December 2012
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May. 16th, 2023 @ 9:18 pm
RT @timelywriter: PHILADELPHIA (@AP) _ Cherelle Parker wins Democratic primary for Philadelphia mayor, likely positioning her as 1st woman…

May. 16th, 2023 @ 8:16 pm
RT @RyanDeto: NEW: The AP has called the Allegheny County Executive race for Sara Innamorato, a progressive lawmaker. She joins several oth…

May. 16th, 2023 @ 8:13 pm
RT @PeteHallPA: Democrat Heather Boyd has won the 163rd Legislative District special election in a 76-22% landslide preserving the Democra…

May. 4th, 2023 @ 9:06 am
RT @MacFarlaneNews: Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Enrique Tarrio and Joe Biggs are found GUILTY of seditious conspiracy.

Mar. 23rd, 2023 @ 10:46 am
RT @MacFarlaneNews: FLASH: Per my teammate @RobLegare Federal judge Amy Berman Jackson sentences Riley Williams to 36 months (3 years) i…

Mar. 23rd, 2023 @ 9:00 am
RT @MacFarlaneNews: Defense argues Trump and Rep Scott Perry (R-PA) and Nick Fuentes were influences on Riley Williams (Perry is the Cong…

Mar. 23rd, 2023 @ 8:50 am
RT @ryanjreilly: DOJ: Riley Williams is not some “impulsive Gen-Z gadfly,” she “participated in domestic terrorism, plain and simple.” Ril…

Jan. 31st, 2023 @ 12:42 pm
Pa State Sen. Mike Regan tosses protester blocking doorway at 1K$ fundraising lunch for Sen. Scott Martin https://t.co/KZqU3QfWiB

Jan. 17th, 2023 @ 6:19 pm
The end of an era - Tom and Frances Wolf exit the Pennsylvania State Capitol 1.17.23 https://t.co/l4eOdKBz6y

Jan. 12th, 2023 @ 3:26 pm
RT @ByCarterWalker: Lycoming County recount results are in. Story soon: https://t.co/Fj1SmIVmiN

Jan. 10th, 2023 @ 8:04 pm
Tuesday 4:53pm - Pa. Senate Rules committee passes SB1 11-6 https://t.co/3aMf75hCnX

Jan. 10th, 2023 @ 5:14 pm
Editing video of Pa. Senate Rules committee Tuesday 4:35pm. https://t.co/2VMENm4l6V

Jan. 9th, 2023 @ 6:46 pm
Pa Senate State Government committee Monday afternoon. Chair Cris Dush - nobody has been charged with insurrection. https://t.co/cOMm6oPSVU

Jan. 9th, 2023 @ 6:18 pm
Pa Speaker Mark Rozzi - Because they took all the money away. https://t.co/HVwgilc1sC

Jan. 4th, 2023 @ 7:42 am
Pa Speaker vote Rozzi 115 - Metzgar 85 https://t.co/7brf5ipXX8

Jan. 3rd, 2023 @ 9:01 pm
Pa. Speaker Rozzi 8:01pm https://t.co/9M5g1cFWds

Jan. 3rd, 2023 @ 6:42 am
Archive - Swearing-in day 1.2.7 https://t.co/ouzSdyAAYT

Jan. 3rd, 2023 @ 4:42 pm
Rep Cutler takes questions on election of House Speaker https://t.co/LdsbynObSK

Jan. 3rd, 2023 @ 4:36 pm
Pa House scheduled back in at 6:45pm https://t.co/J0bRjEO3f2

Jan. 2nd, 2023 @ 12:48 pm
https://t.co/0jv0ihYv2O

© Roxbury News, 2011

The Harrisburg Incinerator: Chairman Marc Kurowski on the Appraisal Report

26 Dec
Wednesday @ 11:56 pm

ARCHIVE video from March 31, 2011: Chair of the Harrisburg Incinerator Marc Kurowski takes questions after a 90 minute meeting with members of Harrisburg City Council; City of Harrisburg Finance Director Bob Kroboth; Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries; Dauphin County financial advisor Jay Wenger; Dauphin County attorney Chuck Zwally; Act 47 team member Bob O'Donnell; and attorneys of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore.

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Pennsylvania Senate Roundtable: Challenges of Smaller Urban Areas

26 Dec
Wednesday @ 10:40 pm

On December 18, 2012, various Pennsylvania Senators sat in a roundtable discussion at the Central Allison Hill Community Center in Harrisburg, located in a place considered to be one of the capital city's most decayed, littered, and crime ridden neighborhoods. The senators were joined by Third Class City mayors from across the state, as well as a city councilor, a developer, an attorney, and a school board director, all from the City of Harrisburg.

The unusual end of year PA Senate committee meeting was arranged by Senator-elect Rob Teplitz whose 15th District includes Harrisburg as well as surrounding municipalities. At his request, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, chaired by Lisa Boscola, Bethleham, hosted this public hearing on "Challenges of Smaller Urban Areas." This issue has become an increasingly significant point of discussion amongst State legislators as more and more PA cities struggle with structural deficits. Out of the 53 Third Class cities (population under 250,000) in Pennsylvania, ten have entered the State's Municipalities Financial Recovery Act 47 Program for supervision and assistance.

The challenges facing these cities is epitomized by the State's capital, the City of Harrisburg. Not only is Harrisburg in Act 47 since 2010, it is the first municipality in Pennsylvania to have a state-appointed Receiver administer its finances. This comes primarily from the extraordinary fiscal crisis Harrisburg faces due to financial consequences of a public project gone bad, i.e. the retrofit of the Harrisburg Incinerator.

It's precisely the unique Incinerator problem that has grasped the attention of State legislators. In October and November the Senate Local Government Committee chaired by Senator John Eichelberger (R-Altoona) held hearings on the Harrisburg Incinerator Forensic Audit Report. The point of the hearings was to better understand the complicated structure of the retrofit financial transactions, which included SWAPs and other creative and high-risk moves of professionals and elected officials. Several of those people who were key decision makers in the Incinerator retrofit testified during those hearings.

While those hearings looked exclusively at the City of Harrisburg's failed public project and subsequent debt, the December 18th Roundtable focused on the purpose, importance, and problems of Pennsylvania's numerous small urban centers.

The panel of fifteen participants talked about regionalism, taxation powers, tax abatements, tax shifts, urban education, job creation, and the concept of "core communities" with an overall emphasis on a need to develop more efficient and contemporary responses to an aging municipal framework.

The Senate committee Roundtable followed an announcement that Senate Democrats launched the Growth, Progress & Sustainability (GPS) plan to confront the State's distressed municipalities.

Videos:

Senator John Blake, Scranton & Senator-elect Sean Wiley, Erie: New tools, raising the awareness, & tax shifts

Senator Wayne Fontana, Allegheny; Senator Judy Schwank, Reading; & Senator Jay Costa, Allegheny: Social changes

Senator Blake & Senator Jim Brewster, McKeesport: "A multidimensional, multifaceted challenge. It is generational."

Richard Vilello, Mayor of Lock Haven and President of PLCM: Cities are core communities of a region

Linda Thompson, Mayor of City of Harrisburg: "I seem to be utilizing it to its best interests."

Mayor Thompson: "Most of the percentage of African Americans are coming right out of the school district going into the prison system."

Brad Koplinski, City Councilor in City of Harrisburg: Harrisburg was the first city to reject Act 47

Neil Grover, Esquire: "This is why cities are failing across the state, is because your hands are tied."

Alex Hartzler, WCI Partners, Senator Brewster, Mayor Vilello, & Senator Fontana: Tax abatements

Harrisburg School Board Director, Jennifer Smallwood. (The Secretary of Education recently appointed a Chief Recovery Officer to fiscally help the School District). "We understand how we've come to this crisis point."

by Tara Leo Auchey

photo provided by the PA Senate Democratic Caucus

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