Harrisburg City Council Legislative Session 7/9/2024

time is 6: PM I would like to officially

call our legislative session to

order Mr Parker could you please call

the

role Miss

Daniels Ms Davis

present Miss green present

Mr Jones

here M

rolls Mr Rodriguez presid Miss

Bowers presid uh please note that

councilwoman RW is excused uh for

tonight's

meeting the invocation will be led by

councilwoman

Davis thank you president Bowers can we

have a moment of quiet to reflect on the

loss for the families of

the Allen family and the Jackson

family let's just hold that moment

please thank

you thank you councilwoman Davis the

Pledge of Allegiance will be led by vice

president

green to the flag of the United States

of America to the Republic for it stands

God

indivis

andice thank you vice president green

for communications this evening we are

joined by Mr Jakari LX a very talented

athlete um we are going to recognize

some of his athletic

accomplishments uh Jakari I have a

proclamation if you don't mind indulging

me for a few minutes as I share about

some of the things that you've

done city of Harrisburg Pennsylvania

office of city council and office of

city

clerk Proclamation whereas the city of

Harrisburg applauds Harrisburg native

Jakari LX on a decorated track and field

career Jakari competed in the triple

jump as one of 24 athletes during the

2024 Olympic trials held at Hayward

Field in Eugene Oregon on Friday June

28th

2024 and whereas Jakari was educated in

the Harrisburg School District he

graduated from Harrisburg High School

scitech campus in

2019 and whereas Jakari is a 2018 PIAA

state champion in the triple jump his

high school personal best was a

14.83 m triple jump and whereas Jakari

is a scholar athlete he earned a

Bachelor of Science degree in

information technology from Youngstown

State

University and whereas Jakari is one of

the most decorated athletes in

Youngstown State University track and

field

history he is the first penguin in

history to win the triple jump as a

freshman in

2020 with a mark of

14.88 M he broke the triple jump School

record with a mark of 15.26%

League Outdoor championships five

Horizon League indoor triple jump

championships and two long jump

championships now therefore be it hereby

proclaimed that Harrisburg city council

commends Jakari LX on his dedication to

his sport and competing at the highest

level of national competition and be it

further Proclaim that Harrisburg city

council wishes to extend best wishes and

continue to success in all your future

endeavors signed Michael J Parker city

clerk signed and attested in the city of

Harrisburg Pennsylvania excuse me city

clerk Michael J Parker Danielle El

Bowers Harrisburg city council

congratulations

[Applause]

know that we were so excited we were

cheering you on from the city the city

was definitely behind you and we're

supportive of all of your future

endeavors but we wanted to uh take a

moment to acknowledge you and recognize

your talent so if you wouldn't mind I'd

like to get a photo of us if that's okay

thank you

not

am

we will now move to Courtesy of the

floor just a few housekeeping notes

before we begin please state your name

and your address for the meeting record

if you don't feel comfortable sharing

your address please share the vicinity

in which you live within the city you

will have four minutes to share your

comments

Mr Parker will serve as our timekeeper

and I will begin to my right is there

anyone that would like to offer a public

comment

okay hi uh my name is Keith bence and I

live at 1820 Holly

Street um I have kind of like two

questions one

um the officer that's on duty at uh the

Giant on Klein Village is he actually on

duty or is he there in some other

capacity um and the second question or

if you want to go right to uh um you

just do you do you got a badge number

and all that uh no it's it's a

particular officer and on occasion

there's another one they show up there

and there in full dress uniform I'm

assuming that they're there as part of

the police force but they're inside kind

of like so what I can do Mr Ben is uh

and inquire about that and get back to

you um Mr I mean Mr Grover yeah our

officers are have a a the right to be

detailed when it's not their regular

working hours okay cuz I wasn't sure

whether it was his official capacity to

be there but it's as a law enforcement

officer but what happens is just like

when we have there's a group of officers

downtown on Thursday and Friday Saturday

nights they're on a detail we have

officers over at the hospital they're

are a detail so that's what that is okay

I know I only have four minutes the

second question is um the community

service AIDS Duty or is it their duty to

uh be policing the

Firelane at uh that same clein Village

site

far as far as parking and you you're

coming with it today right uh um far as

the fire lanane the people that's not

supposed to be parked there um

absolutely they do have the ability to

ticket um and so do the regular police

officers and I don't know if that willly

be able to do that more in the

detail Okay the reason why I bring all

this up is I was a witness to some

extremely upsetting situation this

afternoon around actually around

11:30 um a woman with all her kids in

the car was basically descended upon by

about five police

officers um I don't know the full story

since I wasn't there at the very

beginning of it and so forth but my

arrival had all three of the community

service AIDS

there prior to her even parking in the

fire lane and as I was leaving and I

wasn't able to leave because of all the

police officers and their vehicles

parked at the entrance and egress or or

the yeah the entrance and an exit of um

right there by the McDonald's and so

forth so um it's it's a shame that if we

are trying to get our youth and other

people to um deescalate and so forth

from the tensions that are going on in

the city right now that um you have to

have that many officers when you have

someone who could walk up from the Giant

and not have five police cars to send on

a

family

so thank you if you'd like to stay and

speak with councilman Jones a a little

more on the issue following the meeting

TR thank you thank you is there anyone

else to my right that would like to

offer public comments

um all right hello um my name is Michael

Buck um I live at 423 Walnut Street um

in The Old City Hall Apartments um I

moved here actually last month um and

for my first job out of college um so

I'm trying to do something a little

different in terms of my career um I

work at a bank right now but I also have

done a lot of community service for the

region that I used to come from um I'm a

little shy speaking up front so that's

why I'm shaking a little bit um I come

from Charlotte North Carolina um and

there I participated in a lot of uh

community service organizations um most

notably um honor societies within my

University

um I volunteered in theid tax uh

organization which helped do tax

preparation um for those with

disabilities you know senior residencies

was in the area minority speaking

residents um

and what I'm doing up what I'm trying to

do up here is trying to get myself more

directly involved with my community

again um that's kind of like a lot of

that I do it's not just helping my job

but um helping other people in my

community um I know I'm so particularly

new um but if you guys have any

recommendations of where to best put my

skill sets to use I have a extensive

background in the Air Force um I'm an

eagle scout um graduated in finance i'

I'm definitely really good at accounting

so U if you guys know where I can be

best of use for the community let me

know not it's totally fine um I love

coming to these meetings just to hear

what's going on in the community see

where I can help potentially um and then

lastly I also want to give appreciation

to uh councilman Lamont Jones for your

work in breaking the chains for ask at

risk youth um there was a lot that I did

in my community for those types uh

people in my community especially in my

high school and Hope High School there's

a lot of uh issues with that school um

and so I join Student Government try

help the get the students more involved

um in some of the policies within the

schools so I really appreciate the work

that you do there um that's really it

thank you um do you have a business card

um I do not I have a LinkedIn if you

want it well I can just give you mine

and you can reach out to me and I can

help you yeah no problem thank you very

much thank

you is there anyone else to my right

that would like to offer public comment

uh what do I say first your name oh uh

my name is Toby uh I'm a homeless

person uh I'm not really staying near

the pend dot uh Place anymore but I am

around

Harrisburg um I I just wanted to say

that uh sat on Saturday I uh set up up a

tent near the river front and within

around

three 3 to four hours um six to seven

police officers basically came over

there and started harassing me and told

me to take my tent

down

um they

uh I I'm just wondering I guess my

biggest question is

is is that really uh what we want our

like law enforcement to be doing like

that's a lot of officers to go harass uh

either I guess they thought there was

more than one person there but I I was

only one person um and I just feel like

they could be doing anything else like

um I'm I'm just wondering if that's

that's what want them to be

doing uh with public tax dollars and

just in

general that's my

question thank you Toby um if you'd like

to speak to councilman Jones further as

well following the

meeting can anybody answer that question

here yeah I can answer no we don't want

our tax dollars spent like that um but

again we will definitely have a

conversation and see um like you said it

could have been they thinking it was

more people um however it is no we don't

want to see our citizens harassed by

anyone let alone a police officer or tax

dollars being spent in that manner it

was six it was like six to seven of them

yes and I'm I'm agreeing with you that

we don't want to see our tax dollars

spent in that manner um but and and for

future reference if something like that

happens um and you feel intimidated or

something like that be sure and this is

for anyone in the public be sure to get

a badge number and a name um so we can

know who to directly uh to address with

those concerns yeah um

unfortunately uh I couldn't do that

because I was pretty shaken out at the

time um and the reason I had to set up a

tent on thead Riverfront or near it is

because uh when I was at the encampment

I think this was like maybe 1 to two

weeks ago or something I called the

non-emergency hotline hoping to report a

crime not to have any officers come out

or anything like that

and uh apparently officers did come out

and started just saying my name to

absolutely everybody

and they

said uh as well as the people who I

called uh to

report so I I feel like this is just

making the this this city safe for

people who do uh criminal activities

instead of people who uh report them and

I I don't think that's very safe

to be honest and I feel like that should

be checked

into I

will okay uh if you want to stay behind

so I can get some information from you

uh if you can I I need to

go okay have a good day you too excuse

me uh Mr Toby if you could please State

your last

name uh no okay not a

problem thank you is there anyone else

my right that would like to offer public

[Music]

comment good evening my name is Wendy

Banks I live uptown

Harrisburg um I have had several

meetings with the mayor um couple

council members I spoke with I was

assaulted on my

property um I decided to handle it the

proper way the proper channels to the

Harrisburg Police

department they dropped the

investigation decided that they

ultimately wanted to press charges on me

because they saw me um engaging in the

altercation on my property as well I saw

I showed the mayor the video of what

happened the mayor's words to me were

why didn't I blow his head off I told

her I didn't have a gun nonetheless the

commissioner told her she shouldn't have

made those statements

um I'm here because I've been fighting

for $2,000 worth of

restitution they admitted that they were

wrong they put me on the books to cut me

a check they cut me a check no Grover

for

$1,000 which was not even half my my

truck was damaged my phone was

damaged um to tun to say 4,000 I just

wanted my phone repaired which was

,000 um they told me I had to file civil

when it was their officers who made the

mistake I spoke to commissioner Carter

he told me to get in contact with Grover

uh Grover was very rude to me nasty hung

up on me told me he didn't owe me an

explanation as to why I only got $1,000

which I left here I didn't take it so I

want to know what I need to do who I

need to speak to to get the rest of my

res tion this is going on 3 years and

it's egregious to me because there were

other ways that this could have been

handled but because I tried to be mature

and let you guys handle it this is the

thanks I get again I've spoken with

council members and the mayor and the

commissioner and nothing has been done

it's a legal dispute if she wants to

pursue legal Avenue she can pursue legal

Avenues the city position is we owe her

nothing we do not damage her property we

offered to settle a matter because it

was a disputed matter um we we do not

pay people because they knock on the

door and say they didn't like what an

officer did but that's not what it was

your officers I'm not going toate eiac

your officer quit so therefore she was

the main person in charge I gave her all

the restitution arm receipts and

everything that was supposed to be

included they did not include it when

she left some another officer picked up

the case and they told me because the

incident they saw me hitting him on my

property that they would have to press

charges against me which I said fine but

when they repress charges and I gave

them all those receipts that were

supposed to be included in to the case

they never got included in so I don't

understand why do I have to file Civ if

your officers are the ones who did not

include the proper paperwork the first

officer had included it but it did not

go any further than that when she quit

so no one had picked it up no one was

going to pick it up until I had to go

and do further investigation as to what

was going on so I don't understand how

if Chief soron said that you guys owe me

because you guys didn't handle it right

why am I being

assaulted again basically and then

you're just nasty and like you don't owe

me anything your officers owe me your

officers owe me the duty of filing the

case right if the case would have been

filed properly all of my receipts should

have been included in the restitution

Pianka charged this man with property

damage the property that he damaged was

mine no restitution I don't get

anything but I'm supposed to go and

spend my money to file civil

and you don't want to I don't I don't

get an explanation you say you cut me

$1,000 and take it or leave it yeah I

left it because that's not even half of

what was owed to me ma'am I'm sorry your

time has expired thank

you thank you is there anyone else to my

right that would like to offer public

comment seeing and hearing no one anyone

in the middle section

good evening my name is Andrea

Brown I am

homeless um so I wanted to bring to the

attention about an incident that took

place with me with an officer this was

with a I want to say a few

officers um and this was back

I want to say in

probably

January December of

2023 I was living at 1834 Regina street

at the time and

um the the house that I was living in

was being operated unlawfully as a

rooming house I didn't know that at the

time that it was being operated as such

and I was living in the house where with

four Hispanic Mexican gentlemen um and I

I just say that you know just to um let

you know the Dynamics of of the

arrangement so I was the only woman in

the house and there was a lot of

drinking a lot of loud music being

played um so and they were really unruly

and disrespectful to me the my

co-tenants at the time um

and so the officers been called

because they they would constantly be

disrespectful and and we just was

getting into arguments and the officers

was more so um coming at me as if well

you can you find somewhere else to move

to instead of really like resolving the

problem or the issues wouldn't really

talk to the the gentleman

wouldn't talk to the landlord

like as if he needed to you know um Step

Up and handle what was going on because

it was it was a dispute that was known

to the landlord that I had brought to

his attention um and so it was a few

times that the officers were called and

they came out um even after the

gentlemen they claimed to have lost

their keys and they were breaking into

to the house basically they they would

the officers were telling me that um

they had the right to do that because

they lived in the house

and so it was just really uncomfortable

for me and in the situation

then um there was a a

sexual violent I had a SVP sexual

violent um protection order against one

of the the tenants that was there

and when I went finally to report

because I didn't report it immediately

to the cops um I did to tell the

landlord who lived out of state so um

basically he assured me that the tenants

would be put out that didn't happen and

so um things escalated between us

because I had filed the the SVP against

the tenant and because a few of them

were related

they it's like their attacks Amplified

and so um when I finally did go to the

officers to the police

department they really weren't helpful

to me at all they kind of made me feel

as

if I was the problem or as if I was in

the wrong I was the

victim and so um I just don't understand

why why it has come to this it's like

the officers have really gotten relaxed

about

helping helping

citizens like myself

um and I just don't

understand I just can some light be

shine

ma'am your time has expired thank you

thank

you thank you is there anyone else in

the middle section that would like to

offer public

[Music]

comment

please I have four copies four

handouts sir if you want to go to the

microphone please thank you I'll be over

to get those for

you I am I am Jeff Glatt retired from 30

years of audit for Private Industry

Warren Buffett's Berkshire haway and

lastly the world's largest Dairy

Cooperative based in New Zealand I have

lived at the same address apartment for

23 years townhouse apartments 660 boa

Street on the 11th floor I have been

concerned with my safety the outof state

New York landlord is uncom

uncommunicative very private and costc

conscious in the

Extreme as the 23 years elapsed I am

concerned that the landlord may not have

sufficient Workforce and assets to keep

the 20 story building in good

repair I learned of the Harrisburg City

bureau of

codes tenant landlord complaint process

in November

2023 I filed a complaint the this is the

complaint that uh I filed which is in

your in your

packet

um the inspection happened immediately

after filing the complaint the code

enforcement officer contacted the

property and the and the property asked

my permission to enter my apartment to

re to repair windows within city codes

so far so good during the inspection the

enforcement officer said the condition

in my apartment appeared in the city's

enforcement 200

2018 database I was never advised of any

2018

non-compliance I asked if I could get a

copy of the

current 2023 inspection report the

enforcement officer said no he would

handle informally and verbally he said

he knew the maintenance manager at

executive house who also served

townhouse he said I should look at the

complaint process on the reverse side of

the city's Complaint Form which is the

process described on the on the back of

the form I did in my in my instance for

my complaint the process was not

followed nothing seemed to be put in

writing even though non-compliance

existed none of the three actions

possible were implemented I asked for a

tracking number for my complaint I got

no reply to my to my

emails if I the back of the form

indicates if I want to track the

complaint disposition I was to go to my

district justice I went to mdj1

12-24 The Honorable Sonia mcnight but

workers at the court knew nothing about

the City process they had never seen at

the court they had never seen this form

and as you can see I had them stamp the

form that I showed them uh dated

November 24 2023 they stamp both the

front and the back of the of the form

but they had no knowledge of of that

process because of my experience I

wonder how many complaints citations are

written annually since there are

multiple Enforcement Officers is there

benefit to tracking the output of each

our Enforcement Officers rotated to give

a fresh set of eyes to each landlord

property our landlords assessed

penalties the city has a uh Clause 8-11

15.99 called penalties does the Bureau

of codes report total penalties f signes

collected annually such reporting might

indicate the effectiveness of the bureau

and help reassure tenants of City

monitoring if landlords are asked to

annually attest compliance with

Pennsylvania and city codes S should

such than sir your time has expired

thank

you thank you is there anyone else in

the middle section that would like to

offer public comment seeing and hearing

no one anyone to my

left good

afternoon my my name is Evelyn hunt and

I live on State Street and I do not know

what I'm doing with this

thing

[Music]

okay it's turned off thank you first of

all I'd like to thank the people at

Public Works they will probably tell you

I ambushed them I went out there and

gave them a list of things that I was

not pleased with and they quickly dealt

with it and one was cutting the grass at

Reservoir Park two was filling in the

numerous potholes in apricot alley and

three was coming to look back at the

tree on State Street

the problem that we have when we call

the people that deal with the trees they

come and say the tree is healthy the

tree is not the issue the issue is it's

the public safe because the trees are

leaning so far forward and in addition

to that they're pulling up the sidewalks

where it's dangerous for people to walk

in the evening who aren't familiar with

the area because they can't see the

sidewalks or ra uh raised because the

trees are so big and so old and they

came to look at the issues that I was

unhappy about the other issue I had was

something that happened last week and I

talked to the chief of the fire

department the public needs to be made

aware of the fact that when there is a

fire they may not drive over the water

hoses and when we have a fire on State

Street the

fire hydrants are on the north side of

State Street at the fire is on the south

side of State Street which it was this

time the fire hydrant is at 19th no 19th

in state the fire was at ly street so

that fire hose had to go completely

across the street and the issue we had

was uh the police department they

couldn't get up there as fast as what

should have been because we had people

trying to drive over the

hoses and I don't know what

uh commu Community AIDS I don't I don't

know if that's their correct title um

what they do or can they come and help

when there's an issue with the fire

department when they need some people to

uh help control the

traffic I would think not I would think

the police would be more

um responsible to be there versus the

community service AIDS that's out of

their scope the police are much at least

I assume they're much busier the problem

again if it's like after five community

service AIDS aren't they're not on the

clock okay but we do need quicker

responses to help deal with traffic

especially when you have issues on big

streets like State Street Cameron Street

Market Street when they block the whole

street and the public wants to get

across yes but maybe that's a question

for the Department of Traffic and

Engineering if there's any signage or

assistance they might be able to provide

in those um instances okay the uh uh

chief of the fire department told me

something I didn't know that when you

sign your registration form you are

acknowledging that you know all of the

things about uh yes

it's in your driver's license test it is

yeah and okay I took that 50 some years

ago I don't remember anything in there

other than you don't cross certain lines

thank you thank you is there anyone else

that would like to offer public

comment thank you we will move forward

with our meeting agenda next we have the

approval of minutes for the legislative

session that occurred on June 25th 2024

council members are there any revisions

to those

minutes okay seeing and hearing none the

minutes stand approved next we have

reports of committees the first report

you will hear I will deliver on behalf

of the administration committee on the

work session that occurred on July 2nd

2024 on Tuesday July 2nd 2024 the

administration committee met to discuss

two resolutions

resolution 42 of 2024 a resolution

appointing Mr Joel ciders to serve on

the Coordinating Committee and the

technical Committee of the Harrisburg

area transportation study or more

commonly referred to as hats resolution

43 of

2024 a resolution appointing Mr Todd web

to serve on the Coordinating Committee

and as an alternate member to the

technical Committee of the Harrisburg

area transportation study or hats Mr

ciders and Mr web were present on behalf

of the administration Mr ciders and Mr

web both introduced themselves Mr ciders

is the new city engineer his background

includes bridge design Construction and

building design Mr web serves as a

project manager within the department of

engineering council members asked uh the

following questions Rel related to

impact and any potential conflicts of

interest Mr cider's goal is to direct

more federal funds to the city of

Harrisburg Mr web's goal is to find

better opportunities to improve Public

Safety there are no known conflicts of

interest I encourage my colleagues to

support resolution 42 of 2024 and

resolution 43 of

2024 to ensure the city of of Harrisburg

has a greater active membership serving

on the Coordinating Committee and the

technical Committee of the Harrisburg

area transportation study this concludes

the report of the administration

committee the next report you will hear

will be delivered by chair Davis our

building and housing committee chair on

the work session of July 2nd

2024 thank you president Bowers good

evening everyone

on July 2nd 2024 during the work session

the building and housing department met

to discuss and answer questions in

regards to the city of

harrisburg's annual action plan in

attendance was director Gloria Martin

Roberts Mr Jason Graves the director of

Economic Development and Miss Tama Moore

council members had the opportunity to

ask questions a few questions asked were

how much money remains in the ESG

funding account who can apply for the

application workshop being held on July

23rd

20124 are new nonprofits encouraged to

apply for

funding how are the services ESG shared

with

the community in Partnership to support

the unhoused

population and where are we in terms of

the cdbg ES G funds for

2022 Mr Neil Grover suggests that

council members meet and select a date

by the end of July early August prior to

the deadline for public

comment regarding the annual action plan

this is the end of my report and I will

refer this to the next legislative

session thank

you thank you chair Davis we have two

ordinances for first reading Bill four

of 2024 and Bill 5 of

2024 Mr Parker could you please read

both bills into the record yes Bill four

of

2024 an ordinance delegating authority

to the Secretary of

Transportation Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania Department of

Transportation to file with the

Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

as may be acquired for and on behalf of

the city of Harrisburg an application

for the construction SL

reconstruction of the 17th Street Bridge

crossing over railroad property and for

the appropriation of necessary rights of

way Bill five of

2024 an ordinance delegating authority

to the Secretary of Transportation

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department

of Transportation to file with the p

Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

as may be required for and on behalf of

the city of Harrisburg an application

for the construction SL reconstruction

of the mlay Street Bridge Crossing Over

Rail Road property and for the

appropriation of any necessary rights of

way thank you Bill four of 2024 and Bill

5 of

2024 will both move to the

administration committee we do not have

any ordinances for Amendment or

ordinances for final passage we will

move to resolutions the first resolution

for consideration this evening is

resolution 39 of 2024 Mr Parker could

you please read it into the record yes

resolution 39 of

2024 a resolution to consider the

application for a certificate of

appropriateness to demolish the property

and expand the surface slot located at

1511 North Front Street Harrisburg PA

which the city of harrisburg's

historical Architectural Review Board

recommends be

denied thank you council members are

there any questions comments or concerns

related to resolution 39 of

2024 yes I have a few questions

I will entertain a motion to suspend the

rules for further discussion so move is

there a second second thank you if you

gentlemen wouldn't mind using the

microphone and introducing yourselves

before we We Begin

questions good evening my name is Adam

de bernardis I'm an attorney with MCN

Wallace and NK and I'm here on behalf of

the applicant thank

you Adam Kerr on behalf of EI Associates

and the owner 1515 uh North frun Street

LLC Sean Fitz Simmons with Landmark

commercial realy um I represent the

landlord on for his Leasing and Sales

from his properties thank you Mr Knight

and Jeffrey Knight planning director

thank you councilman Jones yes how are

you guys doing doing well how about

yourself good good good took some time

and um read the letter I guess you're

the attorney that submitted it that's

correct so uh my colleague Ash MC was

here before you last month I'm here

filling in he's actually on a family

vacation this week okay yeah so I was

reading through this and um as you guys

came before Council before um we we

asked that uh the owners would actually

try to find um alternate Solutions uh

rather than knocking the building down

um and I see that you guys have um

explored but I want to ask how how did

you explore some of these suggestions

did you actually go out and talk to

people in the community um and see if

someone else can rent the space from you

guys or anything like that so to start

the property has been vacant for now

approaching two years it has been up for

lease uh and they have been unable to

secure a tenant um as you already

mentioned from the last council meeting

we went and explored some additional

options that the council had requested

now some of the things uh would require

specific designs to determine the cost

and whatnot and that those were all

outlined uh in the letter yeah I saw

that they they weren't actual numbers

you they were just you looked at other

projects and compared and Ed those

numbers in that correct correct so in

order to get a specific cost scenario

we'd actually have to have an

architectural design for what we're

going to build and put together in order

to figure out what the actual cost would

be so we did comparisons based on

existing projects Okay so so um and all

all I will I mean just reading your

letter but I want to just have this on

record

so from this and you see you guys seem

to have not found another alternative so

what is your suggestion what is your

request now to knock it down still so

this request is for the certificate of

appropriateness the overall project

requires the demolition of the building

to address several non-conformities

which would allow for addition parking

on that larger property which would be

uh consolidated and a medical facility

will will be uh the tenant for the

remaining building there at uh 1515 okay

and for the record Mr Knight if you

don't mind your original stance um on

why this building should not be Tor down

um well the planning bureau's original

stance was a recommendation of denial um

and that was um upheld by the

Architectural Review Board during their

meeting um after reviewing the

documentation and speaking informally um

with um board members uh our stance has

not

changed okay um that's all the questions

that I have I don't know if my

colleagues have any other

questions I'll just inquire councilman

Rodriguez any follow-up questions um no

questions for me thank you vice

president green any follow-up questions

no I don't have any questions thank you

thank you councilwoman Davis any

follow-up questions no thank you for

providing the information that Council

asked our pleasure thank you

councilwoman Daniels any followup

questions thank you president Baris um I

just will I will say this to you guys

too um that um for me um I have to go

with the recommendation of of uh Mr

Knight and these guys because um I

didn't really see any

other attempts to try to bring some

other type of business to this place and

again I believe I can speak for uh

myself I speak for myself on this but

knocking down a building here in the

city and just um and I understand again

the business aspect of this but just

knocking down a a building and not

putting anything back um it's something

um I don't think our city needs at this

time we really need um either business

or some um living space for people a lot

of things that are happened in the city

of Harrisburg so for me I just wanted to

be able to let you know why I'll be

voting no understood councilman and if I

could just follow up to that to say the

goal here is to be able to use that

property they both remain vacant and

have been vacant for approaching two

years this is a solution in order to

make use of that property to also

improve the look of Front Street and

also provide a very important need to

the community in that area uh with that

Medical Group I agree with that however

there is um if you're if you're going to

beautify the area that's one thing but

again we're if you can't find anyone to

use the space as I see in your documents

you say the property is worth

350,000 it may be time to just move on

cash

out yeah the issue there uh is that

second floor is has 7 foot ceilings so

the the usability of it is almost

impossible I mean if if you if you guys

excuse me if I can speak if you guys did

look at some of the comps that we have

here and compare to them and you've

looked at some you have a lot of them

well that's my job right you guys ask

for them we provide them but the if you

looked at some of the costs associated

with trying to get that building up

to whatever it may be what whether it be

you know apartments or anything along

those lines I think you could see it's

the the cost outweighs the comps and in

saying that you know I I don't

know if anyone would make the decision

to try to rehab a building that they're

going to lose money on hand I get it

that's the business and I've seen it

turning it into a a living space I think

you guys would recoup in about 15

years right

yeah based on the calculation with no

additional cost expenses but just even

recoup that initial investment would

take about 15 years and that doesn't

include the taxes and everything else

you're paying in that 15year span any

type of upkeep on the property if that

was a living space the landlord would be

responsible to keep up with obviously

with all the utilities and keep up with

everything there and and and maintenance

on all hbac and everything else that

goes along with that so I mean your

expenses definitely outweigh and I and I

get that and again um I just have to

share with you guys again I just I just

can't approve me personally can't

approve of knocking this building down

and making it into a parking lot um and

I understand the business aspect of it

um you guys are just in a tough spot

with this one in my opinion thank you

for sharing councilman councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam president um

thank you gentlemen for joining us this

evening um when you you had mentioned

the 2-year Mark a few times so I was

just curious on what were your I guess

approaches on promotion or advertising

for the unit to try to get someone in

the building we have a marketed at

Landmark commercial realy and we have

multiple properties up and down Front

Street I think you guys have probably

seen our signs quite a bit we we uh you

know we are try to be one of the Premier

commercial real estate brokers in the

market so you know he he engaged us to

help him with that we put them on lopet

WE cxy co-star all of the online

platforms they out cold call we've done

everything possible okay you know to try

to get these buildings filled but it's

just a tough call well it's a tough call

the parking is is is an issue and and

having the building you know the Second

Story build the two-story building

there with really no no use as is is

also a problem I mean I I take people

through I I show

155 regularly it it always becomes an

issue because we have the building next

door 1511 and we don't have an answer

for it thank you thank you for

that any other final questions or

comments one more thing I think it's

important to think about this too I mean

as a build building owner you're going

to make your profits are under roof you

know this isn't this isn't because we

want to tear the building down it's

because it's the last resort in what

we've been looking at and what we've

investigated and everything and all our

our efforts you know you make more money

under roof than you do in a parking lot

absolutely no doubt it's just to the

point where that roof can't make us any

more money and what it also does for the

city is take away tax money and you do

that well if the other building sits

vacant year you're taking away tax money

also I mean losing a building versus one

sitting someone eventually pick it up I

like again I get it I I manage 10,000

square fet right down the street here on

Second Street 15 30 um offices 15 off

street parking and can't get a anyone to

go in there just not the this is a

different era after Co

man we have had success Renning up and

down Front Street and some of the other

properties the major things we're

running into is the parking if you guys

have looked in that lot or been to that

lot you understand and if you would have

walk through that building you'd

understand what I'm talking about also

it's not something that we want to do

it's something that we think is a necess

to keep a property

viable I would like to reiterate that uh

the number of parking spaces within this

block will not change as a part as a

part of this there are currently 19

spaces because of the spaces that lost

due the configuration and the connection

point to the neighboring property at

1500 North Second Street where they will

lose three additional properties also

owned by um the same entity there is

going to be no net increase in parking

spaces and if that property is actually

not owned by the same entity one of the

owners does have a stake in that

property but it is not the same entity

and the parking while we may only met

three spaces I would just clarify that

the parking is being increased to 22

spaces but the size is being increased

to comply with the required size by the

Harrisburg codes currently they do not

comply there are even parking spots that

move too far to the West um that extend

off of the properties and this would

clean that up and also add an additional

access um to the east away from the

property I would also like to clarify

that the code zoning code does not

require these place these spaces to

change they are considered legally

non-conforming spaces because they exist

they predate the current zoning

regulations the city is not requiring

them to change the spaces that is

correct just cleans up the

non-conformity that's all what it also

does is create a much better flow in the

parking lot because while we have those

spaces a lot of them if I park my truck

in one of those spaces there one of the

ones on the right of me or the left of

me is is not useful you can't the flow

is not there there's just if if you

stood in that parking lot you'd

understand exactly what we're talking

about and have you seen if you saw the

parking lot with five or six cars in it

suppos going to have 15 plus spaces

you'll understand what I'm talking

about thank you I'll entertain a motion

to resume our legislative session is

there a second second thank you we have

before us resolution 39 of 20124 Mr

Parker could you read it one more time

please yes resolution 39 of

2024 a resolution to consider the

application for a certificate of

appropriateness to demolish the property

and expand the surface lot located at

1511 North Front Street Harrisburg PA

which the city of harrisburg's

historical Architectural Review Board

recommends be

denied thank you council members are

there any final questions comments or

concerns related to resolution 39 of

2024 Madam president yes because of the

nature of the resolution and it's how

it's structured this is not the normal

yay or nay because because the

resolution is to consider so in the

motion it has to basically be a motion

to U Grant certificate of

appropriateness because it's got to be a

positive motion and if the answer is nay

that that's the answer um so that would

be the approach there would be a motion

to Grant the certificate and if the

answer is no is no then still the same

results the decision is the same as the

board got you yeah but that just it's

just the way they structure under our

our St our ordinance gotcha so

thank

you

so uh I move to Grant the certificate of

appropriateness I'll

second Mr Parker can you please call the

role yes

Miss Daniels

no misss Davis

yes Miss green

yes Mr

Jones

nay Mr Rodriguez

no Miss Bowers

no the motion to

Grant uh the the certificate of

appropriateness uh has been

denied four n to I'm sorry one two three

four yeah four Nays to two

Ys thank you next we have resolution 42

of

2024 Mr Parker could you please read it

into the

record resolution 42 of

2024 a resolution appointing Mr Joel

ciders to serve on the Coordinating

Committee and the technical Committee of

the Harrisburg area transportation study

otherwise known as hats thank you

council members are there any questions

comments or concerns related to

resolution 42 of

2024 seeing and hearing none Mr Parker

could you please call the vote Yes misss

Daniels yes

misss Davis

yes Miss green

yes Mr Jones

yay Mr Rodriguez yes and Miss Bowers yes

resolution 42 of 2024 passes unanimously

with a vote of six y to zero Nays thank

you next we have resolution 43 of 2024

Mr Parker could you please read it into

the record

resolution 43 of

2024 a resolution approving Mr Todd Webb

to serve on the Coordinating Committee

and and as an alternate member to the

technical Committee of the Harrisburg

area transportation study otherwise

known as hats thank you council members

are there any questions comments or

concerns related to resolution 43 of

2024 seeing and hearing none Mr Parker

could you please call the vote Miss

Daniels yes Miss Davis yes Miss green

yes Mr Jones

yay Mr Rodriguez yes Miss Bowers yes

resolution 43 of

2024 also passes unanimously with a vote

of six Ys to zero Nays thank you next we

have resolution 44 of 2024 Mr Parker

could you please read it into the record

resolution 44 of

2024 a resolution appointing Ms Elaine

Barber to serve on the board of

directors of capital region water a

municipal Authority thank you resolution

44 of 2024 will move to the

administration committee next we have

resolution 45 of

2024 Mr Parker could you please read it

into the record resolution 45 of 202 4 a

resolution to recognize Reservoir Drive

in the city of Harrisburg as destri e

Mangus way thank you council members I

will entertain a motion to suspend the

rules for discussion move is there a

second second thank

you we are joined by Mr Mangus if you

wouldn't

mind step into the podium please yes

please I'm going to read the resolution

but know that we find it not robbery to

give people their flowers so um please

indulge me for just a few minutes this

is resolution 45 of

2024 a resolution to recognize a

reservoir Drive in the city of

Harrisburg as destri e Mangus way

whereas dest e Mangus is affectionately

known as Dez in the city of Harrisburg

Community and whereas Dez is a loving

son and a proud father of his two adult

children will and Destiny and whereas

Dez Mangus is a product of the

Harrisburg School District and is a

member of the Harrisburg High School

class of

1974 he attended Imperial Valley

Community College and shadon State

College after

graduation and whereas he has worked for

the State House of represent pres atives

as the chief Sergeant at Arms and the

Harrisburg School District as a special

education paraprofessional and coach and

whereas Dez has served as a volunteer in

the Harrisburg Community for more than

40 years during the early 1980s through

the

1990s Dez eagerly served the central

Allison Hill Community he spearheaded a

basketball program called eima and the

hard to guard youth development program

in

1997 which both continue to impact youth

in and out of the Harrisburg Community

and whereas while employed with the

Harrisburg School District Dez

volunteered his time

selflessly without ever thinking of a

stien he developed meaningful programs

for students to participate in including

the models of Harrisburg and Men In

Black programs on the John Harris Campus

and whereas in

2011 he joined the ranks of the major

league

baseball youth program Reviving baseball

in the inner city RBI and continues to

serve as one of the Harrisburg girls RBI

program coaches and whereas throughout a

40-year time span Dez has voluntarily

coached football basketball track and

field girls tennis and girl

softball at his beloved Alma Harrisburg

High School and whereas dri e Mangus

affectionately known as Dez continues to

make an impact on the lives of students

in the Harrisburg Community at large now

therefore be it and it is hereby

resolved that the Council of the city of

Harrisburg that Reservoir Drive in the

city of Harrisburg be recognized as

destri e Mangus way

[Applause]

thank you'all I I really appreciate that

um this is kind of emotional a little

bit but

um it's been a long journey I tell

you um I like first of all I like to

give thanks to uh my mother she's still

living 91 years

old um she raised me she was my mom and

my dad

so and why I'm saying that is because um

my son over here um Anthony

Chase they call him will and he's with

his son Anthony Chase

Jr um he was on that Journey with me

when I went to

college

uh I went to the junior college and I

went to the foure school in

Nebraska and uh what happened was when I

came home from the college in Nebraska

um um I got Will's mother

pregnant and I didn't when she was

pregnant I didn't want to leave because

I didn't want to be a dead dead beat

father because that was part of my

journey cuz my dad was never around so I

I didn't finish schol I didn't finish

college but my proudest moment is when

my son finished College when I got the Y

graduate to this day that's my proudest

moment

so I'm just I'm just like and another

thing will was with me through the whole

journey a reservoir park in the 80s and

the 90s I you know I I drug him up there

with me when he was 5 years old all the

way up until he he played ball

basketball so that journey and Lamont's

part of that

Journey me Mei Walker back here he's

part of that journey and Brian Maes

definitely so and I'm going to talk

about your councilman here too

Asha um your ex um

councilman who uh who mentored me

Sherman

Cunningham so I mean it's it's it's like

it's like everybody you know I mean I

could name people forever and ever and

ever

and and you guys help put my face up on

Reservoir Park and really I shouldn't

have been the first one face should be

up there you know but I'm just glad

y'all giving me flowers While I'm Alive

a lot of people has

passed and I mean your guys giving

flowers they pass but I'm here living

and I I I really appreciate it I'm I'm

blessed on that end and y'all just don't

know how

happy y'all made me my family and all

the other people that I helped in the

80s and the 90s

2000s you know I mean it's like this

it's it's like a big family yes you are

Beyond deserving and we are we're

excited that you are alive and well to

really uh cherish this moment yes um

we oh I'd first like to say this is a

collaboration between the city and city

council as our all of our uh ceremonial

uh Street namings are um the um

department of traffic and Engineering

that I mentioned earlier will develop

the signs so we'll have signs and I'll

allow councilman Jones to share more

information on the date and the time of

when the ceremony will occur but I did

want to note that um and thank traffic

engineering for their assistance but

congratulations and I'll open the floor

to my colleagues um to continue

showering you with some love if that's

okay councilman Jones Thank You

president Bowers uh Coach man this is

well deserve for you um I can't um

stress enough um how you helped

me uh even though I still ended up going

down um a different path uh but the

lessons um were still there they were in

still the seed was planted I just had to

receive some water and sunlight and uh

allow that seed to to to grow um you're

still doing it today with the children

in the community you work with my

children um and I just man this is it's

your time and and I'm glad that your

mother is still here to see that and um

you and I talk a lot uh but this is

Legacy this is this is something that's

going to last um cuz this this is

something that you've made impacts on a

lot of people's lives and that should

stick around um and and this is why we

definitely wanted to push for something

like this so to also further commemorate

that uh we will be holding um the first

annual Dez Mangus

classic um a two-day event at reservoir

park on August 10th and 11th and I

believe we will also be rededicated

um the moral of your face on the

basketball court um courtesy of city

council they're going to um fund that um

and the sign will be unveiled that day

so today just marks that it's official

it's going to happen and we love you man

and

congratulations thank you I appreciate

it thank you councilman Rodriguez coach

I'm just happy to bring another W to the

uh cougar family you know it's just it's

prideful to be from it and see the roots

grow and just know that not only we know

where our past is but we know where the

future's going and I can't wait to set

my GPS to uh d g Mangus way so

congratulations K thank you absolutely

you appreciate it thank you vice

president green thank you president ours

coach Dez yes The Unofficial official

photographer of the city as well I still

got my best pre pictures from you yes um

I remember the first time I met you um

officially I walked into

Marshall gymnasium for softball tryouts

I was so nervous I had never seen a

softball I only played baseball but when

you get to high school girls don't play

baseball they play softball right um and

I just remember the support that you

gave everybody it was so many young

ladies in there that had never played

Sports in their life um which you just

made everybody feel comfortable and

loved and let them know that you know we

are a family you know Win Lose or Draw

uh you know Harrisburg wasn't expected

to win but you gave us um that

motivation and let us know that just

because other people don't expect you to

win doesn't mean you can't win we pulled

out some wins that year or you know all

four years I was there we pulled out

some wins I remember and so I appreciate

you I appreciate the love and support

that you give to our community to our

children um in just instilling that

power of beliefs um and letting people

know you can do whatever you want uh and

there are all sorts of opportunities in

a city uh just to keep us out of trouble

give us things to do uh and just be

involved in a positive way so I

appreciate that we need more people like

you um and I know you've created a lot

more people like you from the work and

the impact that you've done throughout

your life so thank you yeah thank

you thank you councilwoman Davis thank

you president Bowers

congratulations Mr Mangus I don't know

you although I am a graduate of

Harrisburg High too but right I'm proud

to be a amongst the council members

today to honor you and your family and

uh thank you for for the Legacy that you

you're leaving to your children

children's children and I can't wait to

see the mural that's going to be up in

the park for a remembrance for us all to

um remember now I have one question are

you related to

Andre

yes is that the Andre Andre mangers is

that the one from Stilton or I didn't

know there were two yeah there's two of

them there's two of them one's my

brother one he's a vet he's a veteran

huh he's a veteran oh my brother then he

is yeah he is a veteran okay of the

United States Army yep you look like him

that's what I'm asking you guys look

alike yeah he was in the Marines oh it

was the Marines okay anyway thank you

okay for your service

and I can't thank you enough because we

do need more like you we don't hear

enough of the good things that people

are doing do in our communities when we

know there's a whole hundreds and

hundreds and hundreds of success stories

and young people doing great things so

I'm happy to be here today and to

celebrate you and congratulations again

thank you can I comment on what you just

said sure there there are many more but

it's just you know like for me you know

it's taking 45 over 45 years to get

there you know so there's guys out there

that are are doing real good things just

people just they just don't know I mean

they do it because they want to do it I

mean they don't look for no

reward but they're out there right they

are out there but we just don't hear

enough about them and there are some as

you've mentioned that have passed on who

have not had an opportunity to receive

their flowers one that I'm thinking of

is Charles Chisum yes uh coach chz

Packers um Greg Greg Campbell was

another you know his face his moral is

up on for feneral um playground

basketball court but he had passed and

then that's when they did it so that's

why um I feel real blessed that that

yall are doing this you know while I'm

here and we should do it more often but

again thank you again for your service

and congratulations thank you you're

welcome thank you councilwoman Daniels

just thank you for your work and

congratulations okay thank you

congratulations I correct me if I'm

wrong but I believe all this service

started on Herer Street yes yes you got

that right okay well thank you so much

for joining us thank you to your family

and mentees that are present today um

councilman Jones yeah one more thing um

for this event to I want to make sure

that we're we're going to be putting

this information out very shortly here

but uh it's going to be a lot of fun for

the Youth uh in the city um this is

going to be two days of of great fun for

our city and and hopefully everybody can

come out and enjoy these festivities and

help us celebrate coach Dez and um we'll

probably write some rhymes for

him I will entertain a motion to resume

after our legislative

session second thank you so we have

before us resolution 45 of 2024 Mr

Parker could you please read it one more

time

happily resolution

45 of TW of

2024 a resolution to recognize the

reservoir Drive in the city of

Harrisburg as Destry e Mangus

way thank you council members are there

any final questions comments or concerns

related to resolution 45 of

2024 seeing and hearing none Mr Parker

can you please call the

vote Miss Daniels yes I'm Sorry Miss

Daniels yes Ms Davis yes misss green a

resounding yes

Mr Jones yay Mr Rodriguez yes Miss

Bowers yes and deservedly so resolution

45 of

2024 passes unanimously with a vote of

six Ys to zero Nays thank

[Applause]

you we have two more resolutions we're

almost finished everyone resolution 46

of 2024 Mr Parker could you please read

it into the record resolution 46 of

2024 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to participate in the

Dolphin County Bridge bundling program

to replace the bridge known as hbd hbg

d19 and negotiate and enter into an

intermunicipal cost sharing agreement

and furtherance of such thank you

resolution 46 of 2024 will move to the

budget and finance committee our final

resolution for consideration this

evening is resolution 47 of 2024 Mr

Parker could you please read it into the

record resolution 47 of

2024 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to negotiate and enter

into a Professional Services agreement

with civat

LLC for the purpose of providing

Professional Services to the city's

department of building Housing and

Development including but not limited to

technical assistance and general

consulting services for General

technical assistance Consolidated plan

development analysis of fair housing

choice impediments and environmental

review for emergency demolition thank

you resolution 47 of 2024 will move to

the building and housing committee is

there any old Business Council Members

yes I need an update on what's happening

with the cdbg funds for

2022 we are hosting an executive session

to discuss it tomorrow okay along with

other legal matters and were there other

dates do you know let's see no one is

here

from any additional dates for workshops

I don't know if you would know this for

the for the upcoming one I I do not know

that okay I I would hope that on the

website at this point I I know the

current date the 23rd is being

advertised but I didn't see anything

else you know one see I believe that

there was a commitment from the director

to add more dates last week yeah and she

was going to find out the following day

but I haven't received any emails or I I

will follow up please thank you that's

it for me thank you any new business

council members I just have some

scheduling updates for everyone's

reference uh please note as I mentioned

Harris B city council will host an

executive session tomorrow Wednesday

July 10th 2024 to discuss legal matters

Harrisburg city council will host a

special legislative session on Tuesday

July 30th

2024 to vote on resolution 41 of

2024 a resolution approving the 2024

annual action plan for the city of

Harrisburg for the Community Development

block Grant cdbg home investment

Partnerships or home and emergency

Solutions grant

program finally Harrisburg city council

will begin our summer break following

tonight's meeting so we won't meet until

the 30th for the special legislative

session and then we will not meet again

until uh nearing the end of August so I

just wanted to remind everyone of our

break if there's no other new business

bus the time is 7:23 p.m. I will

entertain a motion to adjourn so move is

there a second second thank you we stand

a jour