Turning Steel into Gold

Turning Steel into Gold:
An Interview with Steelton Mayor George Hartwick III

by David Banyas

As a child, George Hartwick III was not expected to be a lot of things.

He was not expected to be a tall man: His father and mother averaged a modest height. He was not expected to walk: At age three, he was diagnosed with Perthes Disease, a bone disorder affecting the ball of the femur and hip socket often causing dislocation. And he was not ever expected to be mayor of his hometown of Steelton, PA. But, in each case, he’s beaten the odds. Well, he’s not that tall, but his drive is enormous and his heart is three stories high.

Fitted with leg braces in the anxious years of his boyhood and relegated to the sidelines as the waterboy for the Steelton High football team, Hartwick was a source of inspiration for the players. There seemed to be so much against him yet he never quit. He rode his Big Wheel with his hands and crushed all opponents in the crab races. He never accepted the disease as an excuse to stop trying. The football players would carry him on their shoulders after victories. Now, Hartwick carries a town of over 6400 on his. Hartwick is the Mayor of Steelton.

Since his first term began in 1998, Steelton’s revitalization has been on the front burner. A downtown Steelton beautification campaign has been well-affected with the planting of over 60 trees, installation of over 100 planters, and the distribution of at least 25 new trashcans on the streets. Since September 1999, the kids of Steelton have had the Boys and Girls Club as a place to go instead of the streets. Now in the works is the Boat Dock: a vision of community togetherness and public access to the water that has been cut off by the megalopolis of steel mills along the Susquehanna.

In an interview with MODE Weekly, George Hartwick III talks excitedly about the life he leads, the ideas he lets live, and the town he loves.

MODE Weekly: Why Steelton?

George Hartwick: Often I was asked that, especially when I was a young man going around door-to-door opening up all these oysters in Steelton. What really motivated me was that my father was a member of the leadership in the Steelworkers Union. My grandfather was also involved in the steel mill. My mom worked for Democrats in the House and later on in a lobbyist position at AT&T. My dad actually ran for mayor in 1981 … and lost. I wanted to take up the good fight for the right reasons and also make the Hardwick Family one-for-one, at least in Steelton politics. I’ve always been motivated by the ideas of public service and I could think of no better place to start than my own hometown. I know that if you can be successful in Steelton, you can be successful anywhere.

There also was a distinct need and a vacuum for leadership. We’re an old company town that has to make a transition from a steel mill community, which depended totally on the steel mill and on the steel industry, to a community that needs to think of other ways to try to provide a serious source of employment as well as tax base for our residents to redo our downtown, to improve our neighborhoods, and to address the problems I saw all around me as I grew up. With my background, I know the excitement and passion for the job. I could think of no better way to start my career in public service than by changing my own hometown.

MODE: Steelton Mayor Frank Brown stepped down in 1998. What was he doing that you felt needed to be changed?

Hartwick: I think Frank Brown, as far as a man, as far as a figure — Frank Brown had a great understanding of our community. He was someone who led with distinction and had so many creative ideas. He also served on Council for a number of years and was responsible for a lot of the leadership in our community.
As I said, we were in a distinct need for a transition: a new mode of thinking. Although Frank Brown served our community extremely well and he did a lot with our police force, he didn’t provide the type of economic development leadership that I thought was necessary for the future of our community.

Some of [why I ran for Mayor] was “time permitting.” Some of it may have been a renewed spirit and a vision as well as my educational background [which] has given me some of the ideas of what approaches we need to take towards turning the community around. And I don’t think that they’re going to be nearly complete by the time that I’m ready to move forward, but we want to make sure that Steelton is clearly starting to move on the right track because the problems didn’t happen overnight.

MODE: There are some who say that Steelton has been through its heyday and isn’t worth revitalizing.

Hartwick: I think, clearly, Steelton has so many things worth revitalizing, to begin with. I would agree that Steelton has been through its heyday, but I don’t think it can’t, based upon our great qualities, return to a renaissance era. Obviously, it’s going to have to be a transition from a heyday of steel mill jobs and that mentality to a heyday of, maybe, restaurants; a heyday of, maybe, sports facilities, boat docks: reasons and opportunities for other people in our region to come to enjoy the kind of ethnic heritage that Steelton has to offer, the type of “town closeness.” So, the sense of neighborhood, the sense of ethnic heritage, and the tough, hard-nosed people that aren’t afraid to tell you what’s on their mind and don’t let you go by without saying hello is reason enough to have it revitalized.

MODE: What’s happening right now that is changing the problems that gradually occurred?

Hartwick: How much room do you have on your tape?

MODE: Tell me about general campaigns in order of priority for your administration.

Hartwick: The first thing that we needed to do and my first goal was to open up opportunities to our young people. My first big issue was to try and bring in a Boys and Girls Club into downtown Steelton…

MODE: …which was recently done.

Hartwick: Right. There are over 90 kids there a night. We have 300 new members, and there’s a distinct need. There’s an ordinance in Steelton that states the kids can’t play on the streets, but we have no park system anymore. We have no recreation system and we wonder why our kids are out there doing the wrong thing when we have, from a social standpoint and from the leadership and administration standpoint in local government, failed at our responsibility to offer alternatives for kids. I don’t think that government should serve in the role as parents, but I think we do have an obligation to our kids to provide opportunities and recreation and not just arrest kids. We don’t need to build more jails, we need to build more opportunities.

One of the next approaches we’re taking: we just applied recently for a grant to revitalize every single park in the community of Steelton. Over $370,000 should be invested next year to redo three of our parks, and the following year we’re going to finish up the final three parks.

Logically, the next step we want to move into is “What’s it going to take to attract businesses in our downtown, to start to reestablish a tax base that’s pretty much non-existent?” I think Steelton hit its all-time low with the reassessment of Bethlehem Steel. We obviously didn’t do things in the Borough to move us forward. It just doesn’t happen where people give you a check and say, “Borough of Steelton, we know you’re struggling. Put this to good use.” You need to develop a plan, have a real comprehensive look of a market analysis of your downtown; you need to look and identify all those potentially developable sites and how you can market them for the appropriate use. What are our negative trends? We need to be realistic with what Steelton’s like today.

One of the biggest requests from Steelton people, myself included, is the need for a grocery store. We’re currently seeking out another grocery store, but I’ll tell you the type of problems and the type of solutions you run into as you go through the process. First of all, you need to have the high-volume grocery store to offer the type of prices for the type of income level that we offer in Steelton … me included. We have to have a market analysis to support the fact that we can support a high-volume grocery store. Where we are met with a significant roadblock to our economic development plans is that we are abutted to a river. When they take a look, from a market perspective, whether or not you can support, demographically, a high-volume grocery store, they draw a five-mile circle around the potential location. And if within that five-mile circle you’re abutted to a river, 180° are knocked off. There’s not going to be too many people traveling from the West Shore to come to Steelton to do their grocery shopping. This is no West Shore/East Shore “thing,” this is just a reality of life.

MODE: Have there been any opposition to these changes?

Hartwick: I think you’re always going to run into opposition when you’re trying to do something positive. We have a large population of new individuals who have moved into our community. Without the understanding, completely, of the culture and the history and some of the mindset, maybe, it’s difficult to try and promote changes, especially in government when you’re trying to make significant changes to move your community into the next century. Our responsibility is to find out everything we need to find out as we move forward. Some of the opportunities that presented themselves may not be the biggest priority in the community of Steelton. By the same token, are we not going to capitalize and move forward on these opportunities as they’re presented to us with the scope of having a larger plan? If anybody wants me to not do anything, they elected the wrong guy. I will be honest, in Steelton politics for a long number of years it wasn’t necessarily about the vision for a total community. It was about maybe helping somebody out. The decision I make is not based on what’s going to help George Hartwick down the road. We’ve gotten away from any nepotism and we’ve moved forward and we’re trying to move our community forward based on what is the best interest of our entire community.

MODE: Beyond the boat docks…

Hartwick: I can give you a little bit more information that I haven’t given anyone else. We recently moved forward with the boat dock project that we talked about. We don’t want to see tax increases occur and we haven’t in three years. We’ve been trying to be creative with financing. One of the things that we thought was important in this instance is we knew there was going to be a brand new turnpike bridge being built almost directly over our property and we thought it was a great opportunity for us to work jointly with the turnpike commission letting them know that we’re here to support each other in the cause to help provide not only a scenic place to see this first state of the art bridge in PA, but to also work together in the scope of your project and see how we can find some additional funding for the park and so we don’t put a park together and then have Steelton be resistant. This is probably the first time I’ve talked about it publicly, we’re working closely with the turnpike commission to obviously work out funding for our entire park and also some other amenities that are going to exist, maybe including some increased gathering of some property as a result of this — so this is just not a boat dock or a boat launch this is going to be a park facility, an open public access for our entire region. It’d be great to spring new businesses up but how are we going to attract people downtown? How are we going to attract people to the new restaurant we have that just so happens to be located close to the boat dock, Brasserie 29? How are we going to give people a reason to spend money from outside of Steelton into our community and have them enjoy what we have to offer from Steelton: the good people, the friendly atmosphere, 80-cent drafts. [laughs] How do we get people to come in and take advantage of this? Boat dock, there’s no other public access from City Island to Royalton so there is a distinct need along that path for a public access to a boat dock to the river. We have 1.8 miles that stretch along Steelton with no access to that jewel and how many opportunities can spring from having access to the river and the water? The Mayor [Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed] has turned river water into wine, we certainly don’t think we’re going to compete , but we’re going to certainly have our own things that will hopefully attract people in our region. Over the long haul, this is a project that is certainly going to have benefits that are going to be far ranging whether George Hartwick is there or not. This is a more regional scope of the project.

MODE: How much land is taken up right now by abandoned steel mills?

Hartwick: The steel plant owns right around 56% of all of available property in the Borough of Steelton, amazing … There is still a certain amount of the steel mill that is operative and we want to clearly keep the steel industry in Steelton – we realize they’re hitting on hard times and us beating them over the head is not going to help their financial situation, but by the same token they realize as a community for our long-term impact we can’t afford to have vacant land that doesn’t allow us the opportunity to create an additional tax base and diversify our industry. In no way do we want to see the steel mill go, as a matter of fact, we’d like to see them more effectively utilize their space and operations to where they could be competitive, even more than they are currently, but that’s not a decision for me to make, that’s a decision for Bethlehem Steel to make.

MODE: The Mayor of Harrisburg, is a full-time position, makes $74,000 a year. What can the Mayor of Steelton expect?

Hartwick: The Mayor of Steelton makes $1,500 a year of which I probably donate four times as much back to the community to the different social organizations, the youth leagues, and the like, so it’s clearly not about money.

MODE: So what do you get from the job, then?

Hartwick: The satisfaction of knowing that people’s lives are changing as a result of my hard work and efforts, the satisfaction of knowing that you’re giving a foundation for a community to strive and to recognize the pride that has brought the community so much promise. In our area, you know, Steelton has a bad rap about being a tough place, about having a higher crime rate than we do have. Let’s find out why we’re all so proud to be from Steelton. And obviously I have higher aspirations and goals, but if you talk about current satisfaction, those are what I get, and to give kids opportunities, and this may sound corny and idealistic, but it’s truly the fact. I don’t do this — the headaches, I tiptoe around the corner every night and take a look at my answering machine. I don’t even have an office in the Borough. I do this with very few frills. The bottom line is, I do it because I wouldn’t want to entrust anybody else at this point in trying to move this community in the direction I feel that it needs to go and regardless of where I’m at, Steelton is always going to be in my heart.

MODE: How long do you plan on being mayor?

Hartwick: I’m running again this year. And we have so many things to concentrate on as mayor of Steelton before I think about other positions. I want to serve this term out and, as for my next term, there are possibilities that arise everyday. I step back to the conversation I had with Mayor Reed, who has been a great individual, to keep me on the right track. He doesn’t tell me what I want to hear, he tells me what I need to hear and he had given me the advice, that I was elected into a position and entrusted by the people of Steelton. I think often times public servants make the mistake of trying to move forward before they accomplish the things they were entrusted to do, but you need, in my opinion, to focus on the task at hand … Whether or not I leave in three years, whether or not I leave in eight, the bottom line is I’m not going to leave the job I don’t think ever, whether I serve on various boards in the community or what. I do obviously have higher aspirations. I’m 29 years old. I have a long way to go in life.

MODE: What are some of your favorite things about the area – what do you like to do for fun?

Hartwick: I come to downtown Harrisburg a lot. My wife and I also eat frequently at the Casa Chica restaurant in Steelton, at Brasserie 29, at Tree’s Tavern, to name a few. We go to Cantone’s in Harrisburg a lot. I love to dance. I’m a white boy with some rhythm – I’ve been to 5:01 Club, to Scott’s Grille … I still have a deep appreciation for jazz.

MODE: Have you ever been to the Pep Grill on Friday’s for their live jazz?

Hartwick: The Pep Grill is the bomb. [laughs] That’s certainly a good place. And also the Hilton for jazz is a good location. But what I really like to hear is R&B and the old Motown stuff. Hunter Hayes was recently at Stock’s on Second and I brought my whole family with me. It was nice. Those are the types of music things, but obviously with the kids, they like to go to Hershey Park and Chuck E. Cheese’s and I don’t remember the last adult film I went to. I’ve seen Rugrats in Paris. And what’s that — the new David Spade. What was it?

MODE: The Emperor’s —

Hartwick: The Emperor’s New Groove. Yes. My girls loved The Emperor’s New Groove, it was very good. So those are the types of things I like to do with my family … obviously, my wife and I both like to go out, we’re not just homebodies.

MODE: Where do you like to relax and spend time with friends?

Hartwick: There’s usually not too much time for that, unfortunately. And sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes in public life you under go so much scrutiny that I may just want to stay at my house and have one or two of my friends come over and we can be real … I’ve had the same best friends since kindergarten and high school. Those are the type of people you keep and stay close to. They keep you real.

MODE: Do you have a favorite activity?

Hartwick: Golf. I am an avid golfer. Seriously for about three or four years, but my dad has taken me golfing since I was 15 or 16 years old … I love golf, it’s my way to get out in the outdoors and enjoy the sport. I still remain competitive, I’m about a seven to eight handicap and we sometimes have a friendly game with a lot at stake — mostly pride. [laughs] I remain extremely competitive by playing golf … it’s always great to get out on the golf course and to not think about all of the stress and the drama and the plans and the things you have going on in your life and focus on friendships, being outside, a little bit of being competitive. I think golf is clearly my biggest hobby — although I’m still a high school wrestling official … and I still like to watch football and basketball and baseball, but golf is by far my most favorite hobby.

MODE: What is the one place you go to that is your place? Where you relax and spend time with yourself?

Hartwick: I go to my office in my home. Trying to get a little bit of time at home can be difficult with twin daughters … but normally if I can I try to settle in and to think about what I need to do in order to keep Steelton straight and to keep my life straight.

MODE: Mike Musser (Secretary for the Borough of Steelton) said that you “have the community at heart” and are “a real go-getter.” Is that a fair assessment of you?

Hartwick: He’d certainly give you a fair assessment. I’ve increased his job responsibilities and he’s been my right- and left-hand man. There’re those individuals who get it done for you behind the scenes and are extremely comfortable in that role and do it like no other: Mike Musser is one of those individuals for me.

MODE: How would you like Steelton residents to view you?

Hartwick: I would like to be viewed as a person whose motives are clear: it’s the best interests of Steelton at heart. Don’t think that I’m doing something for one certain group. I’d say “hard-working with the community at heart” is a pretty good assessment.

MODE: What’s your philosophy?

Hartwick: I can clearly designate that: Nothing replaces hard work. I may not be the most intelligent individual, and I may not be the person with the silver spoon, or the most-gifted, but I know one thing: no one will outwork me. No one will outwork me.