Aitken Parks

Though sparring over the minutiae of the TEE Center parking deck grabbed most of the headlines coming out of the committee meetings this week, you could also say that Monday’s meeting represented the beginning of the District 1 Commission race. The gauntlet was thrown down in last week’s <<IT>>Spirit<<IT>>, when Harrisburg activist and former Deke fighter Lori Davis drew a bead on sitting commissioner Matt Aitken. Not only was she quoted as saying she was considering a run, but she didn’t have much good to say about Aitken’s leadership, either. To be fair, she doesn’t have much good to say about anybody’s leadership, but you’ve got to figure it’s probably a little uncomfortable to have all that <<IT>>grrrr<<IT>> thrown in your direction. Which might have been just the wakeup call Aitken needed, because after a couple of tentative years blowing to and fro like a kite searching for the wind, it seemed Monday as if the time had come for him to reacquaint himself with the updraft that lifted him into office. So when Alvin Mason was going back and forth with Fred Russell and everyone was holding their breath wondering how Jerry Brigham was going to respond to Bill Lockett’s dismissive request to calm down, Aitken dug deep and found the courage to stand up and actually say something. Of course, it came wrapped in that familiar, why-can’t-we-all-just-get-along rhetoric, but still — he was clearly ready to embrace the TEE Center, its parking deck and, if necessary, even the cursed land it was built on. This wasn’t always the case. Though he mostly votes with the white majority, which has been generally supportive of the deck throughout the lengthy, often acrimonious process, early on, Aitken was forcefully critical of the deal. Whether he was feeling the need to appease the black majority within the district that supported him the last time around but was now looking for a reason not to throw him out, or whether he was listening to the conspiracy-laced stories coming from some of the white people who are now assembling to face off against him, he came out of the gates accusatory and downright surly on the subject. Recently, he hasn’t had a lot to say on the subject, but Monday he couldn’t have been more positive, saying that most of his concerns about the parking garage agreement had been addressed and that he hoped commissioners could check their spirits and remember to put the city first. Most telling, however, was the fact that he specifically thanked the “motel operator” that’s working there, commending them for being faithful when no one else was investing in the community. If that doesn’t sound like a candidate remembering how to campaign, it’s hard to say what does.You Might Also Like: