Six reasons why runners need to come to Elizabethtown

In the past two years, I have used the streets, sidewalks, paths and roads in and around Elizabethtown as my training grounds for three half marathons. I have run often enough to establish short routes of 4 miles that get me home in about 30 minutes and long runs of 12 miles that take me from one end of Elizabethtown to another (literally from Darrenkamps to the Masonic Village Farmers Market).

When 500 people show up for a race in the dead of winter, you know there's a community of runners. With that in mind, here are six reasons why you should run in Elizabethtown:

• Elizabethtown's walking and biking paths -- The borough has been working on walking and biking paths in town for a number of years. This winter, construction started on connecting a path from the community center on Poplar Street with a new path that will end at the Elizabethtown Train Station. The borough has also received grants to build a path on the other side of Market Street that will use existing alleys and go through Community Park and connect to the Elizabethtown Area School District property. Soon, you'll be able to run all the way through town on a dedicated pedestrian path and encounter little to no traffic.
• Masonic Villages -- I have run countless miles at Masonic Villages and am grateful for it. From my house, it's about a mile to the apartment buildings on Sycamore Drive. Once I get there, I can head in a number of directions on walking paths or on roads that don't have that much traffic. As any runner will tell you, that is a blessing.
• Hills -- As a cross country runner in high school, my coach told us to "attack the hills." Ever since then, I've never shied away from the challenge of a steep incline. Here in Elizabethtown, there are many, many challenges: Campus Road from College Avenue to Groff Avenue, Buckingham Boulevard, my own 5 Miles of Hills route and more. If you train in Elizabethtown, you will fear no hills in a race.
• Great local races -- I've been running in the Frozen Foot Race Series, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Here's a list of other races in no particular order (these are the ones I know about in the Elizabethtown area; I did not include any that are outside of the school district):
• Run for Peace, held every September and sponsored by the Elizabethtown Brethren Church.
• Elizabethtown Color Classic -- will be held Sunday, April 6, on and around the campus of Elizabethtown College. This is a first-time color run the college's Class of 2016 is sponsoring to support the Arc of Lancaster County. As a side note, the borough's staff held up this student-run event as an example of planning and organization for submitting a special events application with all requirements months ahead of the event.
• Cornerstone Ministries held an inaugural 5K last fall at Masonic Villages.
• Twilight Trot, a 10K in August on the Masonic Villages grounds sponsored by the Greater Elizabethtown Recreation and Community Services.
• An inaugural Mother's Day Run 5K this year, sponsored by the Elizabethtown Rotary Club.
• Conewago Rail Trail -- Technically, this isn't in the borough, but it's part of the community. I had ridden my bike on it, but until last fall had never run there. It's nice to have a flat, straight path with no vehicle traffic, except for crossing Route 743 and some other roads. And that's not to mention the beautiful south central Pennsylvania farmland and scenery.
• Elizabethtown College -- Like Masonic Village, the college provides a great space for running without traffic. I realized last fall that I could run across campus two or three times and get a 5-mile run in without ever being more than 1 mile away from home. And if I want to do speedwork on the track, it's a perfect warm up distance of six-tenths of a mile from home.

What did I miss? What reasons do you have for running in Elizabethtown?

E-town man, a former air traffic controller, recounts events of 9/11

Flight path of Flight 93 (Photo courtesey of Wikipedia)

Like most of us, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, are seared into my memory. Even after 12 years, the emotions are raw as I remember the horror of that day.

You might ask, since this is a blog that is chronicling Elizabethtown, what does this have to do with the borough and its business?

It turns out that Mal Fuller, who lives near Bear Creek School in Mount Joy Township, was the watch supervisor of the Pittsburgh International Airport air traffic facilities on 9/11. I met Mal the other year at a summer picnic, and he told me briefly about that day when, shortly after the Pentagon was attacked, the radar in Pittsburgh showed Flight 93 headed directly for the airport. As the supervisor, he evacuated the control tower and radar room.

At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, Mal will tell his story at Gibble Auditorium in Esbenshade Hall on the campus of Elizabethtown College. He will review the events of 9/11/01 as seen through the eyes of an air traffic watch supervisor who helped shut down the nation's airspace and who dealt with United 93 prior to its crash near Shanksville, Somerset County. 

I didn't hear Mal's entire story at that picnic, but like everything with 9/11, his story is compelling, and I hope to make it to his talk at the college.

For more background information, check out his appearance on "Conversations," a program produced at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania.




 

Borough wins planning award for parking lot design

The Lancaster County Planning Commission awarded Elizabethtown's new long-term parking lot at the Amtrak Train Station with one of its Envision Lancaster County Leadership Awards on Feb. 25.

The lot, located at the end of Wilson Avenue, received an Achievement Award and was cited for a compact
design combined with park-like open space, porous asphalt to let stormwater to seep through and
the use of high-efficiency LED lighting. Working with the borough on the design of the lot were C.S. Davidson, Horst Excavating, Hanover Engineering Associates Inc. and Derck and Edson Associates.

The Envision Leadership Awards program recognizes the actions of municipalities, developers, consultants and community groups that embrace smart growth concepts and highlights the advantages of good planning. The county planning commission's website says the program "is intended to raise design and planning awareness in our community, while encouraging the support of planning activities and projects that foster smart growth. By recognizing the actions of municipalities, developers, consultants and/or others who embrace smart growth concepts, this awards program highlights the advantages of good planning."

I have to give credit to the borough's staff, all of whom had the vision and worked hard to make the parking lot a reality. It's great to have that work recognized on a professional level, and I am proud that Elizabethtown has a committed staff that is implementing a plan that will stimulate economic development for the borough and make it an even better place to live.

A winter to remember, and another snow emergency

It's been a winter to remember, hasn't it? As best I can remember, it's been 20 years since we've had snow on the ground for so long and temperatures so bitter cold.

With yet another winter storm bearing down on Central Pennsylvania, Elizabethtown has again declared a snow emergency:

Based on the extended forecast, Elizabethtown Borough has declared a snow emergency 
effective at 3 pm. on Sunday, March 2. 

ln order to facilitate the movement of traffic and to combat the hazards of snow and ice on the 
snow emergency routes, Elizabethtown Borough has declared a snow emergency. 

During a snow emergency the following applies: 

1. Parking is prohibited on a snow emergency route
   
2. The Elizabethtown Borough Police Department is hereby authorized to remove any vehicle parked along the snow emergency route and to transport the same to an impound facility designated by the Borough at the Vehicle owner’s expense.
    
3. Penalties apply for violations. 

The following are designated as snow emergency routes:

• College Avenue * between Market Street and Spruce Street
   
• High Street- entire length
  
• Market Street- entire length
  
• Spruce Street- between College Avenue and Willow Street
  
• Willow Street- between Spruce Street and Market Street

The borough also noted on its Facebook page that, "because of the potential for heavy accumulations, it is possible that we will need to plow several times. If possible, wait to shovel the last 6 feet of your driveway until we have completed curb to curb plowing on your street. This will help prevent our plows from pushing snow back into your driveway."

"Please keep in mind that Borough ordinance requires that snow and ice be removed from sidewalks within 12 hours after the end of any fall of snow, sleet, or freezing rain.

"For more information regarding a snow emergency, visit the Borough’s website. Thank you for your cooperation."

5 reasons why Movoto missed the mark about retiring in Elizabethtown

Maybe you saw the story on the real estate website movoto.com that Elizabethtown is the best place to retire in Pennsylvania. Aside from picking this picture as representative of the community as a whole (I mean, come on, seriously?), I was excited. I'm not sure how Movoto reached its conclusion by assessing that weather, standard of living, amenities, proximity to an airport, crime rate and cost of living all translate into an awesome retirement community because I live here in part because of those things. And truth be told, I am many years away from retirement.

If you want a nice analysis of why Movoto's assessment is off base, I strongly recommend picking up the Feb. 20 edition of the Elizabethtown Advocate. Editor and publisher Dan Robrish does an excellent job of picking apart the website's analysis.

Ordinarily, I'd promote the list and write about it here because it puts Elizabethtown in the spotlight. The problem is that I see the community not just as a retirement destination. It's just a great place to live. Period. Whether you're retired or not.

Why?

1. Geography -- I remember being at an Elizabethtown Chamber of Commerce banquet six or seven years ago, and the president of the chamber got a chuckle from the crowd by saying that Elizabethtown is 20 minutes from everywhere. It's true. I work in Harrisburg, and on a good day with little traffic, you can get to Second Street in downtown Harrisburg and the Capitol in 20 minutes (now, I know that during rush hour that's a whole lot different, but work with me, folks!). We are also 20 t0 25 minutes from downtown Lancaster (where I also used to work). And you can get to the east side of York and to Lebanon in about the same amount of time, not to mention Hershey's being 10 miles away.
   
2. Local institutions -- Movoto used amenities as one of its criteria in developing its list, but there was no real presentation into what those amenities are. So let me do that:
    
• Elizabethtown College (full disclosure: my wife works for the college): higher education, concerts, speakers, events, Division III sports (though no football, which is not a complaint, just an observation) and a campus that is open to the public. I've taken advantage of all of these, and I regularly go to the track to run.
  
• Masonic Villages: I understand that you're a real estate website, and you're interest is in selling houses. So you won't mention the retirement community that 1. is a major employer in the community and 2. is an organization that does great things in the community and the world.
  
• MARS Chocolate: A Fortunte 500 company has a major production facility in the borough, which makes Dove Chocolate Bars. A factory equals jobs. And it smells like chocolate when you're out and about in town. That's reason enough to live here. Plus, it's less expensive to live here than Hershey.
  
3. Borough government -- I've written about this before, but it bears saying again: I was a newspaper reporter and had the privilege of covering other boroughs over the years. Very few of them were able to take a vision and turn it into reality. Prior to my being elected, Elizabethtown Borough Council approved a master plan for the downtown area. In the past eight or nine years, the borough has been following that plan and bringing to fruition much of that, including complete renovations of the Elizabethtown train station (using $9 million in federal stimulus money) and constructing walking/bicycling paths to make the community more walkable. Because previous council members had the vision, the borough has been able to secure grant funding for projects by showing that it has specific plans and not just good ideas.
   
4. A vibrant downtown -- The business atmosphere downtown has gone through cycles since I moved to Elizabethtown. Right now, it's on the positive side. New businesses have opened in recent years, such as Rooster St. Provisions, Folklore Coffee, Center Square Bakery, the Pita Pit and Andrew Douglas Jewelers, among others. The merchants also promote Second Fridays every month, staying open late on the second Friday and offering specials and deals. It's been great to head downtown and see people wandering in and out of businesses and spending money. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Elizabethtown Public Library, which is an anchor for the downtown and has become a community center.
   
5. Ease of travel -- I mentioned the renovations of the train station above. The Amtrak stop is on the Keystone line, which runs between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Elizabethtown sees tens of thousands of riders every year, and the numbers keep increasing. Hop on a train here, and you can be in Philadelphia in two hours, to catch a train to New York. Or you can commute to work in Harrisburg. Of course, being 10 miles away from Harrisburg International Airport makes air travel easier and more convenient (even if it can be more expensive than flying from Baltimore or Philadelphia).