Harrisburg Happening

Crime in the Burg

2007-09-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

The 2006 FBI statistics are out and I've done the hard work for you, dear readers. It's almost official - as far as violent crimes per capita, Baltimore and Harrisburg are in a statistical dead heat. For rape, Harrisburg wins hands down. Yes, folks, you are five times as likely to be raped in Harrisburg as in Baltimore and three times as likely as if you walked the streets of DC.

Rates per 100,000 for various crime categories:

Harrisburg: Violent crime = 1690 Murder = 21 Forcible rape = 107
Savannah: Violent crime = 555 Murder =14 Forcible rape =30
DC: Violent crime = 1445 Murder =29 Forcible rape =31
Baltimore: Violent crime = 1696 Murder =43 Forcible rape =21
Philadelphia: Violent crime = 1562 Murder =28 Forcible rape =66

Source: FBI annual crime statistics http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html

Court House 4.0

2007-06-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Two possible sites just announced:

"I wanted to provide you with an update on our progress of site selection for a new courthouse in Harrisburg. GSA has reduced its long list of ten sites to a short list of two sites. These sites include: the southwest corner of 3rd and Pine Streets which is bounded by Pine Street, 3rd Street, Cranberry Street and Court Street; and the southeast corner of 2nd and Locust Streets which is bounded by Locust Street, Court Street, Walnut Street and 2nd Street. During the selection process, these two sites rated well overall in the following areas: · Identity of Site within the Community · Consistency with Adjacent Activities, Land Use and Community Character · Compatibility of Districts and Scale · Cost Factors GSA believes that these site alternatives would best fulfill its statutory mission and responsibilities, giving consideration to economic, environmental, technical and other factors. A final decision on the site selection is expected by early 2008. GSA will continue to have an open process throughout the project and continue to solicit public input. An e-mail address and a phone line have been setup to receive comments and suggestions regarding the new courthouse. The public may send e-mails to HarrisburgCourthouse@gsa.gov or call 215.446.4933.

We're Number One!!!

2007-05-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mayor Reed and the millions spent on the Harrisburg School District - we're number one in the ranks. Way to go! Give the Superintendent a bonus.

Oh, wait. I read the list backwards . . .

We're actually dead last - Number 500 our of 500 school districts in the state.

http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/05/21/daily24.html

A Master Plan, Public Comments Solicited

2007-05-24T07:26:00.001-07:00

What a fabulous idea. The City comes up with a master plan for development, holds a meeting, invites everyone to view the plans and make comments right then and there. People are heard, ideas exchanged . . . sound like a pipe dream?

It doesn't have to be.

http://savannahnow.com/node/291690

The State of the City

2007-05-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Guess what? The incinerator isn't making money! Real Estate taxes up 17% - school taxes due to go up quite a bit too. Great job, Mayor Reed.

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews/2007/05/harrisburg_incinerator_contrac.html

Commercial space on City Island

2007-05-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

If you don't mind flooding, there's commercial space for rent on City Island. Actually, just a press release and web site. But it looks as if plans for the Sports Hall of Fame have been resurrected - courtesy Mayor Reed.

http://nationalsportshalloffame.net/

$16 Million slush fund?

2007-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't catch the news, Reed just sold the Senators at a profit. But what's most interesting is a sentence from the news story:

"The next step, Reed said, is getting state support for renovation. The city has set aside $16 million and is eligible for $18.2 million in state funds, he said."

Okay, where is that $16 million sitting? Set aside? Where? Why hasn't it been used to balance the budget, pay for police or even for snow removal? More importantly, are there more pockets of money just lying around?

Please, someone audit this city!!!

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews/2007/05/mayor_to_talk_about_senators_s.html

Voter Alert

2007-05-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Dauphin County buried the school/tax referendum on the republican side of the ballot. You will miss it if you focus strictly on the democratic side of the ballot.

Calls to the Dauphin County election bureau were met with nonsense replies - they say Department of State is responsible for the layout. Department of State denies - they say all they do is send the question to the county and then the county decided where it goes on the ballot.

City Council Endorsements

2007-05-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like every blogger in the 'burg is busy endorsing city council candidates - no matter what the focus of their blog.

I'll stop short of endorsement, since I can't imagine what a blogger's endorsement is worth. But I can tell you that only two candidates showed up at my door -Susan Brown-Wilson and Kia Hansard. The rest haven't bothered - although the "Reed Team" sent a postcard claiming they missed me on their rounds, but sought my vote anyway.

Brown-Wilson in particular actually engaged in a lively discussion on the issues as she stood on my stoop. I was impressed.

New Midtown Master Plan

2007-04-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Mayor Reed makes another development announcement:

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews/2007/04/major_development_project_anno.html

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it would be nice to see one project actually happen before another is announced??

PHEAA's New Code of Ethics

2007-04-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

courtesy of "anonymous"

http://www.pheaa.org/about/CodeOfEthics.pdf

PHEAA in the hotseat

2007-04-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Despite the post from a PHEAA 'insider' on this blog, it does appear that PHEAA is involved in this whole scandal - at least as far as being a 'sponsor' of a conference put together by the now seemingly tainted Widener financial aid officer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/education/13loans.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Welcome Sallie Mae

2007-04-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

Gee, PHEAA has company. Sallie Mae is busy reading about PHEAA right here. Too funny.

PHEAA/AES Call to Ethics

2007-04-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

As my readers can see from a recent post by a self=proclaimed PHEAA employee, the quasi-private, quasi-public entity doesn't like being challenged. However, until PHEAA and its business arms publicly state they are abiding by the new ethics policy proposed by Cuomo for student lenders, their explanations don't have much credibility. So here's the challenge to the poster: Do you and the agency you work for follow these simple, no-nonsense rules?

1. Ban on Financial Ties. Lenders are prohibited from giving anything of value to any college in exchange for any advantage sought by the lender. This severs any inappropriate financial arrangements between lenders and schools and specifically prohibits "revenue sharing" arrangements.
2. Ban on Payments for Preferred Lender Status. Lenders may not pay or give colleges any financial benefits whatsoever to get on a college’s preferred lender list.
3. Gift and Trip Prohibition. Lenders are prohibited from giving college employees anything of more than nominal value. This includes a prohibition on trips for financial aid officers and other college officials paid for by lenders.
4. Advisory Board Rules. Lenders are prohibited from paying college employees anything of value for serving on the advisory boards of the lenders.
5. Call-Center and Staffing Prohibition. Lenders must ensure that employees of lenders never identify themselves to students as employees of the colleges. No employee of a lender may ever work in or providing staffing assistance a college financial aid office.
6. Disclosure of Range of Rates and Defaults. Lenders must disclose to any requesting school the range of rates they charge to students at the school, the number of borrowers at each rate at the school, and the lender’s historic default rate at the school. This will ensure that schools will have the information they need to select preferred lenders who are best for students and parents.
7. Loan Resale Disclosure. Lenders shall fully and prominently disclose to students and their parents any agreements they have to sell loans to any other lender.

Source: Press Release at http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2007/apr/apr11a_07.html

Sallie Mae caves

2007-04-11T12:06:00.001-07:00

Can PHEAA be far behind? Let the games begin . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/04/11/student.loan.probe.ap/index.html

Welcome AES Success

2007-04-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

How interesting that AES Success IP addresses are showing up. More interesting still the search they did to find the blog on Cuomo and PHEAA - they googled PHEAA and came up with several blog posts, mine included, questioning where Pennsylania's Attorney General is in all this and asking for investigation.

So, are folks at AES worried, or just wasting our student loan interest dollars on web searched for press on their company?

Is PHEAA/AES Next?

2007-04-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

In case you missed the news on student lenders, consider this. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is conducting a nation-wide investigation into student loan fraud and abuse - by lenders and college financial aid officers. Sallie Mae has been subpoenaed, some lenders have agreed to reimburse students and more investigations are coming.

The major complaint - that student loan companies paid financial aid officers with exotic trips, stock options, consulting contracts and other goodies to get on the preferred lender lists - controlled, of course, by the college financial aid officers.

So, is PHEAA/AES next? Didn't they just try to defend their lavish spending by saying they have to be competitive?

This is what Cuomo said in a news conference today:

"Cuomo said various officials have been examining the issue for about a year but his investigation was spurred after a lender came to him to complain about the domination of a few lenders in the lucrative market. Cuomo would not name the lender.
''The new lenders were saying because they weren't doing the conferences, they didn't have these relationships with financial aid offices, they weren't willing to do or hadn't been doing the financial aid incentive,'' Cuomo said. ''They couldn't even compete.''"

And where is our own Pennsylvania Attorney General in all this? Why no investigation? After all, two of the colleges allready named in the New York investigation are Pennsylvania institutions - the University of Pennsylvania and Widener.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Student-Loan-Probe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Reed Put Harrisburg on the Map

2007-04-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

just not as far West as he thought.

In case you didn't catch it, the New York Times has a front page stories on the Reed Follies today. That's right, front page Sunday edition.

It's not a good thing.

The article is a stinging criticism of the Mayor for Life, his artifact buying sprees and the way the were financed.
I can't link to the article, as it is one of the "premium" offerings. But go to today's edition and you will be treated to a slide show featuring Reed and others.

How to do development

2007-03-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

I think I'm beating a dead horse, but after 20+ years of watching oh-so-slow development in Harrisburg, I can't help it. Here's what the web site for a new development in Savannah looks like. The virtual tour is incredible. Sure beats a static page with no updates . . . or architectural drawings for museums that never materialize.

So, what is actually happening with the Boutique hotel on 2nd, the PAL building, the African-American Museum on Verbeke and Third, etc. The only action I see is HACC.

http://www.savannahriverlanding.com/virtual_tour.html

I've had it

2007-03-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

If you are wondering why I haven't posted for a while . . .. it's because I have had it - with Reed, with lawsuits, with development plans that never pan out, with unplowed streets, with layoffs and petty fights, with pie-in-the-sky budgets that don't allow any room for error.

Goodbye Harrisburg - I'm heading south

PAL Project

2007-02-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

By now, you have all probably heard about the PAL building project. I'd like to open up a discussion of what those of us who will clearly benefit can do to help. Any ideas?

I know that the project principals are fairly approachable as one emailed me about a month before the announcement, providing me with some early details. However, I also heard through the grapevine (AKA pennlive harrisburg forum) that the partners had been 'warned' to keep me out of the loop (gee, thanks, chip and jan - that's really helpful for development) Therefore, loyal readers - how about getting in touch with the developers and offering your support for their project as I may not have any influence even though I would be happy to volunteer some services such as copyediting - their website could use that.

Crime grants soon coming

2007-01-30T07:38:00.000-08:00

Here's news about a grant to fight crime coming up - since Harrisburg City reads this blog, maybe they can act on it.

"Feds plan $200M grant program aimed at curbing violent crimePosted 1/29/2007 10:43 PM ET
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
The Bush administration is proposing a $200 million grant program to help law enforcement agencies respond to surging violent-crime rates in cities across the nation, Justice Department officials said Monday.
The program would help local and state police agencies pay for officers' overtime, equipment and other expenses stemming from new regional task forces aimed at curbing violent crime, Domingo Herraiz, director of the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance, told USA TODAY.
The program has not been announced publicly; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is scheduled to begin briefing law enforcement officials on it this week.
The task forces would be staffed with federal, state and local officers to deal with a range of growing crime problems, including recent increases in gang-related violence, gun-related crimes and illegal sales of methamphetamine.
The grant plan marks the administration's broadest recognition yet of the threat posed by rising violent-crime rates.
The FBI reports that violent crimes — homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — increased 2.3% nationwide in 2005 compared with 2004, the first such rise since 1991. The trend has continued through the first half of 2006, the FBI reports.
If approved by Congress as part of President Bush's spending plan for the budget year that begins in October, the program also would symbolize a renewed interest in federal funding for local police initiatives, which often have taken a backseat to homeland security programs since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The grant program — known as the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership Initiative — would not, however, be designed to help police agencies hire new officers.
Instead, it would allow local and state agencies to apply for grants of $30,000-$200,000 to better deploy and equip officers who make up the anti-crime task forces, said Herraiz and Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, the Justice Department's director legal policy.
Herraiz said dozens of cities could be eligible for the grants. He said agencies applying for grants would have to outline specific strategies to attack violent crime, and show improvements in crime rates to be eligible for further funding.
Police chiefs' groups such as the Police Executive Research Forum have called repeatedly for the White House to reprise the Clinton administration's $8 billion police hiring program that added tens of thousands of officers to the nation's streets.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the group, said the grant program falls well short of that, but "is a step in the right direction."
"It is encouraging that the Justice Department recognizes the significant change in violent crime across the country," he said."

Court House 3.0

2007-01-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

The new long list is out, and boy did they relax the requirements. My favorite site is N. 6th and Reily.

"January 30, 2007

Dear Community Leader:

I would like to update you on the plans to acquire a site for the construction of a new federal courthouse in Harrisburg. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has moved forward in this process and has evaluated a number of sites for the relocation of the U.S. Courthouse. GSA revised and relaxed certain site criteria including size, budget and floodplain requirements in order to broaden the search for sites within the city limits.

GSA is currently reviewing a long list of sites for the new U.S. Courthouse location. These sites include:
S. Front and Sycamore Streets
Eastern corner of 2nd and Paxton Streets
Western corner of 2nd and Paxton Streets
N. 6th and Reily Streets
Maclay and Cameron Streets
Scottish Rite Cathedral – N. 3rd and Wiconisco Streets
3rd and Pine Streets
2nd and Locust Streets
7th and Boas Streets
Dauphin County Administration Building – 2nd and Market Streets

We have set up an e-mail address and a phone line to receive your inquiries regarding the new courthouse. Please send your e-mails to HarrisburgCourthouse@gsa.gov or you may call 215.446.4933. Written comments may also be sent to my attention at:

General Services Administration, Mid-Atlantic Region
Attention: Abby Low, Project Manager
20 N. 8th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3191

You are also invited to attend the Public Meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, February 21 from 6:30 pm – 8:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel located at 23 South Second Street. The meeting will be held in Ballrooms A & B. This meeting will be an informal open house where you will learn more about the project and site selection process.

We look forward to working with you to bring a new, state of the art U.S. Courthouse to the City of Harrisburg. This facility will make a positive, long lasting impact on the region, and we are honored to be involved with this project. I will continue to share appropriate information as we proceed with this project.

Sincerely,

Abby Low
Project Manager
GSA Public Buildings Service
Mid-Atlantic Region"

Reed's Disconnect

2007-01-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't noticed, Reed has been announcing all sorts of development plans, while at the same time telling us all that if we have a major snowstorm, the City will be bankrupt.

Now, how stupid is that? Announce plans for construction without any signed tenants yet, and then tell those prospective business tenants that they won't be able to open if it snows? And that the city can't provide basic services like police, fire and thrash removal during the winter?

another project?

2007-01-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

There's another major announcement on development this week - for Third and Reilly across from the new HACC campus.

"Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed and representatives of Powers & Associates LLC are to announce plans today for a major new office and retail complex at 1426 N. Third St. in the city. Joining the mayor at today's announcement at the site will be developers Tom Powers, president and CEO; Doug Neidich, chairman, and John Tierney, chief operating officer. The first floor will provide street-level retail space while the upper floors will offer office space for commercial and retail tenants.The historically styled four-story project estimated to cost $11 million is to be built on the site of the former Baker Garage at North Third and Reily streets.The site is across from the former Evangelical Press building, which is being renovated by Powers & Associates to become part of the new Midtown Campus of Harrisburg Area Community College.Demolition work is expected to begin within two months, with construction of the new building to follow. Completion is expected by summer 2008."

Again, I'll believe it when I see it . . .