[EastSideHBG]

CAPITOL AREA NEIGHBORS

MIKE BILLO, 50, owns row houses at 805 and 807 Green St. and has lived at 805 Green St. for 19 years. Both will be taken if a courthouse is built. "I love the convenience. I work for the state, I worship at St. Patrick Cathedral, I work out at the Y. I'm used to walking."

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Its fiercely loyal residents say it's the last real neighborhood downtown, this mix of turn-of-the-century town houses, eateries and clubs.

"The unique thing about this neighborhood is that it is a neighborhood," said Ronn Fink, 70, co-owner of the Bare Wall, a crafts-and-video gallery. "Everybody knows everybody."

He then greeted several people by name as they strolled past his shop.

His building on the west side of Green Street would be spared. No matter. He said the plan to take residences and businesses between Third and Green and North and Forster streets would destroy the neighborhood he has safeguarded since moving here in the 1960s.

It's a mix of gay and straight, owners and renters, clubs and sidewalk cafes. Many buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Among the establishments that would go are the St. Moritz jazz club, Roxy's Cafe, Mangia Qui restaurant and Stallions, a gay nightclub. Even the U.S. government noted the impact, reporting that there's no obvious alternative spot for Stallions.

Residents realize the value of their corner of the city a block from the Capitol and are prepared to fight.

Signs are posted in almost every window: "A Courthouse Is Not a Home," "Fight or Move!" The area has its own activist group, Capitol Area Neighbors.

"Someone's always interested in building something here," Fink said. "Can't they see that this is what life in the city should be?"

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JACKSON-LICK APARTMENTS

MADELINE AUSTIN, 84, has lived in the Alton W. Lick apartment building at North Sixth and Basin streets for 17 years. "I hope they don't take it. After you've done fixed up your room and gotten comfortable, you hate to move."

Sunday, June 25, 2006

The Jackson-Lick apartments are twin towers of monolithic public housing dating back to 1960. Their design is outmoded, and Jackson, the larger, northern tower, is vacant.

But the 12-story Alton W. Lick Building is home to 146 residents, most of them elderly or with disabilities. And many don't want to move.

"I will live here," Velya Monuson, 79, said in a thick Russian accent, banging his cane on the sidewalk for emphasis. This has been his home for 16 years.

"All the people who live here would vote no," he said of the courthouse. "They're old. They're disabled. They have illness. One has no vision. This is a good place for them. It is very ideal."

What the brick-and-concrete tower lacks in beauty, it makes up for in amenities, residents said. On nice days, they sit on the benches and look onto North Sixth Street. There's a bus stop out front. Across Sixth is the Broad Street Market. Next door is Ben Franklin School and a swimming pool. Children at play provide background noise.

The Harrisburg Housing Authority runs the building and keeps it clean and secure, residents said.

Madeline Austin, 84, said a deacon from her church picks up her lady friends for services uptown on Sundays. They have someone they trust to run to the bank and the store.

"If you move somewhere else, you have to find someone honest," she said. "You can't find honest people everywhere you go. We all have one another, and we hate to leave one another."