June 2009 Archives

From our Web site:

Nominations are open for Downtown Inc.'s annual Downtown First Awards.

The public can submit one nominee per category and must use a separate form for each nomination. An independent selection committee reviews all nominations and selects winners in each eight categories:

Outstanding business with more than 30 employees; Outstanding business with fewer than 30 employees; Outstanding merchant; Outstanding volunteer; Outstanding new downtown  business; Outstanding individual within a company or organization; Outstanding nonprofit organization; Better York Beautification Award

The awards ceremony is Aug. 20 at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, 50 N. George St. For details, visit www.downtownyorkpa.com.

When I was driving out of the city today, workers were attaching the new sign above the doors of the White Rose Bar and Grill.

It looks like work there is wrapping up. I noticed over the weekend that the restaurant's new outdoor seating seemed to be filling up.

What do you think of the new look?

(I apologize for the crappy photo. My red light turned green while I was trying to zoom, so I turned my attention back to driving. I'll try to take a better one and replace this one.)

I didn't get much sleep this weekend.

Saturday night, of course, was filled with the sound of screeching tires from cars at the traffic light at Market and Queen.

Last night, sometime after 1 a.m., a driver decided to lay on his horn all the way down the street. I could hear him coming from several blocks away. And when he (or she) got to Market and Queen, he got into a little horn-honking battle with another driver. That was followed by some yelling back and forth. Even the hum of the air conditioner couldn't drown them out.

Now back to my coffee ...

Who's they? The thieves -- or would-be thieves, that is.

Yep, my car was the latest to be broken into in the area of Market and Queen streets, a window smashed to pieces.

The cars of at least four other people I know have been broken into in the area in the past six or nine months.

Of course, it's no secret that break-ins like this are a common occurrence in the city. A simple search of the York City Police log shows that. (Try a search for "criminal mischief" -- and that's just the incidents in which nothing was taken.)

I'm borrowing this item from co-worker Jen Vogelsong's blog, but it sounded kind of interesting.

There's a free York photo walk downtown on Saturday. Grab your camera and meet at 10 a.m. in Continental Square.

Visit Explorer's Backpack for more details.

We just received a news release from the county, telling us that York's Guardian Angels chapter will patrol in Harrisburg tomorrow, starting at 5 p.m.

Harrisburg has had several shootings in the past few weeks. Click here for a roundup from the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

(File photo by Paul Kuehnel)

A study of the financial situation in five Pennsylvania cities, including York, paints a pretty bleak picture.

The study, done by the Pennsylvania Economy League, looks at the financial situation in York, Lancaster, Easton, Reading and Bethlehem. Here are a few of its conclusions:

• In all but one of the cities, the total taxes collected each year were insufficient to pay for police and fire services
• None of the cities could support public safety, general administration, public works and debt service with their existing tax base
• "If the cities cannot capture the revenue streams produced as a result of their status as regional economic generators, the cities will be compelled to search for even more creative methods to pay for the services that their citizens have a right to expect from their local government tax dollars."
  
• "It is not inaccurate to say that the cities are older, smaller and poorer than they were over the past several decades."
  

The study doesn't exactly offer any recommendations. The mayors of the five cities gathered yesterday in Lancaster and pushed the state for a 1 percent local option sales tax to help reduce property taxes, according to an AP story.

Read the study here.

The city put out the list of streets included in Ticket and Tow for July.

To see the list, click here and scroll down.

The fine for parking in a no-parking area is $25, and the tow costs $125.

After seeing a few people on Twitter post about "voting" for their favorite farmer's market, I finally clicked the link and checked it out.

Web sites Care 2, which appears to have information on a number of causes, and Local Harvest, which provides information about farms, farmers markets and other local food sources, are running a contest.

I've posted a few times about the Hartley Street Youth Group, so I thought I'd share the latest on it here.

Noreen Freeland, who ran the group, e-mailed me and said that for health reasons, she will no longer be able to lead the group. Parents decided not to continue it, so the group will disband after its July 18 clean sweep and cookout. The group had been around three and a half years.

Some funds recently raised will buy school supplies for youths before the start of the year.

The newly renovated Lincoln Park was supposed to be dedicated last Saturday, but rain ruined those plans. So now, it's rescheduled for Aug. 3, which will also be the second annual Day of Play. No more details yet.

From the city:

Rebuild York, a three-year project aimed at paving several streets in the city, starts Monday.

The first streets scheduled for work are:

Linden Avenue, from Penn Street to Roosevelt Avenue
Madison Avenue, from Newberry Street to Roosevelt Avenue
Butler Street, from Pershing Avenue to Beaver Street

Base repair and the installation of ramps for handicapped access will take place Monday through July 10. Milling and paving will take place July 15 to 24. Drivers should watch for parking restrictions.

Get updates on the construction schedule by calling the Rebuild York hotline, 849-2270. More information is at www.yorkcity.org.
     
I called the hotline and got a recorded message, basically repeating the information above. But I'm assuming it will be updated as time goes on.

Tonight's free summer movie at Kiwanis Lake has been canceled because of the weather.

"Hotel for Dogs," which was supposed to be shown tonight, will instead run on Aug. 5.

The movie series continues next week, with "Kung Fu Panda" on June 24.

This tip made its way through the newsroom to me, so I thought I'd share it here.

City Church, which is a new church effort started by Pastor Aaron Anderson, is working with the YMCA to provide a basketball program on Saturday nights for kids. From 8 to 10 p.m., kids in 7th grade through high school can go to the Y to play basketball, supervised by volunteers.

Read more about the program here, on the City Church blog. They appear to be looking for volunteers, if you'd like to help.

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)

The Olde Towne East neighborhood is looking for volunteers to help with its first Ice Cream Festival, to be held July 11.

It looks like they need help with set up, clean up, food, games and more. For information, contact Richard Miller at rmiller@ywcaofyork.org.

The ShotSpotter results for the month of May are up on the city's Web site.

The numbers are up quite a bit compared to the past few months. The totals for May were:
Gunshots: 710
Firecrackers: 880
Other noises: 175

The York Historic Farmers Market Association will meet at 6 p.m. June 10 at Union Lutheran Church. They're also holding a "work party" starting around 9 a.m. on June 11 at the market. They'll need help painting and doing other odd jobs, according to Linda Birmingham.

They're also in need of some good strawberry or zucchini recipes to share, if you have any!

As I was driving out of town Sunday, I noticed a sign on the sidewalk on Carlisle Avenue, between Philadelphia Street and Linden Avenue.

"Please fix this road," the sign pleaded, pointing to the nearby bumpy street. I drove by again today to take a photo, but the sign was down.

Anyway, it made me think. This isn't the first time someone has put up a sign to vent frustration or ask for something to be done. (I'm thinking about the "deer crack dealer"  sign on North Penn Street.) And today, another frustrated resident said "I'm about to stick a sign in my yard ..."

So why does everyone turn to signs? Is it because the traditional means of seeking help aren't working? Or does it just help to vent via sign?

Remember last week, when I told you about the free movies that would be offered at Kiwanis Lake this summer?

Well, I hope you didn't mark them down on your calendars. Because the city sent a newly revised list over yesterday.

Here is the new, hopefully final schedule for the 2009 Summer Movie Series at Kiwanis Lake. Movies start at dusk, around 8 p.m. And they're free!

June 10 - Madagascar II, Escape Africa
June 17 - Hotel for Dogs
June 24 - Kung Fu Panda
July 1 -  NO MOVIE - HOLIDAY WEEK
July 8th -  Paul Blart: Mall Cop
July 15th - Open Season II
July 22nd - Tale of Despereaux
July 29th - Journey to the Center of the Earth (3-D)
August 5th - TO BE ANNOUNCED
August 12th - TO BE ANNOUNCED
August 19th - Bedtime Stories

Produce harvested from the United Way community garden will be for sale Saturday, June 6 from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Most items will be priced around 50 cents, said Shaun Underkoffler, of the York City Health Bureau. It's early in the season, but there are still a few items available including strawberries, lettuce and peas. Proceeds go to support the garden.

Underkoffler hopes some who stop out might also be interested in helping

In past years, garden plots were maintained individually. There were a few problems with vegetables disappearing.

Underkoffler said he thinks some people thought that it was a community garden, so they could help themselves. It was great that people were eating the vegetables, he said. But it was not so great for those doing the work and having their veggies taken.

The garden is a group effort this year. Those who help tend it get the first pick at the products. After that, the produce will be sold or donated to food banks, Underkoffler said.

The garden is at the United Way, 800 E. King St., York.

The grand opening of York's newly renovated Lincoln Park will be held from June 20.

A ribbon cutting will be held at 10 a.m. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the event will have food, games and live entertainment. A chicken barbecue dinner will be available for $7, with proceeds benefiting Bring on Play.

Call Joe Stein at 495-3878 for dinner tickets.

(Photo above, by Jason Plotkin, shows volunteers Alesha Christensen and Jan Plymire putting a mesh crawl tube in place at the park on a community build day.)

From time to time, I search for news about ShotSpotter. The other day, I stumbled upon the Web site for the Minneapolis police department.

Minneapolis has installed ShotSpotter in part of the city. And on about a weekly basis, the police department posts a map showing ShotSpotter activations.

The map marks not only ShotSpotter calls, but also citizen reports of gunfire, and the locations of shootings. So it's kind of interesting to be able to compare.

Here's an example from a week in May.

One thing to note: the map shows the whole city, not just the area where ShotSpotter sensors are. So some parts of the maps that appear to have very little gunfire might just not have ShotSpotter.  At least one blogger said that makes them somewhat unreliable.

And, the maps don't distinguish between the different types of ShotSpotter activations -- so we don't know if a mark means the system detected gunfire or another noise.

York, if you remember, releases a monthly report with the number of shots but will not release locations picked up by ShotSpotter.

What do you think?

Today, I decided that I need to venture out to city restaurants more.

I get in a rut and stick with my favorites. But there are quite a few out there that I haven't tried: Pho Bistro, Esaan, the new Mi Caldero Restaurant and Deli. Those are all relatively new, but I know there are some longtime restaurants I haven't been to, either.

And there are a few I tried once and haven't made it back. I had a yummy ... something ... at La Carreta once, but I haven't gotten back in. I've been meaning to return to the Colonial Coffee Shop for breakfast, but somehow haven't.

I need to come up with a rotating schedule or something ... and figure out how to fund it. But what restaurants should I put on my list?


(The photo above, by Bil Bowden, shows Esaan co-owner Sam Delp giving a sample of Thai dessert to a customer.

Update: The Hartley Street Youth Group's clean sweep and cookout has been postponed until July 18.

Noreen Freeland, a Hartley Street resident, e-mails me from time to time to tell me about the Hartley Street Youth Group, which she leads. In the past, the group has hosted neighborhood cleanups, held a Christmas party for kids in the York County Youth Development Center, and other activities.

Noreen tells me that on more than one occasion, one of her doctors, James Gilhool, has come to the group's rescue. A few months ago, the group had been raising funds for T-shirts, when they decided to spend the money instead to host the Christmas party at the development center. Gilhool heard and offered to foot half the bill for T-shirts if they could raise the rest, Noreen said. They got him a T-shirt, too.

More recently, the group was planning its third annual clean sweep and cookout for the Hartley Street neighborhood, this time with a Hawaiian theme. They also plan to cover up graffiti in the neighborhood that day.

But at the last minute, they learned the Salem Square Community Association couldn't give them the amount of money they requested for the event. Dr. Gilhool overheard Noreen telling his receptionist of the situation and told them they'd have a check by the end of the week.

She hopes he's going to attend the event, which is Saturday.

"He is always so supportive," Noreen said. "You can't put a price on that."

If I had kids, this is where I'd be on Wednesday evenings. As it is, I have no kids and therefore have no real excuse to go see Bolt.  I did enjoy  Marley and Me though, so who knows.

The Summer Movie Series at Kiwanis Lake, North Newberry Street and Parkway Boulevard, runs Wednesday evenings from June 10 to Aug. 19. The movies start at dusk, around 8 p.m.

June 9 update: The city revised the schedule and sent out a new one. So I've updated this entry and added the new schedule:

Schedule:
 
    June 10 - Madagascar II, Escape Africa
    June 17 - Hotel for Dogs
    June 24 - Kung Fu Panda
    July 1 - no movie
    July 8 - Paul Blart, Mall Cop
    July 15 - Open Season II
    July 22 - Tale of Despereaux
    July 29 - Journey to the Center of the Earth (3-D)
    Aug. 5 - to be announced
    Aug. 12 - to be announced
    Aug. 19 - Bedtime Stories
     
     

Over the weekend, I noticed that the first block of East Market Street isn't exactly a pedestrian's dream.

On the southern side of the block, a sign tells pedestrians the sidewalk is closed. There are gates closing off the walk around the York County Administrative Center. More work to repair the building, I'm guessing?

The sign directs walkers to the other side of the street, where ... you have Market Street garage construction

It looks prohibitive, but you can get through since they constructed a pedestrian walkway out front.

Garage construction is going to continue for a while. I don't know how long the area by the Administrative Center will be blocked off.  It all looks more hazardous than it probably is. All the same, it's probably good to pay attention and make sure you know where you're going for a while.