The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-02-25
Umberger Didn't Know
His In vi tation to
Wharf Confab was
Meant for Board
HE DIDN'T TELL
OTHER MEMBERS
Says They Feel Injured That Their
Absence Was Taken as Indication
That Their Action in Opposing
Ordinance WAS Not Sincere

How it happened that none of the
members of the City Planning Com
mission, which had on February 5 in
formed the City Commission of its. OPP
position to the ordinance giving the
Harrisburg Light & Power Company the
right to built a coal wharf on Har-
gest s Island, was not present at the
meeting of the City Commission which
passed the ordinance finally last Tues
day by vote of to .. was explained
IN letter written by B. F. Umberger.
secretary of the Planning Commission,
and made public by him to-day.
The Umberger letter saws that but
one member of the Planning Board re-
ceived an invitation to confer with the
City Commissioners on the wharf ordi-
nance. The member who did receive
that notice was Umberger himself. ami
he dGd not attend the proposed confer
enee because of death in his family.
He supposed the invitation was in
tended for him individually, rather than
as secretary, and so did not inform the
other members of the Planning Com.
mission.
The Planning Boarf secretary in
sists, however. that the Planning Com
mission had legitimate reasons for dis.
approving the plan to permit the light
company TO build coal wharf on the
island and adds that those reasons no
doubt would have been ably supported
had the Planning Commission been rem
resented at the conference on Tuesday.
umoerger : letter was received bv
City Clerk Miller and it will he read
to the City Commissioners at their meet.
ing next Tuesday. The letter in full
follows:
The Umberger Letter
In view of the fact that your
honorable body passed the ordinance
No. lS6 without the presence of anv
member of the City Planning Commits
sion, | feel it incumbent upon me TO
say that no member of our Commits.
sion, except myself, had notice of your
request to be present at your meeting.
through misunderstanding. The no.
tlee was mailed by the City Clerk TO me
as secretary of the Commission. and
was delivered TO my business Office on
wednesday morning, the seventeenth
instant. Owing to a death in nv fan.
1Iy that morning. | did not see NV
mail until about Friday or SATURDAY..
and then glanced hurriedly through il
/ took the notice for personal one
and notified Mr.. Taylor by phone |
could not be present.
1t seems now that the notice was
addressed to the Planning Commission.
and | ought to have notified the other
members of the Commission. The
fault, if any is to be found. was mine
| make this statement so that YOU NAV
know no diseourtesy to your honorable
body was intended, and so that the pub
lie may understand that the action of
this Commission in disappearing the
ordinance was founded on good reasons
and made in good faith
Planning Board Feels Injured
This Commission devoted consid.
cradle time and study TO the ordinance,
and disapproved of the same because
the members believed it was against
the best interests of the city. Their
findings and the reasons therefor were
sent to you in communication of the
fifteenth instant, in language so plain
they could not be misunderstood.
First, that the passage of the ordi-
nance would not eliminate present con-
ditions. but only relieve them. Second.
that the Commission was convinced
that the suggested site is not the only |
available one, nor the proper location |
Third that the granting of the privi- !
lege asked for would establish a bad !
precedent. To these reasons was add. |
ed statement that their decision was
reached after very careful considera- |
tion. This language could not be mis-. |
understood, and, in fact, was not mis- |
understood
while the members of the Commits |
sion do not want TO be understood as
practieing discourtesy to your honor
able body, vet they feel that all of the /
facts were before you. They feel in.
iured that the fact of their absence /
was taken as an indication that their |
action was not sincere and genuine. I
Speaking for the other members of the 4
Commission, their probity and standing !
is such that they would not be guilty /
of toying with so important question. /
Speaking for myself, 1 am of opinion
that the river front is worth more in
dollars and cents TO Harrisburg than
all the coal in the river. With great
respect and sincere regret for my per-
sonal lapse (Which, under the circum-
tsances, l am sure, will be excusedl. | /
am, respectfully,
"'B. F. Umberger, Secretary"