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