Tag Archives: Bishop McDevitt

Food Lanes: At the Broad Street Market, new tables, crowned with memories.

December 29, 2017 | by Norah Griffiths Johnson

Brendan O’Neill, Terry Hanley & Jennie O’Neill

Have you ever felt your heart leap with joy as you bowled a strike or sink as you watched your ball drift into the gutter at Red Crown Bowling?

Many in the area share fond memories of the beloved alley, including siblings Jennie and Brendan O’Neill.

“They’d load us into a van every week and take us over there for bowling gym class,”
said Brendon, with a laugh, recalling his high school years at Bishop McDevitt.

Later, as an adult, he went there about once a week with friends and became acquainted with the Kirkpatrick family, who owned the business, and this is where the story took an unexpected twist.

In March, the Kirkpatricks decided to close after 37 years.

The news was bittersweet. Red Crown has a long history in Harrisburg, and many were sad to see it go. But a neighboring business, looking to expand, met their asking price, and retirement became a reality for one generation and a nest egg for the next.

Brendan shared the news with Jennie and her husband, Terry Hanley, who co-own Knead Pizza at the Broad Street Market. They knew the burger chain, Shake Shack, had a practice of buying up old bowling alley lanes to repurpose into tables, which got their collective wheels turning about doing something similar here.

After some back and forth with the Kirkpatricks, they settled on $1 per square foot for 2,000 square feet of wood from the approaches (the part of the bowling alley where you stand to bowl). They then approached Broad Street Market Manager Beth Taylor about building custom tables, which they would donate part and parcel, tongue and groove.

At the time, the market’s seating was composed of a hodgepodge of plastic tables and chairs, many dating back to the ‘90s. While they had held up admirably, it was an offer Taylor could not refuse.

“It’s such a touching gift,” she said, getting a little emotional. “Jennie, Terry and Brendan donated their time, efforts and money to make this happen for the market.”

Jennie shrugged, smiling.

“We like the opportunity to do projects like this,” she said. “The market needs this. The opportunity came along, and it worked out perfectly.”

Work of Art

The process was far from easy.

While $1 per square foot is quite a deal for wood like this, the catch was that they had to do their own removal. The floorboards were intimidatingly thick, designed to withstand the weight of your average bowling ball.

Jennie, Terry and Brendan had to use a combination of a johni-bar (a giant pry bar, essentially), circular saw and a reciprocating saw to pry up and remove the wood. Brendan estimates that they went through $400 to 500 in circular saw blades alone, thanks to the thickness coupled with countless nails riddled throughout the floor construction.

The excavation process complete, they stored the wood in Jennie and Brendan’s dad’s garage, and Brendan set about the process of cutting and sanding tabletops. Eventually, they ended up with dozens of tables, which were sealed and finished by Oak Park Cabinetry. Extra wood went to Zeroday Brewing Co.’s stand at the market, which used it to create a gleaming bar top.

The finished tables bear a robust, smooth appearance that shows off the layers of hardwood, each table its own distinct work of art. On some, there are subtle gouges in the wood where nails used to be, while contrasting wood inlay characteristic of a bowling alley floor remains visible on others.

Some of the tables are low, four-tops for sitting, while others are four-person high-tops, perfect for leaning against as you wolf down your latest culinary discovery from the market’s many vendors. Jennie estimates that, when refinishing is eventually needed, the tables have at least five good sandings in them.

Second Chapter

On a practical level, Taylor explained that the tables are “not only a way to elevate the aesthetic of the market, but also to maximize seating.”

In fact, the project ended up adding more than 30 seats in the stone building alone, and, in another area, it doubled the number of seats from 12 to 24. The tables are now located throughout the brick and stone buildings, which adds a cohesive warmth throughout the market.

At a deeper level, Taylor stressed that the tables represent much more than just a place to eat for hungry visitors. She described the community of vendors that has blossomed throughout the market.

“The gift of the tables is emblematic of this,” she said. “The fact that Jennie, Brendan and Terry would take so much time and effort—it’s a gift to generations and exemplifies the community spirit that exists in this market.”

Thinking of the long game, Taylor sees rich potential in the gesture.

“If the spirit of the market is inspiring people to contribute and get involved in their community, that’s above and beyond us just providing food for people,” she said, smiling warmly as she gazed across the expanse of tables in the stone building.

Brendan added a kind point of clarification.

“We’re donating them,” he said. “But we’re making our lives better.”

The tables add another chapter to Harrisburg’s modern history. As one business closes its doors, a second chapter begins at the Broad Street Market.

The Broad Street Market is located at N. 3rd and Verbeke streets in Harrisburg.

Waiting Game: Contributions withheld from nonprofits, schools in state budget impasse

October 2, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

The Pennsylvania state budget impasse is preventing millions of dollars in corporate contributions from getting to nonprofit groups and schools.

Kathy Anderson-Martin wants the state to pass a budget.

Since the summer, Anderson-Martin, director of philanthropy at the Salvation Army of Harrisburg, has watched weeks turn into months as the state legislature delays approving a budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which officially began on July 1.

Lawmakers have already adopted a spending plan but can’t agree on a revenue package. Until they reach consensus, millions of dollars in tax-deductible corporate donations are on hold, too.

That’s because the budget impasse has stalled approvals for the Education Improvement Tax Credit program, which qualifies businesses for tax credits if they donate to scholarship organizations, educational improvement organizations or pre-K scholarship funds.

Local schools and nonprofits, including the Salvation Army, say that the delayed approvals have paralyzed their planning for future programs and scholarships.

“We can’t receive almost $200,000 in gifts because that program is on hold,” said Anderson-Martin.

According to Anderson-Martin, the Salvation Army of Harrisburg uses EITC dollars to fund its summer youth enrichment program. Last year, the program served 400 children, 130 of whom were in their care all day, every day, for nine weeks while their parents worked, she said.

David Smith, communications director at the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said that the EITC allocations will be approved as part of the state’s final budget agreement.

If partisan gridlock delays that agreement any longer, Anderson-Martin says the Salvation Army might have to scale down its summer plans.

“We can’t wait until January to decide what we’re going to do in June,” she said. “We have to start planning how many kids we’ll serve this summer, and, if that money isn’t there, we have to serve fewer children.”

EITC dollars also fund scholarships to private and religious schools across the commonwealth. The Joshua Group, a nonprofit in Allison Hill, relies on EITC funding to provide low-income Harrisburg students with scholarships to local private schools.

Joshua Group director Kirk Hallett criticized lawmakers for using the EITC program as a “political toy,” and said that the delay could limit Joshua Group’s ability to serve more students.

“The immediate impact is fear,” Hallett said. “This is very frustrating to us, that all this politics ends up affecting our kids.”

Mary Anne Bedhar, principal at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, said that “everything is on hold” in the school’s scholarship office until the EITC funds are approved.

If the budget impasse continues through the end of the calendar year, it’s possible that businesses will withdraw their applications for tax credits, thereby reducing the total amount of EITC distributions. Bedhar and Hallett said that’s what happened in 2015, the last time the state endured a long-term budget impasse.

Bedhar reported that Bishop McDevitt lost $200,000 in donations that year, the result of fewer businesses applying for tax credits. She said that the school hasn’t fully recovered from the loss.

The Joshua Group lost about $100,000 in scholarships as a result of the 2015 budget impasse, according to Hallett. He and his staff were able to maintain their operations by approaching private donors, but they weren’t able to take on any new students during that period, he said.

Smith said that businesses withdraw EITC applications every year and declined to draw a connection between application withdrawals and the last budget impasse.

Even so, the program has been perennially popular among businesses. Smith said that the DCED expects to maximize the program allocation this year, just as it did last year when the program budget was $125 million.

The EITC program was signed into law in 2001 by former Gov. Tom Ridge. Companies can apply to give a maximum of $750,000 to an eligible educational organization and receive a tax credit equaling 75 percent of their contribution or 90 percent if they pledge contributions for two years.

Democrats and Republicans have supported expansions to EITC since its inception, according to reporting from PennLive. This May, the House voted 166-26 to pass a $100-million-dollar expansion to the EITC program and a similar program called the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit.

Critics of EITC say that it promotes school choice, and fear it could lay the groundwork for a school voucher program by directing more students out of public schools.

Hallett, however, doesn’t see the scholarships funded by EITC dollars as a public-versus-private school matter. His organization views education as an anti-poverty program, and he says that jeopardizing its funding will only harm vulnerable students.

“The bottom line is it affected the poor once again,” Hallett said, referring to loss of EITC funding in 2015. “This is me talking on Allison Hill, but, sometimes, I just don’t know what the guys on Capitol Hill don’t get.”

State lawmakers will return to Harrisburg today for a week of negotiations and closed door meetings, according to the AP.

To Have a Chance: Nativity School pours resources, attention on the middle-school years

July 31, 2017 | by Rachel Jenkins

Photo by Dani Fresh

It sounds simple in concept.

Take middle-school boys from at-risk areas, provide specialized schooling, send them off to higher education and repeat. However, in reality, the Nativity School of Harrisburg depends upon the entire community to make it successful.

A member of that community, volunteer Audry Carter, explained why there’s a need for a special school such as this, for boys in sixth through eighth grades.

“There are established schools that you can get children into starting at ninth grade,” she said, referring to local private high schools such as Bishop McDevitt, Trinity High School and Harrisburg Academy. “[The Nativity School founders] saw there was a need to intervene earlier to get these boys to have a chance. They weren’t entering with enough skills to be competitive to get in to some of these schools.”

Support, Stability

The school currently enrolls 45 students a year, broken down into classes of 15 in grades six, seven and eight.

Executive Director Lavelle Muhammad explained that one of the school’s greatest educational challenges is preparing pupils for future educational endeavors.

“You have students who, initially, when they come to us in sixth grade, are underperforming,” he said. “They’re reading and writing on third– and fourth-grade levels, sometimes second or third. And, because of our environment, they’re able to go up to seventh- and eighth-grade level by the time they graduate, which is almost a miracle.”

Beyond education, Nativity School offers support, mentoring and social development.

Case in point: math teacher Michelle Stine, whose job involves much more than teaching long division and fractions.

“She will take some of the students to get haircuts, or we will buy them clothes because there’s a great need sometimes,” Muhammad said.

Many students come from single-parent families, with fathers or grandfathers out of the picture. Because of this, faculty and volunteers both take on mentoring positions to provide support and stability for students in and out of the classroom.

School is in session Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., a longer day than in a standard public school. Another difference is the length of the school year. The Nativity School averages 205 to 210 days in session compared to 180 days for most public schools.

“Two days a week, we have an extended study hall until 5:30 p.m.,” Stine said. “It’s for extra help with reading, which is our biggest area of weakness. But on a daily basis, there’s an hour added in every day where they are in study hall, which is just an opportunity to get help from their teachers, do their homework with each other, to collaborate and do those types of things.”

An extended day may sound like punishment for many school kids. But for the boys at the Nativity School, it’s a welcomed opportunity to receive support, accomplish work and hang out together in a safe space.

“Sometimes, they stay just to stay,” said Muhammad.

It Works

Nativity School is distinctive in many respects. For instance, it organizes a summer camp program, which takes place at the end of and right before the beginning of the school year. Counting as a day of school, the boys are taken out of the city, into the wilderness and given a chance to learn, explore and socialize.

“They’re able to get out of the city, able to stay together, and it also enforces that brotherhood too,” Muhammad said. “It’s good; it works.”

A common theme in the school is the idea of “brotherhood” and its direct relationship to academic success. The bond amongst students in an all-male classroom of 15 often proves itself strong enough to last post-graduation. Muhammad and his staff embrace this idea and strive to seamlessly intertwine relationship-building into education.

The school’s unconventional approach seems to be working. Nativity School alumni have a high school graduation rate of 90 percent, about double that of Harrisburg High School, according to statistics provided by the school.

Moving forward, the Nativity School has several long-term goals.

First, school officials want to expand their admissions to younger students, extending at least one grade level. However, the school must come up with the funds every year just to continue operating. Because of this, the opportunity to expand is based solely on the success of fundraising efforts and private donations.

“One of our dreams would be to bring fifth graders on board, because then that really captures the middle and allows us to have one more year to get them up to the grade level that they need to be in,” Carter said.

Secondly, Nativity School would like to have its own building. Currently, the school is located on the second floor of the Camp Curtin YMCA on N. 6th Street. Muhammad believes that the school must have its own facility before it truly can fulfill its mission for its students.

“We go way beyond school hours,” he said. “We’re like an extended parent.”

The Nativity School of Harrisburg is located at 2135 N. 6th St., Harrisburg. For more information, or to make a donation, visit nativityschoolofharrisburg.org.

Author: Rachel Jenkins

“Not Good Enough”: School Board Denies Application for Arts-based Charter School

February 22, 2017 | by Danielle Roth

The board voted to deny the Arts to the Core Charter School Tuesday night.

The Harrisburg School Board tonight rejected the application of an arts-based charter school, with school board members citing an incomplete application and thin grassroots support.

The 7-3 vote denied the Arts to the Core School a five-year charter to begin a kindergarten through 8^th grade program in the former Bishop McDevitt High School. Board members raised concerns over curriculum and community involvement of the Lancaster-based school.

School Board President Danielle Robinson said the curriculum was “not good enough,” adding that the school did not incorporate recommendations made after a York school district rejected the charter.

“The adjudication outlined what needed to be fixed, and the issues weren’t resolved,” she said.

School Board Vice President Ellis Roy called the concept “terrific,” but still voted against the charter.

“You have got to do the legwork and present a complete document, then I’d vote in favor,” he said.

School board members Jim Thompson, Judd Pittman and Matthew Krupp voted in support of the school, which had hoped to enroll 300 students this September.

Richard Caplan, Arts to the Core’s CEO, said these are not “valid criticisms.” He said it’s difficult to create curriculum for an arts-centered approach because it requires teachers to incorporate the arts “on the fly,” he said.

“The A+ Schools,” a North Carolina charter system that would have served as the basis for this school, “succeed because they incorporate arts dynamically,” he said. “In truth, arts in the school works because it challenges the teacher.”

Caplan said he is prepared to continue trying to bring the school to Harrisburg. He said he and his legal counsel will either submit an amended application to address the board’s concerns or appeal to the state’s Charter Appeal Board.

More than 40 people attended tonight’s meeting, including Mayor Eric Papenfuse and councilmembers Westburn Majors and Jeffery Baltimore. The entire Arts to the Core board, many from Lancaster, also attended the meeting, said Caplan.

Before the vote, Papenfuse spoke in support of the charter school, saying that it would give young families an incentive to stay in the city and expand the tax base.

“This would be a means of attracting new people to the district,” he told the board. “We need options to attract young parents into the city. I’ve spoken to many of them.”

The board considered offering a three-year charter if the Arts to the Core school met 13 criteria by February 2018. These stipulations included measures for curriculum development and securing the building.

Bishop McDevitt High School. Large, long, brick building

The former building of Bishop McDevitt High School has sat vacant since 2012. The Arts to the Core Charter School proposed to renovate and use this building.

In this case, the school would use the 2017-18 school year to plan curriculum, which Superintendent Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney would have to approve. The school also would need to secure a lease agreement or sale of the Market Street building and complete all necessary renovations.

“The conditions, they were impossible,” Caplan said, adding that he could not secure the building without a charter.

These stipulations, including a requirement for fewer than 20 students per class, gave Pittman confidence in the charter school, though he called the application “ill-prepared” and questioned the Lancaster-based group’s commitment to Harrisburg.

“Our superintendent has the power to control the curriculum,” he said to the board. “All of that is in our control.”

Pittman said he would like to see the same tenacity and scrutiny applied to the district’s own curriculum, which offended Robinson, who has served on the board for five years.

“I’m proud of our teachers, our community and what we have accomplished in the past five years,” she said. “We have ways to go, but we are nowhere close to where we were before.”

For Robinson and Ausha Green, the additional conditions needed to implement the school led them to vote against the charter.

“We had other charters that did not make it through [the board’s vote]. Why do we have to walk them through?” Robinson said.

Green put it this way: “Come here correct or don’t come at all.”

The school’s community involvement also raised concerns for Robinson.

“[Caplan] has pandered to the Latino community without [English-language learners] curriculum,” she said.

Caplan said his school donated to two organizations, one including LOOP, in return for help petitioning. He denied pandering to Hispanic organizations.

“We have more than 500 kids signed up, and most of them were not Hispanic,” he said.

Board members also questioned the group’s commitment to Harrisburg.

“If this is so good, why not bring it home [to Lancaster]?” Robinson said.

Caplan said the school has the support of six or seven community groups including the Susquehanna Art Museum and the Harrisburg Opera.

For more information about the Arts to the Core Charter School, visit the Facebook page.

Author: Danielle Roth

Up or Down? School Board to vote on new arts charter school at next meeting

February 7, 2017 | by Danielle Roth

The former building for Bishop McDevitt High School has sat vacant since 2012.

The former home of Bishop McDevitt High School may become an arts-centered charter school, pending a vote by the Harrisburg school board.

On Feb. 21, the board is slated to decide whether to grant a charter to the newly formed Arts to the Core Charter School. The school incorporates music, dance, visual arts and theater into teaching core curriculum to kindergarten through eighth-grade students, said Richard Caplan, president of Arts to the Core.

“[The arts are] an attraction for kids going to school,” he said. “The arts cater to a lot of different learning pathways. Some kids learn better by physically doing things.”

If approved, Arts to the Core will open in September for the 2017-18 school year. More than 500 children from the Harrisburg School District have pre-enrolled. The school would accept 300 students from a lottery system to fill the first kindergarten through fourth grade classes, he said.

Students do not need to demonstrate artistic ability to attend the school.

“We essentially write off their talents if we don’t try to encourage them,” said Caplan, whose academic background is in the arts.

A Lancaster-based attorney, Caplan pursued music degrees before receiving his law degree from New York University. He said he “grew up in a family of educators” and has served for 10 years on public school boards in Lancaster County.

Caplan modeled the Arts to the Core school after the North Carolina Arts Council’s A+ charter school program. He said this approach is successful with inner-city children.

“The teachers find it much more exciting to teach because it’s more creative for them,” he said. “The parents love it because the kids want to go to school instead of being coerced to go to school.”

Jim Thompson, vice president of the school board, said he supports the Arts to the Core school and the arts-centered approach.

“I think it’s a good idea. I’ll ask them if they’ll let me come in and draw,” said Thompson, an architect. “To me, having an arts charter school as a feeder program to CASA makes a lot of sense.”

He said the community has reacted positively, most saying that it will be a good use of the iconic, 115,000-square-foot building at 2200 Market St. The building has sat vacant since 2012 and has been subject to vandalism since the private Catholic school relocated to Lower Paxton Township.

“I’m sensitive to community input,” he said, adding that he would not approve the charter just because it would put the property back into use.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse also supports the Arts to the Core school, saying that the school would encourage young families to stay in or move to Harrisburg.

“There’s probably no more important issue in terms of Harrisburg’s recovery,” Papenfuse said.

An increase in population, he said, is vital to re-energizing the city and boosting the tax base.

“We have seen growth among young professionals in various sectors,” he said. “A lot of times, young people will move to the city, enjoy city living and all that it has to offer, but, when it comes time for children to become school age, they have concerns.”

Students would attend the nonprofit school for free. The district would pick up the tab, at an estimated $1 million per 60 students. The school could apply for state and federal funds, as well. As a nonprofit, the school also could accept public donations.

Laws around charter schools restrict the school board from considering cost when voting on the proposal.

“Theoretically, [the district] should save that million dollars by not educating those children,” Caplan said.

Superintendent Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney, citing legal restrictions, declined to comment on the charter school.

Caplan brought the idea to the school board last November after a difficult search for urban school buildings in York, Lancaster and Chester counties led him to the former Bishop McDevitt building.

The building, built in 1930, needs renovations, including a new boiler, a security system and accessibility updates per the Americans with Disabilities Act, he said. This construction will take four to six months and cost more than $2 million, an expense Caplan said he will pay out of pocket.

Arts to the Core will complete the purchase of the school from the Harrisburg Catholic Diocese contingent on the charter’s approval from the school board, he said. If the board approves the charter, Caplan said he will move ahead with renovations and hiring staff. He said 12 people have expressed interest in heading the school.

For more information about the Arts to the Core Charter School, please visit the Facebook page.

Author: Danielle Roth

Circling Back: After a lifetime of career challenges, Gloria Vazquez Merrick has returned to serve the community where she was raised.

August 31, 2016 | by Susan Ryder

A common assumption holds that successful people set specific goals, create plans, and carefully orchestrate their success. For some, this might be true, but, for others, success happens after life places them along a winding path.

Gloria Vázquez Merrick, executive director of the Latino Hispanic American Community Center, was born in a little alley in Harrisburg—Honey Street. Her father immigrated to the United States in 1951 from Puerto Rico after being recruited by a prominent construction company.

“It was common to come [to the United States] to make money and then send for your family,” she said.

The family moved to Market Street, the first Latino family on the street. This would be one of her many firsts.

She worked odd jobs as a Bishop McDevitt High School student—at Rudy’s Market and the St. Francis Roman Catholic Church’s rectory. In her senior year, she received an opportunity that would direct her whole life. The Governor’s Office of Administration sought high school graduates who were not headed directly to college. Vázquez Merrick took a clerical position, which eventually led her to work for the Pennsylvania Commission for Women.

“It empowered me to learn and to obtain a lot of self-help for myself, which actually pivoted me towards my future direction, building my confidence, my positive self- image,” she said.

This growing confidence allowed her to accept an opportunity at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. In her 13 years at PennDOT, she developed an English class for the clerical pool, formed the first foreman academy and created the department’s first new employee orientation program.

Later, she returned to the governor’s office as director of management development. While there, she was invited to participate in the Leadership Development Institute for Women in State Government, a program where she became the director.

“I was never one to be always looking and looking,” she said. “People would find me and call me, and I never said no. I was always up for a new challenge.”

In 2006, after facilitating the Latina Health Summit, she was approached by the Department of Health to work with then-Deputy Secretary of Health Robert Torres.

Vázquez Merrick cites her willingness to take chances as key to her accomplishments.

“You don’t know how many times I went into territory I had never known anything about,” she said.

She had confidence in her ability to perform “because I knew that I had those embedded, transferrable skills that could take me from an executive leadership development arena to now a health arena.”

She left work at the commonwealth in 2007.

“I thought I could just relax and have a nice time and breathe and enjoy life and break out all my cookbooks,” she said. “I wanted to do some traveling and spend some time with my daughter.”

Reciprocity, Growth

As with most of Vázquez Merrick’s transitions, another opportunity soon found her.

She was offered a position on the board of the new Latino Hispanic American Community Center (LHACC). When the executive director took leave in 2011, she assumed the post.

“I thought—I’ve done a full circle back to where I was born, in my community where I grew up,” she said. “And now I’ll take everything that I’ve learned, everything that I did and all those skills, and bring them to fruition by way of working for the Latino Hispanic American community.”

Program development experience proved integral to her work at LHACC. Youth participate in the newly formed Leadership Institute Star Training Opportunity, while senior citizens have the Sharing Wisdom Program. These programs involve reciprocity. Seniors benefit from the program when youth show them proper use of their cell phone and other technology; youth benefit from the years of wisdom shared by the seniors.

Work at LHACC includes creating a bridge between cultures, embracing diversity.

“The richness of those cultures is very important because you grow as a person, you grow intellectually,” she said. “You grow spiritually by experiencing other cultures.”

Vázquez Merrick also noted that the center offers an opportunity for Hispanics to connect and be informed about their own culture. Not all Hispanic cultures are alike, and she said that Hispanic American Heritage Month offers an opportunity for Latinos to “learn about the diversity in the diversity.”

Running an organization like LHACC is not without its difficulties. Recently, the city denied the center Community Development Block Grant funds, which has made up one-fifth of its budget.

“We are now struggling with how we are going to meet the huge void that we are going to begin to feel come October,” she said.

Vázquez Merrick speaks of her achievements nonchalantly, but she said that, each time she took on a new position, she thought, “What am I doing? I can’t do this.”

She credits her many mentors—whom she describes as the voices in the back of her head—with encouraging and empowering her. So, now she shares this advice to others: “Don’t be afraid to go into the area of the unknown because that’s how you grow.”

The Latino Hispanic American Community Center (LHACC) is located at 1301 Derry St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.lhacc.org.

LHACC’s Hispanic Heritage Kick Off Festival takes place Sept. 10, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Derry Street between 13^th & 14^th streets in Harrisburg.

Author: Susan Ryder

Be Alert, Save a Life: 8-year old’s family honors his memory by raising awareness of distracted driving.

June 30, 2016 | by Matt Kemeny

Owen Cole Brezitski would have turned 13 this year.

A polite, curious kid with a contagious smile, you never had to remind Owen to say “please” and “thank you.” He was a leader in his classroom, a skilled soccer and baseball player and, more than anything, loved his parents and sisters, Makenna and Kyla.

On March 17, 2011, Owen was taken from this world far too soon—the victim of a distracted, 17-year-old driver. Owen, a second-grader at Holy Name of Jesus School, was struck in a marked crosswalk as he and his family left the former Bishop McDevitt High School on Market Street. They were on their way to McDonald’s for Shamrock Shakes after watching the girls perform at a school concert.

It’s been five years since the tragedy, and Owen’s mother, Karen Brezitski, often wonders what her son would be like today. She sees the hurt in her husband Mark’s eyes when spring rolls around, knowing he would love to have just one more baseball catch with his boy.

“I miss the lost potential,” Karen says. “What could have been, what should have been— that’s the heartbreaking thing.”

The tragedy that turned the Brezitski family’s lives upside down in a matter of seconds is an all-too-familiar story.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently released a study on distracted driving. It found that 60 percent of teen crashes involve distracted driving. The summer months are the worst. According to AAA, in the past five years, more than 5,000 people have been killed in crashes involving teen drivers during what it calls the “100 Deadliest Days.” This is the period starting Memorial Day through the end of the summer.

It’s not just cell phone use that causes distractions. The study found the biggest distraction is other passengers in the vehicle. Texting or operating a cell phone and attending to something inside the vehicle are the other top distractions.

There are many ways a driver can be distracted. How often do you notice another driver on their phone, head lowered, while dangerously operating a two-ton vehicle? Maybe you do it yourself.

Whatever it is, it can wait. The motto of Owen’s Foundation is as simple as it is powerful: “Slow Down, Be Alert and Save a Life!”

There are days Karen says she has difficulty getting out of bed. But her mission to save lives through sharing her story is part of what keeps her going.

“I want to help make sure no other family suffers a loss like ours,” she says. “No one is 100-percent distraction free, but examine your own behavior and, if what you’re doing is risky, maybe it’s time to change to protect your loved ones.”

In telling her story, there are moments when Karen is close to tears. She, along with her husband and daughters, are incredibly strong and courageous people. Just after Owen’s funeral, Makenna and Kyla knew they had to honor their brother.

The girls—now 19 and 16—decided to make orange wristbands since orange was Owen’s favorite color. The wristbands grew into a foundation, and, when the foundation became too large for Karen and Mark, they brought in The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC) to help.

Through it all, thousands of dollars raised and awareness spread, Karen’s orange band remains permanently affixed to her wrist. Starting to fade, it’s a stinging but motivating reminder of what she now believes she was put on earth to do.

In addition to spreading awareness, tangible results in improving driver and pedestrian safety, along with community improvements and opportunities, have emerged from Owen’s Foundation.

The foundation purchased and installed solar LED crosswalk signs at the former Bishop McDevitt High School. They have since been transferred to the entrance of the new campus in Lower Paxton Township.

The foundation donated money to South Central EMS for new cardiac monitors. It also purchased new helmets and catcher’s equipment for Owen’s baseball association, PHR, and painted, furnished and decorated a new bedroom at the new Silence of Mary Home on Market Street in Harrisburg. Silence of Mary is a home for the poor, sick and dying.

It also set up the Owen Cole Brezitski Memorial Scholarship for a graduating Bishop McDevitt student attending any form of higher education.

Karen says her family’s ultimate goal is to pass legislation to change the rules for drivers approaching pedestrians in crosswalks. By law, drivers only need to yield. She wants drivers to be required to come to a complete stop at marked crosswalks. If they don’t, stiff penalties would apply, especially in school zones.

They are also working to offer free online driver’s education courses and behind the wheel training to novice drivers.

“Everything I do is always out of honor and memory of Owen,” Karen says. “Whatever I can do now helps me move on and feel better as a mom.”

Capital BlueCross has partnered with Owen’s Foundation in the annual “Orange Out” campaign to raise awareness of distracted driving dangers.

Matt Kemeny is a senior communications specialist at Capital BlueCross, one of TheBurg’s community publishers.

Owen’s Foundation is a charitable fund of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC). Orange 4 Owen is a project of TFEC, fiscal sponsor. The official registration and financial information of TFEC may be obtained from the PA Department of State or by calling toll-free, within PA, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

Building a Future: Master set builder, thespian, leaves Gamut for the Big Apple.

September 30, 2015 | by Barbara Trainin Blank

Illustration by Ryan Spahr

An “alarm” went out from Gamut Theatre Group last month. Ian Potter, long-time Core Company member, was leaving Harrisburg earlier than expected.

Having performed its final show in its old Strawberry Square location, Gamut was in the final phase of preparing its new home in the former First Church of God across N. 4^th street. Potter, the company’s set designer and an expert builder, was vital to those renovations.

As one example, he drew the plans for the new thrust stage and helped build it.

Now, he’s applying those skills in another city in another context. As of Sept. 8, Potter became a workforce training instructor at Rebuilding Together NYC, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit focusing on urban revitalization projects and disaster recovery for low-income and struggling residents of the Big Apple.

“I’m responsible for formulating a curriculum I will then teach to a student body composed of low-income participants,” he said.

The program has two goals—to recover salvageable materials from federally bought homes on Staten Island ravaged by “Superstorm” Sandy and to offer the students certification to get well-paying jobs in the construction field.

Potter is “very excited” about this career move, being able to use his teaching and construction experience to “better communities and lives.”

Theater friends and fans of Potter’s are both surprised and not. For all his thespian talents—people still talk about his energetic title performance in Gamut’s production of “Hamlet” a few years back—he never felt “it would be theater or nothing for me,” he said. “I can see myself being happy in a lot of different walks of life.”

But no one, including Potter himself, expects the 28-year-old to leave theater completely.

It was a passion he discovered relatively late.

“The interest actually started in my senior year of high school, at Bishop McDevitt,” said the Harrisburg native. “I had a wonderful lit teacher, Sister Jude, who was also assistant director of the theater program.”

At the time, Potter was “more into” sports and art classes, but when the nun said she “needed help” with a production of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” he agreed to audition.

“She knew what she was doing,” he laughed. “It was a lot of fun.”

As a freshman at Shippensburg University, Potter aimed to be a history education major, but his acting bug was sparked further by one of his professors, Paris Peet, a member of Actors’ Equity who has performed with Gamut.

After Potter appeared in a production of “The Pavilion” directed by Peet, the professor pulled him aside and said, “You have a knack for this. Come see me.”

During their meeting, Peet conveyed the message: “If this is something you want to do, you need to go somewhere else for college.” Shippensburg offered only a theater minor and a club.

Potter indeed transferred, choosing West Chester University because of its “great theater program.”

Leaps and Bounds
Even before entering college, Potter had embarked on what was to become a long, glorious relationship with Gamut Theatre Group. During the summer of 2006, he interned with the company, which cast him in a very small role in “King Lear.”

He returned in 2010 during a spring semester, when Gamut was gearing up for a production of “Richard III” starring David Newhouse. Potter got cast in multiple small roles and commuted back and forth to do them.

“I really loved it,” he recalled.

Then came an unexpected non-acting break. Jeremy Garrett, Gamut’s technical director, was leaving after that season, and he was hired.

“I grew leaps and bounds professionally in ways I never thought I would,” Potter said. “What Gamut does, the scope, is so immense—that a small core company of actors does so much—including design and building.”

He also credits Clark and Melissa Nicholson, Gamut’s artistic and executive director, respectively, for trusting company members “to be competent and talented enough without being checked on. You have to be self-sufficient.”

And stretch yourself. In his first season, Potter “shied away” from teaching because he lacked experience. During his last season, he was teaching two different classes as a lead teacher and assistant-teaching two others.

“I can’t imagine what kind of person I’d be if I hadn’t met the people I did through theater and through Gamut,” he said.

Rite of Passage
While acting has brought Potter great satisfaction, even more may have derived from his set design and building for Gamut’s shows—including “Hamlet.” (See www.potterproductions.org for a gallery of some of these designs and Potter’s personal artwork.) “I’m a very visual person,” he said.

Looking back at his tenure with Gamut, Potter considers three productions as “sticking out.” “Hamlet,” not surprisingly, is his favorite.

“The role is so immense and so challenging, it’s like a rite of passage for actors,” he said. “And there’s just the fact that we did the play largely uncut—which is kind of unheard of.”

Clark Nicholson, who directed, “is really good at energizing the language and pacing the plays,” Potter added.

Potter found the production of “An Ideal Husband,” re-written from the Oscar Wilde original for four actors—who play 15 or more characters while ripping off Velcro for role changes—“pretty insane but really funny and fast-paced.”

His third-favorite show, “The Dresser,” did not call on Potter’s acting talents but on his designer role. “I’m really proud of that set,” Potter said.

Upon departing, Potter emphasized that Harrisburg and New York are “only an Amtrak ride” apart. He said he will “definitely do some tech stuff” for Gamut and would audition, as well, if a role came along that he and Clark think suits him.

Still, it’s not quite the same as an omnipresent Ian Potter.

While the old adage states that “no one is indispensable,” Clark Nicholson noted that Potter comes pretty darn close.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but Ian has many strengths,” he said. “He’s a fine teacher, a good actor, a mentor to young people and a designer and builder. These skills don’t always go together.”

Potter’s replacement, Andrew Nyberg, has been embraced in the characteristic Gamut way. But, said Nicholson, “Ian will be missed.”

A Community Is Built: Mr. Hodge and his vision of a neighborhood for all.

October 30, 2014 | by Wendy Jackson-Dowe

Rev. Susan Ashe (Hodge)

In the mid-1950s, a man named Elmo Hodge had a vision to develop a community of custom-built homes marketed to upwardly mobile blacks, a notion then unique in the region.

As a young girl, I recall my mother pointing toward a particular home and saying, “That’s Mr. Hodge’s house!” So, who was this Mr. Hodge and why should I care that it was his house? I wondered.

I would like to share a portion of his vision and journey, one that culminated with the creation of the Lower Paxton Township community of Hodges Heights.

For Everyone

Elmo Hodge was a pig farmer and trash collector who lived in Edgemont with his wife Sibbie and their eight children. His daughter, the Rev. Susan Ashe (Hodge), reminisced with me about growing up in Edgemont with her parents, four sisters and four brothers.

“Daddy raised pigs that were fed from the food scraps he picked up on his trash route in Camp Hill,” she said. “Some of his Camp Hill customers liked daddy so much that they would separate the food scraps for the pigs, and he sold his meat to the Swift Packing House.”

Her husband Charles told me how the Edgemont community would close down 25^th Street each Labor Day. Mr. Hodge, an avid hunter, and other neighborhood men would cook wild meat and roast a whole pig. The women would prepare all the side dishes, and the entire community would have a feast.

In April 1945, Elmo Hodge decided to look beyond Edgemont, purchasing 137 acres of farmland in the southeastern section of Lower Paxton Township (near the new Bishop McDevitt campus) from the Anderson family, which caused a stir among the neighbors.

“These neighbors just couldn’t understand why Mr. Anderson would sell his farm to a black man,” said Rev. Ashe.

Mr. Hodge farmed for about a decade when a real estate agency offered him $175,000 for the land. At settlement, he found out that the developers were going to sell lots and houses to whites only, which meant even he wouldn’t be able to live there. Without a second thought, he turned down the money and walked out of the courthouse.

He farmed the land for several more years before deciding to develop the property himself, in the way he wanted. He became even more determined after people from the adjacent area signed petitions to keep him from developing it.

“Daddy dreamed of a community where people of all colors would be able to live together in peace and harmony,” said Rev. Ashe. “He then knew that the success or failure of this business venture to personally develop the property depended upon the availability of blacks to buy lots and build homes.”

Dream Realized

The Hodges Heights project began with 97 one-quarter acre lots. The parcels originally sold for $900 and eventually for as much as $2,000 per lot.

Elmo Hodge had a vision of a community of single-family homes, custom-designed with specific parameters. To provide a sense of those expectations, the following paragraphs were taken directly from a deed of sale dated Jan. 24, 1959.

“No permanent structure to be erected nearer than twenty-five (25) feet of the aside property lines, no house to cost less than fourteen thousand-five hundred ($14,500.00) Dollars, no tannery, piggeries, etc. No gasoline service station, taproom, hotel, nor any materials which are inherently dangerous, and neither garages for occupancy, nor dog kennels or chicken farms.”

For perspective, $14,500 in 1959 had the same buying power as $116,927 does today.

According to Rev. Ashe, her father originally brought a developer to the farm to discuss building homes and selling them.

“Daddy couldn’t get financed by the banks, so their deal never got off the ground,” she said. “His alternative plan was to sell the lots directly to prospective home owners, and they would secure the financing to build their custom homes.”

The plan worked.

Among the buyers were doctors, dentists, teachers, mid-level managers in the private sector and auditors. Many were proud graduates of HBCUs—historically black colleges and universities. The community was never a blacks-only endeavor, though the “original” residents of Hodges Heights were all black folks.

It is worth mentioning that the some of the children of these original families today are surgeons, dentists, a neonatologist, a Rhodes scholar, an investment banker (whom I babysat), tenured university professors, a truck driver, a professional sports figure, a colonel and federal government employees. What’s also noteworthy is that almost none returned to the Harrisburg area to build their careers.

Pride in Ownership

I sat down with my childhood dentist, Dr. Thaddeus Phillips, and his wife Marge. In 1968, they built their family home, where they raised five daughters and one son. They still live in that house today.

Dr. Phillips told me about the formation of the Hodges Heights Men’s Club, which functioned somewhat like a current-day homeowners association. There were annual dues, and one of the primary functions was to ensure property was properly maintained at all times—pride in ownership was the expectation.

Today, the club is called the Hodges Heights Neighborhood Civic Club.

“Dues are still paid and the club function has expanded to include providing gestures of comfort for those who may be ill around the holidays, giving gifts to high school and college graduates, having a Christmas luncheon and sometimes a bit of community activism,” said Marge Phillips. “Many of us petitioned to close a nearby landfill when radon was found in some of our homes, and we won.”

A resident who built in the 1950s added, “It was exciting to be able to build the home that you wanted and to know it was the first in the area to be an all-black, custom-built community.”

Elmo Hodge’s vision and dream has come to be. Today, Hodges Heights is a community that still boasts pride in ownership, and people of all stripes exist in harmony.

Wendy Jackson-Dowe can be reached at [email protected]. She would like to thank the Ashe family for sharing this important piece of history and pride for the greater Harrisburg region.

April News Digest

April 29, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Grand Jury Probes City Finances

A state grand jury has been empaneled to investigate the various dealings that led to Harrisburg’s financial crisis.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse last month confirmed that he recently testified before the grand jury, which reportedly is meeting in Pittsburgh. He would not give specifics of his testimony.

City officials and former receivers William Lynch and David Unkovic all have supported criminal investigations into how the city wound up on the verge of bankruptcy, largely due to crippling debt tied to the city incinerator.

Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico turned the matter over to state Attorney General Kathleen Kane after citing a possible conflict of interest in the case.

The grand jury probe appears to be wide-ranging. Investigators have taken large quantities of documents both from City Hall and the school district, according to sources.

In City Hall, many of the documents were discovered in locked filing cabinets and in locked closets that were opened once Papenfuse took office in January, sources said.

After its investigation is complete, the grand jury will recommend whether to file charges in the case. The prosecutor then determines whether or not to issue indictments.

Councilwoman Eugenia Smith Dies

Councilwoman Eugenia Smith died suddenly last month at age 53.

Smith, a lifelong city resident, died at Harrisburg Hospital after suffering a heart attack. She had begun her second term on City Council in January and was chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

“This is deeply shocking,” said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. “I share the pain and loss that people throughout our city assuredly feel as we try to absorb this sudden news. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.”

Council now must fill the open seat. City residents have until May 2 to submit applications, and a brief, public interview will follow. After nominations by council members, a final vote is slated for May 12. The new council member will serve until January 2016.

Judith Hill, Harrisburg’s first African-American councilwoman, also died last month.

Firefighter Contract Approved

Harrisburg City Council last month approved an agreement with the firefighter’s union designed to save the city about $70,000 a month.

The contract sets up a 14/1 shift, meaning that 14 firefighters and one commander will be on duty across the city at all times. Previously, the department operated with 16 firefighters and one commander for each shift.

The contract changes should significantly reduce firefighter overtime, a key element in city and state efforts to bring Harrisburg’s budget into balance.

The city last month also proposed closing the aging Paxton Fire Co. station in Shipoke. This proposal, an outgrowth of the new contract, caused concern among some residents, leading the Papenfuse administration to hold a community meeting to explain its plan.

Former Mayor Linda Thompson also had proposed closing the station, but dropped the idea after encountering resistance.

Mayor Moves to Replace Veno

Mayor Eric Papenfuse has asked the state to replace Gene Veno as chief recovery officer for the school district.

Papenfuse last month said he met with state Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq to “express his alarm at the lack of progress at improving academic standards” in city schools and request that Veno be replaced.

“My concern is that Mr. Veno does not believe Harrisburg schools will meet academic benchmarks under the plan he devised,” he said. “This is unacceptable and compromises the future of our children.”

Papenfuse also came out in support of Key Charter School, which wishes to locate in the old Bishop McDevitt High School at 2200 Market St. The school board, which has rejected many charter school applications in recent years, must approve Key’s application.

“There should be a sense of urgency about these under-performing schools,” Papenfuse said, “and parents ought to have other possibilities to ensure their children are well educated and ready for the workplace. Harrisburg’s economic recovery won’t succeed unless we have an educated workforce ready to claim the jobs that will be created.”

“Mary K” Mansions Sell

A decade-long saga came to a close last month as the “Mary K mansions” sold at auction for a total of $756,000 to two buyers from the west shore.

On a sunny, cool day, multiple bidders dueled for about 2 1/2 hours at the outdoor auction, held on one of the four lots near the corner of Front and Manor streets.

In the end, Mike and Sally Wilson of Lisburn paid $361,000 for two of the properties at 2909 and 2917 N. Front St. Rob Edwards of Dillsburg paid $395,000 for 2901 N. Front St., which includes a large house and a parking lot off of Division Street.

Mike Wilson, the owner of Integral Construction, said that he and his wife intend to renovate and live in the mansion at 2909 N. Front, but he wasn’t sure what they’d do with 2917 N. Front, a dilapidated building that long served as an office building.

Edwards said he had no plans yet for his properties. He said he often buys and sells properties at auction and was attracted to these houses because of the location on the river.

Previous owner Mary Knackstedt bought the properties in 2004, planning to raze them and build a 32-unit condominium development. However, her land use plan met fierce resistance in the neighborhood, and City Council ultimately rejected it.

She later defaulted on her mortgages and declared bankruptcy. A last-ditch effort last year to sell the properties for $2.5 million failed, leading to the auction.

Illegal Gun Project Launched

Harrisburg and Dauphin County are teaming up to increase penalties for carrying illegal weapons.

Under the “$100K Illegal Gun Project,” Harrisburg police officers and the county district attorney’s office will request that courts set bail at a minimum of $100,000 for anyone charged with illegally carrying a firearm.

The bail amount would be recommended for felons who are prohibited from carrying a gun and for anyone carrying one on themselves or in their vehicle without a license, according to a joint city/county announcement.

In addition, police and prosecutors will request juvenile detention for any juvenile older than 15 who is charged with illegally carrying a firearm.

Historic Train Moved

The historic GG1 Pennsylvania railroad locomotive No. 4859 was temporarily moved from its spot at the Harrisburg Transportation Center last month to a siding 1,000 feet west of the station.

Rail enthusiasts gathered to watch and take photos of the GGI locomotive and caboose, which were moved so that Amtrak could continue its $36 million project to improve power, signals, track and switches in the station.

An Amtrak locomotive pushed the GGI and caboose to a siding near the 7^th Street garage about ¼-mile away. The locomotive then was “shrink-wrapped” to protect it from the elements until it can be moved back to its current location.

The GG1 served the Harrisburg station on service to Philadelphia and New York between 1938 and 1981. It was located at the station as a memorial to that service in 1986, designated as the official state locomotive and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Harrisburg Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society maintains both No. 4859 and the caboose.

Changing Hands

Calder St., 211: T. Chapin to I. Blynn, $165,000

Charles St., 232: L. Milner & A. Lee to R. Gosnell, $120,000

Chestnut St., 2048: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development et al to S. Reyes, $70,875

Disbrow St., 97: J. Handy Jr. to J. Hobbs, $45,000

Duke St., 2452: PA Deals LLC to M. & D. Graeff, $68,000

Harris St., 230: Fannie Mae to Klimke Holdings LLC, $51,000

Jefferson St., 2241: Kirsch & Burns LLC to LMK Properties LLC, $45,000

Manada St., 1918: K. & J. Frobenius to 2013 Central PA Real Estate LLC, $55,000

Market St., 1827: K. Frobenius et al to 2013 Central PA Real Estate Fund LLC, $55,000

North St., 231, 233, 235: F. Galiardo Realty Management Associates LLC to Murphy & Laus Real Estate LLC, $325,000

N. 2^nd St., 817: R. Baker to HCH Investments LP, $127,000

N. 3^rd St., 1633: B. Jones & C. Heintzelman to J. & S. Compton, $38,000

N. 4^th St., 2737: M. Horgan & Innovative Devices Inc. to T. Murphy, $37,000

N. 5^th St., 3024: S. Zerbe to J. Olan, $89,000

N. 6^th St., 2013: Sixth Street Clover Club to Victor Ventures, $30,000

N. 16^th St., 921: J. & V. Waid to Equity Trust Co., $38,250

N. Front St., 1107: J. Farrell to M. Perrone, $184,900

Parkway Blvd., 2507: R. Zogby & L. Sfier to B. & B. Reid, $120,000

Peffer St., 214: BFI LP to M. Magaro et al, $51,000

Penn St., 1424: R. Benton to R. Essig, $30,000

Penn St., 2315: BFI LP to M. Magaro et al, $36,000

Regina St., 1849: J. Vogelsong to D. Moore Sr., $40,000

Rolleston St., 1315 & 1411: S & R Estates LLC to Keystone RH LLC, $890,000

Rudy Rd., 2400: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to J. & M. Caulfield, $90,000

S. 14^th St., 361: J. Rodriguez to Urena Diaz Property, $33,000

S. 15^th St., 438: J. Vogelsong to D. Moore Sr., $30,000

S. 16^th St., 336: Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority & Tri-County HDC to L. Wilson, $101,000

S. 20^th St., 1226: G. & H. Fabiankovitz to R. & G. MacWhinnie, $110,000

S. 25^th St., 713: Fannie Mae to S. Mosley, $50,500

S. 26^th St., 710: Fannie Mae to S. Mirenda, $62,500

S. 27^th St., 724: E. & R. Kolp to S. Armstrong & P. Hudson, $125,000

Walnut St., 1261: JP Morgan Chase Bank NA to G & G Property Services LLC, $35,000

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