Excerpts from the 1997 State of the City Address

Excerpts from the
1997 State of the City Address

MARCH 19, 1997

Presented by Mayor Stephen R. Reed before a record Capital Region Chamber of Commerce audience of more than 530 persons at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers.

…First, I wish to extend the gratitude of this city to all of you who have taken time from busy schedules to attend today’s proceedings. I am advised that this is the largest attendance yet recorded for this annual event…

…A reflection of where we have been and where we stand at the first quarter of 1997 shows some measurable results:

• The city’s taxbase has expanded to its highest level ever

• The first population increase since 1950 has been measured

• The unemployment rate amongst city residents is at the lowest in over two decades

• The crime rate has dropped to its lowest level in 25 years

• The fire rate has declined to its lowest number since the 1960s

• The number of businesses on the taxrolls is at its highest number ever and more than double the number that existed in 1981

• The occupancy rate for Class A and Class B+ office space is the best in at least 2 ½ decades

• The number of vacant structures has declined to its lowest number since before the 1972 Agnes Flood

…I am pleased to report that in 1996, the city of Harrisburg issued more building permits than in any year in its history. 1,843 permits were issued, representing $152,136,960 in new investment. This eclipses the previous annual record of 1,675 permits issued during the preceding year…

…Last year, over 1,860,000 square feet of new construction was underway in the city…

…In 1996, I am pleased to report that the crime rate dropped 13% over the previous year, the largest decrease in a single year since comprehensive records began to be kept…

…Since 1981, the crime rate in the city has dropped a total of 33%…

…With 65 blighted structures demolished last year and more than 80 to be done this year, the number of vacant structures in this city…which once numbered over 5000 in 1982…will fall below 500 for the first time in over a quarter century…

…In the past twelve months, Harrisburg’s activities have met the test of independent review:

• The city’s Alternative Revenue and Energy Program received the state’s highest recognition…the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for Achievement in Technological Innovation.

• The Wastewater Plant employees, for the 4th time, won the annual Pennsylvania Challenge, a grueling competition designed to test performance and skill; they went on to place 4th in the Nation.

• For the 9th consecutive year, the city attained the top national award for financial management and accounting, known as the Certificate for Achievement of Excellence in Financial Reporting.

• For the 6th consecutive year, Harrisburg won the top national award for budgeting. Amongst 2,640 municipalities in this state, only 4 have attained both top fiscal designations and less than 2 dozen have attained either.

• For the 10th consecutive year, Harrisburg has been named a Tree City USA, the top conservation and forestry recognition in the country.

• For the 11th consecutive year, the city police Traffic Safety Unit has won the top traffic law enforcement award. The entire Police Bureau has retained National Police Accreditation; of over 21,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, only 358 have attained this highest recognition in the Nation.

• For the restoration and expansion of the former Reily Fire Station into the region’s first fire museum, the city received the top historic preservation award conferred in the state…and Baseball America named RiverSide Stadium on City Island as the best site in the country for minor league professional baseball. And, of course, the Harrisburg Senators won the 1996 Eastern League Championship…coming from last place to do it…and the Harrisburg Heat, for the 6th consecutive year, has garnered a post-season playoff berth.

…In the coming days, further progress and initiatives shall be seen. Many projects are now underway or shall soon be started…

• April, Pennsylvania National Insurance Company will begin the full move into their 15-story office tower on Market Square and the parking garage nearby; both are major additions to the downtown skyline.

• The long hoped-for State Resource Center, where Pennsylvania will provide one-stop service to businesses considering moving to the state, is now located in the downtown and will be a focal point for economic development.

• In the Paxton Commons area on the edge of the downtown, the Appalachian Brewery, with its restaurant facilities, will open in dramatically restored former industrial space. Nearby, exterior site improvements and a common mall are expected to eventually get underway.

• Occupancy that has increased at the Kline Village and Uptown Plazas is expected to further expand.

• The historic Sylvan Heights Mansion in Allison Hill is now undergoing an $8.5 million restoration and expansion and will be a splendid center of community life when completed in the next 10 months.

• Nearby, the historic McFarland Building and the rest of a half city block are undergoing significant restoration. What has been mostly vacant will now be a fine entranceway to the city’s eastern side.

• The Third Street Corridor, from Forster to Reily Streets, now the center of the city’s first-ever Main Street Program, will see additional retail and residential activity.

• The new CREDC Entrepreneurial Business Center at 18th and State Streets will open later his year, as building renovations are completed. New uses for the now cleared industrial land at Cameron and Herr Streets and at the former Chromalloy-American Administration Building are now being pursued.

• Subject to the outcome of the split of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk-Southern, the double-stacking rail freight facilities in the city’s Lucknow Yards, already expanded in the past 16 months, are expected to receive additional expansion because of Harrisburg’s strategic hub position involving the lines of 3 rail systems.

• The HEDCO Distribution Center, to be followed by a second structure nearby, will continue with construction and add to the Cameron Street Corridor.

• The repaving of dozens of city streets, coupled with major sewer line work and the placement of site directional signage, are among the public works projects to get started this year.

• The former Royal Fire Station at 21st and Derry Streets is undergoing a complete restoration. All but one of the former neighborhood fire stations in the city have now found productive reuse and all but two are now on the taxrolls.

• Pinnacle Health System will further advance its historic merger with major new investment in facilities at both the Harrisburg and Polyclinic Hospitals

• In the Public Housing Projects of the city, new focus is being made on upgrading the facilities. Plans for the rehabilitation and conversion of rental units into homeownership opportunities are being advanced with the United States Government. The mass concentration of poverty there inhibits economic opportunity and breeds dependency.

• In the Harrisburg schools, renovations to existing buildings, some of them outdated for more than 30 years, will continue.

…In housing development, the city’s activities shall continue through the year. Harrisburg was first in the nation to issue mortgage tax credit certificates to homebuyers and it remains amongst our residential incentives. A qualified homebuyer receives back 50% of the interest paid on the mortgage, during each year of the mortgage term, while the remainder is tax deductible…

…Tax abatement is another of the city’s economic development inducements and it is offered for residential, commercial and industrial investment…

…Therefore, I shall be proposing to City Council an amendment to offer a 10 year tax abatement…the maximum allowed by law…for those properties that have commercial use in the first level in return for residential units being placed on the floors above…

…In the coming months, Harrisburg’s role as the region’s center for the arts will considerably expand. The Whitaker Center site has been cleared at 3rd and Market Streets. The last stage of fundraising, coupled with the completion of final design, shall move the project to the start of construction. This national-class facility will help define the city and region…and shall be an extraordinary legacy from this area…

…Finally, there should be mention of three other initiatives that shall be unveiled in the days ahead…

…To chart and undertake the next stage of renaissance in the downtown, I commissioned a task force to consider the creation of a special investment district…it shall be proposed that a portion of the central business district will receive increased visible security, further beautification through street and sidewalk amenities, and an organized, on-going clean-up effort…

…Further, for areas of the city that fall within the Federal Enterprise Community and the state Enterprise Zone, there shall be a marketing effort to bring to the private sector’s attention the extraordinary tax credit, funding and other incentives available for development…

…Because Harrisburg has attained both designations, virtually the entire array of Federal, state and city incentives…available in very few places in the nation…are offered here. Concurrent with this will be efforts, particularly at this time of low unemployment and difficulty in filling jobs, for private employers to know that they can receive significant federal tax credits for hiring lower income of unemployed persons living in the city…for both full-time and summer jobs, regardless of where the employer is located…

…1996 was, in most respects, a very challenging year. Most years are. American cities are subjected to forces and mandates over which a local government has little control. Harrisburg is no exception…

…Little progress has occurred without arduous effort. Overcoming the long-held negative perceptions and bias about the city remains our most difficult obstacle. There are still some banks who would rather not lend…appraisers who undervalue buildings because of their city site…real estate agents who steer customers according to income and race…and some absentee owners who abuse and abandon. Much of this has to do with their perceptions…

…Harrisburg has come a long way from the time 15 years ago when it was listed as the second most distressed city in America. Our gains have been real and the progress sustained…

…Undaunted by past decline…bolstered by the achievements of the current era…and confident in the ingenuity, energy and the strength from diversity within the city…Harrisburg looks to the coming days and to the next century with uncompromised vision, a renewed spirit and a dedication that comes from placing the public good and the future ahead of all other interests…

…This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the state of the city…

…May God grant us courage and strength…and may God bless the United States of America, the greatest nation on this Earth…