At some point this month, Midtown Harrisburg property owners will retrieve their mail and find a large envelope among the usual bills, coupon shoppers and credit card come-ons.
Please–don’t toss it out along with the other unsolicited missives.
The 48-page document is the Midtown Improvement District (MID) draft plan, and it’s essential reading for any neighborhood homeowner.
It will explain exactly what the MID would be, how it would be funded and what it would cost. It also will include a list of all the properties in the proposed district, which runs from Forster to Maclay streets and N. Front to N. 7th streets.
“Our primary goal is to improve safety and security,” said Eric Papenfuse, the owner of Midtown Scholar Bookstore who has spearheaded the effort to establish the MID. “We figured that safety and security are paramount in life, whether you’re a resident, a business owner or a visitor.”
As proposed, the MID would hire off-duty Harrisburg police to boost security in Midtown, which, just last month, suffered a series of muggings committed by two armed men.
Longer term, the MID would help Midtown become eligible to enter the state’s Elm Street program, which provides grants to beautify and revitalize historic neighborhoods, said Bill Fontana, executive director of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center.
Under the current plan, the MID would charge an assessment of one-tenth of 1 percent of the value of a property, which, for most homeowners, would amount to $60 per year, which also is the minimum assessment.
That money would fund most of the $430,000 annual budget of the MID. The MID then would hire a team of two off-duty Harrisburg police officers for one eight-hour night shift, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Monday to Thursday, and two teams of two officers, each working one eight-hour night shift, Friday and Saturday.
The budget also would fund a person to oversee the operation of the MID. It’s expected that, at first, the MID would be run from the Downtown Center, but would transition quickly to another non-profit organization, perhaps Friends of Midtown, which has expressed interest and already runs a community foot patrol.
At a public information session last month, residents seemed generally supportive of the MID, but also had numerous concerns.
For instance, Green Street resident Bob Deibler wanted to ensure that city police would continue to cover midtown, even as their off-duty colleagues were patrolling the area.
“Are we sure the city would not slough off on us because we have our own police?” he asked.
Papenfuse responded that the MID’s municipal services agreement with the city specifically prevents on-duty police from skipping the neighborhood.
Neil Grover, who lives on N. 3rd St., said he is opposed to the MID on principle as he believes that it creates a distinction between Midtown and the rest of the city.
“This whole thing runs against my grain at the deepest level,” he said. “I think it’s a bad way to govern.”
So, upon receiving the plan, what should a Midtown property owner do? Nothing yet, other than reading it and becoming familiar with the details. A public hearing on the MID will be held sometime in September, Papenfuse said.
Afterwards, probably starting in October or November, property owners in the district will have a 45-day window to vote on a final plan.
The plan would be rejected only if 40 percent of the 3,161eligible property owners in te district vote against it. If appproved, the MID likely would be up and running on Jan. 1, said Fontana.
Papenfuse mentioned several other factors that he believed were benefits of the MID.
First, the area’s developers, who own large amounts of property, would have to make new, substantial contributions to the community. Secondly, non-profits, which own non-taxable property not assessed under the plan, would be encouraged to donate. Thirdly, the community would have a new tool to use against negligent property owners, as “nuisance” properties would be assessed at a much higher rate.
“This is a good way for some developers and others to contribute to the neighborhood,” said Papenfuse.
Want to see the proposed Midtown Improvement District plan now? Go to https://midtownimprovementdistrict.wordpress.com/
