Sweet Dreams: Wolf, Fetterman drop in for a scoop, promote ice cream trail

July 18, 2019 | by Yaasmeen Piper

Urban Churn owner Adam Brackbill (center) shares a word and a scoop of his craft ice cream with PA Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Gov. Tom Wolf.

There are certain things you expect to see on a Thursday afternoon in Midtown Harrisburg: customers at Midtown Scholar, state workers eating lunch at the Broad Street Market.

Our state’s two top elected officials chomping down on ice cream cones might not be one of them. Yet that’s exactly what surprised customers saw today at Urban Churn’s new ice cream shop on N. 3rd Street.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman joined Urban Churn owner Adam Brackbill in grabbing some cones to help bring awareness to Pennsylvania’s “Pursue Your Scoops” ice cream trail. Sponsored by the PA departments of Agriculture and Community and Economic Development, the trail offers participants prizes for visiting select creameries.

“[The trail] has brought in a lot of folks from out of town. We have people from Reading, from Lancaster, people who otherwise wouldn’t have heard about us,” Brackbill said. “Especially since we’re new, it’s helped our new retail shop to grow because of it.”

From now until Sept. 2, if you visit five creameries on any of the three trails, you’ll win a “Pursue Your Scoops” T-shirt. If you visit all of the shops on the list, you’ll receive a T-shirt and a “Pursue Your Scoops” ice cream bowl.

This is the second year that the departments are hosting the trail. According to VisitPA, the trail offers a variety of ice cream experiences, from “an urban to true cow-to-cone farm experience.” The trail is broken down into three regions: western, eastern and south central. This is the first year the trail will include creameries located off of a farm.

“We found that the way to impact our farmers isn’t just having someone visit the farm,” said Ashlee Dugan, coordinator of PA Preferred. “It’s also through companies like Urban Churn and Betsy’s Ice Cream in Pittsburgh that are still working really closely with farmers.”

Not only does the trail bring people a fun treat, but it helps promote small businesses in Pennsylvania and economic growth in those areas.

“Urban Churn buys locally so that helps create a demand for the dairy products,” Wolf said. “It’s just one small part of what the commonwealth is trying to do to really support, by some accounts, our biggest industry in Pennsylvania. Part of this is really serious [as far as] strong economic implications. Part of it is that it’s really fun to just eat good ice cream.”

For more information on the Pursue Your Scoops ice cream trail, visit visitpa.com/scoops.

Bike lane or median? Harrisburg seeks input on 2-way 2nd Street concepts.

July 18, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse looks over a rendering of a proposed roundabout at 2nd and Verbeke streets under a plan to convert much of N. 2nd Street to two-way traffic.

Do you prefer a bike lane or a center lane?

That will be the big decision tonight for Harrisburg residents attending the final community meeting for the planned conversion of N. 2^nd Street to two-way traffic.

The city will unveil its two final design concepts at the meeting at HACC Midtown 2, which starts at 6 p.m.

The first design features a left-hand-turn lane, along with partial median strips, along the two-mile stretch of N. 2^nd from Forster to Division streets. The second includes a dedicated, “parking protected” bike lane, meaning it would be protected from the parked cars.

“That’s the main difference,” said Mayor Eric Papenfuse this morning. “Do you want a center lane with medians, or do you want a bike lane? We can’t accommodate both.”

A 40-minute presentation will kick off tonight’s meeting, Papenfuse said. Afterwards, attendees will be able to break off into groups to study the concepts in detail, block by block, and offer input.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive, Papenfuse said. Some features are interchangeable between the two designs.

Both designs include roundabouts at certain busy intersections, such as at N. 2^nd and Verbeke streets and N. 2^nd and Reily streets.

Notably, most traffic signals would be removed under both concepts and, like with the current construction along the 3^rd Street corridor, intersections would be improved to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Signals would remain at the busy intersections at Forster, Maclay and Division streets.

“We are genuinely interested in feedback as to what the public thinks about each option,” Papenfuse said. “If there is an overwhelming consensus for one of the two options, we’re going to go with that. If it’s divided, then we’re going to choose.”

Papenfuse expects construction to begin next year, wrapping up at the end of 2021. The cost of the $6 million project is being split between the city, the state Department of Transportation and Impact Harrisburg, a nonprofit set up in the wake of the city’s financial crisis.

Residents will evaluate these two design concepts tonight. The left concept shows the turning lane/median and the right concept shows the protected bike lane.

The city converted 2^nd Street from a neighborhood street to a three-lane, mini-highway in the 1950s to accommodate commuter traffic. Proposals to return the road to two-way traffic have been floated for decades, but gained steam a few years ago as the city made it a priority and pressed the issue with PennDOT.

Last year, the city held its initial community meeting on the project, which attracted more than 100 residents. That meeting gathered information on what residents, especially those who live on 2^nd Street, would like to see, and some of that input has been incorporated into the final designs, Papenfuse said.

Neither design includes angled parking, which was discussed at length during the first public meeting. That concept took up too much road space, while adding no additional parking, said city Engineer Wayne Martin.

Both final concepts will reduce the total amount of parking along 2^nd Street, mostly because of the ADA-mandated intersection improvements, Martin said.

Currently, there are 620 street parking spaces on N. 2nd from Forster to Division streets. Concept 1, which includes the turning lanes, would reduce parking to 550 spaces, while concept 2, which includes the bike lane, would reduce street parking to 537 spaces, Martin said.

“It is genuine to say that I see the benefits of both,” Papenfuse said. “We could go with either and be very pleased as a city. They’re both transformative and safer and better for the neighborhood.”

The two-way 2^nd Street community meeting begins at 6 p.m. at HACC Midtown 2, 1500 N. 3^rd St., Harrisburg.

Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

July 18, 2019 | by Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

Please don’t mind this abbreviated WR, written from the beach.

What are you doing this weekend?

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CRW plans meetings to offer information, answer questions about proposed stormwater fee

July 18, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

The new bumpouts along 3rd Street are designed to reduce stormwater runoff.

Capital Region Water will hold three community events to offer information on its proposed stormwater fee and to answer residents’ questions.

Last month, CRW unveiled a plan to impose a stormwater fee starting next year that would impact its Harrisburg customers.

Under the proposal, most residential customers would pay a new stormwater fee of $72 a year, or $6.15 a month. Commercial customers could potentially pay much more, depending upon the amount of impervious surface area on their properties.

CRW is under a “partial consent decree” with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to slash the amount of untreated pollutants flowing into the area’s streams and the Susquehanna River.

As a result, CRW expects to spend some $315 million over 20-plus years to come into compliance. Planned improvements include everything from facility and infrastructure upgrades to installing porous pavement and greening 177 additional acres of land.

CRW has said that residential customers’ wastewater fees would rise less slowly with the new stormwater fee, as the stormwater improvements have been accounted for as part of the wastewater portion of the monthly CRW bill.

“The meeting format allows residents to move through educational stations to learn more about the challenges of stormwater pollution, regulatory obligations, and solutions, including a new rate structure to fairly fund stormwater expenses,” according to a statement from CRW. “The final station will allow participants to comment on the proposal and plan.”

The meetings are:

Tuesday, July 30, 6 p.m. to 7:30 pm
Lincoln Administration Building, 1601 State St.
Tuesday, Aug. 6, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
National Night Out at Camp Curtin Academy, 2900 N. 6th St.
Thursday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Cloverly Heights Park, 18^th and Pemberton streets

For more information about Capital Region Water, visit their website.

SAM to screen, “Las Madres de Berks,” the story of 4 women held at Berks detention center

July 16, 2019 | by Yaasmeen Piper

The Susquehanna Art Museum will host a screening of “Las Madres de Berks.”

It’s been less than a year since artist Michelle Angela Ortiz installed her compelling mural, featuring the eyes of four mothers detained in Berks County Residential Center, on the state Capitol steps and in Allison Hill.

Through her art, Ortiz brought attention to the stories of these mothers and their families who were held at the immigrant detention facility for almost two years. This Sunday, Harrisburg residents will get the chance to hear from the mothers themselves.

As part of her “Las Familias Separadas” public art project, Ortiz will present her 30-minute documentary “Las Madres de Berks.” The film, which translates to “The Mothers of Berks,” features interviews with four mothers speaking about their families and about being detained in Berks.

“It’s important to me, especially as an artist, to create a platform for these mothers to share their own experiences,” Ortiz said. “In most cases, families that are detained, they always have someone speaking on their behalf, whether it’s a lawyer or an organizer. I thought it was really important to hear their voices and to see them.”

The documentary is a product of 2½ years of work. Ortiz began interviewing the mothers five months before their release in August 2017. The film shares just some of the conditions they had to endure while at Berks. Many of the mothers were denied proper hygiene products, were told to wear “loose clothing” because of institutional rape, and earned less than $1 day, if they could work at all.

However, what hurt the mothers and Ortiz most was how the center affected their children. The ages of the kids held at Berks ranged from 16 years down to 2 weeks old. According to Ortiz, some children fell ill while living in the facility. When the mothers complained too much or did not abide by the staff’s rules, they were threatened with separation from their children.

“It’s as if they didn’t have kids,” one mother said in the “Las Madres de Berks” trailer. “As if we are nothing to them.”

Since being released, two of the mothers were sent to different cities in the United States, another was deported back to El Salvador, and another, unfortunately, died.

“We are still incarcerating children. We are incarcerating mothers and fathers with their children,” Ortiz said. “What does that mean when we live in a state that is incarcerating families and children and stripping them of their humanity?”

After the screening, Ortiz, along with Anna Drallios and Maria Hernandez of the Shut Down Berks Coalition, will conduct a talk back and share how members of the audience can help immigrant families and shut down Berks.

“We want people to feel for these mothers,” Ortiz said. “We want people to feel anger and all these emotions, but, most importantly, we want people to take action. So, now that we’re presenting this information, what can you do?”

See the screening of “Las Madres de Berks” this Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at the Susquehanna Art Museum, 1401 N. 3^rd St., Harrisburg. For more information on Michelle Angela Ortiz and the Familias Separadas public art project, visit www.michelleangela.com. For more information on Shut Down Berks, visit www.facebook.com/ShutDownBerksCoalition.

Methodist churches hit the market as congregations close, consolidate

July 15, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

The historic First United Methodist Church in Harrisburg

If you’ve ever been in the market for an old, stately church in the Harrisburg area, your time has arrived.

Recently, the Susquehanna United Methodist Conference listed six of its churches for sale, part of a plan to cut costs and consolidate congregations. The churches cover numerous neighborhoods around Harrisburg and range in price from $169,000 to $325,000.

“I’ve shown all of these churches a number of times already,” said realtor Bill Gladstone of the Bill Gladstone Group, part of Wormleysburg-based NAI CIR, which is listing the properties. “The demand for these churches has been very high.”

Late last year, the conference, facing dwindling membership in the immediate Harrisburg area, decided to dispose of 10 of its buildings, several dating back a century or more.

Since then, one of the churches, historic Grace United Methodist Church on State Street, voted to maintain its congregation, said Shawn Gilgore, the conference’s director of communications. Another church, Rockville UMC, has become affiliated with Linglestown UMC, with both buildings in use, he said.

Six of the remaining churches currently are for sale:

Camp Curtin Memorial Mitchell UMC, 2221 N. 6^th St.: $195,000
First United Methodist, 269 Boas St.: $169,000
Riverside Methodist Church, 3200 N. 3^rd St.: $325,000
St. Mark’s UMC, 3985 N. 2^nd St (Susquehanna Township): $325,000
Trinity Penbrook Church, 5 N. 25^th St.: $255,000
Grace Penbrook Church, 25 S. 28^th St.: $265,000

Another church, Derry Street UMC on Allison Hill in Harrisburg, soon will be listed for sale, Gladstone said.

The final church in the group, Twenty Ninth Street UMC in Harrisburg, is the new home of The Journey Church, a combined congregation of Twenty Ninth Street UMC and the former Riverside Methodist Church.

Gladstone said that most potential buyers have been interested in continuing to use the buildings as churches. They often are leaders of emerging congregations that have been using temporary spaces for worship.

“Everybody wants one,” he said. “Even if they can’t afford it, they want one.”

Two of the churches date from the 19^th century. First United was built in 1881 and Camp Curtin, which is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, was constructed in 1896.

These large, aging buildings, which feature stained glass and other impressive architectural details, are very costly to maintain. As a result, banks can be skittish about lending to aspiring churches without a very solid financial plan, Gladstone said.

“The last thing a bank wants to do is foreclose on a church,” he said.

Some of the properties lend themselves to non-church uses, but also may be constrained by parking and zoning issues. For example, First United in Midtown is located in a desirable area, but is tucked on a residential block with no off-street parking.

“It could have a residential use for apartments,” Gladstone said. “If you’re a smart developer, you can figure out how to do that.”

Salvation Army, Harristown team to “fill a backpack” for Harrisburg schoolchildren

July 15, 2019 | by Hanna Martin

The Salvation Army Harrisburg has set up a donation table in Strawberry Square.

Many students look forward to the start of a new school year, but buying supplies can place an extra burden on Harrisburg families already facing financial stress.

That’s why the Salvation Army Harrisburg, along with Harristown Enterprises, is reviving its “Christmas in July” fill-a-backpack initiative.

During lunchtime this week, the charity will be in Strawberry Square to collect donations of money and new school supplies.

Backpacks donated by Harristown and others then will be filled with the supplies before they are distributed to local children in need in early August.

“We’re hoping for great things again this year,” said Cindy Minnich, the special events and communications coordinator of the Salvation Army Harrisburg.

Through the initiative, which is in its eighth year, families in need can apply to receive backpacks for children in elementary school through high school. This year, the Salvation Army hopes to fill at least 120 to 150 backpacks.

Harristown is donating 50 of the backpacks.

“Harristown and Strawberry Square are delighted to support the Christmas in July event with the Salvation Army this week in the atrium,” said Harristown CEO Brad Jones.

Minnich said that it costs about $40 to fill a backpack.

“People don’t realize that when they go shopping, but based on the list that the Harrisburg School District has given us, it costs that much,” she said.

Last year, about 150 children received backpacks full of supplies. However, the Salvation Army would like to serve even more students in need.

“When our application appointments [to receive backpacks] go live, they fill up in about three hours, and we have waiting lists,” Minnich said.

The Salvation Army asks for the following supplies:

1-subject spiral notebooks
Pencil sharpeners (small)
Wooden pencils
Highlighters
Pencil pouches (3-hole-punch)
Erasers (one pack of pencil toppers or two regular)
Boxes of crayons, colored pencils and markers
12-inch rulers
Glue sticks
2-pocket POLY folders
Packs of wide-ruled notebook paper
Binders (1.5 to 2 inch)
Post-it-notes
Wide-ruled index cards
Dry erase markers (black and blue)

“We’re not quite meeting the need that’s out there, but we hope to get closer and closer each year,” Minnich said.

The Salvation Army will be in the Strawberry Square atrium from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Friday, July 19. Donations in cash, check and charge are accepted, as well as donations of new supplies. Donations can also be dropped off at 1122 Green St., Harrisburg. To donate supplies, visit https://bit.ly/SuppliesHBG or the donations page at https://bit.ly/DonateHBG.

The Week that Was: News and features around Harrisburg

July 12, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg City Council on Tuesday

The recent torrid pace of local news slowed down a bit this past week, but there still was plenty to write about. If you missed some of our coverage, you can find a summary right here.

AutoZone’s proposed store cleared the Harrisburg Planning Commission this week as its development plan was approved, though not exactly to the company’s liking. The matter now will head to City Council. Click here for the details.

Central PA Jazz Festival takes place this weekend, with performances and special events throughout the region. Discover the details here.

En Plein Air Lancaster takes to the city’s streets this weekend, so that visitors can watch artists paint outdoors and spend time in the city’s thriving gallery district. Click here for the details.

Harrisburg introduced its annual ordinances for the disbursal of federal housing funds. However, the city is changing its system of awarding funding significantly. Click here for the details.

Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority bought back 58 lots in the MarketPlace Townhome community from would-be developer S&A Homes. In 2005, the authority gave S&A 71 lots for $1 piece, but the company had developed only 13 of them. Click here for all the details.

Mecum Auto Auctions will return to the PA Farm Show complex in a few weeks, with thousands of cars and automobile-related items for sale. Find out what’s new at this year’s auction.

Novelist Catherine Chung will visit Midtown Scholar Bookstore on Friday to read from her sophomore work, “The Tenth Muse,” and sign books. Find out the details about her book and visit.

PennyFix is a movement among area animal-lovers to convince pet food manufacturers to tack on a penny to every can sold, a plan that would help solve the pet over-population problem. Read our feature story here.

Puppies may not be the best choice for a new family pet, as shelters overflow with adult dog rescues. But, if your heart is set on a puppy, you must take care to avoid the many pitfalls. Click here for our feature story.

Sara Bozich may be on vacation, but she’s left us with her weekly rundown of events around the Harrisburg area for this weekend. You’ll never be bored with this long list of things to do.

Small business in Harrisburg continues to thrive. In the current issue, we catch up with several food businesses that recently have expanded or made significant changes. Click here for our story.

“Stogies & Stories” is our feature about five old guys, one radio show and a thousand stories, some of which may be true. Read our story here.

Do you receive TheBurg Daily, our daily digest of news and events? If not, subscribe here!

AutoZone project creeps forward, despite continuing disputes over design, traffic

July 11, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

The proposed AutoZone site at 645 Maclay St. in Harrisburg.

The Harrisburg Planning Commission last night approved the land development plan for an Uptown auto parts store, despite a continuing disagreement over the design of the project.

By a 3-1 vote, the commission gave its OK to an AutoZone store on long-vacant land at the corner of Maclay and N. 7^th streets, but the approval requires the company to tweak its design to address several city concerns.

Commission members agreed with the city’s planning bureau that AutoZone needed to make modifications to its plan—namely, reorienting the 6,816-square-foot building to bring it closer to Maclay Street and eliminating access from busy N. 7^th Street.

“Having a building set back with a parking lot with two different ways in and out for cars, and creating more issues for people walking on the sidewalk, it’s just not a plan I can really agree with,” said commissioner Zac Monnier. “It’s not the right plan for the city.”

City officials have long complained that the proposed AutoZone design was too generic and better suited for a suburban strip mall, not a city block. They have especially disliked that AutoZone’s original proposal set the store back from Maclay Street, with parking in the front.

“I don’t want to have people coming into the city greeted by a parking lot and a set-back building, just like you see in the surrounding suburbs,” Monnier said.

David Tshudy of Pepper Hamilton, the law firm representing AutoZone, repeatedly pushed back on the requested changes to the company’s design, saying that city planners have no role in design decisions based on Harrisburg’s current land use ordinances.

“There’s nothing in the ordinance that requires the building to be situated any differently than what is shown on the plan,” Tshudy said. “The building is best where it is shown on the plan.”

The two sides also had a heated disagreement about AutoZone’s desire for a driveway to the site from N. 7^th Street.

In April, the two sides held a meeting to iron out their differences. Tshudy said that he left that meeting believing they had agreed to retain the access point, but only for right turns in and out. City officials disagreed.

“At no time did we indicate that this was a design that the planning bureau would support or thought was a good design for this particular site,” said Geoffrey Knight, director of the city’s planning department.

Tshudy said that an AutoZone traffic study confirmed the safety of the design for vehicles and pedestrians, but city Engineer Wayne Martin criticized the traffic impact study as insufficient.

Martin said that the study only analyzed a small area, while the city required a broader impact study of a half-mile radius around the site. He also said that AutoZone purposely selected an intersection for the study that was known to have few problems, while the nearby intersection of Maclay and N. 6^th Street has high rate of accidents—26 crashes and 29 injuries from 2013 to 2017.

“So, not only did they ignore safety, they intentionally ignored safety,” Martin said. “What they’re trying to do is shove a dangerous design down our throats without even considering the safety of our neighborhoods.”

Once more, Tshudy insisted the AutoZone followed all the city’s ordinances and would be reluctant to make any changes because, he said, they’re not mandated to do so by law.

“Again, there is nothing in the ordinance that would prohibit the 7^th Street access,” he said. “In fact, the 7^th Street access was originally designed to be a full-service access. A traffic study supported that that would be safe, a traffic study prepared on behalf of AutoZone. In order to extend an olive branch, we offered to have right-in, right-out only.”

In the end, the planning commission voted to approve the land development plan with the city-mandated changes, with Monnier dissenting.

Before it can break ground, AutoZone now needs City Council to approve its land development plan, assuming that the company decides to press forward considering the approved plan’s inclusion of conditions it doesn’t like.

“This is a difficult project,” Tshudy said, following the vote. “We clearly understand your concerns, and we’ll try to work as best we can with the city staff to address the concerns that are embodied in the conditions.”

Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

July 11, 2019 | by Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

We’re beach-bound this weekend. Follow me on IG to watch out adventures in slower lower Delaware. Please note abbreviated version next week. In the meantime, be sure to check out our newest contributor, Erica Koup, who will be covering the area’s brunch scene. Last week she doted on Café 1500 — stay tuned for her post tomorrow about Sunday’s Rockin’ Rosé Brunch at Ad Lib. We are switching things up, and there is a lot of new yet to reveal in this second half of the year, so be sure you’re on the email list, in our private Facebook group, and following on IG to catch all the sneak peeks and details!

What are you doing this weekend?

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