HBG FAQ: Welcome to Harrisburg. Now read this.

September 28, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda

Illustration by Rich Hauck.

Recently, I got an early tour of Harrisburg’s newest boutique apartment building.

At the Bogg on Cranberry, the units are fresh and beautiful, but, sure, I understand the kneejerk response among locals when you mention the location—the heart of downtown’s entertainment district.

Who would want to live there, with a birds-eye view of whatever’s going down along 2nd Street late on a Saturday night?

It turns out—a lot of people.

When I was there, the place was buzzing with construction, swarms of workers measuring, hammering and sawing throughout the building’s 11,000 square feet of space. The 12 units had already been leased, well before the building was done. The first tenants were just weeks away from moving in, so the rush was on.

But who were these people and where were they coming from?

“From outside Harrisburg mostly,” said tour guide Brad Jones, CEO of Harristown Development, which owns the Bogg. “They’re newcomers.”

And, after this apartment building was done, Harristown had two more in the pipeline, larger projects on Pine Street, which will add another 69 units to the neighborhood.

That’s great, I thought—new blood, new spending money, a few extra bucks in the city’s pockets. But then I had another reaction, one that can best be described as, “Uh-oh.”

It was a selfish thought, but one born of experience. More new people meant more questions—or, actually, the same questions asked over and over and over again: What is this? Why is this? How do I?

Indeed, Harrisburg is a quirky place with numerous rules and customs you likely have never encountered coming from, say, D.C. or Pittsburgh or another similarly civilized city.

So, as a public service, I thought I’d dedicate this column to answering some of the questions that I’m most frequently asked. And welcome, newcomers, to the often endearing, sometimes perplexing little city that is now your home.

Why is the city called Harrisburg?
The Harris family, natch. You can visit where they lived, then, risking your life, cross the street and see where they’re dead. If you’re new to town, a visit to the Harris Mansion is a must.

Why is such a tiny city the capital of such a large state?
Geography, politics, free land. But buck up. I’ve been to Jefferson City, Mo.

Is Harvey Taylor more than a bridge?
Back in the 1940s and ‘50s, Harvey Taylor was a powerful state lawmaker and powerbroker. But, today, yes, he’s basically a bridge.

So, what, um, happened to Harrisburg?
Depression, deindustrialization, suburbanization, flood, flood, flood. Every city has an off century now and again. So, yes, Harrisburg remains a work in progress. But, trust me, it’s a zillion times better than a decade or two ago.

Who’s this Steve Reed guy I keep hearing about?
Steve Reed was Harrisburg’s mayor for 28 years and, to mangle a phrase from Homer J. Simpson, he was either the cause of—or the solution to—all of Harrisburg’s problems.

I hear that Harrisburg went through some kind of financial crisis. How’d that happen?
Do you know that old cliché about your eyes being bigger than your belly? It’s like that, but, instead of food, the city ate an incinerator, a bunch of museums, parking garages, a university, a baseball stadium and a hundred other things. Essentially, one little city ordered everything on the menu then couldn’t pay its bill.

Is Harrisburg now out of the woods financially?
Maybe.

Why is there a Civil War museum in Harrisburg?
The phony answer is because the war almost reached the city. The real answer is because Steve Reed wanted one here. Just be glad that you’re not asking, “Why is there a Wild West museum in Harrisburg?”

OMG, I heard a gun battle at 7 o’clock this morning!
Those are just duck hunters, because that’s allowed in the middle of a densely populated city, for some reason. Unless it was a gun battle. But it probably was duck hunters.

OMG, I heard explosions at 10 o’clock tonight!
Those were just fireworks. Unless they were explosions. But they probably were just fireworks, to the great distress of every dog in the city.

Speaking of dogs, is it true that Harrisburg is about to get its first public dog park?
It is true, thanks to the good people at Friends of Midtown. For such a small city, Harrisburg is full of wonderful civic and church groups trying to move us in the right direction. Find one that interests you. Become part of the solution.

Will the 3rd Street repaving project ever get done?
That’s what they tell me. Ditto the two-way 2nd Street conversion and the river walk rehab.

Dammit, I’m really mad about schools, parking and street cleaning. I’m gonna give the city a piece of my mind!
You’re not actually mad at the city government, but you are mad at the Harrisburg school district, Park Harrisburg and Capital Region Water, respectively. You’ll need to go complain to them.

I almost got hit crossing Front/Forster/State streets. I’m gonna march right down to city hall . . .
Stop. Also not controlled by the city. They’re state roads. So, you’re gonna have to march right down to PennDOT for satisfaction. And good luck with that. I’ve been trying for years.

What’s the deal with all the bugs?
Yes, the annual outbreak of mayflies is pretty gross, but that’s the small price you pay for living along a wide, gorgeous river.

What’s the deal with all the spiders?
When you have billions of mayflies, you get millions of spiders.

Why does this tiny city have so many fantastic restaurants?
Lawmakers, lawyers and lobbyists like to eat, and we’re the lucky beneficiaries. So, we can all eat and drink ourselves silly thinking about all the land we can’t tax.

What, pray tell, is the Harrisburg beaver?
My new friend, the elusive Harrisburg beaver is a mysterious beast, as deep as the river, as fleet as the freeway and as pleasant as a mid-February day.

Harrisburg’s a weird little place, isn’t it?
Yup. How great is that?

One Bad Party: Neighbors come together to handle a very unpleasant surprise.

September 28, 2018 | by M. Diane McCormick

Cate Rowe was doing yardwork when something in the ground came a-bubblin’ up, and it sure wasn’t Texas tea.

“I pulled out a weed that made the entire brickwork in the backyard collapse in on itself, and I just had standing water underneath a layer of bricks,” she recalled.

That was Rowe’s introduction to the sewer party line. If you don’t know what that is, you’re not alone, even though your home could be affected. If you do know, it’s probably because you shelled out thousands of dollars for a fix, or, perhaps, have gone to war with a neighbor.

In Rowe’s case, the sewer party line actually helped promote neighborhood unity, but it still cost thousands of dollars to fix.

Sewer party lines are shared lines hooking two or more homes to sewer mains. Nineteenth- and early 20th-century builders dug single trenches to contain sewer, gas and water lines. They plied to “no rhyme or reason,” although are most common in the row homes of Allison Hill and Midtown, said Harrisburg Codes Enforcement Director David Patton.

Sewer party lines are “problematic,” he said. “The lion’s share of party lines go out the back and collect from home to home to home and go out an alley or street. Anywhere we see common walkways that go into the back, you always have to be suspect.”

Very Tough

Rowe loves her circa-1861 row home in lower Midtown, the one with the gasp-worthy curving staircase.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said, “but it’s home.”

She bought the house in December 2015, blissfully unaware of the sewer lines shared with the conjoined homes on the block and with the 2nd Street-facing converted apartments to the rear. The problem manifested itself when a backup created pressure that pushed her home’s connection off the party line. While an adjoining neighbor got raw sewage in his basement, Rowe was getting backup pushed from other houses into her backyard.

“Great tomatoes last summer, but disgusting,” she joked.

Capital Region Water was “fantastic in getting me information,” but as many have discovered to their consternation, the sewer hookups known as laterals are the homeowner’s responsibility.

“They are private lines built by private entities, and they’ve been private ever since,” explained CRW Community Outreach Manager Andrew Bliss.

The city can declare a house uninhabitable due to raw sewage infiltration and, in those cases, try to force replacement of a party line with individual laterals.

“But there’s really not a lot we can do because they’re considered private,” said Patton. “It’s based on the owners coming together to figure it out.”

CRW helped Rowe find her “sewer card”—“like old-school, hand-drawn cards,” Bliss said—in the Harrisburg City Codes office, available for some homes where known sewer work has been conducted.

“Once we get that information, it’s pretty much up to the customer, if they’re on a party line, to work with their neighbors to resolve the issue,” said Bliss. “As you can expect, it can be very tough, especially if you have neighbors that aren’t willing to cooperate, or if the house is vacant.”

Common Interests

In an ideal world, neighbors cooperate and share costs.

Rowe paid for her repairs. A neighbor hired the same plumber to install an access point in his yard, allowing easy access to flush or scope a line. When a problem threatened this summer, all agreed to split the cost of a flushing, but the blockage cleared on its own.

In fact, Rowe said that the problem, however unpleasant and unwelcome, actually drew her and her immediate neighbors closer together. Dealing with the sewer party line has kept them attuned to their common interests, she said.

“The four of us on this block, we have great communication,” she said. “There’s no issue.”

That doesn’t mean that everything went smoothly.

One landlord to the rear “was swearing to me up and down that there was no problem,” Rowe said. But she knew that a neighboring apartment house was having problems, and she believes that tenants are reluctant to report problems. If someone doesn’t want to pitch in $20 to help pay for a line cleaning, she knows there’s nothing she can do.

“That’s part of living in the city,” she said. “You deal with the neighbors.”

In some cases, neighbors don’t cooperate, refusing to share costs or take responsibility, said several sources.

“I’ve seen people move because they didn’t want to deal with it anymore,” said Brian Wizzard of Wizzard Drain Cleaning, based in Lower Paxton Township.

He is Rowe’s plumber, “kind of on call,” she said.

Some neighbors simply can’t afford the drill-clean via auger or the high-pressure “sewer jet” needed to clear a line, Wizzard said.

“I try to do it as price-friendly as I can, because there’s a lot of people in the city who just can’t afford to do a lot of things,” he said.

Property owners with sewer mains running in front of their homes can reroute their lateral lines.

“But it’s not always that easy,” said Bliss. “If you don’t have a sewer main in front of your house, it’s more expensive to run it to the main.”

How expensive? Repairs can cost $5,000 to $10,000, and direct-line construction can be “in that ballpark but slightly more,” depending on the variables, said Bliss.

Patton noted that switching lines to the front also requires rerouting the interior plumbing, adding to the cost. And, making the process even more fun, augers meant to clean party lines often can’t navigate the curving, whole-house traps in many old-home basements.

Wizzard doesn’t know of any insurance company willing to cover party lines. If one neighbor treats the plumbing responsibly but the family next door is “flushing diapers and all kinds of crazy stuff, the insurance will be paying to fix somebody else’s problem,” he said.

Rowe spent nearly $3,000 to reconnect her line and basically evacuated her home for a week.

“I was lucky,” she said. “Three thousand dollars didn’t break me, but for a lot of people, it does. You can’t live in your home. You can’t use the water. You can’t shower. You can’t wash dishes. You can’t do laundry. It is a fundamental need. I can only imagine there are a number of neighborhoods where this is going unchecked, and it’s waiting to be a real emergency.”

Rowe sees a public health matter deserving city education efforts about potential problems and warning signs. She would also like to see “some sort of subsidy for people to get off the party line.”

“The infrastructure is old,” she said. “It’s not reliable. It’s unpleasant.”

The “two worst enemies” of sewer party lines are so-called “flushable” wipes—they’re not really flushable—and tampons, Wizzard said.

“Most people just don’t know they shouldn’t do it,” he said. “They do it anyway, and they find out once it causes a problem, and then it’s too late.”

Bliss also pointed an accusatory finger at grease poured into drains, trapping foreign objects as it cools. Rowe grew up with well water, so she’s “never been reckless” about flushing forbidden objects, she said.

“Everyone is guilty of flushing something that shouldn’t go down there at some point in their lives,” she said “If you have someone who doesn’t know, how are they going to know any better?”

If the party line is working well, “life goes on,” Patton said. But a sure sign of trouble is a backed-up washing machine, suddenly incapable of pumping out large amounts of water in a short time.

Homeowners can find that sewer party lines are “a little bit of a pain, but there’s a lot of them out there,” said Wizzard.

“You have to hope you have a decent neighbor, and you don’t have somebody causing you major, major grief, that’s all,” he said.

In that, blessed with good neighbors, Rowe was lucky indeed.

Heart & Hill: On Allison Hill, hard work, happiness and hope.

September 28, 2018 | by Susan Ryder

Burg in Focus: Wild Heart Ministries from GK Visual on Vimeo.

On a cool Saturday, Ben Countz, Serena Viera and Joanna Yoder prepared to battle trash.

They loaded themselves into a van and trailer and ventured to Nectarine Street on Allison Hill to collect two couches and a dresser.

Countz and Yoder manhandled the couch into the trailer then Countz navigated the narrow streets on the way to the incinerator. Back on 13th Street, Christina Herman wheeled her two daughters, ages 2 and 3, down the street, picking up trash as she went.

You might call this a typical day in the life of Wildheart Ministries, a youthful Christian group that operates out of the historic A. Carson Stamm Mansion on S. 13th Street.

Christina and her husband Tannon arrived in Harrisburg five years ago, joining a group of young missionaries who had settled into the mansion, calling themselves Burn 24-7. When that group relocated to California, the Hermans stayed behind, purchasing the mansion and starting their own organization.

“We felt called to stay here in Harrisburg, specifically Allison Hill,” said Christina. “We have a heart to see it transformed.”

The first transformation involved their own building, a stately, 109-year-old Georgian Revival built originally for a prominent Harrisburg attorney. The house—20 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms spread across 11,000 square feet—was in a state of disrepair.

“When we moved into the mansion, it was not a very pretty place,” Tannon Herman said.

Years of painting, fixing and rebuilding followed, repairing and wiping away decades of neglect. Today, Wildheart consists of four staff members, who can best be described as full-time community organizers, and three other mission-minded folks, who live in the house.

As a key part of its ministry, Wildheart began “Love the Hill,” an ambitious, five-year project to clean up Allison Hill.

In the summer of 2017, they took to the alley behind the mansion and started digging into the abandoned garages, filled with garbage from floor to ceiling. At first, the group used their own money to dump the trash.

“Our thought was we have a little bit of money,” said Christina. “All the bulk items, we just started taking in our trailers and dumping it ourselves and paying for it.”

The city Department of Public Works dropped in one day to see the goings-on and decided to haul the trash for free, as long as it was easily accessible for the employees and equipment.

So far, the group, with some 400 volunteers including many Allison Hill neighbors, has removed more than 1 million pounds of trash from the streets.

“We couldn’t do this without our neighbors being on board,” Countz said. “It’s not like we started this. I mean we are a part of it, but there have been so many people who have been doing this [in the city] and getting no credit.”

Tannon Herman said that their neighbors all find a way to contribute.

“When we go out on the street, the neighbors say, ‘Sweet, what are we doing today?’” he said.

If folks can’t help haul trash, they provide water, encouragement and, on sweltering summer days, popsicles.

Bit Different

Wildheart made the decision to remove trash based on Tri-County Community Action’s 2015 “Heart of the Hill” report, which noted that residents felt besieged by dumping and blighted, vacant buildings.

Blighted buildings not only held tons of trash, they provided a place for dealing and using drugs. So Wildheart has been boarding them up.

So, how does the group pay for all this? Donations primarily, along with its newest venture—Pure Bean coffee roastery, run out of the mansion’s low-ceilinged cellar. Like most of what Wildheart does, it’s a bit different.

The beans are air roasted, a technique rarely used, according to Countz, who does the roasting.

“We are in the minority of how coffee roasting is mostly done,” he said.

Unlike drum roasting, the chaff isn’t burned but blown away as the bean expands and releases it. The process creates a smoother, less bitter, less acidic coffee, he said. The ethically sourced, small-batch coffee can be purchased online or at the mansion.

As a shout-out to the neighborhood, 10 percent of all sales of their Love the Hill blend go to support their work.

Coffee and cleanups represent only parts of Wildheart’s ministry.

Quarterly block parties, Mondays at the Mansion worship and food distribution round out the group’s efforts. In addition, other organizations use the property for their events.

“We are increasingly getting more involved in collaborative efforts,” Tannon Herman said. “Part of the struggle of the neighborhood is there’s a lot of people doing good things, but not too many people doing good things together.”

Shirley Blanton, who’s resided in Allison Hill for 25 years, agrees that collaboration is necessary.

“You can’t do anything by yourself,” she said. “You need connection.”

One neighborhood resident thought so highly of Wildheart’s mission that he joined the house.

Quamell Durden discovered Wildheart through its outdoor worship. Curious, he ventured over, eventually joined the work crews, and, in June, entered the house to participate in its vision.

“It helped me to gain, basically, my happiness back,” he said.

Wildheart’s mission is to bring some happiness and hope to its neighborhood of Allison Hill.

Standing on the stoop of her home on the corner of Swatara and Nectarine streets, Leslie Defrank had only good words to say about the young people living in the mansion.

“Tannon and his family have been great to us and the neighborhood,” she said.

Wildheart Ministries is located at 333 S. 13th St., Harrisburg. They will hold their annual Neighborhood Harvest Party on Oct. 27. For more information, to volunteer or donate, visit www.wildheartministries.net.

Food + Family: A dining dynasty returns with Valley Bistro.

September 28, 2018 | by Maddie Crocenzi

Jacquie Ferentinos has deep roots in the Harrisburg restaurant business. So deep, in fact, that she says it runs in her blood.

It started when her grandparents opened the Keystone Restaurant on N. 3rd Street, a six-decade-old diner now run by her father. Jacquie remembers sleeping on the bench and taking baths in the three-compartment sink.

“My grandparents have been a huge inspiration for hard work,” Ferentinos said. “I mean they’re in their 80s and still there every day.”

Her love for serving food continued when she and her husband Steve opened Brick City Bar & Grille on N. 2nd Street, which they operated for three years. More recently, they owned a restaurant in Baltimore.

But Ferentinos just can’t stay away from the business. This time, her passion has extended to Valley Bistro, a casual eatery focused on fresh ingredients, located just outside of Enola.

This & That

Ferentinos completely re-did the space, which some may remember as the original location of Al’s of Hampden. She created a modern and urban atmosphere that feels like a restaurant you’d find in a bigger city.

Valley Bistro opens at 7 a.m. each day, serving breakfast and lunch. It’s a quick-service concept similar to Panera, and the menu caters to everyone from business people working nearby to families with little kids who want a sugar rush for breakfast with the Fruity Pebbles French toast.

For her part, Ferentinos loves the cannoli-stuffed French toast, the authentic gyros and all of the gluten-free options, including the cauliflower pizza.

The gyros are shaved off the cone and stuffed with French fries, and the machine is featured in the window so people can see the process. In fact, Valley Bistro is so focused on fresh ingredients that there’s no microwave or freezer.

Ferentinos said the restaurant offers catering and take-out, as well. Plus, the space is available to rent out for things such as birthday parties or work events after 2 p.m.

The early closing time is just one way that Valley Bistro caters to family, an intentional choice for Jacquie and Steve, who have three children.

Their previous restaurant ventures were tough because of the late nights, she said. But as their kids grow up, they wanted back in the business. Jacquie even helped out at the Keystone on weekends because she missed the industry so much.

“My biggest concern was the kids and how they would feel,” she said about starting a new restaurant.

With her youngest son heading to pre-school and a whole family on her side, she decided to take the leap. She said her kids were both patient and excited. While renovating the building, they would come in at night and answer the phones.

“Hi, thanks for calling Valley Bistro,” they’d chime.

The restaurant closes after lunch so the Ferentinos family can go home to their kids. There are even items on the menu named after their children, including “Stella’s Grilled Romaine Chicken Caesar Salad,” the “Maximus Burger” and “Gianna’s This & That.”

As Ferentinos goes back to work, she wants her children to learn the value of working hard to realize their dreams, as she did.

“I hope that they go to school, and they become doctors and lawyers,” she said. “But whatever it is, they will learn their roots from here, from us,” she said.

Good Party

Valley Bistro also draws on aspects of Brick City. Ferentinos said Brick City regulars loved the food, especially the burgers, so she brought much of that menu over to the new space.

She even faced some of the same pushback that she felt when opening Brick City. Valley Bistro sits in the same place where Al’s of Hampden was for over a decade, followed by Philly Steak & Shake.

People told her not to open the restaurant because of the turn into the building and because of the layout. But Ferentinos saw what it could be.

It was much the same at Brick City, she said. The previous two places in that location had failed, and people claimed it was a bad spot with no parking. Still, she and her husband gambled and succeeded.

“We did it financially on our own, and I remember on the opening night, we were so busy, and we just kind of looked at each other like, ‘Wow, we did this,’” she said.

Although Brick City closed in 2013, selling the space to Ted’s Bar and Grill, Ferentinos kept the Facebook page because it’s “kind of like a piece of her.”

“I always had the hope that I would be able to post on there again like, ‘Hey we’re opening a new place,’” she said. “And I did.”

Ferentinos has come a long way from the high school girl who couldn’t go to a football game because she was working at the Keystone. While some people dread the restaurant business, she loves getting to serve great food to great customers.

She thinks that good times around the table create memories that last a lifetime and, at the end of the day, she relishes interacting with customers and hearing how much they enjoyed the food.

“If you have good food then it’s a good party,” she said.

Valley Bistro is located at 4520 Valley Rd., Enola. For more information, call 717-695-7673 or visit www.valleybistroenola.com or the Facebook page.

ABC’s of PT: For Physical Therapy Month, a doctor addresses the whys, the hows.

September 28, 2018 | by Dr. Andrew Zang

Every day millions of people wake up seeking an answer to their pain (neck, back, knee, etc.).

But more than that, it is what the pain prevents them from doing. They are looking for a way to get back to playing with kids or grandkids, taking that family vacation, and working without hurting so much.

Most want to do this without having to rely upon pain medication or consider surgery. People want a more natural solution, which is great because the human body is resilient and often can heal itself with a little TLC. This is the role and place for a physical therapist, and, each October, this educational message is emphasized during National Physical Therapy Month.

Many people do not make the choice to see a physical therapist because, first, they do not know what we do and how we can help them. Secondly, they do not realize how easy it is to see a physical therapist and, third, they are fearful of making the wrong decision for their ache/pain/issue.

So, let’s address these issues.

What is a physical therapist and what does one do?

Physical therapists are neuromusculoskeletal experts, meaning we help people with any problem that impacts muscles, joints or the neurological system (think stroke or MS, among many more), preventing a person from enjoying daily life and recreation. The issue could be new or old, after surgery, after an accident, or just because something hurts or prevents you from doing something you want to do.

We help people with problems such as trouble walking up steps, getting up from a chair, reaching into a cabinet or bending over to pick up a bag of groceries. Some people contact us because they just feel stiff or cannot move like they want or they hurt when they do. If you are looking to prevent worsening of some condition or just want your body to feel younger—a physical therapist can help.

How easy is it to see a physical therapist?

It’s very easy. In most instances in Pennsylvania, you can have immediate access to physical therapy services without a doctor’s referral. Technically, even Medicare patients can be seen for an evaluation without a doctor’s script but may not be able to be treated based on the provider they choose. In almost all instances, a doctor’s referral will be necessary for Medicare patients to get treatment and after 30 days for everyone else.

Why do people struggle to make the decision to get help?

Because many are fearful of making the wrong decision, that the choice they make will not lead them to the solution they want. They are nervous that the person or type of treatment they choose will not be the right one for them. Or they even feel let down by some provider or the medical system as a whole to the point they don’t know what to do—so they choose nothing. These feelings are understandable. But just because one treatment or one provider did not work does not mean the next won’t be able to help. Treating the human body is an inexact science—sometimes trial and error is necessary—and other times those other false starts leads to the right answer.

In the end, it comes down to what a person is willing to live with. Many people live with pain unnecessarily, unaware that physical therapy can help them live normal, active lives again.

Dr. Andrew Zang is board certified in orthopedics and a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapists. For more information, call 717-440-6197 or visit www.zangpt.com.

Revolution in Care: Harrisburg native pens book on founding father, Benjamin Rush.

September 28, 2018 | by Harvey Freedenberg

Illustration by Ryan Spahr.

From supermodels to rabbis, the subjects of award-winning investigative journalist Stephen Fried’s six books have been nothing if not diverse.

Now, with “Rush: Revolution, Madness and the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father,” this Harrisburg native has entered the territory of writers like David McCullough to produce a comprehensive biography of Benjamin Rush, a major figure in American history whose legacy has slipped, unfairly, into the shadows.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Constitutional Convention, pioneer in the humane treatment of mental illness, vigorous advocate for racial, religious and gender equality and founder of Dickinson College, lifelong Philadelphian Rush had a unique vantage point from which to observe the birth of the American nation and the growing pains of its early years.

In an interview from his Philadelphia home, “down the street from the American Revolution,” as he describes it, Fried, who teaches journalism at both the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, explained that he was drawn to Rush as a subject because the story allowed him to marry his interest in the problem of mental illness (he co-authored a 2015 book on the subject with former Rep. Patrick Kennedy) to an account of the American Revolution.

Rush, who was born in 1745 and died in 1813, offered the added benefit to a historian of a life that spanned a profoundly significant era. He was a “very political doctor trying to do important work in Philadelphia, who’s a wide-eyed revolutionary when the big guys come to town and, within two years, he’s one of them,” Fried remarked.

Rush had been engaged prominently in political activity as far back as 1773, when he co-wrote the anti-tax broadside that led to the Boston Tea Party and helped usher Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” into print.

Returning to Philadelphia after his participation in the Revolutionary War, in which he served as surgeon general to Washington’s troops in some of the bleakest days of the conflict, Rush resumed his medical practice, and by the mid-1780s, entered into a period of intense public engagement that included a major address to the American Philosophical Society in 1786. In that talk, Fried explained, Rush “lays down the framework for seeing addiction and mental illness as diseases and not failures of will or religious faith, which is how they were viewed at the time.”

Along with Benjamin Franklin, Rush worked to revive the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. A man of strong Christian faith (in contrast to many of the Deist founders), Rush was someone who, as Fried described it, “believed that religious liberty was bigger than organized religion,” opposing a religious test for public office in the proposed Pennsylvania constitution, as merely one illustration of his broadminded views.

Rush carried on an extensive correspondence with John Adams and was responsible for reconciling Adams and Thomas Jefferson a dozen years after the bitter election battle of 1800. The desire of Rush’s family and these ex-presidents to suppress this intensely personal correspondence, Fried argues, was one of the reasons he’s fallen into relative obscurity.

In letters like these, and a profusion of other writings, from which Fried quotes extensively in his book, Rush passionately articulated, in eloquent, but accessible prose, his vision of equality and liberty for the nascent American society.

“What I love about Rush,” Fried said, his enthusiasm for his subject evident in his voice, “is that the minute there is America, he starts realizing what the challenges will be. He doesn’t write about them as if he’s fixing them or that they will be easily fixed. He lays down the challenges: the challenge between science and religion; the challenge between liberty and good government.”

Central to Rush’s importance, he continued, is “how correctly he identified the main friction points dividing America and how reasonable his approaches to these things are. They still have great value today because he wrestles with them; he’s candid about the need to wrestle with them. The American experiment is that we’re going to wrestle with this. It’s always the best we can do. We wrestle with them and we ask: ‘How is America going to be different than other countries?’”

Fried is excited about returning to his hometown to discuss his book.

“Harrisburg is the greatest place to be from in the world,” he said, noting his many friendships here and the warm support he’s received from the local community for his previous work.

Asked to offer some final thoughts on Rush’s legacy and its contemporary relevance, Fried was emphatic about his enduring importance in American history.

“The message Rush spent most of his career trying to convince people of—of equality, of racial, religious, gender equality—I wish we could say that we had made more progress in these areas, but we haven’t made enough. Rush would probably say he didn’t expect us to, but that he always expected the challenge would be one that we would be open about and try to do better. We didn’t invent a country to have a perfect union. We invented a country to have an increasingly more perfect union. Rush really understood that.”

Stephen Fried will be at Beth El Temple, 2637 N. Front St., Harrisburg, on Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. for a presentation and book signing. General admission tickets are $25 ($20 for students) and include a dessert reception. For more information, email [email protected] or call the office at 717-232-0556. To learn more about Fried and his work, visit stephenfried.com.

Leaving Act 47: The private sector has revitalized Harrisburg in the past. It can do so again.

September 28, 2018 | by Rep. Greg Rothman

Rep. Greg Rothman and Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

The Overlook Mansion on North Front Street stands after 117 years as if it is frozen in time in 1901.

William Reynolds Fleming, a mechanical engineer, built the home for himself and his wife next to the city waterworks. When Virginia Hammond Fleming passed away, she left the property to the Civic Club of Harrisburg, which was founded in 1898 with the mission of beautifying the city and improving civic engagement.

The Civic Club oversaw several citywide improvement projects, including maintaining the public water supply and the upkeep of the local jail. The Civic Club survived through two world wars, when the mansion was used as a supply site for the Red Cross. It remains active to this day.

The organization has been an outlet for generations of private citizens who care deeply about their city and invest their own time, energy and money to ensure their fellow citizens have pristine living conditions.

Almost a century after the Civic Club was founded, five of my colleagues joined me in creating a similar organization. Together we founded the Harrisburg Young Professionals in 1998. This year, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of HYP and are proud to have watched it grow into a thriving organization.

After we returned home from college, my friends and I noticed that the city we once knew for its popular bars and restaurants was becoming run down. The YMCA, the local Presbyterian Church, the Gazebo Room, Lombardo’s and Harry’s Bar, which had been staples of the community, were barely recognizable.

To combat this, as president of HYP in 1999, I focused our group on encouraging hundreds of people to move back into the city and create jobs. Mayor Stephen Reed called for all hands on deck to help bring Harrisburg back to life, and the business community heard the call.

As a real estate broker, I was determined to revitalize the real estate in the city. RSR Realtors was involved in the expansion of Restaurant Row, Market Square Plaza and Capitol Heights residential.

This private-sector stimulus, combined with the signing of legislation by Gov. Tom Ridge in 2000 for the city rescue of the schools and the later implementation of Act 47, catapulted the city onto a healthy pace of economic growth.

Act 47 required Harrisburg to comply with certain recommendations issued by the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, which allowed the ICA to withhold all or part of the city’s revenue if these were not met. It also put a taxing authority in place for an enhanced earned income tax (EIT) and local services tax (LST).

This fall, the General Assembly will be voting on whether the city will be allowed to exit Act 47 while keeping the taxing authority.

Since stepping down as president of RSR Realtors and becoming a state representative for the 87th district, I have continued my work to help the city of Harrisburg come back to life. Although I represent the suburbs of Cumberland County, many of my constituents commute into the capital for work. They are only a portion of the more than 40,000 commuters who work in Harrisburg. I also understand the impact that a capital has on its surrounding neighborhoods in terms of crime rates and real estate value, among other factors.

I want the city of Harrisburg to succeed in the long term. My bill, House Bill 2557, would allow the city to continue its taxing authority while being free of Act 47. This would ensure that no job-killing tax hikes, such as the proposed 100-percent property tax increase and 2-percent commuter tax, would be necessary. Harrisburg would also be more attractive for businesses and investors because it would no longer be an Act 47 municipality once under state receivership.

The city has sold the troubled incinerator and its parking system, and the Harrisburg Water Authority was transferred to Capital Region Water. It has worked to renegotiate union contracts with police officers, firefighters and AFSCME.

While these solutions have aided in ridding the city of its debt, residents have been facing tax increases, especially from the Harrisburg School District.

This is detrimental to a city when 50 percent of the real estate is tax exempt, mostly due to state ownership, and when one-third of its population has salaries less than $30,000. With half of the city’s population near or below the poverty line, we must eliminate the current harsh climate for economic opportunity.

My bill would ensure that the city’s credit rating would improve and that residents, businesses and commuters would be given tax relief.

Scranton and Pittsburgh were able to diversify their tax structures when they were in an economic crisis, and, as a result, have attracted new industries to their communities, including natural gas.

For over a century, the residents and neighbors of Harrisburg worked hard to grow the city. To finish the work of revitalizing it, we must allow the private sector to develop free from heavy regulations and taxes.

As a member of the General Assembly, I have partnered with state Rep. Patty Kim of the 103rd district in helping the city. I have long admired Rep. Kim’s passion for Harrisburg. She has been a crucial advocate for the city and believes that our bill is key to its future prosperity.

The capital of Pennsylvania should be its shining city on a hill, overflowing with commerce and visitors. It has the potential to be an inspiration to the rest of the commonwealth for how to attract businesses and working families.

It is time to let the city be free to focus on how to ease the burdens facing business and property owners. There is no time to waste.

Let’s work together to make Harrisburg fruitful and inspiring again. We did it before and we can do it again, but this time, for good.

Rep. Greg Rothman represents Pennsylvania’s 87th legislative district.

Harrisburg, By the Book: Literary roads converge during the 2018 Harrisburg Book Festival.

September 28, 2018 | by Yaasmeen Piper

“How can we take this festival to the next level?”

That was the thought following last year’s Harrisburg Book Festival, even after a long weekend filled with acclaimed authors and thousands of guests, according to Midtown Scholar co-owner Catherine Lawrence.

She and Alex Brubaker, the bookstore manager, pondered how to make the festival even better. Well, a Grammy-nominated artist, an Oprah’s Book Club winner and President Barack Obama’s former speechwriter just might do the trick.

This month, Midtown Scholar hosts the 2018 Harrisburg Book Festival, the sixth such celebration of all-things literary, featuring a wide variety of book readings, signings and discussions, as well as children activities and more.

“We have exceptional novelists, historians, children’s authors,” Lawrence said. “The schedule is packed with the most interesting choices we could find. That is the important part of last year’s book festival that we definitely wanted to continue.”

Opening the festival is New York Times bestselling novelist and Oprah’s 2018 Book Club Selection author Tayari Jones, who will read from her novel, “American Marriage.” Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter—and now published poet—Mary Lambert will read from her new book, “Shame Is an Ocean I Swam Across.”

For the more politically minded, Beck Dorey-Stein, author of “From the Corner of the Oval,” is returning to Midtown Scholar, just months after her first visit. She will talk with another former White House employee and friend, David Litt, an Obama speechwriter who now is head writer for the comedy website and film company, Funny or Die. They will discuss what it was like coming of age in the Obama White House.

Another highlight will be Crystal Hanna Kim, who will read from her debut novel, “If You Leave Me.” Inspired by her grandmother who survived the Korean war, “If You Leave Me” follows the story of a young Korean refugee named Haemi Lee, who fled her home in the midst of the war. In the book, Lee grapples with her home crumbling, taking care of her widowed mother and younger brother and being in love with two other refugees.

“She’s a willful, independent, intelligent young woman,” Kim said. “But she’s living under the duress of poverty, hunger and violence.”

Kim also will converse with her friend and fellow debut novelist Lucy Tan of “What We Were Promised.” The pair will discuss the theme of home and how it is laced throughout their stories.

“I’m really excited to go to Harrisburg,” Kim said. “It seems like it is a really cultural city. And from what I heard, Midtown Scholar seems like such a strong cultural force in the city. I’m really excited to explore and be a part of a strong local community for the weekend.”

A Party

For Midtown Scholar, part of reaching “the next level” is pulling back on the number of events and authors this year. Rather than packing every hour with activities, the festival will space out events to give guests time to explore the bookstore and Harrisburg.

And, despite the major names on the schedule, attendees will have the same up-close-and-personal experience they’ve come to expect gathered around the bookstore’s stage.

“You might go see Tayari Jones in a venue of a thousand-plus attendees, but it’s easy to feel detached from the author,” Brubaker said. “We’re bringing in the same high-quality authors as these internationally renowned festivals—only in a much more intimate and personal setting—an independent bookstore.”

With so many acclaimed writers, Brubaker said that they expect more than 4,000 attendees, double last year’s number.

Aside from the opening and closing keynote speakers, the Harrisburg Book Festival is free and open to the public. For those who are not able to come out to the festival, Midtown Scholar will offer a podcast of the events the following day.

“One of our core missions at the book festival is to recognize that solitary act of reading and connect readers with not only the authors, but other readers in our community,” Brubaker said. “We want to throw a party to celebrate these books, these authors and our readers. We want to celebrate it with thousands of other book lovers across central Pennsylvania.”

The 2018 Harrisburg Book Festival will run Oct. 11 to 14 at Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. For more information, including a complete list of events, visit www.hbgbookfest.com.

Author Sightings

The 2018 Harrisburg Book Festival features numerous book- and literary-themed events, including appearances by the following writers and authors:

New York Times bestselling novelist Tayari Jones (opening keynote)
Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and poet Mary Lambert
National Book Critics winner and New York Times bestselling critic Carol Anderson
New York Times bestselling historian Liza Mundy
President Barack Obama’s speechwriter David Litt and stenographer Beck Dorey-Stein
Caldecott honoree Lauren Castillo
Emerging novelists Crystal Hana Kim and Lucy Tan
Joe Beddia, whose pizza was named Bon Appetit Magazine’s “Best Pizza in America”

Artist in Focus: P.D. Murray

September 28, 2018 | by TheBurg Editor

Some amazing artists call the Harrisburg area home, and we feature their work in TheBurg each month. However, we feel that we still don’t do justice to the incredible painters, illustrators, photographers and sculptors that reside in central PA.

Therefore, from time to time, we plan to feature the work of a single artist in our pages. In so doing, we hope to give greater recognition to these talented individuals and better highlight the artwork created right here in our area.

So, please enjoy this first selection from P.D. Murray, who is also our cover artist this month. Murray has been painting for more than 30 years and has become known for his distinctive modern expressionist style. You can see more of his work by visiting the Millworks in Harrisburg or by going to www.pdmurray.art.

Travels in Beer: Harrisburg, Bavarian breweries collaborate, innovate–and you can taste the result.

September 28, 2018 | by M. Diane McCormick

Sure, you know pilsner. It’s that watery stuff stocked in beer coolers every Super Bowl Sunday, right?

Think again. When University of the Sciences beer professor Matthew Farber walks into a brewpub, he orders a pilsner as a test “because it’s a simple, clean, difficult-to-master style.”

“Because it’s so simple and clean, it becomes very elegant,” said Farber, director of the Philadelphia school’s brewing science certificate program. “Any flaws or problems are very apparent. To make it well means that a brewer has really good control of his or her process and raw materials.”

Now, a flavorful pilsner and an Oktoberfest beer steeped in Bavarian tradition are on tap in Midtown Harrisburg, while a 160-year-old German brewery prepares to launch an IPA to a cautiously curious market back home. All are products of a two-way collaboration between the Millworks Brewery and Keesmann Brewery of Bamberg, Germany.

It all started with Millworks owner Joshua Kesler.

Ancestry-wise, Kesler is typically American—“a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” he said.

He studied German in college because Spanish was booked up. Or because German was later in the morning. Whichever, he made it an avocation for the chance to “engage with people in their mother tongue. That was the one I picked, and I’m sticking with it.”

Through a friend in Germany, Kesler met Stefan Keesmann, owner of Keesmann Brewery in northern Bavaria. Kesler (German translation: “cheesemaker”) suggested a brewing and cooking collaboration to Stefan and his son Lukas Keesmann (also “cheesemaker”). The Keesmanns had entertained similar thoughts.

Thus, Stefan and Lukas Keesmann came to Harrisburg for a consultation in early July. Kesler and Millworks brewmaster Jeffrey Musselman returned the favor and ventured to Germany later in the summer.

The Millworks’ first resulting pour was its “Collaboration Pilsner,” a delicious take on the classic lager that’s dreamy with the kale salad, the cheeseburger and probably anything else on the Millworks’ menu. Musselman, 10 years in the business, said he increasingly appreciates a “well-made, simple beer, and that’s the way the Germans approach their beers.”

Putting a Millworks spin on a classic German pilsner included dry hopping a newish German hops called mandarina Bavaria, for a “marriage between an old-school pilsner but also using a hop variety that’s relatively new and more pleasing to the modern American craft drinker,” Musselman said.

The German purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, decrees that only beverages brewed with barley (or wheat), yeast, water and hops can be called “beer.” A malty imperial stout tastes nice, the Keesmanns told Kesler and Musselman, but it’s not beer.

“If you drop a cherry in it, you can’t call it beer,” said Kesler.

Musselman certainly loves the American arms race for the craziest tap in town, but his Germany visit affirmed the Millworks philosophy of beer as social catalyst.

“Beer over there is not seen as a luxury item,” Musselman said. “It’s part of their daily routine. It’s part of living a good life. That was the really cool thing I took home from the trip. It was neat to see people just enjoying a beer with friends at a beer garden and hanging out and talking and enjoying the good life.”

Traditional as Possible

American beer is deeply rooted in German traditions and techniques, brought to the New World by early immigrants.

By the mid-19th century, the city of Lancaster earned the nickname “Little Munich” for its profusion of breweries catering to German-Americans thirsty for home-style lagers instead of English ales.

Prohibition and post-World War II industry consolidation severed many of those ties.

Today’s American brewers can learn a thing or two from their German counterparts, said Farber. The United States is poised to reach 7,000 breweries this year, with two opening per day since 2012, and an emphasis on quality is now sharing priority with the rush to innovate.

“There’s such great attention to the technical aspects of brewing in Germany,” Farber said.

That combination of German tradition and American innovation now is also on tap at the Millworks, which recently released its Oktoberfest, a beer actually closer to a German springtime marzen.

A true German Oktoberfest beer is a light-colored lager, but Americans expect autumn color. Musselman said it’s “malt-forward” for “those bready, caramel notes.” All ingredients, including the hops, are German, hewing to a brew “as traditional as possible and also appealing to the American demographic.”

“When I have a sip of that beer, it immediately transports me to southern Germany,” Kesler said. “I start looking for the closest wurst I can find.”

Germany’s beer culture is “baked into their way of life,” he added. “It’s not that someone’s a beer drinker. Everyone’s a beer drinker.”

Both Ways

In Germany, new beers encounter skepticism, and yet, brewers must innovate incrementally to differentiate in a market where all brewers make the same products with the same ingredients, under the same rules.

Younger Germans are “picking up this IPA bug” in their travels, Kesler said, and American craft brewers are making inroads in the market. So the Keesmanns weren’t cautious about collaborating, but they were taking a risk. They approached the collaboration “trying to figure out what type of American-style microbrew would resonate with their very traditional customer base,” Kesler said.

The Keesmanns told Musselman they wanted to brew an IPA. The resulting New England IPA will reach German stores and restaurants next April. Juicy in taste and hazy in appearance, it allows Keesmann to reach that younger demographic while hewing to German brewing traditions.

And because Keesmann Brewery, like the Millworks, is food-oriented, the collaboration brings new dishes to each establishment, Kesler said. German dishes on the fall menu pairing with Millworks’ Oktoberfest include a schweinshaxe.

And that means?

“I hate to say it out loud, because it doesn’t sound great, but it’s pork knuckle,” Kesler said. “It’s this fantastic presentation of a huge hock. It’s pork tender with crispy skin on the outside. It feeds two people. It’s fun to pick away at while you’re drinking a big beer.”

And what else would the Millworks offer on the culinary side but smoked brisket? The Keesmanns and their families loved their taste of the Millworks specialty, and next year, chef Lance Smith will travel to Keesmann Brewery, guiding setup of an “American-style barbecue blowout in their beer garden.”

That visit also will go both ways, as the Keesmanns return to Harrisburg in March to help create a to-be-determined beer. Aiming for release with the Millworks’ rooftop beer garden opening on May 1, Kesler welcomes suggestions for the new beer’s style.

Farber knows of just a few other intercontinental collaborations, one being between the 2SP Brewing Co., in Delaware County, Pa., and a brewery in Japan, where there are “some interesting trends.” He also noted that Sierra Nevada collaborated with the world’s longest-operating brewery, the Bavarian Weihenstephan, to produce its Braupakt hefeweissbier.

The Millworks-Keesmann collaboration is “a great idea,” he said. “Innovation meets tradition.”

Musselman and Kesler hope to make the initiative a regular effort, with each team regularly crossing the ocean to swap brewing and culinary notes. Musselman, for one, is wondering about his hefeweizen, declared good by the Keesmanns, but not a true German hefeweizen.

“There absolutely is a lot to learn to really dial these beers into the German tradition,” he said.

The Millworks is located at 340 Verbeke St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.millworksharrisburg.com.

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