The City Knows We're Here

We had our resident's association meeting this past week. Believe it or not, we were graced by the presence of a Harrisburg City Council member- Brad Koplinski. To be honest, I don't know much about the man, but my approval of him has just gone WAY up for even being there. AND... not only was he there, but he then sent a HAND-WRITTEN note to our house thanking us for our work and the neighborhood, saying that we'd see him soon. I can't wait to see what he'll do for our city!

Let It Snow!

If you've experienced snowfalls in the suburbs or the country at night, you know the sort of alone feeling you get from standing out the the middle of a large yard or field staring up at the sky as the snow comes down. It's dark, and all you can see are bits of white fluttering down onto your face. It's quiet, even quieter than normal, and it's just you, the cold, and the snow. Depending on your mood, it can feel desolate or it can feel reflective. Snow in the city gives such a different feel. Instead of wide open spaces, the city cuddles up to itself, and the somewhat orangish street lamps that grace the streets of Allison Hill create a wonderful, warm glow that makes you feel cozy inside. Since there are small corner stores throughout the neighborhood, you don't really have to worry about running out of food- as long as you can walk outside, you can get to one of these stores, and since the owners most likely live close by or above the store, more often than not they're open. Besides, if they're not, the neighbor next door whose house helps to insulate yours in the winter is always there.

Get ready for impact!

Many people talk about wanting to make an impact with their lives. One of the incredible things about living in an area like Allison Hill is how easy it is to impact things for the good. Some places are so *nice* and *all together* that there don't seem to be many ways you can do something to help. Allison Hill is not one of those areas. In fact, if you simply move into Allison Hill, especially if you own a home, if you simply keep your house and the area around it clean and maintained, if you pay taxes, you ARE making an impact. Simply by redistributing your money, you can make a impact, but the awesome thing is that there are opportunities everywhere to make personal impacts on people. We just need to step out of our houses, and it's there. No commute, no need for hundreds of dollars to transport people and supplies to where needs are. All we need is love.

Yo, you ok?

Yeah, we're fine.
What you doing here?
Standing on the corner, waiting for a friend. What are you doing?
(no answer, of course).
For those of you who live in (or grew up in) the suburbs (like me), let me teach you how to recognize drug dealers. When prime time television is the only place you see drug dealers, you tend to have a more dramatic view of them than is the reality. Believe it or not, drug dealers are not armed to the gills (at least not in a way that is obvious). They just look like normal people. Except when it's raining or freezing or snowing, and they're the only people standing on the street corner attempting to look inconspicuous. If you wait until one of those moments, it's easy to tell who is a drug dealer. They're the idiots freezing their buns off. Oh, and if you ever walk by one and they ask you if you're ok, you are. You're fine. Just keep walking.

Trashed

I refuse to enter into the whole Harrisburg Incinerator debacle conversation, but I do want to say this: if the city of Harrisburg is going to raise the price of trash collection on our sewer and trash bill (Happy New Year!), they should at least give us adequate service. I'm asking for special perks over and above what we had currently been contracted for. I'm not talking about bulk item pick-up, even though that is a *huge* reason why different areas of Harrisburg have litter and trash problems. What I'm talking about is having a normal schedule that they can hand out saying "your trash will be picked up on this day on this street approximately at this time, unless a holiday occurs" and have them simply deliver on that. Seems like a simple request, right? What has spurred this post? Our trash wasn't collected yesterday at all (which was our trash collection day), and still wasn't collected before I left for work this morning. Maybe I should give them the measure of the doubt- maybe something occurred that delayed pick-up. I don't want to judge before knowing the entire situation, but we have had problems before. The city needs to step it up!