(Harrisburg) -- The Philadelphia-area lawyer who filed Harrisburg's bankruptcy petition says he's confident the city's case will move forward. Attorney Mark Schwartz says the filing was submitted to the courts before the bill to take over Harrisburg's finances became law. He says the timing makes a difference. "Too late after we filed the bankruptcy, they passed this takeover statute, which is full of illegalities. But, which luckily we don't have to face right now because the bankruptcy was filed ahead of time," Schwartz says. He says the bankruptcy process will allow the city to dig deeper into the decisions that resulted in the $310 million debt tied to its trash incinerator. Schwartz says the city would be better served under bankruptcy than under state financial control because elected officials would maintain their power. Harrisburg's bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for November 23.
Schwartz says he believes the case will be allowed to move forward after a hearing Wednesday:
Schwartz says he can't understand why a minority of city council members and Mayor Linda Thompson oppose the bankruptcy filing:
Schwartz says he thinks bankruptcy is the best place to deal with the city's bond insurer, Assured Guaranty:
