Okay, cool. I still don't know if I am going yet LOL I can pay at the door and it's only an extra $5 to do so (which is going to a good cause so I don't mind) so I guess this is why I am not rushing to make up my mind about what exactly I am going to do on Sat. ;)

Check this out, a follow-up to the article you posted months ago:


Task force to tackle urban changes

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

BY DANIEL VICTOR
Of The Patriot-News

A task force composed of city officials, college professors and business leaders is trying to improve Harrisburg's urban neighborhoods.

The Urban Studio Project, part of Mayor Stephen R. Reed's Harrisburg Urban Initiative Program, hopes to use architecture students from universities throughout the state to benefit neighborhoods.

No specific locations have been targeted yet, although city planning director Dan Leppo has suggested several.

The idea comes from Auburn University, which in 1993 launched a program to improve one of the country's poorest regions.

According to Brad Guy, the Urban Studio's acting chairperson and director of operations at Penn State University's Hamer Center for Community Design Assistance, the Auburn program has spawned 100 similar charity efforts across the nation.

"We see this as an excellent opportunity to have Pennsylvania's architecture students learn in a unique, hands-on environment, and at the same time help to improve neighborhoods in Harrisburg, and eventually in other cities across the commonwealth," he said.

Robert Philbin, director of the Harrisburg Urban Initiative, said the program should be welcome in the city.

*******

Maybe they can work on issues like this:

City couple shot numerous times in legs, police say

Victims report they were sitting on porch when 2 men approached

Wednesday, June 16, 2004
BY THEODORE DECKER
Of The Patriot-News

A man and woman were shot repeatedly in the legs as they sat on their front porch in Harrisburg early yesterday, police say.

Both victims were expected to recover from a shooting that police say may be linked to an earlier shooting in another part of the city.

In the first shooting, police said they were called around midnight to the 300 block of Crescent Street on Allison Hill.

No one was injured, but a car was damaged by gunfire.

About 12:30 a.m., police were summoned to the home of Marisol Vasquez and Reinaldo Vargas for a second shooting, according to authorities.

Police found Vasquez, 36, and Vargas, 28, who are engaged, bleeding profusely from gunshot wounds to their legs.

The couple told police they had been sitting on their porch in the 1400 block of Reily Road, part of the Hillside Village public housing development off North Cameron Street, when two men they didn't know approached and opened fire.

Both were taken to the hospital for treatment. A 9-year-old boy inside the home was not hurt, police said.

Vargas said he had no idea why he and Vasquez would be targeted.

Police said the shooting might be connected to the Crescent Street incident, although it was unclear how yesterday.

Police, who are investigating several other nonfatal shootings from the weekend, had not made any arrests as of yesterday afternoon.

Readers with information are asked to call police at 255-3131.

Stupid fu*kers. :mad: :hell: But it just goes to show something: all of those cows in the city, and not one of them vandalized like this. Yet they put one in New Cumberland for a few hours, and look what happens...


CowParade loses head during West Shore visit

Butcher of New Cumberland cuts into CowParade

CowParade, police seek butcher of New Cumberland

Wednesday, June 16, 2004
BY FRANK COZZOLI AND JERRY L. GLEASON
Of The Patriot-News

The cow New Cumberland clamored for has lost its head to vandalism.

Police are searching for the culprit who took a saw to "Balanced Diet," a fiberglass bovine that was one of 136 cow statues decorating the midstate in an outdoor art project this spring.

The vandalism, the most serious since CowParade Harrisburg 2004 began in late March, was reported at 1 a.m. yesterday. To make matters worse, the 100-pound painted cow, sponsored by Karns Food Ltd., had only been in town since Friday.

"I'd like to know why this one was picked," said Police Chief Oren "Bud" Kauffman III. The cow stood in a lighted area outside Baughman Memorial United Methodist Church at Third and Bridge streets.

CowParade, a fund-raiser for the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, has been attracting fans and photographers to locations in Harrisburg, Hershey, Camp Hill, Carlisle and elsewhere.

But before "Balanced Diet" arrived, not one of the commissioned cows was on display in New Cumberland. A recent campaign by a group of borough residents prompted Karns to move its sponsored cow from Harrisburg's Riverfront Park to the church.

"The people of New Cumberland enjoyed having the cow and they are as upset as we are that it was damaged," said Byron Quann, Whitaker Center president and CEO.

Kauffman said the vandalism was reported to police by a witness. A man, who left the head at the scene, was reportedly seen running from the statue, but his description was not available.

Scott Karns, chief executive officer of Karns Food Ltd., called the act senseless.

"You expect to see little scratches," Karns said. "But malicious vandalism? It really did surprise me."

Until yesterday, no cow had been the victim of any serious vandalism.

"There were some attempts to tip some over back in April, and a few cows were scuffed up, but no one had taken a saw or a hammer to one of them until now," Quann said.

Karns said it took artist Marion Stephenson of Columbia three weeks to paint the cow with pictures of fruits and vegetables.

"To go out and destroy a piece of art like this is just senseless," Karns said.

CowParade is scheduled to conclude June 26 with a party and auction at the Farm Show Complex. The statues, expected to draw $7,500-plus each at auction, cost $6,000 to sponsor.

Quann said the Karns cow will be repaired. "We have every intent of restoring the cow to its original condition," he said.

The big question is why it happened. "That's what we're trying to figure out," Kauffman said. "We have no idea what the motivation was."

Readers with information that may assist the investigation may call police at 774-0400.

One of the state's biggest wine/spirits outlets now in Lemoyne. Next year, one of the state's biggest liquor stores in Lower Paxton Twp. (where Dick's used to be, next to KMart on 22). Interesting...very interesting...


CONSUMER AFFAIRS

Popping the cork

State sells high-quality wine, liquor at new store

Wednesday, June 16, 2004
BY DAVID DeKOK
Of The Patriot-News

It's big, it's friendly, and has more wines from around the world than you can shake a stick at.

The newly expanded Wine and Spirits Premium Collection Store in the West Shore Plaza in Lemoyne now ranks with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's biggest and best wine superstores in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, both in square footage and the sort of quality wines you can buy there.

"We have the most highly allocated, hard-to-find wine here in Lemoyne," said PLCB chairman Jonathan Newman. "If you can't find what you want here, you're very picky."

That might be overstating the case just a bit. While Newman has accomplished much in terms of making the PLCB more wine-friendly, consumers are still unlikely to find all the wines they read about. Of 10 French white Burgundies reviewed in The New York Times last week, just four were in the PLCB computer system and two of those were only available by special order.

A surprise worth mentioning, though, is that all four were listed at prices that were less, in one case considerably so, than the New York prices quoted in the review.

The West Shore Plaza store was expanded into an adjoining space, giving it about 13,000 square feet. In addition to a much bigger selection, it has a cool room for the finest of the fine wines. That makes it much less likely a delicate wine will go bad, at least from the heat. Newman said any consumer who gets a bad bottle from the PLCB should bring it back.

"We'll make good," he said. "We want to be a wine-friendly state."

Guest of honor at the grand opening recently was James Mariani, proprietor of Banfi Vintners, a major wine importer, and of Castello Banfi, the family vineyard estate in southern Tuscany. Mariani is a third-generation Italian-American whose family actually went back to Italy to open a vineyard.

"It didn't make sense to a lot of people, but they saw great potential for Italian wine," he said. "We work hard to bring you wines that are enjoyable, pleasant, and fun to drink."

The premier Banfi wine type is Brunello Montalcino, made from Sangiovese grapes grown around the Tuscan hill town of Montalcino. Brunellos rarely sell for less than $30 a bottle in the U.S. and frequently go for much more. In restaurants in Italy, they tend to be served with a certain reverence.

He offered his 1998 Brunello for tasting, calling it a "beautiful, harmonious wine that brings forth the greatness of the Sangiovese grape variety." Two other, blended reds were also presented for tasting, as was one white, San Angelo Pinot Grigio. Until a little over a year ago, when the law changed, it was illegal to open a bottle in a state store.

Mariani said most pinot grigios are grown in northeastern Italy, which has a cooler climate than Tuscany, and as a result the grapes don't get as much sun. That tends to make wines made from them more "lean and acidic," he said.

In Tuscany, the grapes get more sun and the family has "no problem maturing the grapes to full sugar," he said.

:no: :mad:

HIA train station plan off track

Amtrak drags its feet, aviation director says

Wednesday, June 16, 2004
BY ELLEN LYON
Of The Patriot-News

Plans to build a train station at Harrisburg International Airport are being derailed by Amtrak, airport officials charge.

"They have been less than greatly cooperative with us," according to Fred Testa, HIA aviation director.

Amtrak officials said they were surprised to hear of Testa's concerns. They said they are trying to cooperate, but noted that the project is of greater importance to HIA than the railroad.

The Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns and operates HIA, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Corp. have been in negotiations over the proposed station for about three years.

The station would be on land owned by Amtrak and the airport, and its construction would involve moving a Norfolk Southern track.

Testa said that in planning a $240 million expansion at the airport, SARAA revived a plan first advanced by PennDOT in the early 1990s to build a train station at HIA.

SARAA had hoped that the $11 million train station -- which the authority would build, operate and maintain -- would open at the same time as a new parking garage and 350,000-square-foot terminal. All three buildings were to be connected by moving sidewalks.

But only the terminal and parking garage are on track for an August opening. Construction of the train station hasn't started.

The airport already has spent about $1 million on design of the station and relocation of utilities, with PennDOT to pay the rest through various grant sources, Testa said.

Now, he complained, "Amtrak is changing all the rules again."

Three years ago, Amtrak officials said the passenger railroad needed $750,000 to do its share of the work on the station, but they recently raised that amount to $2.5 million, Testa said.

Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel said he had never heard the $750,000 figure, but that last August, Amtrak officials estimated they would need $2.3 million for railroad protection, flagging, electrical work and other services, not including communications and signal work.

The most recent estimate, which includes the communications and signal pieces, is $3.3 million, Stessel said.

Testa said Amtrak officials also have demanded that they be given eight months' notice between the time the construction contract is awarded and when the contractor is given notice to proceed.

"I don't know of any contractor that is going to hold the price for eight months," he said. "They want final approval of all the plans even though they're not contributing a thin dime to the project."

Stessel said that amount of advance notice is standard in similar agreements that Amtrak has because it deals with several projects at the same time and needs to plan for its workers to be available.

"The last thing we would want is to have a contractor show up at the job site and be delayed by our inability to provide workers," he said. "There would be penalties involved with that."

Stessel added that Amtrak would try to be flexible with the eight-month requirement.

Testa also complained that at a meeting attended by Tim Edwards, HIA's deputy director of aviation, Amtrak expressed little interest in the project.

At the mid-March meeting, Edwards said, someone asked the Amtrak representatives about their level of commitment to the project.

"They basically came back and said they didn't care whether the train station was built or not," Edwards recalled. "This wasn't a high priority for them. They didn't have a high level of interest."

Stessel said it's a "true and fair statement" that Amtrak is willing to go along with the project, but "we would not do it on our own." He noted that a train station in Middletown is only about a mile away.

The Middletown station would close if a station opens at HIA, Testa said.

Joe Daversa, director of PennDOT's Bureau of Transportation and a participant in the negotiations, declined to be interviewed. He said through a spokesman that all the parties are continuing to negotiate.

Stessel said "it would be helpful if these issues were handled through the proper channels," instead of through the media.

He added that this is the first officials in Amtrak's engineering, legal and planning departments had heard of Testa's displeasure, and they were "all taken aback."

Testa said he is less optimistic about the train station's chances now than he was only a few months ago, but he has not given up hope.

"We're going to try to get to Mr. Gunn himself," Testa said, referring to Amtrak President and CEO David L. Gunn.

:rolleyes: This project is important to BOTH organizations. And this is exactly why Amtrak is failing...0 business sense IMO.

/\ Dave...nice articles :D once again, you are keeping me informed about the latest events.

as for the Urban Studio Project...i'm really psyched about it and i think it will be a great future project for city neighborhoods. maybe Harrisburg will become a top arts and architecture destination in the future. we both know there is a lot of potential :D

i'm sorry to hear about that shooting...one of the guys who works with me told me about another shooting last week in which a guy was shot for $20 on Market Street in the Hill District. that's why i don't venture to the Hill very often...and never at night :nono:

as for the cow getting it's head chopped off...i laughed at first when i read that. but it really isn't funny :( someone put a lot of effort, time and money into designing and building the work of art...it certainly didn't deserve to be destroyed by someone who obviously has no appreciation for others. i hope they fry the guy who did it :hell:

so the state is expanding the Lemoyne liquor store??? i drive by there pretty routinely and i never noticed they have expanded. hmmm...well i guess this is a good thing, although i still don't like the idea of the state having a monopoly on alcohol. but as long as they do, one of the largest stores should definately be within walking distance of my house :banana:

Amtrak should be PRIVATIZED!!! there i said it :) i got into some trouble on the transportation forum for expressing the thoughts that the national rail monopoly should be carved up and deregulated. Amtrak isn't working to the benefit of the consumer....it hasn't been for quite some time now. that's why the railroad's annual passenger volumes only range between 18-22 million. that's really not a lot of people using intercity rail. i agree more money and resources should be allocated to improve passenger rail, but Amtrak needs a serious overhall. and if it can be fixed, then great. but let's fix it...otherwise it needs to be privatized. portions of it can be operated by the states or joint authorities or whatever. the HIA terminal will link Amtrak's keystone corridor to a brand new 14 gate, multi-terminal, international airport that is recieving above average increases in passenger volumes. and the airport authority will pay for 95% of the cost. duh... it's a no brainer on their (Amtrak's) part! it will mean more passengers using rail to get to and from the airport and other destinations.
what a bunch of retards...it's their jobs to care about improving station service and infrastructure. it should be Amtrak's priority to work towards increasing passenger volumes and providing better passenger services...furthermore, this project should fit right into any future "master" plan the railroad would have for this corridor which links Philly, HBG, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.

anyway, i'll stop ranting now. let me know about this weekend Dave. i'm really looking for to it. i work most evenings so i regret that i don't get out that much anymore. but this Saturday i will be rare form :crazy:

You're very welcome, Chris. I'm happy that you are here to keep these conversations going. It may be just you and I talking most of the time, but I know a lot of people are looking. Thank God for the "Views" column. ;)

I totally agree with everything you said, Chris. The only thing that scares me about privitization of the railroads is the horror stories my Aunt in England tells me. They've had some major accidents because of the private companies not keeping up on things like they should. Sure you can really keep a close eye on them, but it's not the same thing when it's ultimately not your neck on the line, ya know?

Still, SOMETHING needs to be done. How Amtrak could not buy into a project like this is beyond me. They are getting a gold platter. :???:

I will let you know about Saturday for sure. :)

Oh and btw, I think I know who vandalized the cow unfortunately. My old co-worker's bad ass kid and his friends were the first person that popped into my head when I read about. I talked to her yesterday and sure enough, the cops were questioning him about it. I know her very well and I told her to tell the cops that I will handle the discipline for them if it does turn out to be him/them.

And I know it is way off subject, but what the f*ck is up with this humidity?!? I just looked at the figures and it's at 82% right now as I type this. YIKES!!! Those people at Jubilee Day are probably sweating like crazy. :cool:

:carrot:

Museum regains chance for favored site

Furlow Building buyer consents to lease negotiations

It is in the best interest of the city to see that [Furlow] building developed.

Thursday, June 17, 2004
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News

Harrisburg's proposed African-American museum might get its preferred site in midtown, after all.

In a possible compromise, the museum might lease space in the vacant Furlow Building, which was already scheduled to be refurbished by private developers.

Initially, both the developers and museum planners knew nothing of each other's designs for the site. The proposed compromise could turn competing plans into complementary ones.

York developers Dorgan & Zuck Inc. have a sales agreement with the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority to buy the Furlow Building. But the 8-month-old agreement was set to expire June 27.

In agreeing to extend the deal for another month, the authority board this week urged the developers to meet with museum officials interested in leasing space in the building.

Redevelopment authority member Andrew Giorgione said the developers should use the time to open talks with the museum and shore up financing for the $2.5-million renovation.

In addition, the redevelopment authority agreed to lower the sales price of the Furlow Building to $90,000, down from $144,500, in an effort to advance the city's 10-year effort to develop the site.

Fred Clark, chairman of the board planning the National Museum of African-American History, welcomed the compromise, saying he did not want to stand in the way of a private developer rehabilitating the building.

That way, the long-vacant building would be put back on the tax rolls and the nonprofit museum could lease the space, he said.

"It is in the best interest of the city to see that building developed," Clark said. "We wish to lease space in the building."

The museum board's plans call for a jazz club, a soul food restaurant and hotel, along with exhibits tracing black history from the slave trade to the present day.

Originally the development company had planned a mix of uses for the six-story building at 1224 N. Third St., including space for a law firm, other offices and apartments.

Clark said initial overtures by the museum to lease space had been rebuffed by development company officials, who expressed more interest in developing and then selling the building to the museum.

But that proposal could prevent the building from becoming taxable property again, a long-time city goal. "Why not negotiate with us?" Clark said.

Redevelopment authority officials pointed out that the developers' financing was still unclear and no other leases or commitments were in place, making the time ripe to deal with the museum.

Mark Lambdin, vice president of the development company, said he would meet with Clark and expressed openness toward incorporating the museum plans.

"Sure, why not?" he said. "The first floor is just a giant white box right now. We don't care what color paint is on the walls."

Among the museum plans is a mural room.

Clark said the museum also plans to respond to a request for proposals by the Historic Harrisburg Association to use that agency's adjacent building for part of the museum, as well.

In April, the museum board selected the Furlow Building, the Historic Harrisburg Association building and an adjacent vacant lot as the preferred site for the museum.

Hopes were high that the project could become midtown's cultural, social and economic anchor at North Third and Verbeke streets, in a neighborhood that also includes the Midtown Cinema, several bookstores and the Broad Street Market.

However, neither the developers of the Furlow Building nor officials of Historic Harrisburg were contacted in advance about the plans. This produced some initial concern and confusion about the viability of the proposal.

"We never meant to surprise anybody," Clark said.

Residents want state to control bars' noise

Residents: Bar noise levels need state touch

State urged to maintain control on bar noise

Thursday, June 17, 2004
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News

Emogene Trexel said she made several late-night trips to the
Mars bar at South and Second streets in downtown Harrisburg.

She wasn't there to sample the trendy bar's trademark martini's, but rather to plead with the manager to turn down the driving beat of the bass-heavy Techno music that was invading her South Street townhouse.

Connie Druckenmiller moved from the 11th floor of the nearby Presbyterian Apartments all the way to the 18th floor. Yet she still hears what she described as the "thump, thump, thump" of music.

And dentist Jim Nesbit is considering moving out of the city, fleeing the noise that he says has become an annoying byproduct of Harrisburg's thriving Restaurant Row.

"At this moment, I'm moving out of the city," said Nesbit, a resident of the first block of Locust Street.

These residents and a few others testified yesterday about too much noise, too little sleep and plenty of frustration in trying to get the Harrisburg police to do something about it.

Their laundry list of complaints were aired before officials of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, as that agency considers whether to again hand over noise enforcement of Harrisburg's downtown bars to the city.

The city's enforcement would give downtown bars broader latitude when it comes to outdoor music during the summer season.

The biggest change would be that downtown bars, clubs and restaurants could plug in outdoor speakers to provide ambience for al fresco dining.

Outside music isn't allowed under the stricter PLCB rules.

In the past, bar owners supported the change, saying the outdoor music adds to the eclectic atmosphere of downtown.

But not a single owner attended yesterday's hearing, the only public session to be held on the matter before the three-member PLCB board votes, probably this month.

Aside from a city attorney and a Harrisburg police captain, no one spoke in favor of the change.

But opponents recalled numerous instances when noise and music from the bars disturbed their sleep, disrupted their lives and deprived them of the enjoyment of their homes.

Ken Morris said he can't open his window to "enjoy the summer breeze" for all of the noise. He said he even installed replacement windows, which cut down on the noise that seeps through even when the windows are closed.

Nesbit said he went so far as to press a police complaint against the downtown bar Fisaga after repeatedly asking the establishment to turn down the volume.

When it came time to have his case heard before a district justice, Nesbit said, the officers didn't show up. He said the bar got off with a "slap on the wrist."

By comparison, when the Liquor Control Enforcement arm of the state police is enforcing noise complaints, infractions can jeopardize a bar's liquor license.

"I think the Liquor Control Board has more teeth to threaten their license," Nesbit said.

Added Trexel: "Has the city proven it can enforce its own noise ordinance? The answer is no."

If approved, the noise-enforcement change would affect 32 licensed downtown establishments from Chestnut Street to Forster Streets and Front to Seventh streets.

Unlike last year, when the PLCB granted the exemption on a 60-day trial basis, Harrisburg is asking that the change be made for an indefinite period.

For the city's part, Capt. Ike Nixon said his officers issued just one citation and one warning during last year's trial. But he could not be specific on the number of complaint calls received, and he expressed shock over some of the residents' complaints.

Nixon added that there are about 12 police officers on duty during a typical weekend night shift for the entire city. Still, he said, city enforcement can work, and that window-rattling bass music should not be tolerated, especially after hours.

"People need to contact me, and I'll rectify the problem," Nixon said.

When it comes to enforcement, Harrisburg would apply a simple test. If the music is plainly audible 50 feet from its source, it's too loud and a violation under the city's noise ordinance.

A PLCB spokeswoman said the agency would review the testimony given at the hearing, then the three-member board would issue a decision, possibly as soon as its June 29 meeting.

Mechanicsburg looks at selling rail station

Thursday, June 17, 2004
BY JOE ELIAS
Of Our Carlisle Bureau

Amid the hustle and bustle of today's 76th annual Jubilee Day in Mechanicsburg, bor ough officials will attempt to conduct a little business.

They will hang a sign on the old railroad station on Strawberry Alley, telling the expected 50,000 visitors to the festival that the building could be theirs, for the right price.

Borough Manager Jonathan Stough said the borough has received inquiries from Capital Area Transit officials. The agency could use the former Cumberland Valley Railroad station as a stop along the proposed commuter rail system that would connect Carlisle to Harrisburg, he said.

In fact, Stough said, the borough has received more than a dozen inquiries about the property, including one from the Mechanicsburg Museum Association to establish a Cumberland Valley Railroad Museum.

"Any number of groups want the building because of its location and historical significance," Stough said.

The now-defunct Cumberland Valley Railroad once stretched from Harrisburg to Winchester, Va. In all that distance, just four public railroad buildings remain, and all four are in Mechanicsburg. The museum association owns or leases the other three.

For anyone not interested in a real estate investment opportunity, Jubilee Day offers plenty of other things to see and do, including a petting zoo, pony rides and amusement rides for children. Adults can check out broom making, woodworking and other crafts.

The street fair, billed as the largest of its kind east of the Mississippi River, also features scores of food vendors.

well i'm glad to see the museum is shaping up. i think it will greatly help to contribute more development in the midtown district of the city. it's a great historic neighborhood!

as for the noise downtown...i definately see the residents points on limiting it. there are quite a few nice residential neighborhoods within walking distance of resturaunt row...i would hate to see people start moving out of the city because of the late night noise. these establishments are already making a killing and people are already flocking to them...i don't think we need to trun 2nd Street into a carnival ;) maybe allowing outside noise limited to 50 feet of the establishment, but no noise after 11 during the week and 12:30 on fri-sat??? something like that can work to the favor of both parties i believe. but overall...whatever is decided needs to be enforced.

i was upset i didn't get out to Jubilee Day today :( oh well, i been to so many of them anyway. it's really a great street fair though! as for the rail station...i think it would make a great museum. they could even have authentic replicas of the old steam and diesel trains that traveled through the valley years ago. as for the corridorone station...i think a site nearby with a modern facility would be more appropriate for the corridor. at any rate...i'm not sure how the commuter rail corridor is going to connect from Sporting Hill Road further west to Carlisle without major reconstruction of the existing lines. those lines are all at grade with dozens of road intersections. that will have to be changed.

the humidity sucks! i spent 6 months of training in south carolina a couple years ago...and the humidity is a lot worse in PA than it is down there; however, you would think the opposite. our weather is really screwed up...hot and humid during the summer and cold and frigid during the winter :nuts:

<b>Road designers aim to appease homeowners
Lingle Avenue, Route 422 plans to be modified</b>

Friday, June 18, 2004
BY MONICA VON DOBENECK
Harrisburg Patriot-News
Of Our Palmyra Bureau

The designers of intersection improvements at Lingle Avenue and Route 422 are going to take another stab at pleasing residents when they present two alternatives at a public meeting Wednesday.

Tom Smith, project manager for Buchart-Horn engineers, got an earful when he presented his first proposal to a standing-room-only crowd of several hundred people in February.

Yesterday, he said he hopes the new designs cause less of a backlash.

The $8 million project would add turning lanes to the intersection, at the border of Palmyra and Derry Twp., with the intention of easing congestion.

The alternatives will probably force 12 to 15 homeowners to relocate, Smith said. That is more than the original design required. But the earlier proposal took the front yards of many houses, and most property owners said they would rather lose the whole house than be left with a less valuable property fronting the busy street.

"These changes were not difficult from a design standpoint, but this is a little different," Smith said. "Usually we try to minimize the takings."

The new designs would still take small amounts from the yards of some homes, but enlarge the yards in others, Smith said.

He said the new alternatives would increase the cost of acquiring properties, but he did not yet have any figures. He said the costs would still be within budget.

Smith estimated that buying rights-of-way would account for about one third the cost of the project.

PennDOT would pay for construction, but the municipalities would be responsible for the rights-of-way. In Palmyra's case, the money would come from a tax plan negotiated with Hillwood Development, the developers of the General Mills plant on Lingle Avenue. Instead of paying full taxes for 11 years, Hillwood would put half its tax money in the road fund.

People who came to the first meeting also were concerned about the increasing traffic in the area, a part of the midstate experiencing some of the region's fastest population growth.

Some said the improvements don't go far enough. One woman called it "an expensive Band-Aid."

Several people blamed the new Hershey Foods and General Mills warehouses, combined with the extension of Hersheypark Drive, for bringing more traffic through the intersection.

Homeowners also were angry at how long the process was taking, because they are unable to sell their homes and were not sure whether to postpone repairs. That is unlikely to change, as the designers try to come up with alternatives to please as many people as possible.

Construction is tentatively scheduled to being in 2006.

Palmyra borough Manager Sherry Capello said the officials involved have been "meeting diligently to move it forward at a fast pace."

"I can understand being in limbo is frustrating," she said. "But if people were sincere in their comments, I think they will look on this favorably. I think we did our best to address most, if not all, the comments from the first meeting."

MONICA VON DOBENECK: 832-2090 or mdobeneck@patriot-news.com

Interesting... Many of PennDOT's next wave of projects requires homes/businesses to be demolished (this project, Walnut & Progress...). I am curious to see how it will all pan out.

Thanks for the article, Chris. :)

Jubilee Day is like no other day in Mechanicsburg

Some residents take off work to enjoy fest's food, rides

Friday, June 18, 2004
BY JOE ELIAS
Of Our Carlisle Bureau

Mechanicsburg residents survive Jubilee Day one of three ways: they dig in, hunker down or enjoy themselves.

The annual street festival -- which is touted as the biggest one-day street fair -- yesterday drew thousands of participants and clogged streets and sidewalks with carnival rides, food vendors and games.

"It's basically a holiday around here," said Mike Walkman. "I guess you could say it's sort of our national holiday. Everything comes to a halt."

In fact, the annual festival extends to some borough residents a national holiday perk -- a day off work.

That allowed Antonio Granny time to spend with family -- at the festival and inside his air-conditioned home.

"As soon as we smell the food, we're out the door in the morning," he said. "Then before it gets too hot, I'm back inside."

Granny said he takes the day off each year out of necessity.

"I would have no problem getting out of town in the morning," he said. "But there's no way I would get back into town after work."

Yesterday's 76th annual edition of Jubilee Day dawned in the usual manner, with work crews setting up carnival rides, bringing in portable toilets and assembling vendor booths. Meanwhile, borough residents like Walkman prepared for the onslaught of more than 50,000 people.

It calls for some clever planning.

Every day, Granny parks his car outside his home on Locust Street, which doesn't close for the festival and is about a block from all the festivities.

If he moved his car, he would lose the parking spot and not be able to reclaim it until midnight, Granny said. So the family stays put.

"We just have fun and go with it," said Kristy, Granny's wife. "We're right here, why not?"

Others take the passive approach and wait for the crowds to go away.

Sharon Boyd takes the day off from work to avoid the headache of coming back into town.

"I'm not a big fan of the crowds either," she said. "I'm content to just watch everyone else have fun."

Still, for some borough residents and merchants, the annual day of fun brings a measure of inconvenience.

With parking spaces at a premium, borough businesses, restaurants and churches spent Wednesday night barricading and roping off their parking lots.

And with a two-hour parking restriction along some streets, Louetta Hopple moved her car out to Mechanicsburg High School and enjoyed the hassle-free shuttle bus provided by festival organizers.

"It's only once a year. It's not a big deal," said Hopple, who enjoyed the day with her 14-year-old grandson. "The day is a lot of fun, especially for the kids."

So how was it, Chris? Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. In fact I didn't get anywhere close to DT this whole weekend. It was a really f'd up weekend. :(

*I guess it wouldn't of mattered anyway because by the time I would've been able to get down there it said the tickets were all sold out.

Beer festival brews good time downtown

Sunday, June 20, 2004
BY TOM DOCHAT
Of The Patriot-News

If you open the taps, they will come.

A mass of humanity converged on the 200 block of Locust Street yesterday afternoon and evening for the first-ever Harrisburg Brewer's Fest benefiting the central Pennsylvania chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

"I'm absolutely floored," said Susan Harral, director of special events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. "For a first-year event, I'm absolutely thrilled."

She said the event was sold out of its 3,000 tickets within 90 minutes of the 4 p.m. start.

The result was a packed group of mostly 20- and 30-year-olds sampling beers from 34 microbreweries in seven states. Tickets cost $25 ahead of time, or $30 at the entrance.

"I love it, it's great," said Matt Deardorff of Lower Paxton Twp. "It's a great way to bring a lot of people out here. It's a little too mobbed for my taste, but what can you do? It's for a good cause."

Barb Perrone said she came with a group from Hanover to test the beers. "We're having a good time," she said. "It is for a very good cause. We're glad we can help."

Most people waded their way through the crowd and spent their time talking to friends and fellow beer-lovers. For those serving the beer, it was a little more hectic.

"It's overwhelming, off the charts," said Bob Rupert of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery of Milton, Del. "You can't keep the beer pouring fast enough. But it's a great festival."

"This is great, the weather's held out, it's a beautiful crowd, really nice people, and a nice turnout for a first event," said Gene Muller, president of Flying Fish Brewing Co. of Cherry Hill, N.J.

"It's busy, but not overly busy," he said. "It's still pretty comfortable in terms of space."

Besides the 34 microbreweries, Locust Street restaurants served up food, and three bands entertained throughout the evening.

And, there were plenty of portable toilets lined up by the parking entrance to the federal courthouse.

Dr. Stuart Warren, co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Penn State Children's Hospital and a member of the local CF chapter, said, "We've gotten a tremendous response. The city of Harrisburg bent over backward to be cooperative." He said he hoped the beer fest would be a yearly event.

Warren said about 90 percent of the money raised at cystic fibrosis events goes toward research for a cure to the inherited lung disease. He said cystic fibrosis was first discovered in 1937, but the gene wasn't discovered until 1989.

"Slowly but surely we're making small incremental improvements, learning more about the disease, so that in the next 15 years, I'm quite positive we will have a cure," Warren said.

He noted that people with cystic fibrosis are living into their early 30s today, and the lifespan of babies born today with the disease "is going to be much more than that."

Troegs Brewing Co. of Harrisburg teamed up with the local cystic fibrosis chapter to hold the beer fest.

Oh I'm so excited!!! Did you see the extra section in the paper today, "Top 50 in Business and Industry"? They have some really cool articles in there about HIA and Market Square Plaza. MSP will now be opening in Feb. '05 instead of May of '05!!! And a friend and I were down at 4th and Market St. the other day (the spot for the proposed high-rise in the parking lot next to the G-man, across from the Rachel Carson building). Phoenix Construction Group has their sign up, port-o-potties are in place, orange caution fencing is up and it looks like they are doing prep work already!!! Here is what the article for MSP has to say about it:

Pascotti said that, after a four-month period of relative inactivity caused by the indecision of a possible major tenant, planning has resumed for a high-rise building at Fourth and Market streets, next to Strawberry Square and the state's Rachel Carson office building. Phoenix Development finally told the prospective tenant it couldn't wait any longer.

"It was too important of a site and a project for downtown Harrisburg," he said of the decision. "We are not set as yet as to what's going there. We know it will have components of retail, parking, some office space and some housing, but we don't know the price points."


Our skyline will be changing once again!!! :carrot:

2-campus law school option due study

Dickinson leader appoints committee to review proposal

Sunday, June 20, 2004
The Associated Press

CARLISLE - The chairman of the board that runs Penn State University's law school yesterday appointed an eight-member committee to study the idea of creating a two-campus law school.

The independent governing board of Dickinson School of Law voted last weekend to study the option of creating a law school with campuses in both Carlisle and State College rather than moving the school entirely from its lifelong home in Carlisle.

"Our goal is a draft agreement that covers one law school with two co-equal campuses," LeRoy S. Zimmerman, chairman of the Board of Governors of The Dickinson School of Law, who will chair the committee, said in a statement yesterday. "That means one dean, one administration, one consolidated budget, and, perhaps most important, a single accreditation."

Supporters of a move say staying in Carlisle would require millions of dollars in maintenance and building renovations. They say moving to State College could bolster the school's reputation and allow students to take advantage of a variety of joint-degree programs.

Opponents maintain that the move would deliver an economic blow to Carlisle.

The other people appointed to the committee were William R. Caroselli, a former president of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association; Hubert X. Gilroy, a Carlisle lawyer; Lewis Katz, a New Jersey lawyer and principal owner of the New Jersey Nets; Leslie Anne Miller, general counsel of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; H. Laddie Montague, a shareholder in a Philadelphia law firm; Arthur L. Piccone, a partner in a Wilkes-Barre law firm; and J. Rodman Steele Jr., a shareholder in a law firm in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The board is scheduled to consider the draft agreement on or before Aug. 15. If approved, the agreement would be submitted to Penn State's Board of Trustees at its meeting Sept. 10.

hey Dave...the beerfest was GREAT :D however, there were thousands of people there and it was really packed...infact, it was hard to move around for about 2 hours till the crowd died down. i think i tasted about 20 different beers from 10 or so vendors. i think the event was a huge success. hopefully it will continue as an anual event. next year they should consider closing down more streets or finding another area downtown that is much larger to accomodate all the people.

i read the insert about HIA, Market Square Plaza and the new building on 4th and Market. i'm really excited to see what is planned for that site. hopefully it will be 15-25 floors :D the skyline is ever improving!

i found another article that tackles the Amtrak/HIA train station debate. i'll post it on here, even though i'm sure you have already come across it.

as for the DSL dual campus...i'm glad the study is going to happen. i just hope that Carlisle doesn't get shafted.

hope you had a great weekend...sorry you couldn't make it to the beerfest. you missed a good time. i ran into so many people i knew...it was really weird.

<b>SLOW TRAIN </b>
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Harrisburg Patriot-News

It's a fact that Amtrak has limited resources and must bat tle the administration and Congress every year for enough money to keep running.

A case in point: Amtrak has requested $1.8 billion for the fiscal year beginning in October, up from $1.3 billion this year. The White House is recommending that the national rail-passenger service be cut to $900 million, which Amtrak President David Gunn calls a "shutdown budget."

But that said, Amtrak often is its own worst enemy. The planned train station at Harrisburg International Airport is a good example.

Virtually every airport in Europe is intermodal, with rail or subway connection to nearby cit ies. This, unfor tunately, has been slow to catch on in America. Though Phila delphia and Bal timore-Wash ington airports notably enjoy rail-transit serv ice, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System was only recently extended a few miles south to serve San Francisco International Airport, at a cost of more than $1 billion. And only recently was an indirect light-rail connection to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport accomplished.

HIA, which hopes to complete construction of the nation's first post-9-11 air terminal by Labor Day, is well-positioned to go intermodal. Amtrak's Keystone Corridor -- part of the main line connecting Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Chicago -- is only yards away from the new terminal. Putting a station there, connected directly to the airport by moving sidewalks, is a natural and overnight should increase patronage on the rail line.

Just across the street and up the hill from the proposed airport rail station is the expanding Penn State Harrisburg. Plans call for a new hotel on the airport grounds. In short, an airport train station promises to be at the hub of an area of expanding activity and importance, including development that cannot yet be known but is likely to occur.

One would think that people supposedly concerned with enhancing the attractiveness of rail-passenger service in America would be enthusiastic ("Take the train to the plane") about this planned improvement in Keystone service. In fact, the Amtrak people working on the project have conveyed the impression that they don't care one way or the other whether this station is built. And the fact that they have managed to dawdle for the last three years well attests to that attitude.

The long-awaited $140 million reconditioning of the Keystone Corridor -- with Amtrak and the state each contributing $70 million -- is behind schedule, as well. The contract in the process of being renegotiated, according to PennDOT spokesman Kurt Wilson. This much-needed improvement, which complements the proposed Corridor One regional rail system, would improve the ride and assure faster trips.

This newspaper has long supported Amtrak in its annual budget battles, believing that the country -- facing ever-growing highway and airport congestion and rising energy prices -- needs an attractive, reliable and affordable rail option for travelers.

But the railroad's inability to respond in a timely way to making the HIA train station a reality and its lackadaisical approach to improving service in Pennsylvania is enough to persuade us to reconsider. Perhaps Amtrak has become, as others have concluded, a hopeless cause that will never revive high-caliber rail-passenger service in the country.

We would like to be proven wrong. But it would require a display of resolve to see the HIA station and other Keystone Corridor improvements completed before it's a lost cause.

i was coming home from work last night at around 9:30 and i always cut through downtown to the market street bridge to get to camp hill. i saw this accident...well what was left of it. city police had front shut down and traffic was all screwed up. i couldn't see exactly what happened but i thought for some reason that someone had jumped in the river or something because i thought i saw river rescue. turns out it was a dui fatality. very sad. i think this is number 10 or 12 as far as murders this year in the city. here's the article:

<b>Crash kills man on Front Street
Man fatally crushed in city crash </b>

Tuesday, June 22, 2004
BY MARY KLAUS
Of The Patriot-News

An East Shore man who had just finished walking his dog in Riverfront Park was killed last night when he was struck by a car in front of the Dauphin County Human Services building on Front Street.

The man, whose name was being withheld pending notification of his family, died instantly in the 8:30 p.m. crash near Front and Chestnut streets, said Harrisburg Bureau of Police Chief Charles G. Kellar.

"The victim and his friend had walked their dogs in Riverfront Park," Kellar said, adding that the men were loading the dogs into a red Honda Pilot parked on Front Street.

Kellar said a woman driving a light-colored Chrysler Sebring "at a high rate of speed" down Front Street crashed into the Pilot, missing one man and the dogs but crushing the victim. A man who was in his car three blocks away reported hearing "a big boom."

The victim's black Labrador retriever ran north on Front Street, Kellar said, while the yellow Labrador retriever stayed with the victim's friend. He said the dogs and the friend appeared to be uninjured.

Kellar said the woman crawled out of her car and was taken by ambulance to Harrisburg Hospital, less than half a block away. He said the woman, whose name was not available at press time, would be treated for injuries and undergo blood tests to determine if she was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Police covered the victim with a blanket and closed Front Street between Market and Chestnut streets. As a Dauphin County deputy coroner pronounced the victim dead, the man's friend sat on a nearby bench sobbing.

The city Police Bureau Traffic Safety Unit accident reconstruction team looked for skid marks, took measurements and examined debris from the wreck.

"Front Street is a wide road and people tend to drive too fast on it," Kellar said. "This is a 35 miles per hour zone, but we've clocked people going as high as 70 here. Then the road curves and dips past Harrisburg Hospital and we have accidents."

He said motorists on Front Street should be aware of pedestrians entering and leaving Riverfront Park and of cars entering the street from several side streets that do not have traffic lights.

The death was the second city traffic fatality in four days. On Thursday, Kristopher J. Currier, 24, of Harrisburg, was killed after running a red light and slamming his car under a passing tractor-trailer rig at Market and Cameron streets. That accident remains under investigation.

Anyone with information on either accident is asked to call city police at 255-3131.

MARY KLAUS: 255-8113 or mklaus@patriot-news.com

hey Dave, more development on the west shore. i think the route 15 location would be good.

<b>Cracker Barrel eyes West Shore</b>

Tuesday, June 22, 2004
BY ELLEN LYON
Of The Patriot-News

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is considering locating a restaurant in the Mechanicsburg area, a company official at the chain's Tennessee headquarters confirmed yesterday.

"We have been very impressed by everything that has developed so far," spokesman Jim Taylor said. "We have looked at some property located on Route 15."

However, no final deal has been reached, he added. Since the borough of Mechanicsburg does not adjoin Route 15, the property will likely be a Lower Allen Twp. or Upper Allen Twp. location within the Mechanicsburg postal address.

Each year, the Lebanon, Tenn.-based company considers more than 100 sites, but actually builds only about 25 restaurants, Taylor noted.

There are 501 Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores in 41 states. Pennsylvania has 18, including one off Interstate 81 and Progress Avenue on Brindle Road in Susquehanna Twp., and a location each in Carlisle and York.

The country-style restaurant, with old-fashioned general store attached, typically takes about six months to build and employs about 150 people in full- and part-time positions, according to the company's Web site.

ELLEN LYON: 255-8153 or elyon@patriot-news.com

Yeah that accident is very sad. That stupid bitch was drunk too. I'm soooo sick of DUIs around here. :no:

Nice to hear about the brewer's fest!!! I sure hope they make that an annual event. From the sound of it, they are going to.

My weekend really sucked, but thanks for asking anyway LOL On the birght side, this weekend is going to be fun at least. I am going back to Hershey Park on Sat. for the 2nd FREE time this year. :carrot:


SMOOTH SAILING

Area commuters to benefit from road work lull

Major midstate road work to brake for summer

Monday, June 21, 2004
BY FRANK COZZOLI
Of The Patriot-News

Commuting is about to feel like an out-of-body experience.

The official arrival yesterday of summer found midstate motorists relatively free of inconvenient, disruptive road work.

Sure, road crews will be out around the region in months to come, but their work order should not lead to the detours and logjams caused by the extensive highway work of the last decade.

One reason? Most of the major projects have been completed.

Nightly and weekend closures of the M. Harvey Taylor Bridge? Done. Repairs to Eisenhower Interchange ramps? Done. Resurfacing on Interstates 83 and 283 on the East Shore? Done. Resurfacing Route 15 on the West Shore? Done.

The Dauphin Bypass? Built. The Winding Hill Interchange on Route 15? Open.

"Many of our major projects have wrapped up or are wrapping up," said Greg Penny, spokesman for the District 8 office of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The only major project uncompleted is the rebuilding and widening of Interstate 81 on the East Shore between the Susquehanna River and the split with I-83.

Even so, work on the main line is expected to be wrapped up before August.

Crews will, however, continue work on a $1.5 million project to replace the expansion dams across the George N. Wade Bridge of I-81.

The work will involve lane shifts and additional ramp closures and will continue through the summer, Penny said.

Work is to begin in September on a $6.4 million project to resurface Route 114 between the Carlisle Pike and I-81 in Silver Spring Twp.

Otherwise, it should be relatively smooth sailing around the capital region.

Not so for Lebanon County: PennDOT is spending $54.6 million to rebuild I-81 between I-78 and Schuylkill County.

Single-lane traffic already has caused weekend delays. Even I-78 eastbound is down to one lane at the juncture with I-81.

It's a similar situation in Franklin County, where crews are building a new Exit 17 along I-81 and widening Route 30 to five lanes between the borough and Fayetteville.

The I-81 stretch between Scotland and the Cumberland County line could go back under the jackhammer this summer as crews repair cracks in the concrete.

In Lancaster County, crews are working at night to resurface Route 283 between Elizabethtown Road and the Salunga exit.

All in all, the good news is that the construction lull should continue through next year.

The bad news, according to Penny: The hiatus won't last forever.

The $85.8 million job to revamp the intersection of Routes 581 and 15 on the West Shore is slated for 2006.

And work on Route 283 between Route 341 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike won't get under way until 2008.

"They may be several years away, but they will come soon enough," Penny said.

For now, commuters can just enjoy the relative peace -- and improved roads and bridges.

"The last 10 years, despite all the traffic jams people have had to endure, have been very good for south-central Pennsylvania," Penny said.

CB would make a KILLING along Rt. 15. On a semi-related note:


Urban designation sought

Cumberland County could receive $1.6 million in grants

Monday, June 21, 2004
BY MATT MILLER
Of Our Carlisle Bureau

WEST HILL - Most of western Cumberland County doesn't look urban, with its cornfields and cow pastures.

Yet the county has passed the 200,000 total population mark, making it an urban zone in the eyes of the federal government.

Cumberland should see its federal community-development grant more than double to more than $1.6 million, and that money can be invested in everything from sewer and water systems to public parks.

But federal regulations require that county commissioners obtain endorsing resolutions from most of the local municipalities before the urban designation is granted.

Commissioner Rick Rovegno encountered some skepticism last week when he asked the Western Cumberland Council of Governments, which represents 17 townships and boroughs west of Carlisle, for that backing.

Most block-grant money Cumberland has received over the years has gone to projects in the more populated West Shore and Carlisle areas, several council members noted.

"Isn't that [new grant] money going to be channeled into the eastern end of the county?" Lower Frankford Twp. Supervisor Tim Lush asked.

"There should be geographic equity," Rovegno said.

Shippensburg and Shippensburg Twp. long have received special annual block-grant allocations, and Newville has received considerable grant money for municipal projects.

Tom Fields, community development director for the county redevelopment authority, said grants, new and old, must be spent on efforts to benefit low- or moderate-income people or to remedy blight.

"There's slum and blight throughout the whole county I'm sure could be removed," he said.

Municipalities that don't sign on with the county's urban designation would be eligible only for money from a $5 million statewide grant pool, Fields said.

"Since we're getting so much more money, there's so much more opportunity for our communities to fund more projects," he said.

Hopewell Twp. Supervisor Curt Myers and Newburg Mayor Susan Stump said their neighboring municipalities have had problems getting federal money for sewer improvements.

They said household incomes in their area are too high for grant requirements.

At least 51 percent of households that would be affected by a project must fall under federal low- or moderate-income guidelines, they said. Fields said those caps are about $21,000 for a single person and $60,000 for a family of four.

"I think Curt brings up a very valid point," Rovegno said. "But that's going to have to be resolved in Congress."

Shippensburg Borough Manager William Wolfe, the council president, said the group should consider hiring a "grant hunter." More government cash is out there beyond the better-known block grant programs, Wolfe said.

"The [Community Development Block Grant] program is not meant to be a cure-all," he said.

Oh Lord, here we go. :rolleyes:

/\ lol. i know...i read this article in the paper on Monday and i remember thinking to myself that if most of the municipalities have to endorse this, then it's gonna a long hard road to urban status. IMO, the western Cumberland municipal govt's should not be bitching about getting their fair share. the added money the county will recieve should go to benefit county projects that will benefit the most constituents. fact is, 85% of Cumberland residents live in Carlisle or point east. most of the county's population lies in areas of giant sprawl-like suburbs closer to Harrisburg. so why should half of this money even reach the western part of the county, when most of the residents dont' live there? it's all politics.

i lived in Shippensburg borough and twp for 2 and a half years when i was going to school there. i like western Cumberland county a lot and it's a great place to live with many benefits...but many of the municapl gov'ts pride themselves on being anti everything. they are slow to change and even slower to accept outsiders opinions...and now they want more money for their troubles. i don't doubt the need for more financial help with western muncipal projects; however, the county should not be bound by the hands on where this money should go.

anyway, i'll stop ranting now. i haven't been able to find info on how many PA counties have urban status??? i'm just curious ;)

I totally agree, Chris.

Hmmm, good question. When I get the chance I will see if I can find the answer. :)


Here's some cool news and I made a thread about it in the Southern section:

Hershey Expands in VA

sweet :D

this is really cool...i'm glad to see that college students are taking interest in the city. i might have to go and check this site out.

<b>College students lend a hand at city's art garden</b>

Thursday, June 24, 2004
BY GEORGE WEIGEL
For The Patriot-News

College students -- particularly groups from Messiah College, Penn State University and Elizabethtown College -- have played a hand in a variety of new city gardens.

The latest effort is a kind of arts park on a city-owned lot across from the Pride of the Neighborhood Academy at Fifth and Seneca streets.

Six students from Penn State, Shippensburg and Columbia universities and staff and students from the academy plan to build the park this summer.

The city recently tore down a home on the 20-by-120-foot corner lot.

Jesse Hunting, a Penn State landscape architecture student who had taken a course that included a project in the city's Allison Hill section, recruited five friends to spend the summer converting the lot into a park patterned after Philadelphia's Village of Arts and Humanities.

"The [academy] kids are going to do a lot of the designing," Hunting says. "We're the facilitators."

Hunting and crew have removed the crumbling sidewalk and cleared the lot. They've also lined up donations and help to add new paving, plus they'll coordinate the planting. Kids from the academy will help with artwork.

"We're hoping to get the plantings done by the end of summer," says Cori Thatcher, one of the Penn State students working on the project. "Then we want to hook up with a class or teachers who will maintain it. ... Gardens often aren't maintained. That's one reason we're bringing art into it. We're hoping that brings a sense of pride to it."

The team also plans to help improve a garden next to the Derry Street United Methodist Church and do maintenance on vacant-lot gardens near the Catholic Worker house on Market Street and next to the Shared Ministries building on 16th Street.

more parkland projects in the city :D

<b>'Phoenix Park' rises from site of old steel mill
Park becomes hands-on project for school </b>

Thursday, June 24, 2004
BY GEORGE WEIGEL
For The Patriot-News

The Phoenix Steel Corp. once operated a steel plant along the Susquehanna River, just south of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation building.

The plant was demolished after it closed in the 1950s, leaving a rubble-strewn, weed-filled lot along what is now the Capital Area Greenbelt.

But the once-blighted lot is now a landscaped "Phoenix Park" thanks to staff, students and parents of the Londonderry School, a private East Shore school of 190 preschoolers through eighth-graders.

The school had been raising money for years for a new building, which was recently completed at 1800 Bamberger Road. Cynthia Hardwicke's art students had raised thousands of dollars selling T-shirts, tote bags and other works of student art.

"It had blossomed pretty well," Hardwicke said. "All the money had been going to the school, but now the kids wanted to do something for the community."

One day the Greenbelt Association's Norman Lacasse visited the school to tell them about the Phoenix Steel site.

"He said, 'There's this site that's nothing but a pile of rubble, and we'd like to do something with it,'" Hardwicke said.

Turning the site into gardens provided an opportunity for hands-on involvement, Hardwicke said.

The school planted trees, installed wheelchair-accessible paths and built nature-friendly gardens.

There's now a hummingbird garden with bee balm, creeping phlox and columbine; a pizza garden of herbs and native perennials; a butterfly garden with black-eyed Susans, liatris, geraniums, purple coneflowers and fringe-leaf bleeding hearts, and a sunflower garden that's eventually to be fronted with a vine-covered pergola.

The third- and fourth-graders painted a cinder-block wall in floral designs, and the eighth-graders made a mosaic "Phoenix Park" entrance sign.

Potted flowers line the walk that leads to the gardens.

"A set of parents took on the job of mowing, and teachers are taking turns watering," Hardwicke said.

The kids plan to keep making art and raising money for the project.

"Each year we hope to add another feature," Hardwicke said

i hope this gets built...more jobs, more trucks off the highway, and more emphasis on rail in this area :D

<b>Railroad promotes freight-transfer proposal</b>

Thursday, June 24, 2004
BY DAN MILLER
Of Our Carlisle Bureau

CARLISLE - Norfolk Southern Corp. wants a new facility in south-central Pennsylvania where it can transfer freight from trucks to rail cars as part of proposed improvements to its system throughout the Interstate 81 corridor.

Railroad officials have briefed state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler on the plan, which proposes a mix of public and private money to finance improvements affecting 13 states throughout the I-81 corridor from Texas and Louisiana north to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The improvements would position Norfolk Southern to handle a greater share of the freight load and reduce tractor-trailer traffic on I-81, or at least slow the rate of increase.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Ed Myslewicz said PennDOT supports the concept behind Norfolk Southern's plan, but the federal government "ought to take the lead" in coordinating efforts because so many states are involved.

Myslewicz also said a federal-led effort should "not exclude the possibility of an east-west" corridor along with the north-south I-81 span.

The Norfolk Southern plan envisions nine new "truck-rail transfer facilities" along I-81 between Louisiana and northern New Jersey, with one south or southwest of Harrisburg, said Rudy Husband, company spokesman. The Shippensburg area has been mentioned as a possible site, but Husband said a specific location has not been identified.

Norfolk Southern has freight rail yards in Enola, Harrisburg and at the Rutherford Yard in Swatara Twp. But Husband said Enola is not equipped for "intermodal" freight transfers -- placing truck trailers on rail cars -- and Harrisburg and Rutherford are at capacity.

Moreover, Norfolk Southern needs a separate truck-rail transfer facility closer to the I-81 corridor because that is where "the freight wants to be," Husband added.

The proposal is of particular interest to Cumberland County officials because of the continuing increase of tractor-trailers on I-81. Cumberland County commissioners were briefed on the proposal yesterday during a meeting of the county transportation authority.

Commissioner Rick Rovegno said the board is "intrigued" by the Norfolk Southern proposal, but members need to know much more.

"We realize there is potential there, but we're not anywhere remotely close to the point of having an opinion on whether this is one of the strategies we want to get behind," Rovegno said, adding that the board is looking to the authority to take a holistic view of the county's future transportation challenges.

Heavy trucks already make up 28 percent to 42 percent of traffic on I-81 in Cumberland and Dauphin counties, according to a 2001 PennDOT survey.

Between 1997 and 2001, Cumberland County had 12 fatalities in traffic crashes involving big rigs, more than any other county along the 855 miles of I-81, according to a Patriot-News analysis of federal traffic-accident data.

In the last six months of 2003 alone, 11 people died on I-81 in Cumberland County. All of the deaths involved collisions with tractor-trailers.

Many of the big rigs on I-81 are passing through on the way to and from deliveries in major urban centers throughout the Northeast and Canada.

But the midstate is a major distribution hub. The region has nearly 30 million square feet of space devoted to warehouses and distribution centers, with developers wanting to add millions more, said David Black, president and CEO of the Capital Region Economic Development Corp.

Warehouse developers are attracted to the area because they can reach major Northeastern markets within a day's drive. Yet midstate land and labor costs are lower, and traffic congestion is still not as bad.

A study done for Norfolk Southern projects that under existing conditions, by 2020 freight traffic on urban and rural interstate highways in Pennsylvania will increase by up to 50 percent, with the amount on I-81 higher still.

DAN MILLER: 249-2006 or danmiller@patriot-news.com

Thanks for the articles, Chris. Yeah, I can't wait to see the new park and the new rail terminal would be nice too. Another related article re: gardening. Things are really turning around here!!!


BLIGHT TO BEAUTY

Residents turn city's vacant lots into gardens

Thursday, June 24, 2004
BY GEORGE WEIGEL
For The Patriot-News

Drive or walk through some of Harrisburg's most economically blighted neighborhoods, and you won't get far without encountering the city version of an oasis.

Scattered among abandoned buildings and trash-strewn vacant lots are gardens -- an urban cornfield here, a patch of flowers there, a brick-paved butterfly garden on this corner, a circle of sunflowers on that one.

Like the first wildflower seedlings that pop up after a forest fire, the patches of life slowly replace broken cinder blocks, old tires, rusting cars and piles of trash.

It may not be a botanical renaissance; for every city lot that has a garden, you'll find 20 others that could use one.

But a grass-roots movement involving Penn State-trained master gardeners, garden clubs, civic groups, church groups, college students, school groups and residents is bringing beauty to blighted areas.

"We're seeing an increase in these kind of activities," says Randy King, spokesman for Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed. "Gardening, cleanup and volunteering in general are all up in the last few years throughout the city."

Pride is at the heart of it, King says. People are tired of blighted neighborhoods and are trying to do something about them.

The city started the effort about 12 years ago with an Adopt-a-Lot program that allows residents or organizations to lease an abandoned city-owned lot for $1 a year.

This year, the city is leasing 30 lots to 24 groups and people. The person or group cleans up the lot and promises to keep it free of debris and litter. The city installs a fence and at times provides donated tools and supplies.

"Typically, the people we work with live on the same street or adjacent to the parcel," says Kathy Toepfer, who coordinates Adopt-a-Lot for the city's Department of Building and Housing Development. "Many of them put in a small garden, either flowers or vegetables. The goal is to transform a vacant blighted lot into something the neighborhood is proud of."

Dumping stops:

You'll find no better example than in the 1200 block of Bailey Street, in the heart of Allison Hill, one of the city's most crime-ridden sections.

"This whole block had dilapidated houses on it," says David Wise, who has lived in this Summit Terrace neighborhood for 50 years. "The houses were blighted, and the kids were going inside them. It was a safety hazard."

Three years ago, the Summit Terrace Neighborhood Association adopted the whole block. The city tore down all 10 houses, planted grass and erected a vinyl picket fence around the site.

"Right away there was graffiti all over the fence," says Wise, the association's president.

Undeterred, Wise, a nongardener retired from Bethlehem Steel Corp., set to work transforming the 60-by-200-foot lot into a park. He bought a gardening book, visited garden centers and, with the help of Leadership Harrisburg Area (a civic group of business leaders), began planting.

Mums and variegated dogwood shrubs now line the front fence.

A burning-bush hedge turns bright red in fall along the back and left borders.

A rock garden of flowering perennials spills down a slope along the property's right border.

At the center of the minipark are island beds that house a butterfly garden and a rose garden with a birdbath.

There has been no graffiti and no vandalism since the plantings went in.

"When you show people you're trying to improve their quality of life, they respect it," Wise says. "They look at it as their own."

That has been the case at practically every garden that has replaced a trash-strewn lot.

Dumping stops. Vandalism disappears.

'It gives you joy':

Susan and Vernon Rudy moved into the 1400 block of Market Street in Allison Hill more than five years ago to set up a home for troubled youths. One of the first things they did was adopt the vacant lot next door and turn it into a series of raised flower beds.

"I'm originally from Baltimore, and this is what we did in the neighborhoods," Susan Rudy says. "I love kids and I love gardening. If you give kids something to do, they'll stay out of trouble."

Buried bricks from the torn-down house made the adopted lot impossible to garden. So, with the help of neighbors and Messiah College students and staff, the Rudys built raised gardens out of recycled wood, tires, brick and plastic kiddy swimming pools.

They have since adopted a second adjoining lot for vegetables and have even added a water garden with a fountain and a giant mural painted on the side of their brick house.

It's all out in the open for all who pass by on Market Street. Yet there's been no vandalism.

"People respect it," says Susan. "It's like a community garden. ... I think people need a garden. Everything is so bright. It gives you joy."

A lesson for children:

A garden can also provide fresh food and lessons to urban kids.

At the corner of Penn and Peffer streets in Harrisburg's Midtown section you'll find cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and assorted other vegetables growing in a 30-by-90-foot lot.

"People used to fix cars there," says Pam Howard-Brown, who gardens the lot with her husband and a few neighbors. "It was mostly gravel and motor oil."

About seven years ago, the Sandy Hollow Arts and Recreation for the Environment group adopted the lot and installed the garden in memory of member Chuck Vuxta.

"A lot of kids have never seen the seed-to-fruit cycle, and Chuck thought that was important," Howard-Brown says.

Now kids in that neighborhood know that potatoes originate underground, not in a bag at the supermarket.

The garden also has a 10-foot strip of native shrubs and perennials so kids can see what plants grow naturally in Pennsylvania.

A few blocks away, kids at the Neighborhood Center of the United Methodist Church learn to plant and harvest veggies in raised beds in the playground across the street at Third and Kelker streets.

They also learn about butterflies and nature in a garden the Venture Club installed last year, one that features a brick-paver walkway, six bird feeders and wildlife-friendly plants such as butterfly bushes, spireas, hydrangeas and clematis vines.

Near Sixth and Maclay, the Camp Curtin YMCA is adding the city's newest post-blight garden -- a "Senses Garden."

"Each corner of the garden is going to have plants that relate to the different senses," says James Lyles, the YMCA's youth program coordinator. "We're hoping people use it for teaching. There are a lot of schools and day cares in this area."

Urban gardens seem to be especially appealing to kids.

Whenever Aguedo Delgado starts tackling a lot, neighborhood kids invariably show up with questions.

"They want to know what I'm doing and what I'm planting," he says. "They usually want to help, too. I've had as many as 16 kids at a time helping with a garden."

Delgado, a carpenter who has worked on farms and vineyards, has planted several lots in the last year in what he calls "guerilla gardening."

Instead of adopting a city-owned lot, Delgado targets privately owned lots in Harrisburg that are blighted and abandoned.

"I don't ask questions, I just do it," he says. "It'd be crazy for someone to get upset at me for cleaning up their lot. I keep it simple. I don't build anything. I just clean it up real good and plant vegetables and flowers."

One of Delgado's projects is an urban cornfield at the corner of 16th and Park streets. Another is a sunflower circle and flower beds at the corner of 15th and Walnut.

"It was a jungle there for the last three or four years," says Lucy Woolfork, who lives across from the sunflower circle. "People used to say, 'How can you stand to look at that?' But Aguedo has made it beautiful."

As with Wise and Rudy, Delgado has found that once he clears and plants a lot, it doesn't get dumped on.

"I'm more concerned about groundhogs than people," he says. "It's a mentality. If you have a vacant lot and no trash cans, people just throw stuff on the ground. If you give them a dirty atmosphere, they treat it like a dirty atmosphere. But if you clean it up, most people respect that."

Some projects have been spearheaded by groups, such as Penn State-trained master gardeners; civic groups (Harrisburg Young Professionals, Venture Club, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and more); college students and, in one case, a suburban private school.

"We've been very fortunate to have good relationships with Penn State and Messiah, Elizabethtown and other colleges that are ready and willing to do basic cleanup," Toepfer says. "We've also had a lot of area nurseries who have made donations and been very supportive of the efforts."

The key to outside efforts, though, is that someone in the community has to take responsibility for maintaining it. As any home gardener knows, an untended garden quickly reverts into a weedy mess.

"We always encourage a connection to the community," Toepfer says. "For sustainability, it makes a big difference."

Delgado tries to get people in the neighborhood to take over the gardens he plants so that he can move onto another blighted lot. When that happens, gardens seem to have a way of lifting a neighborhood's morale like few other improvements.

"You can definitely see in some areas where it takes on momentum," Toepfer says.

And it's the kind of a momentum that can spur other improvements, Wise says.

"One of the problems in a city is overcrowding," he says. "You just have too many people per square foot. There should always be land set aside for open space. Regardless of how poor you are, it's human to want to observe nature and hear birds singing."

Yes, I love these darn cows. :D

Reed offers place for CowParade herd

Thursday, June 24, 2004
BY KELLY BOTHUM
Of The Patriot-News

Don't fret over the thought of CowParade Harrisburg 2004 being put out to pasture soon.

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed has a place for those fiberglass bovines that are in need of a public home.

The Cowmons.

Reed announced the creation of the Cowmons yesterday as a place where painted cows can be placed on long-term or short-term display after being sold Saturday at the CowParade auction.

The Cowmons will be at select sites in Riverfront Park, City Island, public spaces downtown and in Reservoir Park at the National Civil War Museum.

Of the 136 cows created for the CowParade, 111 were on display in the city from April through June. Forty-six cows will be auctioned Saturday at the Farm Show Complex.

A really cool event that draws a lot of people. :tup:

Harrisburg rocks to Millennium's beat

Conference music to city's ears

Friday, June 25, 2004
BY KIRA L. SCHLECHTER
Of The Patriot-News

Welcome to Harrisburg, Millennium Music Conference musicians: You have now entered "the Austin, Texas, of the Northeast."

At least for the weekend, anyway.

The 8th annual edition of the conference, with headquarters at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Harrisburg, started yesterday and runs through Sunday.

Like Austin's granddaddy of all music conferences, South By Southwest, the Harrisburg conference attracts both bands and music fans. The conference also brings business income -- several million dollars' worth -- to the area.

For musicians, the business portion features mentoring sessions and panels dealing with all aspects of the music industry. Showcase concerts at clubs across the midstate feature nearly 350 bands performing original music on 30 stages.

The tattooed, pierced, and T-shirted masses began gathering at the hotel as registration began yesterday.

A small group congregated at the first-floor desk of the hotel, while upstairs, several musicians browsed the trade show. A good-sized bunch filled a meeting room for an early seminar titled "Music Business Boot Camp."

Fliers advertising upcoming shows littered tables. And Red Bull energy drinks seemed to be everyone's beverage of choice.

Conference co-founder John Harris, who provided the Harrisburg-Austin analogy, said the Harrisburg event benefits everyone involved.

"The benefits for the city are that the hotel's sold out and all the people that come from out of town create economy," he said. "We think moving to the better weather (past conferences were held in February) might increase the opportunity for more people to travel and come visit us."

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is completely booked, said senior sales manager Jessica Wolfe in an e-mail.

City spokesman Randy King said Millennium has been "a major boost to the city's tourism economy," adding it generates several million dollars in revenue during its weekend run.

"It fits in perfectly with the mayor's goals of attracting young people back to the city," King said.

Beth Lynn O'Brien, marketing/event/tourism coordinator for Harrisburg Hello, the Downtown Improvement District, said music fans make a night out of attending Millennium showcases.

"They're going to eat and they're going shopping and they're doing all of the things we want them to do when they end up in the city," O'Brien said.

For the clubs that host showcase concerts, Millennium is a chance to do something different, Harris said.

"Obviously, the things that have been going on in downtown Harrisburg, they all have a lot of business now anyway," he said. "This means they could have more. ... [And] some of the clubs on the West Shore that may have suffered a little bit ... [are] going to have maybe some more business."

Matt Eisenhower, manager of Gullifty's Downstairs in Lower Allen Twp., has hosted showcases for all eight years of the conference.

"I get to see 18 different bands from different areas that I've never seen, never heard," Eisenhower said. "It gives the club a little more edge on the music scene, because we've always pretty much been the home of original music."

And it's good for business overall, too, he said.

"I don't have to pay for any of the bands and we get to charge a small cover ... so it does help," he said. [And] it probably does, in a way [attract new customers] -- the people that don't usually come to our place come out for the music conference."

Conferences like Millennium can help musicians "if they keep their eyes and ears open," said Jim Speece, singer and guitarist for the Reading band Cloud Party.

They've played showcases at the conference every year since its inception; they performed at Angelina's Ristorante in Wormleysburg last night.

"Most panels and the like frankly cover familiar territory, but occasionally, especially for newer bands, one can learn something worthwhile," Speece wrote via e-mail.

He called the showcase concerts "generally irrelevant, but fun to do."

"Showcasing is good because it's a gig, usually a fairly well-attended one, and you can show off your stuff," he wrote. "We do them because they're fun and we get to play with new bands and for new fans in new places and ... for some of those people we know who come to Millennium every year. ... For us, it's a bit like a party."

O'Brien of Harrisburg Hello thinks Millennium helps unify the midstate.

"It doesn't just focus on downtown -- it's the region as a whole," she said. "We often wish it would be looked at as the Harrisburg metropolitan area ... as opposed to West Shore vs. East Shore, downtown vs. midtown. The caliber of this event kind of clumps us into the Harrisburg metropolitan area and I think it's beneficial to the region."

sweet...nice post Dave. how is your job going?

The job is :nuts: SOOO much to do and so many big things going on at the same time. But hey, it's better than being bored I guess. :) I'll update you in a few, Chris (I got your PM), and thanks for asking.

Some more good news for the area:


Hershey cancer center sought

Project could bring 2,500 jobs by 2012, lawmakers say

Saturday, June 26, 2004
BY JAN MURPHY
Of The Patriot-News

Some 30 midstate lawmakers are pressing for state money to build a cancer institute at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

In a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell, the lawmakers asked for the release of $30 million in state money approved last year for the project, which supporters said would create more than 2,500 jobs by 2012 and draw nearly $88 million in research funds.

"The project is of paramount importance to the economy of central Pennsylvania, and of equal importance to meeting the health care needs of the numerous medically underserved communities between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh," the letter stated.

Rep. Bruce Smith, R-Dillsburg, chairman of the midstate lawmakers' caucus, said this project ties in with the $7 million annually the medical center receives from the state's share of the national tobacco settlement. That money goes to pay for cancer research and other projects to advance medical science.

The 155,000-square-foot cancer institute to be built on the hospital's Derry Twp. campus is estimated to cost $60 million. It is expected to take at least three years to plan and build once state money is secured, said Dr. Darrell Kirch, chief executive officer of Hershey Medical Center and dean of the medical school.

Rendell will consider this request along with others he receives for capital projects, said Rendell's Press Secretary Kate Philips.

In part, money for this project hinges on the Legislature passing a bill to raise the debt ceiling for the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Budget Program by $700 million. Lawmakers may deal with this legislation in the coming week.

Kirch applauded the midstate legislators' support. He said they understand the economic benefits the region would reap as well as the need for more space at the hospital for additional beds to treat patients.

But building the cancer institute is especially important for those afflicted by the disease and their families.

"If you think about our location, we really represent the only source of highly sub-specialized research-oriented cancer care in central Pennsylvania," Kirch said. "If we're unable to provide that, it forces patients and their families to go as far away as Baltimore, Philadelphia or even further, Pittsburgh or Rochester to get that care."

He added: "There are few illnesses as difficult for a patient and their family as cancer and it makes it so much harder to deal with that if they have to leave home to get care."

Rep. Patricia Vance, R-Silver Spring, considers money for this project a priority.

She is particularly disturbed that the state can find money to pay for Penn State's proposal "to build two law schools -- when it is questionable that we need two -- and we don't release the money for a cancer center," she said. "I think we ought to get our priorities in order."

Vacant building eyed for offices

Institute seeks home in Shippensburg G-MAN

Sunday, June 27, 2004
BY DAN MILLER
Of Our Carlisle Bureau

CARLISLE - An international steam institute in the heart of Shippensburg?

Could happen, if Duaine Collier's dream for the now-vacant property at 9-13 E. King St. comes true.

Collier, a Shippensburg businessman, hopes to build a four-story, 20,000 square-foot office complex on the site last home to the Gingerbread Man restaurant and bar.

The second floor would house the institute; described as a teaching and research arm working with people involved in aspects of the steam industry.

Collier wants to develop the institute with Shippensburg University. The university's physical plant uses a coal-fired steam heat system.

Collier said an understanding has been reached with the university on the proposal. But university spokesman Pete Gigliotti said only, "We've made no commitment at this point."

The steam institute would also support one of Collier's businesses, the Shippensburg Pump Co. The company makes products used by the steam industry, and its client base would provide international exposure for the steam institute, said Christopher Gulotta, executive director of the Cumberland County housing and redevelopment authorities.

The first floor would be the new home of Edward's Mercantile, a coffee/tea and gift merchandise store now on the south side of East King Street.

The third and fourth floors would be leased to Shipco-Shippensburg Pump Co., Bidel Printing House and Collegetown, a real estate management company. All are business interests of Collier's. He plans to move his accounting and technology departments for all three businesses into the new downtown offices. This will allow production to expand at his other business locations.

The proposal is getting nods from the Shippensburg Area Chamber of Commerce and the Cumberland County Redevelopment Authority.

"Downtown projects can be costly and more complicated than stand-alone projects due to their visibility," said Kevin Duffy, executive director of the Shippensburg Chamber. "It is always a plus when local entrepreneurs like Duaine choose to reinvest in the area, particularly the downtown. Certainly it is a business decision, but it is this kind of leadership that makes a difference in the community.

The county redevelopment authority supports Collier's project and has applied for a $250,000 state grant on its behalf.

"This is consistent with our plans for Shippensburg; the development of quality retail on the first floor and redevelopment of the upper floors for better quality residential or office space," Gulotta said. "This is exactly the type of project we were talking about cultivating in downtown Shippensburg."

The project should eventually bring 21 new full-time jobs: four at Edward's on the first floor and the rest from Collier's businesses.

Collier's firm owns the building. He is putting together a $2.1 million financing package to pay for the project. Besides the $250,000 from redevelopment, Collier is seeking a $1.225 million taxable bond through Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, $500,000 from the Capital Region Economic Development Corp.'s Tech Corridor enterprise zone loan fund, and a $100,000 loan from Shippensburg borough.

The project will be good for Shippensburg because it puts a vacant downtown property to use, Collier said.

"Shippensburg is our home. It's been good to us," he said. "We're not taking up vacant farmland but using existing areas in our community to meet the needs of our companies."

Collier hopes to start construction in April and finish by April 2006.

sweet...thanks for the articles dave. both the cancer institute and the new building in Ship will be great additions to both communities. 2,500 jobs would also have a huge impact on the economy. the old G-man was condemed and razed a few months ago i think. the land is a prime location downtown and i'm glad to see that a new lowrise building will take it's place. the town still needs a few more bars/restaurants...there are very few for a college town of it's size. Ship has about 8,000 students, many of whom live within walking distance of downtown.

/\
And they need a Wendy's. :)


Lemoyne, Mechanicsburg to get Civil War markers

Monday, June 28, 2004
BY MARY KLAUS
Of The Patriot-News

Between the boom of a cannon and the soft voice of a historian, Camp Curtin Historical Society officials this weekend announced plans for two monuments to commemorate the West Shore's role in the Civil War.

"For years, all people heard about was Gettysburg," Robin G. Lighty, society president, said yesterday at the society's Civil War Days at historic Fort Couch in Lemoyne. "But the Harrisburg area was a major target for the Confederates. Had they succeeded, history would have been changed."

He said the society next summer will erect a 10-foot black granite slab at Fort Couch, where the original Civil War earthwork fortifications remain, and a 10-foot granite obelisk with bronze tablets on Trindle Road east of Mechanicsburg.

The obelisk, near the John Fenstermacher law firm property, will commemorate Confederate Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins, the Confederate occupation of Mechanicsburg and the Confederate advance to Camp Hill, Lighty said.

Jenkins was the commanding officer of the advance units of the invading Confederates in late June and early July 1863.

"When Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was marching north in a full-scale invasion of Pennsylvania in June 1863, Harrisburg was a tempting target," Lighty told Civil War Days visitors. The event also featured a Union infantry and artillery encampment, firing demonstrations and lectures.

He called Harrisburg "a major hub for vital railroad lines that ran east-west and north-south, moving men and supplies to Union armies; a productive city that generated clothes, equipment and supplies for the Union; the home of Camp Curtin, the largest Northern training camp of the Civil War, and a depot for tons of supplies. It was also a Northern state capital."

Lighty said Union engineers planned defensive positions to protect the city: Fort Washington at the western end of today's Market Street Bridge and Fort Couch in Lemoyne, which is the only public site where part of the once extensive defenses are still visible.

"The Confederates got as close as Mechanicsburg," Lighty said, adding that they also made it to York and Wrightsville. "If Lee hadn't recalled 15,000 troops from Carlisle the week before the Battle of Gettysburg, Harrisburg could have been taken easily."

He said Lee's army also had been heading to Harrisburg in 1862 but withdrew after the Battle of Antietam.

Lighty said the Mechanicsburg monument will cost about $40,000, and the one at Fort Couch $25,000. The money will come from donations and fund raising, he said.

"In the last five years, people seem to have more of a local connection to the Civil War," Lighty said. "They seem more aware of skirmishes in Camp Hill, Hampden Twp. and Mechanicsburg. The monuments will serve to remind people of this area's role in the Civil War."

lol...yes they do need a wendy's :tup:

great post Dave...i read this in the paper today. there is a state historical marker at 31st and Market Street in Camp Hill that commemorates the furthest point north east that the confederate army reached during the civil war. these monuments will be great additions to the regions historical significance. pretty interesting stuff...i love history :D

Yes, history is good. :yes:

Some more good news for the region!!!


Regional jobless rate among lowest in state

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

BY TOM DOCHAT
Of The Patriot-News

The unemployment rate last month in the Harrisburg region dropped to 3.5 percent.

The Harrisburg region -- Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon and Perry counties -- typically has the second- or third-lowest jobless rate in the state, but it was tied in May with the Lancaster and State College regions for the lowest rate in the state.

In April, the Harrisburg-area unemployment rate was 3.6 percent. In May last year the rate was 3.8 percent.

The York County unemployment rate in May was 4.3 percent. The rate was 3.7 percent in the region that consists of the Harrisburg, Lancaster and York areas.

The statewide unemployment rate in May was 5.1 percent, and the national rate was 5.6 percent.

Nonfarm jobs in the Harrisburg region totaled 370,900 in May, an increase of 3,700 from April and 200 more that a year earlier. The number of goods-producing jobs last month increased by 600 from April, but are down by 300 from May 2003.

The average manufacturing hourly wage in the region last month was $15.01, compared with a statewide average of $15.06.

hmm....it's time for my occasional thought of the day....while seeing fahrenheit 9/11 (which you MUST SEE) at midtown yesterday (had to get there 2 hours early to finally get a seat....i've tried 4 times) i was thinking...that empty lot next to the theater needs to be fixed. there's a vartan sign that says "build to suit"...anyways my dream: They clear the weeds and create a public plaza with a central fountain, possibly a restaurant against the neighboring townhomes.....if only i had some extra millions....

I really want to see the movie, harrisburger. I agree on your vision too. :tup:

Some interesting news:


State gives city police control of bars' noise

Wednesday, June 30, 2004
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News

Cue that Second Street soundtrack.

Owners of downtown Harrisburg bars and restaurants have once again gotten the OK to plug in their outdoor speakers to provide what they say is ambience for al fresco dining.

"It's a melodious addition to the sidewalk scene," said Rick Galiardo, co-owner of Mars, NOMA and Zephyr Express.

The reprise of outdoor music comes after the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board voted unanimously yesterday to hand back noise enforcement of downtown bars to the Harrisburg police.

The city's noise enforcement gives downtown bars broader latitude on outdoor music, which is barred under the stricter PLCB rules.

The change, which took effect immediately, will be in place for one year.

The time frame was less than the open-ended period the city had originally sought, but longer than the 60-day trial the PLCB approved last summer.

Still, Mayor Stephen R. Reed said the one-year time frame has advantages.

"We are pleased," he said. "We think the abbreviated nature of the enforcement period is a good thing, in that it helps serve as an additional deterrent to the license holders' potential abuse of the privilege."

To extend the enforcement beyond a year, the city would have to apply for another exemption and the PLCB would have to approve it.

While outdoor music is returning to Restaurant Row in time for the height of the outdoor dining season, it is coming back over the objections of some downtown residents.

At a PLCB hearing this month, several residents testified about too much noise, too little sleep and plenty of frustration in trying to get the city police to do something about the noise. They criticized yesterday's decision.

"Today, the LCB is sending the city back to summer school and giving them another year to get it right," said Tom Leonard, a downtown resident.

"I'm glad it's not a permanent change," he said. "It puts the bar owners on notice, and it puts the city on notice."

However, PLCB Chairman Jonathan H. Newman proclaimed his faith in Reed to control the situation.

"We believe that municipalities know best on these types of issues," he said.

While PLCB enforcement can threaten a bar's license, city police usually can do little more than issue summary citations carrying fines of $100 to $200. This lack of enforcement muscle is another complaint of some residents.

As for how loud is too loud, Harrisburg's noise standard is relatively simple: if music is plainly audible 50 feet from its source, it's a violation under the city's noise ordinance.

Last summer, Harrisburg issued just one citation and one warning during the 60-day trial. But city officials could not be specific on the number of complaint calls received.

At the PLCB hearing, residents' chief complaint seemed to be the bass-heavy Techno music they said was invading their homes, particularly on South and Locust streets.

Reed promised to step up enforcement this year. "Downtown restaurant and nightclub owners should be put on notice that starting this weekend they will face citations for any noise violations," he said.

For their part, bar owners said they will tread lightly.

"The music is just background," said Tony Magaro, owner of Fisaga. "You can't even hear it off the sidewalk."

Galiardo said he even brought in a sound technician to recalibrate the bass on his indoor sound system, eliminating noise problems at Mars. As for his outdoor speakers, they're strictly for a touch of atmosphere, he said.

"If there was a problem, I feel we fixed it," Galiardo said. "Music isn't really the issue anymore. It's the other noise associated with having large crowds in one place. It's bottles crashing and voices of people."

Say what you want about Vartan, but I knew he would be able to turn this building aroudn rather quickly:


Leases increase at Forum Place

Wednesday, June 30, 2004
BY JACK SHERZER
Of The Patriot-News

Almost a year after investors went to court to wrest management away from the Dauphin County General Authority, good news is coming out of the Forum Place office building in downtown Harrisburg.

A 10-year lease worth more than $6.3 million was signed earlier this month with the state Department of Labor and Industry, an existing state tenant has renewed its lease, and another state agency may lease space in Forum Place.

"We have spared no effort to bring Forum Place back to great shape," said developer John O. Vartan, who built the 10-story office complex and was returned by the court as its manager at the request of investors.

Troubles at Forum Place began in 1998, when the authority sold $75.35 million in bonds to buy the building at Fifth and Walnut streets from Vartan.

The property made money for a couple years, but in 2001, after the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation ended its short-term lease for space in the building, Forum Place failed to attract tenants for half of the 379,000 square feet of office space available. That caused the authority to default on payments to bondholders.

Under regulations governing the tax-free bonds used to buy the building, 90 percent of the tenants must be either government or nonprofit agencies.

Last July, at the request of bondholders, Dauphin County Court put Forum Place into receivership, meaning that while the authority retains ownership, day-to-day operations are governed by a court-appointed receiver.

Vartan, who had said he believes the bondholders' investment could be rescued, was upbeat.

"We're going to do our best to continue the momentum," Vartan said. "We hope that the location, amenities, availability of parking, impeccable service and professional management will contribute to the complete success of the building."

The Department of Labor and Industry lease, for 32,000 square feet, will eat up about 18 percent of the space available for leasing, Vartan said.

The comeback of Forum Place may be helped by what state officials say is Gov. Ed Rendell's goal of consolidating state offices at single locations and bringing offices to downtown areas.

How much space the state will need in the near future wasn't clear. Frank Kane, spokesman for the Department of General Services, which handles state leasing, said the emphasis is still on using state-owned property to the extent possible.

In the next week or so, Kane said, Forum Place managers should know whether the Department of General Services will sign a 10-year lease for 35,000 square feet of space it needs for offices.

Rick Frimmer, a Philadelphia attorney representing the majority of bondholders, said over the past two years investors have not received between $2 million and $3 million in bond payments.

"We have a long way to go. We still have, even after Labor and Industry, in excess of 160,000 square feet of unleased space," Frimmer said. "Our hope is that we lease it all up."

Frimmer, who last year said he believed getting management of the building back under Vartan's control was critical, praised the developer's work.

"We're very happy to have Labor and Industry come into the building, and we hope it signifies that Forum Place is again the choice location for state agencies," he said. "We have a very good working relationship with the Department of General Services, and we hope that continues."

Key to the building's turnaround, Frimmer said, was a new agreement governing payments in lieu of real estate taxes to Dauphin County, Harrisburg and the city school district. Under the original 1998 agreement, only the county benefited.

Frimmer praised the county commissioners for agreeing to modify the agreement to include the city and school district -- which gave Harrisburg an added reason to support the revival of Forum Place. Before payments are made under the agreement, however, the bondholders must be paid.

The Pennsylvania Local Government Commission, a Forum Place tenant since 1999, renewed its lease for 10 years in May. Michael P. Gasbarre, executive director of the commission, said he has been pleased with Forum Place.

The commission, a state agency, leases 5,119 square feet on the first floor. Its new lease payment is $88,814.64 a year.

Not huge news, but this article and the one above show how good the downtown's momentum is now. :carrot:


Greenhouse to get new offices in city

Wednesday, June 30, 2004
BY ELLEN LYON
Of The Patriot-News

Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania is moving in September from the TecPort technology complex in Swatara Twp. to the Colonial Building at 225 Market St. in Harrisburg.

Seven employees will work out of about 4,500 square feet on the fifth floor of the downtown building, Mel Billingsley Life Sciences president and CEO, said yesterday.

"We're looking forward to having our offices in a location that offers enhanced visibility and proximity to many of our partner organizations," he said. "We think that downtown has a certain air of vibrancy to it."

The greenhouse, which has assisted nearly 40 biotechnology startups in almost two years, has partners in State College, the Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg and at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Billingsley noted.

"We became an accidental incubator out there," he said, referring to the TecPort site. "We don't want to be landlords."

Life Sciences Greenhouse has been leasing about 20,000 square feet at TecPort, according to Matt Tunnell, assistant vice president of Crossgates Inc., developer of the former AMP Inc. property.

"Their space requirements have changed," he said.

The greenhouse has found that startups are more in need of early stage capital and business services than space, explained Michele Washko, director of marketing and communications for Life Sciences. Also, the greenhouse's two-year lease at TecPort is set to expire this fall, she noted.

Moving downtown with the greenhouse will be Pennsylvania Bio, an industry advocacy organization, according to Washko.

One of the greenhouse's incubator companies also may join it in the new building, Billingsley said. That leaves four other small startups to negotiate their own deals with TecPort, he said.

Tunnell said TecPort will work with those companies. He anticipated little trouble filling the greenhouse's 20,000 square feet.

"That's good space. It's in a building largely occupied by Health America. We certainly will market it aggressively," Tunnell said.

Harrisburg and Harristown officials welcomed the addition to the downtown.

"Harrisburg's future economic viability and growth are very much dependent upon our ability to attract and retain advanced technology companies," Mayor Stephen R. Reed said.

"We're excited about the presence of Life Sciences Greenhouse in Harrisburg because it has the ability to serve as a proponent for growth in the downtown," said Russ Ford, Harristown president and CEO.

Harristown Development Corp. affiliate 301 Market LLC bought the historic Colonial Building, at the corner of Third and Market streets, in March.

Before the purchase, the 67,000-square-foot building had been converted to condominiums, and Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts bought the second floor for office space.

Other tenants include Prosanos Corp., a biomedical informatics company that works with Life Sciences Greenhouse; the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council; Lavery, Faherty, Young & Patterson, a law firm; Curves for Women; and H&R Block.

Council considers expanding district

Services hinge on renewal, DID says

Thursday, July 01, 2004
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News

Clean sidewalks in downtown Harrisburg may hang in the balance.

Officials with Harrisburg's Downtown Improvement District claim they remove 6 to 9 tons of trash from city sidewalks every month.

But those and other services could cease unless downtown property owners give their consent and the City Council approves plans to reformulate and expand the Downtown Improvement District.

"There's a need for these services," said DID Executive Director Don Walker. "You wouldn't want people coming downtown and seeing trash on the streets. Instead, they visit Harrisburg and say how clean the downtown is."

Property owners have 45 days to register objections to the plan to renew the DID, which is to go out of business by the end of the year under a provision in the law that created it.

There are 190 taxable property owners in the expanded zone, which takes in an area from Front to Seventh streets and Chestnut to Pine streets.

The proposed expansion would add most of Restaurant Row on North Second Street, as well as a portion of North Third Street.

It would take 40 percent of the parcels, or about 76 properties voting against the project, to defeat it.

All objections must be made in writing to the Harrisburg City Clerk's Office. Otherwise, affected owners will be counted as voting to renew the DID.

The same property owners would then pay 1.5 mills a year in additional real estate taxes for the cleaning, marketing and beautification activities of the DID.

The extra tax would translate into $150 for every $100,000 of a building's assessed value.

The council also would have to approve new boundaries and reformulating the DID as a Neighborhood Improvement District Management Association.

At a meeting this week, only one property owner spoke out against the plan.

DID officials said the renewal is a chance to improve and slightly expand the agency.

"The downtown is thriving," said DID attorney Bruce Foreman. "The entire downtown area receives a benefit from the improved downtown. Property values generally go up in an area where you have a successful downtown."

The nonprofit agency was created in 1999 to promote and beautify portions of downtown.

The improvement district is perhaps best known for its Zambonilike vehicles that sweep downtown sidewalks and the more than 200 hanging baskets of flowers that decorate the area.

The organization also staffs the city's information center on the first block of North Second Street, provides security and conducts marketing, promotional campaigns and special events, including the summertime PNC Saturdays series.

Currently, the district stops at Walnut Street. It takes in the southern section of downtown, but not the restaurant and bar district north of Walnut Street.

Proposed new boundaries have been drawn to avoid most residential properties and a few other buildings that stirred opposition to expansion two years ago.

In addition, any apartment buildings with four or fewer dwellings that fall in the district would be exempt from the ordinance and the extra tax, officials said.

One downtown owner said he would get no benefit from the DID and would like his building excluded.

Attorney Charles Beckley, representing an office building at 212 N. Third St. that would be added to the improvement zone, argued that the building's management already pays a contractor to perform most of the cleaning and sidewalk maintenance services the DID would provide.

"We keep our property in A-1 order," he said. "It's essentially a 5-percent tax increase for our property for which we derive no benefit."

Sprawl-rific. :no:


'Big box' stores hit

Residents offer opinions at regional plan hearing

Thursday, July 01, 2004
BY T.W. BURGER
Of Our Dillsburg Bureau

DILLSBURG - They fear traffic congestion, water runoff, scattered trash, pollution and loss of the night sky. They are also worried about the fate of small local businesses and property values.

About 120 area residents this week attended a public hearing on development, and most demanded that local governments keep Wal-Mart and other so-called "big box" retailers out.

"There is no benefit," said Sally Gautney, of Silver Spring Twp. She said a Wal-Mart store has ruined her neighborhood.

For four years, local business, education and municipal representatives have discussed a regional comprehensive plan to control residential and commercial growth, which many see as inevitable.

But this week, Carroll Twp. Board of Supervisors Chair Robert L. Schopfer, who chaired the hearing, failed to steer the discussion away from specific businesses that might move into the area and onto the overall plan.

Schopfer explained that neither Wal-Mart nor any other "big box" retailer has submitted development plans.

"We need to keep comments specific to the plan," he said. "This is not the venue."

The meeting was attended by representatives from the governments of Monaghan, Franklin, and Carroll townships, and of Dillsburg and Franklintown boroughs.

The regional comprehensive plan has been guided by representatives from those five municipalities and the Northern York County School District and Dillsburg Area Authority.

The plan does not directly affect or create zoning. Each municipality is free to create or alter its own development ordinances.

"The committee has to balance the fear of sprawl, the rights of property owners, and the regulations of the state," Schopfer said.

Under the new plan, U.S. Route 15, the major north-south highway bisecting Carroll Twp., will see the bulk of the retail development.

"We tried to tuck as much stuff as we could up against 15," he said. "We cannot deny commercial growth. We have to manage it."

Frank Kramer, a former committee chairman, refuted claims that the plan was driven by the wishes of developers.

The plan, he said, is a 20-year prospectus.

"The fear of sprawl is what led to the creation of this plan. This was not the personal desire of the board to build big box stores," he said.

In recent months, the committee made changes to the proposal. Most of those changes were fueled by residents, developers and the York County Planning Commission.

The new blueprint would clear the way for a "big box" retailer along Route 74 north of Dillsburg and an area adjacent to the Dillsburg shopping center from Light Industrial or Apartment/Office to Commercial Highway zoning.

:tdown:

Government budget cuts are felt at street level

Share-a-Ride bus tolls rise with loss of subsidy

Thursday, July 01, 2004
BY DANIEL VICTOR
Of The Patriot-News

Charlotte Jackson, 71, relies on Capital Area Transit's Share-a-Ride program five days a week to get to her job in downtown Harrisburg.

Starting today, she'll pay more as the bus service, which picks up and returns elderly and disabled residents at their homes, will cost her $2.25 per trip, up from $1.

The fare increase will cost her about $50 more each month -- money she said she doesn't have.

"It's a little steep for senior citizens," she said. "Everybody's going to have trouble paying it."

CAT's prices aren't changing. A typical ride costs $15 -- but by state law, those eligible for Share-a-Ride have to foot only 15 percent of the bill, or $2.25.

In the past, the Dauphin County Area Agency on Aging pitched in so seniors paid no more than $1.

Now, due to flat funding and rising costs, the agency can't afford to help out -- leaving seniors on their own.

The agency, which has an annual budget of $8.5 million, was projected to have a $1 million deficit if it continued its current pace of spending, Director Robert Burns said.

Burns said the Share-a-Ride subsidy, which costs $100,000 a year, was an area the agency could scrap without causing severe health or security consequences for seniors.

"That is not to say this is not a hardship to the affected seniors," he said. "We understand it is."

The agency didn't want to eliminate other programs, such as home-delivered meals, assistance in finding nursing homes and care managers who visit homes, he said.

Bus fare assistance began in the late-1990s, when the agency had a surplus. Now struggling to find funds, the agency has to pass on some of the cost, Burns said.

He said the agency hopes to find money to continue helping for essential trips, such as medical appointments and adult day care, and will monitor its financial standing each month. The cost for those trips will remain $1 until Aug. 1, he said.

But other outings offered by Share-a-Ride, such as group breakfasts or shopping trips to the Frackville Mall, Burns saw as a less-constructive use of taxpayer money.

Chitaranjan Mehta, 69, rode to work in Harrisburg via Share-a-Ride every day for the past two years -- but said yesterday was the last time. Now, he plans to rearrange his schedule to catch a different bus that will cost $1.20 per ride.

"It is really creating a lot of trouble," he said.

Jackson said she doesn't have that option -- the transit buses don't drive by her house on Kensington Street.

She said she hasn't yet figured out her plan for the future.

"I really don't know," she said.

Good news!!!

AIRPORT AUTHORITY

HIA sees increases in traffic

Thursday, July 01, 2004
BY ELLEN LYON
Of The Patriot-News

Passenger traffic at Harrisburg International Airport rose nearly 6.4 percent in May -- 123,464 travelers passed through the airport -- when compared to the same month last year, HIA officials reported yesterday.

So far this year, traffic is up nearly 6.5 percent from last year, with 557,383 travelers using HIA since January.

Nationwide, the number of airline passengers fell 4.9 percent in May, with an increase of 4.7 percent so far this year, officials noted.

HIA Aviation Director Fred Testa attributed the traffic increase at Harrisburg to a new TransMeridian Airline non-stop flight to Orlando, Fla., expanded Northwest service to Minneapolis and the use of larger planes by US Airways, Delta and American Eagle.

The Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns and operates HIA and Capital City Airport in Fairview Twp., will be adding another airport to its portfolio.

The authority board voted unanimously yesterday to buy Chambersburg Municipal Airport in Greene Twp., Franklin County, from Chambersburg borough for $790,000, plus the cost of an appraisal, engineering and environmental reviews and legal work.

The borough, which built the general aviation airport on 93 acres in the late 1960s, had wanted to close it, but the Federal Aviation Administration stepped in and asked the authority to buy it. The FAA is providing a $750,000 grant and another $41,660 in funding, and the state is kicking in $20,833, Testa said.

The authority is required to provide $25,657 in matching funds to buy the airport and snow-removal equipment, Testa said. It already has spent $43,326 for an engineering review and other expenses, he added.

Testa estimated that the airport needs about $1.8 million in improvements, for which he plans to pursue grants. He said the authority's goal is to make the financially troubled facility self-supporting.

Chambersburg Municipal Airport will close on July 27 and reopen on July 29 as Franklin County Regional Airport.

The airport has a 3,300-foot-long and 75-foot-wide asphalt runway, a 1,150-square-foot administration building, nine T-hangars and 11,730 square feet of conventional hangar space, according to information supplied by the authority.

About 30 private aircraft and the Chambersburg Skydiving Center, which HIA officials said is the largest such center on the East Coast, are based at the airport.

In recent years, the airport has lost business because it doesn't sell fuel, but the authority intends to make fuel available there again, Testa said.

The authority does not anticipate having to hire additional staff to maintain and operate the airport.

"In the beginning it's going to be run much as it has been," by people already there, Testa said.

In other action yesterday, the board unanimously:

• Approved the purchase of two heavy-equipment loaders with two 30-foot ramp plows for $591,563 from Elliot & Frantz of Harrisburg. The loaders will be used for snow removal.
• Awarded a $191,500 contract to URS Corp. of Hunt Valley, Md., for engineering services on a new taxiway at HIA to replace an existing one.
• Accepted a $15 million, three-year, revolving line of credit from Waypoint Bank. It will be used to pay bills while the airport awaits receipt of federal and state grants, officials said.

nice articles Dave...I especially like the fact that the airport authority added Franklin County Regional Airport to the opperations. I think this will be good for the region. anyway, i just moved into my new apt. in wormleysburg so I won't have internet till next friday. I am going to stop in at my parents place from time to time to check email, pick up mail, etc: so if you don't see me for awhile, now you know why :D

also, thanks again for posting that corridorone stuff up. i didn't have time to get to it, but i figured if i posted it here, the word would get out!

Well I guess the PM I just sent you today about getting together sometime this weekend won't do much good LOL

You're very welcome, Chris. Thankfully you kept me updated on the info (I really need to check their sites more often).

Congrats on the new digs!!! Take some pictures maybe? *hint hint* Speaking of, where the hell are your pics on the office buildings in Camp Hill. :nono:


;)

ugh....that story about the DID really bothers me...i mean come one, i know it may be a little financial setback, but is it not worth continuing the downtown's renaissance? i really hope the property owners realize this in time...or i won't have a place to work :(

thanks for the PM dave...i'll get back to you on when and where we could meet up. i have your number so i'll give you a call sometime this weekend. are you going to see the fireworks monday night?

harrisburger...i hope you don't lose your job. i think these other businesses and owners will come around. the money keeps the community clean but it also goes towards new projects as well (at least i think). like new sidewalk repairs, trees, lighting, etc. right?