Frustration is growing among Broad Street Market vendors displaced by a major fire in July that damaged the Harrisburg building housing their stalls. The red tape has significantly slowed down the process of opening a temporary location to sell their goods. Longtime vendors like Jesse Ebersol, who runs Lil’s Pretzels, said the lack of a concrete timeline for opening a temporary tent for Brick Building vendors has led to increased anxiety among some business owners. The building was constructed across from the Broad Street Market but has not yet opened for business. “We will lose suppliers and customers,” Ebersol said. A skeleton of what is intended More than a dozen vendors have been housed in the tent, but electricity and plumbing are not yet integrated and stalls have not yet been implemented. A Harrisburg spokesman said the heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment will arrive this week and the city plans to soon determine a time when PPL can connect power. Ebersol said the city blamed a bureaucratic bottleneck for why construction didn’t move forward. He expects the structure will be ready eventually, but believes the longer it takes, it will become more difficult to recoup sales and attract regular customers back to the market. “Those customers will come back, but every day that we’re not open will take a week, a month to get back up to speed,” he said. Although the Broad Street Market itself is operated by a nonprofit organization, the market buildings and land are owned by the city, which led the effort to build the temporary structure on land rented from a local business owner. Insurance proceeds from the July 10 fire that destroyed the Broad Street Market’s brick building will be used in part to rebuild the tent building. Matt Maisel, Harrisburg’s communications director, said issues with labor availability and the supply chain have slowed progress, but red tape surrounding the city’s public bidding process required for construction projects has become a major obstacle. “By state law, we have to get it done.” “We have received public bids for plumbing and construction work and have not received them yet,” he said. Maisel said contractors interested in learning more about the scope of the work can contact the city by emailing facilities @harrisburgpa.gov. But in the meantime, Maisel also said that people, businesses and organizations that promised in the summer to help get the market up and running would need to step up. So far, much of the work inside the tent to build a frame has been done by union workers for free. “We need the people’s help and the businesses to step forward and help like a lot of people have said they will,” he said The excuse of bureaucracy didn’t sit well with Omar Fisher of Lebanon Valley Meats, which operated out of the market’s brick building. Fisher said if the public bidding process is the main problem and the requirements for contractors to do the work are too complicated, then the city should try to find a way to make it easier for companies to take on the plumbing and electrical work. “Everyone is trying their best to get in here and get everything done so we can open up,” he said. Below: Drone video shows destruction caused by fire
HARRISBURG, Pa. –
Frustration is growing among Broad Street Market vendors displaced by a major fire in July that damaged the Harrisburg building housing their stalls. The red tape has significantly slowed down the process of opening a temporary location to sell their goods.
Longtime vendors like Jesse Ebersol, who operates Lil’s Pretzels, said the lack of a concrete timeline for opening a temporary tent for Brick Building vendors has caused increasing concern among some business owners. The building was constructed across from Broad Street Market but is not yet open for business.
“We will lose suppliers and customers,” Ebersol said.
A framework has been built inside the tent to accommodate more than a dozen vendors, but electricity and plumbing systems have not yet been integrated and stalls have not yet been implemented. A Harrisburg spokesman said the heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment will arrive this week and the city plans to soon determine a time when PPL can connect power.
Ebersol said the city blames a bureaucratic bottleneck for preventing construction progress. He expects the structure will be ready eventually, but believes the longer it takes, it will become more difficult to recoup sales and attract regular customers back to the market.
“Those customers will come back, but every day we’re not open, it’s going to take a week, a month to get back up to speed,” he said.
Although the Broad Street Market itself is operated by a nonprofit organization, the market buildings and land are owned by the city, which is seeking to build the temporary structure on land leased from a local business owner. Insurance proceeds from the July 10 fire that destroyed the Broad Street Market’s brick building will be used in part to rebuild the tent building.
Matt Maisel, Harrisburg’s communications director, said issues with labor availability and the supply chain have slowed progress, but red tape surrounding the city’s public bidding process required for construction projects has become a major obstacle.
“By state law we have to put it out to bid, and we have received public bids for plumbing and construction work, but right now we haven’t received any,” he said.
Maisel said contractors interested in learning more about the scope of the work can contact the city by email at [email protected].
But in the meantime, Maisel also said that people, companies and organizations that promised over the summer to help get the market up and running need to step up. So far, much of the work inside the tent to build a frame has been done by union workers for free.
“We need people’s help and companies to step up and help, just as many people have promised,” he said.
The excuse of bureaucracy didn’t sit well with Omar Fisher of Lebanon Valley Meats, which operated out of the market’s brick building.
Fisher said if the public bidding process is the main problem and the requirements for contractors to do the work are too complicated, then the city should try to find a way to make it easier for companies to take on the plumbing and electrical work.
“Everyone is trying their best to get in here and get everything done so we can open up,” he said.
Below: Drone video shows destruction caused by fire
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