By Gary Harding

I know on the surface it can look like things are moving in the right direction.
The “mayor on the block” walks.
The ribbon cuttings.
The smiling photos with neighbors and business owners.
The press releases about new initiatives and “investments in community.”
I get why that feels hopeful. I really do.
But here’s what it looks like from where I’m standing:
I see the same blocks get walked for 30 minutes…
and then watched the same folks sleep there that night, in the same doorways, under the same overhangs, with the same untreated wounds and the same nowhere to go.
I see shiny new projects celebrated with giant scissors and big smiles…
while people two blocks away are trying to figure out where to safely use, where to warm up, where to just exist without being pushed along.
I hear words like “compassion,” “public safety,” and “partnership,”
and then watch policies that criminalize survival, scatter encampments, and leave people cycling between the street, jail, and the ER.
A walk through doesn’t change any of that.
A photo doesn’t change any of that.
A ribbon doesn’t change any of that.
What actually changes things is the stuff that isn’t glamorous:
🏘️ Funding low-barrier shelter and housing that meets people where they’re at.
⛑️ Supporting harm reduction instead of pretending we can punish our way out of addiction.
📈 Being honest about how many people we’re leaving outside, instead of hiding it behind spin and slogans.
⚕️ Choosing budgets and policies that center the folks everyone else steps around.
I’m not against good things happening in this city.
I want safe parks. I want thriving neighborhoods. I want small businesses to feel supported.
But I can’t celebrate the highlight reel while people I know and love are still dying quietly in alleys and garages we never put on the flyer.
So if you ever see me not clapping along for the photo op, it’s not because I hate the city.
It’s because I love the people this city keeps treating as scenery.
Until the same energy that goes into the cameras and the speeches shows up in housing, harm reduction, mental health care, and real options for people on the margins…
I’m going to keep my heart, my time, and my hope with the folks who don’t get a ribbon cutting.
They deserve more than a walk by.
They deserve a city that shows up for them when the cameras are gone.

Follow Gary on TikTok: @garyharding3