Helfrich, Hameed spar in York City mayoral debate at Appell Center

York Mayor Michael Helfrich and his challenger Shareef Hameed met on the debate stage, and both agreed that the city’s biggest problems come down to one underlying issue: trauma.

Helfrich (D) and Hameed (I), an activist and a therapist at Pennsylvania Comprehensive Behavioral Health, answered questions Thursday night at the York mayoral debate, sponsored by the York NAACP and the York County Economic Alliance, and hosted by the Appell Center for the Performing Arts. While the two men come from different backgrounds and have different ideas of how to solve the problems York faces, they were on the same page with what those problems are. 

Helfrich said his office conducted a survey, and 2.5 percent of adult residents in York responded.

“It’s a 95 percent confident survey that they want to see the money invested in addressing the youth violence,” he said. “Kids are not born committing violence, things affect them. Kids are not born and then not accepting the education that is provided for them. We have kids so lost in survival mode, the trauma."

Hameed said there is “a lot of trauma in the city because of it being unsafe.”

“We have had unprecedented barriers in the progress here of the city of York, many of which are not of our own making, and a lot of the things that we started laying the foundations for were brought to a halt" due to the pandemic. "I want to see us be able to put the plans through that we laid the foundations stones for in 2018 and 2019,” Helfrich said on why he wants to be re-elected as mayor.

“We are now in a position for the first time in about 40 years to actually have funding to do the things that we need to do here in the city of York to improve our neighborhoods, to reduce the violence, to bring upward mobility to families.”

One way he intends to do that is with the millions of dollars the city was given from the American Rescue Plan. 

The mayor said that his office, if he is re-elected, will have a very busy first six months with distributing the first round of that money to fix the things “that are infesting, infecting, and affecting the community.”

Helfrich said his administration will work to reduce the trauma that residents are dealing with by addressing high crime, bad housing, education, poor job opportunities and trash in city.

“A lot of it all comes back to families and what they're going through, the trauma that these kids are going through. It is essential that we get out there and get to know the people in our neighborhoods,” he said. 

When asked why he wants to be mayor, Hameed said that York needs a fresh start and “a new direction and new ideas” to take the city where it needs to go.

“My main concern is safety. I am not making any big promises, because no one person or no one organization can bring about safety of the city, but that would be priority number one,” he said when asked what the focus of his first six months in office would be if he were to win the election. “I’m not making any big promises with programs and different things like that, but we can network with different people to foster education and just the basic beautification and the dignity of the city.

“Simple things to improve the quality of life for York city. That’s the foundation. When you start giving Disneyworld promises, that's political stuff, and I'm not a politician. I am your brother.”

Disparities between downtown and the rest of the city

When asked about the disparities between the resources and attention that are given to downtown York and the rest of the city, Hameed said that it’s all about involvement.

“It's two Yorks: downtown and inner city. I want it to be even Steven. There should be more diversity downtown, and there should be more focus on inner-city businesses. It’s all about collaboration, being humble and making those connections.”

In referencing the recent controversy in Central York School District over banned books and other materials, Hameed said that the reason the board’s decision was reversed “is because everyone got involved.”

“The reason they got what they wanted was because everyone got involved and saw something wasn't right,” he said. “Until everyone gets involved, whether it’s business, or a social issue, then this disparity will continue. So, we need to connect with the businesses downtown. I am not here to get in their way, I just want it to be even.”

More:Election 2021: Who is on the ballot in York County?

More:York County Election Director Steve Ulrich has been demoted, Democratic Party says

Helfrich, however, said it all goes back to “supply and demand.”

“Unfortunately, this is a tale as old as humanity. No matter how far back you go, there are places that are in high demand, which means they cost more, and there are places that are not in high demand — and I am talking back through thousands of years, through the Roman times and the Christian ghettos. There have been people who were pushed to places that were not the highly prized business districts, and what we need to do to fix that, because we are in a place of supply and demand, is to make sure that we are investing in businesses that we want to support,” he said.

“If you want to get past things like the economic disparities, the gentrification, the biggest thing you can do is to invest in minority businesses."

Security Cameras

When asked about a security system like what Lancaster has, Helfrich and Hameed both said they’d listen to what the citizens of York wanted, but while Helfrich was ready with more survey results, Hameed had questions about who would be paying for such a system.

Helfrich said that a new study showed that people in York support the cameras but admitted that it wasn’t a strong study since only 230 people, or roughly one percent of York’s population, responded.

The mayor said he was ready to gather more data with more surveys on the topic.

“I am supportive of a system similar to Lancaster, but I work for the people of the City of York, so I am going to make sure that I get to hear the voices of the people of the City of York before I take any action or make any vote on it,” he said.

“We can all agree we want peace in York city, I am not against cameras, but I am just not too sure of the allocation of the money for it,” Hameed said, adding that the amount of the project was originally estimated at $1.5 million, but that recent figures put the project at over $3.5 million. 

"It was originally said it wouldn't come out of taxpayer money, but most likely York City residents would foot a good amount of the bill for this," he said. "That money could possibly be used to deter crime in other ways and get to the root of the issue. To go from $1.5 million to $3.4 million, and we don't know if that's going to stop crime, that's my only issue with it."

More:York NAACP: Proposed city surveillance camera system would unfairly target people of color

To see the full debate, including answers on what each candidate would do to help improve issues of quality and affordable home ownership and how they would engage the community in decision making, visit the playback link at the York NAACP’s Facebook page.