Changes at Karns Quality: The Evolution of a Blog
February 13, 2008
I started this blog in 2004 as a experiment. At that point, I was two years out of college, I had been living in Harrisburg for a year, and I was about to leave for seasonal employment in Oregon. In a sense, I was all over the place, and I was having difficulty keeping in touch with friends and family. Karns Quality Blog was born out of this difficulty. Blogging was still new to me and to the world, and I decided to experiment with it as a means of keeping in touch.
What began as coverage of my adventures in rock climbing and travel slowly evolved over the years as I became more interested in and committed to the Harrisburg community. Over that same time, I also discovered that my friends and family were not reading my blog with the consistency that I imagined (if they were reading it at all).
As I have explored the communication medium known as blogging, I have also discovered some insights as to what it takes to develop and maintain an audience. Imperative in that task is staying on topic. To that end, I have decided to formalize the natural trend that has been occurring around here. Karns Quality Blog is now officially a blog about Harrisburg written by me Josh Karns, Harrisburg resident and voice of reason.
In formalizing this new format, all this Harrisburg (and Pennsylvania in a broader sense) are fair game. I will be covering community development, politics, the music scene, special events, oddities, rants and rave, and onward. I will continue to occasionally publish stories about my rock climbing exploits, especially within the greater Harrisburg region. Additionally, I will occasionally discuss items of national importance that I feel are particularly relevant or that I believe I have some valuable to share.
I’ve set a goal for myself of four posts a week. It will be a challenge to meet that, but I believe in setting the bar high. Many of the posts will probably be photo posts of interesting visuals that I spot around town. Others will be more textual. My purpose is not (and never has been) journalistic reporting. I’ll leave that to The Patriot. Rather, I will provide analysis, commentary, and opinion on the stories that I see around me. My goal is to advance discussion, to push the public discourse in directions that I believe will benefit this community. As always, it will be an experiment.
Harrisburg Courthouse: GSA Plays with the numbers
February 12, 2008
Yesterday, Sentaor Spector, Senator, Casey, and Representative Holden descended upon the Midtown HACC campus, with the press in tow, in order to hear from GSA officials on why they felt it was best to demolish the existing courthouse and build a new one at the existing site.
The Patriot has given their take, including the curveball third option thrown by Judge Conner. He suggests that the GSA evaluate againthe site at 2nd and Paxton St. on the south end of town. That site has been repeatedly rejected due to its position in the flood plain. The Congressional delegation seems to like the idea, but everyone else in the room, including the GSA, was hesitant. For more of that story, read The Patriot’s article; I have other things to mention.
First, the number crunching that the GSA performed is astounding. They really did their best to make it look like demolishing the current building, relocating all operation to temporary quarters, and rebuilding would be cost effective. How is this possible? They chose to consider the $18.5 million needed for interim housing to be an investment in Harrisburg, rather than a cost.
Additionally, the GSA did not consider Reed’s recommendation of selling the existing building to private investors after completing the move. By keeping it in the hands of the feds in their cost analysis, they were able to show that moving the courthouse would result in a loss of taxes for the city and a loss in private investment. The GSA failed to provide numbers on how selling the courthouse would impact these factors.
Finally, they suggest that moving the courthouse would result in increased financial burdens on the city in the form of additional parking garages and infrastructure. However, Reed claims that such infrastructure is already in the pipeline to be added.
Reed touted the broad-based community coalition as indicative that the consensus was that 6th and Reily is best. However, Barbara Shelton of the GSA cited the Pennlive forum discussions as evidence that consensus did not exist! When pressed further, she relented that those forums were not indicative of the whole community.
My biggest issue in all this was not addressed. Isn’t is terribly irresponsible and wasteful to tear down a perfectly good building that can be effectively used for so many other purposes when there are alternatives available?
Harrisburg Courthouse: The GSA demands to tear down the city
February 9, 2008
After three more months of studying locations for a new courthouse to be built in Harrisburg, federal officials [the General Services Administration (GSA)] concluded that rebuilding at Third and Walnut streets, their preferred site, is still the best.
The current courthouse site “best serves the federal government and the community, maximizes investment in the city of Harrisburg and minimizes required local investment,” according to a copy of the study obtained by The Patriot-News.
City officials dispute the findings, saying the locally preferred site at Sixth and Reily streets would save taxpayers at least $31 million. They cite the U.S. General Services Administration’s [GSA] own estimates of temporarily moving workers and demolishing the Ronald Reagan Federal Office Building.
Never fear, fair citizens of Harrisburg, the experts from the GSA are here to do the best thing for our city. To quickly recap the story thus far, Harrisburg could use a new federal court house. The current one is cramped and does not meet public safety standards for federal buildings. After studying their options, the GSA announces their three preferred locations: a historic neighborhood, some of the best low income housing in the city, or two mid-rise housing buildings for the elderly. Not one vacant property was included. It was clear that the GSA was intent on putting a wrecking ball to some fine Harrisburg real estate.
After a coordinated effort by the residents of the historic capitol area neighborhood, the GSA announced that the low income folks were getting the boot. They said it would cost too much to toss out the old folks. Still, they chose not to consider any of the open lots around town.
Enough citizens voiced their concerns about this location to get the GSA to scrap all three ideas and go back to the drawing board. Months later, a new list of potential sites was released. It did include the vacant lot at Sixth and Reily that most residents and the city government favored. However, it also included several blocks of prime downtown real estate with established businesses and offices!
After a thorough expert review, the GSA decided that tearing down one of two privately-owned, developed sites in downtown Harrisburg was the best option for a new courthouse. They were able to propose such ridiculousness through through the magic of eminent domain. Again, enough opposition rose up that a change of plan was necessary.
It became evident that the GSA was intent on tearing something down when they finally resorted to their currently-favored proposal. They determined that their next best option was to tear down the existing building. A coalition of nearly everyone else, including our Senators Spector and Casey and Representative Holden, agreed that the Sixth and Reily location would better serve the city. Through the work of our elected officials in congress, funding for the new courthouse was frozen until the 6th and Reily site was studied. So the GSA “studied” the location and decided it wasn’t a good idea. They’d rather tear down their existing building and build a new one on top of the steaming pit of wasted resources that would remain when the dust settles. They really think that this is better than using the existing space for alternate purposes and building on the vacant lot in Midtown.
This whole affair has descended into the epic battle of the GSA vs. everybody else who has ever actually walked around in Harrisburg. In my analysis of these events, one thing has become clear to me: the GSA is intent on tearing something down. Every “finalist” location that they have selected, in all of the many rounds of deliberation, has involved the destruction of perfectly good real estate in Harrisburg. In a moment of epiphany, I realized that the only way to reach consensus between the GSA and the people that are really affected by this decision is to offer up a sacrificial lamb. The GSA wants to tear down a building. We’ve got plenty of crumbling nasty buildings. Let’s just give them a building that we don’t actually want to tear down. That way the GSA can use their wrecking balls, and we can finally build the courthouse.
So who has a nomination for Harrisburg’s worst building?
The GSA is holding a meeting about their latest move 1:00 pm Monday at the HACC Midtown Campus. I will be present to hear what they have to say, and I will happily share my thoughts here afterward.
Downtown Closures - Floor9 misses the mark
February 8, 2008
Floor9 likes to rant about the failures of downtown bars and restaurants. He makes the arguement that this trend may ultimately result in the collapse of the downtown scene. I think that Floor9 is getting a bit too chicken little on us, and his doomsday prophesies may be doing more harm to the town than yet another 2nd Street bar flip.
The problem with Floor9’s arguement is that he is failing to see the parade of Harrisburg bars and restaurants in the context of the restaurant industry as a whole. If you’re not aware, the restaurant field has one of the highest failure rates of any industry. The research indicates that 60% of all new resaurants will close or change owners within the first three years of operation. (Don’t believe me? Ask google!)
Let me repeat that. Three out of every five restaurants will close its doors within three years of opening them. When considering this, Harrisburg seems pretty normal to me, if not even doing a little better. Why? There does not seem to be any shortage of entrpreneurs ready to step up to the plate and try their hand in the vacant space. When a downtown restaurant closes its door, the door doesn’t seem to be closed for long.
Karns Quality is Back!!!
February 7, 2008
Hello readers!
After a period of relative dormancy, I’m proud to announce that I’m climbing back on the ol’ blogging tractor. This has not been Karns Quality’s first hiatus, and it probably will not be my last either.
In other news, my domain karnsquality.com seems to have disappeared recently as a result of my hosting company being sold and some problem with the transfer. After procrastinating at dealing with that problem, I have finally resuscitated the karnsquality.com domain. You’ll notice too, that it is no longer just a redirect to karnsquality.wordpress.com; the blog now is directly at karnsquality.com!! I’m still using hosted wordpress to run it, just because it is generally way easier and less hassle than hosting my own version of wordpress. Plus the people running hosted wordpress keep adding excellent new features (like to ability to have my blog at karnsquality.com but still hosted by them). If I ever get a bunch of free time (yeah, right), I may just dump the generic template theme approach and design my own.
Cheers to wordpress!
Warn hot water!
January 29, 2008
I just noticed this truly strange sign in the locker room of the local YMCA.
If the grammar is to be taken literally, then this sign is instructing us to warn the hot water. I’m not really sure what the warning is or how to communicate with water…
For a moment, let’s assume they didn’t hve enough space on the sign to add the -ing…
So, are they really flushing the urinal with hot water?? I was not willing to check. Even if they are, what would posses the sign-maker to believe that the warning was necessary? Do you often witness people sticking their hands (presumably) in the urinal or (terrifyingly) drinking from it??
Or did I miss something?
Baking with chocolate
January 7, 2008
The Lion’s Roar
November 20, 2007
I spent the weekend cruising all over New York State: the Adirondacks, Albany, and New Paltz. Along the way, I picked up this fabulous lion shaped climbing hold. If you want to feel his wrath, just pay a visit to the warehouse for a climbing session. I’m always down for some action! Last night I busted out the kerosene space heater and did a little winterization. I am ready to climb until the numbing freeze of deep winter sets in.
Seriously, if you want to climb to, drop me a note. I’ve been really getting into a post-work routine.
Where were the Reed Team’s Netroots?
November 7, 2007
The election day chaos has settled, and the votes have been tallied. Incumbents Gloria Martin-Roberts and Susan Brown Wilson both held their seats while newcomer and multi-party instrumentalist Brad Koplinski grabbed seat number three for the Reed Team. Reed’s other candidates didn’t stand a chance.
If elections were won on conventional campaign visibility alone, this would have gone to the Reed Team. They had more yard signs, more mailings, more press coverage, and more canvassing. This was a coordinated effort by the shrinking set of Reed supporters to buy their way out of a sinking ship. Thankfully, they were unsuccessful.
One thing that is not easily faked, however, is netroots support: real, independent people, like me, who stand up and tell others what we think and why, all without the clean polish and spin of a political campaign. So, where were the Reed Team’s Netroots? Sure, there was some anonymous squaking in favor of his candidates over at the Pennlive Forums, but not one Harrisburg blogger felt moved to promote the Reed Team candidates.
True, the netroots presence in Harrisburg is small, but I think it is a good indication of the direction that the people want to go.
Election Day 2007 — Think Local
November 6, 2007
Election Day 2007 has arrived, and, like most elections being held in odd-numbered years, the public does not seem to be paying attention. Of course, this is due to virtually zero electoral activity at the national level. and Americans just can’t seem to get interested in local politics. This is truly the great tragedy of our governmental system: political participation for the general public has been reduced to nothing more than voting in national elections. While I argue that voting conscientiously in all elections is the bare minimum fulfillment of your civic duty, today is the day to fulfill that duty. So people, go vote!
Although our culture seems to fixate on national elections, we as individuals have the greatest opportunity to affect change in local elections. Around here in Harrisburg, the local election of choice is for three city council seats. You can learn many of the issues surrounding this election in my post covering the primary in May.
The need for an independent City Council in Harrisburg remains. That is why it is essential that we reelect Susan Wilson and Gloria Martin-Roberts who have already shown that they are willing to stand up to Mayor Reed and ask the tough questions that must be asked when managing a city in financial distress. I have spoken to the “Reed Team” of Koplinski, Smith, and Jackson, and I am not convinced that they will be independent thinkers if they are elected to city council.
