Results tagged “city” from York City Limits

York property owners can get low-interest loans to improve their sidewalks through a city partnership with Fulton Bank.

Through the partnership, property owners can get home equity loan with a low monthly payment.  Property owners can contact one of the following four Fulton Bank branches for information:
  
30 S. George St., 771-4224
2057 S. Queen St., 771-4319
905 Indian Rock Dam Road, 771-4322
201 Pauline Drive, 747-9962
   
Visit www.yorkcity.org to check the city code ordinances for regulations related to sidewalk repair.

Tonight's free movie is: The Tale of Despereaux.

Movies start about 8:15 p.m. at Kiwanis Lake. Bring blankets or lawn chairs.

(And Double D's Dogs will be on site selling hot dogs.)

I have been anti-Twitter for quite some time. I've lobbied against it, arguing that I don't have time to get everything done much less update people about it all the time.

I had made an account some time ago, after being urged at work to figure out how it could help me. I didn't do anything with it, though. But recently, I was on the Web site for Crispus Attucks and noticed that they had a feed of their Twitter updates, with news and events posted. So I began "following" them on Twitter and started searching for other York-related posters.

Here are some of the York-related Twitterers (is that a word?) I've found so far:

When I pulled into a parking space in front of my apartment building Thursday, one of the parking meters was covered with a McDonalds bag.

I assumed someone was just creatively littering, but when I pulled the bag off the meter, I realized they had scribbled "out of order" on the bag. The meter screen was blinking. I'm not sure that will get you out of a ticket. But I threw the bag away and looked on the city's Web site to see how you report a broken meter.

The number listed for that purpose is 854-2230. But when I called that, I got a message telling me that number was not in service. Then I noticed the main parking bureau number is listed as 849-2230, so maybe the other number is a typo. (But how long has it been that way?) So I tried that number and reached the voicemail of someone in the parking bureau, who said they will be out of the office until Tuesday.

So I'll leave a message. I've interviewed Denny Becker, the employee who fixes parking meters, so maybe I should just stop by his workspace. But it seems like it should be easier to report the problem.

(File photo is from Jason Plotkin)

I urge you all to visit reporter Tom Joyce's political blog today for an entry that's not exactly political. Tom was on duty yesterday when news came in that a 9-year-old girl had been shot to death on South Duke Street.

Read Tom's entry here.

If you haven't read the story about Ciara Savage, the news and updates are here.

Reporter Brent Burkey over at the biz blog has posted an interesting city vs. suburb question.

Do city residents generate more trash? Read his post here.

My block in the city usually has a ton of trash bags (and boxes, shopping bags, etc.) resting on the curb, but that's because there are probably 10 or more apartments are putting stuff out there. But why people can't put it neatly in a trash bag, I don't know.

We received an e-mail today reminding us that yesterday marked one year since the death of Darisabel Baez, the 2-year-old girl who police said was beaten to death in the city. Darisabel's mother and her mother's boyfriend are still awaiting trial on homicide charges.

The e-mail was from Aaron Anderson, pastor of City Church. He also happens to live next door to Darisabel's grandparents. Darisabel used to play with Anderson's daughter of the same age. He was one of the pastors who conducted Darisabel's funeral services.

Anderson has posted an entry on City Church's blog, reflecting on the anniversary of Darisabel's death and how it connects to his church.

"We intend to make Darisabel's life count by taking the transforming power of the Gospel to people who otherwise might end up with the same fate as Harve Johnson and Neida Baez," he write. "Just maybe, some family that is touched by the Gospel will stop using violence, drugs, and sex to solve their problems, and turn their energy toward loving each other and their own little ones; little ones like Darisabel."

Read the entire entry here.   The rest of the City Church site is worth a look, too.

Construction on the Market Street garage began a week or so ago. I noticed the other day that the area in the front of the garage, right next to the Department of Economic Development, is fenced off and appears to be full of construction supplies.

Yesterday, I saw that the entrance to the garage from Duke Street has been closed, as planned. I believe it will be closed throughout the renovation. But the main entrance to the garage on Market Street is still open. (That entrance from Duke Street always threw me off anyway.)

So if you're headed to the garage, make sure you take Market.

If you haven't heard what they're doing, the city has an information brochure here.

If you love gardening (or have been inspired to start by our First Lady) but don't have a yard, here's some info on a community garden as written in a news brief by my co-worker Teresa Boeckel.

This community garden isn't located in the city, but not having a place to garden seems like a city issue to me so I am putting it up on this blog. Not to mention, in these times stretching a budget with healthful foods is an idea we all can rally around, no matter your zip code.

Garden plots can be rented at the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education, and food from a garden could help people save on grocery bills.
    A 20-foot by 20-foot plot is going for $25 this season. Gardeners can rent up to four additional plots for $15 each.
    The season runs from April 15 to Oct. 31. The deadline for registration and payment is March 31.
   Renters can receive the following benefits:
   The initial plowing of the plot in the spring.

•    Advice offered at Master Gardeners work sessions at The Gardens at John Rudy County Park, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Mondays and 5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Thursdays.
•     Additional advice from Master Gardeners available for gardeners who come in or call the Penn State Cooperative Extension Office at 840-7408 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.

    For more information or to register, call the Horn Farm at 757-6441.

The other night, I had my semi-regular phone chat with my sister, who lives in West Virginia.

Sometime during the conversation, she said "You must have your windows open." She thought that because she heard the vrrrooom of what she thought was a motorcycle outside.

Nope, windows closed. All sealed up. But with Market Street just steps away, the rev of engines is a constant sound -- even more so on weekends. Sometimes I think I've become accustomed to the noise. I don't think I even noticed that motorcycle until my sister pointed it out. And she's not the first person to remark on the noise from the other end of the phone line. You should hear it when a fire truck blares by.

I've written about this before, sorry to be redundant. But I started thinking. It's going to start warming up soon (I hope). That means it will be time to open the windows and let in some fresh air, which my cat absolutely loves. But opening the windows means inviting even more noise in the apartment. It'll be nearly impossible to watch television again, at least until it gets to be super hot. Then I can close the windows and turn on the air conditioner. But even the AC's hum can't drown out those engines.

Three years in the city, and I finally made it to the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

It's not really my fault I'd never been there.

In 2006, I was working and assigned to cover the parade. But snow caused the event to be called off, so I spent the day wandering to see how people spent the holiday.

Last year ... OK, I can't remember where I was last year, but it wasn't the parade.

So this year, I made it. It was a good show, even if it was looooong. Several city candidates were in the lineup, holding up signs, handing out stickers and other election goodies. Bagpipers were on my list of favorite entries, and  Tim Fulton (decked out in some bright yellow pants) seemed to be enjoying his role as grand marshal.

It was a fun day. But if you missed the parade, I'm sure you can still find a place to celebrate tomorrow.

(That photo was taken by one of our photographers, Jason Plotkin.)

The other day, as I interviewed a city businessman, he mentioned that although he's walked the city streets many, many times, he'll still discover a new building or something else that he had never noticed before.

As we walked North George Street, he pointed to an old advertisement painted on the top of the Harp and Fiddle building. I'd never noticed it either.

I've often thought about this sort of thing. Living in the city, it's easy to let the houses and businesses blend together and not notice anything other than rows and rows of buildings. But if you slow down and look, there's some pretty cool stuff.

The city and the York County Solid Waste Authority are holding an E-Cycling event on Saturday.

I have all kinds of old electronics collecting in closets and other various storage spaces. The ones I can think of are: an old photo printer that I think I received in college, an old laptop that I purchased from my brother-in-law for, I think, $75 in about 2001, and the desktop computer I bought in 2002 to replace the dying laptop. The last computer has had various issues through the years, and it went it appeared to be finally kicking the bucket recently, I moved it into the closet. I've been using a loaner since.

Last night, in between eating way too much food at El Serrano and ringing in 2009 at a friend's house down the block, my boyfriend and I plopped on the couch for a few moments and switched on White Rose Community Television.

It entertained us for at least the next hour.

Ray Rosario and Lou Torres from the WRCT show "This is Our City" were set up in the square interviewing people who walked by. Maybe I should say trying to interview. Lots of people seemed to be uncooperative and kept walking. (As someone who's done many man-on-the-street interviews, I feel the hosts' pain.) But a few stopped and shared their resolutions, and Rosario and Torres kept the conversation flowing when people weren't.

I've never been to Rocky Ridge County Park to see the Christmas lights, and I've decided that this is the year to fix that.

Next week (Dec. 14-20) is city week, so city residents get a discount. I'm recruiting some of my city friends to tag along. Some of us were just remembering how our families used to drive around to look at Christmas lights when we were younger.

There's a coupon on the city's Web site that makes admission to Christmas Magic buy-one-get-one for residents. So if you're a city resident, next week is the week to go!

For those of you who wanted to see the list of 21 strategic sites the York Daily Record identified in 1997, the story is here.

There's also a related story about what the mayor and the city's economic development director think are strategic sites now. What sites do you think have potential for the future?

Here's another snippet from a story I've been working on, updating on 21 "strategic sites" the city named 10-ish years ago.

One of the sites on the original list in 1997 was 31 S. Beaver St. Then, it was the GTE building. It was empty and used for storage.

The building has stayed in the phone biz. Verizon now uses it to house installation repair technicians and some employees from the network engineering group, according to a spokesman.

The building is a stop on one of Historic York's walking tours. The 1929 building was designed by Rhinehart Dempwolf in the art-deco style, which is somewhat unusual in York, according to Barb Raid at Historic York. Telephone operators and linemen are featured on the metal security doors, which were part of an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, according to an old Daily Record story. Raid said that in the 1980s, GTE wanted to take the doors off when they were trying to make the building ADA compliant, but the doors stayed.

Just another example of a building many people, including me, have probably walked by many times and never stopped to think about. (Although my boss has written about it over on his blog before.) I've been thinking I should sign up for one of the walking tours, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I've been hunting for a good photo of the building. If I can find one or grab one myself, I'll post it.

For some reason, fire has always been something I've been extra cautious about or extra wary of. I'm not sure why. I've always been one to check and make sure there's nothing lying against the heat register (that one, I think, came from my mom), to double check that the stove is turned off and to triple check that I unplugged the toaster oven before I leave the house.

That tendency has kind of been on overdrive since I moved to the city. The close proximity of the buildings scares me. The Monday fire that damaged seven rowhouses and left 36 adults and 15 children in need of shelter is a good example of why. My current apartment building bothers me less than my old apartment, which was in a rowhouse, did.

If the unforseeable happens, I have renters insurance. At least two of the other residents in my building (one of whom I've reminded several times to buy it) do not. I'm guessing the other three don't either. I don't have a terribly large number of valuables in my apartment, so my policy covers more than I need and costs me a little more than $100 a year. I think it's worth it to know that if something happens, I'll be covered.

Last week, fire Chief John Senft reminded me that it's been nearly a year since the huge Kings Mill Road fire that claimed four lives and left three girls without parents. There are free smoke detectors available to city residents, and the fire department installs them, too. Call 854-3921 for information.

The Red Cross is helping victims of Monday's fire.

I'm spending part of this week combing through a list the Daily Record published in 1997-1998 of 21 strategic sites in the city. That's only 10-ish years ago, but I'm learning how much things can change in that time period.

Example:

I've lived here for a little more than two years, and I've always ordered my pizza from Marcello's on South George Street. But one of the "strategic sites" the paper identified in 1997 was the building at 25 W. Market St., left empty when Marcello's moved out. And at some point before that, it was a nightclub named Zakie's. So I guess it kind of returned to its roots when Ron Kamionka bought the place and started putting in his clubs and bars in the first block of Market Street.