Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine
Raise your hand if this week got you … Yeah, I’m ready for the weekend too. Fortunately, there is plenty to do, whether you’re looking for local theater, live music, great food and drink or some yoga to find some balance after a hectic week.
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Board members Doug Hill, Ralph Vartan and Audry Carter at a previous ICA meeting.
Comity appears to have broken down between Harrisburg and its state financial oversight board, as the city has filed a lawsuit to force the board to fully include Harrisburg’s board representative.
On Feb. 14, the city filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court claiming that the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (ICA) has systematically excluded Bruce Weber from participating in executive sessions and other ICA business.
Weber, Harrisburg’s budget and finance director, is the city’s non-voting representative on the seven-member board.
Following the meeting, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that Weber has been routinely excluded from executive sessions and other ICA matters.
“He has every right to participate in the deliberations of the ICA,” Papenfuse said, following the meeting. “They have refused that from the very beginning.”
The lawsuit set a tense tone for Wednesday’s ICA board meeting, which Weber and Papenfuse attended.
The ICA and Harrisburg last year passed a draft five-year financial recovery plan for the city, designed to allow the city to exit Act 47, the state’s program for financially distressed cities. They’re now in the process of making updates to it.
“The ICA expresses disappointment over the current litigation initiated by the mayor,” said ICA Chair Audry Carter, in a statement. “The lawsuit is a needless distraction from the important work of removing Harrisburg from Act 47.”
Her statement further asked Papenfuse “to abandon this frivolous lawsuit.”
“The ICA calls upon the mayor to restore our shaken confidence in his ability to work cooperatively on our joint mission, which is to assist the city of Harrisburg in achieving financial stability,” Carter said.
Later in the meeting, Papenfuse objected to two other issues, which he called examples of ICA “overreach.”
The first regards a proposed “Economic Development Symposium” that the ICA plans to hold in May at the Hilton Harrisburg in conjunction with CREDC. The event includes a $20,000 expense to hire authors James and Deborah Fallows as keynote speakers, the fee coming from ICA funds.
The total ICA budget, funded by state tax dollars, is $100,000 per year.
ICA members said they hoped to offset the event expense with ticket sales and potential corporate sponsorships.
“I’m strongly in opposition to this,” Papenfuse said at the meeting. “I would recommend a greater discussion, especially with the city, before you put tax dollars at risk with a plan for a symposium, which really is a matter for the private sector.”
He added that the administration first learned about the proposed economic symposium at Wednesday’s meeting.
“I think it speaks to the larger mission creep of the ICA,” he said. “I think we should focus on what the charge is under the law.”
Carter disagreed with this criticism.
“We feel that it is an amazing opportunity to pull together the best and the brightest to help pull together members of our community to engage in a discussion of community and economic development,” she said.
Carter added that the ICA was “fundraising for partnerships” and that it “would not distract” from other ICA business.
Carter next explained that, in April, the ICA plans to launch “listening sessions” with Harrisburg residents. As part of those sessions, ICA members plan to ask residents for three things they like about Harrisburg and three things they would like to improve.
“These are efforts to go out into the community and listen to how they feel about Harrisburg,” Carter said. “An attempt will be made to go into the city hosted with nonprofit community partners.”
Papenfuse also objected to this proposal.
“I do not feel that listening sessions are in the domain of the ICA,” Papenfuse said. “It’s another example of not really understanding your role. It’s confusing to the general public. I think it is indicative of a fundamental misunderstanding of what the role of the ICA is.”
He said that the ICA was undertaking activities that should be the role of elected officials, not the ICA board.
“I think they’re wholly appropriate personally because we do have a mandate to help the citizenry of Harrisburg,” Carter responded. “We think there is good reason to be out there.”
ICA Vice Chair Ralph Vartan concurred.
“I think it’s very important for appointed members of the ICA to have face time with members of the public, and only good things can come from listening and talking to people,” he said, adding, “I think it’s a noble venture.”
Rabbi Elisha Friedman stands in front of the future home of Kesher Israel Congregation in Riverside.
Last year, the Susquehanna United Methodist Conference closed many of its churches, and now one has been bought by another religious organization.
Kesher Israel, an Orthodox Jewish congregation in Uptown Harrisburg, is moving from its home of 72 years to the former Riverside United Methodist Church on the 3000-block of N. 3rd Street.
“It’s really exciting,” Kesher Israel’s Rabbi Elisha Friedman said. “People feel like we’ve got the perfect building.”
Friedman explained that they’re moving because members felt the old synagogue on the 2500-block of N. 3rd Street was not located centrally enough for their community.
Most families live anywhere from one-half to two miles away from Kesher Israel, he said. That may not seem far, but for a congregation whose observation of Shabbat, the Sabbath day, restricts driving on a Saturday, it entails a lot of walking to and from services and prayers.
“Walking a mile with two or three little kids on a Saturday can be really difficult,” Friedman explained.
Kesher Israel was interested in the location of the church building for a while, but the sale and consolidation of the Methodist Churches in Harrisburg allowed them to begin negotiations. The synagogue purchased the church building last month for $176,000.
The new building is significantly smaller than the current synagogue, so Friedman believes the congregation will save money in the long run. However, with a congregation of about 125 families and individuals, some members are concerned about the size and have proposed an addition.
Other renovations may include work on heating and air conditioning, electricity and bathrooms.
And what about their current building?
Friedman explained they have received offers for it, but have not yet decided when to sell. He is also not certain when the congregation will move into the new building, but hopes to at least transition Friday evening and Saturday afternoon services to the space soon.
The new building will place Kesher Israel in close proximity to another synagogue, Chisuk Emuna, which is just next door.
“One of the nice things is we are going to be close to this conservative synagogue,” Friedman said. “We are hoping that the relationship will develop a little more.”
Kesher Israel also is working heavily to market their congregation and the Jewish community generally in Harrisburg. Friedman believes the community they built in Harrisburg is unique.
“We are really trying to grow our community,” he said. “We are the only legit small town in the U.S. where you can live a full Jewish life. Our hope is that this move is going to contribute to that.”
Kesher Israel is located at 2500 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg, and is moving to 3200 N. 3rd St. For more information, visit https://www.kesherisrael.org/.
Jonathan Hudson of Hudson Companies (left) speaks to Harrisburg residents at a community meeting at Camp Curtin YMCA.
Parking, traffic and local contracting were among the concerns of Harrisburg residents on Monday night, as the builder of a proposed state office building presented an overview of the project.
About 50 people attended the community meeting at the Camp Curtin YMCA, where Jonathan Hudson of Hermitage, Pa.-based Hudson Companies offered an overview of the three-story office building planned for the 2500-block of N. 7th Street.
Several residents asked pointedly about opportunities for disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) contractors, including Harrisburg-based companies.
“I want to know about accountability as far as dealing with jobs,” said one resident. “A lot of developments have come here, and there’s no accountability to the local contractors.”
Hudson said that his company, which is the general contractor, planned to reach out and try to connect with local subcontractors and vendors, including at a March 18 meeting specifically for this purpose.
“The entirety of that is working and connecting with local vendors, minority-owned businesses, women-owned business enterprises and other distressed business entities,” he said. “That’s a very special, important task for us. We’re taking it very seriously.”
Hudson Companies plans to construct a 130,000-square-foot office building on the former headquarters site of D&H Distributing, which last year moved to a new location in Lower Paxton Township.
The company will build and own the building, Hudson said, for a single tenant—the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which plans to locate about 850 Department of Human Services and Office of Administration workers there. Most employees will move from offices at the former Harrisburg State Hospital grounds, which the commonwealth is trying to sell.
Hudson plans to demolish the existing, low-slung building and construct a modern-style, mostly brick-and-glass building in its place. The company then plans to retain ownership, leasing it to the state for 20 years, with potential lease extensions.
A slide shows artist’s renderings of the proposed building.
Demolition, he said, would take place in late March. The project would wind its way through the city approval process in April and May, with groundbreaking expected in June. Construction should be complete in the third quarter of 2021.
Many other questions from neighbors in the largely residential Uptown neighborhood concerned parking and traffic.
“Do you plan to widen the road?” asked one resident. “Will you have street parking?”
Hudson said there were no plans to widen 7th Street, but that enough parking would be built on site to accommodate more than 1,000 cars. He further said that he expected no more traffic than was generated by D&H, which had about 750 workers at the location.
Mayor Eric Papenfuse, who attended the meeting, said that the city would like to make road improvements to the N. 7th and Division Street area.
He also said that the city hopes, at some point, to be able to build a bridge to connect Division Street with the Farm Show complex area, which might alleviate some of the traffic concerns. The city has been trying to obtain state funding for this project.
Other residents had questions about environmental issues.
“Will you be incorporating green infrastructure in your building, like a permeable parking lot, taking care for the solar array and a green rooftop garden, for instance?” asked Garvey Presley, secretary of the board for Capital Region Water.
Hudson said that the plan doesn’t include a rooftop garden or a permeable parking surface, but that the company plans to reduce the current percentage of impermeable surface on the 10.5-acre site from the current 99 percent to about 75 percent.
The site also houses a vast solar array farm put in place by D&H. Hudson said that the project would not utilize those panels, but Papenfuse said that the city hopes to repurpose the panels, potentially raising them in places such as the city’s Public Works property and on City Island.
Hudson said that the building would meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building standards.
“It will perform to LEED standards,” he said. “We’re just not pushing for buying the LEED symbol. We’ll perform just like a LEED building, only without certification.”
The building, he added, would be set back on the site, not near the street like the current D&H building. That would make the property more aesthetically appealing, he said.
The other main area of discussion involved the economy and taxes. Because the building will be privately owned, Hudson Companies will pay property taxes on the site, Hudson said.
Papenfuse added that the 850 workers would pay a total of about $125,000 a year in local services taxes to Harrisburg. That revenue would be new as most of those employees currently work in Susquehanna Township, not the city. Hudson and Papenfuse both mentioned that they believed that businesses in the area would benefit, including at the struggling Uptown Plaza.
“We know this is a big project in the city, a big project in the neighborhood,” Hudson said. “We want to make sure we’re good stewards of our development.”
For more information about Hudson Companies, visit www.hudsoncompanies.net.
“Women Warriors” from “Bootleg Meets R76” at the Art Association of Harrisburg
February is the month designated for lovers or for those who love the idea of it.
Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but for those still feeling its euphoric bliss, the latest show at the Art Association of Harrisburg (AAH) may extend that feeling until St. Patrick’s Day rolls around. Anyone who knows me has come to realize that I wear my (H)Art on my sleeve and have for four decades, as that is my wife’s maiden name.
Art couples are a happening that comes with the territory. Think of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Locally, Harrisburg boasts a number of artistic unions like Vivian Sterste and Jeb Boyd of Vivi on Verbeke and Caleb Smith and Tara Chickey of the Millworks. And don’t forget the Walkes from Gallery@2nd.
The latest pairing of Charlie “Bootleg” Feathers and Reina “R76” Wooden has already created an artistic avalanche of energetic endeavors. They ended 2019 with a sneak preview party at Charlie’s home studio to kick off the decade of the new “Roaring 20s.” Those fortunate enough to be there were wowed by what two highly creative consorts combined to create in catapulting crystalline clarity into focus.
The current AAH show opened on Friday with Feathers’ “Jumper” (pictured) greeting guests in the foyer with an exuberant smile on his face. Jumper, being an eight-foot-tall papier mache’ zebra, set the stage for the night ahead. The audience at the 3rd in the Burg opening not only got to see firsthand the outpouring of creativity from Feathers/Wooden, but also to experience “Hear Me?” a show by deaf artists across the state of Pennsylvania. Both shows command attention on the merits of talent alone.
The senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell are all essential to living life and are something we often take for granted.
Deaf artists from every corner of the state are featured in “Hear Me?” co-curated by Arielle Mabsoute, a deaf artist, and Linda Price, arts activist and an artist in her own right. One of the thought-provoking and timely works is titled, “Deaf President Now,” featuring a quartet of young candidates up to the challenge. In all, 40-plus works round out the show, sending a clear message that all should hear—that a disability does not hamper or inhibit talent, but can actually enhance it as creativity comes from within. That is what truly makes an artist gifted, the heart committed to making art.
Rachel O’Connor, curator, designed the layout for the dual show and smartly balanced the downstairs “Hear Me?” in its intentional tone in allowing the deaf artists’ works to stand collectively apart, creating a dynamic social dialogue without uttering a sound. Mabsoute and Price smartly juxtaposed pure, unfiltered art from Pennsylvania’s School for the Deaf students next to adult interpretations. The mix is magical. The jolts of joy make for quite an experience for viewers young and old.
One of the adults at the show’s vanguard is artist Sheri Youens-Un, who works in wood—two dimensional with layered pieces fitting together like a puzzle and hand-stained to suit the atmosphere of the creation. “Deaf President Now” is offered in earth tones, a subtle reminder that climate change and the loss of the world’s natural resources should be on every candidate’s mind.
Left to their own devices in the upstairs galleries, the always-fascinating Charlie and Reina plotted out a plan that demonstrated they were at “Sixes and Sevens” in the best sort of way. To quote one of my favorite Burg writers, Sara Bozich, everyone in attendance at AAH got their “hair did”—curled, straightened and curled again. Individually, Charlie and Reina were already artists working well outside the box, but, together, they created a celebration fit for Mardi Gras (Feb. 25). The only thing missing was the line of dancers outside Front Street. The “krewe” that queued were out in full regalia, trumpeting this Carnival king and queen.
“The Blue Chair Installations” had a room all to themselves. Feathers’ on-going commentary depicts various branches of mental health awareness, bringing them to the foreground where they rightfully belong. They play a pivotal role for an artist attuned to the internal struggles that mankind faces over the course of a lifetime. A book lies flat on a table in the room, but the pages come alive in a tribute past and present, with an impactful message in drawings and words.
In similar fashion, Wooden’s abstract expressionistic painting addresses the Me Too movement with a ferocity, unrelenting in the notion that womankind must be treated as equal and with the respect that every human being deserves. Another room is devoted to “Women Warriors,” which speaks volumes, prescient and powerful in its scope. Borrowing Teddy Roosevelt’s “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” the collection is complete in photographs and battle gear. Battle axes, torpedo night sticks and an oversized baseball bat “club” that would make Fred Flintstone envious are all hung with aplomb.
Both shows exemplify the fundamental notion in finding source material for inspiration. It can be found through struggle, loss and self-reflection. Both groups of creatives inherently grasp the essence of what the world could be. If we truly have evolved as a species, then we need to embrace our differences and find a common language through art, be it spoken or signed.
Pictured above: “Me Too Mannequin,” Wooden/Feathers
“Bootleg Meets R76” and “Hear Me?” run through March 26 at the Art Association of Harrisburg, 21 N. Front St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.artassocofhbg.com.
Tammy Worthy-Jones of Just Baked Cakes & Pies.
It was a short workweek for many, but the local news scene didn’t take a break. As always, we were out and about covering news and events, even as we finalized our March print magazine. In case you missed any of our coverage, we have it all summarized and linked below.
Commonwealth Monument Project got a step closer to reality this past week, as the planned statue honoring voting rights and Harrisburg history received several big checks. Read about this project, who’s funding it and when it will be unveiled in our web story.
Dauphin County awarded gaming grants to dozens of projects, including several re-development and building efforts in Harrisburg. Find out what got funded in our online news story.
EV charging stations officially debuted this past week in front of the State Museum. Find out how these stations came to be and, if you own an electric vehicle, how to use them in our online news story.
Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra announced a new executive director this past week to replace retiring director Jeff Woodruff. Find out more about the central PA native who will lead the organization.
Just Baked Cakes & Pies opened recently inside of Midtown Scholar Bookstore, offering a line of baked goods, as well as breakfast and lunch items. Learn about the owner and her offerings in our online story.
Michael Doub has amassed a world-class collection of artifacts related to slavery. Find out about this Harrisburg man, what he collects and where you might be able to see some of his items by reading our magazine feature story.
Presidents’ Day was this past week, and we had the perfect accompaniment for the holiday. In his bimonthly column, our wine writer tells us which varieties have received the presidential seal of approval.
Sara Bozich has some great ideas for your weekend, including attending Friday’s 3rd in the Burg. From music to theater to special events, you’ll find something fun to do on her long list.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral will hold an unconventional special event this weekend: a silent movie with live organ music. Find out about the movie, the organist and all the event details from our February magazine story.
Tri Asian Taste has quickly garnered a following as a go-to restaurant on the West Shore. Find out about their unique offerings, with emphasis on a lesser-known Asian cuisine, from our magazine feature.
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A Porsche Taycan gets some juice at one of the new electric vehicle charging stations in front of the State Museum.
If you drove past the state Capitol today, you may have been surprised to find several cars that you don’t normally see on the streets of Harrisburg.
A Porsche, an Audi and several other electric vehicles were the guests of honor at a ribbon-cutting to inaugurate the newly installed charging stations in front of the State Museum.
Late last year, Harrisburg made several changes to the 700-block of N. 3rd Street. This included new angled parking spaces and installation of eight ChargePoint charging stations.
According to Mayor Eric Papenfuse, the reconfigured street and the charging stations fit in with the years-long, nearly complete 3rd Street corridor project.
“This represents the culmination of a larger 3rd Street improvement project from one end of the city to the other, which has resulted in new sidewalks, new traffic-calming measures, new green infrastructure, which you’ll see up and down the street,” he said.
Papenfuse said that the charging stations were not originally in the project plan. However, last year, he held a meeting with state officials at the behest of four state legislators who had nowhere to charge their electric vehicles while in Harrisburg.
“They had to park at a dealership and Uber to the Capitol,” Papenfuse said.
Today’s ribbon cutting was attended by city and state officials, including Rep. Patty Kim, Mayor Eric Papenfuse and Sen. John DiSanto.
These aren’t the first electric vehicle charging stations in Harrisburg. About seven years ago, a station was installed near N. 2nd and State streets.
The new stations were funded with a $40,000 state Department of Environmental Protection grant. The state paid for most of the other project costs, including the electrical infrastructure and a new sidewalk, Papenfuse said.
The stations have been active since last month and, over the past week, there have been more than three-dozen chargings, he said.
Before a line of TV news cameras, Papenfuse demonstrated how motorists can use the charging stations with their cell phones and the ChargePoint app.
Users pay just 72 cents an hour to charge their vehicles, and the average charging time is 1 hour and 52 minutes, he said.
The project isn’t quite done. Soon, the city will begin another phase, which will widen the sidewalk on N. 3rd Street between North and State streets.
Several years ago, the state widened what was a thin strip of concrete around much of the Capitol along Walnut and N. 3rd streets, but stopped at State Street.
The sidewalk expansion will complete the loop and make the sidewalk ADA-accessible, Papenfuse said. The walkway will remove the parking spaces along that stretch of 3rd Street. However, overall, the city has gained spaces with the new angled parking in front of the State Museum, he said.
“It never been easier to visit the State Museum,” Papenfuse said. “You don’t even need to parallel park anymore.”
For more information about ChargePoint and the ChargePoint app, visit www.chargepoint.com.
Renovation of the Swallow Mansion nears completion on the 1000-block of N. 6th Street in Harrisburg. The project has received a Dauphin County gaming grant.
More than 80 projects in Dauphin County will receive gaming grants this year, as the Dauphin County commissioners have approved $6.3 million in awards.
Harrisburg-based companies and organizations will receive a number of grants, the awards originating each year from the county’s share of gaming revenue generated from Hollywood Casino at Penn National.
In Harrisburg, many of the projects are geared towards either removing blight or offsetting redevelopment or construction costs. These include:
Harrisburg city will receive two grants:
“The majority of these projects create jobs and further investment and make our county more attractive to companies looking to either expand or relocate to our area,’’ said Commissioner Mike Pries, in a statement.
Each year, Dauphin County makes these awards based upon a portion of casino gaming revenue and upon the recommendation of the county’s five-member Gaming Advisory Board. Last year, the county awarded $6.4 million in grants to about 60 projects.
The following is a complete list of the projects that will receive gaming funds this year, according to Dauphin County:
Host & Contiguous
Other Awards
TFEC’s Janice Black presents a check to Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse and the Commonwealth Monument Project’s Lenwood Sloan.
A monument honoring voting rights and Harrisburg history is a step closer to reality, as the project today received more than $100,000 in new funding.
At a city hall press conference, the Commonwealth Monument Project received several large checks and pledges that will enable work to begin on critical aspects of the multi-part statue.
The city, the Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC) and philanthropist Peggy Grove all announced additional support for the monument planned for the lawn of the Capitol’s Irvis office building at N. 4th and Walnut streets.
“It’s a wonderful and incredibly important day,” said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse. “The monument, which has been a vision for so long, will become a reality.”
In its 2020 budget, the city pledged $25,000 to help build the base of the monument if organizers could raise a $25,000 matching grant. Today, TFEC provided that match.
The $360,000 monument, called “A Gathering at the Crossroads,” consists of three distinct aspects, all crafted by Lancaster-based A.R.T. Enterprises.
The first, the “orator’s pedestal,” depicts scenes of Harrisburg’s old 8th Ward, which was demolished to expand the Capitol complex. It already has been completed (pictured).
The second consists of life-sized figures of four important figures in Harrisburg history: civil rights activist William Howard Day, journalist and lawyer Thomas Morris Chester, musician and restaurateur Jacob T. Compton and abolitionist and suffragist Francis Ellen Walker Harper.
In addition to honoring the demolished 8th Ward, the monument is a tribute to voting rights—specifically, the U.S. Constitution’s 15th and19th amendments, which secured the vote for African Americans and for women, respectively.
The project’s third aspect is the base of the monument, which today’s $50,000 donation will fund.
President and CEO Janice Black said that TFEC made the gift as part of its commitment to fund community projects in connection with the charitable organization’s 100th anniversary.
“Because of our anniversary, we are honored to provide this money to help with the city’s match,” Black said.
Grove, who had already helped fund the monument’s pedestal, then announced additional support by the Grove Family Fund for two of the four statues.
“This bronze monument and what it signifies . . . for all people of color, for women, for all the disenfranchised people who have had to fight for the vote, all these many years–that’s what this really represents,” Grove said.
Besides raising money, the monument’s executive committee has succeeded in receiving legislative approval to site the monument on the grounds of the Capitol complex.
Today’s funding announcement allows the monument to stay on schedule, said Lenwood Sloan, the project’s executive director. A groundbreaking is slated for late March, with a June 15 unveiling.
The event concluded with an appeal for additional funds to close the remaining gap.
“I’m asking our community to make donations so we can complete this project,” said Kelly Summerford, executive committee treasurer. “Those with deep pockets, go deep, and those without such deep pockets, do what you can.”
Click here to contribute to the monument initiative. The Commonwealth Monument Project is an initiative of the IPTT Harrisburg Peace Promenade, a project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC), fiscal sponsor.