We’re Number One! (In Crime Per Capita!)
Take THAT, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh!
The Patriot News reported today that our fine city which we call home ranked Numero Uno in Crime Per Capita for the entire state.
Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Reporting System figures released this week show Harrisburg with 72.7 crimes per 1,000 people, Lancaster at 66.6 per 1,000 people, and York at 65.6 per 1,000 people.
In comparison, Philadelphia came in at 57.8 per 1,000 people and Pittsburgh had a rate of 51.9 per 1,000 people.
So what does this tell us?
Nothing that we didn’t really already know.
The City of Harrisburg appears to be on the brink of collapse. With the Mayors office and administration named in a lawsuit filed by Dauphin County earlier this week seeking a court order to force payment of required debt payments on the Harrisburg incinerator, which is owned by the authority in addition to what sounds like a mass-exodus of lifelong city administrators, the future of the Capitol of the Commonwealth is shaky at best.
This makes me want to go out and buy one of those HBG shirts so I can represent.
Act 47, baby. I don’t see any point in avoiding it. Let’s just embrace it. Waiting will only make the pain worse.
Good call, Yosh-
For those of you keeping score at home, here’s an explanation of Act 47
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financially_Distressed_Municipalities_Act
The Financially Distressed Municipalities Act (Act of 1987, P.L. 246, No. 47), also known as Act 47, empowers the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to declare certain municipalities as financially distressed. It provides for the restructuring of debt of financially distressed municipalities, limits the ability of financially distressed municipalities to obtain government funding; authorizes municipalities to participate in Federal debt adjustment actions and bankruptcy actions under certain circumstances; and provides for consolidation or merger of contiguous municipalities to relieve financial distress.
Check out the link:
http://newpa.com/download.aspx?id=984
The following have standing to request a determination of municipal financial distress from the secretary:
Ten percent of the number of electors of the municipality that voted at the last municipal election, by
petition to the department alleging the municipality is fiscally distressed.
That seems doable…