Suburban renewal

Penbrook's mayor recalls many a longgone store where he used to shop in the borough, or an apartment where he used to live while growing up in the 1950s.

But when Richard Stottlemyer, 62, ate breakfast with Dauphin County officials, they went to a Friendly's restaurant down the road in Lower Paxton Township.

Stottlemyer met with County officials March 1 to discuss Penbrook's revitalization. A restaurant would be a nice addition to the borough's drooping commercial strip, he says. "There's no place to sit down and have a doughnut and coffee."

Over the years, the roar of traffic has replaced the ringing of cash registers along Walnut Street. the borough's main thoroughfare, and now a major commuter route between Harrisburg and its suburbs.

Just east of the city, Penbrook is home to more than 3,000 people. Modest homes with porches line its sloping, narrow side streets. Businesses along Walnut, meanwhile, share space with empty storefronts, boarded-up homes and vacant lots.

Like many close-in suburbs, Penbrook is languishing as people and commerce move farther out. Large retail chains settling in townships to the east - such as Lower Paxton and Susquehanna - helped to chase away Penbrook's small businesses, which once included a car dealership, a dance studio and two momand-pop drug stores.

Vanishing businesses, along with the emergence of a poorer, more transient population, unsettles civic and business leaders. Many longtime homeowners have died or moved away, splitting homes into apartments. The sight of graffiti and other urban problems worries Barbara Eitnier, general manager of General Safety Co. Inc., a specialty publisher based in Penbrook. "These are warning signs that you do something."

Some, including Eitnier, have formed a committee that is exploring ways to revitalize Walnut Street by bringing in new stores and cleaning up existing ones.

Committee members also want to make Walnut safer for pedestrians, who must hug narrow sidewalks to avoid traffic. Crosswalks are faded and hard to see; pedestrian crossing signals are nonexistent.

A] Stuckey, who owns the borough's 7-11 convenience store, wants to see new crosswalks, brighter overhead lights and special pedestrian signals.

Arlene Stottlemyer, the mayor's wife and a former state worker, chairs the committee, which began meeting in April. She insists the committee is independent from the mayor, but she acknowledges that the couple shares views on the borough's future.

Finding enough parking to attract businesses is one of the biggest obstacles, committee members say. Money is likely to pose another hurdle, although members hope to win grants from the county, the state and the federal government

New businesses are needed to boost the borough's tax base and pay for needed improvements in its infrastructure, Mayor Stottlemyer says.

Merging with either Harrisburg or Susquehanna Township - raised as an option by some in the borough - is out of the question, Stottlemyer argues, The community would have less control over spending. And, he adds, "Right now, I don't want to see it, because I think we can turn things around."

On the afternoon of May 7, the mayor joined the committee for a walk along Walnut. Members wanted to view up close the strip's blighted houses, faded crosswalks and narrow, crumbling sidewalks.

Several members picked up trash as they walked. Others strained to talk over bursts of traffic. Everyone wore orange safety vests and took pains to distance themselves from passing cars.

At one point, the group stopped on Walnut, opposite the 7-11 and a row of six houses east of the convenience store.

Stuckey, a wiry redhead, talked about his idea of buying the homes and replacing them with a small strip mall set back from the street. The move would also provide more parking for his store.

Only one home is occupied by the owner, Stuckey said. "The rest are slumlords."

One home was boarded up. A neon sign in another advertised a hair salon, Essence of Ebony. Children took turns riding scooters on the narrow sidewalk out front.

Stuckey said the salon could do more business in a strip mall, since parking would be easier to find.

"That's one thing I don't like about this location," says Shane Weaver, who opened Essence of Ebony two years ago. His car has been hit three times while parked along Walnut in front of the salon.

Weaver probably won't be around for any improvements. A tall, slender 22-yearold, with abundant, curly hair, Weaver plans to move to New York City by the end of the year to pursue a career in the fashion and entertainment industry.

Weaver thought about buying his building when it went on the market a year

ago. The price was about $130,000. "You would have to have significant money to do that," he says of Stuckey's plans.

A block west, Tony Mannion is staying put. He bought the Hydro Spray Car Wash at 27th and Walnut streets for $130,000 in 1988. Last September, he finally paid off the mortgage of $1,800 a month.

Now, Mannion can put that money into fixing up the six-bay car wash.

The roof of his office leaks whenever it rains. White paint flakes from the metal ceiling of the bays. The car-wash sign, once red, has faded to a yellowish orange.

"I was probably one of the ugliest places in town up until last fall," says Mannion, 69.

A former Marine, he still runs two miles every day.

Mannion has patched up the blacktop, put in new Plexiglas walls for the bays and fixed the bricks at the base of the sign. Next, he'll repaint the ceilings. Eventually, he'd like a new sign.

Mannion praises Mayor Stottlemyer for being easy to work with and more understanding of businesses. But Mannion has doubts about the revitalization.

Will it work?

"No, because they don't have the money," he answers. "And I hope I'm wrong, Parking is the problem. You need money to solve that, and I doubt it can be had."

The Stottlemyers are optimistic, as are members of the revitalization committee. They envision a place with boutiques and shops attracting tourists visiting the newly built National Civil War museum a couple of blocks away in Harrisburg.

Some would like to restore the old 19th century stagecoach stop at 27th and Walnut. A restaurant would fit nicely in the historic building, which is across the street from a bed-and-breakfast.

Whatever comes about, the old Penbrook is gone for good, the mayor says. The current version is no keeper.