Good Cop: To Robert Martin, community policing means cops are in the “human being business,” an approach he now is trying to share with Harrisburg’s force.

February 28, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Robert Martin

Robert Martin, the public safety director of Susquehanna Township, has always been a reader.

Growing up in Prospect Park, a borough just south of Philadelphia, he owned a copy of the 54-volume Great Books of the Western World, which he read constantly, along with the encyclopedia. As an adult, he keeps up the habit, consuming studies, usually related to law enforcement, and books, usually dealing with more cosmic themes. Last month, after finishing “Man’s Search for Meaning,” by the psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl, he picked up “Biocentrism,” a monograph on the ascendancy of the biological sciences.

“When I watch TV, if I’m not watching sports, it’s the book channels, where they’re interviewing authors,” he told me, during a visit to his office, in a squat municipal building on Linglestown Road, one morning in early February. “That’s what I watch. My wife will come down and be like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And I’m like, ‘That’s what I watch!’”

Martin is tall, with round cheeks and a friendly, wholesome manner—he greets acquaintances as “buddy,” he says “oh my gosh.” The day of my visit, he wore a suit with a purple patterned tie, black-framed glasses and a class ring from one of his alma maters, Valley Forge Military Academy & College in Wayne, Pa. He started serving Susquehanna Township in 1988 and retired this year as chief of police, a position he held for 16 years. Upon his retirement, the township appointed him to his new position, where he will continue to oversee the department, as well as the fire services.

In January, during his first press conference as mayor, Eric Papenfuse announced that he would be tapping Martin as a public safety consultant through the first six months of his term. Two days a week, Martin will advise Harrisburg’s own police chief on ways to strengthen the department. The arrangement will cost the city nothing—Susquehanna is underwriting one of the days, while Martin is donating the other one. In addition to any organizational recommendations, Martin will also focus on developing a strategy for community policing.

At first hearing, community policing can sound like a bit of public-relations pablum. It seems to take something that ought to be implied—what other kind of policing is there?—and dress it up to convey an impression of change. “Community Policing Defined,” a pamphlet distributed by COPS, an office of the U. S. Department of Justice, offers a snapshot whose opacity rivals David Brent, the master of “management speak” from the BBC series “The Office”: “Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of crime.”

Nonetheless, at the mayor’s press conference in City Hall, everyone invoked the phrase with enthusiasm. Martin called Harrisburg’s chief, Thomas Carter, a “walking textbook of community policing”; Papenfuse announced a companion initiative, the appointment of a full-time “community policing coordinator,” whose job is to “revitalize citizen involvement in fighting crime.”

This is largely because the concept of community policing, however nebulous, has defined Martin’s tenure in Susquehanna Township—one that has been marked by a growth in the police force, a drop in crime, and a spike in citizen involvement. By his own accounting, the concept of community policing has motivated the design of his department’s website, has informed how he trains and promotes his officers, and has guided his interactions with the public, who seem to have responded, by and large, with grateful affection. Clearly the term means something. But what?

Well, for starters, it seems to be the sort of policing where being a voracious reader plays a role. Years ago, someone remarked to Martin, who holds two college degrees and certificates from Harvard and Princeton, that being a college graduate wouldn’t make him a better police officer.

“Well, it may not make me a better cop in terms of the nomenclature of writing a police report or making an arrest,” he told me. “But it will broaden my perspective of human beings. And I have a feeling, in some way, that’s gonna make me a better cop.”

Though Martin’s reading habits, as he puts it, make him “a little different from most police officers,” they’re also central to how he thinks of his profession, which, for him, is about much more than handcuffs and tickets. Nowadays, when he interviews officers being considered for promotion, he concludes by asking which book they’re reading. “I want my officers to be readers,” he said. “I want them to expand who they are.”

—

The Department of Justice’s COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) office was formed by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Clinton administration’s omnibus crime bill and the largest law-enforcement act in the nation’s history. Among the law’s provisions were the Violence Against Women Act, the federal assault-weapons ban, now expired, and a boost to prison funding. The law also provided for close to $10 billion in grant money to be disbursed to law-enforcement offices around the country in support of “community-oriented policing.” The funds, though aimed mostly at hiring and retaining officers, could also be used for crime-prevention programs and for training in skills like conflict solving and mediation.

In addition to distributing grant money, the COPS office also serves as a repository for advice about best practices. One of the standbys of the COPS website is “The Beat,” a podcast featuring interviews with officers and other experts about developments in community policing. In February, “The Beat” released a series of interviews about a program called “Coffee with a Cop.” The program, which follows a national template, involves partnerships between local police departments and restaurants, which provide pots of coffee and seating space for officers to interact with the public.

“When you really look at how we communicate with the public, we are always answering emergency calls and never really have a chance to sit down and have a cup of coffee with somebody,” an officer tells the interviewer in one episode. “So, this is an opportunity to really just sit down and focus on some of the questions that might not be a 911 question.”

One of the tenets of community policing is the idea that citizens should have an open, even cordial, relationship with officers. The most dangerous invention in modern police work, Martin likes to say, is the climate-controlled patrol car—keeping officers from interacting with members of the public except in the event of a crime. An early recommendation he made to Harrisburg’s Chief Carter, which has already been adopted, is the institution of mandatory foot patrols, requiring officers to leave their vehicles for some part of each shift. Another initiative, which he implemented in Susquehanna Township under the name Operation Vigilant Protector, instructs officers to alert citizens of conditions that might invite criminal activity.

“I wanted one more kind of block in our system that got the officers out of the car and sent a message to our citizens that we’re not just driving around,” Martin told me. His department supplies officers with salmon-colored cards to be placed as a cautionary note at the scene of the crime-in-embryo: on the windshield of an unlocked car, say, or on top of unsecured property in someone’s yard.

“They come out for work in the morning, and they see that vigilant protector card on their windshield, their first thought might be, ‘Oh my God, it’s a parking ticket,’” Martin said. “No, it’s a little warning card saying, ‘Hey, you left your doors unlocked, and it’s probably a good thing to lock your doors before you go to bed.’ Then they know, ‘Wow, what a nice gesture from the police department. I appreciate that.’”

This service-oriented approach can even extend to circumstances that might customarily be adversarial. Another hallmark of Martin’s tenure is the judicious use of warnings in place of citations. “I think that one of the greatest tools a police officer has in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a written warning,” he told me. He sees the routine traffic stop as an instrument with “exponential value.” For the drivers pulled over, it’s both an “opportunity to educate” and a chance to make a positive impression by engaging them politely and not saddling them (at least, not the first time) with a fine. And, “if you’re on that traffic stop for 10 to 15 minutes on Union Deposit Road, and 30 to 50 cars drive by, they’ve been impacted as well.“

“I’m a believer in presence,” he said.

Of course, a corollary of constant presence is the feeling of constant scrutiny of our daily lives. You don’t have to have criminal intentions to be wary of increased engagement from the men in blue. What about people who just want to be left alone? When I put this question to Martin, he thought for a moment, then replied, “I think that’s gonna be a small minority. I think folks want to feel protected, and they want to feel secure.” The website of the Susquehanna Township police department has an online form for submitting complaints and also one for complimenting his officers. Martin encourages citizens to use both. “I get an officer compliment online once a week,” he said. “It’s great.”

—

One reason that community policing might elude easy definition is the slipperiness of that initial qualifier—“community.” The sort of folks who will show up for a meet-and-greet with cops over a coffee pot are probably not the sort who have had, historically, the most troubled relationship with the law. How should police go about engaging those portions of the community that, for one reason or another, have learned to distrust them?

Another initiative of Martin’s, which he began implementing around six years ago, is called Operation Honorable Endeavor. It encourages officers on patrol to approach young people they see and, basically, try to get a conversation going. He acknowledges that some aren’t responsive, but his response to officers is, “Keep trying.” “It’s incumbent on us to continue to extend the olive branch,” he said. As he likes to remind his officers, “You never know as a police officer when you have an opportunity to uplift a young person, who maybe does not have anything positive in their household. If you say something uplifting to them, maybe you’re the only person that week that said something uplifting to that young person. Think of that. Think of the power you have.”

As part of his professional development, Martin attended executive-training programs at Harvard and Princeton, where he learned, as he put it, to take “a bit more of a private sector view” of law enforcement. “As a police department, we’re not profit-driven, certainly, but we do have customers,” he said. “And our customers are the citizens we serve.” A concept often attached to community policing is that of “procedural justice”—the idea that the transactional parts of enforcement, like how officers treat offenders and how transparent their rules and procedures are, are essential to the perception of justice being served, and perhaps to justice itself. Some of the principles of community policing look less like principles of law and more like principles of good customer service.

This can apply not only to minor offenders, like speeding drivers, but also to more serious ones. Last year, a Susquehanna Township detective, Aaron Osman, helped solve a serial vehicle-theft case that concluded with an on-foot chase through the snow in the neighborhood of Bellevue Park, in Harrisburg. The perpetrator, an unusually short high school student, whom the officers nicknamed “Peewee,” evaded police for nearly an hour, at one point hiding under a car. After Peewee was apprehended, Osman told me, the two of them discussed the chase, almost comparing notes: “I told him, I give you some credit. I run three or four miles every day… ‘Dude,’ he’s like, ‘I slid underneath this truck and I hid underneath it. You ran by me, but you were about three houses up, when you looked down and you realized there weren’t footprints in the snow anymore.’”

I recounted this later to Martin, expressing my surprise at what it suggested about the relationship between criminals and police—how it could sometimes border on the friendly, or even the fraternal. “That doesn’t surprise me at all,” he said. “And that’s the mark of a really good detective. It really is.”

I asked him to elaborate. “Well, because, who’s to say that, five years from now, Det. Osman may have an opportunity where he needs that person as a source of information? Everybody remembers how they’re treated by law enforcement. Everybody remembers how they’re treated.”

Part of why Martin encourages his officers to read, he said, is that reading helps them understand others. And understanding others, in his view, is the key to good police work. “I look at our profession as, we’re in the human being business,” he said. “I mean, that’s what we’re in. The human being business. Human beings that need help. And as human beings, we’re a very complex thing.”

On the Market: Heed this advice before putting your house up for sale this spring.

February 28, 2014 | by Ray Davis

Screenshot 2014-02-28 08.40.26 ‘Tis the season!

It’s been a long, cold, messy winter and, with spring, often come thoughts of selling and buying a new home. Here are a few simple tips to help you maximize your return and minimize your market time.

First Impressions (Don’t get left at the curb)

It all begins with curb appeal. Can you see the house? Large, overgrown landscaping not only hides or dwarfs the house and blocks natural light inside, it also requires maintenance that many homeowners do not care to do. Minimal landscaping is better than too much or overgrown landscaping. Trimming, pruning and a thorough cleanup of winter’s debris go a long way. Scrub the front porch to remove winter’s grime and salt residue. Paint the front door, put out a new welcome mat, and complete the picture with a few seasonal potted plants flanking the front door. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

There’s Something in the Air (The nose knows)

House-i-tosis is a sure way to turn off potential buyers. One of the first senses buyers will experience upon opening the front door is smell. Pet odors, cigarette smoke, cooking odors, heavily scented candles and the excessive use of air fresheners can be a real turnoff to those with sensitive sniffers. The best smell in a house is no smell. Buyers are often wary of homes with candles and simmering potpourri and will frequently ask, “What do you think they are trying to hide?” If you believe the smell of fresh-baked cookies will make the house feel like a home, bake some—and leave them with a note for the buyers to “Enjoy.” Give your house a good sniff test and invest in an air-purifying device if necessary.

Mr. Clean (Let him out of the bottle)

Even buyers whose homes are not pristine appreciate homes that are. Prior to opening your home for buyers’ inspection, give it an old-fashioned spring-cleaning like mom used to do. Start with closets and cabinets. You don’t want them cluttered, which gives the impression that there is not enough storage space. Rent a storage unit if necessary to store off-season clothes, decorations, trophy collections and excess “stuff” that you will not need before you move. Wash windows and curtains. Don’t forget light switch covers, ceiling fans and baseboards. Clean the garage and basement, including the top of the furnace and water heater. Use a dehumidifier in summer months. My favorite analogy to a basement is that of a car. Clean, bright, dry basements are like clean car engines—a sign of good, regular maintenance.

Let There be Light (Day and night)

Buyers like light and bright homes. Open curtains, shades and blinds. Not only will this show off your nice, clean windows, it also will make the rooms feel more spacious. For nighttime showings, turn on the lights. The last thing you want the agent who is showing your home to have to do is search for light switches. Walking into a well-lit home, perhaps with soft music playing, is a great first impression.

Picture Perfect (Not always a good thing)

There are several reasons the family photo gallery should be packed away before your house is shown. “De-personalizing” helps buyers visualize themselves living in the home.

Family photos can also be a distraction to lookers. You don’t want buyers to spend more time trying to identify family members they “think they recognize” than they do looking at the house. It happens. It is often advisable to “neutralize” the house too. Excessive collections of political and religious memorabilia, diplomas and certificates should be rmoved. Sorry, mom—this includes the kids’ artwork on the refrigerator.

Set the Stage (And the table too)

“Staging the home” for sale has become a thriving business for talented professionals who specialize in organizing, arranging and accessorizing. Stagers will do as much or as little as their clients are willing to pay for. Homeowners who need help de-cluttering and organizing can pay a stager and staff to pack unnecessary items, paint, move furniture, rearrange and even provide rental items to help present the home in a manner that is more appealing. Staging is different than decorating—in fact, it often is “un-decorating” and simplifying. The strategic placement of items in the home—and removal of items that distract from the space—has been proven cost-effective, increasing sale price and decreasing market time.

Pre-Sale Inspection (Ignorance is not always bliss)

Most homebuyers will include an inspection contingency with their offer to purchase a home. Home inspections give the buyer a chance to have an in-depth study of the home. Everything from the roof to the basement is inspected for current and potential problems. Home inspections generally start at $250. Why not invest in one before you list your home for sale, and give yourself the opportunity to fix a problem before it becomes one?

The Price Is Right (It’s not a guessing game)

Even a house that has great curb appeal, is odor-free, clean, bright and perfectly staged will not sell if the price is not right. Conversely, sellers who choose not to make any extra effort to prepare their houses for sale can easily sell them if the price reflects the need for improvements. Arriving at an accurate asking price is not always easy, particularly in the current market where values have fluctuated. Real estate agents can prepare a market analysis, which will analyze the recent sales of similar homes in the neighborhood and thus provide a range of value for your home. Appraisers are licensed to perform a more specialized valuation of a home.

Every buyer and every home is different. Some require a lot more attention than others.

Happy house hunting!

Ray Davis is a realtor with RE/MAX Realty Associates. He’s been selling homes in and around “The Burg” for 22 years. Contact him at 717-761-6300 or [email protected].

A Tomato Tutorial: Key to terrific soup–fresh pomodori.

February 28, 2014 | by Rosemary Ruggieri Baer

Screenshot 2014-02-28 08.39.52 In my first column for TheBurg back in January 2009, I wrote about what I love best (I mean other than my family): my spaghetti sauce.

I explained that I used large cans of crushed tomatoes (Tuttarosa), fresh pork and lots of onions, parsley and basil. Taking advantage of crushed tomatoes canned in thick puree, I discovered, along the way, there was no need for adding tomato paste and putting whole plum tomatoes through a food mill like I watched my mother do so many times. (Contadina was her brand.)

But, after 45 years of making my own spaghetti sauce, I have found an absolute treasure: POMI tomatoes. Again, I must thank Peggy Harder of Peggy’s Silver Spoon at the West Shore Farmer’s Market for introducing me to something new. Packaged in a neat little box, POMI tomatoes taste like fresh. Who knew?

I learned recently that yet another substance in our food world is thought to be dangerous to our health: BPA, a chemical contained in the white lining of canned goods. POMI tomatoes are free of BPA and also have no added salt, water, citric acid or other preservatives. If you are used to regular canned tomatoes, crushed or otherwise, you will find you’ll likely need to add some salt to your recipes. Other than that, these tomatoes are nearly perfect. The ingredient list contains one item only: “tomatoes.”

POMI tomatoes are sold chopped or strained for use in soups and sauces. They also make Alfredo sauce, marinara sauce and pizza sauce, all ready to eat. These varieties are much harder to find, but I suspect could be ordered online.

So, it is still winter. March seems to drag on with its grayness and damp chill. Soup is a wonderful way to warm up, so this month I’m providing a recipe for an Italian classic: pappa al pomodoro, a Tuscan tomato and bread soup beautifully made with chopped POMI tomatoes and day-old country bread.

PAPPA al POMODORO

In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté 1 chopped onion (sweet onions are good) and 2 celery stalks, also chopped, in 2 tablespoons olive oil for about 7 minutes.
Add 2 minced garlic cloves and sauté for 2 minutes longer,
Add 2 pounds (32 ounces) of POMI chopped tomatoes and 4 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Cook gently, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Simmer is the key—do not burn with too-high heat.
Put the entire contents of the saucepan in a blender or food processor and puree until fairly smooth. Do this in batches and be careful with the hot liquid. If you have an immersion blender, try it. (One of those is next on my wish list.)
If you like a soup with more texture, only puree slightly.
Return the tomato mixture to the pan and add:
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 crust-less slices of country bread torn into pieces
- A handful of chopped fresh basil
- Cook the soup for an additional 10 minutes until the bread is soft. You can add a little water if it becomes too thick or if you prefer a thinner soup.

Spoon the soup into serving bowls and drizzle a little green olive oil over each serving. This soup is actually more flavorful when served warm rather than piping hot. You will appreciate the flavors of the sweet tomatoes and basil at a more moderate temperature.

I suppose this soup needs no additional bread, but toasted baguette slices, rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese and dried oregano, make for a really nice accompaniment. Pair with a salad, and you can face any cold March evening.

And, if you are a fan of whipping up a quick marinara sauce on a busy work night, these tomatoes are for you. Sauté some chopped onion and garlic along with ground sausage, ground beef, shrimp or pancetta, cook for a few minutes, and you are done.

I hope you have the opportunity to try POMI tomatoes and find many uses for them as I have. Peggy at Peggy’s Silver Spoon will be happy to sell you some, and many Giant supermarkets carry them now, as well. I know my dear mother would love them too.

February News Digest

February 27, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Council Cuts Salaries

City Council last month cut the proposed salaries of top members of the Papenfuse administration, redirecting that money to a diversity officer position.

Council voted 6-1 to OK a new spending plan that replaced the one passed in December under then-Mayor Linda Thompson.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse hoped to increase the salaries of his senior managers, providing raises that ranged from about $5,000 to $9,500 compared to similar positions under Thompson. With cuts to other areas of the budget, Papenfuse made the raises revenue-neutral.

Nonetheless, council voiced objections, saying it needed to hold the line on spending, just like it did under Thompson. It then reduced the salaries back to Thompson-era levels.

“We must make concessions,” said Council President Wanda Williams.

Council members, though, then took the savings to fund the new position of diversity officer. Papenfuse objected, arguing futilely that the responsibility was not a full-time job and already was covered by another position, meaning that council essentially had created a second diversity officer.

Moreover, council nixed the new position of sustainability officer, who would have overseen Harrisburg’s environmental initiatives and recycling efforts. That position would have been funded by the city’s “host fee,” more than $200,000 it receives each year because the incinerator sits within the city and accepts trash from outside its borders.

Firefighters OK Concessions

The Harrisburg chapter of the International Association of Firefighters agreed last month to a new labor agreement.

The agreement, which the union approved by a 38 to 15 vote, includes reductions in scheduled salary increases, an increase in employee health care contributions and salary cuts for new hires. It also represents the final concession from the city’s labor unions required as part of the state-appointed receiver’s recovery plan.

“I think the important thing to note here today is that a tremendous number of sacrifices are being made by the members of the firefighters’ union in an effort to allow this city to move forward,” Mayor Eric Papenfuse said.

In meetings with the firefighters, he said that he had tried to convey that, without contract modifications, “the budget would not be balanced and the city would stay mired in the financial difficulties that had gotten us first into Act 47 and then into receivership.”

The mayor’s proposed budget for 2014 already included the expected savings under the new agreement, projected to be around $1.6 million or around $20,000 for each of the 79 bargaining-unit positions in the fire department.

Some of the savings are achieved through the elimination of scheduled pay raises, previously set under a contract extension signed by former Mayor Stephen Reed. The raises, which had been set at 3 percent per year beginning in 2013, will be zeroed out in 2013 and 2014 and replaced with a 1-percent raise in 2015.

A sizeable portion of the projected savings—around $485,000 per year, according to Susan B. Friedman, a lawyer for the receiver—will come from a change in firefighters’ health care plans. Formerly, the majority of firefighters contributed nothing to the cost of coverage beyond their co-pays. Under the new agreement, their health care plans will now include partial contributions from each paycheck, at a rate of $40 for individuals and $90 for family care, as well as deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums and a change in co-payments for prescriptions.

The largest chunk of the savings, around $520,000, is expected to come from a reduction in numbers manning each shift, from 16 to 14 firefighters.

Rehab to Close Mulberry Street Bridge

The historic Mulberry Street Bridge will close later this month or in early April to start a major rehabilitation of the century-old structure.

The state Department of Transportation expects the bridge to be closed to traffic for about one year after work begins. In January, PENNDOT announced that Neshaminy Constructors of Feasterville, Pa., had submitted the lowest construction bid of $12.2 million.

The project involves placing a new deck over the original one; substructure and superstructure repairs; a new concrete barrier between the roadway and the sidewalk; new pedestrian railing; new railroad protective fence; and new bridge lighting and drainage.

Work will continue throughout much of 2015, even after the bridge re-opens to traffic. The bridge connects Allison Hill with downtown, spanning Cameron Street, Paxton Creek and several railroad tracks.

The 1,600-foot-long concrete arch bridge was originally built in 1909 and was rehabbed in both 1957 and 1982. Netting was placed beneath the bridge in 2008 to catch falling concrete from the deteriorating structure.

County Awards Gaming Grants

Dauphin County last month announced the recipients of $7.5 million in gaming grants, the county’s share of revenue from Hollywood Casino.

County commissioners approved grants for 66 projects, including:

$545,841 to Harrisburg for a new fire tower engine and police records management.
$250,000 to Susquehanna Township for expansion of the public safety building.
$100,000 to Steelton for Adams Street storm water improvements.
$182,479 to Swatara Township for bridge replacement and fire apparatus debt reduction.
$250,000 to Middletown for a streetscape and improvement project.
$270,000 to Hummelstown for a new municipal complex.
$156,138 to Highspire for road improvements.
$126,329 to Lower Swatara Township for a new fire boat, trailer and truck.
$89,000 to PinnacleHealth System for a new ambulance.
$250,000 to the Greenbelt/Dauphin County Parks & Recreation for a Wildwood to Fort Hunter extension.
$60,000 to Capital Area Transit for Market Square improvements.
$55,000 to the Community Action Commission for an Allison Hill parking lot project.
$100,000 to Whitaker Center for facility improvements.
$100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club for lighting of a public field.
$25,000 to State Street Improvement Association for streetscape improvements.
$185,000 to Dauphin County Parks & Recreation for capital improvement projects.
$50,000 for the Harrisburg Stampede.

The grant amount was substantially less than the $9.8 million available last year due to lower gaming revenue at the casino.

Changing Hands

Adrian St., 2430: PA Deals LLC to S. Hill, $68,400

Barkley Ln., 2517: PA Deals LLC to S. Hill, $85,000

Benton St., 609: M. Jones to J. Gillespie, $70,000

Berryhill St., 2247: S. Newsome to S. Burner, $32,000

Cameron St., 600, 1000: Cameron Real Estate LP to Cameron Street Investments LLC, $250,000

Croyden Rd., 2870: R. Hanna to A. Menghesha & S. Abebe, $57,000

Cumberland St., 1322: Fannie Mae to D. & D. Oswandel, $51,000

Derry St., 2020: Tang & Perkins PR to S. Mohammed, $84,000

Duke St., 2452: U.S. Bank National Assoc. Trustee & Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC to PA Deals LLC, $38,299

Green St., 1703: PA Deals LLC to G. & J. Modi, $147,000

Hale Ave., 420: S. & H. Walter to V. Ly, $45,000

Herr St., 308: J. Wierman to M. Woodring, $89,900

Hudson St., 1152: C. Pietzsch to PA Deals LLC, $32,500

Hudson St., 1256: Lemoyne Land Corp. Inc. to M. Shatto, $86,500

Kensington St., 2028: P. Parise Jr. to Kerlason LLC, $36,000

Kensington St., 2437: G., J. & T. Keller to V. Osorno, $73,000

Magnolia Dr., 2319: D. Shue to J. & E. High, $132,750

Market St., 2464: Bayview Loan Servicing LLC to G. & J. Trump, $95,000

North St., 2022: T. & C. Rine to FBTB Group LLC, $57,500

N. 2^nd St., 803: T., J. & J. Harbilas to McClellan Development Group LLC, $200,000

N. 2^nd St., 3307: J. Hole to C. Myers, $216,500

N. 3^rd St., 608: PNL Penn Properties LP & T. Trite to P. & S. Kumar, $95,000

N. 5^th St., 1901; 1929, 1941, 1943 & 1945 N. 6^th St.; 601A, 603, 605, 607 & 609 Peffer St.: Buonarroti Trust to Home for the Friendless, $221,464

N. 5^th St., 2515: Welcome Home Rentals LLC to 2013 M&M Real Estate Fund LLC, $50,000

N. 6^th St., 1919 & 1923; 1920 & 1922 Wallace St.: Buonarroti Trust to Home for the Friendless, $56,048

N. 6^th St., 2647: S. O’Hara to D. & D. Silbaugh, $100,000

N. 7^th St., 2300: Pennsylvania Bronze & Co. & C.O. Lacy Foundries to McNelis Gutter Cleaning Inc., $86,000

N. 16^th St., 1306: J. & S. Taylor to M. Bailey, $85,900

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 504: R. Davis Jr. to J. Brown, $215,000

Penn St., 1510: S. Boshinakov to M. Staub & S. Hyser, $129,000

Penwood Rd., 3214: J. & D. Wells to 360 Home Services LLC, $78,000

Radnor St., 408: Harrisburg Rentals LLC & Norman’s Realty Services to H. Lee, $75,000

S. 13^th St., 932: 932 South 13^th Street Assoc. & Brimmer’s License Service Inc. to South 13^th Street Properties LLC, $545,000

S. 19^th St., 9: Freddie Mac to Wofford Enterprises Ltd., $39,000

S. 19^th St., 11: Freddie Mac to F. Wofford, $34,000

S. 19^th St., 1238: D. & S. Pinci to A. Sierra, $49,900

State St., 106: 106 St. St. LP & N. Katz to J. Dorbian, $209,000

Swatara St., 2249: P. & F. Corbin to J. Hill, $89,000

Vineyard Rd., 214: M. Bower to V. Grodner, $140,000

Walnut St., 210: Walnut Court Associates to 210 Walnut LLC, $325,000

Yale St., 229: J. & J. Rosa to W. Arevalo & Y. Russ, $60,000

Harrisburg property sales for January 2014, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Changing Hands is sponsored by RE/MAX Realtor Ray Davis.

As Receiver Departs Harrisburg, Key Issues Remain

February 26, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Harrisburg’s Receiver William Lynch and Mayor Eric Papenfuse at the advisory committee meeting Wednesday morning, Feb. 26.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett will appear in Harrisburg’s city hall Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. to announce the end of receivership, the period of direct state oversight of city finances that began in December of 2011.

Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter, of the Commonwealth Court, issued the termination order on Feb. 25, following a petition from the state on Jan. 16 and a concurring answer from the city on Feb. 4.

The termination, which is effective March 1, will transfer oversight of the city to a coordinator under Pennsylvania’s Act 47, the law governing state intervention in distressed municipalities. Harrisburg’s coordinator will initially be Fred Reddig, of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Reddig has worked closely with the office of the receiver since its inception, making regular appearances on behalf of DCED, including at the receiver’s early-morning advisory meetings in Harrisburg’s city hall.

On Wednesday morning, during the last of such meetings under receivership, Reddig made a final presentation on the progress of the recovery plan, dubbed the Harrisburg Strong Plan upon its filing in September. He concluded his report by thanking Lynch, whom he described as a “very effective negotiator with key creditors,” for his “superb guidance and direction” in the 21 months since his appointment.

Before that, though, Reddig detailed the ongoing efforts in the city’s recovery, among them the filling of several city positions and relocation of the public works depot from the grounds of the incinerator. His presentation, and the public comment that followed, also raised critical issues facing Harrisburg in the next phase of recovery.

Among the remaining issues are:

1. Cash Flow.

Harrisburg must make a number of significant payments before March 15, including two payroll check-runs of around $1 million each and close to $5 million in debt service. The city has about $4.4 million cash on hand, and could transfer $700,000 in hotel taxes for debt payment, according to Bruce Weber, the budget and finance director. But the timing and size of the impending payments has led City Council, under the recommendation of the receiver’s office, to authorize a $2 million tax and revenue anticipation note, or TRAN—a short-term line of credit, expiring in June, that the city could draw upon if necessary to cover any budget shortfalls.

TRANs are a routine form of borrowing in many municipalities, which often face cash-flow problems in the weeks before real estate taxes start rolling in. Harrisburg typically receives the bulk of real estate taxes before March 31, when the window for early payment, which comes with the incentive of a 2-percent discount for property owners, closes. The city’s debt service payment, meanwhile, is due March 15. Reddig said Wednesday that the receiver sees the TRAN, which will be issued by Metro Bank, as “critical” to ensuring stable cash flow.

If none of the TRAN funds wind up being used, the total cost of the borrowing will be $15,000, which includes $10,000 in fees for Metro Bank and $5,000 in lawyers’ fees. If the city does draw upon some portion of the $2 million, it will also owe interest on whatever it spends, at an effective annual rate of 3.67 percent.

2. Accountability.

During public comment, Bill Cluck, a local environmental attorney and citizen activist, strongly urged the Act 47 coordinator to continue the forensic investigation of the debt deals that led to Harrisburg’s fiscal emergency. The Strong Plan, he said, promised residents that professionals and former officials who created Harrisburg’s historic incinerator debt would be held accountable. He added that the state attorney general, who announced a criminal investigation into the debt deals last fall, should “at a minimum” issue a public report about its findings. “Tell people what really happened,” Cluck said.

The possibility of civil claims related to the incinerator received a treatment of just under two pages in the 65-page Strong Plan. The plan cited the forensic report, commissioned by the Harrisburg Authority and released in January 2012, that “raised myriad concerns” about the incinerator financings. “The public expects that there be a means to obtain redress for these ill-fated decisions if there is evidence to support the allegation that highly imprudent actions were taken by those charged with protecting the City and its taxpayers against these very types of circumstances,” the receiver wrote at the time.

The plan also acknowledges, however, that any financial redress would likely be small. It also acknowledges the possibility that such claims would take longer than the receiver’s term of office to resolve, in which case oversight of the claims would be passed to the Act 47 coordinator or to someone else specially authorized by the court to pursue them. Neither Reddig nor Lynch brought up the topic of civil claims during Wednesday’s meeting, though Lynch did conclude public comment by saying he “agree[d] with all the sentiments expressed.”

3. Floods.

Cluck also raised the topic of flood insurance rates, which have already begun to climb under the terms of the federal Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The higher rates, he said, threaten property values, tax revenues and neighborhood stability, not just in Harrisburg but across Pennsylvania.

Cluck lauded the recent efforts of elected officials, including the Dauphin County commissioners, to bring attention to the issue. He then asked Lynch to talk to Gov. Tom Corbett about taking a stance, in an unofficial post-receivership position of “lobbyist to the governor on flood insurance” for the city. “If we don’t repeal this law,” Cluck said, referring to Biggert-Waters, “the Harrisburg Strong Plan fails.”

Not Convenient

February 26, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

The currently unoccupied corner store at Green and Kelker streets in Harrisburg.

When I was a kid, my family had a set of clothbound encyclopedias that sat on a large, metal, industrial-looking bookshelf in our basement.

This was pre-Internet, before the accumulated knowledge of human beings could be accessed in mere seconds via a Web browser. So, I sat for untold hours on the cold, concrete floor, leafing through the many volumes, even after the cellar’s constant dampness began to mold and eat away at the covers and pages.

I don’t remember much detail of the entries I read on topics as diverse as ancient Rome and dog breeds, but I do clearly recall the phrase imprinted on the spine of each book–the ancient proverb, “Knowledge Is Power.”

That phrase rang through my brain on Monday night as I stood (yes, stood, as all the seats were taken by the time I got there) in the meeting room of the Harrisburg Zoning Hearing Board in City Hall. There were only two items on the agenda, and nearly everyone who had packed into the room was there for the first case: a petition to locate a convenience store at the corner of Green and Kelker streets in Midtown.

Some residents had been agitated for weeks, ever since the city’s Bureau of Planning had posted a yellow cardboard placard on the front door of the building announcing that Mohamed Ahmed Ahrar had filed for two special exceptions (one to waive parking requirements, the other to allow his planned business) so he could open a convenience store at the site. Dozens of neighbors felt so strongly that they signed a petition objecting to the plan, saying they feared litter, noise and parking problems amidst the mostly residential area.

Less spoken, but palpably felt, was the even greater concern that the convenience store would create a nuisance, a place where people would congregate, hang out and possibly engage in illegal activity. In fact, the building’s previous tenant, a barbershop, lost its lease after years of neighborhood complaints.

Conversely, as expressed on TheBurg’s Facebook page, was an opinion that opposing the convenience store was racist or classist, that it was the latest effort to gentrify the neighborhood, that the would-be entrepreneur should be able to open a business of his choosing, as long as it was legitimate.

I respect and see value in both points of view, but I find them almost beside the point. To me, the most significant factor in the dust-up over the convenience store did not come down to menace or crime or lottery tickets or sugary drinks or race or class but to the simple matter of knowledge.

Several weeks ago, after the convenience store plan became public–and it was clear that opposition was organizing against it–I was asked whether I felt the store would get city permission to locate there. I quickly responded, “No, I don’t.”

I felt confident to make this prediction not because I’m a good guesser or because I had some inside information. I made it because I’ve sat inside that hearing room many times and have seen how and why the powerful zoning board rules as it does.

The board, rightly, believes that a new development or business profoundly impacts the people who live near it. So, it will do everything it can to approve a project if it feels it will serve the community and is supported by it. The opposite also is true. If a project may negatively impact a community and, especially, if it has significant opposition, the board will find a reason to deny it. End of story.

The petitioner–and, most of all, the property manager (who did most of the talking at the hearing)–should have known this.

They should have better understood the neighborhood where they hoped to locate.

They should have known that the zoning board would look skeptically on a convenience store, run by a guy from Mechanicsburg who, by his own testimony, planned to make a buck peddling yet more chips, soda and cigarettes in the city.

They should have considered that there are similar places one block and three blocks and four blocks away.

They should have known that, just months ago, the zoning board had denied another application for a convenience store just a couple streets up.

They should have known that the neighbors were relieved to be rid of the barbershop, as well as a particularly notorious convenience store a block in the other direction that closed down a few years ago.

They should have expected opposition, tried to get the neighborhood on board and even made adjustments to their plan based on feedback from the community.

At Monday night’s hearing, Terry Lawson, the property manager, increasingly frustrated, said that Ahrar’s convenience store was the best of several proposed businesses that wanted to move into the snug, 650-square-foot space. To prove his point, he said, with a slight laugh, that he had rejected both a skateboard shop and a tattoo parlor.

That comment set the crowded room abuzz, and several people blurted out, “We would support that!” when he mentioned the skate shop. Even the tattoo parlor had some supporters. Several residents said they would enthusiastically welcome a business owned by responsible people who truly wanted to serve and be a part of the Engleton/Olde Uptown community, increasingly populated by middle-class professionals.

Lawson and Ahrar would have known all this had they engaged the community instead of trying to jam in yet another unpopular corner store.

But they didn’t–and I wondered whether the thought had even occurred to them. And so, after about an hour of testimony, Zoning Hearing Board Chairwoman Marian Frankston banged the gavel and declared, “Your application has been denied.”

One can hope, as I do, that this decision–along with several others like it recently–will serve as a signal to property and business owners that they need to consider the impact of their proposals on the community. In fact, with a little thought, creativity and engagement, potential shop owners may discover an unfilled need that the community will support and patronize, as opposed to the same old, tired concept. Harrisburg is changing, and the business community must change with it, not immediately default to the lowest-common denominator, the dismal stereotype of a dark, crowded store packed with soda, chips and cigarettes, overseen by a weary, unhappy, suspicious owner.

Likewise, I hope that Harrisburg residents in other neighborhoods understand that they have a powerful tool in their hands. It’s called organization and involvement, and they should use it.

If they do, there is at least one public body that will listen. In cases that come before it, the zoning hearing board has shown again and again that it takes community concerns very seriously, often placing the impact on the neighborhood above the wishes of an individual property or business owner. Harrisburg residents who want to improve the quality of their lives and their communities have an ally, assuming they’re willing to track what’s going on around them, gain some knowledge and then show up in force to a meeting on a cold Monday night.

A Bracing, Heartfelt Drama: “The Dresser” at Gamut Theatre

February 25, 2014 | by Cassandra Clarhaut

David Newhouse (left) as Norman/The Dresser and Clark Nicholson as Sir in Gamut Theatre’s production of “The Dresser.” Photo by Brianna Dow.

Behind Shakespeare’s scenes stand a dwindling crew of actors, a stage director and an under-appreciated dresser.

Set in England in 1942, Ronald Hardwood’s “The Dresser” incorporates fast-paced comedy with an unsettling look at Sir, a mentally deteriorating actor. Gamut Theatre Group’s founder and Artistic Director J. Clark Nicholson stars as the sophisticated, yet senile Sir, and David Newhouse animatedly performs as his faithful dresser, Norman.

The pair’s banter, coupled with gripping delusional moments from both characters, leaves the audience torn between love and hate for Sir as his character continually grapples with line recollection before his 227^th performance of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”

“The Dresser” recounts World War II and the air raids over England with plane and bomb sound effects that intensify scenes. Each cast member speaks in a clean Received Pronunciation English accent that authenticates the play’s feel. The cast takes advantage of the dynamic set, a dressing room behind and below the stage on which “King Lear” is performed, offering the audience a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at this Shakespeare troop’s volatile relations. Amanda Owens, mainstage costume designer at Messiah College in the 2013-14 season, flawlessly fits each of Gamut’s characters down to the smallest details, like back-seamed hosiery and sleeve and sock garters.

Newhouse’s spastic gestures exude his frustration and dedication to Sir; Norman’s impassioned, sycophantic relationship to the actor coincides with hilarious line delivery. Each of Newhouse’s vivid facial expressions, erratic movements and gusty vocal animations encourage laughter, yet are believable enough to be taken seriously.

Similarly vying for Sir’s attention is Irene (Amber Mann), the young stagehand who longs to act with the troupe. Despite Mann’s considerable theatrical acting experience, she renders natural as the timid and inexperienced assistant.

An uncomfortable scene turns comical as Sir gropes Irene while he lusts after her youth, but, more importantly, her weight. Tired of holding his wife, Her Ladyship (Cynthia Charles), on stage as Cordelia in the second act of “King Lear,” Sir carries Irene in his arms wistfully yet triumphantly, then weakly falls to the ground, dropping the tension with Irene. Upon her quick exit from the dressing room, she encounters Norman.

Here, we see the height of Newhouse’s engrossing rage and hasty discourse with the weak Irene; Norman responds jealously and fires Irene in an attempt to keep peace within the troupe, each member in his or her place, and Sir’s world not upset so that the show may “go on.”

Nicholson, gray-haired but bright-eyed, is confusion embodied as Sir, though, in “The Dresser,” that is a good thing. Absent stares and blubbering hysteria make way for the focused repertoire that Nicholson’s husky voice commands. His laughable application of King Lear’s make-up in the first act helps develop Sir’s character and gains audience respect for caking on the paint each night. Lear may have posed a challenge for Sir, but Sir certainly poses no challenge for Nicholson.

Ronald Hardwood’s “The Dresser” runs through March 9, on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Strawberry Square, Harrisburg. For more information, visit https://www.gamutplays.org or call 717-238-4111.

Gamut Theatre Group includes the company of Popcorn Hat Players Children’s Theater and of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival. Its move to former The First Church of God, located “across the street” at 15 N. 4^th St., hopefully for the 2014-15 season, will well suit Gamut, a talented range of actors showcased in “The Dresser.”

Convenience Store Application Denied

February 25, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

A convenience store will not locate in Midtown Harrisburg after its application was struck down tonight by the city’s Zoning Hearing Board.

About two dozen neighbors packed into the hearing room to object to an application filed by Mohamed Ahmed Ahrar of Mechanicsburg, who wanted to open a store at the corner of Green and Kelker streets.

“I’m not at all convinced that another place to buy prepackaged food, if you want to call it that, will help our neighborhood in any way,” said Mike Banks, one of numerous area residents and property owners to testify against the plan.

The hearing began when Zoning Hearing Board Chairwoman Marian Frankston asked Ahrar what he expected to sell from the snug, 650-square-foot space. He responded by saying “soda, chips,” with Frankston adding that his application also mentioned cigarette sales.

Ahrar then said little, as Terry Lawson, manager for property owner Michael Goldberg Properties, testified on his behalf. Lawson mentioned that, over more than a century, the property has housed many businesses, including a tea shop, drugstores and several “cut-rate” or convenience stores.

A few nearby residents testified that that the neighborhood breathed a sigh of relief after the most recent tenant, a barbershop, closed last April, saying that it had attracted loitering and alleged drug activity. Banks said he had called the police many times due to possible criminal activity in front of the shop.

“We finally have gotten some sense of safety and quiet after a decade,” he said. “We finally got it. I’m not sure my neighbors want to roll the dice again.”

In denying the application, the zoning board went against the vote of the city’s Planning Commission, which last week recommended approving the application, which sought a special exception from parking requirements and another to allow a convenience store to operate at the site.

About half-a-dozen other residents voiced objections to the application on such grounds as noise, parking and littering concerns. No residents spoke in support of the application.

Lawson said that the store would add to, not subtract from, the renaissance of the area, which sits at the border of the Engleton and Olde Uptown neighborhoods in Midtown. He added that the convenience store was the best use for the property compared to other applications his company had received, including for a skate shop and a tattoo parlor.

“We’re not being out of line with what we want to put there,” he said. “We’re being in line.”

Nonetheless, several residents said they feared a repeat of the disruption caused both by the barbershop and by a former convenience store long located at the corner of Green and Muench streets. Others said the neighborhood already has several other convenience stores within blocks of the site.

“I personally do not think it’s needed in the area,” said David Alexander of Kelker Street.

This is the second proposed convenience store in Midtown shot down recently by the zoning board. Several months ago, the board denied a store proposed for the corner of N. 3rd and Hamilton streets following similar objections by neighbors.

Residents Vent Fears, Frustrations at Parking Advisory Meeting

February 20, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Ashia Richardson, owner of Hair at the Square salon in downtown Harrisburg, has started keeping a “notation system” in a notebook to keep track of when her clients need to feed the meter.

The hardship on low-income residents and the fear that visitors will be driven away by higher rates were among the concerns expressed at the first meeting of Harrisburg’s parking advisory committee, which took place Thursday morning at the Crowne Plaza hotel downtown.

While committee members sat around tables in the second-floor ballroom, supplied with microphones, pitchers of ice water and bowls of mints, a total of 16 members of the public stepped forward to voice their concerns about what the parking changes would do to the city. Among their number were a pastor, a deacon, a City Council member, a salon owner, a hardware store owner, the director of a theater group, numerous residents, property owners and landlords, and a disabled man.

Their comments struck a universal theme: that the expansion of meter hours and the increased meter prices and fines will hurt an already fragile economy and prevent people from shopping or locating in Harrisburg.

But each speaker added his or her own variation. Church representatives, for example, were particularly concerned about parking for funerals and weddings on Saturdays, and about the possibility that reduced parishioner contributions would impede their ability to provide services for the needy. Walter David Prediger, a deacon at Salem United Church of Christ, on the corner of Chestnut and S. 3^rdStreet, worried about the volunteers who drive in to help with a Saturday clothing giveaway, and park from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. “That’d be $15 for one car,” Prediger said.

Business owners feared that the prices would simply drive customers away. Ashia Richardson, who opened her salon, Hair at the Square, across from Strawberry Square last year, said her clientele was “really taking a hit” since the introduction of the new rates. “The cost of service now includes $15 to park,” she said. “Our clients aren’t coming because they simply can’t afford parking.”

Residents expressed a variety of concerns, from how the rates would affect their own ability to park to what an exodus of frustrated drivers might mean for their city. John Mank, who lives in the Grayco apartment building downtown, said he found charging Saturday visitors “inexcusable.” “These people make this city live,” he said. “You’re doing more harm than good.” Mank, who had started with a quip that got a big laugh—“I’m gonna make this short, I’m at the meter right now”—concluded on the same note. “I gotta go and feed the meter so I’ll see you all later.”

The parking advisory committee was formed as part of the long-term lease of the city’s parking assets, a deal that closed on Dec. 24 and was a major component of the state-appointed receiver’s recovery plan for Harrisburg. Though it has no power to adjust rates or hours, the nine-member committee can approve recommendations to management, and its meetings provide a public forum for updates on the system’s operations.

The advisory committee includes representatives from just about every entity involved in the ongoing management of the lease—including the asset manager, PK Harris Advisors, Inc., an affiliate of Trimont Real Estate; the new operator, Standard Parking; the Dauphin County commissioners and Assured Guaranty Municipal, who both provided security for the $294 million bond issue associated with the lease; and the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, or PEDFA, which issued the tax-exempt bonds.

The committee also includes a representative from the mayor’s office and a representative from council, though, for now, it includes no direct representative for downtown residents or for downtown businesses. Bruce Weber, the city’s budget and finance director and the mayor’s representative on the committee, tried to change that Thursday morning with a motion to add two seats to the table. But no one seconded the motion, and the proposal did not come to a vote.

During public comment, committee members listened without responding. “Public comment is not a question-and-answer session,” John Gass, the representative for PK Harris Advisors, had reminded members before he opened the floor. Instead, he said, the committee would take note of public concerns and address them later.

Before concluding the meeting, however, Gass did offer a few remarks about the “perspective from the working end.” “I don’t know one issue brought up today that hasn’t been discussed by our working group,” he said. He explained that the 60 days since the parking transaction closed had seen a “tremendous amount of activity” on a “very challenging project.” “We’d appreciate if you could give us the ability to try to work on your comments,” he concluded. “We’re dealing with many issues.”

Among those issues is the parking system’s tight budget this year, with projected revenues only just covering the many obligations under the parking lease, including debt payments, operating expenses and payments to the city. (To see TheBurg’s visual breakdown of the system’s financial obligations in 2014, click here.) That budget includes combined revenues from on-street meters and enforcement of around $5.5 million—a much smaller figure than the $16.6 million expected from garages, but an amount still critical to the system’s bottom line.

In the meantime, business owners like Richardson are feeling the pinch. Clients who once came to her salon every other week, she later explained, have reduced their appointments to once a month. Others have started coming after 7 p.m., when on-street parking is free, forcing her to work late into the evening.

“I had to walk one client to her car at 11:30 at night,” she said. To help customers avoid getting tickets, Richardson has even started a parking “notation system” in her salon, to keep track of when clients need to feed the meter. Nonetheless, three have already been ticketed, including Richardson herself.

“When I went to the office to pay the ticket, it was so dysfunctional,” she said. “They didn’t have receipt paper or cash for change. I had to wait 25 minutes in line while this woman wrote on a piece of scratch paper.”

For the parking system’s 2014 operating budget, or to see a visual breakdown of the sytem’s financial obligations this year, please click on the links below.

Park Harrisburg 2014 Operating Budget

Park Harrisburg 2014: Where the Money Goes

Proposed Convenience Store Gets First OK

February 20, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

The Harrisburg Planning Commission tonight gave unanimous approval to a planned convenience store at the corner of Green and Kelker streets.

By a 4-0 vote, the commission recommended that a special exception be granted to allow a convenience store to operate at the site and to waive the four-vehicle off-street parking requirement. The commission only mandated that the property pass a health inspection and follow city-mandated rules for signage. Commission members also recommended that a trash receptacle be located outside the store, which is slated to operate from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Otherwise, the commission asked few questions of the applicant, Mohamed Ahmed Ahrar, or of the representative of property owner Michael Goldberg Properties. Despite some opposition in the Olde Uptown neighborhood to the proposal, not a single member of the public attended the meeting.

The commission did read a letter in opposition submitted by Historic Harrisburg Association, which claimed the proposed store was incompatible with the neighborhood, but quickly dismissed the reasoning.

The commission’s recommendation now goes to the city’s Zoning Hearing Board, which will meet on Monday to consider the application. The board has the final say over whether to grant the special exception.

The century-old property at 224 Kelker St. most recently housed a barbershop, though, over the years, has served many uses, including as a corner store, a drugstore and a tea shop.

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like