Over 40 Erieites hopped off a bus in Harrisburg this morning, launching the first ever “Erie day in Harrisburg”.
“In my 13 years here, this is by far the largest contingency from Erie County that I have ever had,” said Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, a Democratic elected leader for Erie County.
Elected officials, non-profit leaders, and business owners will spend two days in the state capitol to meet with legislative leaders and executive officials.
“They are the ones moving Erie forward, and they’ve taken this time out to make sure that our voices are together,” said Erie Mayor Daria Devlin.
Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) says getting face time with leaders, and equally critically their office staff, can be important connections for future advocacy. Meetings today with secretaries of the Transportation Department and Human Services Department also came with conversations with their teams who are often direct contact points.
Legislative meetings are less focused on chatting with local elected officials, and more with the “who’s who” of the Harrisburg legislature– majority and minority leaders in the house and senate.
“I hate to say it, but who you know still matter. The best way to do that is to sit across from a table and tell them what your region needs,” Laughlin said.
Bizzarro and Laughlin shook hands and sported sunglasses at an afternoon press conference, promising bipartisan effort on local priorities.
“With Dan and I, we think that we can help get a lot of these projects and a lot of these requests across the finish line,” Bizzarro said.
The event was organized by Infinite Erie and sponsored by Erie Insurance. Erie Insurance CEO Tim Necastro has advocated for the region for decades. He says in conversations with previous governors, the strategy of unity was key.
“Gov. Wolf also said ‘they love Erie down here in Harrisburg, but they feel like they’re dying in the death of a thousand cuts’,” Necastro said, describing how Erie Insurance has been asked in the past to help bring voices together. “It’s been a primary mission of mine over the last decade with this job.”
The Infinite Erie playbook is one example of unity—clarifying funders, groups, and progress for dozens of region projects.
“This is not a document sitting on a shelf. This is a living roadmap.. to move from all of the planning work to actionable items,” said Kim Thomas, executive director of Infinite Erie.
Conversations today focusing heavily on housing policy and chances to remove industrial or residential blight.
“It’s also emotional blight for the residents, so cleaning that up gives people hope,” said Tina Mengine, president of Erie County Redevelopment Authority.
While housing was critical, a “world class waterfront” was brought up numerous times in all meetings. Local leaders stress the importance of state support in the region’s transforming goals.
This week’s advocacy coming well before state budget deadlines, where local cities can get carve outs or broadly impactful policy is decided.
“We are going to need help and support to deliver for our residents. We know today we feel that support from our partners here in Harrisburg,” Devlin said.
Necastro reminisced on where the city has been and where it can go if the momentum stays.
“As Erie’s fortunes changed and manufacturing jobs left our city. We found ourselves in a bit of a quandary,” Necastro said. “But I’m happy to say that right now we were caught our footing and we’re making very positive steps forward.”