Musical Notes: Autumn Moodiness–A dose of folk captures the coming of fall.

August 31, 2015 | by Andrew Dyrli Hermeling

September is the beginning of the end of summer. Students go back to school, vacation days are all used, and the days get a bit shorter.

But that’s no reason to mourn. This month’s slate features a wealth of seasoned musicians who channel the quiet surrender of the cooler months. All three can be categorized loosely as folk, but they approach the genre with their own sensibilities. So, let’s embrace the arrival of autumn together and check out some great live music this month.

WOVENHAND, 9/3, 9PM, H*MAC HERR STREET STAGE, $15:
Dark and brooding, the music of Wovenhand reflects a spirituality and weariness that is oddly refreshing when compared to the saccharine-sweet offerings of other religiously informed folk musicians. This musical project, now almost 15 years old, is driven by the creativity of lead singer and guitarist David Eugene Edwards. In a way befitting its name, Wovenhand deftly interweaves diverse styles, such as traditional folk, post-rock and industrial, creating a tapestry of sounds that is deeply moody and affecting. This show is a perfect pairing for the gradual transition from the sunshine of summer towards the long nights of winter.

VIKING MOSES, ST. BRENDAN & THE NAVIGATORS & HOT MESS, 9/11, 7PM, LITTLE AMPS DOWNTOWN, $5 SUGGESTED DONATION:
Another moody folk singer, Viking Moses, the musical nom de plume of the Baltimore-based Brendon Massei, has been touring almost constantly since 2003. His music reflects his wandering troubadour lifestyle, channeling the hard-living Americana of Depression-era folk singers like Woody Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. He will be joined by local musicians, including the Philly/Harrisburg joint venture St. Brendan & the Navigators and Hot Mess, which hails from Carlisle.

JOHN GORKA, 9/25, 8PM, MIDTOWN SCHOLAR, $25:
A bit more traditional, John Gorka has been performing his folk music since the late ‘70s. A storyteller at heart, he uses his gentle, unassuming voice and quiet, guitar-driven arrangements to tell poignant tales about those he loves. He’s garnered the attention of leading critics, once being called the voice of the new folk movement by Rolling Stonemagazine. A mainstay on the stages of this nation’s folk festivals, he will be stepping into a fitting setting at the Scholar, as he is a kindred spirit of the good, well-worn books that will surround his performance.

Mentionables: Sofia Talvik, 9/3, The Millworks; Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, 9/4, Abbey Bar; Jon Shain, 9/11, Midtown Scholar; Wayne Hancock, 9/23, H*MAC Herr Street Stage; Jeffrey Gaines & Freedy Johnston, 9/24, H*MAC Herr Street Stage

Toasting a Town: Linglestown–2 roundabouts, 250 years of history.

August 31, 2015 | by M. Diane McCormick

Paulus Lingel came to Philadelphia from the Palatinate region of Germany around 1737. He had 11 children. One of his seven sons was Thomas Lingle.

Through generations of begetting, people today named Lingle, Lengel, Langle and Lingle are linked to their common forebear, Paulus, and to the crossroads town that came to be called after Thomas Lingle. Some now will travel from as far away as California and Colorado to join the celebration of Linglestown’s 250^th anniversary from Oct. 9 to 11.

The big birthday bash concludes a year’s worth of events involving Linglestown businesses and residents, as well as people who just appreciate the quaint village on the roundabout.

Floored, Flabbergasted

In 1765, Thomas Lingle, whose father had settled in Berks County, laid out 80 lots and called it the Town of St. Thomas after his namesake, the Apostle Thomas.

It’s not known exactly why Thomas chose this spot. Some of his brothers got land grants from the sons of William Penn. Family historian Thomas Lengle, of Crownsville, Md., says he has no record of Thomas getting a land grant, but it’s possible that he received one, sold the land, and used the proceeds to buy the property that would become his village.

People called the village Lingle’s town. After Lingle’s death in 1811, the name stuck. Today, the actual boundaries of Linglestown are a bit fuzzy. It is a cluster of homes, churches and businesses at the intersection of Route 39 and Colonial Road in Lower Paxton Township. And it is a place that people are passionate about.

“There is the actual historic village area,” says Pam Jones, co-chair with Polly Murphy of Linglestown 250, the celebration committee. “I don’t know there is a boundary. People who live pretty far out on Linglestown Road still think they’re in Linglestown.”

The village has celebrated its founding every 50 years, so, around 2012, the Linglestown Area Civic Association formed the Linglestown 250 Anniversary, a project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities. The birthday celebration was not to be one blowout event but a series of happenings that spotlight local history and culture, sponsored by a wide range of businesses and individuals.

In fall 2014, the kickoff spaghetti dinner and auction raised a whopping $13,000.

“In one evening, we were floored, just flabbergasted by it,” says Jones. “That got us going. That got our funding absolutely on track.”

Flocking to Town

Since the kickoff, there have been many other activities: a food, wine and beer tasting on the square, ladies’ day at Colonial Golf & Tennis Club, a home and garden show, a dulcimer concert, a Lego show and paintball.

The Linglestown 250 speaker series spotlighted central Pennsylvania abolitionists, Harrisburg trolley cars, frontier forts and “Linglestown Then and Now,” featuring Murphy presenting historic and contemporary photos and researchers Laura Gifford and Denise Deimler on their commemorative book, “250 Years of Linglestown, Pennsylvania.”

Celebration weekend, Oct. 9 to 11, promises many more events.

The festivities begin with a community church service. Then there will be walking tours, a flower show, a 5K race, Civil War reenactors, a Native American settlement, crafts sales and demonstrations, a children’s history hunt and the Popcorn Hat Players, music, a time capsule, firefighters vs. police softball and more music, culminating with fireworks in Koons Memorial Park. Colonial Park Rotary will dedicate its Linglestown Clock in the square, and St. Thomas UCC, where Thomas Lingle is buried, is reviving the Linglestown Fair, originally held in the 1920s.

Then there’s the Linglestown 250 parade.

“I think Polly and I want to take a little rest and vacation on the 12^th,” Jones admitted.

Jones and Murphy also created Roundabout after a young volunteer suggested the celebration needed a costumed mascot. A raccoon seemed to be the thing. Roundabout has appeared at schools and fundraisers and at Linglestown’s National Night Out festivities. For Roundabout Around Town, entrants are painting wooden raccoons for display and prizes on celebration weekend.

“Roundabout will be in the parade,” said Jones. “Any place we’ve been, he’s been there to greet the kids.”

Before Friday’s church service, about 100 descendants of Thomas Lingle and his brothers will dine at the Knights of Columbus. A Lengle will sing during social hour. Organizer Thomas Lengle, the family historian, hopes to line up a Lengle minister for the invocation. Prominent historian Edward G. Lengel of the University of Virginia—a great nephew of Thomas Lingle and an authority on George Washington—will keynote on the Revolutionary War service of Thomas Lingle and his brothers.

The fact that a place bears their name may help explain why people are flocking from all over the country for a village anniversary, says Lengle. He’s also “been surprised by the number of young people that have a total interest in this.”

“A lot of people wanted to know who’s who in the family and how’d we get here, and this is a big opportunity,” he said.

Linglestown 250 organizers hope to capitalize on the spirit stirred up by their celebration. Jones likes the small-town feel of Linglestown and its ever-present history. She and Murphy and the other participants “hope this has captured that energy.”

“We hope the vision has caught on,” she says. “We hope that people will keep the enthusiasm going and make this little village a little more attractive for people coming to town.”

Linglestown 250 will take place Oct. 9 to 11 in and around Linglestown. For schedule, sponsorship and volunteering information, as well as book orders, visit www.linglestown250.com.

August News Digest

August 31, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg Crime Rate Falls

Serious crime in Harrisburg plummeted by almost 21 percent for the first six months of the year, according to statistics reported last month to the FBI.

Compared to the same period of last year, nearly all “Part 1” crimes were down by double-digits, including rape, vehicle theft, robbery, assault and burglary. Homicides were unchanged at seven.

Arson was the only crime that showed an increase, with 11 cases from January through June, as opposed to eight cases in 2014.

The statistics that the Harrisburg Police Bureau reported to the FBI include (Jan.-June 2015 vs. Jan.-June 2014):
Homicide: 7 vs. 7
Rape: 15 vs. 28
Robbery: 115 vs. 155
Assault: 593 vs. 680
Burglary: 238 vs. 263
Theft: 409 vs. 591
Auto Theft: 63 vs. 96
Arson: 11 vs. 8

In 2014, Part 1 crimes were down by 8 percent for the entire year.

Reed Defense Fund Goes Live

A website launched last month to accept contributions to the legal defense of former Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed.

The website, justiceforsteve.com, seeks to raise money to help Reed battle 499 criminal counts filed against him in July by the state attorney general’s office. The charges cover a wide range of alleged corruption, centering on Reed’s use of public borrowings to direct money to pet projects and favored professionals.

The website also refutes the state’s allegations against Reed.

“Steve Reed was one of the most honest, dedicated and brilliant public servants to ever serve our city and accusations now being levied against him are a travesty,” states the website, which adds that “it’s time to stand up for Steve Reed!”

Reed has engaged the Philadelphia-based law firm of Ballard Spahr to assist him with his defense.

More Downtown Apartments

New apartments continue to spring up in downtown Harrisburg, as Harristown Enterprises plans to add 23 more units near Strawberry Square.

Harristown expects to start this fall on the renovation of a six-story office building at 18-22 S. 3rd St., which also houses El Sol Mexican restaurant, which will continue to operate. The building will feature 15 high-end, one-bedroom apartments, each measuring about 800 square feet.

Directly across the street, Harristown will renovate historic townhouses at 19, 21, 23 and 27 S. 3rd St. Those three-story townhouses will contain eight one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, as well as commercial space on the ground floors.

This is the second time recently that Harristown announced it would convert downtown commercial space to apartments. It recently received City Council approval to renovate 21,000 square feet of office space and another 6,000 square feet of loft space to 22 apartments above a stretch of shops along N. 3rd and Market streets in Strawberry Square.

“We believe the market for high-end and unique apartments in the downtown is very strong, and we look forward to continuing to grow the downtown residential population,” said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown.

All of these projects are slated for completion in spring 2016.

Over the past two years, downtown housing has experienced a rapid revival, with numerous office-to-residential conversions. Most recently, WCI Partners completed its Walnut Court Apartments, a 21-unit project at Walnut and Court streets that opened in July and is already mostly leased, according to WCI President David Butcher.

Harristown will partner with Select Capital Commercial Properties for a portion of its most recent project.

New SAM Director

The Susquehanna Art Museum has named Alice Anne Schwab as its new executive director.
Schwab last served as director of education for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and currently serves on the boards of several local non-profit organizations.

Schwab replaced Laurene Buckley, who served a little over two years in the post. Under her tenure, the museum constructed its new facility, which opened in January at N. 3rd and Calder streets in Midtown Harrisburg.

In this position, Schwab will oversee the day-to-day operations of the museum, supervising both the administrative and creative teams to create a “premier regional art museum,” according to the museum’s announcement.

To learn more about the Susquehanna Art Museum, visit www.sqart.org.

Little Amps to Open 3^rd Location

Attention state workers—your high-quality caffeine fix is closer than ever as Little Amps Coffee Roasters soon will open in Strawberry Square.

The third location of the Harrisburg-based coffee shop is slated to debut in October in vacant space adjacent to the Chockablock Clock on the first floor, said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown Enterprises, which owns and manages Strawberry Square.

Little Amps owner Aaron Carlson said he was attracted to Strawberry Square so he can serve office workers who may not venture to his other shops.

“Our other stores tend to attract people who live in the city,” he said. “There are some 9-to-5 coffee-lovers that we think we can attract.”

The new location will be small, a kiosk-style space with a few cafe tables, Carlson said.

Little Amps was founded in October 2011 with a single location at the corner of Green and Muench streets in Olde Uptown in Harrisburg. It later opened a downtown location at the corner of N. 2nd and State streets.

Changing Hands

Boas St., 110: M. Lehocky to A. Seig, $130,000
Boas St., 1855: Pennymac Corp to M. Myers, $38,000
Boas St., 402: I. Lewis to E. Musselman, $89,900
Briggs St., 1608: C. Johnson to M. Bullock, $105,000
Crescent St., 326: S. & S. Rodriguez to O. & Z. Gonzalez, $51,000
Cumberland St., 270: W. Fritz & PA Deals LLC to D. Reinhart, $125,000
Derry St., 1201½ & 1224: S. & S. Rodriguez to O. & Z. Gonzalez, $51,000
Fillmore St., 614: C. Badillo to G. Boyd, $69,900
Fulton St., 1419: G. & D. Hanslovan to A. Skerpon, $88,500
Fulton St., 1420: PA Deals LLC to V. & D. Poplaski, $95,000
Green St., 1100: N. & A. Hoffner to B. Smith, $140,000
Green St., 1115: W. Hoover & D. Scoyoc to R. Slater & K. Hribar, $175,000
Green St., 1515: F. Bierach & R. Stanley to J. Barton, $109,900
Green St., 710: M. Coble to N. Pinkston & C. Maximowicz, $163,000
Hamilton St., 213: M. Montaine to R. & F. Armetta, $155,000
Harris St., 330: K. Barrow to A. Roth, $102,000
Kelker St., 201: Rockville Enterprises LLC to R. Stelzer, $82,500
Logan St., 1733: PA Deals LLC to D. Dougherty & K. Lyons, $96,900
Manada St., 2016: PA Deals LLC to D. Reinhart, $94,800
Mulberry St., 1158: S. Elazouni to S. Patel, $65,000
Nagle St., 119 & 709 Showers St.: T. Sangrey to J. Baer & A. Jury, $251,000
N. 2^nd St., 1827: K. Dougherty to J. Reneker & A. Woodrow, $110,000
N. 2^nd St., 2135: Fannie Mae to PA Deals LLC, $45,000
N. 2^nd St., 2727: M. & J. Hobson to W. Stabler, $246,900
N. 3^rd St., 712: Grandkott Corp. & M. Granderson to MLP LLC, $126,000
N. 3^rd St., 1229: S. Johnsen to J. Geronimo, $126,000
N. 4^th St., 1905: K. Clifford to A. Adesubokan, $75,000
N. 5^th St., 3108: Secretary of Veterans Affairs to J. Charlton, $33,478
N. 6^th St., 3212: PA Deals LLC to V. & D. Poplaski, $100,000
N. 19^th St., 28: D. County Property Investors LLC to N. Grimes, $50,000
Paxton St., 1908: S. Benjamin to Niel Real Estate Investments LLC, $250,000
Penn St., 1910: WCI Partners LP to A. LaFountain, $154,900
S. 20^th St., 19: M. Wolde & H. Andemapiam to W. Kharalah, $32,000
S. 25^th Street, 432: P. Bauer to D. Price, $106,000
S. 29^th St., 520 & 576: Goodrich Associates to Amerco Real Estate Company, $1,800,000
S. River St., 317: J. Dominick & R. Swartzentruber to W. Danowski & A. Mead, $82,000
Seneca St., 313: R. Sheetz to M. & V. Keyes, $35,000
Verbeke St., 222: A. DiSilvestro to E. Dean, $140,000
Vineyard Rd., 214: V. Grodner to L. Csovelak & A. Trone, $184,000
Walnut St., 211: M. Ntonados to R. Rammouni, $150,000
Zarker St., 2007: M. Wolde & H. Andemapiam to W. Kharalah, $32,000

Harrisburg property sales for July 2015, greater than $30,000. Source Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

TheBurg Podcast, Aug. 28, 2015

August 28, 2015 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

Aug. 28, 2015: This week, Larry and Paul take the podcast to the streets and try to address a most vexing question: is the city’s recovery plan working? With City Council and the mayor back in town, they also discuss this week’s council meetings and a forum on a tree replanting planned along Front Street. Try to guess where this was recorded – as a hint, they explain it in, like, the first five seconds.

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music. Check out his podcast, the PRC Show, on SoundCloud or in the iTunes store.

TheBurg Podcast can be downloaded by clicking on the date above or by visiting the iTunes store. You can also access the podcast via its host page.

City To Replace Trees Lost in Street Repaving

August 25, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Two of the trees marked for removal in Riverfront Park, as part of a Front Street resurfacing project .

Harrisburg will replace trees cut down along Front Street as part of a state repaving project at a three-to-one ratio, beginning with the planting of 30 trees late this fall, city officials said Monday night.

Erik Josephson, who was hired as the city’s full-time arborist in May, said that the plantings will continue over the next three years and will help improve age and species diversity in Harrisburg’s tree population.

The plantings will also replace 16 trees that have either been removed or are scheduled to be removed as part of an extensive state repaving project along Front Street, which had previously prompted concerns from residents who wanted to preserve the landscaping of the historic river walk and ensure the public had a say in the project.

The initial planting is expected to take place in November and will include swamp white oaks, yellowwoods, serviceberries and American elm hybrids, Josephson said.

The city recommended those four species to property owners on the east side of Front Street, whose permission the city needs for the plantings. Josephson said six owners had already given their blessing to the planting of new trees on their property. No permission is needed for the west side of the street, which is occupied by the city-owned Riverfront Park.

Josephson, Mayor Eric Papenfuse and city engineer Wayne Martin fielded questions from a crowd of around 30 that had gathered on the second floor of the Civic Club downtown for a public forum on the replanting plans.

Among the topics of discussion were city rules on tree removal, which require residents to obtain a $5 permit before removing trees or trimming branches larger than two inches in diameter.

The officials also said the city is looking to revisit its shade tree ordinance, to hire additional tree-tending staff and to improve the tree canopy citywide by removing dead trees and adding new ones to increase its total tree cover from under 30 percent to a recommended 40 percent.

Papenfuse said he will seek funding in next year’s budget for additional help for Josephson, noting that there are city employees trained to trim and remove trees but that they are frequently overwhelmed with other public works needs.

Representatives of the city’s environmental advisory council also announced a series of meetings this fall to discuss both trees and broader goals to “green the city.” They are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Sept. 15, 23 and 28 and Oct. 8.

TheBurg Podcast, Aug. 21, 2015

August 21, 2015 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

Aug. 21, 2015: This week, Larry and Paul talk about the latest court filings in the lawsuit over Harrisburg’s gun laws, a corruption-case appeal to the Supreme Court that might impact the criminal investigation into former Mayor Reed, and, on a lighter side, an abundance of murals.

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music. Check out his podcast, the PRC Show, on SoundCloud or in the iTunes store.

TheBurg Podcast can be downloaded by clicking on the date above or by visiting the iTunes store. You can also access the podcast via its host page.

TheBurg Podcast, Aug. 14, 2015

August 14, 2015 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

Aug. 14, 2015: This week, Larry and Paul talk about a less-discussed side of Steve Reed, the former mayor who was also an active neighbor and volunteer after leaving office, as well as the latest Harrisburg crime statistics and new residential developments downtown.

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music. Check out his podcast, the PRC Show, on SoundCloud or in the iTunes store.

TheBurg Podcast can be downloaded by clicking on the date above or by visiting the iTunes store. You can also access the podcast via its host page.

Teens Clean Streets, Sharpen the Saw in Summer Program

August 14, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Kevin Porter, one of five interns who worked with 45 area teenagers in a summer environmental jobs program that ended Friday.

Harrisburg’s streets are a little cleaner, and the pockets of some its young people lined with a little hard-earned cash, thanks to a summer environmental program that wrapped up Friday with a lunchtime ceremony on Allison Hill.

The four-week program, administered by the Harrisburg Housing Authority, brought together 45 area teenagers and five college interns with a schedule of green projects, leadership classes and visits with local business owners.

Participants pulled weeds and cleared flower boxes at neighborhood gardens, picked up trash from city streets and the riverfront, and picked and washed vegetables for delivery to a soup kitchen, among other projects.

They also took a leadership class centered on the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” and went to a series of “learning lunches” at area restaurants, whose owners spoke to them about topics like etiquette and what it’s like to run a business.

The program paid a $1,000 stipend to each student and intern, in checks handed out alongside certificates at a closing ceremony that packed the upper floor of Rookie’s, a Derry Street bar and restaurant and site of one of the program lunches.

It was funded with proceeds of a $1-per-ton charge on waste dumped at the Harrisburg incinerator after members of the city’s environmental advisory council lobbied for City Council President Wanda Williams to include it in this year’s budget.

Bill Cluck, a member of the advisory council, said he’d been initially disappointed to see the jobs program left off the budget proposed by Mayor Eric Papenfuse, given what he saw as the success of a 25-student pilot program last summer.

Council ultimately voted to double the program’s budget to $60,000. The money funded the stipends plus $10,000 to cover administrative costs of the housing authority, which provides affordable housing in its 1,700 apartments citywide.

“I am certainly proud of all of you,” Williams told participants. “I see we have 50 this year. Next year in my budget, we’re asking for 100.”

On Friday, applause and laughter greeted students as they stood one at a time to share stories from the program and pick favorites from a list of habits like “put first things first” and “begin with the end in mind.”

“The one that spoke to me most was ‘sharpen the saw,’” said Airian Chester, a ninth-grader at Dauphin County Technical School. “Because I’d come home and say to my mom, ‘They had us walking everywhere!’ But then, the next day, I’d be refreshed and ready to go.”

“The kids started off real quiet. They didn’t really know each other,” said Kevin Porter, a program intern who will be a senior this year at Millersville University. “You could see the program was actually helping change these kids’ personalities.”

Reed Remained Active, Engaged After Term, Friends Say

August 12, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed leaving court the morning of his arraignment.

Not long after Stephen Reed left office in 2010, after 28 years as Harrisburg’s mayor, he disappeared almost completely from the public eye.

There were exceptions to his relative silence—that April, he sat for a three-and-a-half-hour interview for a history project marking the city’s sesquicentennial—but as the months passed, and the city descended into fiscal crisis, he became known as a recluse who rebuffed interview requests and made few public appearances.

Yet this portrait, according to friends and neighbors, is incomplete. They say that, though he left the political stage, Reed maintained an active civic life, giving generously of his time and insights to neighborhood projects and local charities.

In the wake of the sweeping corruption charges he now faces, their accounts help form a more complex picture of Reed, a local titan once dubbed “mayor for life,” as someone others knew as a devout Catholic, generous neighbor and active volunteer.

“He’s not a recluse by any nature,” said Jon Castelli, a fellow member with Reed of a local council of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization devoted to charity. “He’s been very active. He comes to all our functions.”

Reed has been a dues-paying member of the group’s cathedral council, attached to St. Patrick’s downtown, for years, though he got more involved after leaving office, Castelli said. He is a knight of the fourth degree, which entails a level of special devotion and a focus on patriotic programs, like collection drives for veterans.

Castelli and other members said Reed has regularly participated in council meetings and charitable projects, including working at pancake breakfasts, packing gift boxes for soldiers and staying overnight at a city homeless shelter as a volunteer.

For the past several years, Reed has also been a dedicated member of Midtown Square Action Council, a neighborhood organization in historic Midtown, which includes the Cumberland Street home he has owned since 1975.

“He’s been a really good member,” said Janetta Brenner, a neighbor and fellow member of the group. “Because he has an incredible memory. Whatever resource we were looking for, he knew where to find it.”

Brenner recalled Reed was instrumental in helping secure grant funding for streetlight banners, and noted that he always came to the turkey dinner the neighborhood holds each winter at the Green Street Salvation Army.

“When he spoke, he sounded like a resolution,” said Kurt Knaus, a member of both the neighborhood group and the cathedral council. “But at the end of the day, he had a real interest in helping the groups, which were focused on helping the city or local residents.”

Such remarks show a side of the former mayor almost entirely absent from the extensive grand jury report released on July 14, the same morning Reed was arraigned at a municipal court on 17 criminal charges.

The report, though it noted Reed “did much that was good for the city of Harrisburg and its residents,” ultimately told the story of a politician who exploited his “near absolute control” over city institutions to spend heedlessly on personal interests.

It portrayed Reed as an iron-fisted ruler, who allegedly bribed City Council members and, on one occasion, abruptly fired an engineer who offered a disagreeable opinion. And it invoked state corruption laws in its critique of a governing style that a county judge, in an opinion two decades prior, had once called “Machiavellian.”

This picture is far from the Reed they saw at meetings, his neighbors say. “You’d have never known there was a mayor or former mayor in the building,” Knaus said. “He never tried to dominate. Where he could offer value, he did.”

“We hope it’s not true, but of course that will be for the courts to determine,” Castelli said of the charges, noting the council had not discussed them.

Whether or not Reed sensed the extent of the state’s investigation, the charges may have surprised him. His supporters on Wednesday launched a website to solicit funds for his legal defense, calling the allegations against him “outrageous” and a “travesty,” PennLive reported.

Brenner, who said she thinks Reed made mistakes, but never with bad intentions, recalled his presence at one of the neighborhood group’s committees meetings on a Monday night in July.

“He had wonderful ideas, ways to raise money, ways to do this,” she said. “It seemed like he was going to run with some of them.”

He was charged the next morning. Before the next meeting, he’d resigned.

More Apartments: Harristown to Add to Downtown Housing Revival

August 7, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

Harristown plans to renovate this row of buildings (except Walker’s) into high-end apartments and retail.

New apartments continue to spring up in downtown Harrisburg, as Harristown Enterprises plans to add 23 more units near Strawberry Square.

Directly across the street, Harristown will renovate historic townhouses at 19, 21, 23 and 27 S. 3rd St. Those three-story townhouses will contain eight, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, as well as commercial space on the ground floors.

The building at 21 S. 3rd “may be dedicated” to a new downtown co-working space of about 5,700 square feet, according to Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown.

This is the second time recently that Harristown announced it would convert downtown commercial space to apartments. Last month, it received City Council approval to renovate 21,000 square feet of office space and another 6,000 square feet of loft space to 22 apartments above a stretch of shops along N. 3rd and Market streets in Strawberry Square.

“We believe the market for high-end and unique apartments in the downtown is very strong, and we look forward to continuing to grow the downtown residential population,” said Jones.

All of these projects are slated for completion in spring 2016.

Harristown will partner with Select Capital Commercial Properties for a portion of its most recent project.

This historic office building is slated to be renovated as an apartment building.

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