TBW Daily Diary

First, my thanks for those notes of concern sparked by the brevity of yesterday's post. I was not ill, just at a loss for words . . . Have been in a funk most of the day. I was awakened at five a.m. by the street sweeper and it took ninety minutes to fall back to sleep. In that time I thought about the blog and what I might write today. Maybe something about Memorial Day? But that got me to thinking about what has been memorable these last several months and it has all been BAD. Maybe there is something to that "end of the world" prediction for 2012 . . . Our cozy center city life that has been envied by many for years is becoming unglued at an alarming rate . . . The State Library has been virtually shuttered and the statewide system severely undermined . . . No more ten-minute saunters through the first floor exhibits at the State Museum; admission fee too expensive for a few refreshing moments with art . . . City Hall is in chaos and apparently rudderless . . . The People's Free Festival that we began as the Harrisburg Arts Festival in 1968 (now known as ArtsFest) is now charging admission "to keep out the trash and attract only serious shoppers." No more evening strolls for Schnader's French fries or Dodge City strawberry shortcake without first coughing up five dollars a head. But vendors can be happy that they will only have to serve the city's elite . . . Piccola wants control of the city schools to remain with the mayor's office despite the lack of any expertise on her part. The voters be damned. Buxton, at least, opposes this outrageous idea . . . City Council unanimously voted to rescind the rights to several parking meters that CAN residents have been using with permits for years. Council claims it will rake in at least $130,000 a month by penalizing these citizens. That is misplaced optimism, I can assure them. Many of those spaces along North, Second and Forster that are involved are as often as not vacant during the day. This is not going to be a budget-saving windfall. Talk of retaliation for this short-sighted slighting has already begun. Is another Tea Party uprising at hand albeit with sangria? . . . Stocks and world markets have taken another serious hit just when we thought recovery was underway . . . No fireworks for the Fourth . . . Mayor wants to double the property tax . . . Corbett wants to muffle free speech . . . No wonder I couldn't fall back to sleep . . . Time to get out of town. How about a ten-minute motorcycle ride through the back roads of Bedford County: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1LWHhWYmPo