Harrisburg Happening

Monday, October 30, 2006

The Fiscal Crisis

Does anyone know when city managers first realized when the incinerator (a) wasn't properly designed to handle ingress and egress and (2) when the revenue predictions for the incinerator clearly weren't going to come true?

It seems to me that city managers should have gone to city council much sooner to discuss an amended budget and borrowing power. That way, these layoffs and cuts could have been either better planned or avoided altogether.

And Aries has a point - Internet access at city hall probably doesn't amount to a hill of beans in terms of total cost. What matters is who knew what when. I'd hate to think they knew about the shortfall before the primary.

Reed's Got to Go

I've crunched some numbers, and I'm totally appalled that Reed would cut police officers in the current budget crisis. This is fearmongering at its worst.

Not only does Reed have absolutely no understanding of statistics (as evidenced by his insistance to the Patriot News that the crime stats for Harrisburg are really half what's being reported because we have only 48,000 people and the crime rates are per 100,000) but he is willing to cut police in his battle with the City Council when we are facing a crime wave.

Here are the figures, based on crimes per 100,000 as reported by the Harrisburg Police Department to the FBI. I took the violent crime statistics for 2005 and calculated the rate per person, then multiplied by 100,000 to get the rate below.

Based on this, Washington DC is much safer!

Harrisburg = 1687 per 100,000

DC = 1401 per 100,000

Baltimore = 1787 per 100,000

Savannah = 650 per 100,000

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Shouldn't they be looking for funding

instead of reading this blog - again . . . .


Referring Link
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
Host Name
IP Address
141.151.195.130
Country
United States
Region
Pennsylvania
City
Harrisburg
ISP
City Of Harrisburg
Returning Visits
6
Visit Length
Multiple visits spread over more than one day
VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser
MSIE 6.0
Operating System
Windows XP
Resolution
1024x768
Javascript
Enabled
Navigation Path
Date
Time
WebPage
25th October 2006
14:02:39
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
25th October 2006
14:04:05
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
26th October 2006
16:03:23
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
26th October 2006
16:04:14
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
26th October 2006
16:04:56
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg

With money in short supply, City

takes weeks to deposit revenue checks.

Over a month ago, I sent a check to pay my newly increased water bill. It took city hall a month to deposit the money. Meanwhile, I paid my local occupation tax bill - over a month ago. That one still hasn't cleared.

You would think in a budget crunch, the first order of business is depositing checks.

I guess not, if you wanted to create a crisis. Is that what this is all about?

layoffs announced

Well, the layoffs have begun. And according to the press release issued, other cost-saving measures will include:

1. Cutting the tax abatement for new homes from 10 years to 5
2. Increasing the sewer rate by 15%
3. Increasing the real estate tax by an amount to be determined

Notice that all this is beyond the Mayor's control, or so he says. It's all the fault of health insurance increases, delivering services to tax exempt entitites, the steel industry, e-911 moneys "that could not be obtained," and a rate swap opportunity on Parking Authority bonds that was missed because it took too long to be approved. I assume that last item was City Council's fault? Oh, I forgot - also there were decreased parking revenues. I guess that all the suburbanites here on the weekends don't pay to park. May I suggest running the meters 24/7?

http://www.blogs.pennlive.com/default.asp?item=248621


http://www.wgal.com/news/9877282/detail.html

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

More Threats

The City seems intent on playing the mushroom-cloud card. Now Randy King tells us the budget crisis means:

"unpaid vendors continue to pressure the city, with suppliers of bullets for police officers and an Internet provider for patrol car computers threatening to cease shipments and services.
"Vendors are cutting us off," King said. "We're talking about no Internet service for officers in the field; no bullets for officers."

I guess the officers will have to get bullets at Wal-Mart and will have to check for warrants the old-fashioned way.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1161743109112960.xml&coll=1

Monday, October 23, 2006

Facing layoffs, city employees read my blog

Come on, folks. If you are facing such a budget deficit and possible layoffs, shouldn't you be working rather than cruising the Internet and reading my blog? Because that's what at least one city employee is doing this morning. Note the recurring vists this morning. At least bookmark the blog instead of spending tax dollars doing a google search! See below:


VISITOR ANALYSIS
Referring Link
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
Host Name
IP Address
141.151.195.130
Country
United States
Region
Pennsylvania
City
Harrisburg
ISP
City Of Harrisburg
Returning Visits
4
Visit Length
1 hour 15 mins 12 secs
VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser
MSIE 6.0
Operating System
Windows XP
Resolution
1024x768
Javascript
Enabled
Navigation Path
Date
Time
WebPage
23rd October 2006
09:14:46
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
23rd October 2006
09:42:25
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg
23rd October 2006
10:29:58
harrisburghappening.blogspot.com/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=harrisburg

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Link to the blog PennLive censored

http://jerseymike.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Anybody else tired of City Hall's Threats?

Today, the Patriot reports on the Harrisburg budget shortfall. In one article, city budget director Lingle says:

"it's only a matter of time before vendors cut off supplies necessary to run city operations, such as the trash incinerator or the water purification plant. "

So, not only are we being threatened with lack of fire and police protection, but also with bad water. Come on, folks. Start working together. Reed must show City Council the financial information and reveal why last year's projected budget figures are off, and City Council must look at those figures, along with next year's projected budget and find a way to raise the money. That means Reed needs to unveil the budget now, not wait until November 21.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1161138308143640.xml&coll=1

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Derry Township, Hotbed of Crime?

I just came across an article on PennLive that shocked me - if the reporting is accurate. Derry Township, that bastion on upper-middle class suburbia, has an astonishing crime rate. The article states:

"Derry Township has a population of 21,754. Of that number, 2,604 people were victims of crime in 2005, said Jennifer Storm, executive director of the Victim Witness Assistance Program."

Jennifer, say it ain't so. If my calculations are correct, Jennifer's figures mean 12 % of residents were crime victims in Derry Township. 12 people our of every 100 men, women and children? Or is this fuzzy math? If true, there ought to be a mass exodus for a safer place - like Harrisburg, where about 3,882 persons were crime victims. With a population of 48,659, that means the crime rate per 100 persons in Harrisburg is a mere 6%.

http://www.pennlive.com/newslogs/patriotnews/

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Harrisburg&state=PA

Monday, October 16, 2006

Courthouse 2.1

After 2 years and $1 million spent on finding a site for the new courthouse, GSA is starting over. Let's hope they learned something from this experience - ask the people directly affected first, not last.

I urge everyone who wrote, emailed and called the GSA to come up with a few alternate sites and let the GSA know where those sites might be.

I have another possible suggestion - how about the block currently occupied by the now defunct Ronald S. Brown Charter School through the block that houses the former PAL building? It appears the city isn't serious about renovating PAL - it's been empty since 1984 and is falling apart - and that Ron Brown's owners will be looking for a buyer anyway.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

City in Crisis

In case you haven't heard, the City is in crisis. Not only has there been an uptick in violent crime (including apparent revenge killing), but now the brilliant minds at City Hall have the temporary solution. Since City Council wants more information on the deficit before they will approve a round of borrowing, they'll lay off police and fire fighters. I call that fearmongering.

But I bet City Council will buckle right under. After all, I'm sure they read about the elected school board members who were removed from office and ordered to pay legal fees for challenging Reed's Board of Control when it came to refinancing the school district's debt.

Courthouse Phase 2

It's good to see the GSA reconsidered placement of the courthouse, and I'm sure glad they aren't taking any tax generating property. The city surely can't afford that.

Now, let's keep pushing for the right location - somewhere in Harrisburg where it really would add value. I vote for one of the almost empty tracts of land along 4th, 5th or 6th streets. Now, that would push some development in the still seedy Third Street Corridor