Something to Celebrate: Amid crisis, a surge of citizen activism.

January 23, 2012 | by Lawrance Binda

Picking through the mess that is Harrisburg’s financial calamity, it may seem hard to find anything that could be called a positive.

And yet there it is—and it’s no small thing.

Dauphin County commissioner Mike Pries made note of it during a recent community forum.

The forum, held early last month, featured Pries, state Sen. Jeff Piccola and City Council attorney Mark Schwartz and was most notable for the nasty barbs hurled between Piccola and Schwartz as they argued over Harrisburg’s sorry situation, which has led to a state takeover of the city.

But amid the name-calling on the stage and the cat-calling from the audience, Pries rightly applauded several Harrisburg residents for their activism, which has been spawned, in no small part, by the city’s financial crisis and political paralysis.

He praised Alan Kennedy Shaffer of Harrisburg Hope; Tara Leo Auchey of Today’s the Day Harrisburg; James Roxbury of Roxbury News; and Eric Papenfuse of Midtown Scholar Bookstore.

To that list, I would add Neil Grover and his group, Debt Watch Harrisburg, as well as a number of publicly minded individuals, including Bill Cluck, Nevin Mindlin, Les Ford and Brian Ostella.

All have carved out roles for themselves, using their particular expertise and talents to fill in policy and procedural gaps, disperse information and shine light on public actions. And, over time, they’ve stuck with it, committing vast amounts of time in the public interest for little if any, compensation.

Kennedy-Shaffer urges civility as he brings together officials for debate and discussion. Auchey’s Today’s the Day website is a virtual archive of the city’s financial calamity and political turmoil. Roxbury points his camera into the dustiest corners of government. Papenfuse has turned his bookstore into a center for public activity and discourse. Grover uses his skills as a lawyer to act as a citizen advocate.

At City Council meetings, you often see these people in attendance, speaking at the microphone, taking notes, tweeting to the world. Pries said he gets first word of what’s happening in city government by following Auchey’s real-time tweets.

For years under Mayor Stephen Reed, some council members complained of citizen apathy and inaction. Not anymore.

Today, council meetings often are well-attended, with more residents following on Twitter, which, despite its limitations, gives people their first opportunity to follow events remotely as they happen. Over at Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg Hope forums have been standing-room-only.

On daily basis, as I travel through Harrisburg, I get an earful as people complain about crime, city, services, the state of government.

There’s plenty to criticize, but some people are doing more than complaining. They’re taking it upon themselves, at their own expense, to try to make a difference.

Do I always agree with what they tweet, blog, broadcast, file, argue and their dedication to the community.

Harrisburg is in crisis right now, and our future, in the hands of others, is unknown. Yet there is something to celebrate—a group of mindful, concerned, active citizens, residents committed to finding out what has happened to their city then trying to influence what will happen next.

Receiver, on the Receiving End: At forum, Unkovic expresses sympathy for Harrisburg’s plight.

January 23, 2012 | by Lawrance Binda

Hearing him speak, Harrisburg receiver David Unkovic doesn’t appear to be the big, bad overlord that many had feared.

He seems thoughtful, considerate, even well-intentioned—a man who says he truly wishes to do right by the people of Harrisburg.

Can he really be the product of SB1151, the legislation that led to direct state control of the city, a law that Mayor Linda Thompson has called “punitive” and that many others have said is simply mean-spirited? Can he be the person stereotyped at first as a lackey of the financial industry and city’s creditors?

As the cliché goes, the proof is in the pudding—and the pudding will be Unkovic’s financial recovery plan for the city, due to be unveiled on Feb. 6.

But, so far, and particularly at a Harrisburg Hope community forum last month, Unkovic has impressed many with his concern for the city and its beleaguered residents.

“As receiver, I’m going to do what’s best for the citizens of Harrisburg and the commonwealth,” he said.

Unkovic spoke for about 90 minutes to an overflow crowd gathered at Midtown Scholar Bookstore. For most of that time, he answered audience questions, which ranged from his background as a bond attorney to his negotiations with creditors who hold more than $310 million in bonds due to repeated refinancing for numerous upgrades to the city incinerator.

Much time was spent on his opinion that the city’s creditors may have to accept less than 100 percent repayment as part of a negotiated settlement.

“It will require sacrifices by many entities with interests in the city,” he said. “In order for the plan to work, everyone will have to contribute.”

Unkovic said he has learned much since he was nominated by Gov. Tom Corbett for the post of receiver.

Notably, he learned of the details of various financings and refinancing of incinerator debt, deals that he described as having “unusual actions in them,” including the lack of a performance bond that should have guaranteed work on a botched incinerator retrofit by Barlow Projects, as well as the complex structuring of the 2007 incinerator financing.

Unkovic said he also has learned that Harrisburg residents feel victimized by forces beyond their control, such as failed political leadership, the actions of financiers and a lack of sympathy from others in the region.

“This is also a political situation, not just a financial situation, and it involves the lives of the people in this city—all 49,500 people,” he said.

“It’s important to look at it from a community perspective,” he said. “How did a city of this size, not a large city, end up with so much debt?”

Unkovic did not shy away from the fact that the city owes about six times its annual budget just in incinerator debt, which will require it to sell or lease municipal assets, beginning with its valuable parking garages. In addition, Harrisburg faces large and growing deficits in its annual operating budget which has made it increasingly tough to meet payroll.

Still, he believes that a return to solvency is possible.

“My goal is that, five years from now, the city will be in good financial condition, not just kicking the can down the road,” he said.

Unkovic last month set up a website so residents can review documents and make comments online. The website is www.pa.gov/harrisburgreceiver.

Harrisburg, Meet the World: Financial woes put little city in global spotlight.

January 22, 2012 | by Lawrance Binda

How does Harrisburg look to the rest of the world?

Until recently, that question might have seemed silly, as the city, despite its status as Pennsylvania’s capital, is a place that normally gets little attention from outsiders.

But these aren’t normal times.

Due to its financial crisis, Harrisburg has been visited by news crews from many nations–French, German, and British journalists all have been seen walking N.2nd Street. The Arabic language network, al-Jazeera, stopped by in October.

Just last month, a three-person television news crew from Japan spent several days in Harrisburg–going to places even most Harrisburgers don’t.

So, to repeat the question: How does Harrisburg look to the rest of the world?

The city came as a surprise to the visiting Japanese crew– for both good and bad.

The good first: Harrisburg is far more than a financial crisis and a failed incinerator, a one-dimensional view that people may glean from news accounts.

They found a place that is vibrant, interesting and, in places, very beautiful.

“I was surprised to see that the city is still working despite the financial condition,” said Ayuko Hirano, a reporter with Tokyo-based NTV international, a major Japanese broadcasting company. “Even though the city (government) isn’t able to help very much, people are still investing here.”

That view was fostered by J. Alex Hartzler, who took the visitors to see the work that his company WCI Partners, has done to rapidly transform Olde Uptown from blighted neighborhood to charming community of restored homes.

He also showed them the revival of downtown, including the new office building that WCI is constructing on the prominent block of 2nd and State streets.

“I wanted them to see what it’s really like here– that people like it here and feel safe here,” Hartzler said.

Hartzler explained the history of the city– that Harrisburg, like most American cities following World War II, suffered from de-industrialization, loss of jobs and toxic race relations. That today, despite its finances, the city is far more dynamic and has much better prospects than it did 30 or 40 years ago.

Still, there was no hiding the bad, such as the poverty in some neighborhoods. The journalists were particularly saddened by the many empty lots and fields where houses and businesses once stood, especially in the Uptown and South Allison Hill neighborhoods.

“The abandoned areas here were really surprising to me,” said Hirano. “Nobody’s there.”

The news crew is typically stationed in Washington D.C., which has its own problems with poverty and race relations.

Producer Tomoko Horie cited a difference. In Harrisburg, she said, the classes and races seem to interact more.

“In D.C., there’s an invisible fence between the well-to-do areas and the abandoned areas,” she said. “Here, you don’t have that fence.”

As such, they were easily able to find and interview homeless people, in addition to the well-off, the power, the working class and even the young activists of Occupy Harrisburg. The result will be a 5-minute segment on their news station in early January.

“We often focus on the American financial and economic situation,” said Hirano. “With this piece, we want to show Japanese viewers an example of one American city.”

A City in Transition: Who holds the power in Harrisburg?

January 22, 2012 | by Lawrance Binda

Who exactly is in charge here?

If you’re a resident of Harrisburg, you may be asking that question.

You’ve probably heard that state-appointed receiver David Unkovic has near-absolute power to make policy and order it implemented.

But Mayor Linda Thompson seems to retain day-to-day control of city operations. Meanwhile, the City Council continues to meet normally and consider ordinances and resolutions.

So then who’s in control of your city government?

Currently, the city is in a transitional phase. The power structure is evolving, dispersed among the mayor, the council and the receiver. That, however, is about to change.

The state takeover legislation explicitly states that the receiver has sole authority to draft and implement a recovery plan for Harrisburg. If the mayor or council refuse to implement it, the receiver is authorized to use courts to force them to obey.

Yes, Thompson and the new City Council president will be two members of a four-member advisory committee–but the committee’s advice extends only to how best to implement the plan, not what’s in it.

For their part, the various players frame their roles in different ways. Unkovic acknowledges his overwhelming authority over Harrisburg, but says he will wield power in the most inclusive, enlightened way possible.

“I’m not looking for power,” he said. “I’ve never looked for it my entire life, and I’m 58 years old.”

Unkovic said that he expects officials, including the mayor, council, treasurer and city controller, to continue in their roles.

“Elected officials are in their positions for a reason, and I will listen to their opinions,” he said. “I’ve treated them with respect, and I’ve reached out to them. I’ve met with them all.”

He added, “They still will have their jobs, just in context of the plan.”

Thompson says that she and Unkovic have met many times and that he respects her office and input. She said that she expects to play a meaningful role as the receiver’s plan is implemented.

“I see my role continuing as the CEO of the city,” said Thompson.

She said she will work to ensure that vital services, such as public safety and sanitation, continue to run smoothly, even as the city undertakes significant asset sales to settle its debt.

She also sees herself as both adviser and administrator.

“Ultimately, Dave will hear my input, and then I need to implement what he puts together,” she said.

Of all actors, City Council may be on the line to lose the most power, as so many council decisions involve either raising or spending money.

Councilwoman Susan Brown-Wilson said that she expects the council to operate in a normal way until shown otherwise.

“We’ll continue to legislate and do what we normally do,” she said. “His job is not to tell us how to legislate, in my opinion.”

Brown-Wilson said she will not vote for legislation that she believes is not in the best interest of the city, even if that leads to court involvement.

“Let him go to the courts, and then that’s where the battle will be taken up,” she said.

Councilman Brad Koplinksi said that, so far, he likes that Unkovic has been diplomatic and has even suggested that Harrisburg’s many creditors, in the end, may have to settle for less than full payment.

“How we react all depends upon what his plan is,” said Koplinski. “We could have a plan where the city gets socked. We could have a plan that calls for creditors to take a haircut. We’re all in a brave, new world here.”

Ironically, Unkovic will be allowed to do the one thing that the council majority most wanted to do–use the bankruptcy court.

The state law explicitly allows Unkovic “to file a municipal debt adjustment action” with the court to reduce the city’s debt load after July 1, when the state-imposed bankruptcy prohibition expires. By then, though, Harrisburg may be stripped of its most valuable assets, exactly what the council tried to prevent with its bankruptcy filing in October.

In fact, another provision in the takeover legislation–that Unkovic is prevented from “unilaterally” raising taxes–may only accelerate the city’s return to bankruptcy.

In the end, Harrisburg residents can expect to be under the jurisdiction of the receiver for at least the next two years, when his term expires. That term, though, easily can be renewed by Commonwealth Court.

It’s certainly possible that Unkovic–or his successor–could be in charge of Harrisburg for multiple mayoral terms, as the city muddles through, trying to get back on its feet.

In the short-term, over the coming months, expect a growing realization among city residents of where the real power lies.

“Mr.Unkovic is the one with bat in his hands at the moment, said resident and activist Les Ford. “He’s the one who’s going to make the decisions.”

Unkovic says that he takes his responsibility to the people of Harrisburg seriously and does not want to coerce compliance. He hopes not to have to use the court to force his recovery plan on the city.

“It’s better to have buy-in and cooperation than simply to exert power,” he said.

And, as things stand now, he seems to see his job as far from a long-term assignment.

“I want to do the best job that I can and then go away,” he said. “That’s the best that I can do.”

Winterizing Fluffy: Like your car, your pet needs seasonal attention.

January 15, 2012 | by Laura Maynard

Winter is here, and we all know it’s time to stock up on eggs, bread and milk, right?

But as the temperature falls, we cannot forget about our four-legged friends. Pets need extra care and attention in winter time despite the fact that they have a built-in fur coat. The following is a guideline for how to combat winter weather and keep your furry companion safe and happy.

Prior Planning (food, supplies and medications): Before the first flake falls, it is important to plan for snow days. Make sure you have at least one week’s worth of food and supplies for your pet in case you are unable to leave the house. Is your pet on medication or a special diet? It is imperative that you have enough on hand so that your pet’s health doesn’t suffer because of some winter weather. Likewise, if you are traveling by car with your dog, make sure you packed extra food, water, blankets and anything else your dog needs in case you experience travel delays. Always keep a copy of your dog’s current vaccination records (ie, rabies, distemper and bordetella) with you in cause you have to board your pup unexpectly.
Fur and Skin Care: As the days get shorter and the temperature drops, a dog tends to sed its light summer undercoat and, in its place, grows the heavier winter undercoat. This thicker undercoat helps trap warm air generated by the body close to the skin, and keeps the dog warm. So, what does this mean for you as the pet owner? More brushing!

Tangles and mats are more likely to occur with the thicker undercoat, so it requires more time on your part to brush your dog more often. Can you still have your dog trimmed during winter months? Absolutely! Indoor dogs don’t require the extra undercoat as much as an outdoor pet does, but that doesn’t mean it is OK to have them completely shaved.

For smaller dogs or dogs with short coats, a sweater or coat can help give that extra insulation as long as he or she will let you put one on! However, if you have a longer-coated dog and he/she does wear a coat, just keep an eye on matting in the underarm area. Regular combing will help avoid mats.

Also, colder weather means dry, itchy skin. So, if you bathe your dog, make sure you use a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. If you have your dog groomed regularly by a professional, it is good idea to make sure your dog has received the bordetella vaccination to help prevent the fatal strain of canine cough (aka, kennel cough). If you board your dog, this vaccine is a must, but most people don’t think about it in terms of grooming. However, it makes perfect sense. Your dog will be in contact with several dogs in a small, confined space. This nasty virus is airborne so better to be safe than sorry.

Paw Care: Freezing temperatures mean icy conditions. Salt on roadways and sidewalks is corrosive, so imagine what that means for your dog’s paws.

If your budget allows, I suggest investing in pet-friendly de-icers for your driveways and sidewalks. These products are non-toxic, biodegradable and can be purchased at local pet stores. However if your dog goes come in contact with standard de-icers, make sure your dog either wears boots or you do a thorough job of wiping its paws every time you come in from a walk. Organic coconut oil is another fantastic product for paw care. Rub it directly on your dog’s paws. It helps lock in moisture and creates a natural barrier against the elements.

Pet care in the winter months is all about planning for the unexpected. Man’s best friend depends on us for everything–so be prepared. Thinking ahead will ensure that tails will be wagging come spring!

From Artists to Owners: Well-known painters team at new gallery.

January 15, 2012 | by Peter Durantine

Brath & Hughes Fine Art, the new art gallery that opened in downtown Mechanicsburg last fall, has a name that is simple, yet distinguished.

“We kept playing around with these cutesy type names and decided we just wanted it to be professional,” said Mary Beth Brath, the co-owner.

Brath and business partner Brownyn Jean Hughes are artists in their own right. Two years ago, Brath started the Daily Painters of Pennsylvania, which has grown to a group of more than 40 professional artists from across the state who show their works annually in the state Capitol. After the Daily Painters exhibit this coming June in the Capitol’s East Wing Rotunda, their works will show for the month of July at Brath & Hughes.

For both women, this is their first business venture they had been selling out of another gallery in town for a couple of years, but decided to go out on their own.

Fitting to their name, Brath & Hughes occupies a distinguished, late 19th- century space, the 1,500-square-foot first floor of the Mechanicsburg Bank Building that has sat vacant at 41 W. Main St. for four years. The spacious lobby has tall windows that allow plenty of light.

“It’s really a perfect space for an art gallery,” Brath said. “It has a character all its own.”

The building’s interior appears pretty much unchanged, with its original white marble wainscoting and floor, black marble teller counters, varnished woodwork and walk-in vault.

The vault is reserved for special exhibits, such as the current “Tears of the World,” a series of abstract paintings by Hughes–ranging from $40 to $600– of which 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

Brath & Hughes also carry artwork by local, regional and nationally known artists such as Patricia Griffin and Linda Benton McCloskey. A list of thier artists is on their blog site www.brathandhughesfineart.blogspot.com.

The gallery also sells hand-made jewelry and offers service that include select corporate art installations, social media workshops and fine art event consulting and planning.

While Brath and Hughes are serious-minded artists, they enjoy a asense of humor. Added to the name of their gallery is this phrase: “Galerie de la Muse.”

“Our husbands think of us as muses,” Brath said. “So we put that little catch phrase there.”

Olive Oil Memories: A good oil equals many possibilities.

January 15, 2012 | by Rosemary Ruggieri Baer

Someone once asked Marcella Hazan, the revered queen of Italian cooking, what she has never been without in her kitchen. She replied: a sharp knife, a hunk of Parmesan Reggiano cheese and good olive oil. That was certainly true in our house as well, except maybe for the good knife! As for the olive oil, I think of it as the lifeblood of my mother’s kitchen. It touched almost everything we ate.

Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, we made our regular trips to the two Italian grocery stories in town: Galdino’s “On the Hill” and Del Piano’s, a small shop on Chestnut Street. There, my parents bought olive oil in large metal cans, certainly a gallon or more at a time. The can sat in our pantry on a dish layered with paper towels (to catch the drips) and was carried regularly to the kitchen counter by my mother who then filled small containers for cooking. We used a lot of olive oil.

My mother always told a wonderful story about my father when he was a little boy in Italy. His father was a shoemaker in Vieste, and the family was poor. As was often the custom in those days, somewhere around 1910, an uncle took my father, then 2 or 3 years old, to live with him and his wife for a couple of years. The uncle was a sea captain and, according to my mother, traveled throughout Italy during that time and perhaps beyond. I have a photo of my aunt and uncle standing with my dad, who dressed in a sailor suit, standing on a little pier and looking very proud.

As the story goes, however, my grandmother, Victoria, was horrified when little Nickie came back home. His aunt and uncle had exposed him to, of all things, butter. And he liked it! She apparently considered him forever spoiled saying, “Look at him! Now all he wants is butter!” Nevertheless, aside from his buttered morning toast, my father saw very little butter in his lifetime.

Gone are the days when a trip to an Italian market or grocery store is necessary to get fairly good olive oil. There are several brands I choose from at the supermarket, which seems to expand its selection every year. I always buy extra virgin oil, either Berio, Carapelli or Bertolli (my mother’s brand). These are good oils and are not overly expensive. Once a year, I treat myself to a wonderful imported olive oil from Peggy’s Sliver Spoon at the West Shore Farmer’s Market. It comes in an ornate bottle and is very green and cloudy. It comes from the first olive pressing and requires slow rotation between the hands to disperse the sediment from the olives before using it. It has a peppery bite to it and is best used with salads or crusty Italian bread for dipping.

I guess I could talk about olive oil for a long time. But I wanted to share with you a quick recipe that requires little more than good oil and fine imported pasta. On a cold winter night, when you are tired from work and perhaps don’t have much left in the refrigerator to cook, remember this quick dish and forget the fast food, dried-out pizza and frozen dinners.

Better than Fast Food Pasta

Boil a pound of pasta in rapidly boiling water. This dish works best with spaghetti or linguine. Drain the pasta and keep it warm.
In a large skillet, gently heat a cup of olive oil and several cloves of chopped fresh garlic. Don’t let the garlic brown or burn. Remove from the heat when the garlic becomes fragrant.
Toss the cooked pasta with the garlic oil until well combined. Chefs often do this step right in the skillet, tossing the pasta with tongs until glistens.
You have two choices from here: add freshly ground black pepper (lots of it) or dried breadcrumbs, adjusting the amount to your liking. Or try using both.

That is all there is to it. Some Italians refer to this dish as “Midnight Pasta,” something to be whipped up late at night after a night of reveling. Well, at my age, there’s not a great deal of reveling going on. But this is a great quick dinner. Remember: This dish will shine only with very good semolina pasta and high quality oil. These few basic ingredients are the stars. Serve with some steamed broccoli or asparagus, and you will have a great dinner in 30 minutes.

I hope you enjoy it. And save the butter for your toast.

Vegetarian Victory: Jayyid Harvest mixes veggies with family.

January 15, 2012 | by Peter Durantine

When Tanya Shariyf decided for health reasons to change her diet and come a vegetarian, she and husband Abdullah and their six children became frustrated in their search for a restaurant that served vegetarian dishes, let alone good vegetarian dishes.

That compelled this former military dietician and federal police officer and her husband, a youth counselor, to open Jayyid Harvest, one of the few, if any, authentic vegetarian restaurants in the Harrisburg area.

“other than having to go to Philadelphia or New York, there are no vegetarian restaurants around,” said Tanya, a gentle, soft-spoken woman. Before opening the restaurant–its name means “good harvest”–in the corner building at 1530 N. 2nd St., where Flow Buffet and several other restaurants had once served food, Tanya and Abdullah spent time researching vegetarian and vegan foods.

They visited various restaurants in Philadelphia and New York and toured Vegan Treats, a vegetarian bakery in Bethlehem.

“Vegan Treats let us talk to some of their customers and that’s how we got into this,” Tanya said. “Meat-eaters like Vegan Treats, too.”

Realizing that a good vegetarian restaurant could serve dishes that would satisfy even skeptical meat-eaters, Tanya and Abdullah decided, “Ok, we can give it a try. We love to cook for people.”

The menu offers steak and chicken sandwiches made of soy that surprisingly and delightfully taste like steak and chicken. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“This vegetarian restaurant will put a smile on mean-eater’s face,” Tanya said.

A vegetarian couple, traveling from Tallahassee, Fla., to New York was driving on Interstate 81 and found Jayyid Harvest from one of the restaurant apps on their phone.

“This is the best one we’ve found so far,” said Jessica Evans Brady. “It’s awesome.”

“Yup,” agreed her husband, Jason, “It’s really good.”

Since opening in late October, the restaurant has had a growing clientele, many from the Midtown neighborhood. It’s a family-run operation. Tanya’s and Abdullah’s six children-five daughters and one son, their ages range from 8 to 19–help out.

“They’re all learning the business,” Tanya said. “Only my older daughter is cooking and baking.”

Since the restaurant opened, Tanya has been pleased by the reception.

“I want everybody to feel welcome in here,” she said. “That’s our goal: to bring people together with food and bring people back to enjoying the taste of their food.”

Even meat-eaters, who first came warily, are returning for more, Tanya said. “They come in skeptical, but they leave here with the biggest smile on their faces.”

Rooming House Denied:Ordinance sinks plan for student exchange housing.

January 15, 2012 | by Peter Durantine

Years ago, to stop slum lords and curtail parking problems in neighborhoods of limited spaces, Harrisburg adopted an ordinance that banned the conversion of single-family homes into multi-family dwellings.

The purpose was to build and maintain strong neighborhoods where residents have a stake. Harrisburg Planning commission members grappled with an unitended consequence of the law at their meeting last month.

Before them was lvaylo Yolov, who bought single-family homes at 413 and 417 Hale Ave. with the intention of turning each into a rooming house to accommodate one of the city’s many U.S. State Department- sponsored foreign student exhange programs.

Yolov came prepared with a presentation that included two students from Argentina and Brazil. HE promised to provide periodic documentation to show he participated in the federal program, and he promised to cooperate with the city.

Unfortunately, the commission was bound by Zoning Code’s “7-309(b), no single family dwelling unit shall be converted into two (2) or more units.”

“This is the hardest case I’ve had to write because it’s a good program,” he said.

The commission agreed with the recommendation. They explained to Yolov, who is European and unfamiliar with city zoning, that, while they trusted he would properly maintain his properties, the ordinance’s purpose was to build stable neighborhoods.

“We love the program,” commission Chairman Joseph Alsberry told him. “But we have to abide by the law.”

Two weeks later, Yolov went before the Zoning Hearing Board with his lawyer and was again turned down on the same basis. In other action, the commission approved:

A request by Delta Housing Inc., a social services firm, to convert its building at 2041 N. 2nd St. from two apartment units to a multifamily building containing six apartment units.
A request by Neil Katx, owner of 106 State St., to convert a first-floor office space to a residential dwelling unit. The building already contains two apartments.
A request by Char Magaro to convert her former restaurant, the now-closed Char’s BElla Mundo at 540 Race St., to a retail space for a professional office.
A request for relief of 16 inches of the 10-foot side yard setback requirement for 1409 S. Cameron St., filed by Martha Camacho for the purpose of building a 1,068-square-foot building for an automotive sales business.

Kunkel Conversion a Go: Developer expects to start work in months.

January 15, 2012 | by Peter Durantine

Work to convert downtown’s nine-story Kunkel Building at 301 Market St. into one- and two-bedroom apartments is anticipated to start sometime this winter, possibly as early as February, said Daniel Deitchman, the developer.

Deitchman, who restored Front Street’s Riverview Manor and is now restoring the Furlow Building in Midtown, won approval last month from the Harrisburg Zoning Hearing Board to build between 40 and 50 market-rate apartments in 38,676-square-foot commercial office building.

In November, the Harrisburg Planning Commission gave its unanimous approval for the project, one of many such conversions of office space in the city recently–but not at the scale Deitchman is proposing–because the commercial market downtown is saturated and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future, Deitchman and other realtors said.

Deitchman cited nearly 100 percent occupancy in his city buildings, including the recently renovated old Governor’s Hotel down the street at 4th and Market that he converted into student housing for Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

“On the residential side, there’s substantial demand and substantial use,” he said, noting some of his as well as other properties have waiting lists.

The developer also received a special exception request to waive the off-street parking requirement. He has secured a lease for as many as 50 parking spaces in Harrisburg University’s 4th Street parking garage.

Like the planning commission, the zoning board required Deitchman to leave the first floor for retail space, possibly a restaurant, even though he wanted to include some residential units, possibly townhouses, on that level. He said that he will proceed with project regardless.

The Kunkel Building, built in 1913 and expanded to double its size in 1925, spent many years as a bank and a clothing store. Most recently, it housed the Susquehanna Art Museum, which is preparing to break ground on a new home in Midtown Harrisburg.

The building currently is owned by Select Capital Corp. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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