TheBurg

06.15 | The Burg | 13 Trephan got involved after talking to the mayor during Kipona, the city's riverfront festival over Labor Day weekend. Trephan had charted helicopters for the festival, and, as he and the mayor observed the long line of people waiting for a ride, Reed asked about other ways to improve the riverfront. Trephan ventured a suggestion for a ferry. at idea blossomed into the campaign for the riverboat, which Trephan spearheaded, along with other acquisitions—a railroad circuit and steam train, purchased from a bankrupt Vermont millionaire; an antique carousel. e crowning achievement was the construction of a new ballpark and the acquisition of a minor-league franchise. Trephan, now in his seventies, looks back on the redevelopment of City Island as an emblem of Reed's vision and follow-through. "He was a doer," he said. "People knew that if he said he'd get something done, he would." More than that, though, he recalls it as a story of political and geographical unity. e mayor "didn't give a shit what your political party was," he said. In the case of the Pride of the Susquehanna, he "probably got that done with 80 percent Republican help." Trephan wanted the boat to be a project of both shores, and, when it came time to incorporate a nonprofit to manage it, he lobbied for the name to include "Harrisburg Area," as opposed to just "Harrisburg." (In a history of the riverboat, which Trephan put together in 2007, he wrote that it "might have been the first time that the east and west shores ever came together on a community project.") e renaissance on the island has largely endured. e Senators still play ball in the stadium, now dubbed Metro Bank Park. e Pride of the Susquehanna is paddling into its 27th year. But in recent months, both the private sector and local officials have begun looking to improve its offerings. Much as it did in 1986, when its mayor showed up to save a stranded boat, the city is considering what sort of businesses can flourish there, and how the government should help. L ast November, a group of land-use experts met over two days in downtown Harrisburg to contemplate City Island's future. e Urban Land Institute, a global nonprofit, had convened them to tackle a question: was the island was being used to its full potential? Urban Land Institute panels are meant to provide planning advice, as the institute puts it, "in an atmosphere free of politics or preconceptions." Susan Baltake, the executive director of its Philadelphia council, which oversaw the City Island panel, told me the institute "gives cover to elected officials, who don't want to be the ones telling constituents what to do." e panel, which included lawyers, engineers, designers and real estate and construction professionals, among others, toured the island and interviewed 51 "stakeholders" representing the various constituencies with interests there. e result was a report that George Asimos, a local real estate attorney for the law firm Saul Ewing, and the panel's co-chair, said he hoped would be "an informed, open- minded, no-agenda catalyst for action." e report affirmed the island's present recreational use, while highlighting its immense potential. It called for a form of centralized management and urged the city to develop a long-term master plan. Among other ideas, it recommended pursuing additional programming at the island's sports facilities and exploring winter activities and a year-round restaurant. It strongly urged the city to work with the City Islanders, a professional soccer team, to improve their stadium, which is underwhelming, despite the view of the Harrisburg skyline from its bleachers. e report also included a few of what Asimos called "blue-sky ideas," including a "Museum of the Susquehanna" to celebrate the river's ecology. "City Island is a well-loved place," Asimos told me. "It is unique and tremendous in its location, and in the fact that you can walk and drive to it." But, he noted, the island's amenities are "not planned in a uniform way." e island didn't have a consistent signage system, and the natural resources were integrated haphazardly. "It's crying out for a unified master plan," he said. Brad Jones, the president of the downtown development nonprofit Harristown, which led the request for the Urban Land Institute study, said the panel learned that vendors shared more or less the same wish list. ey wanted the island to be "clean, safe and beautiful," and they would like "maybe a little more marketing." Where does city government fit into these objectives? In 1984, before the rapid development of the island under Reed, the city petitioned the Urban Land Institute for a similar report. is time, the request came not from the city but from Harristown, with the backing of the Dauphin County commissioners and the regional tourism bureau. e difference is small, but it may say something about a divergence in priorities. Since Mayor Eric Papenfuse took office, he has clashed with these entities over spending on development and tourism. ough he was interviewed for the report, he took little interest in it. "I don't think it told us anything we didn't already know," he told me, describing it as "one of those things the county likes to spend money on." (Dauphin County paid $15,000 for the study.) Source: City of Harrisburg Planning Bureau.

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