TheBurg

01.23 | THEBURGNEWS.COM | 13 5. APARTMENT BLOCK Nearly every year, I include a "dog that didn't bark" story on this list. For 2022, that honor goes to the many large building projects that have been proposed, even approved over the last few years, but still haven't broken ground. Residential projects along and near the Reily Street corridor top that list, though the inventory of drawing- board buildings touches most Harrisburg neighborhoods. Notably, the Federal Building went from auction block to opulent rehab plan and back to auction block. Fortunately, it wasn't all deflating news on the development front. Projects like the Menaker apartments, Midtown Lofts, Harrisburg University's health sciences building and the new federal courthouse all either were completed or neared completion in 2022. Nonetheless, residents can be forgiven if they treat the next grand building proposal with a healthy dose of skepticism. 4. SEMI-NORMAL 2022 will go down as the year that our nation returned to normal, more or less. Despite a rough start to the year, most Americans—and I'll say most Harrisburgers— eagerly embraced their old ways once the winter COVID surge abated. Restaurants fully reopened, entertainment venues were packed, and nearly everyone stashed away their masks. Nonetheless, pandemic fallout continued. Businesses had customers again, but they often lacked the inventory, supplies and employees to serve them. Downtown Harrisburg, in particular, continued to suffer from a dearth of state and other workers who never fully returned to the office, leading to numerous business closings. For this reporter, this was some of the worst local news since the rumored demise of the legendary Harrisburg beaver. 3. STATELY STALL Each spring, flowers bloom, robins return, and road construction crews begin pounding, digging and paving. is past year was no different, except that the crews started and soon stopped on one project—the redesign of State Street in Allison Hill. A long-planned project to narrow the street, add bike lanes and improve safety caused some residents to complain that the new road would force them to move their parked cars twice daily along the street. e biking community pushed back, advocating for the project and the bike lanes. Other project supporters argued that the parking situation shouldn't have been a surprise—that it had been presented over and over during many public meetings. In April, the city administration issued a cease-and- desist order and, in June, unveiled a revision that would eliminate the bike lanes and retain the parking. at plan added more safety features, such as textured crosswalks, but didn't narrow the roadway, a key part of the original plan to make the wide, dangerous street safer for pedestrians. 2. NEW AT THE TOP e first week of 2022 held one of the biggest stories of the year—the swearing-in of Harrisburg's 39th mayor, Wanda Williams. A change in administrations always elicits concern for what lies ahead. What will the new mayor mean in terms of policies, priorities, procedures? In my view, the new administration started off strong with a seasoned team of managers to lead government operations. It then built upon the main strength of its predecessor with continued sound fiscal policy, while repairing frayed relations with the county, the state and other entities. It was adept in providing core services, completing the vital 2nd Street project and—huge kudos—in securing grant money. For 2023, I'm interested to learn the details of the administration's pending affordable housing plan and, importantly, to see if it can bring down 2022's distressingly high homicide rate. 1. 2ND TO NONE Back in 1956, Harrisburg—egged on by the commonwealth—turned several local streets into high-speed mini-highways. Overnight, once-quiet roads became noisy and dangerous, and the city became far less livable. Properties along and near these routes lost value, and many once-lovely houses fell into disrepair. Harrisburg's urban fabric was shredded for the benefit of commuters, who raced along these roads each night to their suburban homes. Sixty-six years later, in 2022, Harrisburg took a huge step in righting this historic wrong. Much of N. 2nd Street was re-designed, and the road was returned to two-way traffic. e impact was immediate and profound: fewer cars, less speed, less noise and a much safer street. In short, the road was given back to the city and its people. I now hope that this successful project offers proof of concept for slimming and slowing down the city's other urban highways, including Forster Street, Front Street and the downtown stretch of 2nd Street. So, there you have it. Another newsy year in the books and a fresh one just started. Raise that last glass of nog, and let me propose a toast. Here's to a great 2023 to our readers and to all the wonderful things this community can accomplish in the coming year. Lawrance Binda is publisher and editor of eBurg. Illustrations by Rich Hauck.

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