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Chapter 13
"The city has
withdrawn the charges..."
Mayor intervenes on Antoun's behalf ... Annette appeals earlier
convictions to county court
Editor's
note: If you arrived directly at this page, click here
for a quick overview of the strange series of events that have already
transpired.
On Monday, July 22, 2002 at 8 a.m. Antoun was again scheduled to appear before District Justice Joseph
Solomon to defend herself on two additional citations that had been
filed against her property at 1008 N. Sixth Street.
The additional charges were
brought by city codes officers following the June 18 hearing for which
she failed to appear. See:
Chapter 11.
At 7:45 a.m. we were informed by one of Solomon's
staff, "The city has withdrawn the charges." She explained a codes officer
appeared on Friday, July 19 in late afternoon and withdrew the charges.
Why? The fence was still up and the property
remains condemned.
We were not at all surprised to learn from reliable
sources the Mayor
himself had intervened on Annette's behalf.
However, we were very disappointed to learn Steve
Reed is using the power of his office to protect an individual who for
25 years has made a mockery of the city's property maintenance codes and
tacitly been permitted to blight a residential
neighborhood.
There is some bitter irony in a press release from Reed's office printed in the
Paxton Herald some months ago. Reed is quoted, "We have made some strides over the years
in dealing with the problems caused by absentee and irresponsible
slumlords." (See:
Mayor targets
"irresponsible slumlords")
Apparently only problems caused by politically
unconnected slumlords are being dealt with.
Meanwhile, Annette bought herself a few months more
time by filing appeals to Dauphin County Court on the three guilty
verdicts and fines handed down by District Justice Solomon on June 18.
According to staff in the Clerk of Courts office, the case will be heard
sometime in the fall.
We are concerned that behind the scenes Annette is
maneuvering to "donate" 1008 N. Sixth Street to the city for the
"National Museum of African American History" and let the taxpayers
assume the cost of cleaning up her quarter century of neglect.
That would be outrageous, but considering the Mayor has already
interceded to spare his crony the indignity of two more criminal
convictions, we think it within the realm of possibility.
UPDATE!
Just 26 months after Mayor Stephen R. Reed illegally
ordered all building code violation charges dropped, the remnants of Hurricane Ivan passed through the
area on Sept. 19, 2004 proving us right and Reed spectacularly wrong as Antoun's neglected property crumbled.
Thanks, Steve, for interfering in the legitimate enforcement of the
Harrisburg's building codes to protect one of your cronies. You
should be ashamed.
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