Erie Mayor Joe Schember reflects on the state of the city - 'exciting stories to tell'
It is hard to believe that I have already completed six years as mayor. When I first ran for office in 2017, I was committed to serving three terms, or 12 years, because I knew that what my team and I wanted to accomplish was going to take that long. And now that we are midway through that commitment, I am still as passionate about serving you as I was that first day, back on Jan. 2, 2018.
As your mayor, I am committed to always being open, honest, transparent and accessible in everything I say and do. That remains my approach and will never change.
Our mission and vision drive everything my team and I do.
Our mission is:
Build opportunity.
Restore hope.
Transform Erie.
Our Vision is:
Erie is a community of choice. We celebrate our:
Rich cultural diversity,
Welcoming, vibrant neighborhoods,
World-class downtown and bayfront,
Excellent education for everyone and
Abundance of family-sustaining jobs.
Everything my amazing team and I do focuses on achieving this mission and vision for Erie.
But government cannot do it alone. Private sector, nonprofit, and philanthropic leaders all play a role in transformational change. One example I am especially proud of is our collaboration with Infinite Erie. Only by working together can we successfully resolve today's complex challenges. We are putting plans into action, leveraging resources and securing new funding opportunities, and I am excited about what this partnership will accomplish.
My team had some major accomplishments during 2023.
Department of Economic and Community Development
First, under Chris Groner's leadership as economic development specialist, we have grown the city's revolving loan funds and expanded access to capital for loans and grants from $6.25 million in 2018 to $22 million today.
In 2023, through our economic development initiatives, we disbursed more than $7 million in low interest loans that leveraged and supported $20 million in projects.
Since 2018, our Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) has provided city businesses with nearly $20 million in financing, which has leveraged more than $90 million in investments.
Created in 2018, the Flagship micro-grant program for businesses is fully funded and sustainable through interest from our revolving loan funds. Since 2018, we have awarded 141 Flagship grants for a total of $346,000, with 19 of those totaling $69,000 awarded in 2023.
The Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program, or LERTA, passed in July 2019, has helped to spur $304.4 million in investment in commercial and residential projects. Of this, $252.8 million was for commercial projects and $51.6 million for residential projects.
We are working with state Reps. Bob Merski and Pat Harkins and state Sen. Dan Laughlin to apply for a City Revitalization and Improvement Zone, or CRIZ. If approved, we believe this would bring millions of dollars in sustainable funding for economic development back to the city each year.
We are creating sustainable long-term tools with our $76 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding and have invested just over half of those dollars responsibly since 2022. In collaboration with our ARP Advisory Council and the volunteer ARP Project Review Team, who helped review applications, we allocated the following funds:
$20.15 million for economic and community development projects, including funding for small businesses and the redevelopment of the EMI, Quin-T, and Berry Plastics sites, and Joyce A. Savocchio Opportunity Park.
$15.1 million for housing grants and loans, being disbursed by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie. To date, more than $1 million has funded 73 housing rehabilitation projects.
$12 million to shore up our over 100-year-old decaying stormwater infrastructure.
$9.2 million for improvements to parks and public spaces, the East Bayfront Greenway Trail, the former Quin-T site, Groundwork Erie, and to provide Love Your Block grants to homeowners for small home repair projects.
$14.1 million for public safety enabled us to use $2.7 million to purchase the Miller Bros. property to create a public safety complex. We also added 15 officers to reinstate the Juvenile Unit and the Crisis Unit which can respond in crisis situations 24/7.
All of this ARP funding must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026. We must file quarterly reports with the U.S. Treasury. We are on track and monitoring spending closely to ensure the funding is used appropriately and will not need to be sent back to the federal government. To date, about half of the $76 million has been spent or put into sustainable tools that will last long after 2026.
I am also very proud that Debra Smith, our director of DECD, has led her team to disburse U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocations into projects and programs to serve residents, including:
Nearly $3.1 million in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for economic and community development, community centers, youth programming, park and playground improvements, tree removal and replacement, and handicapped curb cuts;
About $950,000 via HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) for housing rehabilitation, first-time homebuyers, and affordable rental housing rehabilitation;
$270,000 via Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) for rapid rehousing and operational costs for six emergency shelters and three transitional living facilities;
and the city also secured $100,000 in Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) funds for home-repair mini-grants of up to $4,000.
Department of Planning and Neighborhood Resources
Next, we have built our grant writing capabilities to support transformational projects throughout Erie. Since 2018, the city has brought in more than $90 million in grants for exciting projects and initiatives. Grant writing, administration, and management is an enormous amount of extra work on top of daily responsibilities, but we have a city team committed to finding funding to improve the quality of life for residents and businesses.
In 2023, we were awarded $15.1 million in grant funds with an additional $19.7 million in requests still pending.
Under the direction of Jackie Spry, our Department of Planning and Neighborhood Resources has worked hard to implement the Erie Refocused comprehensive plan.
To eliminate blight, increase quality affordable housing, and connect residents to resources, we are hiring three additional property maintenance inspectors and expanding our Love Your Block initiative.
Love Your Block engages residents to address blight. In 2023, we assisted 52 homeowners with mini grants for façade improvements, paint, removal of 114,000 pounds of junk and debris, landscaping, handrails, new mailboxes, house numbers, and storm doors. As a result, residents saved almost $131,000 in labor that was completed by 103 volunteers who donated over 2,700 hours. In 2024, Love Your Block plans to expand to coordinate 100 small home repair projects, eight community cleanups in collaboration with Public Works, and multiple outreach events to inform residents of available funding and services.
In 2023, our GIS Team created a blight dashboard to enable our property maintenance inspectors to proactively address blight. Of the 467 properties identified in the last five years, 87 now have a blight designation, 75 have been demolished, 81 have received updated notices of violation or citations, and 133 are repaired or are being monitored while under repair. In addition, the Erie Land Bank acquired 25 properties, demolished 28 properties, and transferred seven properties for development for a total investment of $631,000.
In 2023, we partnered with the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie (RACE) on a plan to develop the East Bayfront Greenway Trail initiative which will replace blighted properties and vacant lots with public greenspace between Parade and Wayne, E. 10th and 6th streets. Once approved, RACE will use grants and ARP funds to complete this project.
The Erie Neighborhood Growth Partnership received a $100,000 grant through the PA Council on the Arts Creative Communities Initiative that will allow us to partner with Groundwork Erie's Green Team of high school-aged youth from Erie neighborhoods to do environmental work on the East Bayfront Greenway Trail this summer.
The city was awarded a $50,000 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Community Conservation Partnerships Program (C2P2) planning grant to fund a comprehensive recreation, park and open space plan for all city-owned parks that will include recommendations for improvements, resident input, and potential funding programs to implement the plan.
The city received a $200,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All federal planning grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a comprehensive safety plan to reduce accidents.
The 12th Street Re-Imagined initiative is being funded through a $125,000 Keystone Communities grant to find ways to make the corridor between I-79 and Cherry Street more inviting and functional.
The city received a $10,000 grant to engage local environmental partners and community groups in setting an agenda for Erie's sustainable future focused on the intersection of climate action, racial justice, and equity.
Since 2018, planning department staff have compiled three neighborhood strategic plans: East Bayfront in 2018-19, Academy Marvintown in 2019-20, and Buffalo Road in 2022-23. Each plan provides recommendations based on data and resident input regarding properties, blight, infrastructure, crime and safety and community building.
Over the last year, thanks to a Keystone Historic Preservation Planning grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the city developed a draft the city's first historic preservation plan.
Cultures, Arts, Festivals and Events of Erie (CAFE)
Thanks to the CAFE board and volunteers under the direction of Adrienne Nannen, residents and visitors were treated to 16 days of free events. These include Lights Over Lake Erie, the 814 Concert Series, Sounds of Summer, and three days of the biggest CelebrateErie yet. CAFE's mission is to bring the city's vision to life through fun, engaging events that celebrate our diverse cultures and welcoming, vibrant neighborhoods.
Department of Public Works
Under the leadership of Director Chuck Zysk and Assistant Director A.J. Antolik, 2023 was an extremely busy year for the Department of Public Works.
Public Works affects the daily lives of all city residents and oversees engineering, streets, parks, building maintenance, municipal garage, special events, the wastewater treatment plant, sewer collections, refuse, recycling, golf, and stormwater.
In 2023, Public Works:
Broke ground on the $7 million downtown streetscape master plan,
Led the efforts to re-develop the former Miller Bros. property into a state-of-the-art public safety facility,
Implemented the stormwater fee, collecting $1.5 million to make improvements to our aging infrastructure,
Spent $10 million in ARP funding on stormwater improvement projects,
Was awarded a $3.12 million Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection grant for five heavy-duty EV refuse trucks,
Oversaw the redesign of the Kahkwa Avenue bridge project, to be built in 2024,
Spent $4 million in street paving,
Worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on the West 12th Street signal project,
Worked on implementation of Active Erie Transportation Plan,
Maintained the city's 45 parks and greenspaces,
Collected input from residents on their priorities for city-owned parks,
Completed installation of Baldwin Park pickleball courts at a cost of $245,000,
Renovated Martin Luther King Park at a cost of $225,000,
Upgraded/replaced playground equipment at Lighthouse Park,
Installed fencing upgrades at Pulaski, Rodger Young, and Lighthouse parks,
Built picnic pavilions at McClelland and Glenwood parks,
Provided opportunities for residents by establishing baseball agreements with organizations that require open-play access for residents and youth across the city,
Worked with Erie Arts and Culture to continue to create public artwork,
Saw record youth participation in the summer recreation program,
Over 130 children took part in the Footlights Theater Program and there was also great participation in the Spoons Summer Basketball League for boys and girls,
Dedicated $600,000 of ARP Funding to remove dead or hazardous trees and improve lighting, safety, and access,
Offered the May electronics and tire disposal events, serving 700 residents,
Developed the compost program,
Through the city's partnership with Prism recycling, collected 55 tons of glass that would been thrown away as trash,
Partnered with International Recycling Group to place 90 plastic recycling containers in various Erie parks,
Received $2.6 million from the PA Liquid Fuels fund to maintain streetlights, traffic signals and crosswalk signs and purchase Public Works equipment and,
Invested in and profitably operated Downing and J. C. Martin golf courses.
While we will miss Chuck and A.J. who retired from the city at the end of 2023, we are grateful for their service and commitment. We are pleased to welcome Jason Sayers and LeAnn Parmenter as the new director and assistant director of Public Works. Jason has been with the city since 1998, and LeAnn since 2006.
Erie Police Department
Under the leadership of Chief Dan Spizarny, the Erie Bureau of Police responded to 59,399 calls for service in 2023, an average of 1,142 calls per week. This is up from 45,000 calls in 2020.
The department complement is set at 194, but with long-term injuries, illnesses and military service, the department is operating with 175 healthy officers.
Crime trends for 2023 show decreases in aggravated assaults, persons shot, shots fired, firearms stolen, thefts, forgery, fraud, and criminal mischief. We did however have a spike in homicides from six to 14; five of those are attributed to domestic homicides, two have suspected ties to gang violence. Overall, the crime numbers are on a downward trend.
In the last two years, detectives have cleared 100% of homicide cases for a total of 20 cases (six in 2022 and 14 in 2023). The police department is solving eight out of the nine major crime categories at rates well above the national average.
A joint investigation by EPD, Pennsylvania State Police, and the FBI Eagle Task Force led to the arrest of 58 drug dealers in Erie, 22 of whom were charged under RICO for their involvement in "Four Nation," an Erie gang accused of involvement in many crimes related to drug-dealing.
Our two detectives working at the Children's Advocacy Center saw an increase of reports alleging abuse of children increase from 457 in 2022 to 536 in 2023.
Our body-worn and car-camera system has been a great success. We have had no sustained use-of-force complaints and have recorded over 131,000 incidents since we started in October 2022.
In 2023, we implemented ShotSpotter technology, which has been integral in multiple gun investigations and homicide cases. It has immediately directed officers to exact scene locations and helped catch individuals leaving shooting scenes with weapons, including one person who possessed two illegal fully automatic weapons.
Our Juvenile Unit was restarted in January 2023 with four detectives. They have handled over 268 juvenile allegations that involved diverting many youth into programs to put them on a positive path and keep them out of the criminal justice system.
Our specially trained Crisis Unit restarted in May 2023 with 10 officers working around-the-clock to answer domestic-related calls, help people in crisis with mental and behavioral health issues, and connect residents to services. The unit handles over 162 incidents per month.
The department created its first Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team and a confidential peer-to-peer counseling service to help officers deal with the daily stress of the job and the critical incidents that they encounter. The creation of these teams came about at just the right time as the department experienced a critical incident involving the shooting of one of our officers.
Our Traffic Unit reports 2,799 traffic accidents in 2023, which is down from 2,836 in 2022. There were four fatal accidents, which is down from nine last year. We dealt with 1,017 reports of abandoned vehicles. Traffic Court collected over $1.2 million in parking fines.
Our warrant office dealt with 3,586 prisoners brought in and processed. We investigated 97 Megan's Law offenders in the city who failed to register their addresses. That is down from 104 last year.
Our SWAT team was activated 70 times compared to only 39 in 2022. They tracked down and arrested multiple wanted homicide suspects, served drug search warrants, and were part of the joint federal, state, and local task force that arrested 58 drug suspects.
We are especially proud of the continued success of our community policing initiatives. Thanks to the leadership of Lts. Jamie Russo and Tom Lenox, our COP initiative and the Police Athletic League, or PAL, have grown exponentially. PAL now has more than 1,200 youth in the program and over 92 officers committed to building the cop-kid relationship.
The biggest story of the police department in 2023 is the amount of grants and reimbursements applied for and secured totaling $8.1 million. This funding enabled us to purchase e-bikes, vehicles, technology, training and vital equipment so that our police officers can protect and serve our community. We also obtained funding to expand the PAL program, implement crisis teams in collaboration with counselors, and reimburse salary, benefits and overtime.
Erie Fire Department
Under the leadership of Chief Joe Walko and Assistant Chief Len Trott, in 2023, the Erie Bureau of Fire responded to 8,890 calls for service, which was up 3,000 per year pre-COVID. This includes about 5,500 emergency medical calls, about 500 motor vehicle accidents, more than 100 residential structure fires and 10 nonresidential structure fires, more than 30 vehicle fires, over 155 outside fires, and about 150 hazardous material calls.
We are happy that Horus, our new accelerant-detection canine funded by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, joined us in late 2022. Horus and his handler Capt. Adam Gatti were instrumental in investigating fires which led to five arson arrests with one conviction so far and the other four pending.
In 2023, we obtained $800,000 in grants for fire trucks and equipment and spent $413,000 making much-needed improvements to firehouses. We installed solar panels at Central Fire Station, the first solar-powered fire station of its kind in Pennsylvania and the fifth in the nation.
Department of Human Resources
For the second straight year, we achieved a perfect score of 100 points on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index (MEI), an assessment of LGBTQ-inclusive municipal laws, policies and services.
Under Director Eunice Moore, we continued to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at City Hall, implementing the city's DEI report, increasing diversity hiring, and improving policies and processes.
Department of Communications
In 2023, the Citizen Response Center addressed and resolved 3,494 calls. Mas Sala handles a wide variety of issues from refuse collections to large item pickup to blight to potholes. Whatever the challenge, Mas does a great job of ensuring that calls are resolved as quickly as possible.
We have a lot of exciting stories to tell this year! So, I am especially pleased to have our Communications Director Rob Lee and our Digital Media and Design Specialist Monica Gustin on board to help us keep you better informed about city services, resources, projects, initiatives and events. In addition to our weekly news conferences, our social media posts, our summer parks and recreation guide, and our annual calendar and recycling guide, we will be launching a new website and are in the process of hiring two liaisons to help with community outreach and engagement.
Department of Finance
Since 2018, my team and I have been working to solve three of the city's greatest financial challenges resulting from our shrinking tax base: the long-term debt, the structural deficit, and pension costs. Due to several creative solutions, I am pleased that we have had a significant positive impact on all three. In 2023, under the leadership of Director Lisa Gomersall, we were approximately $2.5 million under budget. And, this was the fifth straight year without an increase in the city's property taxes.
Thanks to our city employees
That concludes a high-level summary of some of our 2023 accomplishments. I could not do it without my incredible team. As we have navigated various challenges, the counsel and guidance of City Solicitor Ed Betza has been invaluable. I also give special thanks to Chief of Staff Renée Lamis, Executive Assistants Marjorie Bruce and Katherine Blair, and our 650 city of Erie employees who work hard day-in and day-out in service to the community, often with little thanks or recognition.
They serve and protect us, pave the roads, clear snow, pick up refuse, clean our water, manage stormwater, maintain parks, revitalize neighborhoods, and help businesses, entrepreneurs, and community organizations every day. Through city grants, youth from all over the city enjoy year-round programming at our community centers and through our summer recreation program. Your city employees are passionate and committed to providing quality service and making data-informed, values-driven decisions that will leave a lasting legacy.
On to 2024!
We have some significant projects underway for 2024 and beyond in collaboration with our community partners. We will:
Launch a new city of Erie website,
Expand our Love Your Block initiative,
Develop permanent supportive housing,
Create a comprehensive, city-wide parks and recreation plan,
Draft a safe streets for all plan,
Create a local climate action plan,
Create a 12th Street Reimagined plan,
Implement the historic preservation plan,
Implement the downtown streetscape master plan,
Implement the Active Erie Transportation Plan,
Implement the Byrne grant in the east bayfront neighborhood,
Embark on a street light assessment,
Design and begin to renovate the Miller Bros. public safety complex,
Work with PennDOT on implementing the Bayfront Parkway central corridor project,
Build a comprehensive housing strategy to add more affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing,
Renew our Welcoming Erie certification,
Submit our CRIZ application to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
As we move forward with these exciting projects, I look forward to seeing you around town and hearing your feedback. Thank you for your faith and trust in me and my team.
Joe Schember is the mayor of Erie. He was first elected in 2017.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Mayor Joe Schember outlines 2023 accomplishments, 2024 goals
