The end of this week wraps up Mayor Matt Pacifico’s first year as a full-time mayor for Altoona. He said he has spent the year continuing projects from his part-time days and taking on some newer, bigger ventures.
“It’s really well, actually,” he said when asked how the year went. “I’ve been doing a lot of things, getting out in the community, trying to be more accessible to the community and the citizens.”
Altoona is steadily on the up and up. There are still some “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs up, but many are quickly coming down.
“If you look around, we have a lot of development happening now with the hotel downtown, the two Marriott properties out beside the VA hospital, the former Bon Secours, which is going to be a Graystone and hopefully that will spur other development in that neighborhood, as well,” he said.
Plus, Pacifico is working to establish better connections with Senator Pat Toomey and Congressman Bill Shuster to get more resources for the city, including help in securing grants. Most notably, Altoona Fire Department received grants for new equipment, like the self contained breathing apparatus and the jaws of life.
Pacifico said he has made a point to meet area business owners and residents to see what they have to offer, and how the city can help its entrepreneurs.
“There’s a Renaissance happening in downtown and I think people do want to be a part of that and be there,” he said, “because we’re really doing some great things downtown. I hope to see more expansion of businesses and businesses wanting to relocate there in the future.”
So what’s to come? Looking ahead to 2017, Pacifico said there could be a lot in store for Altoona.
“There are some grants that we’re still waiting to receive word on,” he said, like the Federal Transportation Grant. Meanwhile, the city is on pace to get out of Act 47 by the end of 2017.
“We won’t be the first city to leave Act 47 but we’ll be the first city to do it in the shortest amount of time so that’s a really big accomplishment,” he said.
A few years ago, Altoona had no cash surplus. Pacifico said they’re looking at a $7 million surplus this year, which he attributes mostly to new development. That surplus will help keep the city on track, especially when the council applies to the CRIZ program.
The city council tried this before, but the state decided not to release money this year. Next year could be a different story, with more competition between cities.
Plus, the downtown area could look a little different in 2017, with a redesigned Heritage Plaza to make better use of the space for events. In the past, it’s been the scene for the summer concert series, the night market, and it could start to welcome more events.
“That’s a way for people to come downtown who may not have ever been downtown to see some of the shops and businesses we have there that you know never knew existed,” Pacifico said. “That’s good for those businesses because now they have customers who will come back and tell their friends about it and stuff like that.”
The city is also close to completing a deal with the water authority to keep it under local control. Plus, Mayor Pacifico said the planned land bank to fight light will be finalized in 2017.