If you haven't yet read the thread "Can Erie catch a break", you need to give it a look.

There's a lot of despair in that thread -- a lot of people who have given up hope in Erie.

I'm not pointing it out because I think we should be throwing up our hands. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think there was hope for the future.

I bring it up because it captures the feelings that many have in this community.

It's a feeling that the worst is yet to come. It's a feeling that our leaders are failing us. It's a feeling that there's is nothing any of us can do to stop it.

Many of those who have come to those conclusions have plenty of reasons to feel helpless.

Some have lost jobs. Others have been forced to leave town. Still others are living under circumstances they could have never envisioned.

That helplessness is based on decades of decline, mistakes and (yes) circumstance.

The feeling is real and hard to ignore.

And it's perhaps best summarized in a emotional post contributed by Danny Lucas of Bethlehem.

Here's how it starts:
"I have often read that classic definition of insanity posted by Bob Enas: 'doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different outcome each time.' And each time I read it, I cannot help but think that it would also make a great definition of prayer. One prays over and over in faith that the outcome will change. I suspect that from what I saw in a one week visit to Erie (just ended today), a lot of people are turning to prayer as a last resort instead of a first resort."

I encourage you to read the rest.