This is exactly the argument that former Harrisburg mayor Stephen Reed will make to students this fall as he teaches his first course as an adjunct professor for Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. Reed will be partnering with HU as a part of their entrepreneurship in residence program and will be leading a seminar on how entrepreneurship can play a role in politics.
We have been extraordinarily non-creative in the private sector when it comes to covering rising costs without increasing taxes, says Reed. There is a mentality that permeates the public sector on both sides of the aisle that if you are going to spend more money, you have to raise taxes. Well, actually, no you dont.
As the mayor of Harrisburg from 1981 to 2009, Reed was often called Mayor for Life, as his seven-term tenure was the longest in Harrisburg history. While in office, Reed presided over many entrepreneurial efforts, from local wind and solar projects to providing incentives to induce investment, the City of Harrisburg, he says, was in the business of economic development. With the majority of Harrisburg real estate going to tax-exempt civil servants, finding investment partners was critical for Harrisburg and something Reed plans to focus on in his seminar.
After losing the 2009 democratic nomination to competitor Linda Thompson, Reed started a consulting firm, Reed Strategic Advisers, to continue pushing Harrisburg forward. The city has come a long way, Reed says, and with another generation of entrepreneurs in politics, it will keep going the right way.
29 years ago, Harrisburg was listed as the most distressed city in the United States and had gone through decades of precipitous decline, says Reed. We had to innovate because, at least for those years, if the city wasnt up front doing it, it simply wasnt going to happen. So there is a practicality to this. And these are not theories, we have seen them work here in Harrisburg and they will continue to work.
Source: Stephen Reed, Reed Strategic Advisers
Writer: John Steele