Tag Archives: City Island

Soccer Goals: As U.S. soccer moves into the big time, can Harrisburg move with it?

January 30, 2015 | by Cory Mull

You wouldn’t know by the look of it, but, on the first floor of a modest office park in Linglestown, the future of Harrisburg soccer is being shaped.

That’s where Tiago Lopes, the 32-year-old president of the Harrisburg City Islanders, works in the off-season. A year ago, he was hired to resuscitate the stalling franchise, which is part of USL Pro, a 14-team professional outdoor soccer league that, since 2011, has added seven franchises across the country.

“The goal is to prepare the organization for the next five to 10 years,” said Lopes, who in his native Portuguese accent calls the city “Ehrris-burg.” In his first year, he said, the city “accomplished a lot of things with limited resources.”

In business terms, that meant higher attendance figures from a year ago, going from about 1,500 fans to about 2,100 per game in 2014, including six sell-outs at Skyline Sports Complex.

But, to Lopes, the success put a real emphasis on a growing problem in Harrisburg. The stadium, located adjacent to Metro Bank Stadium, is a shell of what most other markets offer in the same league, just as the sport itself is in the middle of a boom.

On Board

When Lopes talks about the picture of soccer in Harrisburg, there’s a real concern with the future at City Island. As it stands now, rickety metal bleachers and a hilltop offer fans their main source of seating.

“When I arrived,” Lopes said, “of course the stadium at that time was in need already. Part of my plan going forward is having the stadium as a priority … the strategy is very clear. The stadium is a big part of that. There is no future without a stadium.”

Lopes talks a lot about “priority” when he talks about stadium details. Until recently, he says, the city and the organization haven’t made a new facility much of a priority.

But that changed last March.

Backed by private partners, plus an affiliation with the Philadelphia Union, which remains the City Islanders’ affiliated franchise in Major League Soccer, the City Islanders unveiled plans for a new structure at their current location.

Lopes talks about a two-phase project that includes the structural bones of a new, $6 million, 4,000-seat facility built by the 2016 season.

Construction is expected to commence after the 2015 season in August or September, he said, with the hope that the team can be on the field by the beginning of the next calendar year.

A potential second phase, which could add another 2,000 seats and $4 million to the budget, could be implemented after other feasibility studies are conducted.

In the coming months, the financial terms will be negotiated between organization personnel, partners and the city—with all financing, Lopes adds, slated to come privately.

And key to the discussion will be site location. While the city is currently playing nice with the team, there’s an outside shot both parties may not come to a solution on the Island.

“Of course, we want it at City Island,” Lopes said, “But if we don’t find the resources, the conditions, the support from the city, then we’ll have to look at other locations. At this point, we do find that the city is on board with us.”

Growing Pains

As the league grows, another concern looms. It’s becoming harder and harder to keep pace with growing travel costs.

Four franchises were added to the league in 2014, all of which were significantly west of what used to be a league dominated by East Coast teams. Cities like Sacramento, Los Angeles, Arizona and Oklahoma City all unveiled debut seasons.

Lopes said the travel part of the budget has become “extremely high” over the last two seasons with the addition of these franchises. In previous years, the main mode of transportation was a bus, but flights now are more common.

When Orlando moves up to MLS in 2015, a new franchise in Louisville will take its place, adding another team west of Pennsylvania to the mix.

“We’re working to control that piece of the budget,” Lopes said. “And that’s why we need to have partners involved with us that can help us lower those costs.”

Changing Tides

While Harrisburg is finding ways to meet its need in a growing league, business on the field has been anything but troublesome. In fact, the City Islanders continue to get better year after year.

In 2014, Harrisburg reached the league finals after finishing eighth overall in the regular season, losing 2-0 to Sacramento Republic FC at Bonney Field in Sacramento before 8,000 fans.

The Islanders, which debuted in the USL Pro in 2004, have been to the finals twice in the past four seasons under Head Coach Bill Becher.

The City Islanders have gained respect across the league, Lopes said, by winning games and competing for championships.

“If you ask any of our fans,” he said, “and you ask them within any team in this league what they think about Harrisburg—what their reputation will be—people are amazed at what we do. That’s the key point for us. We embrace that.”

A byproduct of that success has been a successful crossover of talent developing on the field. Lopes says, on average, the Islanders have put two players into the MLS each year over the last few years, including recent players like Leo Fernandes and Antoine Hoppenot.

Slowly but surely, it seems, the tides of soccer in Harrisburg are beginning to change.

By 2016, Lopes hopes to execute what he hopes will be a shift in gears for soccer in central Pennsylvania.

“If we have over 2,500 people coming to our games in a terrible stadium,” Lopes said, “imagine how many people we could attract with a good facility?”

If Harrisburg wants to survive in this fast-paced and fast-growing industry, Lopes said, the city, the organization and its partners will need to invest in infrastructure to help that vision come to fruition.

“It has to be partners, it has to be sponsors, it has to be politicians,” he said. “We have to be united, if we want to keep seeing the name Harrisburg.”

Learn more about the Islanders and keep up to date with their stadium plans at www.cityislanders.com.

An Imitation of Life: There’s real Harrisburg; then there’s media Harrisburg.

November 28, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Lately, I’ve been pondering the nature of reality.

No, I’m not taking a post-graduate philosophy course nor am I suffering through some type of midlife crisis (I did that about 10 years ago).

Rather, I’ve been wondering how people arrive at their conception of reality and how my business (the media) influences it. As usual in my columns, I’m talking mostly about Harrisburg here, though I suppose this theme could apply to many other communities and things.

When I moved here, I found Harrisburg to be a genial, if somewhat neglected, place. It was generally attractive to walk around, had some nice architecture, decent enough places to eat, a pretty Capitol building. It reminded me of some other urban neighborhoods I had lived in: great bones, nascent redevelopment, a smattering of typical inner-city woes.

Other than the city’s burgeoning financial crisis—which really was a unique problem—I didn’t see Harrisburg much differently than other East Coast cities, though it was a good deal smaller.

So, I was pretty shocked to learn that not everyone agreed with my assessment of this mostly pleasant place. In fact, many people disagreed—emphatically. They disagreed often and passionately and without hesitation.

I remember vividly a couple years back, when, in response to a rather innocuous post on TheBurg’s Facebook page about a downtown restaurant, someone wrote that he was surprised I didn’t fear for my safety.

How did this happen? I wondered. How was it that this quaint, if flawed, little city could stir such negative emotions among so many, particularly those who lived in the suburbs?

Now, I understand that Harrisburg isn’t for everyone. It can be a challenging place to live, especially with the sometimes-spotty (though sometimes-good) service delivery and subpar infrastructure. But the level of contempt and fear that I found on message boards or just in casual conversation surprised me.

I suppose there are several reasons for this. First of all, Harrisburg, as I understand it, was once in pretty desperate shape. The 1960s and ‘70s hit all cities hard, and Harrisburg suffered more than most, with severe flooding adding to the usual list of deindustrialization, white flight, rising crime, racism and blight. A couple generations later, this legacy lingers.

Secondly, the city’s government has been badly mismanaged, and that’s had an impact. The worst abuses, though, have only come to light in recent years. It wasn’t too long ago that Steve Reed was touted as one of the best mayors in the country.

And, thirdly, let’s face it: the Harrisburg area can be pretty provincial and racially divided. There are people who seem to relish bashing the city for their own personal reasons, even if they have little firsthand experience of life here.

Mostly, though, I blame my industry, the media. The media didn’t cause this misperception of Harrisburg, but it certainly has fed and done little to correct it.

Sure, the media has to report bad news; that’s part of its job. But another vital part of its job is this: it should reflect reality.

Too often, media presents a fictional version of life in Harrisburg, and perpetuating a fiction is one of the worst things a news organization can do.

You want to know what life is like in Harrisburg? For the most part, it’s pretty dull. Speaking personally, I walk to work, get lunch, walk home, repeat. On weekends, I do some yard work, try to eat at a good restaurant or two, and venture over to Broad Street Market, City Island and a few other places I like.

My life isn’t a lot different from that of your average suburbanite, with a few exceptions. I certainly walk a lot more and have quick, easy access to some of the area’s best cafés, bars, restaurants and entertainment. I also like to run along the river and at Italian Lake. To me, these are the things that make city life special, and they’re why I choose to live here.

Believe it or not, I spend almost no time worrying about crime, thinking about parking meters or dodging bullets from gun-toting state legislators.

But you wouldn’t know that from reading the front page of the Patriot-News or watching the evening news broadcast. Sure, I understand—how do you make a newscast out of a guy strolling over to Yellow Bird Café for a breakfast sandwich?

The constant drumbeat of bad news, though, has consequences, a terrible effect on the well-being of Harrisburg and its people. Taken in total, this coverage creates a fiction—a fanciful representation of life in this city. People who don’t live here then believe that falsehood, accept it as reality, and act on it as if it were true.

Recently, one downtown restaurateur told me that parking rate hikes haven’t much affected his business, but that he gets calls often from customers who worry for their safety. They want an assurance they won’t get mugged walking the 10 feet from their parking spot on the street into his restaurant. Where do you think that irrational fear comes from?

TheBurg tries to be a counterpoint, a magazine more interested in representing life than in sensationalizing it. We think it’s a more responsible approach, but we also believe that should be the mission of any news organization. Don’t lie to your readers—not just in the facts of an individual story, but in the bigger picture that your reporting, editing and design, taken together, create.

Most newsrooms operate on a daily timeframe, pumping out an article or news segment on a tight deadline. Their focus is on a few stories that single day, and they try to make sure that that they’re reasonably accurate. But there’s little recognition of the cumulative effect of so many stories, spanning a long period of time.

Unrelenting bad news, especially when it’s routinely reported breathlessly, can be destructive to a community and, worse yet, present an untrue picture of what life is like. It’s a fiction, and, in the case of Harrisburg, one that is widely believed and has proven to be profoundly harmful.

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

Kipona: A Review

September 3, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

With Kipona 2014 located on City Island, the Native American pow wow took its rightful place as a centerpiece of the Labor Day weekend celebration.

There were canoe races, a pow wow, fireworks. There were vendors, food, music.

The things that make up Kipona were at Kipona again this year, though people most wanted to talk about something apart from the chili cook-off, the martial arts demonstration and the basketball tourney. The number-one topic of discussion: the relocation of most activities from Riverfront Park to City Island.

I spent much of last weekend at Kipona, helping to man the information table for 3rd in The Burg. When I wasn’t chatting up Harrisburg’s monthly arts event, I listened to people opine (at length) on how they thought things were going. For the most part, attendees and participants seemed positive about the annual Labor Day weekend festival. That said–they were not shy in sharing with me possible areas for improvement.

I agreed with much of what I heard. In my opinion, the city got many of the big things right. Most activities went off well, and attendance was solid. The relocation to City Island was (sorry, Kipona traditionalists) a very pleasant surprise. Before last weekend, I regarded under-utilized, under-visited City Island as a huge surface parking lot, a baseball stadium and a random smattering of other stuff that seemed only loosely connected. Now I know the potential that City Island has.

I’ll admit to not much liking Kipona’s old format. Yes, there are uniquely Kipona activities, but, over the years, it came to closely resemble Harrisburg’s other summer festivals along the river. By the time Labor Day rolled around, did you really want to trudge up that narrow, asphalt path one more time, hemmed in on all sides by booths, battling sweaty crowds and having largely the same experience that you did over the Memorial and Independence Day weekends?

I found City Island to be tailor-made for hosting Kipona. It had close-by, ample (free!) parking, a variety of landscapes, open spaces, refreshing breezes, easy access to the river and beautiful views of the city. The loop around the island seemed to be a perfect length and format, and the permanent structures–from the stadiums and restrooms to businesses and pavilions–anchored the festival and provided necessary amenities. Larger-scale events, such as the fascinating and funky Festival of India parade, were easily accommodated.

City Island also allowed more natural groupings, so that children’s activities, for instance, were all together, arranged comfortably, and there was ample spacing between festival booths and themes. In addition, the excellent and interesting Native American pow wow fittingly became a centerpiece of the celebration, not the hidden, out-of-the-way event-in-exile it was before. And kudos to Capital Region Water, which hosted a variety of educational and creative activities. Who knew that learning about water and waste could be so much fun?

It’s understandable that downtown bars and restaurants would prefer Kipona to remain in the park, closer to them. However, based solely on the festival-going experience, City Island is a better place–much better.

Now that I’ve gotten all the accolades out of my system, let me turn to some of the shortfalls. I don’t mean to gratuitously criticize the organizers, who were working within very tight budget and organizational restrictions. However, even several administration officials told me that, while certain things went well, others did not. Here are, in my mind, the areas that most need to be improved.

Arts Walk. For two days, I was trapped inside the stifling Carousel Pavilion with my fellow arts hostages. There were a couple of photographers, two wood craftsmen, an author, another arts group–about a dozen people total–stranded inside a cavernous space that can hold many hundreds. On Sunday, Appalachian Brewing Co. gave away free beer samples, but even that brought in only a trickle of takers, as thousands walked past just outside, seemingly oblivious that people were within the forbidding building. A stage was set up there, and a lineup of talented musicians played to an audience of two or one or zero. Strangely, that stage was maybe 50 feet from the main music stage just outside the pavilion, which led to a cacophony of competing sounds, complaints from the musicians and the shutting of several pavilion doors, adding to the stifling heat. In my opinion, the Arts Walk, with little art, few patrons and nothing much to walk to, was the weakest part of Kipona.

Traffic. Cars, trucks and vans motored around City Island all weekend long, weaving in and out of crowds of people. For the duration of Kipona, Riverside Drive should have been pedestrian-only, the only exceptions for festival staff on golf carts and for emergency workers. Lax enforcement, however, led to something of a vehicle vs. walker free-for-all and created a very dangerous situation on the island.

Signage. Signage was almost non-existent, and the poorly designed Kipona program–if you could find it at all–did not identify several major venues, had no schedule of performers and didn’t say where most acts would be. More people seemed to wander into the Carousel Pavilion to ask us for directions, or if we knew what the music schedule was, than actually wanted to see art.

Fireworks schedule. Fireworks are a highlight of Harrisburg’s festivals, with people often organizing their evenings around going to the waterfront to watch them. The Kipona schedule said the fireworks would go off at 9:30 p.m, but they actually started about 45 minutes earlier. Rain or no rain, you just can’t do that.

Riverfront Park. The split festival between Riverfront Park and City Island did not work. People complained about walking across the bridge, park vendors complained about weak customer traffic, and City Island had empty spots that could have used more vendors to create a critical mass. The city needs to choose a single location and stick with it.

This year, Kipona turned 98 years old, so you would think Harrisburg would have it down by now. Kipona 2014 showed that this is not the case, and, in fact, all of Harrisburg’s summertime festivals have been in flux for years now. At least one good thing, though, seemed to come from this turmoil–the rediscovery of the wonderful resource that is City Island. It’s my hope that, now found, this beautiful, accessible and festival-friendly place will stay found.

Taking Care of Business: 100 years old, the Harrisburg Chamber eyes its next century.

July 31, 2014 | by Stephanie Kalina-Metzger

A hundred years ago, the Harrisburg area was a completely different place.

Streetcars ran the length and breadth of the city; shoppers crowded the streets downtown. The suburbs, as we understand them today, did not exist.

It was in that environment that prominent businessman E.J. Stackpole set the wheels in motion to establish the Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC, which this year celebrates its centennial.

Declaring that the Board of Trade, the city’s previous group for merchants, had outlived its usefulness, he recommended that the entity give way to a new organization possessing “wider powers” and a “broader scope of activity.”

Stackpole seems to have gotten what he wanted.

At its birth in 1914, the Chamber enlisted nearly 200 members, including newspapers, banks, printers, retailers and theaters, which agreed to pay dues set at $25 and up.

Today, the Chamber has about 1,400 members and has greatly expanded its portfolio of services.

“Helping both large and small businesses succeed are always a key part of [what we do],” said David Black, president and CEO.

But the group also provides aid in the form of research, lobbying, education, networking, and advice on reducing business expenditures, to name a few. Collaboration is key to the success of the organization, according to Black.

“We build bridges and coalitions to move things forward,” he said. “That’s both a challenge and a blessing. We have a pretty good reputation when it comes to business issues and getting things done. We help businesses connect with each other and to government at all levels.”

The Early Years

After its founding, the Harrisburg Chamber leased office space in the Kunkel building downtown and named George B. Tripp, head of Harrisburg Light and Power Co., as its first president.

The Chamber faced its share of problems early on. In 1923, a fire destroyed nearly all files and records. Shortly thereafter, it faced the difficult challenge of helping midstate businesses cope with the Great Depression, which brought about economic devastation as well as many new programs, rules and regulations mandated by the Roosevelt administration.

By the 1940s, things were looking up, and the Chamber moved into a new home at 114 Walnut St. in Harrisburg. During this era, it played a major part in persuading the federal government to build a Navy base in Hampden Township, which brought a plethora of jobs to the area.

More projects followed during the next decades. Some of the most notable included 1,200 new parking spaces on City Island, a four-lane highway from Baltimore to Harrisburg through York (I-83), construction of a $12-million, 10,000-foot runway at Olmsted Air Force Base in Middletown, and AMP’s purchase of a 42-acre site near Dauphin County Prison.

In 1968, Gov. Raymond Shafer cut the ribbon to open commercial air service at Olmsted. A Chamber-led plan to locate the Penn State-Harrisburg campus on the grounds of the Air Force base and relocate Fruehauf Trailer Co. nearby was hailed as a successful conversion of a military base to civilian use.

By 1972, the Chamber faced another natural disaster, losing its files once again, this time to Tropical Storm Agnes. While coping with the loss, it moutned citywide clean-up and revival efforts.

The Chamber expanded its scope even further as the years passed and, in 1984, founded the Capital Region Economic Development Corp. (CREDC), which was among the early investors in the Hilton Harrisburg and Towers, erected in 1990.

In the new millennium, major projects included the purchase, remediation and transfer of ownership of the vacant Bethlehem Steel Pipe Mill in Steelton; the founding of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology; the formation of several Keystone Opportunity Zones, Keystone Innovation Zones and Enterprise Zones; the construction of Perry County’s Business Campus One; and the organization’s Business Diversity Initiative, which began in 2004.

Looking Ahead

Black said the future looks bright for the organization and for the area in general.

“Economically, we are a fairly strong region, so there is a fair amount of money that supports our organization,” he said.

Adding to the optimism is the belief that the enormous financial problems facing Harrisburg may be waning. That’s the opinion of Linda Goldstein, vice president and chief operating officer of CREDC, who foresees a better business environment in the city following the Harrisburg Strong Plan.

“Mayor [Linda] Thompson was forced to focus on the city’s financial dilemma. Now that we’re more stable, Mayor [Eric] Papenfuse and City Council can focus on other initiatives that are key to the vitality of the city,” she said.

The Chamber, in fact, played a key role in Harrisburg’s recovery process. Black sat on the state receiver’s Financial Recovery Advisory Committee and now sits on the Harrisburg Strong Task Force, which is drafting rules for the formation of a non-profit group that will administer the city’s infrastructure and economic development funds. In addition, CREDC has provided funds to hire Harrisburg’s new director of economic development.

“We are committed to the long-term health and growth of the city of Harrisburg through involvement in the Strong Plan and the financial support for Harrisburg’s community and economic development director,” said Black.

Jack Sproch, CEO of Appalachian Brewing Company and a long-time Chamber member, said he is very satisfied with the benefits provided by the organization.

“They promote legislation that is favorable to the business and economic development of the area and provide demographics and numbers for those interested in starting a business here,” he said.

CREDC has been instrumental in ABC’s expansion, said Sproch.

“I spent money on accountants and a lot of my time meeting with various economic development people seeking favorable business development loans,” he said. “People assured me that if I located in the Cameron Corridor and the Enterprise Zone, it would be simple. Yet, I was unable to get any kind of state or tax benefits until I contacted CREDC.”

To learn more about the Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC, visit www.HarrisburgRegionalChamber.org or call 717-232-4099.

City to Residents, Visitors: Get Ready for Kipona

July 25, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse explains the details of the city’s Kipona festival during a press conference today.

Are you a fan of the pow-wow, the chili cook-off, the fireworks, the canoe races, the music, the food and craft vendors?

Then you’re in luck, as Kipona will take place as usual over the Labor Day weekend, with just a few changes to the annual three-day festival, the city said today.

In perhaps the greatest change, most activities will be located on City Island, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Riverfront Park near the Walnut Street Bridge will be reserved for food and vendor booths, though some booths also will be located on City Island. Fireworks will go off Sunday night at dusk.

“Everything we’ve done with Kipona, we’re doing,” said Papenfuse, of the Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 festival. “We’re only tweaking the location of events.”

Notably, 1,200 parking spaces on City Island will be free on Saturday, as will spaces in the River Street parking garage. Parking will be free on all city streets on Sunday and Monday. Bike taxis will be free of charge for transportation over the Walnut Street Bridge connecting the two festival locations.

The footprint of the festival will shrink, which will help keep down the cost, Papenfuse said. Front Street will be closed for just one block, from Locust to Walnut streets, on Saturday and Monday. On Sunday, the closure of Front Street will extend to Forster Street to accommodate the large crowds expected for the fireworks.

The city will pony up $37,500 for Kipona, of which $20,000 will pay for the fireworks, said Papenfuse. Moreover, the city continues to seek sponsors for the event to further offset costs. In past years, Harrisburg’s main three summer festivals cost the city “in excess of $100,000” each, said Papenfuse.

City Council will be asked to approve the expense for Kipona once it returns from its summer hiatus in late August, said Papenfuse. He added that, in prior administrations, the cost of festivals was “off-budget,” but that, going forward, the cost would be included as part of the normal budgeting process.

During today’s press conference, Papenfuse repeatedly took issue with recent media reports on Kipona, which he characterized as incomplete, wrong and purposely inflammatory. Some media outlets, for instance, reported that Kipona would be held exclusively on City Island.

The Surf Is Up: Island Breezes has survived floods, bad planning and broken government—and now is having one of its best years ever.

June 30, 2014 | by Ashleigh Pollart

Island Breezes, like City Island itself, has ridden a wave of great change over the past 30 years. The shop and café has been everything from a kite and toy shop to home to a Jimmy Buffet fan club and merchandise store to its current state as a café.

Built with the rest of RiverSide Village in the 1980s as part of former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed’s revitalization efforts, Island Breezes was purchased by current owners Melvin and Ann Marie Cross in 2001. The couple rebuilt and expanded the store in 2005 after it experienced massive flood damage.

“I saw a City Island business for sale in the Sunday paper, and I said to my husband ‘I think we need to buy that—it’ll give you something to do,’” said Ann Marie, laughing as she relived the story.

The other village shops that Harrisburg natives remember were torn down a few years ago after storeowners closed and the buildings became abandoned.

“Since the shacks have been removed, our foot traffic has been phenomenal,” Ann Marie said.

Island Breezes—which sells hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, funnel cakes, coffee, ice cream cones and even crafts—is so passionate about making RiverSide Village Park family-oriented that the owners actually lowered prices for this season. The handicapped-accessible and dog-friendly café focuses on building relationships with customers to continue to bring more visitors to City Island.

The shop owners and employees have literally watched their clientele grow up. One customer, Josh, has visited Island Breezes almost everyday for 15 years, said Ann Marie, who mentioned how wonderful it is to see returning families.

“We see a lot of women come in pregnant, and the next summer we get to meet their kids in a stroller,” she explained. “We get to meet a lot of interesting people and really watch them grow up.”

Island Breezes’ loyal employee, Tina Magaro-Lewis, explained her passion for what the café brings to the city.

“We want families to come here. It’s a happy, safe place and a safe ground for grandparents to bring their grandchildren because it’s contained,” she said while recounting stories of local visitors and returning customers from all over central PA.

The day of this interview, Island Breezes had even served international visitors from Canada and Great Britain who were staying in Harrisburg to visit Hershey or Gettysburg.

The family-friendly venue gives customers of all ages a reason to come together and enjoy the aesthetic view of Harrisburg’s skyline.

City Island, now an integral part of the state capital’s economy, was not always such a hub of activity. In its unfathomably long history, the 63-acre island has been used for everything from a home to local Native Americans to a venue for Metallica and Grateful Dead concerts, intermixed with periods of abandonment.

The 1970s may have been the low point, with the island then known largely for illicit activity that ranged from illegal dumping to drug dealing, along with the occasional rock concert. In addition, some grand plans—including a Sports Hall of Fame, a restaurant and sports bar—never materialized.

More recent challenges have included flooding and the city’s financial crisis, which made island maintenance spotty.

Visit today, however, and you’ll find that this once-neglected place has improved dramatically.

City Island now is home to the Harrisburg Senators, the Pride of the Susquehanna riverboat, marinas, miniature golf, batting cages, Susquehanna Outfitters and Harrisburg Carriage Co. In addition, the Harrisburg City Islanders recently announced a plan to greatly expand and improve its stadium.

Take the scenic walk across the Walnut Street Bridge today, or any warm day of the year, and you’ll find people making their way over the Susquehanna to run, walk, watch baseball and play volleyball, among a range of other activities.

Business-wise, Island Breezes hung in there while others around it closed and, with improving traffic on City Island, it’s now taking advantage of its place as a survivor.

“When you would see those shacks down there with broken windows, [City Island] visitors wouldn’t walk down through the village,” said Ann Marie. “Now, our business has done a complete turnaround.”

Mention this article at Island Breezes on your next visit to receive a complimentary small ice cream cone. The café is open daily from 10 a.m. to dusk during summer months.

Groups Agree to “Adopt-A-Park” in Harrisburg

April 2, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg today announced participants in its “Adopt-A-Park” program, an effort aimed to help restore and maintain the city’s parks and recreational facilities.

More than a dozen individuals and corporations have pledged funds and/or projects to help keep the city’s parks attractive and safe, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Adopt-A-Park projects and activities include:

· The Kunkel Foundation pledged a $50,000 donation for conservation and creation of Kunkel Plaza.

· Gwen and Dave Lehman pledged donations through Physicians for Social Responsibility. The Lehman’s have maintained and developed the Peace Garden at Riverfront Park for the past 25 years.

· United Way of the Capital Region will sponsor a beautification youth service project on April 4 on City Island.

· Messiah College will sponsor a “Day of Service” on April 10 and has recruited volunteers to assist with beautification, modification and/or restoration of select playgrounds.

· Harrisburg Young Professionals has pledged to adopt one park each season, including City Island, Riverfront Park, Italian Lake and Reservoir Park.

· The Italian Lake Coalition has pledged $2,000 to help maintain Italian Lake.

· The Jewish Community Center will perform maintenance on the Holocaust Monument at Front and Verbeke streets on May 2 to 4.

· The Boy Scouts and Pride of the Susquehanna will work on a “Fallen Heroes” memorial starting in April at Riverfront Park.

· Inspirations Bath and Kitchen Studio by Hajoca has pledged to continually maintain the entrance to Market Street Bridge.

· Pennsylvania State Fraternal Order of Police is preparing a feasibility study for a memorial statue and garden to fallen soldiers in Reservoir Park.

· Jump Street is coordinating efforts from area Eagle Scouts to maintain the drummer boy statue near the garden at the Civil War Museum.

In addition, Riverfront Park was accepted into Macy’s “Heart Your Park” campaign in partnership with National Recreation and Park Association during March. Macy’s matched money that shoppers donated to the fund and will present it to the city in June.

Can of Corn

October 1, 2013 | by Paul Barker

Late Monday afternoon, while Washington’s spending bill languished in the Republican House and the federal government drifted towards shutdown, Tim Solobay, Democrat of the Pennsylvania Senate, was in right field in the City Island stadium, doing side lunges.

He was wearing an orange Team West jersey that sorted him by chamber and district number (SOLOBAY, S-46), along with white crew socks and black-and-white Adidas trainers that looked to have been preserved intact from the 1980s.

The first-ever Capitol All-Stars softball game was slated to start at 5:30. It was 4:15.

“I got here at 4 o’clock,” Solobay said. “I was going to go to the batting cages, but they were closed.”

The game would mix members of both parties in the House and Senate in a seven-inning match in Metro Bank Park. Lynn Deary, president of Pennsylvania Legislative Services, was inspired by the Congressional Softball League, which has been organizing casual games in D.C. since 1971. Deary had partnered with the Pennsylvania Cable Network to organize the event, with proceeds benefitting Feeding Pennsylvania and Hunger-Free Pennsylvania, the state’s two largest nonprofits for hunger relief.

Mike Stack (Democrat, S-5) walked over, wearing a backwards ball cap and track pants. Stack, who serves Philadelphia, had been assigned to Team West to help keep a balanced roster. “Those guys, they look like they got their shit together,” he said. He was referring to Team East.

The senators started lobbing a softball. Mike Brubaker (Republican, S-36) approached, his jersey tucked into his blue jeans. “You guys are lookin’ good,” he said. While Solobay rolled grounders, the speakers boomed the Bangles. “Walk like—an Egyp-shun.”

In the Team West dugout, technicians for PCN set up for the broadcast. A communications triumvirate—Bob Caton, spokesman for the House Democrats, Steve Miskin, spokesman for the House Republicans, and Erik Arneson, the communications and policy director for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi—would be calling the game on live TV.

“They are three really funny people,” Corinna Wilson, PCN’s vice president of programming, had said before the game. She estimated that grouping them for the broadcast would make for lively commentary. She was correct. Late in the game, when Jim Christiana (Republican, H-15) snagged a Pileggi fly ball, Arneson remarked that it was “unfortunately the end of a promising legislative career.”

Rob Teplitz (Democrat, S-15) emerged from the locker room, his jersey tucked into knee-length khaki shorts, his phone clipped to his belt. Paul Simon’s “Call Me Al” had overtaken the stadium air. “A man walks down the street, he says, why am I soft in the middle now…”

Lawmakers and cameras begin to fill the field, in about equal proportion. The event was about hunger, of course, but it was also about the legislators. Brubaker, the co-chair of the Legislative Hunger Caucus—“He feels personally responsible that no person goes hungry in the state of Pennsylvania,” Wilson said—posed with a bat for Fox News. “This is a really exciting day for me,” he said to the lens.

Farther off, in the nearly empty stands above the Team East dugout, a group of suits waved down Christiana, who had entered the ballpark with Tommy Sankey (Republican, H-74). They wanted to talk anesthesiology. Were they lobbying? There wasn’t time to find out. “One of us has gotta be loose. We’re the dynamic duo,” Sankey said. He dashed down the staircase towards the locker rooms.

After group photos, the teams lined up on the baselines. The First Lady, Susan Corbett, said a few words. “We really love you for being here,” she said. “Good luck to all the team members. We’ll see you coming to work tomorrow—” She did a brief pantomime of a sore, stiff lawmaker. Then she headed for the stands behind home plate, where she sat a few seats in front of her security detail.

Eddie Pashinski (Democrat, H-121) took the mound for the national anthem. The crowd fell reverentially quiet for the color guard, and then Pashinski, unamplified, gestured for a mike. “Anybody can do it with a microphone,” said Larry Farnese (Democrat, S-1). As Pashinski crooned, the crowd murmured with him, their voices small and predominantly soprano.

“And the hoooome—of the—braaaave,” Pashinski sang. A pair of helicopters screamed directly over the stadium, flying north. It was so well timed, more than one spectator observed, it could not possibly have been planned by the legislature.

The first inning’s fielding was rocky. The softball, plump and white, moved slowly, but so did the lawmakers. In the second at-bat, Lisa Boscola (Democrat, S-18) chopped one over Solobay’s head. Jake Wheatley (Democrat, H-19) recovered it, but overthrew to first base, and Boscola advanced. On the next hit, Solobay stopped the ball short but, in the process, tumbled forward and rolled onto his back.

Later, the 10-year-old daughter of Sheryl Delozier (Republican, H-88) helped to explain the abundance of errors. The lawmakers hadn’t had time to practice. “They were late out of caucus,” she said.

Team East fared no better. In the first inning, a double error along the third baseline gave up a run. In the second, John Yudichak (Democrat, S-14) fell to a questionable third-strike call. (“No way,” Brubaker keened from the sidelines. “Nooo way.”) Daylin Leach (Democrat, S-17), who had spent the entire inning on deck, test-swinging two bats, also failed to deliver. “Daylin, you’re due,” Farnese said. “You’re due.” Leach popped an infield fly for an easy out.

On an upper level, behind the glass wall of the press box, John Baer and Carmen Finestra announced the game over the stadium loudspeakers. Baer, a veteran political reporter with the Philadelphia Daily News, is known for his caustic take on the statehouse. (His blog is titled “Baer Growls.”) He and Finestra, a writer and producer for the ‘90s sitcom “Home Improvement,” have been friends since childhood. They peppered their game-calling with good-natured jabs. (“Due to the pending bill to reduce the size of the state legislature, it has been decided that any representative that does not get a hit tonight will have their seat eliminated.”)

Behind home plate—just about everyone was behind home plate—sat Lori Hoffmaster, the executive director of Channels Food Rescue, a hunger-relief nonprofit on N. 6^th Street, in Uptown Harrisburg. Channels, Hoffmaster explained, is “kind of non-traditional.” Rather than store food in a warehouse, they collect food nearing or at expiration and deliver it on the same day. They also run a culinary school for “people who need a second chance,” which Hoffmaster described as the “largest commercial kitchen on the eastern seaboard.”

By the bottom of the fourth, Team East was trailing, 8-1. Errors had persisted, particularly around first base. “It makes me not feel so bad about when I played softball,” Hoffmaster said. Did Channels have a favorite? “We’re Central PA, so we’re rooting for everyone,” said Megan Coble, Channels’ development coordinator.

By the sixth, the Team West dugout, drunk on their lead and, perhaps, on the beer donated by Dick Yuengling, had started chanting. As Jerry Stern (Republican, H-80), the tourism chair, stepped up, Jeff Pyle (Republican, H-60) gave a yeasty rendition of the “Charge!” organ theme: “Na na na nah, na nahhh! Chair!”

Christiana, who had come wearing eye black, spit sunflower seeds into the dirt.

It came time for Team West’s captain, Speaker of the House Sam Smith (Republican, H-66), to slug. “Sam bats right, throws right and votes right,” Baer observed. Smith’s roster stuck out of the back pocket of his jeans. He had not come to run. “Patience, patience,” Christiana advised. Smith tapped the ball into the pitcher’s glove, tipped his hat to the crowd, took the roster out of his pocket and starting calling out positions for the seventh.

“Sam, was that a bunt or what?” someone in the crowd called.

Smith smiled, hands on his hips. “I’ve been busy.”

The game concluded in the seventh, after a diving catch from Christiana (“That was a trap!” someone in the crowd yelled. “Booo!”) and a last, uneventful at-bat from Team East. Greg Vitali (Democrat, H-166) ended the game on deck, his jersey tails dangling, as they had all game, past the ends of his rather suggestively cut shorts. “Someone tell Vitali to put some pants on,” Pyle said. It was the last comment this reporter heard before the final out.

On the field after the game, Deary handed out monogrammed bats to the team captains and the Hunger Caucus co-chairs. “Most importantly, we raised funds for the folks who need our help,” said Jay Costa (Democrat, S-43). Deary thanked everyone again and turned off the mike. “You don’t have to go home, but you have to get off my grass,” barked one of the stadium managers.

“Not having food is such a basic—I can’t imagine, you know?” Deary said later. “I never realized, thinking about how really important it is, to not have food for your family.” The event had raised more than $50,000 before it even started, mainly through corporate sponsorships, and a preliminary estimate was that the raffle, food and ticket sales at the game had raised another $10,000. “This’ll buy a lot of food, hopefully!” Deary said.

Is it bad sportsmanship to point out that the final tally is short of the nearly $7 million shortfall in the state’s food purchase program, which the legislature has consistently trimmed? In a press release this past July, Hunger-Free Pennsylvania noted that if funding “simply kept pace with food prices, the program would need $23.8 million to break even.” The 2013-2014 budget allocates $17.4 million—an increase of $100,000 over the previous year’s total, and the first boost to the fund since 2006.

At any rate, Deary, by gathering the lawmakers for a ballgame, may have found a way to circumvent partisan congestion.

Caryn Long, the executive director of Feeding Pennsylvania, said that she had spoken with one of the players on Team East. “He was saying that, you know, he’s a freshman member, and there’s so many things that are dinners, but everything is also partisan, too. And he said this is the first event that he’s gotten to take part in that was not only fun but a bipartisan event.”

Deary agreed. “One of the sponsors, and I won’t mention which one of them, said, ‘We are willing to donate some amount of money if you will have a Capitol March Madness. And I thought, ‘That’s kind of clever!’ I don’t think I could handle it til next year, but it is a good idea. Wouldn’t it be fun to do a Capitol March Madness?”

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