I’m afraid that we’re looking a little small potatoes these days, a little droopy in the drawers; the little town that couldn’t get out of its own way.
The complex, multi-entity deal to seal an extended runway for the Erie International Airport was hailed in many places (including this space) as an astonishing feat of combined cooperation, of public good winning out over personal ego.
Now almost every entity of the four or five involved have backed out at one point or another, the latest being Erie County Council.
The inclusion of the Erie Golf Course as part of the deal makes financial sense but distracted attention, to the point where the big picture of the economic impact of the runway got lost in the rough grass.
It’s not that the thing won’t eventually get done, but the fits and starts speak directly to the bickering that creates the perception that regional cooperation is a pipe dream around here and that the community can get off point from the slightest breeze.
Add that to the announcement that a Florida hospital system has been named as one of the facilities to host human trials from the John Kanzius therapy of using radio waves to kill cancer cells.
The system, near Kanzius’ Sanibel Island winter home, waged an aggressive campaign to convince study author Dr. Steven Curley that it deserved one of the five site designations.
What rattles the bones here is that Kanzius, who spent his professional life in Erie, was promised one of those sites for his hometown, but was told that Erie did little to express interest for the designation, which would bring about 40 million dollars of economic impact and add a level of national medical prestige not easily found.
Asked what happened, the local medical community patted Erie on the head and said, “Don’t worry, we have it covered.”
Meanwhile, larger systems from around the country are now in the hunt, moving Erie from the front of the pack to the place where you eat dust.
What’s the bottom line?
Erie will one day have an extended runway and Dr. Curley has been invited to Erie to hear our pitch for the trials.
All is not lost.
But we sure seem to have a knack for doing things the hard way, a gift that leaves us with the reputation of not having what it takes to grow the big potatoes.