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11.14 | The Burg | 1 Community Publishers As members of Harrisburg’s business community, we are proud to support TheBurg, a free publication dedicated to telling the stories of the people of greater Harrisburg. Whether you love TheBurg for its distinctive design, its in-depth reporting or its thoughtful features about the businesses and residents who call our area home, you know the value of having responsible, community-centered coverage. We’re thrilled to help provide greater Harrisburg with the local publication it deserves. Realty Associates, Inc. Wendell Hoover ray davis 2 | The Burg | 11.14 4 | The Burg | 11.14 11.14 | The Burg | 5 RUBICON Now Open! 270 NORTH STREET, HARRISBURG | RUBICONHBG.COM LIVE MUSIC & INSPIRED COCKTAILS -- Friday & Saturday nights 272 NORTH STREET • HARRISBURG,PA • 717.233.7358 WWW.MANGIAQUI.COM CoNTeNTS |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| NeWS General and leTTers 9. puBlisHers Column 2601 N. FroNT ST., SuITe 101 • hArrISBurg, PA 17110 WWW.TheBurgNeWS.CoM 10. neWs DigesT 12. CiTy vieW ediTorial: 717.695.2576 14. state sTreeT ad SALES: 717.695.2621 IN The Burg PuBLISher: J. ALeX hArTZLer [email protected] 16. mAking THe gr ADe Cover arT By: MeG davis eDITor-IN-ChIeF: LAWrANCe BINDA 20. sTreeT Corners www.HelloMeGdavis.CoM [email protected] 22. inTo THe WilD SALeS DIreCTor: LAureN MAurer [email protected] 24. from THe grounD up leTTer FroM THe ediTor SeNIor WrITer: PAuL BArker [email protected] Buy local! ShoP LoCAL AccouNT eXeCuTIve: ANDreA Black At this time of the year, you often hear that [email protected] phrase, but what does it exactly mean? 26. vintage look, moDern sTyle 30. Big iDeA s Is a store at the mall local? The big ConTriBUTors: box off the highway? Franchised chain 31. one gooD sHop restaurants? or does it just apply to truly TArA Leo AuChey, Today’S The day hArrISBurg [email protected] locally owned shops? At TheBurg, we try to keep our cash as roSeMAry ruggIerI BAer gooD eats [email protected] close to home as possible. I sometimes joke that my staff’s money goes in one BArBArA TrAININ BLANk 32. Wine Time big circle: from us to local businesses and [email protected] 33. CHef's kitchen back again. Jess hAyDeN 34. Home C ooking But, you know what, it’s really easy for us [email protected] to do, and here’s why. DoN heLIN We don’t shop locally from some www.DoNheLIN.CoM charitable instinct. We shop where we kerMIT heNNINg hoMe FroNT live and work because our locally owned [email protected] shops, restaurants, cafes, etc., are simply better than the alternatives. ANDreW DyrLI herMeLINg 36. CiTy life www.ANDreWDyrLIherMeLINg.CoM Who wouldn’t prefer Cornerstone or Little Amps to Starbucks? Alvaro to the olive STeve JuLIANA [email protected] Culture garden? yellow Bird to Subway? The Broad Street Market to the supermarket? M. DIANe MccorMICk Midtown Cinema to the megaplex? [email protected] 38. Creators The harrisburg area has so many high- 40. Curtain CAll stePhANIe kALINA-Metzger quality and interesting businesses that it’s [email protected] 42. performAnCe hard for me to imagine why some people LorI MyerS 44. CiTy CinemA still seem to prefer the sameness and [email protected] mediocrity of national chains. 46. musiCAl noTes kerry royer So, I guess I’ll jump on board this holiday [email protected] season and exclaim, “Buy local!” reggIe SheFFIeLD yes, it’s great to support the merchants [email protected] hAPPeNINgS, 47 in your community, but you also can do so for purely selfish reasons. Shopping missy SMITh local is just better: better products, better [email protected] SPorts & health customer service and a better, richer DAN Webster experience. [email protected] 50. fAmily HeAlTH JasoN WILSoN 51. great ouTDoors [email protected] laWranCe Binda 52. Wellness editor-in-Chief inTern: keLSee BAker [email protected] FeATureS ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| desiGn: CreATIve DIreCTor & DeSIgNer: MegAN davIS [email protected] A PICTure oF goverNMeNT, P. 12 • MAkINg The grADe, P. 16 DeSIgNer: krISTeN favA kNoCk kNoCk IT'S italy, P. 34 • stuDeNT SCrIBeS, P. 38 [email protected] FACeBook.CoM/TheBurgNeWS @TheBurgNeWS #ShuTTerBurg NeWS rail revival Regional rail would greatly improve the quality of life in the Harrisburg area. By SLoAN AuChINCLoss magine riding your bicycle to a regional rail rail systems with small, vintage trolley operations. Capital outlay for any transportation project may stop. After a short wait, a sleek, self-propelled, CapMetro, Austin, Texas’ single-line diesel railcar seem daunting. However, rail transit earns its keep by articulated railcar arrives. Its double doors open, operation, is planning expansion. Harrisburg, with delivering the following benefits: Iand you board. While locking your bike to the on- Capital Area Transit as the operator, can and should board rack, the railcar glides towards your destination. follow those examples with a modest construct. A • Construction and operation will return For quite a few American cities, this is a reality—a viable first line, covering major ridership points, might to the community at a ratio of $4.25 transportation connectivity in an urban core be as follows: (wages, taxes and purchases) for each featuring light rail or streetcar service that encourages West Shore Transfer Center (West Shore Plaza), 3rd dollar invested (i.e. $100 million paid intermodal transfer by pedestrians, bicyclists and autos. & Hummel (Lemoyne), City Island Parking Garage out would ripple through the local The national trend towards building and/or expanding (accessible by the CAT-owned trans-Susquehanna economy at $425 million; source: U. S. rail transit coincides with a current demographic bridge), PinnacleHealth, Amtrak Transportation Department of Labor, Bureau of shift back to urban living. Harrisburg should take Center, State Government Complex (7th & Herr Labor Statistics). advantage of that movement by building a rail transit streets), Pennsylvania Farm Show and Harrisburg line, thereby improving the region’s attractiveness to Area Community College. • In energy savings, a rail car can move present and future residents. On May 2, I attended a day–long conference at more people per BTU than any other Downtown streetcar service, for example, was a major Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s transport mode. factor in the selection process for the Republican headquarters in Philadelphia. Speakers and panelists Party’s 2016 National Convention site. The GOP described how rail transit can and does improve the • A rail line takes up less land than a dropped from consideration Columbus, Ohio, which quality of urban life. Research cited at the conference highway; therefore, more land can go has no passenger rail service of any kind. Both stated that millennials (young adults) and the elderly on the tax rolls, which, in turn, broadens Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kansas City, Mo., which are are gravitating to cities for the convenience of proximity the region’s property tax base. building new streetcar lines, put in vigorous bids. But to jobs and access to walkways, bike lanes, bike tracks • A rail line provides a transport the winner was Cleveland, which has both light rail and transit. Many young people are postponing the redundancy for emergency and a metro line. By the way, ArcelorMittal’s plant in rite of passage of buying cars after college. management, which can be critical for Steelton supplied rails for Kansas City. Quality of life is critical to the vibrancy of conurbation. disaster relief. Plus, motive power is a There are four cities in Pennsylvania that currently Harrisburg needs this vitality in order to attract people handy source for emergency electricity. provide rail transit: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, who right now really want to live in an urban setting. One 3,000-horsepower, diesel-electric Johnstown and Scranton (seasonal). Harrisburg should Establishing a regional rail system, even the starter locomotive can power up 1,000 homes. be next on the list. Crisscrossing rail lines built by line described, will require significant capital funding. former Pennsylvania and Reading railroads intersect Federal and state sources are first options, but there • Best of all, research by Dena Belzer of major trip generation points. Railroad roadbeds are creative financing packages that are available to Strategic Economics, Berkeley, Calif., are wide enough to accept additional trackage for augment conventional government grants. Options cites that improved health outcomes commuter purposes so as not to interfere with current include CMAQ grants (Congestion Mitigation Air accrue to regular users of rail transit. operators’ (Norfolk Southern and Amtrak) daily turns. Quality), Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts This writer is cognizant that rail transit has been funding, state and county funding matches, and private Let’s get Harrisburg into the big leagues of Cincinnati, the subject of study at various times since 1979, but participation through development rights. Kansas City and Austin. But to get from imagination policymakers were reluctant to “break new ground.” Oregon successfully used the latter by leveraging to actuality, policymakers must champion the cause. I This was understandable as studies recommended development rights along Portland’s light rail hope they do because rail transit would deliver a major expansive civil works with huge costs to match. downtown-to-airport