TheBurg

14 | theburg | 05.17 H ey, you, down there. Yeah, you. e guy stuck in traffic on the Washington Beltway. e woman staring up at the electronic sign, waiting, waiting for a Metro train. e couple thinking that half-a-million might be a fair price for a nothing-special apartment. Look up here. Sure, I understand. Perhaps you have a regular job where face time is important. Maybe you can't imagine leaving your neighborhood or friends or just enjoy the buzz of a big metropolis, despite the aggravations. I lived in Washington for about 25 years and loved most of my time there—with certain exceptions for the traffic, the tourists and the time I got mugged. But it's also possible you don't really love it there or just want to do something crazy like afford a decent house. Maybe you freelance or telecommute or can switch your federal job for a state job. is option isn't for everyone, but maybe it's for 10 or 15 percent of you. To you, I say, consider coming north, due north. I did. And so did Zachary and Devin and Ivan and Teresa and Shana and lots of others. It's a long list. We have a little D.C. ex-pat community going on here in Harrisburg. If you're even a smidge interested, you'll want to know about this place you've probably never thought of before, much less visited. It's a small, complicated city, much more complex than its size would indicate. So, here are a few starting points in your research, before you begin greedily scanning Trulia for that cheap, historic townhouse of your dreams. Harrisburg will remind you of Washington, only smaller. We have a huge Capitol building, a beautiful river, Victorian-era neighborhoods, legislators, lobbyists, corruption, nonprofits, Washington Nationals players and a longstanding feud between our local and state governments. Sound familiar? We've even had a turn with insolvency and receivership. And, sorry, Eastern Market, I love you, but the Broad Street Market is somewhere between five and 100 times better. e cost of housing will make your eyes pop out. is may be the single-most compelling reason to decamp for old HBG. A renovated, 100-year-old rowhouse in a nice, historic neighborhood for under $200,000? How many do you want? You'll be surprised by the divisions. Washington has its deep divisions, but you usually can hide from them if you want. You can't do that in a small city like Harrisburg, where they're right in your face. City vs. suburbs, racial, economic, political, natives vs. newcomers, even generational, as young people begin CiTy sWap Had enough of Washington? Hear me out. bY LAWrANCe biNdA Illustrations by Rich Hauck.

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