More than 40 huge sinkholes open up all over Pennsylvania’s capital .....

The Daily Mail Online ^ | February 1, 2013 | DAMIAN GHIGLIOTTY

[Uncle Chip]

Officials in Pennsylvania’s state capital are dealing with an abysmal issue they can’t afford to fix: 41 massive sinkholes throughout the city as wide as 50 feet and as deep as a typical grave.

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But the city is too broke to replace many of the aging pipes and repave its roads as it deals with ongoing budget woes and the looming threat of bankruptcy, according to media reports.

The first of the recent sinkholes perforating Harrisburg was reported on New Year's Eve when a chasm measuring an estimated 50 feet long and eight feet deep, swallowed a neighborhood block, damaging water and gas pipes and forcing more than a dozen residents to evacuate their homes.

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In addition to the rising number of sinkholes, the struggling city has been unable to fix a sewage treatment plant that has been dumping toxic waste into the Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

‘We can't do anything right now because no one will lend to us,’ William Cluck, chairman of the city agency that oversees the water-treatment facility, told the Journal. Harrisburg, which is in default on its debt, is unable to tap into the municipal-debt market, which cities and states use to finance their infrastructure, including bridges, roads and tunnels.

After city officials rejected a state-sponsored financial recovery plan in July 2011, Harrisburg ‘was briefly transformed into the Greece of Pennsylvania,’ the New York Times wrote in an article published at the time.

The city’s financial woes stem in part from a failed plan to borrow $350 million to upgrade an enormous trash incinerator. That plan fell through in 2010 after the federal government blocked the effort due to the threat of toxic air pollution.

[rrrod]

When registered Democrats suffer....well Im kinda happy

[Yardstick]

Bet they wish they could print their own currency.

[listenhillary]

That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the headline. I bet they would have like to see those tax dollars.

[kabar]

Other issues: Harrisburg has also been unable to fix a sewage treatment plant that has been dumping toxic waste into the Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean

[morphing libertarian]

Sacramento is one big sinkhole.

[piroque]

Have everyone receiving food stamps, unemployment or other types of welfare show up in person to get their money.

2. Hand out shovels.

3. Problem solved.

Don't you know than common sense in government is a no-no

[stayathomemom]

Is it Detroit that is built over a Salt Mine?

Yes.

http://aryancoleman.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/salt11.jpg

[raybbr]

“$1.2 MILLION per hole! What do they propose to fill them with?”

Taxpayer dollars, of course.:-D

[MasterGunner01]

Look, see . . . shovel ready jobs! Oh, wait, that would be like “work”. Forget it.

[P.O.E.]

P> PA Ping!

If you see posts of interest to Pennsylvanians, please ping me.

Thanks!

Here is a slide show from WSJ online

Bottom Falls Out of Debt-Ridden City

[Victor]

Big shovel-ready jobs for Obama and his crew....what’s the problem??

[TXnMA]

"$1.2 MILLION per hole! What do they propose to fill them with?"

Union featherbeds...

[ConservativeInPA]

I live five miles from Harrisburg, on the White Shore. The problem in Harrisburg, and other cities, is simple. The people do not value education, American culture and lack values and principles. Harrisburg schools churn out generation after generation of illiterates. There was a recent article in the local paper that stated Harrisburg High had a 45% graduation rate. Close to 80% of 11th graders (those still in school) are below proficient in math and reading.

The city is run by democrats that mostly went to Harrisburg schools. Not only is the city broke to a tune of over $280 million, the school district is equally broke (separate budget). This is after they closed multiple schools and let go 500 school employees.

Harriaburg schools fund most of their budget from state and federal funds - not local taxes. Put bluntly, if you pay federal income taxes, then you are sending your money to Harrisburg to be squandered. If you pay PA income taxes then you send even more of your earnings to an abject failure.

Of course the "culture" of Harrisburg's people make it the 21st most crime ridden city in America.

The is a solution to the problem, and it doesn't involve sending more money to Harrisburg, is to completely cut them off and let them live with the mess they made. I really don't have any emotions for bond holders of Harrisburg debt - face it they are not going to get paid - Harrisburg has long been a risky investment, just as any government entity controlled by liberals.

Maybe one day, the bad neighborhoods of Harrisburg can be bulldozed and there can be a new start.

[GOPJ]

Liberals want to herd us all into cities like this one. PA could have ‘poster cities’ ... encouraging us to “live in liberal hell” - splashed across the poster - writ large... Or maybe Chicago - and the poster’s words could be done in ink that smacks of blood...