TheBurg

news FiGHt aGainst DoGFiGHtinG Citing concerns over animal welfare and illegal gambling, Harrisburg is asking its residents to help stop a scourge of illegal dogfighting. City communications Director Joyce Davis announced last month that Harrisburg obtained a $20,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to launch a public information campaign about dogfighting. So far, city officials have purchased ads on Facebook that explain the warning signs of dogfighting and ways to report it to law enforcement. Davis said that the campaign did not arise as a response to a single incident or spate of reports. Rather, it seeks to curb an on-going animal abuse problem that also enables illegal gambling. "We want to stamp this out," she said. e issue of dogfighting came to the fore locally in June 2017, when Harrisburg police officers staged a raid on a dogfighting ring on S. 14th Street. Since then, the bureau has issued charges on three counts of illegal dogfighting in the past year, as well as one count of possession of dogfighting paraphernalia, according to animal control officer William Sandstrom. If city residents suspect dogfighting, they can call 311 from within city limits to report it. Reports that result in charges are eligible for a $5,000 reward from the Humane Society of the United States. youtH centeR appRoveD e Harrisburg City Council last month approved the expansion of a teen center in North Allison Hill, which will double the facility in size. Bethesda Mission plans to renovate an old printing plant on Herr Street adjacent to its current Youth Center, adding a full-size gymnasium, classrooms, office space and an event hall with a full-service kitchen. e result will be a full-service community center with classes and amenities for all age groups, said Cindy Mallow, director of development at Bethesda Mission. e current youth center only serves children and teens. "We're hoping to involve families and expand out into the community even more," Mallow said. Bethesda Mission hopes to break ground on the $2.8 million project this summer and finish it by the end of 2018, Mallow said. Bethesda Mission has operated its teen center from a former fire station at 1428 Herr St. since 1990. It purchased the former Kurzenkabe Press facility at 1424 Herr for $275,000 in 2015, according to Dauphin County property records. e 10,000-square-foot space needs extensive renovations, Mallow said, including an overhaul of its HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems. Contractors will also raise the ceilings to accommodate the gymnasium and construct a connection between the print facility and the youth center. Since Bethesda Mission announced its plan to renovate the printing facility back in 2015, it has raised more than $1.5 million from the community and private foundations, including $600,000 from the York-based Stabler Foundation. e expansion will also allow the mission to double or triple the enrollment in its after-school program and summer programs for youth, Mallow said. "ere's just a need for a place for the kids to go," she said. "Our center gives them the opportunity to be with other kids and have a mentor." GRant input souGHt Is there a nonprofit that's doing good in your neighborhood? at's one of the questions that city administrators will pose at a public meeting this month, as Harrisburg begins to chart its priorities for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money over the next five years. CDBG funds are allocated annually to organizations that help build community and stabilize neighborhoods in low- and moderate-income areas. e city received $1.9 million last year and expects the same this year, according to city communications Director Joyce Davis. e federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which disburses CDBG money, requires each municipality receiving grants to have a "consolidated plan" describing its development priorities and goals. Harrisburg's current three-year plan is set to expire in September. Roy Christ, Harrisburg's director of Building and Housing, said that development projects started during Mayor Eric Papenfuse's first term require a new plan with a longer duration. In past years, CDBG funds have supported organizations such as the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Harrisburg, the Latino Hispanic American Community Center and MidPenn Legal Services. City departments can also apply for grants. Last year, the Harrisburg Police Bureau received $90,000, which paid for a community policing van and helped launch the police cadet program. For this planning cycle, Christ said Harrisburg hopes to target projects in "tipping point" neighborhoods. "ese are neighborhoods that need a bit of help to bounce back and become self-sustaining," he said. City residents can contribute input at the public meeting or through an online survey. e meeting will be held on March 5 at Jackson-Lick Tower at 5:30 p.m. cRW Releases inFRastRuctuRe, Rate plan Capital Region Water last month announced plans to spend more than $315 million over the next 20 years upgrading the city's antiquated sewer system, which will bring Harrisburg into compliance with federal guidelines and carry a cumulative 150 percent increase to water and sewer rates. Known collectively as the City Beautiful H2O plan, the improvements come following years of deferred maintenance to Harrisburg's centuries-old combined sewer system. CRW says the updates will reduce sewer discharge into natural waterways, enhance sewer efficiency, and improve neighborhoods through the implementation of green storm water management systems. e improvements also will significantly raise the rate burden for city households. e draft plan includes an extensive affordability assessment that helped CRW set rate projections for the duration of the project. e analysis concluded that many CRW ratepayers have significant financial limitations that preclude aggressive rate hikes. As a result, CRW decided to seek the lengthiest improvement schedule permitted by federal environmental agencies, giving the authority 20 years to complete the projects. Water and sewage rates are set to increase by a cumulative 150 percent over that time period. e rate increases will be most dramatic in the next decade, with annual 10 percent hikes projected from 2019 to 2022. After reaching a 106-percent cumulative increase in 2027, rate hikes will level off to just 2 percent a year from 2027 to 2038. CRW set rates so that an average household will not spend more than 2 percent of its annual income on water, but households earning less than the median income could face significant burdens. "It is anticipated that there will still be affordability issues for some customers within the City, with some customers experiencing wastewater and storm water costs as a percentage of income exceeding 3.0 percent," the report says. e draft plan is part of CRW's response to a partial consent decree it negotiated with the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection in late 2014. Earlier that year, the EPA alleged that sewage runoff in Harrisburg violated the federal Clean Water Act and PA Clean Streams Law. Like many old cities, Harrisburg has a combined sewer system, in which storm drains connect to the same sewer system as toilets and showers. When it's not raining, all the contents of the sewer system flow to a treatment plant on Cameron Street, where they are cleaned and then discharged into the Susquehanna River. But heavy rain can cause the system to overflow, sending untreated water into the river and Paxton Creek. Under state and federal environmental laws, Harrisburg would have faced financial penalties for those runoff incidents. After a year of negotiations, the EPA agreed to spare the city financial penalties as long as CRW agreed to update its long-term plan for the city's sewer system. A public meeting on the proposal is slated for March 1, 6 to 8 p.m., at the Camp Curtin YMCA. zeMBo sHRine to sell e historic Zembo Mosque and Shrine is set to sell after almost one year on the market. e 65,000-square-foot property at Division and N. 3rd streets will be sold to Arkansas-based TempleLive LLC, which plans to operate the building as a meeting, gathering and performing arts venue, said city communications Director Joyce Davis. "e goal is to make it a more culturally active space," Davis said TempleLive currently owns two Masonic temples similar to Zembo, one in Cleveland and one in Fort Smith, Ark. e company runs both properties as multi-purpose event spaces, according to the venues' websites. Mike Brown, vice president of acquisitions for Beaty Capital Group, TempleLive's parent company, expects the sale to close at the end of March or beginning of April. He hopes the site will be operational by the fall. Zembo went on the market in February 2017 with a $950,000 asking price. Davis could not confirm the property's final sale price, which was reportedly reached at a special meeting on Jan. 11. e deal includes 396 parking spaces adjacent to the building. Since its opening, Zembo has been home to the Shriners, a fraternal organization affiliated with the Freemasons. e Shriners continue to meet there, but the group's declining membership, coupled with the building's high operating costs, forced them to sell the historic property.

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