public meetings. Many times, I sat in the meetings as the only citizen in the audience. Fewer yet knew about the City Council Committee meetings where the actual discussion takes place about the issues and the action that City Council would take to proceed. At first, the 2002 President of City Council tried to intimidate me so that I would not attend anymore meetings. At one point he told me not to come back. From that attitude I thought that I should continue to attend because knowing my history of governments, something was wrong.
No public participation meant that public official can do whatever they want in secret. Here is why the people did not know that the incinerator project was going south and the Mayor was able to blame City Council. They did not know that less and less police officers was on the police force from 1990 to 2009. No one told them that the City over the years was moving into insolvency.
This scene took place at a City Council Committee Meeting in June of 2008. Roxbury News an independent news agency along with the Internet was a major player in ending Mayor Reed's Administration.
Conclusion
I am not in this because I want to belong to a gang (for Linda or for the gang of 4) as the news media plays the situation. I do not attend meetings to support one side against the other nor to support people for office. I am not in this to support the Governor.
I am not in this because I want to belong to a gang (for Linda or for the gang of 4) as the news media plays the situation. I do not attend meetings to support one side against the other nor to support people for office. I am not in this to support the Governor.
I want to see a long term solution to the City's Financial Problem. This has been my goal for the past 10 years. I will support whatever plan works. From my research, the only plan that would work would be Bankruptcy and negotiations with lenders. If the act 47 plan would pay the bills over the next 10 years, then I would be all for that. If a state controller could make sure all bills were paid over the next 10 years, I would be all for that.
I will continue to look out for the interest of "me, myself, and I." I expect others to do the same. As for who to vote for in the next election, that is up to you!
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