Kim Bracey, York Pennsylvania’s Popular Mayor

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York PA Mayor, Kim Bracey is a doer, a mover and a shaker.  14 months ago, Mayor Bracey became York City’s first African American Mayor.  Prior to being elected mayor, Kim was the Community Development Director for the City of York. 

Sonia Huntzinger, Director of Downtown Inc., describes Mayor Bracey as a builder of partnerships and relationships.  Citing her own organization’s positive relationship with Mayor Bracey, Sonia Huntzinger stated that in the past Downtown Inc. did not have a positive and progressive relationship with the administration like it does now. 

Another recent example of Mayor Bracey’s relationship/partnership buildings skills was the Building York Summit the mayor held a few short weeks ago.  The summit was a gathering of city and county leaders to form a unified vision for the City of York and to make a way forward.  York County realizes that its heart is the city.  As the city goes, York County goes.

Mayor Bracey is a huge promoter for York City.  She can even been seen wearing an I Love York City tee-shirt around town.  The mayor goes to as many events as are humanly possible.  Large and small, it makes no difference.  Mayor Bracey has a vision of what is possible and she passionately promotes York City and engages others in doing so.

Evidence of revitalization is apparent in downtown York with new stores, restaurants, high-end condos, a renovated Central Market and a huge industrial development project a few blocks down the street.  The challenge going forward is that money is drying up for funding these projects from the state and federal government.  Unfortunately, like many other Pennsylvania cities, York still has hurdles to climb and transformation will not happen overnight.  

York is moving forward, maybe too slowly for some, but nevertheless revitalization is happening.  Having a former Community Development Director and grant writer for a mayor certainly must have its advantages!  Bracey is popular on both sides of the aisle and reaches out to find the best solutions to solve the city’s problems.

We wish Mayor Bracey the best in her efforts to revitalize a former capital of the United States of America and Pennsylvania’s 14^th largest city.

Business Incubator Hatches At York College

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I am always excited to report on these things! 

The 7,100-square-foot Kings Mill Depot is now open to any for-profit corporations in the start-up phase, small businesses entering a growth phase or existing companies launching new projects.  The best part is that the incubator is for firms dealing with technology, health care, sciences or engineering.  The incubator is all about creating good paying jobs that have a high growth potential.  Lord knows Pennsylvania needs decent paying jobs that will support families!

Applications are being accepted through the J.D. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at York College.  Faculty, staff and students are available to help with business development! 

Contact Jeff Vermeulen at (717) 815-6639 if your firm would like to take advantage of the awesome opportunity!

Bethlehem also has a very successful job incubator at Lehigh University.  You can also read about that here: http://roysrants.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/bethlehem-job-incubator-recepient-of-6-million-dollar-federal-recovery-act-grant/

Three York County Projects Will Benefit From Pennsylvania Bond Sale

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The Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program is going to receive just that, an infusion of capital that will make three York County projects possible.  Approval has been given for the sale of $650 million dollars in bonds by Pennsylvania Treasurer, Rob McCord.

The Northwest Triangle project is waiting on a $7.5 million dollar grant to demolish buildings and make way for new construction.  For more information on the Northwest Triangle, you can read my post on this very large brownfield redevelopment project in York City.

York College is waiting on $4 million dollars to complete various projects around their campus including the creation of a business incubator!

The York Fire School wants to construct a new building for live-burn training.  They have applied for $1.5 million dollars to complete this project.