Talk:Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is not simply a “European Serrlement” Native peoples lives there thousands of years before European settlers arrived in the region. It would be good to know how many enslaved and freed Africans lived in Harrisburg at its founding. — Preceding unsigned comment added by GMDCVA (talk • contribs) 02:27, 21 July 2023 (UTC)


 * GMDCVA, the "European Settlement" value in the Infobox is not claiming that it is only a European Settlement, but rather to list the date at which Europeans first settled the area. The first paragraph under the History subheading addresses the Native American inhabitants, as well as the article History of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, I have also personally been currently researching historical sources regarding African-American populations. Much less info is documented about the Native Americans, but it is a goal of mine as well. Hopefully you can be of some help researching and improving the article along with us? Penndyl (talk) 14:20, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Map
The PNG map picture file isn't appearing on my computer. The graphic is entirely black with a red dot where (I assume) Harrisburg is located on a PA map. I was going to remove the map until the file was fixed, but it would seriously messed up the format of the page. So, could someone replace the PA map? --Kirkpatrick 14:36, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * The map renders fine now and this article has more than enough pictures. Removing request. -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ | Esperanza  13:00, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Wow, the history section of this article is really short. Contrast with Wilkes-Barre a much less significant city, historically speaking. Mjk2357 03:17, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Deleted reference to "Star City" as nickname for Harrisburg. I've never heard this name used. If I'm wrong and there is some reference to this name online, please advise. Kirkpatrick 03:49, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I have to second the "Star City" nickname. It looks like it has been restored, however.  I'd like to wait for somebody to justify keeping it before I remove it.


 * Also, I don't know if it's really significant to note that some people call it "The Burg." It's hardly a stretch to assume that pretty much every city with "burg" or "burgh" in its name is given the same nickname by at least somebody.  This is like saying some people call New York "the city." Freshyill 14:51, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm a long time resident of central PA and I've never heard either of these two nicknames, although the "burg" nickname appears to have some support The Burg Blurb! Harrisburg, Pa. People that I know call Harrisburg . . . "Harrisburg".  I can't even recall hearing people refer to it as "the capital".  If there are nicknames used by local residents that I am unaware of, perhaps a better solutions would be to list them in their own section somewhere lower on the page, so as to not clutter the introduction. 208.27.111.122 18:12, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I call it "The Burg" sometimes, but I'm usually half-joking. I certainly wouldn't expect anybody to guess what city I would be talking about in a conversation outside the context of Harrisburg. At any rate, I don't think it's commonly referred to as such.  If I say "The Big Apple" or "The City of Brotherly Love," you most likely immediately know to what city I'm referring.  "The Burg" could be just about anything, and upon further contemplation, I don't think it's a unique enough nickname to even warrant mentioning.  Just my thoughts. Freshyill 02:54, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I have added a State/County map to Harrisburg outlining the city location in Dauphin County similar to that of other city articles. Feedback is welcome. SoundGod3 03:24, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Photos
As Rune Welsh mentioned above, the article has enough photos, but I'm not crazy about them. Most are more relevant to the Capitol building. I'd like to see some of these deleted and replaced with good photos of the city and its landmarks. Freshyill 03:01, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

no sense
This sentence (the last of the History section) makes no sense, as written: "Out of the 5,000 people covered by this recommendation, 140,000 people fled the area". The 3 mile island article does not help either. Someone with the facts, please fix. Thanks Hmains 21:17, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Flag
Added Harrisburg's flag to the infobox. Wrightchr 13:26, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

History page: separate article
Noticed the history section was getting too long. Shortened the history section of the main page of the article and created a separate page for the section. Wrightchr 22:14, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Deleted article
Harrisburg contributors may need to be aware of Articles for deletion/List of people from Harrisburg, which resulted in deletion.--orlady 22:57, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Metropolitan area population correction
Prior to my edit, the second paragraph of the introduction read like this:

''The Harrisburg metropolitan area population was estimated in 2006 at 652,263, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan area in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton (the Lehigh Valley). Harrisburg is the county seat of Dauphin County and lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 105 miles (169 km) west-northwest of Philadelphia.''

The first sentence states that the 2006 estimated population for the Harrisburg metropolitan area was 652,263, which is actually the estimated population for the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The CSA includes Lebanon County, which is considered a separate Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S. Census Bureau. I replaced the incorrect numbers with those from the July 1, 2007 population estimates and provided the proper references for them in the article. The Harrisburg-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area had 528,892 people as of 2007, and the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon CSA had 656,781.

Harrisburg's metropolitan population makes it the fifth (not fourth as was stated in the article) largest in terms of size after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

I also corrected the figures in the city infobox template.--Acntx (talk) 14:13, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Missed debt payment, bankruptcy mentioned
The finances of Harrisburg are in a dreadful state. A bond payment was recently skipped, and Patty Kim, a Councilwoman, has suggested exploring bankruptcy. None of this is mentioned here, or in the Mayor's article or the Council article. Someone from the area should work on this issue. --DThomsen8 (talk) 21:28, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Couple editors now working on it. The situation keeps changing.  For the worse.  ElijahBosley  (talk &#9758;)  23:13, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Supreme Court - Fill In The Blank
Hi. The article currently contains, under the subhead Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, this sentence: "The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which is the court of last resort in the state, regularly hears arguments at." Amazingly enough it's been like that since, er, 21 December 2005 so we've probably let the tension build as much as we dare - could someone please finish the sentence? I'm tempted to assume that the missing word is merely Harrisburg but obviously there could be more to it - a particular building, or name of a series of court sessions or something? As I don't live there or know the place well I don't think I am well qualified to play "Fill In The Blank" here - but maybe you are! Thanks and best wishes, DBaK (talk) 08:49, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Trick question! There are three locations of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; Harrisburg, Philly, and Pittsburgh.  Them From  Space  09:59, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Aha! Thank goodness I didn't start trying to sort that out, and that you did! Well done. Cheers DBaK (talk) 10:10, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Population Density
The Population density is wrong. It is 2358 people per km2 (49528 divided by 21.0), not 1677 like it is claimed here. I could not edit it, someone else please should do it. --Daondo (talk) 03:12, 12 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Done Grahamboat (talk) 19:43, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

October 11, 2011 bankruptcy
I updated the article for the Chapter 9 bankruptcy filed by the City on October 11, 2011. I also double-checked, and it appears that there may actually be a valid legal issue about whether the City can maintain its bankruptcy (my earlier comment to the contrary notwithstanding). Section 109(c) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. section 109(c), provides that an entity may be a debtor under Chapter 9 if and only if such entity is a municipality AND the entity is "specifially authorized...to be a debtor under such chapter by State law....." Since it is reported by some sources that the State of Pennsylvania had passed a law that purported to prevent the City from filing until the year 2012, section 109(c) might possibly be used by the State to have the City's bankruptcy case dismissed. We shall see what develops..... Famspear (talk) 04:39, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Debt numbers
The debt numbers are an eye-opener, thanks. I don't recall ever seeing a number over $300 million or so, but these astonishing numbers do help explain why the problem caused Unkovic to throw up his hands and quit, and later write an op-ed piece about disrespect for legal constraints on debt. Kudos for a good paragraph. I put it first in the section, as an intro to and explanation of why Hbg. filed for bankruptcy. The section is then book-ended on the other side by the "problem still unsolved and we don't even know who is in charge of solving it" statement. ElijahBosley (talk &#9758;)  23:20, 16 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree, the actual numbers are astonishing considering they don’t include the school tax and unfunded pensions. Even though the debt growth was incremental it makes one wonder – what were they thinking? Grahamboat (talk) 00:33, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Point of fact: that $1.5 billion number DOES include school district debt. It's the total debt of all government entities (excluding the state) in the city; city, schools, and authorities. I'm the author :-) But you are correct, it does not account for pension obligations. - Nick Malawskey 72.95.14.158 (talk) 13:02, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

listing includes irrelevant link (prank?)
Some dude named Jon Bonough or something from Birmingham UK included himself near end of page with a link called emotional status. Irrelevant and seems to me a prank.

Lynn in PA — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.87.2.249 (talk) 11:02, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Pride of the Susquehanna
The riverboats of Portland, Oregon, Marietta, Ohio, and throughout the Mississippi River would be surprised to learn that a steel hulled, diesel powered tour boat in Harrisburg is an "authentic riverboat," let alone one of 'the only ones left." ElijahBosley  (talk &#9758;)  13:18, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania not state
Pretty simple, there is a difference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.15.251.238 (talk) 22:15, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

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Add a reference re land grant to John Harris
I have doubts about the following sentences.

In 1719, John Harris, Sr., an English trader, settled here and 14 years later secured grants of 800 acres (3.2 km²) in this vicinity. That same year, 1733, Harris was granted a license to operate a ferry, and the place was long afterwards known as Harris's Ferry.

I have a link to the original land grant application by John Harris which indicates the grant took place in 1737, not 1733, for 820 acres.

Accordingly, I suggest the revision:

In 1719, John Harris, Sr., an English trader, settled here and in 1737 secured a grant of 820 acres (3.3 km²) in this vicinity. In 1733, Harris was granted a license to operate a ferry, and the place was long afterwards known as Harris's Ferry.

Although the record is found on the Ancestry.com website it is accessible without charge because of an agreement with the PA Historical Commission.

See https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2350/33019_b078884-00794?pid=178514&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DDXI6343%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26db%3DPAWarrants%26gss%3Dangs-d%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26gsln%3DTempleman%26gsln_x%3D1%26_81004401__int%3D1734%26_81004401__int_x%3D1%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3D6z5%26pcat%3D36%26fh%3D0%26h%3D178514%26recoff%3D6%26ml_rpos%3D1&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=DXI6343&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=33019_b078893-00039 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.243.182.59 (talk) 09:46, 24 May 2018 (UTC)

Internet Portal's
'''There are only 2 official websites for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. https://Harrisburgpa.gov and https://LoveHarrisburg.com'''

Anything else is not an official website or internet portal for Harrisburg.

Please stop listing privately owned facebook groups as "Official" websites for Harrisburg...

22:13, 27 December 2021‎ 2601:983:4600:6832::5e talk‎ 132,959 bytes −169‎  →‎Portal internet websites: This is not a real city website, this is a online only magazine run by a private Individual on his facebook group. The OFFICIAL website for Harrisburg is Harrisburgpa.gov or LoveHarrisburg.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:983:4600:6832:0:0:0:5E (talk)

News Sources
I removed online blogs that claim to be official news sources, one such blog has been inactive since 2004.

Here is the sections I removed with reasons for each:


 * MODE Magazine (alt newspaper)

Mode Magazine was a copycat magazine for the real Mode Magazine. It had been published ONLINE as a blog since 1998. You'll notice the url is dead. The person that listed this was trying to wrongfully claim that Harrisburgpa.com is the official website for the city of Harrisburg, which is not true, Harrisburgpa.gov and LoveHarrisburg.com are the city's 2 official websites.


 * Urban Connection (community paper)

Links to a facebook group with less than 100 members is not an official news source

"Places adjacent to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania"
I'm an outsider, having been once to Harrisburg, and having taken a transit bus to Hershey, nearby. I know for a fact Altoona is not adjacent. Nor is Baltimore. Should "places" be replaced by "metro areas"? I don't even think that would be right, because Selinsgrove sounds like an immediate suburb, which is what I was expecting out of this section. I don't even think Hershey (or anywhere in Derry Twp.) quite borders Hbg, but what does? That's what that section needs. YellowAries2010 (talk) 19:30, 20 January 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:05, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Harrisburg, Pa Product Exports (2020).svg