Thursday’s afternoon economic vitality workshop
The PA Downtown Center held its last day of public workshops for Harrisburg’s downtown revitalization plan Thursday, wrapping up a week of public engagement on the effort.
The next step, according to the center’s special projects specialist Iris Quigley, will be analyzing the data compiled not just at the workshops, but earlier focus groups as well as a downtown perception survey distributed last winter.
“Pulling all these pieces together to have that roadmap,” Quigley said.
The plan to revitalize Harrisburg’s struggling downtown is a collaboration between city and state leaders, the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and CREDC, and the center, which is leading data collection on the effort.
A focus group next month will be held specifically for businesses. It will take place July 7 at 5 p.m. in the Historic Harrisburg Association building, where the center’s office is located.
“We want to have a very concentrated conversation about some of these barriers that you’re experiencing and see if we can unpack some of it,” Julie Fitzpatrick, the center’s executive director, told business owners at Thursday’s meeting at Sci Tech, which was centered around ways to activate the downtown’s economy.
Ideas by the more than 30 attendees at the afternoon workshop included a co-op grocery store and pharmacy, increased neighborhood gathering spaces and more spots to hear live music.
Julie Fitzpatrick, executive director of the PA Downtown Center
Several attendees suggested that adding more public bathrooms and family friendly restaurants downtown would make the area more easily navigable for families with young children and the elderly. Ideas about making roads easier to cross and adding better lighting across the city were also suggested.
Reconnecting the Walnut Street Bridge to the West Shore, damaged in the 1990s by a winter storm, was also suggested as a way to help activate the Susquehanna riverfront, as well as hosting more pop-up beer gardens and other events along the water.
“I think it’s the ‘Field of Dreams’ model, right? If we build it, they will come,” said attendee and Harrisburg city council member Rob Lawson.
Other workshops held by the center this week focused on quality of life and public spaces.
Funding for the revitalization project comes from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority.
Revitalization workshop
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