TheBurg

06.21 | THEBURGNEWS.COM | 7 NEWS | All stories by eBurg staff Harrisburg soon will have a new mayor, as City Council President Wanda Williams narrowly defeated the two-term incumbent for the Democratic nomination last month. With all 28 precincts reporting, Williams won by just 56 votes, capturing 1,776 votes compared to Mayor Eric Papenfuse's 1,720 votes. Two other challengers also ran strong. Businessman Dave Schankweiler won 1,329 votes, and former City Council member Otto Banks took 1,237. e fifth candidate, Kevyn Knox, won 66. "To the residents of this city, this is their victory," Williams said after the final votes came in. Williams, a longtime council member, pledged to work closely with council, which often has had a contentious relationship with Harrisburg's mayors, as well as on behalf of city residents. "It's just a wonderful feeling knowing that I now have the responsibility to make decisions for the residents," she said. After the final results came in, Papenfuse called to congratulate her and promised a "smooth and seamless transition." To become mayor, Williams still needs to win the general election race in November. On the Republican side, city resident Timothy Rowbottom won that party's nomination running unopposed and tallying 367 votes. Harrisburg is overwhelmingly Democratic in party registration, so Williams will go into the general election in a comparatively strong position. For City Council, Harrisburg voters nominated Democratic incumbents Ausha Green and Shamaine Daniels, as well as challengers Ralph Rodriguez and Jocelyn Rawls. e four candidates will almost certainly win four-year council seats in the November general election, as no one competed for the Republican nomination. Harrisburg also had a competitive primary race for school board director. In that race, Democratic incumbents Danielle Robinson and Brian Carter were the top vote-getters for four, four-year seats, followed by challengers Roslyn Copeland and Jaime Johnsen. On the Republican side, Ezra Match ran unopposed, so will appear on the November ballot. He had cross-filed for both parties, but failed to get the Democratic nod. Terricia Radcliff captured the Democratic nomination for the only two-year seat on the board, running unopposed. No Republicans ran in that race. Harrisburg's city controller position was also on the ballot. In that race, Democratic incumbent Charlie DeBrunner ran unopposed and faces no Republican opposition in the November election. Construction began last month to return much of N. 2nd Street in Harrisburg to two-way traffic. Mayor Eric Papenfuse broke ground on the $5.7 million conversion project, which aims to make the street safer and the neighborhood more walkable. "We are about to embark upon reversing one of the worst engineering decisions in our city's modern history," he said. N. 2nd Street was long a two-way, neighborhood street. However, the state and city converted several streets to one-way traffic, including N. 2nd Street, in the 1950s to accommodate suburban commuters. Harrisburg now will return the pattern back to two-way traffic from Forster to Division streets, adding pedestrian and bike-friendly elements, Papenfuse said. e switch to two-way will come near the end of the project next year, city Engineer Wayne Martin said. Construction includes adding over 100 ADA-accessible ramps to intersections along the corridor, in compliance with PennDOT's construction guidelines, according to Martin. Portions of the brick sidewalk near the intersections will be replaced, as well. e city will then replace traffic signals with mini- roundabouts in the intersections at Kelker, Verbeke and Reily streets. New traffic signals will be added to accommodate the two- way flow of traffic, along with new crosswalks and pedestrian refuge areas in the middle of the road. New markings on the road will remind drivers to share the road with bicyclists. During construction, sections of the corridor may shift to two lanes for brief periods of time, Martin said. Once this work is done, the section of N. 2nd Street will switch to two-way traffic with a 25-mph speed limit. e entire stretch will be repaved, along with some sections of the intersecting roads. Martin expects all construction to be completed by mid-October 2022. e N. 2nd Street project falls under the city's Vision Zero initiative to reduce pedestrian fatalities in Harrisburg, city officials said. Harrisburg School District Receiver Janet Samuels approved a $159 million proposed budget for the 2021-22 academic school year last month, a spending plan that includes federal COVID relief funding. e budget would remain balanced for another year due to $52.9 million in federal Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds headed towards the district. e one-time dollars would fill a $5.6 million deficit that the district would likely have had otherwise. ere will be no property tax increase this year, although officials warned that they may have to raise taxes in future years. "at's a big win for taxpayers in such a difficult year that we are coming through," said George Longridge, the district's financial officer. is year's school district budget compares to a $158.2 million 2020-21 budget, which was balanced using a previous round of ESSER funds. At the meeting, the district also noted that school board Director Jayne Buchwach has resigned her seat. Downtown Harrisburg soon will have another new apartment building, as City Council last month approved an office-to-residential conversion. During a virtual legislative session, council members unanimously passed the land development plan for the century-old, eight-story building at 112 Market St. Harristown Enterprises will lead the $7 million project, which will include about 35 one- and two-bedroom apartments, with first-floor retail space, according to CEO Brad Jones. e 51,000-square-foot structure has served as an office building since its construction in 1918. In recent years, Harristown and several other local developers have renovated and converted numerous aging, often rundown office buildings to apartments, adding hundreds of new residential units to the downtown. Council last month also passed a resolution to enter WILLIAMS WINS MAYORAL PRIMARY TWO-WAY 2ND STREET WORK BEGINS SCHOOL TAX RATE STEADY DOWNTOWN APARTMENTS OK'D into an agreement with Impact Harrisburg to conduct a disparity study to determine where diverse business vendors are underrepresented in the city's public procurement and contracting processes. Impact Harrisburg plans to hire a company to conduct the study to determine where the city can provide additional resources for minority, women, LGBTQ, disabled and veteran-owned businesses. Both the city and Impact Harrisburg will contribute up to $125,000 for the study. City Council also approved a settlement agreement with bond insurer Ambac Assurance to help pay down debt related to general obligation bond defaults incurred during the city's financial crisis in 2012 and 2013. rough the agreement, the city hopes to accelerate debt payments and reduce its overall debt load. CHARTER SCHOOL PROPOSED A new charter school is seeking to come to Harrisburg, with a focus on preparing Dauphin County students for the healthcare field. e Pennsylvania Nurses Middle College Charter School came before the Harrisburg School District last month for a virtual public hearing on its application to create a charter high school in Midtown. According to CEO Betsy Snook, the charter school seeks to create a pipeline for students in grades 9 through 12 to enter the nursing field. She said that they also hope to address the racial disparity in the field by attracting and training minority students. e school was founded by the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, which Snook also oversees, and the Nursing Foundation of Pennsylvania. Snook said that she hopes the charter school will encourage students to pursue baccalaureate degrees in nursing. If approved, the charter school would open for the 2022-23 academic year to all Dauphin County students, who would be chosen by a lottery system. Snook said that the school would seek to enroll 120 9th-grade students for the first year and add additional grades each year. Classes would be STEM-focused with hands-on curriculum, practicums and summer employment opportunities in local healthcare settings, she explained. e school also would offer first- aid, CPR and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) in partnership with HACC. e school would be located in GreenWorks Development's Midtown II building, alongside the PA STEAM Academy. e Harrisburg-area housing market took flight in April, with both home sales and prices up substantially. For the month, 686 houses sold in the area, compared to 465 homes for April 2020, as the median sales price increased to $225,000 from $200,000, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors (GHAR). In Dauphin County, 347 homes sold versus 220 a year ago, while the median sales price jumped to $200,000 from $171,000, GHAR stated. Cumberland County had sales of 274 homes, compared to 216 in the prior year, as the median sales price rose to $267,000 from $234,950. In Perry County, sales increased to 35 homes versus 22 houses in April 2020, as the median price declined to $156,000 from $174,200, GHAR said. Houses were also selling much faster than last year, as the average "days on the market" declined to 22 days versus 50 days in April 2020, according to GHAR. Notably, the number of home sales in April 2020 was held down by the COVID-19 pandemic and the state-mandated shutdown of businesses. However, sales and price data in April also were strong compared to two years ago. In April 2019, 619 homes sold for a median price of $180,000 throughout GHAR's three-county coverage area, according to the association. HOME SALES, PRICES GAIN IN APRIL

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