OK, KIDS, IT'S official, the Capital City of the nation's sixth-largest state is in a "fiscal emergency" and one step closer to a state takeover.
The Legislature and Gov. Corbett, acting with fervor, speed and resolve not seen in the Capitol since Ed Rendell worked buffet lines, brought the hammer down.
The Jewel of the Susquehanna, the birthplace of Newt Gingrich, the home of the longest stone-arch railroad bridge in the world, is belly up.
How could this happen?
What does it mean?
You might well ask.
It started with trash. Decades ago, the city built a huge incinerator to burn rubbish, including from New York, to make money.
It didn't go well: environmental problems, financial problems, things of that nature.
Harrisburg hopes went up in smoke; then came incinerator bills and debt, a recession, floods, frogs, plagues, pestilence and Linda Thompson.
Thompson, the mayor, is famous for smiling and giving a double-thumbs-down sign from the window of her second-floor City Hall office during a "Show Your Love for Harrisburg; Demand Linda Thompson Resign" rally earlier this year.
More recently, Keith Olbermann, formerly of MSNBC, now of Current TV, named her one of his world's "worst persons," calling her "deluded" for saying she'd fast and pray to help city finances. Thompson responded. Said she'd pray for Keith - and his ratings.
The mayor has taken the brunt of blame for the 'Burg's bust even though City Council, a body that makes Philly's Council look like the Council of Trent, is equally lacking in leadership skills, and despite that Thompson inherited many woes, including the incinerator issues, from former Mayor Stephen R. Reed, a/k/a "Baby Doc Reed, Mayor for Life."
After 28 years at the city helm, Reed somehow slipped the bonds of responsibility, proving himself the Houdini of urban politics. He's now a consultant.
So, since Council and the mayor can't agree on a plan to save the city and since Council hired Bryn Mawr attorney-for-the-misbegotten Mark Schwartz (he of the don't-move-the-Barnes Foundation effort) to file for bankruptcy, we're about to experience the Full Employment for Lawyers Act.
Schwartz has represented underdogs against corporate America and wealthy estates, has experience in state and local government and municipal financing, and (bound to be helpful in this case) entertainment law.
He calls the state takeover "perverse" and unconstitutional.
The state calls Schwartz's application for bankruptcy illegal.
