"In Pennsylvania, all roads lead to “little Romes.”

They are the cultural and economic hubs, the landlocked cities like York spread across a giant state.

“But our little Romes are burning,” York City Mayor Kim Bracey told an audience of hundreds Thursday during her annual State of the City address.

York, like its third-class city brothers and sisters, is financially treading water, calling desperately for someone — the state, preferably — to throw a life preserver. Revenue from property taxes alone, Bracey said, is no longer enough to keep it afloat.

It's a message Bracey has delivered many times before. She's said it in Harrisburg to state lawmakers. She's said it during press conferences. She's said it at York City Council meetings.

“We need a healthy menu of local options,” she said again Thursday."  For the complete York Dispatch article, please click here.