New Leadership for Harrisburg
Businessman Eric Papenfuse bested a field of four candidates last month to claim the Democratic nomination for mayor of Harrisburg.
Papenfuse tallied 2,480 votes versus 2,084 for city Controller Dan Miller, 1816 for incumbent Mayor Linda Thompson and 64 for Lewis Butts Jr.
“I want to thank the voters of Harrisburg for the trust they have placed in me,” said Papenfuse, owner of Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg. “I vow to work hard to fulfill that trust.”
Papenfuse will face independent candidate Nevin Mindlin in November’s general election.
City Council also will have a new look next year. Challengers Shamaine Daniels and Ben Allatt earned the Democratic nomination, as did incumbents Wanda Williams and Eugenia Smith. Incumbent Kelly Summerford was one of six candidates who failed to gain enough votes for the four contested seats.
No Republicans ran for council, virtually ensuring victory in November for the winners of the Democratic nomination.
For school board, Danielle Robinson, Patricia Whitehead Myers, James Thompson and Kenneth Mickens appear to have survived the Democratic primary for four, four-year slots. Incumbent Lola Lawson and challenger Lionel Gonzalez trailed the field. However, absentee ballots, not yet counted at press time, could change the final result.
Democrats also nominated Monica Blackston-Bailey, LaTasha Frye and Adara Jackson for three, two-year seats on the school board. No Republicans ran.
In the competitive race for judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Anne Gingrich Cornick bested two opponents to capture the Democratic nomination. In November, she will run against Bill Tully, who came out on top in a field of three Republican candidates.
School Board OKs Recovery Plan
The Harrisburg school board last month gave its approval to a recovery plan for the school district, one that ensures it will receive a $6.4 million no-interest loan from the state.
To receive the money, the district had until May 20 to OK the plan, which was drafted by a team led by Chief Recovery Officer Gene Veno.
The funding will finance numerous short-term goals outlined in the plan, including the hiring of a CEO for the district, promotion of the Cougar Academy online cyber school and upgrading early childhood programs.
Other elements of the recovery plan include:
• Creating financial stability, which is expected to result in a budget surplus for the district by 2017.
• Hiking the school portion of the property tax for 2013-14 by 3.5 percent.
• Selling the former William Penn, Hamilton and Shimmell school buildings.
• Moving the district’s administrative offices from leased space on N. Front Street to the Lincoln School on State Street.
• Implementing a 5 percent wage reduction for staff in 2013-14 and 2014-15, followed by a wage freeze in 2015-16.
• Improving district finances through better revenue collection and grant writing.
• Mandating significant academic improvements; turning educational programs over to outside management if academic goals are not attained after 2015-16 school year.
• Creating a kindergarten center, three middle schools and three elementary schools from the current K-8 system.
Currently, the school district suffers from substantial challenges, including poor academic performance and a debt load of nearly $500 million, largely due to spending undertaken by the district’s former board of control.
Cameras to Help Spotlight Crime
Come this summer, 10 new cameras will peer down onto Harrisburg’s streets, due to funding announced last month by Dauphin County.
The cameras will be installed mainly on utility poles in the Allison Hill and Uptown neighborhoods, as well as downtown, said Mayor Linda Thompson. The cameras, intended to help police solve crimes, will be installed in areas prone to criminal incidents, Thompson said.
The cameras were funded from the county’s Crime Task Force and will be owned by the county.
Artifact Auction Set
Want to own a piece of both old West and recent Harrisburg history? You’ll get your chance this summer, as the city’s historic artifact auction has been scheduled for mid-July.
After numerous delays, New York-based Guernsey’s will conduct the auction July 15-21 on City Island, following a two-day preview at the city’s Public Works warehouse on S. 19th Street.
The artifacts are part of the massive collection compiled by former Mayor Steve Reed, who used more than $8 million in public money over many years to shop for inventory for several museums, including a Wild West museum, that he dreamed of building in Harrisburg.
Harrisburg Incinerator Inspires Legislation
Four state lawmakers last month introduced a bipartisan package of bills that would help provide better state oversight of municipal financing deals.
Standing at the Harrisburg incinerator, Sens. Rob Teplitz, John Eichelberger, John Blake and Mike Folmer introduced several bills that would prevent some of the more notorious practices that allowed the former Reed administration to rack up municipal debt that has pushed Harrisburg to the brink of bankruptcy.
Together, the legislation would limit a local government’s ability to guarantee municipal borrowings, eliminate its ability to charge a fee for borrowings, give the state greater authority to oversee borrowing, give the state the ability to investigate ethical charges by people involved in municipal financial transactions, ban the use of interest rate swaps by most municipalities and improve transparency and accountability.
“Residents across the Harrisburg region are now on the hook to pay for an incinerator project that, despite multiple setbacks, kept moving forward thanks to a tangled web of risky deals that simply went unmonitored,” said Teplitz, who represents Harrisburg. “Municipalities across Pennsylvania can learn a valuable lesson from Harrisburg’s financial fiasco, and this legislative package will help prevent other taxpayers from suffering the same consequences.”
Harrisburg Charged with Fraud by SEC
The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month charged Harrisburg with securities fraud for misleading public statements as its financial condition was deteriorating and financial information available to municipal bond investors was either incomplete or outdated.
An SEC investigation found that the misleading statements were made in the city’s budget report, annual and mid-year financial statements and a “State of the City” address in a period from 2009 to 2011. This marked the first time that the SEC charged a municipality for misleading statements made outside of its securities disclosure documents.
Harrisburg agreed to settle the charges, but no fine was levied against it.
“The historical facts alleged by the SEC regarding the city’s failure to disclose financial information are what they are,” said Mayor Linda Thompson. “But, to prevent such things from happening in the future, and as the SEC is aware, the city has completely revamped its policies and procedures for financial disclosures.”
The SEC found that Harrisburg failed to comply with requirements to provide certain ongoing financial information and audited financial statements for the benefit of investors holding hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds issued or guaranteed by the city.
As a result of Harrisburg’s non-compliance, investors had to seek out Harrisburg’s other public statements to obtain current information about the city’s finances. However, very little information about the city’s fiscal situation was publicly available elsewhere.
State Supreme Court OKs Senate Districts
The state Senate could see major changes following the 2014 legislative elections as the state Supreme Court last month upheld a redistricting plan that had been under challenge.
Locally, Sen. Rob Teplitz, serving his first term, would continue to represent Harrisburg under the revised plan. However, he would lose a small portion of York County and chunks of southern and northern Dauphin County, while gaining all of Perry County.
The plan was the Senate’s second shot at redistricting. The Supreme Court threw out the first plan. Last year’s election then reverted back to the previous districts until the court could rule on the second plan.
Teplitz reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision by calling for the formation of a nonpartisan committee to draft future re-apportionments “in order to avoid gerrymandering districts.”
Used Goods Store to Open in Harrisburg
Once, you could get some of the area’s finest beer here. Now, the site of the former Troegs brewery is set to become Habitat for Humanity’s newest ReStore.
The store at 800 Paxton St. is expected to open by mid-summer, once the facility is cleaned and goods stocked with donated household items like fixtures, furniture, appliances and tools, according to Habitat. The ReStore also will accept donations from companies and individuals of overstocked, discontinued and used building materials and goods.
“We are thrilled being able to sign a lease for the ReStore and really excited about the location,” said Eve Wachhaus, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Harrisburg Area.
Income from the store will further Habitat’s mission of expanding and enhancing quality housing for lower-income individuals.
Wachhaus said she was attracted to the site by its abundance of parking and accessibility to both the east and west shores.
The building has been empty since long-time tenant Troegs Brewing Co. left for a larger brewery, bar and restaurant in Hershey almost two years ago.
New President for Harrisburg University
Harrisburg University’s board of trustees last month named Eric Darr as university president.
Darr had served as interim president since July 1, after the departure of the school’s founding president, Mel Schiavelli.
“Eric ran with the post of interim president like he was auditioning for the role of his life,” said Robert Dolan, chair of the board of trustees. “From day one, he set out to prove his capabilities and, more importantly, position this university for growth and innovation. He recruited the largest freshman class in our history,”
Darr has served in various positions for HU since 2005.
Changing Hands
April Property Sales
Berryhill St., 2459: P. & P. Comitz to D. Holloman, $74,900
Briggs St., 216: E. Derricks to M. &. P Parsons, $190,000
Chestnut St., 1928: BG Trucking LLC to N. Doan, $38,000
Derry St., 1153 & 159 S. 18th St.: D. Seymore to J. Vogelsong, $40,000
Duke St., 2441: L. & T. Stone to T. Nguyen & T. Mail, $46,000
Green St., 1936: WCI Partners LP to D. Marquette, $203,000
Green St., 2013: Fannie Mae to WCI Partners LP, $40,000
Hale Ave., 397: Wells Fargo Bank NA Trustee to J. & G. McCarchey, $30,000
Maclay St., 319: R. Witmer to F. Smith, $45,320
Market St., 1459: Metro Bank to Joshua Group, $70,000
N. 2nd St., 1120: M. Weiderman to PA Deals LLC, $32,800
N. 2nd St., 2403: N. Katz & 2403 North 2nd St. LP to CNC Realty Group, $510,000
N. 2nd St., 3220: J. & T. Barringer to M. Rettinger, $116,500
N. 5th St., 2409: Graystone Bank to 2409 N. 5th St. LLC, $35,000
N. 6th St., 3135: PA Deals LLC to H. Lee, $67,000
N. 17th St., 1001: Otter Creek Associates LP to Miracle Group Inc., $131,000
N. Summit St., 130: Integrity Bank to V. Fuller & P. Mills, $30,000
Naudain St., 1422: Integrity Bank to C. Diaz & L. Nieves, $39,900
Parkside Lane, 2908: R. DeLong to E. Hope, $132,000
Rudy Rd., 2133: K. Graham to R. & L. Brackbill, $105,000
S. Front St., 553 & 555: M. Kooistra to Ashbury Foundation Inc., $305,000
S. 18th St., 361: M. Perez to M. & F. Ramirez, $30,000
S. 25th St., 616: S. & G. Gornik to P. & L. Brown, $60,500
S. 29th St., 614: M. Rettinger & R. Holtzman Jr. to L. Rojas
Schuylkill St., 327: R. Ranshaw to H. Salazar, $74,900
Schuylkill St., 526: Members 1st Federal Credit Union to Sangrey Properties LLC, $67,000
Susquehanna St., 1720: B. Campbell & R. Spicer to H. & S. Begashaw, $119,000
Source: Dauphin County. Data is deemed accurate.
