Tag Archives: Harrisburg Parking Authority

Street parking rates to rise in much of Harrisburg starting next week

July 26, 2021 | by Lawrance Binda

A parking meter in Midtown Harrisburg

Street parking is about to get even more expensive in Harrisburg, as the system’s manager today announced significant increases for metered spaces.

Starting next Monday, hourly street parking will rise by 33% in the areas controlled by Park Harrisburg /SP+, according to the company.

In the central business district (CBD) zone, which includes much of downtown, street parking rates will increase from $3 to $4 per hour. In non-CBD areas, the rate will rise from $1.50 to $2 an hour.

“This is the first meter rate increase since Park Harrisburg assumed responsibility for specified metered parking spaces and garages from the City of Harrisburg and Harrisburg Parking Authority in 2013,” said John Gass, managing director with PK Harris Advisors, the asset management company for the parking system, in a statement.

Gass added that a rate increase had been under consideration “for some time to provide sufficient cash flow to maintain expenses associated with the system.”

Reached by text, Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that he opposes the rate hikes and that the city was not consulted about the increases.

Under Harrisburg’s 2013 financial recovery plan, SP+ took over management of much of Harrisburg’s parking system under a 40-year lease. The $286 million deal helped the city shed much of its crippling debt accumulated under former Mayor Steve Reed, much of it tied to botched retrofits of the city incinerator.

While street parking rates have not increased since SP+ took over the system in 2013, parking garage rates have increased.

For more information about Harrisburg parking, visit the Park Harrisburg/SP+ website.

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August News Digest

July 31, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

Reed Arrested, Arraigned

Seven-term Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed was arrested and arraigned last month on 17 criminal charges ranging from bribery to running a criminal organization.

In all, the state charged Reed with 499 criminal counts covering actions related to the Harrisburg Parking Authority and the Harrisburg School District, as well as city government.

The counts cover alleged actions for many well-known Reed-era projects, such as the incinerator retrofit, the effort to acquire museum artifacts, the Senators baseball team and Harrisburg University.

Debt accumulated under Reed eventually resulted in a financial crisis that led the state to appoint a receiver for the city, as well as a failed attempt by City Council to declare municipal bankruptcy.

Dauphin County District Justice William C. Wenner set bail at $150,000 unsecured, meaning that Reed did not actually have to post bond. He ordered Reed to surrender his passport and restrict travel to the confines of Pennsylvania.

After the arraignment, Reed and his attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer Jr. of the Philadelphia-based firm Ballard Spahr, made statements defending the 28-year mayor. Reed blamed the criminal charges on “misperceptions and politics,” while Hockeimer said Reed “carried out his role [as mayor] with dedication and integrity.”

Afterwards, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane publicly released the grand jury presentment, which detailed the evidence behind the charges. The presentment alleged that thousands of “artifacts” and “curiosities” purchased with public funds were found in Reed’s home and storage areas; that Reed diverted money from city borrowings for other purposes; and that he used city employees for personal reasons.

Market Report Released

The Broad Street Market Task Force last month released a long-anticipated report on how to improve the condition, management and overall operations of the historic Midtown market.

Chairwoman Jackie Parker told Harrisburg City Council that the market’s two buildings are in decent condition, but that they will require “large capital investments” over the next decade.

More immediately, the report strongly recommended changing the market’s management structure.

Currently, the Broad Street Market Corp. operates the market, with the Historic Harrisburg Association as its sole shareholder. The task force advised separating from HHA and transitioning to a nonprofit entity, which then could better pursue grants and other funding.

“It would be a newly established nonprofit that is dedicated to full-time fundraising for the market,” said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, who announced the 10-member task force early last year as one of his first acts as mayor.

That transition could take the better part of two years, said Parker, who also is director of the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development.

Under the new structure, the market’s two buildings would remain owned by the city, but ongoing repair and maintenance would shift to the nonprofit, which would be overseen by a board of directors composed of volunteers from the community and market stakeholders.

The report recommended a number of other operational improvements, including free WiFi, greater recycling efforts, extended hours, greater diversity of food options, a marketing budget and better litter management.

Separately, Joshua Kesler last month was named president of the Broad Street Market Corp. board, replacing Jonathan Bowser, who resigned in June. Kesler is owner of The Millworks restaurant and art studios across the street from the market.

Campbell Pleads Guilty

Former Harrisburg Treasurer John Campbell last month pleaded guilty to charges that he stole money from several Harrisburg-based non-profit organizations.

Campbell said he was guilty of two counts of unlawful taking, a felony, and one count of Charitable Act fraud, a misdemeanor. He also promised to make full restitution for the thefts, which total almost $30,000.

Campbell was accused of taking money from several groups, including Historic Harrisburg Association, the Stonewall Democrats and Lighten Up Harrisburg. He was not charged with theft relating to his position as city treasurer.

If Campbell makes restitution by his Sept. 15 sentencing, Dauphin County Deputy District Attorney Joel Hogentogler said he would agree to a sentence of probation.

Anti-Blight Bills Passed

Harrisburg City Council last month approved two bills meant to battle the continuing problem of blight in the city.

The bills, passed unanimously, create a registry of foreclosed properties and increase fines on real estate investors and speculators for code violations.

Under the first ordinance, banks will pay a $200 annual fee for each property on the registry. The properties then must be kept properly maintained and secured.

Under the second, the city will levy higher fines on “corporate owners” of properties cited for code violations than it does on residential owners.

The higher fines are justified because it costs the city money to track down the investors and speculators, who often live out of the area and are difficult to identify and contact because they hide behind corporate entities, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

Food Truck Rules Updated

Food trucks in Harrisburg must locate at least 100 feet from brick-and-mortar restaurants under an ordinance passed last month by the City Council.

Council unanimously approved an ordinance update that requires food trucks and other mobile food vendors from setting up within 100 feet of existing restaurants, 15 feet from building entrances and 15 feet from a fire hydrant.

The ordinance update was urged by several downtown restaurants, which have complained that food trucks set up near them during high-volume times, such as during lunch and on weekend nights, and negatively affect their business. They also have complained about grease and litter.

The mobile vendors also must cease selling by 2:30 a.m. and move from the area by 2:45 a.m.

The ordinance does not apply to food trucks that congregate during special events, such as the monthly Food Truck Feast held during 3^rd in the Burg.

HUD Funds Distributed

Harrisburg last month finalized the recipients of its annual dispersal of federal housing money.

The city received $3.1 million from three U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programs, most through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant program.

The city’s housing rehabilitation program received $451,806, the largest allocation, and the city police department received $250,000, which it plans to use to boost manpower in Harrisburg’s most troubled neighborhoods. The city’s demolition program got $111,114.

Other recipients included:
Fair Housing Council, $130,000
Tri County HDC, $100,000
Camp Curtin YMCA, $80,000
Christian Recovery Aftercare Ministry, $75,000
Habitat for Humanity, $70,000
Boys & Girls Club of Harrisburg, $60,000
Latino Hispanic American Community Center, $59,982
Heinz-Menaker Senior Center, $50,000
Mid Penn Legal Services, $30,000
Christian Love Ministries, $29,000
Codes Enforcement, $10,000

The city’s Emergency Solutions Grant Program received $164,603, and the Homeowner Improvement Program got $295,765.

More than $1 million will not go directly to recipients. Grant administration received $482,624, while debt service ate up $638,000. The latter item covers this year’s installment of repayment of a $3.8 million federal loan that Harrisburg backed for the failed (since revived) Capitol View Commerce Center.

Recovery Officer Appointed

Audrey Utley was appointed last month as the new chief recovery officer for the Harrisburg School District.

State Board of Education Secretary Pedro Rivera appointed Utley after a search committee recommended her. She recently retired as superintendent of the Steelton-Highspire school district and served a short, three-month stint as acting superintendent of the Harrisburg district in 2010.

Utley will continue the effort of trying to improve the financial and academic condition of the Harrisburg district, an effort begun by Utley’s predecessor, Gene Veno, who served in the post about two years before resigning in June.

Under Veno’s recovery plan, the district’s precarious financial situation stabilized, but the academic performance deteriorated further, according to state performance measures released last year.

2 Projects Get Green Light

More apartments are coming to Harrisburg, as the City Council last month approved land development plans for two substantial projects.

First, council unanimously approved Harristown Enterprise’s plan to convert 21,000 square feet of office space and another 6,000 square feet of loft space to six two-bedroom and 16 one-bedroom apartments above a stretch of shops along N. 3^rd and Market streets in Strawberry Square.

If all goes according to plan, work on the project would begin this fall with completion slated for spring 2016, said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown Enterprises, which owns Strawberry Square.

Council then OK’d a plan by WCI Partners to transform the former Harrisburg Moose Lodge Temple at N. 3^rd and Boas streets into 33 one-bedroom apartments, with commercial space on the ground floor. WCI also plans to renovate three boarded-up townhouses on the property.

WCI President Dave Butcher said the project should begin in early autumn with completion expected next summer.

Transit Consolidation Urged

A state official last month urged the Harrisburg City Council to consider regional consolidation of mass transit services.

Area governments could save an estimated $2.3 million a year, mostly through reduced administrative staff, if they chose to consolidate into a single entity, said Toby Fauver, deputy secretary for multimodal transportation for the state Department of Transportation.

Fauver cited the potential savings as he briefed council on Phase 2 of the South-Central Regional Transit Consolidation Study, which recommends consolidation for most transit systems in south-central Pennsylvania.

If they decide to merge transit operations, the participating counties and municipalities would need to appoint representatives to a transition board that would decide such issues as structure, governance and operations. The consolidation would cost about $4.7 million to achieve, but the state would absorb that cost, Fauver said.

Changing Hands

Boas St., 106: K. Miller to A. Nascone, $130,000

Boas St., 314: B. Ostella to W. James, $99,900

Briggs St., 241: M. Simmons to C. Jeffers, $113,500

Calder St., 504: P. Maruszewski to H. Nguyen, $109,900

Catherine St., 1620: R. & M. Caplan to M. & V. Keyes, $31,000

Chestnut St., 2137: P. Bowman to G. Bierbaum & W. Alford, $184,900

Cumberland St., 117: J. & C. Kuntz to Cardinal Investments LLC, $81,900

Derry St., 2422: N. Foose to D. Brently, $61,900

Green St., 1910: WCI Partners LP to C. Reinhold & K. Hurst, $193,900

Green St., 3011: R. Snyder to M. Palermo Jr., $180,000

Herr St., 415: A. Antoun to J. Foreman, $54,900

Herr St., 1424: M. & A. Foreman to Bethesda Mission of Harrisburg, $275,00

Kelker St., 235: S. Woomer to D. Robinson & J. Vu, $99,900

Kensington St., 2408: PA Deals LLC to F. Frattarole, $63,500

Manada St., 1905: PA Deals LLC to G. & J. Modi, $96,000

North St., 1718; 2418 Jefferson St.; 2228 N. 4^th St.; 350 Harris St.; 352 Harris St.; 1813 Boas St. & 1833 Forster St.: R. Shokes Jr. & Shokes Enterprises to JDP 2014 LP, $497,000

N. 2^nd St., 405, Unit 2 & Unit 4: Belco Community Credit Union to Vinculum Inc., $410,000

N. 2^nd St., 1100: L. & A. Morato to S. & J. Toole, $45,000

N. 2^nd St., 2537: J. & M. McCarthy to N. Banting, $72,100

N. 2^nd St., 2821: D. & M. Anderson to J. & L. Witmer, $96,000

N. 2^nd St., 2904: J. Reitz & Webster Bank NA to F. & B. Pinto, $285,750

N. 2^nd St., 2926: J. & Y. Garner to M. & S. Bennington, $282,000

N. 2^nd St., 3118: A. Barlup to P. & M. Rowan, $152,000

N. 3^rd St., 1720: F. Phillipy to A. & A. Campoverde, $90,000

N. 4^th St., 1625: GWD Capitol Heights LP to J. Wolfe & K. Hunt, $103,300

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 103: K. Blum to A. McKenna, $214,900

N. Front St., 2401: E. & D. Black to J.A. Hartzler, $215,000

N. Front St., 2501: Harrisburg Builders Exchange to Poole Anderson Construction LLC, $415,000

Rudy Rd., 2401: C. Butler to B. Royster, $119,900

S. 18^th St., 946: W. & D. Shalan to Darna Investments LLC, $140,000

S. 21^st St., 971: Lee Estates LLC to T. Le, $100,000

S. 29^th St., 520: E. Cohen & Goodrich Assoc. to Goodrich Assoc., $125,000

S. Front St., 607: S. Farr to T. Edinger, $130,000

S. Front St., 711: Z. & J. Goodling to P. Moore, $180,000

State St., 1801: MAT Properties Inc. to Transcend Church, $99,000

Taylor Blvd., 52: PA Deals LLC to V. & S. Vdov, $56,900

Woodlawn St., 2359: Meier Norton FLP to Meier Supply Co., $406,800

Wyeth St., 1404: A. Weikert to F. Frattarole, $103,900

Wyeth St., 1412: PA Deals LLC to F. Frattarole, $103,900

Harrisburg property sales for June 2015, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Defiant Former Mayor Reed Faces Charges for Theft, Bribery

July 14, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Attorney Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., left, and former Mayor Stephen Reed outside a district courtroom Tuesday.

Stephen Reed, Harrisburg’s seven-term former “mayor for life” who oversaw a renaissance of the Pennsylvania capital as well as its descent into an all-consuming debt crisis, was arraigned Tuesday morning on criminal charges resulting from a long-running state grand jury probe.

Reed, 65, arrived at the Linglestown offices of Dauphin County District Judge William C. Wenner around 8 a.m., wearing a dark suit and glasses. He was accompanied by attorney Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., who leads the white-collar defense practice of the Philadelphia firm Ballard Spahr.

The pair pulled into the parking lot a few seconds behind Clarke Madden, the prosecutor in the attorney general’s office who is said to be leading the probe.

“Surreal,” Reed said in response to a question about how he was feeling, as he crossed the lot and entered the court building. When asked if he had done anything criminal, he replied, “Not that I know of.”

Less than an hour later, Judge Wenner read out a list of 17 charges in the criminal complaint against Reed, encompassing more than 400 counts that included theft, bribery, and evidence tampering.

The counts covered actions related to the Harrisburg Parking Authority and the Harrisburg School District, as well as actions connected to city government. Several of them also name Richard Pickles, a former Harrisburg police detective, whom the complaint alleges was involved in criminal solicitation and theft of service.

Wenner said that accompanying the complaint was a “voluminous” grand jury presentment that more specifically detailed the individual counts, and referred to a set of exhibits that would outline the individual claims of receiving stolen property.

After reading the charges, Wenner said he would set bail at $150,000 unsecured, meaning that Reed would not have to post bond. He also said he would ask Reed to forfeit his passport and would restrict his travel to within state boundaries.

Following the arraignment, Hockeimer and Reed each read from prepared statements outside the court building defending Reed’s motives and integrity.

“For 28 years Steve Reed served the people of Harrisburg with energy, commitment and love for the city,” Hockeimer said. “He loved his job as mayor and he poured his heart and soul into it. Mr. Reed also had a deep respect for his position as a public servant and carried out his role with dedication and integrity.”

Hockeimer said Reed would be fighting the charges, which he suggested were “inspired more by political agendas than by anything else,” and said the former mayor “looks forward to his day in court.”

He also expressed concern about how media initially learned of the charges, saying it was information the grand jury process should have protected.

Reed also spoke briefly, saying that “misperceptions and politics are very much intertwined” in the accusations against him. “I regarded service as mayor to be a sacred trust and a calling to a high and noble purpose.”

He went on to compliment the staff that worked with him and to point to the city’s progress as his administration’s legacy. “I devoted my life to the city of Harrisburg, and I look forward to waging a vigorous fight against these charges,” he said.

Neither Hockeimer nor Madden gave any statement in the courtroom. A press release from the office of Attorney General Kathleen Kane said there would be a “major announcement” about the grand jury investigation at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the state capitol, but did not provide further details.

Reed had been presumed to be a target of the probe since its existence was first confirmed in 2013. The grand jury has reportedly been investigating the origins of a debt crisis tied to a city incinerator that nearly pushed Harrisburg into bankruptcy.

Past reports suggested the probe may have expanded into other areas of governance under Reed, a mayor who has been both praised for his vision and work ethic and criticized for reckless spending and an autocratic governing style.

In particular, investigators were said to have taken an interest in how Reed used the Harrisburg Authority, a municipal financing entity, as a kind of checking account for pet projects, such as acquiring artifacts for a hoped-for network of museums.

In early June, investigators raided Reed’s home on Cumberland street in Midtown, hauling away boxes and numerous Western-style artifacts, including saddles, barrels and a stuffed coyote. Reed later told reporters that the artifacts removed were all his personal possessions.

State Takes First Civil Action Over Harrisburg Debt Crisis

May 6, 2015 | by Paul Barker

The seven-story garage in Harrisburg University’s downtown building, at the corner of 4th and Market streets, was the basis of a $3.6 million payment to a Kansas City bank in 2013.

The state coordinator overseeing Harrisburg’s recovery served a summons last month on the downtown offices of a national law firm, marking the first effort to seek damages from professionals who worked on the capital city’s borrowings.

The summons names Fred Reddig, the state-appointed coordinator of the city’s financial recovery plan, as a plaintiff acting “on behalf of the city of Harrisburg” in a claim against the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

The summons was filed in late March in Dauphin County court and served on the law firm on April 16, according to court records.

The one-page summons reveals little about the scope and basis of the claim against the firm, aside from the parties involved, the attorney for Reddig and the fact that the state will seek money damages in excess of $50,000.

Reddig’s office, at the state Department of Community Economic Development, did not respond to several requests over the past week for a comment on the claim. Peter Kreher, listed on the summons as Reddig’s attorney, said he currently had no comment on it.

But sources familiar with the action say it likely stems from legal work attorneys at Buchanan performed on a bond deal in 2006 and early 2007, when the city sought to build a new facility for the year-old Harrisburg University at 4th and Market streets downtown.

That deal planted the seeds of a $3.6 million payment to holders of university-related debt in 2013, as state-appointed officials worked to pull the capital city back from the brink of bankruptcy.

The payment, which came out of the $267 million paid for a 40-year lease of the city’s parking system, was effectively the price for freeing up a garage on university premises so that it could be included in the lease.

“We needed to get the garage in the lease deal,” said Richard Kotz, executive director of the Harrisburg Parking Authority. “We actually had to pay Harrisburg University some money to get the title released.”

In fact, the payment ultimately went not to the university but to UMB Bank of Kansas City, Mo., the trustee for holders of the university bonds. In 2012 and 2013, the university missed two interest payments totaling a little more than $3.6 million—the amount UMB recouped in the garage payment.

“That’s the math I’m sure the bondholders used,” said Harrisburg University President Eric Darr, adding that the price “wasn’t the university’s call.”

Harrisburg doesn’t stand to receive money from any successful suit over the payment, if one is pursued. A 2013 settlement between the city and its creditors stipulates that any awards stemming from the UMB payment will go to bond insurer Assured Guaranty Municipal and Dauphin County.

But it provides a glimpse, however brief, into the state’s strategy for pursuing claims against professionals involved in Harrisburg’s borrowings.

It comes a year and a half after William Lynch, the state-appointed receiver for Harrisburg whom Reddig succeeded, cautiously acknowledged that lawsuits could be a “means to obtain redress” for the decisions that led to the city’s debt crisis.

A small but critical role

It’s not clear how the UMB payment might form the basis of a civil claim. The summons is a minimal, preliminary action and may serve no greater purpose than to extend the state’s timeline for deciding whether to file a complaint in the future.

Nonetheless, the December 2013 settlement agreement between Dauphin County, the city, the Harrisburg Authority and Assured Guaranty Municipal explicitly mentions potential civil claims over the payment to UMB.

Additionally, other publicly available documents, including bond statements, property records and closing documents from the parking lease, chart the story of the small but critical role the Kansas City bank came to play in the city’s debt deal.

The story begins in 2006, when the city sought to build a new downtown home for Harrisburg University, a non-profit school with a focus on science, mathematics and technology that had opened its doors to students in August 2005.

A key piece of the project was the construction of a seven-story, 390-space garage in the 16-story university tower. The Harrisburg Parking Authority agreed to pay $14 million for the garage, providing essential funds for the project, and the university in turn pledged to lease garage spaces back from the authority.

The university never formally transferred the garage, however. In 2010, the parking authority sued the university, claiming it had paid fully for the property. But the university contested the authority had not paid for construction cost overruns and held onto the title.

“The lawsuit just lingered for years,” Darr said.

As a result, university bondholders retained a claim on the garage in 2013, when the city sought to lease its parking system to help pay off its staggering debt load.

UMB Bank, as trustee for the bondholders, didn’t relinquish that claim until December 2013, after negotiating the $3.6 million payment from the parking proceeds.

The bank, through a spokesperson, declined to comment, but did refer to publicly available bond disclosures. Those disclosures say the bank “agreed to release its lien on the Parking Unit upon payment” of the $3.6 million.

Buchanan is linked to the garage because the firm served as bond counsel on the 2007 borrowings for the university project. The firm’s general counsel said Wednesday he had no comment.

Darr, for his part, wonders why the parking authority and the university couldn’t come to an earlier settlement, before the payout from parking lease proceeds was even part of the equation.

“I always labeled it under ‘attorneys,’” Darr said. “Attorneys do things for reasons you’re not always clear about.”

Sovereign Creatures: Harrisburg Strong arose from state government wielding its power, finally, in a responsible way.

September 30, 2013 | by Paul Barker

The most memorable lecture of my college years came at the end of a semester of medieval history. The professor, a birdlike German who wore thin scarves, drew a graph on the dry-erase board that charted two lines. One hobbled along, then spiked dramatically. The other, initially steady, dropped off where the first one climbed.

The downward line represented the incidence of plague. The professor wouldn’t tell us what the upward line was. After a half-hour or so of politely listening to wrong guesses (medicine? hygiene?), he told us that the line represented government, as measured by quantity of paperwork. He then offered a theory: that the best explanation for the end of plague was the appearance of the power to enforce quarantine, vested in an increasingly centralized state.

When history looks back on Harrisburg, what will it see? On Sept. 19, Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter of the Commonwealth Court confirmed the Harrisburg Strong Plan, the state-appointed receiver’s long-awaited roadmap for the city’s financial recovery. During testimony, the receiver, William B. Lynch, said he was eager to see control of Harrisburg returned to its elected officials. One reason he opposed bankruptcy, he said, is that it prolongs the period of “someone else overseeing” the city’s governance. This emphasis on local sovereignty belies what the plan, and the process that produced it, represent: the state’s power to force an ailing city back to health.

In March 2012, shortly before his resignation, David Unkovic, the city’s first receiver, spoke at an impromptu press conference about “corruption” in Harrisburg: “in the sense of a body being corrupted, deteriorated, just a bad situation.” With regard to Harrisburg’s corrupted bodies—its insurmountable incinerator debt, its millions in unpayable obligations, its ritual abuse of its municipal authorities and its waterlogged credit rating—the Strong Plan is an act of quarantine.

Take the receiver’s plan for the incinerator. The facility, at least in theory, is a revenue-producing asset, generating proceeds by charging clients to dump trash and, to a lesser extent, by selling the electricity generated by burning it. What corrupts it is its spectacular debt, approaching $350 million. The city guaranteed that debt when it was issued, and the debt service obligations have become the city’s. As the plan puts it, the incinerator “is a liability of the City, not an asset.” A key provision of the plan is to sell it to the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority for around $130 million.

A similar act of separation is proposed for the city’s parking: its lots, garages and on-street meters. The plan transfers the assets to an outside partnership that will sign a long-term lease with the city for a term of 40 years. The lease is controversial, but there’s a case to be made that it severs another of the city’s damaged organs. Parking revenues have declined almost every year, from a high in the several millions of dollars to around $250,000 in 2012. The drop is partly a result of increased maintenance and partly a result of complicated debts funneled through the Harrisburg Parking Authority. (A decline in annual parking tax revenues, from $3.3 million to $1.9 million, is the result of further debt service obligations.)

An upfront sum from the parking lease will eliminate the authority’s debt, around $100 million, as well as the remainder of the incinerator debt. In addition, the transaction includes several projected revenues. It restores the income from parking taxes to $3.3 million, and pledges two fixed payments—rent and an annual fee—that should start around $2 million the first year and increase thereafter. Some have argued that the long-term lease surrenders a key asset of the city. But it also repairs a system that, like so many of the city’s operations, had become inefficient and riddled with debt.

The plan also isolates the Harrisburg Authority from the reach of political opportunism. In recent years, the authority had morphed into a financing arm of the former mayor, issuing debt it could never repay and siphoning off cash to professional advisors and to a secret “special projects” fund. The Strong Plan makes short work of these back channels. Under the proposal, the authority will be whittled down to water and sewer operations. The authority will also assume relevant employees from the city into its payroll.

As the plan describes it, the disentanglement of the city and the authority is an act of mutual protection. The sewer system has fallen out of compliance with environmental regulations, and the impending updates are projected to cost upwards of $50 million. The transfer “relieves the City from this burden and assures that the City can focus on the important process of fiscal recovery and the provision of core and essential services.”

But the new structure will also “provide comfort” to several parties—suburban customers, government regulators and lending agencies—that can rest assured that the authority’s rates and borrowings are not connected to the city’s politics or financial liabilities. Part of the plan includes a $26 million loan to the authority from a state infrastructure program, approval of which was conditioned on the operations transfer. You might say that, confronted with patients who were making each other sicker, the receiver forced them into separate wards.

***

At the September court hearing, Lynch emphasized cooperation. “I think that cooperation is what distinguishes Harrisburg from many other cities that fit the distressed category,” he said. His “guiding principle,” he testified, was to “start focusing on the positive” and to “point groups in a direction where they could see what was in it for them.”

It may be true that Lynch achieved cooperation where before there was animosity. But this is a bit like the father at a shotgun wedding saying that what brought the couple to the altar was an agreement to get along. It neglects to mention the important role of the gun.

Consider the court decision, nearly two years ago, that dismissed City Council’s application for bankruptcy. In July 2011, council members voted down a state-sponsored recovery plan that resembled, in broad outline, what they would later get under Harrisburg Strong. It recommended the sale of the incinerator, the sale or lease of the city’s parking assets, the reorganization of government functions and the reworking of union contracts. Like the Strong Plan, it did not include a commuter tax or a county sales tax. Council rejected it by a 4-3 vote.

While the mayor and council scuffled over the next step, the state maneuvered to bring the city under control. (This was an ironic development considering the state, through both negligence and collaboration, assisted the Reed administration in letting the city’s finances run amok). In June 2011, Jeffrey Piccola, the Republican senator for Dauphin County, introduced a bill to force the recovery plan’s implementation by way of a state-appointed “management board.” The House, meanwhile, amended the fiscal code, adding a provision that barred distressed cities of the third class (which is to say, Harrisburg) from filing for municipal bankruptcy.

When council filed for bankruptcy anyway, in October, it presented the court with a question of sovereignty. In her discussion of the case, the federal bankruptcy judge, Mary D. France, acknowledged “important concerns of federalism and respect for the power of states to manage their internal affairs.”

The commonwealth brief was more candid. Under the heading “Petitioner is a creature of the Commonwealth,” it surveyed a number of past opinions establishing state sovereignty:

Municipalities are “merely…creature[s] of the sovereign”… “They have no vested rights in their offices, their charters, their corporate powers, or even their corporate existence.” ….They are “fully subject to the control of the legislature, who may enlarge or diminish…[their] functions…or destroy [their] very existence.”

France concurred, and threw out the city’s petition. In the meantime, Piccola’s bill had been amended to replace his “management board” with the novel concept of a “receiver.” In December 2011, with the appointment of David Unkovic, the city entered receivership.

Last month, when City Council next faced a recovery plan vote, members nearly unanimously approved its provisions. (The lone dissent, on bills approving the incinerator sale and removing the residency requirement for city workers, was Sandra Reid.) They seemed to appreciate that the receiver had wrought solutions they couldn’t have achieved alone. Neil Grover, City Council’s attorney, noted in court that the receiver’s team “provided leverage to negotiate with powerful entities” when the city had “no money and no power.” Their efforts, he said, “got us to a place with very real benefits that would likely never be revealed again.”

But council’s willing approval also conceals a paradox. The power of the state to achieve “cooperation” is the same power that locked the city into receivership. Under the terms of Harrisburg Strong, the city will be free of its strangling debt and poised, at last, for recovery. It arrived here by tapping the state’s capacity to intervene. But was there ever an option not to?

What Bugs My Burg: Quarters Are Still King

July 10, 2013 | by Dan Webster

While most days I walk to work from my apartment along Front Street, occasionally I will need my car for a duty at TheBurg—be it delivering newspapers, conducting an interview off-site, or I’ll need to leave the bounds of the city after a good day’s work. This requires me to scrounge up every last quarter in my apartment, in my car’s cup holders and cushions and my plastic bag piggy bank full of every coin imaginable.

In Asbury Park, N.J., this past weekend, my hunt was delightfully cut short by a dual credit card/coin parking meter system. A simple touchscreen took me through the process, charging me a dollar per hour. I loaded my parking allowance with three hours, a solid amount of time to peruse the beach and its retail district. In Harrisburg, that would have required $4.50 or 18 quarters, a sufficient bump in price and hassle.

Back home, after delivering a fresh batch of “Burgs” to our distribution locations today, I pulled into a spot on State Street. Much to my surprise, I saw a retirement party for the old pay stations, marked by a bag over top of them, and new, gleaming ones next to them. Finally, I thought, a move toward the 21^st century. As I approached the new money-eating totem, I saw what appeared to be a credit card slot, but alas, a written notice at the bottom: “Meter Accepts Quarters and Cashkeys Only.”

“What the heck is a cash key?” I thought to myself.

No quarters on my person, I returned to the office to investigate this newfangled key system, hoping it was innovative and perhaps useful. Nope.

A cash key is like a food card at universities or colleges. You mail in a form with a deposit of $15, plus the dollar amount you personally allot, on said key. Each time you pull into the space, you insert the key and go on your “merry” way. Except, in reality, there’s lots of problems with this turnkey system.

One, it’s entirely too bureaucratic. You have to fill out an order form and then mail it to the Harrisburg Parking Authority (back to them later). JC Penney catalogs were very successful until the Internet. Get it?

Two, it’s not helpful for the tourist or occasional daily commuter. Imagine carrying around a day’s worth of quarters. Maybe you’ve done it.

Lastly, it’s very parochial, creating a town-centric mentality that is and will continue plaguing our reputation in the area. By not providing an efficient and modern parking system, you risk moderately peeving off the general public, especially if quarters aren’t available, and they end up with a parking ticket. It’s the little things that add up, like say, potholes.

According to the Huffington Post’s article from June 7, 2012, “plastic card purchases comprised 66 percent of all in-person sales.” This is probably not a shocking figure, given that we are in a world where tangible money is fast becoming a non-entity.

As I researched these futurist “credit-card swiping creations,” it seems as though many municipalities and cities are in the process of installing or testing out these machines for wholesale replacement. Cities like Los Angeles have installed 38,000 meters, whereas smaller municipalities like Beaufort and Hilton Head, S.C., are trying them out for size. A glut of others followed this initial research: Durango, Colo., Dayton, Ohio, Sacramento, Calif., Hoboken, N.J., have all committed or installed smart meters, and our very own neighbor, York, Pa., is putting together a proposal for the new systems.

I called HPA, but the person charged with overseeing this changeover from the old to the well, old, was on vacation. What I hope is that I’m wrong, and these new machines will have an easy retrofit for credit cards.

But, for now, quarters are still king in the city of Harrisburg, people.

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