Tag Archives: harrisburg

Sketching Harrisburg: Italian artist opens city-centric exhibit at Art Association.

July 31, 2018 | by Barbara Trainin Blank

Guglielmo Botter may be Italian-born in and living in Treviso, a small city near Venice. But he is also an American, thanks to his late mother’s family, with dual citizenship.

Someday, Botter would like to relocate to the United States, but for now, he spends a great deal of time making sketches of landmarks in numerous American towns and cities—finishing the drawings back in Italy and exhibiting them in their home locations.

Among the cities whose landmarks he has drawn are Harrisburg and Lancaster, where his work will be shown in two separate exhibits beginning in August.

“My great-grandfather Francesco left the Italian Alps in 1892 at the age of 16 to find a better life in the United States, and, after landing at Ellis Island, he decided to settle in the Pittsburgh area,” Botter said. “He worked hard as a miner for many years until 1900, when he finally got his U.S. citizenship. That same year, he was joined by his young Italian girlfriend, whom he married on Christmas Eve 1900.”

Botter’s grandmother was born in West Lebanon, Pa., holding American citizenship.

“She grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and soon distinguished herself for her artistic talents, so much so that she got a scholarship from Penn State University,” Botter said. “However, she preferred to return to Italy to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where she fell in love with an Italian fresco artist who taught there.”

But Botter’s mother retained a “longing for America,” he said. “Always in my youth, she advised me to try my professional way overseas.”

Botter completed studies as an architect in 1997, but after several years, had to close his office because of the serious economic crisis that hit Italy in 2010. In agreement with his wife and two young daughters, he decided to listen to his mother’s advice and crossed the ocean again—this time as a fine artist.

Botter and family arrived in Pittsburgh in 2012 to a warm welcome. His drawings of the city constituted his first exhibit in the States and received publicity in the press.

He branched out over the coming years to make drawings of other cities in Virginia, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

He’d like to add Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Williamsburg, Va., to his list.

This August, Botter also will exhibit in New Kensington, Pa., at the Penn State University Campus Art Gallery. There, he will hang his drawings alongside some of his mother’s paintings.

“My goal is to cover the country, from the East Coast to the West,” Botter said.

He comes back every summer for two-and-a-half months and, sometimes, for an additional short trip in the fall to sketch the cities that strike his fancy. He plans new exhibits every year, using the winter to seek connections through the Web.

While he continues to live in Italy, Botter said he’s looking for the right opportunity to move to Pittsburgh, following in his family’s footsteps.

“I am very sorry my parents can’t enjoy my success in the ‘land of opportunity’—both have passed away—but I feel their presence every time I get something good there,” he said.

His exhibits in Harrisburg and Lancaster will feature 16 drawings each.

“I have a special relationship with the cities I have designed in the past,” said Botter. “Before starting to sketch, I need to visit the place, walking around for a couple of days. I need to understand the shape of the city and to find the best views for my work.”

In addition to his drawings, Botter will often sell such merchandise as postcards, note cards, calendars, tote bags and even ceramic items at his exhibits.

What attracted the Art Association of Harrisburg to his work?

“They’re quality drawings, which, technically speaking, are rendered well,” said Rachel O’Connor, AAH’s curator. “There’s a nice push and pull between relaxed and precise line work. They’re also visually interesting, in that they’re reminiscent of looking at an artist’s sketchbook and seeing quick but accurate studies of a city.”

The viewer, she said, gets to see Harrisburg through the artist’s eyes.

“They show buildings and streets that he thinks are important, or at least noteworthy,” she said. “One of the many missions of the visual arts (and all art) is to widen people’s perspectives. Exhibiting Guglielmo’s work does that quite literally.”

The Art Association staff was also struck by Botter’s personality, O’Connor said.

“He is very tenacious when it comes to his art, which is a quality that I consistently see (and greatly admire) in artists,” she said. “He feels a special connection to Pennsylvania through his family history, and he’s determined to make a name for himself here.”

“From Italy to Harrisburg: Street Drawings by Guglielmo Botter” runs Aug. 4 to Oct. 22 at the Art Association of Harrisburg Gallery, 21 N. Front St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.artassocofhbg.com.

Botter’s exhibit in Lancaster runs Aug. 3 to Sept. 30 at the City Hall Gallery, 120 N. Duke St., Lancaster. Visit www.lancasterpublicart.com/city-hall-gallery.

Walk This Way: Harrisburg’s streets are unusually dangerous for pedestrians. What can be done?

July 31, 2018 | by M. Diane McCormick

Illustration by Jonathan Bean.

Evelyn Hunt pointed to the street map sprawling across long tables.

Post-it notes in pink or blue were scrawled with such phrases as “Heavy foot traffic” and “Raised intersection?” Hunt put her finger on the north side of 19th and State streets.

“For some reason, more of the accidents happen on this side versus the other,” she said.

Immediately, a consultant slid a pack of pink Post-its toward her. Wordlessly, he was inviting her to add her observation to the comments accumulating on the map.

In an effort impressive for its swiftness, a phalanx of municipal, regional and state officials is examining how to make Harrisburg-area roads safe for all users. Starting with a particularly deadly stretch from Camp Hill to Harrisburg, the push is on to help motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists move in harmony.

To Zero

The cliché about dangerous roadways is that somebody has to die before government finally steps in.

Maybe five deaths since 2017 along one speedway of a Harrisburg road inspired a shared epiphany. Maybe the senseless death of Cynthia Wilson, apparently crossing State Street for a quick trip to the store, was the last straw. Amid the outcry, the city turned to a Vision Zero Action Plan, vowing for zero roadway fatalities by 2030.

Traditional transportation planning incorporates the three elements of mobility, accessibility and safety, said Harrisburg’s city Engineer Wayne Martin. But safety has taken the proverbial back seat.

“There’s now a national and international shift toward safety being the number-one priority,” he said.

Which explains the sudden elevation of State Street, and hazards citywide, in the public policy agenda.

“Believe me when I say the statistics on State Street should be enough to get past any concerns for travel-time delays and things like that,” Martin said.

Process & Plan

Urban traffic deaths might seem anomalous—after all, city streets aren’t beltways—but the killer component is speed differential, said Martin. Today’s cars are increasingly safe for occupants, but the more drivers exceed speed limits—which peaks on State Street at the close of the work day, according to a Vision Zero finding—the higher the speed difference between the vehicle and the unfortunate walker or bicyclist.

“We know that the auto industry is going to be more advanced,” Martin said. “So, we need to focus on these other road users, because they’re more susceptible.”

Enter Vision Zero. It’s a process and action plan in one. Officials scrutinize crash data and anecdotal evidence to uncover the problem spots. Vision Zero task force meetings attract the full array of agencies responsible for and using city streets: city administration, police, engineering, Capital Area Transit, Harrisburg school district. Because the state owns many of the roadways under scrutiny, including State Street and Front Street, PennDOT is at the table.

“The challenge is, we’re trying to move large volumes of traffic, especially the commuters coming in during the morning,” said PennDOT spokesperson Greg Penny. “How do you balance the interest of moving large volumes of traffic with the interest of providing safety to bicyclists and pedestrians?”

Vision Zero’s rapid response component targets the most troublesome areas first. Road data provide hard evidence, while input from residents, motorists and pedestrians offers real-life perspective. Hence, surveys conducted during rush hours, and community input meetings with maps and Post-it notes, like the one attended by Evelyn Hunt.

“We can look at all the statistics we want about crashes and timing of signals and vehicle volumes and speeds, but that’s not going to pick up a near-miss,” said Martin. “That’s not going to pick up aggressive behaviors. You’re really going to get that from community members.”

Initial solutions are inexpensive and quick to implement, especially compared to pricey, drawn-out construction projects. Upgrades such as line painting “can be done cheaply,” Martin said. State Street’s center lane is a legacy of streetcar days, and its luxurious, 12-foot lanes inspire drivers to put pedal to metal.

“Those lanes don’t have to be 12 feet,” said Martin. “We can definitely get away with 11 or 10. You start narrowing those lanes, it’s a shorter distance for pedestrians to cross, and it slows vehicles down.”

For pedestrians, quick fixes can include uniform lighting to eliminate dark spots, crossing signals flashing countdowns instead of those ambiguous hands and time-delayed signals that provide pedestrians a few seconds to step into crosswalks and be visible to left-turning motorists.

And because pedestrians sometimes—make that often—need encouragement to use crosswalks instead of jaywalking their way through live-action Frogger games, medians can be planted with prickly rose bushes.

Camp to Allison Hill

When it comes to traffic corridors, motorists and pedestrians don’t care who’s responsible for maintenance and safety. The Tri-County Regional Planning Commission is a regional coordinator dispersing federal transportation dollars, and its Harrisburg Area Transportation Study, or HATS, formulates transportation plans for Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties.

A HATS study that now includes Forster Street through State and 15th streets actually started life as a look at the Camp Hill bypass—officially, Cumberland Boulevard. Residents unnerved by the December 2016 death of their friend Diana Davidson, killed by a speeding drunken driver, discovered an alarming string of crash data and asked HATS for a review.

“There are not sidewalks the entire length of our walking community,” said Brett Miller, a Camp Hill resident who, with resident Sherry Bowman, created the Camp Hill Cumberland Boulevard Task Force. With Davidson in mind, the group vows to “make sure this never, ever happens to anybody else,” Miller said.

Harrisburg then asked that the study extend through Forster Street and State Street, with an eye on projects that could alter traffic patterns and deter collisions, whether car-on-car or car-on-pedestrian.

Expected to wrap up in late 2018, the study “will include some medium- and longer-term things to be looking at,” including the “road diets” that slim down wide lanes, said TCRPC Executive Director Steve Deck.

“Some of the ideas we’re proposing are things tried out in other areas and found to be effective. Not perfect, but effective,” he said. “I think people will see some significant improvements even with some short-term stuff that’s happening this year.”

The study earmarks about $300,000 for traffic safety improvements, Deck said. Collaboration among municipalities and agencies is inspired by safety concerns—a “no brainer,” he said. “While there’s some competition in what to do next, typically these organizations want to work together to improve safety.”

Miller speaks highly of the local, regional and state officials involved.

“I applaud the officials who stood up and took notice and did something, because they’re trying to be proactive instead of reactive,” she said. “We’ve talked to people in this field who say they’ve never seen anything move so quickly.”

Enforcement & Education

Nationwide, 49 states allow local police to enforce speed limits using radar. The outlier? Pennsylvania. A bill to put Pennsylvania in step with the other 49 passed the state Senate in November 2017 but, so far, has stalled in the House of Representatives.

Its passage into law is a Vision Zero goal. The topic is “a sore subject with most municipal police offices,” said Harrisburg Police Bureau spokesperson Capt. Gabriel Olivera. The department uses other enforcement methods, including timing devices and speedometers, but personnel shortages mean that officers are stretched too thinly for regular traffic stops.

“We are responding to many, many calls throughout the day,” said Olivera. “Because we’re responding to all the calls, it doesn’t allow us the ability to stay in one location to enforce traffic.”

Miller would appreciate a stronger dose of education about motorist, pedestrian and bicyclist safety—in homes, schools and municipalities. Common sense helps, too, she said.

“Until the experts figure out exactly what can be done to make the road and safety better, please adhere to the crossing signals, the crosswalks and the underpasses because it really does make a difference,” she said.

Indeed, both motorists and pedestrians would do well to reacquaint themselves with the rules of the road, according to numerous people interviewed for this story. After all, anyone who’s spent time in Harrisburg likely has noticed infractions by all parties, with epidemics of both speeding and jaywalking.

Front Street has become a particular focus of concern since PennDOT made changes to that state-owned road a couple of years ago. Crosswalks were added at more intersections, but that seems to have caused greater confusion than actual safety improvements. After all, what happens when you add multiple crossing points to a street that many drivers still treat as a high-speed corridor—a highway—into the city?

To wit, a few months back, a security video went viral that showed a woman being hit and thrown by an SUV at Front and Herr streets as one lane of traffic stopped to allow her to cross at an intersection, but the other lane did not.

Lower Paxton Township resident John Norton has been on the other side of that problem.

He got caught in a five-car pileup this spring, caused by a motorist stopping to allow a pedestrian to cross Front Street. He has also seen near-misses, whether between cars and pedestrians or fender-benders. Few people, he said, understand that state law requires pedestrians to actually occupy a crosswalk before motorists must yield.

“All we did back in the day was pretty simple,” said Norton, who long lived in a Front Street apartment and walked his dog in Riverfront Park nearly every day. “We stood by the side of the road until it was safe to cross, and then we’d cross. During rush hour, we sometimes had to wait five or 10 minutes. What’s the tragedy in that?”

Foundation for Success: For nearly 60 years, publicly minded college students have flocked to Harrisburg as Finnegan fellows.

July 31, 2018 | by Phyllis Zimmerman

Joshua Getz, Lyvia Toth, Tara O’Toole

Jaclyn Victor doesn’t mince words when asked about her career goals.

“I would like to be governor of Pennsylvania someday,” Victor, a recipient of the James A. Finnegan Foundation Fellowship, stated rather matter-of-factly.

Sure, it’s a lofty goal, but Finnegan Fellowship Foundation representatives weren’t surprised to hear it. After all, Victor, a senior political science major at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, was one of a handful of college students from across Pennsylvania to be named a Finnegan fellow in 2017.

This summer, the fellowship program marks its 58th year with four more select college students, who are working in Harrisburg as paid state government interns.

Finnegan fellow Patrick McKenna, an incoming junior, said he was all ready to head to Harrisburg following his last exam at Gettysburg College. The 20-year-old public policy and political science major is spending his summer working in the state Department of Labor’s office of policy planning and development.

“I’m excited,” McKenna said. “I’m doing a mix of researching legislation, helping out with the press, and sitting in on meetings. I want to work in public service.”

McKenna and incoming Gettysburg College senior Joshua Getz, another 2018 Finnegan fellow, both said they liked best the weekly luncheons with their cabinet secretaries. Getz, 21, was assigned to work in the state Human Relations Commission. The political science and history major’s future plans include “teaching in higher education and doing research,” he said.

The James Finnegan Fellowship is offered each year to undergraduate students who have completed at least one semester at an accredited Pennsylvania college or university or to Pennsylvania residents who have done so elsewhere. Internships usually last eight to 10 weeks, running from late May until mid- or late August.

Students are selected for the program by a panel of judges under the supervision of the Finnegan Foundation board. Judges consider applicants’ backgrounds, civic endeavors and career interests, as well as an essay based on a public policy theme. This year’s essay asked applicants, “Do you support or oppose a tax on soda?” Winners are announced in late March of each year at a luncheon held at the Governor’s Residence.

In addition to internships that are paid by the commonwealth, Finnegan fellows are awarded cash stipends by the foundation. The number of fellows selected each year depends on the foundation’s available funds, but it usually ranges between four and eight.

Also serving as Finnegan interns this summer are Tara O’Toole, an incoming senior at Washington and Jefferson College, and Lyvia Toth, who is entering her second year at Juniata College. O’Toole, a political science and business administration major, was assigned to the state Department of Revenue. Toth, who is studying international politics, is spending the summer working in the Public Utility Commission.

“The fellowship is intended to encourage young people to public service,” noted attorney Joseph Powers, the foundation’s vice president and an essay judge. “We grew up in an era when people in public service generally were honored. Now, in some cases, they’re disparaged. This program is so that it encourages young people into public life.”

The nonprofit James Finnegan Fellowship Foundation was established in 1960 to honor the memory of James A. Finnegan, who died at age 52 in March 1958. Finnegan had an extensive career of public service in Pennsylvania that included time as secretary of the commonwealth under former Gov. George M. Leader.

“James Finnegan’s friends wanted to do something for him when he died,” explained Powers, who retired after 37 years in state government.

Foundation Treasurer Kathy Speaker MacNett, who also serves as a panel judge, is well aware of how a Finnegan fellowship “opens a lot of doors” for recipients.

Speaker MacNett herself was awarded the fellowship in 1968 while attending Immaculata College, now known as Immaculata University. She since has had a long and illustrious career in state government and law.

Gathoni Jenkins was appointed as a Finnegan fellow in 1993 after immigrating to the United States from Kenya to attend Immaculata College. Today, she is a successful marketing research consultant in Wilmington, Del. She remembers her internship with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare as “such an incredible experience.”

Today, Speaker MacNett holds a picnic at her home for each year’s Finnegan fellows.

“It’s all a lot of continuity for me,” she said. “To me, the experience has opened up a lot of doors.”

For more information about the Finnegan Fellowship Foundation or to donate funds, contact Executive Director Jatoya K. Moore at 717-233-1000 or [email protected] or visit www.finneganfoundation.org.

Photo by Billy Hicks.

Burg Blog: The Worst

July 5, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda

About the only place you’ll find Scott Wagner’s face in Harrisburg–on a sign across the street from the state Capitol.

Who’s the worst person in Harrisburg?

I can name a few candidates.

In March, someone shot up the area outside Double D’s. That’s pretty bad.

How about the guy who, in May, was caught on video kicking his dog on Front Street? Also bad.

Heck, that fake student Artur Samarin made a return to the spotlight lately. Years of bad behavior right there.

According to the state Democratic Party, though, the worst person in Harrisburg is none of these. That dubious distinction goes to former state Sen. Scott Wagner, the GOP’s nominee for governor. In fact, there’s a whole campaign called, “Scott Wagner: The Worst of Harrisburg.”

Which I find bizarre. Not only is Wagner not of Harrisburg (he’s of York County), but, unless you travel in the rather specific circles of state politics or solid waste, you never see Scott Wagner or hear much about him here.

Yes, yes, I know. When the Dems say, “Harrisburg,” they don’t actually mean Harrisburg, as in the city. They mean “Harrisburg,” as in the dysfunctional state of government.

Then, I humbly suggest, they should say what they mean.

During the many years I lived in Washington, D.C., nothing irked me more than politicians who “ran against Washington.” Oh, that Washington is a horrible, horrible place. Please, voters of [insert name of distant state or congressional district here], send me back there!

And they would, like sheep. And nothing ever changed in Washington.

Now that I live in Harrisburg, I feel the same way. I don’t like politicians and their operatives using the name of my city as a pejorative, especially when they’re the ones who are responsible for the very gridlock, pettiness, bickering and dysfunction that they decry.

Visiting other parts of Pennsylvania, I’ve had people ask me, with a cynical tone, “So, how’re things in Harrisburg, huh?”

And I begin to tell them about Act 47 or our combined sewer system, knowing perfectly well that’s not what they mean.

So, now I will make an appeal that I’m pretty sure will fall on deaf ears.

Politicians: Please stop saying, “Harrisburg” when you actually mean the place where you all work. If you mean the state Capitol or the legislature—you know, that cursed, godforsaken place where your office is, where you all want to return come Nov. 6—say that. Don’t use the H-word. Here in Harrisburg, we have enough problems without you people dragging us into your bizarre, alternative world of political dysfunction.

Today, I received a press release from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, itself based in Harrisburg, entitled, “John Fetterman To Denounce Scott Wagner As The Very Worst Of Harrisburg.”

“Democratic Lieutenant Governor nominee John Fetterman will call Wagner out for what he really is—the very worst of Harrisburg,” says the release.

Yikes—you too, John?

Are you sure you don’t want to talk about our combined sewer system? It really is pretty bad.

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

Taste of Freedom: Harrisburg sets riverfront food truck fest, fireworks for July 4

June 29, 2018 | by Yaasmeen Piper

Last year’s “Taste of Independence” Food Truck Festival brought in 35,000 attendees to Harrisburg’s riverfront.

Even with the forthcoming heatwave, Mayor Eric Papenfuse predicts the festival will pull in even more guests.

“I am excited and very hopeful that we are going to break that 35,000-people record from last year,” Papenfuse said. “It will be an extraordinary day and an extraordinary event.”

Next week’s festival on July 4 will feature more than 40 food trucks including Soul Burrito, The Potato Coop, Brazil on Wheels, Mad Sandwiches and more.

New this year is a “foodies map and guide,” which lists all food vendors and their items as well as a map outlining where the trucks will be located.

“[The guide] allows you, from the comfort of your own home, to plan how you are going to attack this festival,” Papenfuse said.

For music lovers, Maudlin Moon, Strangest Hearts, D-BO, Nearly York, Alex Allegra and Keith Goldstein will perform on the Market Street Stage and on the acoustic music stage in Kunkel Plaza

The Children’s Festival will include glitter tattoos, caricatures, lawn games and activities. Superheros and princesses will meet and pose for pictures, and children can create their own hero masks for $5.

Also new to the festival is an outdoor film screening presented by Midtown Cinema. Following the fireworks, there will be a showing of “Moana” between Market and Walnut streets. The wayfinding princess will pose for pictures during the screening, as well.

“I’m really excited this year about the children’s festival activities,” Papenfuse said. “There will be lawn games and activities and all sorts of things for children.”

The fireworks produced by ZY Pyrotechnics will begin around 9:15 p.m. and feature a 15-minute show of over 1,000 shells launched from City Island.

Street parking on July 4 will be free. For $5, guests can park at City Island, and there will be $10 parking in the Market Square Garage from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Cyclists can drop their bikes off at Recycle Bicycle, which will then check bike brakes and air pressure while attendees roam the festival.

“As you can see it’s going to be an incredible day this July 4,” Papenfuse said. “I’m hoping everyone will come and join us at the Riverfront this Wednesday and, even after, stick around for that movie under the stars. It’s going to be a wonderful day celebrating the Taste of Independence Food Truck Festival.”

The Taste of Independence Food Truck Festival is July 4, 3 to 9 p.m. at Harrisburg’s Riverfront Park between North and Market streets. For more information of the festival and to get your foodies guide, visit harrisburgpa.gov/july4th.

Waste Not: A Q&A with LCSWMA CEO Jim Warner.

June 29, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda

Jim Warner

In 2013, Jim Warner saw a big opportunity—one that required a big risk.

He led his organization, the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, in making a major acquisition—the financially distressed Harrisburg incinerator. Since then, LCSWMA has invested millions to upgrade the plant and the property, transforming it into the Susquehanna Resource Management Complex, a state-of-the-art waste-to-energy complex.

At year-end, Warner plans to retire as LCSWMA’s long-serving CEO. So, we asked him to reflect on his past and on the career-defining decision to acquire the debt-ridden Harrisburg facility. This interview has been edited for clarity and space.

TheBurg: How did you get into this industry?

Warner: I got out of graduate school in 1984 from Ship [Shippensburg University] with a degree in environmental science. I got a job in Gloucester County (N.J.) as one of the first county recycling coordinators in America.

TheBurg: What year was that?

Warner: That was 1985, when the “garbage crisis” first manifested itself, in New Jersey. So, government responded by saying, “Well, maybe we should recycle part of the waste stream, and we wouldn’t have as big of a problem.” So, counties in the mid-‘80s began hiring . . . professionals to manage and implement recycling programs in a region or a county. Then Lancaster became the first county [in Pennsylvania] to write a comprehensive waste management plan, in 1986.

TheBurg: Where were you from originally?

Warner: I grew up in Lebanon, Pa.

TheBurg: So, you were coming back home?

Warner: Not only that. I went to Millersville for my undergrad and, actually, most of my best friends were from Lancaster. My senior year, I lived in downtown Lancaster. So, yeah, I was coming back. I’ve been here for basically 31 years.
TheBurg: So you became Lancaster County’s recycling coordinator?

Warner: I did. I was like the third or fourth employee in the office. And, during that time, we borrowed a lot of money and built a waste-to-energy plant, built the first double-lined landfill in 1988 and then implemented a recycling program. That year, July 1988, is when Pennsylvania passed their mandatory recycling law under Bob Casey’s administration.

So, I set up the recycling and hired an assistant or two. And my desire was to really get into the business component more. So, then, as we grew, I had a series of promotions and more responsibility until about 1994 or ‘95, when I was sort of the general manager. Then our executive director at the time made a pretty quick exit, and the board of directors decided that I was capable enough to manage the system as it was then, which was not nearly as complicated as it is now. So, as a young 38-year-old, I became executive director and, eventually, my title changed to CEO. The organization went from about $35 [million] to—I wouldn’t doubt if we did $90 million this year and 350,000 tons to 1 million. Some of that was organic, but a lot of it was strategic. Probably the biggest piece ever in that evolution was the acquisition of Harrisburg [incinerator], as far as a big chunk of business.

TheBurg: Let’s talk about Harrisburg then. Take me through the process of how you ended up buying the incinerator here.

Warner: It’s really interesting. As we had a growth spurt from the mid-‘90s to about 2005, we were growing at about 3½ percent per year. So, as we projected that out, it looked like we were going to run out of processing capacity in the Lancaster plant somewhere around 2010.

So, then a couple of things happened. That growth stopped suddenly in about 2007, with the recession. We started evaluating—how would we expand the Lancaster facility?

We started looking at—what would be the cost of doing that expansion? And we had a good model, in that two very similar plants in Florida—one in Hillsborough County and one Lee County—had just gone through that process, where they built a fourth unit. Each one added a 600-ton unit, and their plants went from 1,200 to 1,800 tons per day. And each of the projects cost about $135 million. So, we started modeling about $150 million, figuring we would come a decade after them.

When you do that, there’s sort of a Catch-22. If you put in a 600-ton-per-day unit, that’s 180,000 tons per year of waste going through that unit. The problem is that, when you build a unit, you don’t necessarily have 180,000 tons of waste coming in the day you open it because, if you had, you would have been landfilling all that waste until the day you open the unit. And we never wanted to get into that, where we grew so much but we waited until we could fill the unit with Lancaster County waste. The price to pay would have been too much landfilling of waste. It would have eaten up years of landfill capacity.

So, the other option is, maybe wait until you have 20,000 or 30,000 tons, and then you go and get the other 150,000. And getting the other 150,000 and bringing it in, would have been very difficult to do. And the price we would have gotten for what we call spot trash in the industry wouldn’t have supported the cost of adding a unit like that. We bought some time then because of the Great Recession, and, meanwhile, the timing of Harrisburg’s distress was progressing.

Now, at the time, the [Harrisburg] receiver [William Lynch]—he’s trying to get the highest price possible because there’s $370 million of indebtedness on the plant. [He] wanted an inflated price for the asset, which would be supported by guaranteed waste streams at above-market rates for 20 years, with put-or-pays—guaranteed amount to LCSWMA every year—in exchange for an over-inflated price for the asset. He needed $130 million because they could only value the parking [asset] at $240 million. So, those were the two assets they had: 130 for this, 240 for that.

So, all along, we had asked them—what do you want paid? Because we could make it $100 million, we could make it $80 million, we could make it $130 million. But then here’s what your tipping fees are going to be over 20 years, and the guarantee levels change the valuation. What were they willing to accept as their tipping fee? So, Dauphin County, I think we started at $85, and the city started at $190. But the market is $50, $60. And there was a lot of push/pull there between the city and the county. If you had a blended rate, the city and the county would both be paying $120 or something like that. But that wasn’t going to happen because the county didn’t feel they had as much responsibility for the mess as the city did.

But we tried to stay out of that. We were just coming in and trying to make the asset work for us and, if we could help solve this neighboring problem, that would be good, too.

TheBurg: It seemed to me, at the time, that everything seemed to align together in a serendipitous way.

Warner: If we hadn’t come in, I don’t know how the city would have avoided bankruptcy.

I think the first number we gave them was like $47 million, and people had the impression we were low-balling, but we were giving an at-market price without the guarantees. But, when all of a sudden, they wanted $130 million, then the tipping fees were going to go way up, and the guarantees had to be made on the revenue because we’re paying 20 years forward. We gave them $130 million one Monday morning—Dec. 23, 2013—on the guarantee that they’re going to be paying us some rate times some amount of tons every year for 20 years. And we can never bring that risk to our doorstep, because they got their over-inflated price that morning.

Our risk was that we had to continue to make the asset function for those 20 years. For that, we were relying on our own expertise and know-how of being in the business, and that was a risk we were willing to take on.

TheBurg: So, you bought this thing. What came next?

Warner: I think we’ve put about $22 million in, in the first four years. We added some things that we didn’t think we were going to—we could get by. And there are other things that we didn’t do that don’t need done. This building we’re sitting in, we call it the TMA building, which stands for Transfer, Maintenance and Administration. So, we built this bigger than we had thought. We built 23,000 square feet. We have two transfer bays.

And the reason we made it much more robust than we originally thought was because, the more we thought about it—our arrangement with the city of Harrisburg and Dauphin County is that we’re going to take your waste for the next 20 years. What happens if the main asset doesn’t function? Believe it or not, just in March, we went four days without a unit working because, well, everything seemed to go wrong for four consecutive days. But all the waste came here, the trucks dumped in the transfer building, and we transferred it all to our Lancaster waste facility.

When THA (the Harrisburg Authority) had the plant come down, they would just say, “Take your waste elsewhere. We’re not open.” We, first of all, can’t do that. But, secondly, we don’t want to do that because we want that revenue. With our assets, we can manage it, so that’s why we can do that.

So, this building was $5 million. We just finished a $4 million cooling tower. We thought we could put a Band-Aid on the old tower every five years. But we just decided to abandon the cooling tower. The cooling tower here was built for like a shopping center, not a power plant. So, we put in a real cooling tower. So, now we don’t have to worry about whether, over the next 20 years, it’s going to work. Then we’ve done all this site work. We changed the entrance from Cameron Street to 19th Street. We put in a new scale house. We paved the roads, new fencing, landscaping. All that was a couple million dollars. Then, inside the plant itself, we’ve upgraded, done things to the boilers and the grates, and we’re continuing to do that. So, we’ve invested about $5 million more than we thought we would during the first four years. But now we’ve made the big investments, unless something drastic would go wrong.

TheBurg: What does your future hold?

Warner: Getting back to here [the Harrisburg facility]—I could not be more pleased. This was not easy. This challenged our staff. Our board took a leap of faith with me driving this. I think it’s proved out.

The first four years, I think, will be the hardest. That’s when we had to do the most overhaul, prove ourselves in the community. People drive in here and drive out in 12 minutes. They use to have to wait in line for an hour and a half. So, the customer service has increased. We’ve taken this facility, which was substandard, and we’ve taken it—and I knew we could do this—we’ve put it to our standard, LCSWMA’s standard—and our standards are the best in the industry. So, we had a long way to go there. I think we’ve done well. The mayor, I think, is pretty pleased. I know that Public Works loves the service they get here. We don’t have any griping. When you get no griping, you know you’re doing things right.

With me—our board, my departure has been well planned. For years, I’ve been working with the board with timing. I think the board has made a wise move to promote from within, just like they took a little chance with me. They hired our current chief operating officer, Bob Zorbaugh. It’s his group that runs this and makes it function. We have an extremely strong executive team of six that Bob’s coming out of. He knows the business inside and out. It will take some time for people to get to know Bob, but he’ll do an excellent job. He knows what it is to make facilities function successfully.

To learn more about the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, visit www.lcswma.org.

June News Digest

June 29, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda and Lizzy Hardison

HUD Grants Proposed

The annual process of disbursing federal housing funds began last month, as Harrisburg City Council introduced an ordinance that would provide money to nearly a dozen nonprofit groups.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that the city used the same process in selecting award recipients as last year, using a point-based merit system to judge applications.

“It’s a number of small grants,” Papenfuse said. “It’s not as much as anyone wanted.”

In all, the city will distribute $2.04 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money, a program of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. This amount includes almost $1.9 million from the 2018 allocation, plus a small supplemental amount tied to unallocated funds from a prior year.

Like last year, the greatest single amount of money, $593,423, will go to repay federal loans the city backed during the Reed administration for several development projects, including the disastrous Capitol View Commerce Center project, which went bankrupt before being completed years later by a new owner.

“If we didn’t have an exorbitant debt service, we’d have a lot more money for housing,” Papenfuse said.

Most of the nonprofits proposed to receive funds have gotten some money from previous CDBG allocations. The proposed recipients include:

TriCounty HDC: $250,000
Habitat for Humanity: $100,000
A Miracle 4 Sure: $50,000
TLC Work Based Training: $45,000
Christian Recovery Aftercare Ministries (C.R.A.M.): $40,000
Latino Hispanic Community Center: $25,000
Heinz-Menaker Senior Center: $25,000
Fair Housing Council: $25,000
PPL/IN HOUSE: $20,000
Shades of Greatness: $15,000
Neighborhood Dispute Settlement: $5,000

Like last year, Tina Nixon, an executive with UPMC Pinnacle, scored the applications, Papenfuse said. While most nonprofits that applied received some funding, several did not make the cut, he said.

In addition, the city is proposing to allocate $321,642 for its housing rehabilitation programs and another $408,765 to CDBG administration.

QOZ Tracts Approved

The federal government last month approved all of the census tracts nominated for a new program aimed at spurring development in low-income communities.

Six of those tracts are in Harrisburg.

“Approval of our nominated tracts is an important step in the process of bringing critical investment and development to these areas,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “Designation as an opportunity zone is one piece of the puzzle that can help many of our distressed communities across the commonwealth.”

In April, Wolf nominated 300 low-income census tracts across the state as Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ), a status created under the 2017 federal tax reform bill. All were accepted.

Six of Harrisburg’s 14 census tracts were included in Wolf’s submission. The potential investment zones encompass the city’s downtown area south of Forster Street, South Harrisburg, South and Central Allison Hill and the neighborhoods along the city’s Cameron Street industrial corridor.

The QOZ program aims to stimulate investment in low-income communities by providing tax breaks to private investors. It’s expected to defer or reduce capital gains taxes to anyone who invests in funds supporting businesses, real estate and other ventures in the zones.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is still in the process of developing the program, and the IRS is expected to provide further information regarding opportunities for investment in zones in the coming months, according to Wolf’s office.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse has said that the recommended zones aligned with the city’s current development efforts, including the MulDer Square revitalization project and the Paxton Creek reclamation in the industrial corridor.

To qualify for QOZ status, a census tract had to have at least a 20-percent poverty rate or a median family income less than 80 percent of the statewide or regional median income.

State Urges Changes to School District

Soon after wrapping up a protracted battle over its superintendent, the Harrisburg school district may find itself in another personnel battle.

The state Department of Education is asking the district to search for new leadership for its business office, which oversees budgets and financial management.

In a letter to the district last month, department Secretary Pedro Rivera said that the district’s chief financial officer and business manager do not meet the criteria set forth in its five-year recovery plan, which calls for full-time, permanent, highly qualified employees to fill both positions.

The school board has final say on all district personnel actions. But board members, who diverged for the past six months over whether to replace or retain Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney, once again disagree on the need to seek new hires.

Board President Judd Pittman interprets the letter as a directive from the state, giving the district no choice but to replace interim, part-time CFO James Snell and acting Business Manager Bilal Hasan. But board Vice President Danielle Robinson thinks the district should keep the current team.

“It’s not a directive, it’s a suggestion,” Robinson said. “The team we have in place is giving us what we need.”

The business manager and CFO are responsible for developing and managing the district’s $156 million budget. This year, the district faces a shortfall of almost $9 million. The business office has proposed bridging it with a $5 million transfer from its fund balance, $4 million in staff cuts, and a 3.6 percent tax hike.

New Monument to Honor Prominent African Americans

Harrisburg’s Riverfront Park is dotted with historical monuments, but none of them honor African Americans.

A group of citizens hopes to change that.

Members of the Peace Promenade Project are asking city hall to green-light Harrisburg’s first monument to African Americans, which they hope to erect near the corner of Forster and Front Streets by June 2019.

Their proposal calls for a life-size tableau of four Pennsylvania abolitionists and voting-rights advocates: Thomas Chester, a Harrisburg-born journalist and attorney; William Howard Day, the first black school board director in Pennsylvania; Jacob Compton, a pastor who drove Abraham Lincoln’s carriage during his visit to Harrisburg; and Frances Harper, a poet and women’s rights activist.

All except Harper lived in Harrisburg and are buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Penbrook.

“This is an American monument that represents the continuing struggle for the full fulfillment of the 15^th amendment,” said Lenwood Sloan, leader of the Peace Promenade Project, which aims to rededicate Harrisburg’s public monuments through a yearlong event series.

Kelly Summerford, another project leader, said that the monument would also offer local students an opportunity to learn about abolition and voting rights.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said he met with the project leaders and enthusiastically supports the project. He also offered to help the group pursue a gaming grant from Dauphin County.

The Peace Promenade group, which counts more than 200 members and 40 supporting organizations, plans to fund the monument through public support, corporate donations and individual giving. They did not announce an anticipated budget.

According to Summerford, the group plans to follow a process used by the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts to commission an artist and develop a design.

They hope to install the monument by “Juneteenth” 2019—the anniversary of June 19, 1865, the official announcement of the end of slavery in the former Confederacy.

At press time, council had not yet affirmed the final allocations.

Harristown Eyes Another Project

Chalk up another apartment conversion for Harristown Enterprises.

The Harrisburg-based company already has converted several rundown office buildings downtown to higher-end apartment buildings. Last month, it announced another—this one at 116 Pine St.

“We feel very good about the rental market,” said Harristown CEO Brad Jones. “We’re trying to create more of a neighborhood downtown.”

The bank-owned, 54,600-square-foot building is on the market for $1.3 million. If Harristown completes the purchase, it plans to convert the circa-1946 building to 44 apartment units, its largest residential project to date.

The five-story building currently houses several different entities, which would be relocated. The longstanding first-floor tenant, Alicia’s Deli, is likely to remain in the building, Jones said.

The building is directly next door to another office building at 124 Pine St. that Harristown currently has under contract from seller Keystone Human Services. City Council approved that project, which includes 25 apartment units and 19 parking spaces, in April.

“Our intent is to build them together and have economies of scale,” Jones said, adding that Harristown expects to invest some $12 million in the projects.

Harristown has long been known as a commercial developer. However, it began to move into the multi-family residential market several years ago, focusing on rehabilitating old, often dilapidated and vacant office buildings, converting them to apartments.

New Owner for Old Waterworks

A Harrisburg-based design and engineering company has purchased the historic Old Waterworks building on the Susquehanna River, with plans to turn it into its new headquarters.

Andculture will relocate from its downtown offices following the full renovation of the 22,000-square-foot building, said co-owner David Hickethier.

The Waterworks is one of only two structures remaining within the confines of Riverfront Park. Portions of the Front Street building date to 1841.

The building served as a pumping station for Harrisburg until 1972, when that use ended following severe flooding caused by Tropical Storm Agnes. The city later converted it into an office building.

In 2002, Mann Realty, a real estate firm, bought the building. Andculture acquired the property from Mann Realty, which is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, for $1.25 million, according to the Dauphin County property database.

“It’s a very unique building,” Hickethier said. “There are only two on that side of Front Street, right on the river.”

Hickethier expects Andculture, a company he co-owns with partners Josh Benton and Evan Keller, to occupy the majority of the building for its main offices and for its business accelerator, Catamaran.

The company may lease out some of the remaining space, especially to complementary businesses, and would like to reserve a portion for public use, possibly for meetings and receptions, Hickethier said.

Since the major city renovation 30 years ago, the building has suffered a few floods and has not undergone a major update. So, Hickethier and his partners plan to mount a complete restoration. The work includes removing drop ceilings, restoring floors, opening up spaces and making substantial repairs.

New Sanitation App

Sanitation and recycling services in Harrisburg are about to get a little more user-friendly.

The city last month announced a new app called Recycle Coach, which allows residents to get the latest information on sanitation services, schedules, what and where to recycle, collection requirements and more.

“[The app provides] details people need to understand, like the way food could potentially contaminate recyclables,” said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. “The app addresses all this, and it’s really interesting, easy to use and fun.”

Already used in other states and countries, Recycle Coach is now available for Harrisburg residents. The app is personalized via language, building type (apartment or home) and address. Using that information, six tabs on the home screen offer users various types of functionality, information and additional options.

John Rarig, Harrisburg’s recycling coordinator, said that the Recycle Coach app will help the city get sanitation information out to the public quicker.

“This app will allow us to update information as things change [such as] weather problems and things that we can notify the populous about,” he said. “[Recycle Coach] is very easy to work with, and we think this is a great thing for Harrisburg.”

Harrisburg residents can access Recycle Coach not only from their smartphones, but also via computers and voice assistants such as Alexa.

So Noted

Harrisburg Beer Week last month presented a check for $40,000 to Harrisburg River Rescue and Emergency Services, the beneficiary of the 10-day-long celebration of local craft beer. For the past several years, the River Rescue has used the funds to continue the renovation of its headquarters.

Homeland Center last month dedicated its 6th Street entrance in memory of the late John Crain Kunkel, a U.S. congressman, and his wife Katherine, who served on the board of managers and established what is believed to be the first-ever beauty shop in a long-term care facility, according to the Harrisburg-based care facility. More recently, the Kunkel family made possible Homeland’s 71-bed skilled care nursing pavilion, and their foundation sponsored Homeland’s 150th Gala, said Homeland.

Percel Eiland resigned last month as a member of the Harrisburg school board, having only served about six months. The board will now take steps to find a candidate to fill the remainder of Eiland’s term, which runs until the end of next year.

In Memoriam

Nick Laus, renowned Harrisburg restaurateur, died last month at age 59. Laus founded many restaurants in the area, including Café Fresco, Cork & Fork, Home 231 and Burger Yum, as well as the nightclub, Level 2.

Changing Hands

Adrian St., 2441: G. & T. Spiese to H. Le, $64,000

Bartine St., 1323: E. & G. Solomon to J. Herr, $82,000

Bellevue Rd., 1963: M. Mack to R. Lewis, $54,900

Berryhill St., 2034: D. Smith to S. Griffin, $33,000

Berryhill St., 2400: L. Rich to E. Alcantra, $40,001

Boas St., 304: Calder Street Development LLC to RC Herr, $35,000

Calder St., 264: J. Hummel to L. Boenzli, $127,000

Capitol St., 1218: M. Wickwire to K. Knapp, $118,000

Chestnut St., 2032: W. Noss & R. Maynard to M. Jackson & J. Fulton, $124,900

Delaware St., 259: K. Dyrli to R. Goodfriend, $142,500

Delaware St., 261: C. Hartman to T. Harris & B. Barto, $117,500

Green St., 918: S. Brennan & L. Sterkenberg to S. Lacey, $144,900

Green St., 1328: D. Misner to A. Koser, $116,540

Green St., 1412: J. Kibler to J. Ehring, $70,000

Green St., 1612: H. Task to B. Brubaker, $149,900

Green St., 1946: C. Smith & T. Chickey to P. Sosik, $174,900

Green St., 2321: Willowscott Investment LLC to J. Hofman, $80,000

Green St., 2412: R. Lawson to B. Vargas, $219,500

Hillside Rd., 214: R. & T. Winder to R. Bateman & C. McDonough, $164,900

Hoffman St., 3010: Duetsche Bank National Trust Co. Trustee to Innovative Devices Inc., $41,300

Hoffman St., 3229: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to B. Foor, $59,000

Industrial Rd., 3900: Supervalue Penn LLC to CF Grocery Distribution & Propco LLC, $85,535,256

Jefferson St., 2645: M. Watson to D. Solomon, $60,400

Kensington St., 2004: JCB Associates & State House Group to A. Ryabukha, $39,000

Kensington St., 2324: A. & M. Oliphant to C. Austin, $59,900

Market St., 1713: LAGR Properties LLC to J. & L. Hendricks, $65,000

Mercer St., 2470: A. Hankerson to A. & M. Allen, $49,137

Muench St., 429: Dobson Family Partnership to Y. & K. Han, $50,000

N. 2^nd St., 1521: W. Glover to E&S Properties, $107,000

N. 2^nd St., 1803: S. & S. Cooper to Z. Gause, $122,500

N. 2^nd St., 1916: C. Bashore to G. Crone, $155,000

N. 2^nd St., 2602: K. & K. Fischer to K. Kennedy, $105,000

N. 2^nd St., 2953: D. Alvey to PI Capital LLC, $144,401

N. 2^nd St., 3209: S. Kumarasingam to Benchmarq Holdings LLC, $65,361

N. 3^rd St., 1004, 1006, 1008 & 1010 Susquehanna St.: T. & E. Buda to Maki Developments LLC, $695,000

N. 3^rd St., 1010: T. Buda to Maki Developments LLC, $225,000

N. 3^rd St., 1725: K. & L. Helm to I. Kazar, $81,000

N. 3^rd St., 3004: N. Ernst to K. & A. Brady, $77,000

N. 4^th St., 2143: 690 Market Street LLC to R. Joline, $33,000

N. 4^th St., 2641: Y. Borras to J. Santiago, $59,000

N. 4^th St., 2731: R. Rickabaugh to M. Martinez & M. Price, $111,700

N. 6^th St., 1346: J. MacDonald to A. Blank & A. Edwards, $114,900

N. 6^th St., 2212: L. Ware Jr. to J. Strain, $60,000

N. 7^th St., 1501: AT&T Communications to 1501 Harrisburg Partners LLC, $425,000

N. 15^th St., 1431: M. Clark & J. Payton to X. Nguyen, $55,000

N. Front St., 614: Mann Realty Associates Inc. to Granma LLC, $1,250,000

Norwood St., 914: A. Wilhelm to I. Rodriguez, $35,000

Penn St., 1614: M. Smith to J. Napora & S. Bassler, $144,900

Penn St., 1809: K. Hyp to J. Francescangeli & D. Rocklein, $165,000

Penn St., 1931: WCI Partners LP to R. & B. Precourt, $134,900

Penn St., 2327: A. & D. Wilhelm to I. Rodriguez, $35,000

Pennwood Rd., 3139: T. Bendrick to L. Ciambotti, $40,000

Sassafras St., 269: Major League Properties LLC to J. Wenger & J. Noel, $130,000

Shamokin St., 110: M. & K. Patterson to E. & L. Match, $165,000

Showers St., 589: T. Fullam & J. Nugent to M. Albizu, $116,000

S. 13^th St., 1510: New Heights South LLC to W. Powell Sr., $49,000

S. 14^th St., 1437: W. & G. Powell to City of Harrisburg, $50,000

S. 24^th St., 535: S. Leibich to PA Double Dels LLC, $178,500

S. Cameron St., 50, 90 & 112: PA Self Storage One LLC to Amerco Real Estate Co., $1,450,000

S. Cameron St., 1058: M. Tice & APR Supply Co. to JWM Associates LP, $343,700

State St., 120: C. & K. Kokoski to O’Hagan Philadelphia LLC, $190,000

State St., 231, Unit 206: LUX 1 LP to F. Clark, $65,000

State St., 1414: G. Dutan to A. & M. Collins, $113,000

Susquehanna St., 3117: J. Fustine to K. O’Neill & M. Delucia, $197,500

Swatara St., 1517: Tri County HDC Ltd. to V. Miller, $99,000

Wendy St., 1126: 147 N. Cameron Partners LP to Keystone K9 LLC, $415,000

Mayor’s communication on Act 47 “irresponsible,” HBG councilman says, as 14 jobs affected by hiring freeze.

June 26, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

City Councilman Ben Allatt, center, had some tough words tonight for Harrisburg’s mayor.

A Harrisburg City Council member had stern words for Harrisburg’s mayor on Tuesday night.

Ben Allatt, council vice president and budget and finance committee chair, criticized the mayor’s recent, failed attempt to secure Harrisburg special tax provisions from the state legislature and his subsequent decision to declare a fiscal crisis in the city.

Allatt called the mayor’s public statements “irresponsible,” saying they caused unnecessary alarm and confusion among residents.

He also criticized the mayor’s falling out with House Speaker Mike Turzai, who blocked a special provision for Harrisburg from coming to vote on Friday.

“The exchanges between the mayor and the speaker were less than professional,” Allatt said. “We do not need greater tension between the city and the state.”

Allatt said he is committed to working with the legislature to help the city exit Act 47, a state program for financially distressed municipalities. Harrisburg’s Act 47 designation expires in September.

Papenfuse declined to respond to Allatt’s remarks. He reiterated that Harrisburg is facing dire financial problems if the state legislature does not grant it special taxing authority and spare it from entering an Act 47 extension.

He also elaborated on the hiring freeze and spending freeze that he declared on Monday. He said that 14 positions have been frozen and will remain unfilled, including seven represented by bargaining units:

Data Tech
Landscape Specialist
Central Support Specialist
Park Ranger
Auto mechanic
Plumber
Secretary

The remaining seven positions are categorized as management roles:

Background investigator
Confidential secretary
Analyst
Deputy director for planning and zoning
Archivist
Arborist
Deputy fire chief

Papenfuse said that the city expects at least a dozen employees to retire by the end of the year. They will not be replaced as long as the city remains in a hiring freeze, he said.

City officials met today and yesterday to evaluate spending on capital improvement projects, but Papenfuse declined to say which ones could be curtailed.

Papenfuse introduced the austerity measures to prepare Harrisburg for the eventual loss of $12 million in annual revenue from its earned income tax and local services tax. Act 47 allows the city to levy those taxes at extraordinary rates – a power that Harrisburg will lose if it exits the program.

Harrisburg can keep its current taxing authority if it obtains a one-time, three-year extension to stay in Act 47. But that extension will also require the city to adopt a new recovery plan, developed jointly with the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

That plan must be based on current state law, which means it will likely recommend the city draw down its fund balance and cut spending to prepare for a mandatory Act 47 exit in 2022.

Marita Kelley, the city’s Act 47 coordinator, declined to comment today on the details of the recovery plan. It will be released as a draft on July 9.

City officials, including Allatt, have said that Harrisburg cannot pass a balanced budget without augmented taxing authority. The only way for the city to have a sustainable future outside of Act 47, they say, is for the state legislature to pass a special provision exempting Harrisburg from the standard state tax code.

Harrisburg entered a yearlong, $60,000 lobbying contract this year in hopes of securing legislative change.

The city intends to renew its lobbying in September when the legislature returns from recess.

Harrisburg imposes austerity measures, hopes for legislative action as it faces hard realities of Act 47

June 25, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse takes a question outside city hall during today’s press conference.

Harrisburg is enacting an immediate hiring freeze and reevaluating all capital improvement projects as it braces for $12 million in spending cuts over the next three years, the mayor announced today.

The austerity comes as the city faces the expiration of its Act 47 status as a financially distressed municipality. That designation has granted Harrisburg special taxing authority for the past five years, which can continue until 2021 under a one-time, three-year extension.

But as Mayor Eric Papenfuse explained today, Harrisburg will lose its current taxing power in 2021 unless the state legislature intervenes. That would cost the city $12 million in annual revenue from its earned income tax (EIT) and local services tax (LST).

According to Papenfuse, the city must start preparing for that loss at the start of the new fiscal year in January 2019.

“The drawdown has to happen next year,” he said. “We cannot wait until the three-year extension expires.”

The city will develop new three-year budget projections starting this week, but has already implemented a hiring freeze and scrutinized its supplies and services expenditures. Papenfuse said all capital improvement spending from the city’s fund balance may be in jeopardy, but declined to name specific projects.

The mayor hopes the city can avoid layoffs by cutting jobs through attrition. The city will not replace anyone who retires, including police and fire personnel, or fill any of the 11 job vacancies currently posted on its website.

“These are perilous times for the city,” Papenfuse said on Monday, when he addressed reporters and a crowd of citizens in front of city hall. “Without legislative action, the city will suffer dire consequences.”

The announcement follows news last week that the state legislature would not pass a provision codifying Harrisburg’s current tax rates. Lawmakers have previously granted special taxing power to Act 47 cities, including Pittsburgh, which exited the oversight program this year.

Harrisburg officials have long said that the city cannot leave Act 47 without a change to state laws. Papenfuse explained that the Harrisburg Strong Plan, which was adopted in 2013, was written with the assumption that the state legislature would help the city with its financial recovery.

That plan addressed the city’s debt, but did not repair the conditions that created its structural deficit, Papenfuse said. Harrisburg cannot pass balanced budgets under the state’s current tax code, he said, since its small, highly impoverished tax base cannot support its large commuter population and tax-exempt state properties.

The only way to avoid a structural deficit is to expand the city’s taxing power, he said. Papenfuse’s administration entered a 12-month, $60,000 contract with a lobbying firm this year in hopes of securing a victory in the statehouse.

That moment appeared to be close on Friday, when Papenfuse announced that the legislature had secured the votes to pass a special tax provision for Harrisburg. But that provision, a proposed amendment to the state’s fiscal code, never came up for vote.

The defeat dealt a blow to the city’s leadership, which must adopt a new, state-sponsored recovery plan in September to secure an Act 47 extension. Since the state can only make recommendations based on current laws, the plan will likely assume the loss of $12 million of revenue in 2021.

Marita Kelley, the city’s Act 47 coordinator, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

The mayor hopes that the city can extend its lobbying efforts into September, after the legislature returns to session and before city adopts a new recovery plan.

According to Papenfuse, that’s the only way Harrisburg will avoid catastrophe.

“This does not have to be cataclysmic or fatal if we work on legislation together,” he said. “But make no mistake – the city cannot cut $12 million.”

Papenfuse reiterated today that the city has very few expenses it can cut. He said that personnel and associated costs, such as pensions and healthcare, make up 92 percent of the city’s budget. The remaining 8 percent of supplies and services spending covers utilities and other mandatory expenses, he said.

If the city must trim 20 percent of its expenses, it has no choice but to cut personnel, including police officers and firefighters.

The mayor is confident that most legislators understand Harrisburg’s plight and wish to help the capital city. He laid most blame with House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County, who recently called on the city to curb spending and surrender its taxing authority.

Papenfuse and Turzai reportedly clashed in talks last week, and the mayor said today that the Speaker bucked the will of his own party by blocking the Harrisburg provision on Friday.

“[Turzai] did not want to understand Harrisburg’s situation, and he stopped something with strong bipartisan support,” the mayor said.

Turzai has not responded to requests for comment.

Local stories in focus as African American History Expo returns this weekend to Midtown HBG

June 15, 2018 | by Yaasmeen Piper

Macajah Brown, organizer of the event

Through the decades of constructions and demolitions, new generations and stories, Harrisburg native Macajah Brown said the city’s black history has been lost in the mix.

With the hope of reviving that pulse in the community, Brown created the African American Black History Expo. For the second year in a row, the Expo, which takes place tomorrow, will showcase the history of Harrisburg, Middletown and Steelton through church representatives.

“We wanted the church to come and share their history, come and present their history,” Brown said. “I felt the communication of people behind the booth, sharing their history with someone would be pretty awesome.”

Members from select churches will give a presentation on their history dating back as far as the 1800s.

From his connections in and outside the region, Brown enlisted artists, musicians, dance groups and poets to perform between speakers.

Demonstrations in wrestling, boxing and karate will be available for younger guests, Brown’s target audience.

“The main history goes to our young people,” Brown said. “We need to educate our young people about our history.”

Vendors will set up shop selling jewelry and clothing, as well as others selling dinners and desserts. Brown is also in the works of adding domestic violence and other health services to the expo.

“There are [health services] that I think we should always stay on top of,” he said. “[We need to] educate people about the sources around us so they can know how to get help.”

The event was inspired by the African Festival at Reservoir Park, which ended more than a decade ago. Brown said he saw a different attitude among the black community after the end of the festival.

“[The African Festival] brought a closer relationship among our race. I think everything got lost after they stopped, in the sense of being proud of who you are,” he said. “The biggest thing about doing [the expo] is bring that pride back and understanding and emphasizing the education of history.”

After pulling in people all across Harrisburg, from Hall Manor to Uptown and Allison Hill, Brown estimated the number of guests will reach 3,000. People who bring in an event flyer will be entered in a raffle to win one of the 80 prizes, including restaurant coupons and Susquehanna Art Museum tickets.

“We want everybody to be there to build a better bridge among races,” Brown said. “Understanding each other’s culture and having everyone attend. It’s a learning experience. Learning someone’s culture and understanding them a lot more than we hear and actually get the real facts.”

The African American Black History Expo will take place Saturday, June 16, noon to 6 p.m., in the HACC Midtown parking lot located near the corner of Reily and N. 3^rd streets, Harrisburg.

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