The stop sign at N. 3rd and Kelker streets
Harrisburg City Council likely will have the final word on whether to retain or remove stop signs along N. 3rd Street.
That was the main takeaway from a lengthy meeting tonight, which was called specifically to discuss the proposed removal of stop signs at four N. 3rd Street intersections--at Boyd, Harris, Kelker and Emerald streets.
“I serve at the pleasure of City Council,” said city Engineer Wayne Martin. “I hope to get guidance from City Council.”
Martin’s assertion came near the end of a three-hour-plus meeting, which was attended by about 40 residents, many of whom spoke out against the planned removals.
Council President Wanda Williams then said that, before any action could be considered by council, she had to confer with city Solicitor Neil Grover, who was not present at the meeting, as action may necessitate changes to the city’s traffic control map. She said that council may schedule another special meeting on the issue before the next regular legislative session on Sept. 17.
The meeting began with a presentation by Martin, who explained that the stop signs were no longer needed at those intersections. The ongoing 3rd Street multimodal project, he said, would calm traffic along the street due to the project’s numerous curb extensions and bump-outs.
In addition, he said that, with the changes to 3rd Street, the intersections do not warrant stop signs. Per federal and state guidelines, stop signs should be used to control traffic, not slow it down, he said, adding that, in the past, the signs only served to assist sight distance.
“Going back in time, the only warrant that was met was sight distance,” he said. “We installed bump outs to improve sight distance, so there are no sight distance issues.”
Martin also said that stop signs can actually create more dangerous intersections where they’re not warranted.
“Leaving those stop signs in there when they’re not warranted will cause more crashes,” he said.
Despite Martin’s presentation, dozens of residents urged the city to retain the stop signs at those intersections, almost uniformly saying that removing them would create a more dangerous street.
“Everyone understands what stop means,” said Angela Johnson, a Green Street resident. “You have people who are afraid for their safety, who are afraid for their children, who are afraid for their pets.”
The signs were due to be removed on Friday. But, according to Martin, the removal has been rescheduled because the 3rd Street repaving project was delayed due to rain.
Former council President Gloria Martin-Roberts, an Uptown resident, advocated for retaining the stop signs and for greater traffic enforcement at the intersections, as the signs are routinely disregarded currently, she said.
“I’m telling you this is a bad idea,” she said. “If you remove the stop signs, pedestrians will be harmed. This is very, very, very serious.”
In their comments, most council members seemed to side with the residents who objected to removing the signs.
Councilman Dave Madsen said that he helped circulate a petition both online and in person objecting to removal of the signs.
“I can tell you there was overwhelming support among residents for keeping the signs at Kelker and Harris streets,” he said.
Councilman Ben Allatt preached taking a long-term view. He said that, even if 3rd Street does not warrant stop signs today, it may in the near future, given the proposal to return much of N. 2nd Street to two-way traffic, increased development in the area and more people moving into Midtown.
“I think it’s really quite premature to go ahead with the removal of stop signs until we find out what traffic patterns will be in place in the near future and the far future,” he said.
10. Mega-Murals: Let’s kick off the top-10 list on a happy note, with perhaps the most delightful thing to happen in Harrisburg in 2017—the Harrisburg Mural Festival. In September, artists came to town from near and far, and, at the end of 10 days, more than a dozen new murals were sprinkled throughout Midtown and downtown. It was a fun, affirming community event the likes of which I hadn’t experienced here before. Speaking of public art, I’d like to give a quick quack-out to another way-cool project, the Downtown Ducks, which offered a bit of needed whimsy amidst the hard surfaces of Harrisburg’s business district.
9. To the Limits: Every year, an issue arises that epitomizes the perennial discord and power struggle between Harrisburg’s mayor and City Council. In 2017, there were several, but an effort by council President Wanda Williams to impose mayoral term limits had to be the most overt. Williams recalled the excesses of seven-term Mayor Steve Reed to justify her ordinance, but most people regarded it as a naked swipe at current Mayor Eric Papenfuse. In turn, Papenfuse said he didn’t necessarily oppose term limits for the mayor, but thought they should extend to council, as well. And, months later, that’s where we stand.
8. Going Up: In November, Harrisburg University offered up an early holiday present when it announced plans to build the city’s tallest building—a 30-story-plus neck-strainer at the corner of S. 3rd and Chestnut streets. The project, currently slated to break ground next year, may include a hotel and conference center, in addition to classrooms and student housing. Downtown saw other development news in 2017, as Harristown Enterprises announced new projects on 2nd Street and continued its transformation of Strawberry Square with the debut of high-quality tenants like Fresa Bistro, Provisions, Freshido and the UPMC Pinnacle medical offices.
7. What’s the Plan? A single story rarely lasts through an entire calendar year, but the saga of Harrisburg’s comprehensive plan has now extended through 2015, 2016 and 2017. The year began with the city dismissing consultant Bret Peters, as relations between the administration and its hired architect reached a breaking point. In an odd twist, it ended with the Planning Commission adopting Peters’ plan as its final working draft. Because the plan still must pass muster with City Council, I’ve already penciled in this never-ending story as part of my 2018 top-10 list.
6. Not a Laugh Riot. By springtime, it looked like 2017 might be a difficult year on the streets of Harrisburg, as the capital city got drawn into the nation’s pro- and anti-Trump drama. Following clashes between factions at one protest, Harrisburg police asked council for $65,000 for new protective, or riot, gear. That got the crowds to council chambers, with most speakers opposing the purchase. In October, council tied the funding to the creation of a new, eight-member citizen task force to advise on police issues. However, as of mid-December, council had not passed a resolution authorizing it.
5. Triple Tragedy: Every year, a few stories in this often-fragile city seem particularly tragic. For instance, the double-murder in November of stepsisters Kaliah Dearing and Natasha Harner was especially horrible and heartbreaking. But arguably no story was more tragic than the triple loss in March of 10-year-old Savannah Dominick, 2-year-old Ashanti Hughes and Harrisburg firefighter Lt. Dennis DeVoe. The girls perished from a house fire in Uptown Harrisburg sparked by a faulty hover board, and DeVoe was killed when his car was T-boned on his way to the fire. Fittingly, the Fire Bureau later retired DeVoe’s badge number and placed his name on the Memorial Wall at the PA National Fire Museum.
4. Reed Plea: Harrisburg’s “trial of the century” was set to start, with the city’s former seven-term mayor and erstwhile savior, Steve Reed, in the dock facing more than 100 criminal counts. Then, poof, it all ended. Reed suddenly accepted a plea deal on 20 counts of receiving stolen property and, a week later, was sentenced to two years of probation. The conviction was cold comfort for those wanting someone to answer for hanging Harrisburg out to dry, driving it the brink of bankruptcy. Back in 2015, the state had charged Reed with nearly 500 corruption-related counts, but most of those were dismissed because a judge ruled that the statute of limitations for prosecution had expired. Following the sentencing, the state and the city declared that, with the criminal case settled, they now could pursue civil charges against the myriad people responsible for the city’s financial implosion. So far, crickets.
3. Election Division: High-stakes elections often bring out the worst in a body politic, and so it was once again with Harrisburg’s mayoral contest. The five-candidate primary race was rather quietly (and often poorly) run until about two weeks before the primary election, when a series of debates finally forced the candidates out from behind their Facebook pages. Then it was all division: race, neighborhood, class and anything else that could be used by challengers to try to divide and conquer. In the end, incumbent Papenfuse had the overall best debate performances and won handily. And, with the Democratic nomination determined, the mayoral election seemed to be all but settled, until . . .
2. Raffle Wreck: In Harrisburg, nothing ever seems resolved. So, candidates lose in the primary, but then often reappear in the general election. This time around, two of the losing primary candidates decided to mount last-minute write-in bids, which seemed rather innocuous and, honestly, pointless, until one of them, Gloria Martin-Roberts, lost control of her campaign. Several supporters decided to mount their own rogue campaign on her behalf, rounding up a bunch of homeless men to distribute flyers supporting the candidate. The men also handed out raffle tickets, which offered a chance to win big prizes just for voting. “Foul!” cried several concerned citizens, who complained to the county elections bureau. A judge, seeing a possible connection between the flyers and the tickets, issued an order to halt the raffle. Over ensuing days, most folks complicit in the strange affair laid the blame on others or denied involvement completely. To quote those New Zealand pop gods, OMC, “How bizarre.”
1. Up and Up: Several years ago, in my year-end “Top 10” list, I remarked that most news items were surprisingly positive, even though the city itself, broke and under state receivership, was a basket case. This year, I have the opposite assessment. Many of my top news items are rather negative, but, in truth, the city had a very good year overall. The budget is balanced, many new businesses opened, re-development continued, the city’s first bike share launched and home sales were brisk. Back in 2012 and 2013, I never could have imagined such a rapid turnaround and bright future for Harrisburg. But, thankfully, here we are. So, that’s my No. 1 story of the year.
