Harrisburg School District publishes three years of “exemplary” superintendent reviews by mistake.

For the past three years, Harrisburg School Board members have given their superintendent a uniformly perfect report card — or have they?

An administrator admitted today that performance evaluations dating back to 2015, all posted to the district’s website, contained formatting errors that mischaracterized the board’s assessment of Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney.

Every fall, school board directors evaluate Knight-Burney’s job performance for the past school year. They use a form outlining nine performance standards – including professional leadership, communication, resource management and teamwork — and grade Knight-Burney as exemplary, proficient, needs improvement or unsatisfactory on each one.

Board members each complete their own, individual evaluation for the superintendent. But the district has posted a single evaluation on its website each year since 2016.

The PDF documents had shaded boxes next to the “exemplary” grade on all nine performance categories, and appeared to reflect the consensus of the nine-member board.

Marks on Knight-Burney’s performance reviews indicated “exemplary” job performance by superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney.

But board Secretary Carol Kaufman said today that the documents were never intended to indicate a general ranking for the superintendent. Rather, they were meant to be uploaded as blank template forms to share the board’s ranking methodology, which has been the same for all three years.

The boxes indicating “exemplary” ratings were shaded as the result of a formatting error, Kaufman said.

“They should not look like that at all,” Kaufman said. “That was not the intention. It’s just supposed to be a template so people know what the objectives are.”

However, the “exemplary” evaluations have already been cited in news reports and in social media groups as the board’s official, uniformly favorable evaluation of the superintendent.

Kaufman acknowledged the confusion that the forms could have created. She could not say if the erroneous documents had been viewed by state officials, job seekers or other parties monitoring the district.

An evaluation for the 2017-18 school year, indicating exemplary grades on all nine categories, was uploaded to the district website on Tuesday morning and replaced with a blank form by Wednesday. Kaufman said she switched the documents once another district official brought the error to her attention.

When she learned from a reporter that the 2015-16 and 2016-17 evaluations contained similar errors, she said she would replace them with unmarked forms.

Board Solicitor Samuel Cooper is responsible for providing the evaluation form and giving Kaufman permission to upload them, she said.

He did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

At a board meeting on Monday, Cooper delivered an oral report of Knight-Burney’s 2017-18 evaluation. Three board members rated the superintendent’s overall performance as exemplary, two as proficient, one as needs improvement and two as unsatisfactory.

Kaufman said her record of the vote differed from the tally published by news outlets, including TheBurg: her notes indicate that Knight-Burney got two “needs improvement” grades and one “unsatisfactory.”

Cooper offered similar oral reports in 2016 and 2017. Last year, Knight-Burney received four exemplary ratings, one proficient rating, and two unsatisfactory ratings, according to board meeting minutes. Two board members did not submit evaluations.

In 2016, the superintendent received four exemplary grades, according to meeting minutes. Two members gave her a proficient, and two members said she needed improvement. One new board member was exempt from submitting an evaluation.

The minutes from 2016 also say that the evaluation criteria “and general results” would be posted on the district’s website.

View all of the superintendent evaluations here, including the 2018-2019 review that was replaced with a blank document.

2015-2016 Superintendent Evaluation by Lizzy Hardison on Scribd

2016-2017 Superintendent Evaluation by Lizzy Hardison on Scribd

2017-2018 Superintendent Assessment Report by Lizzy Hardison on Scribd

2017-2018 first evaluation by Lizzy Hardison on Scribd

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Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

Kick off the weekend early, and join us this evening at Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar for some early tastes of this year’s PA National Horse Show! We’ll be revealing the Pink Pony cocktail + treats from Harvest’s kitchen!

Grab a FREE ticket here! 

I tried really hard to get a sitter to have a little wine night tomorrow, but no dice, so it looks like Andy and I will instead break out a few bottles of wine from Tres Bonne Annees past and watch Mad Men (first time, don’t spoil anything).

 

What are you doing this weekend?

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State set to appoint new chief recovery officer for Harrisburg school district

Harrisburg school district administration building

After a year marked by administrative fumbles and tension among board members, the Harrisburg school district soon will get a new state-appointed oversight officer.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education plans to select a new chief recovery officer (CRO) for Harrisburg schools in the next two weeks, according to spokesman Eric Levis. The CRO will oversee the implementation of a new, long-term recovery plan aimed at raising the district’s academic performance and financial health.

The appointment suggests that Harrisburg has, for now, dodged receivership – an arrangement in which a state administrator takes control of the district.

A state-appointed receiver has broader authority than a CRO and assumes many of the powers of the elected school board.

Board directors retain all taxing authority, but the receiver can approve contracts, charter school applications and personnel actions without their input.

Levis said today that receivership “remains an option,” even as PDE appoints a new recovery officer.

The district has been under a financial recovery designation since 2012. State law requires any recovering district to have a CRO, but Harrisburg has operated without one since July, when Audrey Utley retired after three years in the role.

Utley oversaw an overhaul of the district’s five-year recovery plan, which expired in June with 80 percent of its initiatives in place.

State Education Secretary Pedro Rivera is charged with appointing Utley’s replacement. He sought input from state Sen. John DiSanto, Rep. Patty Kim, district Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney and Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse while making his decision, Levis said.

When approached by PDE, Papenfuse said he emphasized his belief that the district should be under the control of a receiver.

“Under the power of the law, only a receiver would produce the level of transparency and administrative changes necessary to solve the district’s clear dysfunction,” Papenfuse said. “PDE has chosen to go in another direction, but I do appreciate their seeking my input on behalf of the residents of Harrisburg.”

The district has beat back a steady stream of scandals in the past year, including a grading investigation that led to the reassignment of a high school principal, a hiring mistake that allowed 37 unbudgeted teaching positions to be filled, and criminal charges against an administrator who allegedly embezzled $180,000 from the district.

District administrators drew fresh criticism in August, when they asked 65 teachers that they hired at the wrong salary step to pay back wages.

That request was enough to make Jody Barksdale, president of Harrisburg’s teachers union, consider the merits of receivership – an arrangement she ultimately decided she could not support.

Barksdale has also been critical of the school board this year and once pleaded publicly with board members to act more professionally.

“The way you talk to each other is unacceptable,” Barksdale said at an August meeting. “You guys are the talk of the town, and it makes me embarrassed.”

Friction among board members was on high display this year, as they debated whether to retain or replace Knight-Burney, whose contract expired in June. The nine-member body frequently split on slim margins on decisions related to district personnel.

A vote on Knight-Burney’s new contract devolved into a shouting match between board members at a June meeting, leading President Judd Pittman to issue a public apology the following month.

Three board members have also resigned their seats this year, one amid allegations that he lied about his residence in the city.

This week, the board published its annual superintendent evaluation. Knight-Burney received “exemplary” ratings across nine performance standards, even though three members rated her overall performance “unsatisfactory” or “in need of improvement.”

Knight-Burney will serve in the district for at least three more years. She’ll work closely with the CRO the entire time.

PDE has not disclosed any of the candidates it’s considering for the CRO role. Gene Veno, who served as CRO from 2012 until 2015, inquired about resuming his old position but said he did not receive any response from Rivera.

Kenneth Medina, a former business manager who was demoted and later laid off, also told TheBurg he submitted his name for PDE’s consideration. Medina is currently petitioning the district to get his job in the business office back.

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HMAC defends liquor license, business practices in administrative hearing

One month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the House of Music Arts and Culture (HMAC) is facing a new challenge: renewing its liquor license.

A hearing held today will help the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board determine whether or not the midtown Harrisburg bar upheld its end of a conditional licensing agreement (CLA) it entered in 2015.

Among other provisions, the CLA required the bar’s staff to install soundproofing equipment and implement routine security patrols on HMAC’s premises at 1110 N. 3rd St. in Harrisburg.

The terms of a CLA remain attached to a bar’s liquor license until the PLCB decides to expunge them. HMAC last renewed its license in 2017, and it expired in February.

Since 2010, the LCB has cited HMAC 12 times for noise violations. The bar has also been the site of multiple police call outs.

This summer, the bar found itself at the center of a social media firestorm after a woman said she was raped by a man who drugged her on HMAC’s premises.

The police investigated her assault and charged a Harrisburg man with her rape, but their report exonerated HMAC of any responsibility.

HMAC’s owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy one month later, saying they needed to restructure debts as they prepared to sell their business.

Licensing hearings are usually based on concerns stemming from alleged CLA violations. However, the points raised by PLCB attorney Michael Plank today mostly had to do with business practices unrelated to alcohol sales.

Plank spent most of the hearing interrogating HMAC’s money and personnel management.

One witness for PLCB, Mike Banks, said that he was owed $3,000 by HMAC’s managers for services he provided as a sound engineer and open mic host. Banks was eventually compensated, but he said that HMAC’s reputation was “not good” among local entertainment professionals.

“Most of these people have been or are owed money, and most will not work there again,” Banks said.

In remarks to a reporter, HMAC’s lawyer Glenn Parno acknowledged that HMAC had periods of financial distress. But he retracted a claim he made during the hearing that the business was “insolvent,” and said that they could only repay outstanding debts if they retained their liquor license.

Plank also heard testimony from Jody Hoffman, a contractor who is owed $3,000 for work he performed at HMAC in 2016, and from Tessa Bower, a former manager who said she witnessed a pattern of questionable business practices at HMAC in the nine years she worked there.

For example, Bower said that HMAC co-owner John Traynor asked her to not take credit card payments for art sold at HMAC, since the venue could not legally deal art and did not want to keep a paper trail of transactions.

Plank also called three former Harrisburg police officers as witness, all of whom testified about callouts they’d received to the establishment since 2016. One callout resulted in harassment charges against a patron, and another led to the arrest of a performer with an outstanding felony drug warrant. The third did not result in any charges.

Parno objected to each of the reputation testimonies, saying they were irrelevant to the bar’s compliance with its CLA.

Pennsylvania liquor code allows the LCB to consider the reputation of a liquor license applicant when deciding to award a license, as well as the reputation of any stockholders or managers.

But a letter notifying HMAC of today’s hearing did not list its reputation as a factor jeopardizing its license. Parno said that he was not prepared to counter any testimony about the business’s image in the community.

“This is trial by ambush,” Parno said. “This is not fair, and fair notice [of these testimonies] has not been given.”

Hearing examiner Thomas Miller acknowledged that the character and reputation testimonies drew them away from the points in the CLA. But he allowed Plank’s witnesses to testify anyway, saying the LCB could decide how to factor their statements into the license ruling.

Parno called two witnesses who said that HMAC upheld its end of the CLA. Former HMAC manager Justin Leach testified that the bar employed full-time security guards who patrolled the premises during and after the bar’s operating hours, and local architect Bret Peters said that HMAC’s owners went to great lengths to install soundproofing equipment in its performance venues.

Miller adjourned the hearing after more than six hours of testimony. All parties will reconvene at a later date so Traynor and two character witnesses for HMAC can testify.

When the hearing concludes, Miller must compile the findings in a report, which will help PLCB decide to either renew or revoke HMAC’s liquor license.

 

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Stash, Midtown Dandy teaming up to open downtown Harrisburg shop.

This block of S. 3rd Street in Harrisburg soon will house two vintage clothing retailers.

Two veteran, homegrown retailers are teaming up to open a vintage clothing store in downtown Harrisburg.

Stash Vintage and The Midtown Dandy will operate a joint shop on S. 3rd Street, in the SoMa (South of Market) neighborhood, it was announced today.

“Finding the right space to open our doors was essential to launching our joint venture,” said Andrew Kintzi, owner of The Midtown Dandy. “We’re excited to bring our vision to Harrisburg. SoMa seemed like the ideal spot.”

Kintzi will join Stash Vintage in about 700 square feet of storefront space at 11 S. 3rd St., a building owned by Harristown Enterprises.

The Midtown Dandy, which specializes in secondhand men’s clothing and accessories, has been a regular vendor at the Harrisburg Flea, while Stash has had two previous locations downtown. Both also sell online.

“The new partnership will be a great rebirth for Stash, being that we were initially a collective,” said Anela Bence Selkowitz, owner of Stash Vintage. “And our new location will allow us to create a new voice.”

Brad Jones, CEO of Harristown, said that he expects the store to open later this fall.

“The SoMa neighborhood and its surrounding downtown environment has over 60 newly leased apartments and several wonderful food and beverage establishments,” Jones said. “This new vintage boutique will be a perfect addition to SoMa, which is growing quickly into a destination neighborhood.”

Just yesterday, Jones cuts the ribbon on Harristown’s newest apartment project, The Bogg on Cranberry, which features 12 one- and two-bedroom units at the corner of N. 2nd and Cranberry streets. All the units were pre-leased.

Harristown soon will begin work on renovating two more buildings on the 100-block of Pine Street, adding another 69 apartment units downtown.

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School Board: Harrisburg superintendent qualifies for performance-based pay raise

Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney speaks at a community event in June.

Harrisburg superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney has received a satisfactory performance review from a majority of the school board, its solicitor announced tonight, a decision that qualifies her for a pay raise and a bonus.

Five board members deemed Knight-Burney’s performance over the past year exemplary or proficient, according to board solicitor Samuel Cooper. One member deemed her “in need of improvement” and two said her performance was unsatisfactory.

The review was completed by eight board members since the board had a seat open when it was finalizing the evaluation, Cooper said. The vacancy was filled on Aug. 6 with the appointment of former board member Lola Lawson.

The review is based on nine performance standards, including educational leadership, community and board relations, and resource management. Reviews from past years are posted on the district’s website.

Cooper did not provide category-specific grades in his report to the board tonight, nor did he say how each individual board member voted.

The full evaluation will soon be shared on the district’s website, Cooper said.

Knight-Burney received exemplary ratings on all nine performance standards during the 2016-2017 and 2015-2016 school years. Under her contract, which the board extended for a three-year term in June, a positive review could net Knight-Burney a 3-percent pay raise and $5,000 performance bonus.

Knight-Burney currently earns a $179,208 base salary, according to data obtained through a Right to Know request. A 3-percent raise and $5,000 bonus would bring her total pay to almost $190,000.

Community members commented on Knight-Burney’s performance at the board’s meeting tonight. Richard Soto implored the board to think twice about awarding Knight-Burney a raise, given that school taxes increased by 3.6 percent this year.

Gerlad Welch pointed to the district’s stagnant academic performance as evidence that Knight-Burney should not receive a positive review.

Harrisburg High School received 44 out of 100 possible points on Pennsylvania’s academic performance scoring system, according to a ranking methodology that is set to change this fall.

“I’m trying to wrap my head around what is exemplary about that performance – it doesn’t make sense to me,” Welch said. “I don’t like to get in the way of people getting their meat, bread, and eggs… but the constant bombard of confusion and chaos does not demonstrate effective leadership.”

Welch then pointed to a number of scandals that have plagued the district in the past year, including a grading investigation that led to the reassignment of a high school principal, a hiring fiasco that allowed 37 unbudgeted teaching positions to be filled, and criminal charges against a transportation administrator who allegedly embezzled $180,000 from the district.

The district also drew criticism in August when it asked 65 teachers that it hired at the wrong salary step to pay back wages. The administration later rescinded the request.

Earlier this year, the board vacillated over whether to re-hire Knight-Burney or seek new applicants for her position. The nine-member body frequently splits on a 6-3 or 5-4 margin, particularly on matters that concern the superintendent.

The board ultimately voted 5-4 in April to renew Knight-Burney’s contract.

Three of the members who voted to replace her – Carrie Fowler, Brian Carter and board president Judd Pittman – also cast dissenting votes in recent appointments to fill vacant board seats. All voted against appointing new board members Lola Lawson and Patricia Whitehead-Myers, who replaced board directors Tyrell Spradley and Percel Eiland, respectively, after they resigned earlier this year.

The board is still negotiating the terms of Knight-Burney’s new contract, which will run at least through June 2021. The new terms could alter her base pay and her performance based-incentives.

In other business, the board awarded a new contract tonight to interim Chief Financial Officer James Snell, who earns $12,000 a month overseeing the district’s finances.

The contract retains Snell’s services through October, as the district seeks a permanent candidate for his role. Pittman said that the district began advertising his post in June but has not yet found a qualified replacement.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education asked the district in June to replace Snell with a full-time, permanent CFO. (Snell, a retired school administrator, works for the district 30 hours a week.)

PDE also asked the district to replace Acting Business Manager Bilal Hasan, who lacks professional certifications for his role.

The board also voted 5-4 to approve a salvo of personnel actions, including the reassignment of former Harrisburg High School Principal Lisa Love.

Love, who was placed on leave this summer as the district investigated allegations of grading misconduct, will serve as assistant principal on assignment at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, where she will provide coaching and professional support to administrators, according to Human Resources Director Curtis Tribue.

Her building assignment may change depending on personnel turnover in other schools, he said.

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Senior Housing Ahead: Officials gather to break ground for Paxton Place

Local officials and Paxton Ministries broke ground today on Paxton Place.

Senior citizens in Harrisburg will soon have a new option for affordable housing in the city.

Paxton Ministries broke ground today on Paxton Place, an $8.6 million development project on S. 20th Street near the Harrisburg-Penbrook border. The center will create 37 new, affordable apartments for senior citizens, along with common spaces and other amenities.

The project was financed by a federal tax credit through the Pennsylvania Housing and Finance Agency (PHFA.) Paxton Place was one of 39 recipients of a PHFA tax credit award this year, out of more than 100 applicants. It is the first project for low-income senior citizens that PHFA has financed in Harrisburg.

Paxton Place will sit directly across from the Paxton Ministry headquarters, where the agency provides housing to 100 low-income residents, many of whom have intellectual disabilities. Paxton Ministries also runs Paxton Cleaning Services, a workforce training program.

The plans for Paxton Place began six years ago, according to Paxton board chair Dale Laninga, at a time when the organization was looking to expand its ministries in Harrisburg. They focused on the issue of senior housing and decided to develop new homes and social spaces for elderly citizens on low incomes.

“We wanted this to be something special that would serve a large scope of needs,” Laninga said. “We learned what seniors need to stay active and healthy. Paxton Place will help them age in place and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.”

Paxton’s board began to secure financing in 2015. They obtained contributions from Mid-Penn Bank, Impact Harrisburg, Messiah Lifeways, UPMC Pinnacle and others, as well as loans from Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership and the Dauphin County Housing Trust Fund.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank also made a contribution from its endowment, according to CPFB executive director Joe Arthur. CPFB will host cooking demonstrations in the Paxton Place kitchen to show residents how to prepare healthy, nutritious meals on a low budget.

According to Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, Paxton Place is joining a number of new, desperately needed affordable housing projects in the city.

This summer, Papenfuse joined other local leaders at the ribbon cutting of the HUB veteran housing complex in Uptown Harrisburg. Meanwhile, the city continues work on the MulDer Square revitalization project, which will renovate single-family homes and apartments near Mulberry and Derry streets in Allison Hill.

“We have a bit of a housing crisis in the city of Harrisburg, and there’s not enough quality, affordable housing in any of our neighborhoods,” Papenfuse said today. “Projects like this one give people options they didn’t have before.”

Construction on Paxton Place is expected to conclude in fall 2019.

 

 

 

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TheBurg Podcast: “The Show Goes On” Edition.

TheBurg Podcast is back following a summer hiatus.

This week, we recap the latest developments in Harrisburg’s Act 47 saga, including an effort to lobby the state legislature and the impending deadline to adopt a state-approved Act 47 exit plan. We also discuss HMAC’s recent bankruptcy filing and what the business means to midtown Harrisburg.

Stream the episode here, or subscribe to TheBurg Podcast on iTunes.

Read more about the topics covered in today’s Burg Podcast at TheBurgNews.com.

City Council to consider home rule ordinance as Act 47 deadline nears.

Papenfuse eyes three-year commuter tax as Harrisburg prepares for Act 47 exit.

Following online outrage and revenue hit, HMAC files chapter 11 bankruptcy as a prelude to sale

State grant earmarked for HMAC could be jeopardized by bankruptcy filing, CREDC president says.

TheBurg Podcast is released semi-monthly by TheBurg Magazine. It is recorded in the offices of Startup Harrisburg and produced by Lizzy Hardison. Special thanks to Paul Coolley, who wrote our theme music.

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Mayor “strongly against” AutoZone store coming to vacant lot on Maclay.

AutoZone will purchase the vacant lot at 645 Maclay Street from Harrisburg-area developer The Vartan Group, pending approval of its proposals by the city.

A national auto-parts chain is poised to build a new location on a vacant lot in Uptown Harrisburg, much to the chagrin of Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

Memphis-based retailer AutoZone is in the final stages of purchasing a 1-acre lot at 7th and Maclay streets from the Buonarroti Trust, a subsidiary of the Vartan Group development company, confirmed Nicole Conway, Vartan executive vice president and general counsel, on Thursday.

AutoZone plans to build a full-service retail location on the lot, which has been vacant since the 1970s.

AutoZone already operates franchises in the Harrisburg suburbs, including in Lemoyne and Swatara Township. A new location in Harrisburg would make it the city’s first national retailer for car parts and accessories.

The sale of the lot at 645 Maclay St. is pending the approval of project proposals, Conway said. She did not disclose a price.

AutoZone has already petitioned the city to vacate unnamed alleys on the property. Eliminating these “paper streets” – so called because they exist only on maps and not actually on the site — would consolidate two tax parcels into one, developable tract.

The measure could come before City Council by the end of the month.

AutoZone must also submit a land use development proposal for approval by the Harrisburg Planning Commission and council.

The project would give new life to a long-vacant property and bring jobs to the city. But Mayor Eric Papenfuse stands strongly against it.

“It’s inappropriate, in my opinion, for the gateway to Harrisburg,” Papenfuse said.

The city’s “Northern Gateway” encompasses the area east of Midtown Harrisburg, close to the interchanges to I-81 and state route 22. Its proximity to major highways lends the area high visibility from motorists travelling in and out of the city.

Vartan founder John Vartan began buying property in the area in the 1980s, hopeful that it would become a prime target for development. Today, however, much of the corridor remains either empty or blighted.

“Unfortunately, there has not been much interest in development on that corridor,” Conway said.

The most recent developments in the Northern Gateway area have been government projects closer to Midtown – the federal courthouse at 6th and Reily and the state archives building at 6th and Harris. The Vartan Group also developed the mixed-use 1500 Condominium project on 6th Street in 2012.

Conway said she was “confused and a little disappointed” by the mayor’s opposition to the AutoZone project. She disagreed with his claim that an auto parts retailer was a poor fit for the location, where neighboring businesses include gas stations and industrial properties.

She also said that AutoZone would be the first national retailer to undertake new construction in Harrisburg since the 1970s.

“The fact that a national retailer wants to come in and build new is big,” Conway said. “It says to another retailer that [Harrisburg] is a good place to locate, and we hope it will bring additional business into the area.”

Conway added that the project would not use any public subsidies, such as local tax abatement or state grants.

“This is straightforward, market-rate construction with no giveaways from the city,” she said.

AutoZone approached Vartan about the property in late 2017, Conway said. It was the first serious inquiry about the lot that the developer had received in years.

Even if the mayor opposes the project, there’s not much he can do to stop it. The project would conform with the “commercial general” zoning designation, and Conway said that AutoZone has complied with the city’s planning process.

The mayor could theoretically veto any land use development proposal that council passes. But, since if the proposal complies with city zoning code, it would be subject to a costly legal appeal.

AutoZone did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse submitted the following comment after this article was published: “The city of Harrisburg is most assuredly open for business. I support all responsible development projects. This is a gateway corridor for the City and deserves something extraordinary that will help spur the adaptive re-use of the nearby abandoned Hudson Building. This particular design is much better suited for a suburban strip mall than a growing, progressive City looking to emphasize neighborhoods and safe streets over cars and commuters.”

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Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

I’m at Rebels, Renegades, and Pioneers this morning, so this will be a brief intro. My weekend is (shocker) low-key, but Andy and I do have a date afternoon Saturday at The Hershey Food & Wine Festival!

What are you doing this weekend?

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