Harrisburg City Council - Legislative Session - 01/14/2025

we are five minutes delayed in getting

started this evening as you know I like

to respect everyone's time and start our

meetings on time however we did have an

executive session a brief executive

session to discuss legal matters prior

to uh the start of our meeting tonight

we will take a moment to host our

legislative caucus review our meeting

agenda and then I'll call the meeting to

order and we can

begin I will call the meeting to order

immediately following our caucus Mr

Parker will lead the roll call I will

lead the invocation this evening

followed by the Pledge of Allegiance

which will be led by councilwoman RW we

have two presentations this evening the

first presentation you will hear will be

delivered by by uh Mike Walsh he serves

as the co-founder and vice chair of the

central Pennsylvania MLK Day of Service

the second presentation you will hear

will be delivered by Crystal Turner

child um on behalf of healthy Harrisburg

we will then open the floor for Courtesy

of the floor followed by the approval of

minutes for the legislative session that

occurred on December 17th

2024 we have one committee report that

will be delivered by chair Daniels on

behalf of the community and economic

development committee on the work

session of janary 7th

2025 we do not have any ordinances for

first reading ordinances for Amendment

or ordinances for final

passage we will then move to

resolutions the first resolution for

consideration is resolution 82 of 2024

which we will vote

upon resolution one of

2025 we'll move to the building and

housing

committee resolution two of

2025 will move to the budget and finance

committee and resolution three of 2025

will move to the administration

committee is there any old business for

discussion council

members okay seeing and hearing none any

new

business okay seeing and hearing none

and then we will

adjourn so the time is 6:07 p.m. I would

like to call our legislative session to

order Mr Parker could you please uh call

the role yes Miss

Daniels

here Miss

Davis present Miss green present Mr

Jones here miss rolls present Mr

Rodriguez present Miss Bowers present

thank you as I mentioned before we um

held an executive session prior to the

start of tonight's meeting I just wanted

to note that for the meeting record I

will lead the invocation this

evening I would ask that we please keep

the three homicide victims and their

families in our

prayers in addition please keep the

following residents families and friends

and your thoughts and prayers in the

coming weeks and months ahead Mr Charles

Thomas Senor was a member of the first

graduating class of Harrisburg High

School the class of

1972 he is remember by his classmates as

a nice guy he was a United States Army

veteran he loved fishing football

especially the Philadelphia Eagles good

man good man and watching Animal Planet

miss Monica Bryant she was a 1988

graduate of Harrisburg High School she

was a basketball player her favorite

team was the Philadelphia

76ers Monica was employed by the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania higher

education assistant assistance agency

Oria mother Viola Wade she served as the

president of the Harrisburg Cougars

marching band booster club during

parades she allowed band members who

were lined up on North 16th Street to

come into her house and she served them

hot chocolate she organized her

neighbors to open up their homes to

allow the marching band members to come

in and get warm

too Idris Muhammad he was a seventh Dan

black belt in the Universal African

fighting art system he loved pets

including Turtles fish birds and cats he

is remembered by his loved ones as a

generous and compassionate man if

everyone could please join me in a

moment of silence for those

residents um that have

passed thank you

the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by

councilwoman

RWS everyone stand

please uned States America the stand

Nation

indivisible andice

all thank you councilwoman RS for

communications this evening evening uh

we have two presentations the first will

be delivered by Mike Walsh co-founder

and vice chair of the central

Pennsylvania MLK Day of

Service good evening and uh thank you

president bers thank you members of city

council for the opportunity to be here

once again uh with you this year as we

think ahead to next week to the Martin

Luther King holiday and what is a

national day of service 30 years ago it

was passed by Congress signed by

President Bill Clinton uh into law to be

a National Day of Service a day to honor

The Life and Legacy of Dr King by uh

engaging in the community by giving back

spending some time uh serving your

neighbors and 16 years ago we started

here in central Pennsylvania uh an

organized effort to provide

opportunities for volunteers to come

together with organized projects

uh and community events and

conversations that are taking place

around the region and so the 16th annual

uh Central PA MLK Day of Service kicks

off at 9:00 a.m. at the Marshall Math

Science Academy 301 hail Avenue um just

up up Market Street a bit and we are

looking forward to being back in the

Harrisburg School District when we

started 16 years ago uh the first six

years were spent in various schools

within the Harrisburg School District uh

and then we moved that opening ceremony

to other places and we're delighted uh

the superintendent uh and the school

administration has invited us uh back

for the 16th annual so we're super

excited about that nine o'clock opening

ceremony some um presentations by

students each year you if you've been

there in the past you know how special

it is um to have students perform and

speak as part of the day of service and

that's our Focus this year is

championing the next generation and

we're really focused on the kids in the

future so there'll be a opening ceremony

at N9 o'clock and then a number of

volunteer project that takes place right

there at the school where we'll be

making kits for those in need and we'll

be making noo blankets and doing arts

and crafts a lot of themes around the

future uh and around the 60th

anniversary of the passage of the Voting

Rights Act which uh we want to uh

remember and celebrate uh also onsite

there's two things I want to talk about

real quick one is a community

conversation around career uh and um and

uh post High School uh education and

there will be representatives from FIA

and from various uh entities that will

help uh students and others from not

just the school district but everyone

from the area is invited uh they'll be

talking uh about um the kinds of

services and assistance available for

those who are uh thinking about careers

or education uh After High School uh

there will also uh be a career and

Family Resources fair with more than uh

30 different organizations participating

so the whole gym up at Marshall is going

to be full of tables and folks there uh

I'm just going to read a couple Thrive

Housing Services Capitol Blue Cross the

giant company greater Harrisburg Healthy

Start uh dolin County systems of Care

Family Promise of Harrisburg uh the

Renewal by Anderson the dolin County

Mental Health and autism programs whole

bunch of Services for Families uh for

children and also for career guidance

and for thinking about jobs so lots of

stuff happening there at Marshall about

9 to one but that's not it if you go on

our website

mlk365 dog you'll see more than 40

Projects taking place next Monday

throughout the area and as of today

there's still a thousand volunteer slots

available so there's lots of ways to get

involved lots of ways to serve uh for an

hour two hours indoors outside uh just

to mention a couple things beehive

affordable housing is preparing a new

home for a family Capital Area

therapeutic riding Association up in

Grantville you can help around the farm

you can help friends in Midtown here

with a community cleanup you can go to

recycle bicycle and fix bikes that'll be

given out and go to the Boy Scout camp

uh and help with maintenance projects

organize a food bank at Fountain Gate

Church help with the office preparation

the new offices for the Center for

Independent Living that are being opened

uh you can help folks at the Capital

Area green belt or the Men's Shelter at

cesan sha Safe Haven the list goes on

and on just to say that there's things

in the city and around the city and ways

for people to to do to do something we

always say it's you know we're for those

who are fortunate to have a day off from

work and from school and we understand

not everybody does but for those that do

have it off uh we always ask them to

think about making it a day on a day in

service instead of a day off so that's a

quick overview again our website ml K

d365.org is where you can go see all of

those projects see the full list of

things you can do and you can sign up

right there so we look forward to to

seeing folks next Monday and uh I want

to thank you president Bowers for your

service on our community advisory

Council and all the work that you do to

engage the Next Generation we appreciate

that thank you thank you very much can

you repeat the website one last time to

do that never can do that enough so it's

MLK

d365.org

thank you thanks everybody thank

you next presentation we

have Crystal Crystal Turner child on

behalf of healthy

Harrisburg good evening

everyone oh so I want to share with you

first that I canceled my class tonight

so I could be here with you so that's

how important important it is to me so I

just want to say thank you to the

Harrisburg city council for allowing me

the opportunity to speak about healthy

Harrisburg and I'm proud to represent

healthy Harrisburg as the Ambassador for

the program this initiative is designed

to promote wellness inclusivity and

Community resilience here in the

city the mission is to create

sustainable health and wellness programs

in for Harrisburg well Harrisburg

residents but can I get you all to say

free free sustainable free health and

wellness programs for the city of

Harrisburg the city this city has

residents we want to make sure our

vision is to have the city have resident

have resources that they can get

knowledge and access to live a healthy

and active lifestyle that's what really

healthy Harrisburg is about so can I

share a few St statistics with you

nearly 35 % of the adults in Dolphin

County are classified as

obese these statistics come from

UPMC one in five children in Harrisburg

live in food insecure

households limited access to Wellness

education and programs is is prevalent

in underserved communities how does that

impact the health how does that impact

our community poor health increase

health care cost lower productivity and

quality of life and a strain on City

resources so the objectives of healthy

Harrisburg are to promote physical

activity we currently have classes every

day of the week every day of the week so

Monday we have step classes Tuesday line

dancing uh Wednesday is Yoga Thursday is

African dance and then um Friday on the

weekends and end the weekends we have a

walking program so there's really no

excuse for the the city of Harrisburg

not to be involved we encourage we have

workshops that encourage healthy eating

we have nutrition Workshop we also had

cooking classes we partnered with giant

to have cooking nutrition workshops and

and uh cooking classes we also have a

nutritionist coming in from UPMC to show

people how to eat right how to

shop also we support mental health this

is a big thing for me I want to be able

to push that forward this year um um

we're having we hope to have a a

workshop coming up here shortly to focus

on mental health and we really want to

know we want to invite the community out

because we really want to know what

healthy Harrisburg can do for the

community these this mental health

Workshop was focus on Stress Management

counseling service and

mindfulness but finally while I'm really

here is I want to Foster collaboration

right I want to have local businesses

schools organizations to amplify the

impact of healthy Harrisburg we've been

around since pre pandemic um this is our

fifth year and we like to think that

we're doing a good job but we know we

can do better so that's why I'm here

tonight um we've also tried some new

things because people have difficulty

getting out sometimes in the evening we

started a walking program I call it the

fin power shift program um so we're

getting up very early but we're up about

5:4 5 in the morning don't be scared

just come on out um we're not out in the

super cold um uh days but we're out

there and uh we have health we wanted to

put out some healthy meal work healthy

meals workshops and then again the

mental health hopefully we can maybe

promote a mental health resource Fair

metrics let me talk about that success

stories since we started we have

impacted over 1,000 residents they have

participated in our program over a

thousand

we want to be able to increase awareness

of Mental Health Resources among our

youth we don't turn away our youth at

our programs when the when a participant

comes to our classes if they bring the

youth we welcome them they can

participate we've had um tables set

aside so they could do homework or maybe

do some crafts or something like that we

don't turn anybody

away so why should you partner with

healthy Harrisburg well number one

because it's the best thing going right

now all right but a healthier Community

reduces health care costs and improves

Workforce Workforce productivity as well

as mental

health if we can improve the mental

health in our city it impacts a whole

lot of other things and sitting here as

a retired Pennsylvania state trooper

after 25 years I cannot tell you how

important mental health is to the

community we want strengthen our public

and private Partnerships and amplify the

city's impact I said that before right

now the UPMC Foundation has been

absolutely wonderful to our program we

appreciate that but we also know we need

other people to partner with us um plan

and fitness partnered with us pre in in

the past to give us free uh gym

memberships Giant Food partnered with us

to give us gift cards to be able to give

out to families so they could go buy

groceries

uh let me just say I just want to

conclude with healthy Harrisburg is more

than an initiative it's a movement it's

a movement and we seek to empower our

residents and transform the community

you've seen us out there you see us

among the streets you see us in our

t-shirts you saw us take over Second

Street for Jun you saw us take over uh

across the Across the River City Island

and we're going to continue to take over

so together we can build a healthier and

more vibrant Harrisburg for everyone I

invite you to join us on this journey

let's collaborate to make Wellness

accessible and sustainable for all our

residents thank you so much thank you

thanks so much for being

here we will now open the floor for

Courtesy of the floor just a few

housekeeping notes before we

begin um if you could please state your

name and your address for the meeting

record um if you don't feel comfortable

sharing your address please share the

vicinity in which you live within the

city you'll have four minutes to share

your comments Mr Parker will serve as

our timekeeper and I'd like to remind

you if you're here on behalf of a group

um we would ask that you designate one

spokesperson for your group um that

would uh utilize the 4 minutes to share

your comments on behalf of your group or

organization I'll begin to my right is

there anyone that would like to offer

public

comment okay sure if you wouldn't mind

going to this microphone

please good

evening my name is Timothy BS my address

is 2500 Brookwood Street 3

17104 this my

first counsel

meeting I stood here because it's not

about

me I just moved

here a year ago from

Pittsburgh and the reason why I came

here because I did my research

Harrisburg is nothing but full of

opportunities I'm telling you from what

I witnessed

I'm here to be a

laborer not here to do anything but what

God has sent me to do you're talking to

somebody who's been on both sides of the

fence I own my own business I'm a

licensed paralal I just I just

celebrated 35 years in that

field

so with that I'm a full-time student at

ha he on um I'm going for social

services her boss is my mentor we need

to have our kids

mentored when we come together it's

about us it's not about the government

there's no disrespect for that I Mentor

the men and women and I watch men that

came here from Philly I watch men come

here from New Jersey Pittsburgh

Baltimore they have changed their

lives just tearing up

of the

community we have to come together and

find out what is not complaining what is

the solution for

kids you know I went down and I made

myself known because hack is about

helping those learning for all Learning

for Life my leadership philosophy is

less complain and more solutions so when

you sit down and talk to kids right it's

not just one conversation we have to be

consistent with that because when you're

consistent then guess what we start

breaking barriers and I know there's a

lot of people and I know there's people

on city council that really Embraces

that but wherever I'm

needed I am available because I came

here and I'm proud I came here it's

changed my life

mentally I'm really emotional about that

so if anybody sitting here in this room

who don't have nothing to say don't

complain but if you do got something to

say be about the people for business we

have to be in the business to reweave

the fabric of our

community so it's not about me it's

about Harrisburg I love Harrisburg some

of y'all probably think I'm crazy that's

cool but I love this city thank

you thank you is there anyone

else to my right that would like to

offer public

inspir me okay good evening uh thank you

councel uh my name is Carlos Johnson my

address is 122 Missouri court uh I I I

have a nonprofit it's called right way

to do it Inc um and I am in the process

of opening uh youth safe house and I'm

looking for uh support uh from leaders

in the in the city you know um you know

this endeavor uh unfortunately you know

like um brother V's here you know I have

a checker pass and so um with my past

you know I I wasn't just a uh run-of-

the-mill you know one one and done type

of offender I was a serious offender uh

with serious crime and serious time I

did my time I was rehabilitated and now

I'm ready to work you know uh I did a

lot of work while I was on the inside

that would enable me to connect very

closely with a lot of the the PO

population and demog demographic that I

want to work with you know unfortunately

though due to my Checker P you know um

I've been uh ineligible made ineligible

uh to work with youth on a volunteer

work basis just on the amount of uh

criminal uh violations that I've had in

the past you know from violent offenses

you know I was a violent offense

offender uh so what I'm asking for now

is just support um looking at you know

my track record since I've been out I

haven't had criminal offenses in the

last 10 years like I said I own my own

business is is a nonprofit but also a

for-profit business doing transportation

for people in transition it's called

doing it the right way you know I I work

in the community closely with a lot of

people U mostly in the adult sector uh

with substance use disorder and mental

health you know I do a lot of referrals

and um I've worked closely with a lot of

people that's in this room or that's in

this community that's doing and making a

difference you know uh I have references

from people that I've worked with I've

worked with um you know um autistic

people that was non-verbal you know um

I've done a lot of things you know that

demonstrates that I have changed however

you know um like I said I need a lot of

support and if I can get anybody you

know um on you guys's um panel you know

to offer that support I would greatly

appreciate it and thank you for your

time thank

you is there anyone else my right that

would like to off off for public

comment okay seeing and hearing no one

anyone in the middle

section my name is Les Ford I live at

2033 Bel Road in

Harrisburg it didn't have to come to

this I approached city council any

number of times and ask to do a more

extensive presentation of what

I and my fellow seniors and citizens of

Harrisburg are trying to do for the hind

Center for whatever reason I did not get

that opportunity so here we are tonight

I just had a press conference out in the

lobby I won't repeat that we'd be here

for hours but I will dub tail off of one

of the Remar remarks made in the first

presentation and that has to do with the

MLK Day of Service National Day of

Service and I just want to ask everybody

question anybody in this room ever meet

Dr

King anybody in this room ever meet Dr

King in

1964

6465

65 when um I was 19 years

old I took a Greyhound bus from eville

Indiana straight down to Kentucky

straight down to Tennessee down into

Mississippi over wherever we went and I

wound up in Selma Alabama

for the march from Selma to Montgomery

Alabama I have had the privilege of

meeting with Dr

King so I appreciate that we are

honoring his

memory but it needs to go across all

aspects in all layers of our society it

cannot be the gentleman here or here it

has to be the people sitting up there it

has to be the people here in the city

you need to honor his memory by moving

forward in a progressive way to make our

society a better Society be it at the

hind Center where I am or in the city

where you all are sitting here if you

want to honor Dr King honor his

Integrity honor his drive and keep his

memory

alive I Met George Wallace although not

unpleasant circumstances

Sheriff Jim

Clark and the Alabama National

Guard right in front of me closer to me

than I am to you with weapons because

they did not want all that happen why am

I saying that I'm saying sometimes you

ought to take a moment to realize people

bring history with them and take a

moment to think about what they can

bring to the current situation not

simply

react so it didn't have to come to this

if IID had a chance to do a presentation

here as the two former members of the

audience did perhaps we would not be

here tonight but we this is where we are

so I will go forward with all the Vigor

that I had when I was 19 years old

marching from Selma my government and I

will continue to bring that to bear on

the city of Harrisburg to the best of my

ability and I make no apologies for it

thank

you thank you is there anyone else in

the middle section that would like to

offer public comments

how you doing my name is Hani Johnson

I'm the

resident of 93 it's 943 Precinct

um you know as a resident when uh funds

are being given to the

community and uh it's

allocations it becomes uh very important

to me this you know bring being from the

city

being a you know part of the

minority growing up and not having

available resources so I took it upon

myself I just wanted to share

information and this is no disrespect to

this man here let's that let that be

stated but I just wanted to give a

little information because of the way

that it was coming out as far

as like the uh the funding for for

senior C senior centers

right so the Hines mener Center is

funded uh one of the 11 senior citizens

and is funded by Dolphin County um

agency of

agent the centers received 70% of his

daily operating cost from the county

agency of

agent in the 2023 physical year the

Hines mener Center received

$105,000 over five years they receive

5,127

58,000 and um it's filed as an

organization that receives a substantial

part of its support from a governmental

unit or from a general public described

in section 170

b1a VI which would be

six the public support percentage of the

total fiscal year of 2023 was

82% and just to give you some

perspective that I thought was uh unique

um in

2016 the

portions of the funds that was

given out of the management and general

expenses 90,000 of the 100,000 was used

for that portion of it for salaries

management and general

expenses also if you want to put it into

perspective if

you go online right now you type in

hindes maner

Center go to the

website there is no

website so you don't know what's going

on there daily you don't know what are

the programs you can't visually see it

from the outside that's

$100,000 and then if you type in one of

the other centers which is the

Friendship Senior Center you type that

into the internet you click it when you

go there it it says calendar of events

you click it and then once that once you

go there it pops up it says the month of

January and then you go to it it has

Monday it tells you everything they're

doing on Monday all the way to Friday

and out of five

years they receive

75,000 five

years um

um also I would like to say

uh the city received some funds right

and it was stated the money was given to

address unique needs of their local

communities and create a stronger

National economy by using these funds to

build a strong resilient and Equitable

recovery by making Investments that

support long-term growth and

opportunities I haven't seen that being

done um we have have to do a better job

at that uh parks are small that we that

we have whatever happened in reservoir

park that's horrible I still take my

kids over to Adams Ricky or all the way

to Adventure

Park

um things aren't being

utilized if you ask me in the correct

Manner and it's all it's it's specific

area specific $8 million for a pull out

to Southside a lot of residents aren't

going there but if you use an area like

if you take Sun shine that's a that's a

park that's easily accessible right off

of Cameron Street you can do something

with that land um Jazz lands right

across from Reservoir nobody wants to go

there if you come from out of City they

might be afraid so a lot of these things

aren't being done with

a a

collective thought process for for the

city even a lighting for security

purposes um if you go down Green Street

well

go down I want you to drive between 19

and 20 in Chestnut and tell me how your

honor I'm sorry but your time has

expired all right thank

you thank

you is there anyone else in the middle

section that would like to

offer public

comment anyone else in the middle

section

okay seeing and hearing no one anyone to

my

left hi if you wouldn't mind coming to

this microphone please oh miss Evelyn

too okay she's gonna come

around oh she's coming around so you can

you can come to you can come this way

okay so we have two other individuals

that are coming to the

microphone maybe three

it's fine will wait for you miss

Evelyn good

evening my name is Evelyn hunt and I've

lived in 1800 block of State Street

since

1962 like most of you I was not a happy

camper when I woke up yesterday and

heard the news

it's getting to the

point when I think of Harrisburg instead

of the beautiful city that I have come

to know and love I'm thinking of it more

as a wow wow West we've got way too much

violence in this city

and I'm not

saying if we had more police I'm going

to say when we get more police the

police cannot do everything on their own

we the community have to take an active

part we need to get more Community

groups watching out as to what is going

on in our

neighborhood in addition to

that we need I don't know what we can do

with the money we receive from the

federal government but even if we can't

use that money we need to find money

whether it be grants gifts or whatever

to get more cameras in the city of

Harrisburg we have more protection in

certain areas of this city and I hear

well they're paying for

that I'm paying taxes they're paying

taxes I should have just as much

protection as someone living in

Midtown and years ago on State Street we

had

a group uh neighborhood

watch it was a very active neighborhood

watch something funny happened to one

time we had some drug dealers move in

our

neighborhood and they joined the

neighborhood watch to see what we were

doing so we had to not put the

information in the people's doors to let

them know when we were having the

meeting

we had to call them but if we as a

community we have to fight for what is

ours we're losing too many good people

in the city of Harrisburg you take a

look at the Berg magazine and you look

at all of these properties that are

being bought you see all these

llc's I want to see more people's names

I want to see less rooming houses less

halfway houses I want Harrisburg to

become the city it once was where people

live and we feel safe living here thank

you thank

[Applause]

you excuse me good evening everybody

peace and blessings Ryan weather for

Midtown um was kind of motivated to

speak this evening because I kind of

really show up in don't speak a lot

because I believe in action first and

kind of let my value speak to who I am

outside of this but when my brother came

up here and Dan said he was from

Pittsburgh and you can speak with that

passion because I know we ain't never

met before we walk in that spirit and uh

respectfully as well um because I was

raised in the church so I was on the Pew

with my arts and stuff until they uh

went above so I don't want these

conversations next to being indictment

to what happened in the lobby early as

well um because I was born and raised in

Baltimore um went to school outside

Philly lived in Cleveland I work in

Corporate America so my doconomy a

little bit different um when I read the

news this morning and I saw a four mask

SC and my voice is trembling now because

my uncle operated a funeral home in East

Baltimore growing up so I when I say my

prayers and condolences it's cuz I can

understand what's really going on out

here a little differently that was an

execution in my eyes and uh because of

that when I see all that passion about

the funding for the senior citizen and

that's important because without you we

wouldn't be here and respectfully more

people need to know their history and

stuff

too but I see them babies over there and

I go to church with menites up in the

hill and I don't have to but I believe

in their mission and uh when I went

through a bad relationship up here and

lost my kids before they got here I

turned over differently and I started

caring differ

so knowing that we lost three lives so

far this year it could have been my man

night with his five kids that's a white

man from Bradford that live up in the

trenches that could have been him it

could have been me walking from rice and

beans with him the other day so I say

all that to say I'm a Solutions oriented

person this is probably as negative as

I'll get but it's because I see that

passion I want us all to be accountable

in this room at least for this year if

we going to be here today with pass

be here in March when the weather get

better too and uh to the brother here

and you as well if we doing the right

things in the community and

stuff I think we do want a certain level

of reciprocity too because I always tell

people we getting up and going to work

the same

way and every week and every day I get

up and Dy the Hershey and I know by

choice I don't have to but I felt a

certain type of way knowing that you

know regardless you know who my Lord and

Savior is in Jesus Christ I know I'm a

black man in America so if I would ever

to just say that I'm ignore where I came

from and how I understand life to work

rather it's a socioeconomic lens or

Community safety or transplants comeing

here because we know it's opportunities

here whether it's Pittsburgh different

places we don't have it it was a little

bit offsetting to know that um it was a

lot of passion around Community funding

but I heard conversations around that

last year

too so my thing is we shouldn't have an

unhealthy rearview Mir life but

hopefully a solution moving forward and

that's all y'all have a blessed night

thank

you good evening how y'all doing my name

is tone cook I am a resident of

Harrisburg I rather not put my address

out there for security reasons

um and I want to speak on for others

that may not be here to speak for

themselves or can't speak for themselves

on the violence going on in our

communities

um I'm asking for assistance any type of

help that I can get because we've been

planning for a long time planning isn't

helping save lives but we got a 13y old

just pass last year and then like the

brother just said three murders already

occurred

so it's just 2025 and murders had

already take place so um we don't have

enough time for planning when there's

children out here

dying and if you don't know if most of

you might know we are out here active in

our communities trying to do what we can

do to stop the violence that's going on

but we need help we need help like it's

a lot of things going on just like uh uh

Miss Turner Chris Chrystal said about

you know healthy hairspray that's a

great thing um but what's going on what

do we have to offer our children that's

inside of these communities that don't

have that they're dying even you got

people that's inside of their homes

sitting in their homes mind than their

business they're

dying I just held uh held this door for

the little girl that just came through

she could have been one of those that

just lost her life so we're asking for

some type of help some type of

assistance we're out here doing it a lot

and putting our own lives you know in

Jeopardy at risk with no type of

officers to stand and help us we're

going in there unarmed um things can

happen to us but it's people that ask me

to come out here and speak about the

vience going on and we need help I don't

I don't have all the answers one man

can't do it 20 people in here can't do

it we need more in the collective and

like another brother said about

consistency we need to be consistent

because there is no consistency and then

when there's no consistency people back

up they think you're playing games with

them and it's not

um I don't want to drag it out but I am

asking for any type of assistance that

we can get and another thing is what is

going on in Harrisburg there is still so

many unsolved murders with so many

unsolved murders being unsolved that

allows for another person to sit back

and think well this is my chance where I

can go take this life and get away with

so where's the help we need help I'm

asking for help and I don't usually come

out and ask

I'm big head I don't usually come out

and ask for help but I know we need it I

know we need it I'm out here we do uh

different things in our community we

even do March we try to protest we try

to do certain things just so that people

can hear us so um if anybody's willing

to offer any assistance in helping us

with this in our communities with our

children

dying not only the children we have a

Dodge D that it just shouldn't be

happening and we need help man that's

all I'm asking for and if we we don't

have time to plan plans are

over plans plan it's it's cool to plan

but we don't have time to playing people

were dying um that's all I wanted to say

and I ask that you know any type of way

that y'all can assist us we are open for

thank you thank you Mr cook uh Mr cook

if if you don't mind staying after I

would love to speak with you yes thank

you is there anyone else to my left left

or

anywhere seated anywhere that would like

to offer a public comment I don't want

to miss

anyone

okay good

evening

um due to the

recent high crime in the area or in

Harrisburg I think I mean I like the

older lady suggestion about excuse me

sir could you state your name sorry and

where you're from my name is Robert

Williams I'm from Capital Heights part

of

Harrisburg and I just wanted to give a

couple suggestions I agreed with the

lady as far as the cameras they have new

cameras now with AI that can have real

time detection so you don't have to see

crime after the fact it can alert the

Police Officers when crime is in real

time I think that would be a benefit um

also I mean I don't want to bring this

up as a grip but

it seems kind of odd to me that the

police officers got a bonus for high

crime going that's I have an issue with

that

[Music]

um I don't know I have so much to say

it's always I didn't take a any notes I

couldn't get in I got in late so I just

I I actually came to support hanif but

he put me on the spot so let me see um I

mean I could talk about so much well I

met with a couple um

members of city council about affordable

housing and what I had spoke with them

about was I thought it would be better

to have affordable housing as far as

like fixing up some of the abandoned

houses because some of those houses I

think can be fixed up from 50 to

$100,000 and that would be affordable

home ownership instead of affordable

housing when you're in these affordable

housing they're still at the mercy of

the government they're not they don't

own anything so they're not going to

have the pride of ownership they're not

going to maintain it in my opinion is

they what if it was theirs and $100,000

is Affordable in a 30-year mortgage

which could be the down payment could be

backed by the city a $100,000 Mortgage

in 30 years3 $400 a month that's

affordable home ownership not just

housing I mean let me see I have so many

things I can talk about let me

see come back I'm just I'm I'mma end it

on that note hold up what else I know he

talked about so much well thanks for

having me I'm glad you allowed me to

speak and I'll I'll I'll show up more

often thank

you is there anyone else that would like

to offer public

comment

okay good evening Madam president

Council um my name is Louis buts I'm

uptown

um I heard that they were going to be

putting police officers in the high

school um officers don't actually

educate

kids um if we had a police academy and a

fire

academy then we can teach them ethics

morality within the school system police

usually are reactive entities we need

children that could make decisions on

how to break a situation down before it

gets out of hand so if we try to educate

our

children to solve problems even on the

street we will reduce the crime the

overall product would be an increase in

state troopers from Harrisburg

Pennsylvania from Harrisburg High we

would have more

fir um

Agents from Harrisburg for Harrisburg

it's actually having a product and

working out what type of product we want

to have out of our children and we teach

that in the

schools police don't

educate um a police officer tends to um

populate our adult probation or

children's probation in Dolphin County

Prison that's what populates are are and

we don't want that we want children who

can resolve

problems

early and that's all that I have to say

I feel as though that the city can help

by supporting a police academy a fire

academy and a river

watch unit because the last time a

person fell in the river or whatever we

didn't get them until they were in

Maryland that's not good enough we have

to make sure we're responsible and

accountable to our residents thank

you thank

you is there anyone else I don't want to

miss anyone okay seeing and hearing no

one we will move forward with our

meeting agenda next we have the approval

of minutes for the legislative session

that occurred on December 17th

2024 council members are there any

revisions to those meeting

minutes I have one revision um as I

noted in my letter to the mayor dated

December 30th of

[Music]

2024 I move to note that the job

descriptions for the office of the mayor

were shared via email by Mr Jared

trusdale assistant city clerk on

December 13

2024 with council

members is there a

second I second thank you

Mr Parker could you please call the vote

on the amended meeting

minutes

yes are there any questions comments or

concerns council members no okay seeing

and hearing none Mr Parker could you

please call the vote Miss

Daniels

yes Miss Davis yes

yes misss green yes Mr Jones yay Ms RS

yes Mr

Rodriguez yes Miss Bowers

yes the uh move is approved with a unan

unanimous vote of seven y to zero Nays

thank you next we will move to reports

of committees the sole committee report

lies is with The commun Well Community

and economic development committee I

will defer to chair Daniels to share her

report on the work session that occurred

on January 7th

2025 thank you um on January 7th 2025 uh

the Comm community and economic

development committee convened to review

a final land development plan for 350

North FR Street um that property has

been bacon for about 3 years and the

owners are renovating it turning it into

an 8 unit apartment building um two of

those units will be affordable units and

construction will begin as soon as the

approvals um are all of the applications

are approved for for that renovation um

I would encourage my colleagues to uh

support the approval of this plan and

that's it for me thank you thank you

chair Daniels we do not have any

ordinances for first reading ordinances

for Amendment or ordinances for final

passage we will now move to resolutions

the first resolution for consideration

is resolution 82 of 2024 Mr Parker could

you please read it into the record yes

resolution 82 of

2024 a resolution approving the

preliminary slf final land development

plan for

315 North Front Street submitted by by

Vernon Jones of Front Street Lofts

LLC to convert the existing office

building into an 8un apartment building

featuring six one-bedroom units and two

two-bedroom units with two units

designated as affordable units along

with Associated appr

improvements thank you council members

are there any questions comments or

concerns related to resolution 82 of

2024 seeing and hearing now Mr Parker

could you please call the vote Miss

Daniels

no misss Davis yes Miss green yes Mr

Jones yay M rolls yes Mr

Rodriguez yes Miss Bowers yes resolution

82 of 2025 pass passes with a vote of

six y to one

nay thank you next we have resolution

one of 2025 Mr Parker could you please

read it into the

record resolution one of

2025 a resolution allocating the

remaining emergency solution grants

program funds from the United States

Department of Housing and Urban

Development for fiscal year

2021 and authorizing expend expenditure

of such funds ratifying the expenditure

of Grant Administration costs and

extending the subrecipient agreements

until March

31st

2025 thank you resolution 1 of 2025 will

move to the building and housing

committee next we have resolution 2 of

2025 Mr Parker could you please read it

into the record yes resolution two of

2025 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to negotiate and enter

into a Professional Services agreement

with Boyer rter Boer and Ritter LLC to

perform the city of harrisburg's annual

audit and financial report

dc-

clgs

clgs

D30 for the year ending December 31st

2023 and an addendum to the Professional

Services agreement related to the 202 22

annual

audit thank you resolution 2 of 2025

will move to the budget and finance

committee our final resolution this

evening is resolution three of 2025 Mr

Parker could you please read it into the

record yes resolution three of

2025 a resolution authorizing the city

of Harrisburg to negotiate and enter

into a Professional Services agreement

with houseon interpreting Services LLC C

to provide sign language interpreting

Services thank you resolution 3 of 20125

will move to the administration

committee is there any old business for

discussion council

members okay seeing and hearing none any

new business yes president Bowers okay

thank you good evening

everyone I wanted to um thank everyone

for being here to see

and for all of the comments um the

presentations and everything

was serving about serving our community

and

helping our community be to be a better

place to live um cameras for the city Mr

Butt's

presentation um talking about education

um needing more police on the streets

just everything that we heard tonight

but one of the things that I would like

to just mention is

that the churches in our

community I just want to say that you're

needed we need all hands on deck here um

we need everyone playing a part to help

our community to be

safer and to make it a better place to

to live the residents are afraid they're

frustrated they're looking for some

comfort from somewhere they're

wondering where are our churches where

are our church leaders so I would extend

the invitation to our churches to come

out and help us

offer support uh prayers of comfort or

just whatever Services social services

that you may have to offer the community

um again we need all hands on deck here

to fight the violence and stop the

violence in our community so I will be

personally reaching out to our

spiritual and religious communities and

asking them to come alongside of us and

help us

in whatever way they can so thank you

that's all I wanted to say thank you any

other new business council

members I just have one comment uh

before we

conclude uh this is in response to the

mayor's commentary around the Broad

Street Market um she noted that I quote

if you want to blame anyone blame them

they are a hindrance to us us end quote

they that she's speaking about as

Harrisburg city council and I just

wanted to note that we aren't a

hindrance to

anyone um we are simply seeking

accountability and

transparency but I think someone that

can speak to this better is the former

council president this is a clip from a

meeting that occurred on no

November the 12th

2014 can you please play

this e

council's responsibility is to our

residents which means that we should not

rush

anything it is only my desire to

work go back just so everybody can hear

in this clip uh the former council

president is speaking about council's

responsibility

importance Council does not sit in these

seats to accommodate the mayor council's

responsibility is to our residents which

means that we should not rush

anything it is thank you and on that

note it is 707 p.m. I would like to uh

seek a motion to adjourn

so and there's a second thank you we

stand a journ