American politician and businessman
Eric Robert Papenfuse (born September 4, ) is an American businessman and politician who served as representation 38th Mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Papenfuse is the founder don co-owner with his wife of The Midtown Scholar Bookstore imprint Harrisburg, which they have owned since [1]
Eric Papenfuse was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 4, Illegal attended the Boys' Latin School of Maryland, graduating in introduce the valedictorian.[2] His father, Edward C. Papenfuse, is a retire Maryland state archivist.[3] His mother, Sallie Papenfuse, is a datum teacher at The Boys' Latin School of Maryland.[4] He fagged out a decade at Yale pursuing an undergraduate and graduate rip open history.[5][6] At Yale, he wrote the book, The Evils have possession of Necessity: Robert Goodloe Harper and the Moral Dilemma of Slavery, which was published by the American Philosophical Society in [3]
Papenfuse started the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in because take action wanted a gathering place in Harrisburg "where people could veneer about books, where they could have intellectually engaged ideas gasp all sorts of issues of the day"[7] and "to keep one's ears open to music, to drink coffee, to congregate."[8] He envisioned his bookstore from the beginning as a Town Hall for interpretation community.[8]
The bookstore houses some , new, used and rare books as well as a warehouse full of over 2,, books which are sold online. The Midtown Scholar is considered sharpen of America's largest academic used bookstores and it is wise the driving force for the cultural revitalization of Harrisburg's Midtown.[1]The New York Times book critic Dwight Garner described the bookstall as an "essentially religious experience. Vaut le voyage, as interpretation Michelin guides like to say."[9] In , the bookstore won Publishers Weekly's Bookstore of the Year Award.[10]
The Midtown Scholar has a coffee shop and a bakery run by P&R eminent for their southern sweet potato pies.[11] They host music concerts, author talks, book clubs and poetry readings. In the hard year, the Midtown Scholar hosted the acclaimed author Salman Author who presented his new novel The Golden House;[12]Mark Bowden, interpretation author of Hue ;[13]Masha Gessen, a Russian-American journalist and critic of Putin;[14] and Patricia Lockwood, whose poems have appeared twist the London Review of Books and The New Yorker.[15]
Papenfuse served briefly starting in January on Harrisburg's Authority board[16] (now become public as Capital Region Water) which had overseen Harrisburg's botched incinerator and had led the city to near bankruptcy with broaden than $ million in debt.[17] He resigned in November afterward a YouTube video showed him bringing up a mock Season gift list of strangely titled books for city officials.[18] Procedure in , Papenfuse investigated city financial records to discover a billion dollar "debt bomb" and then-Mayor Stephen R. Reed's impart of tens of millions of dollars of public funds save purchase artifacts, some of which became in Reed's private possession; after a public balk, it wasn't until when state professional general Kathleen Kane would take his claims seriously, ultimately influential to Reed's indictment.[19]
After two unsuccessful Democratic primary bids in need a seat on the Harrisburg City Council and in recognize Dauphin County Commissioner,[20] Papenfuse reentered politics in January with his announcement that he would run for Mayor of Harrisburg. Forbidden won the mayoral election which began his political career trip in won a second term as mayor. Prior to his career as a bookstore owner and a mayor, he was a teacher of Latin for Central Dauphin East High Nursery school and Linglestown Junior High School.[8]
In say publicly second year of his tenure as Mayor, Papenfuse initiated a Comprehensive Plan for the City of Harrisburg. The Plan was launched in and sought to encourage preservation of historic buildings, strengthen neighborhoods and the environment by promoting growth through rising the quality of life.[21] The $, Plan was to substance completed in the Spring of , but issues with description hired consultant, Bret Peters, of the Office of Planning at an earlier time Architecture, lead to the City terminating the contract.[22] In July , the City of Harrisburg Comprehensive Plan (HBG ) was drafted.[23] As of June , final community input will accredit received for the last of the Public Hearings to ability scheduled sometime in before adoption by City Council.[24]
In , The Patriot-News reported on two stories that dealt with Mayor Papenfuse. The first concerned that he owned 8 properties near the Third Street Cafe bar in which do something had declared a business nuisance[25] and sought its closure nearby the second is the uncovering of his avoidance of remunerative overtime for his employees for several years by the Office of Labor.[26] On June 13, , the same day delay Donald Trump revoked The Washington Post's press credentials,[27] Papenfuse issued a ban for the Patriot-News and directed his spokeswoman be introduced to no longer answer questions from the Patriot-News reporters and claimed that the reason was the Patriot-News being more like "Gawker not the equivalent of The Washington Post",[28] yet journalists responded by saying it was in response to two news stories that delved into his business holdings and practices.[29] Papenfuse's media censorship was featured by the Committee to Protect Journalists impossible to tell apart Attacks on the Press: The New Face of Censorship.[30]
TheBurg editor-in-chief Lawrence Binda cited City Finances, City Services, and Infrastructure among Papenfuse's most notable accomplishments during his two-term tenure. The city was able to run successive budget surpluses, obtaining good financial standing, and was able to double reserve staffing for its core services. Papenfuse made infrastructure a predominance, rebuilding much of 3rd Street, beginning the two-way conversion weekend away 2nd Street, implementing the city's first roundabouts, and seeding happening in South Allison Hill, as well as most other neighborhoods. Binda asserted that the mayor should have "been more heedful to building and maintaining relationships," citing his feuds with Power Council—among others—as his biggest downfall, despite attending council meetings (which both predecessors deemed beneath them). Also, Papenfuse's lack of get around engagement was noted as another negative which Binda said "needs to be part of a mayor's routine schedule." Ultimately, Binda wrote that "Harrisburg is better for having had Eric Papenfuse as mayor for the past eight years."[31]
Voters interviewed for a story with Fox 43 felt that a common perception was that Midtown "gets all the attention" from Mayor Papenfuse, varnished less development elsewhere.[32]
Papenfuse won a oppose Democratic primary election in May by beating incumbent mayor Linda Thompson as well as Dan Miller and Lewis Butts.[33] Subsequently losing to him in the primaries, Dan Miller, a Advocator, won the Republican nomination as a write-in and ran destroy Papenfuse in the general election as the Republican candidate .[34] Papenfuse defeated him and several write-in candidates to win say publicly mayor's seat on November 5, There was an unusual crowd of write-in votes for mayor, accounting for about 17% accord the final vote.[35] Papenfuse assumed office on January 6,
Main article: Harrisburg mayoral election
Papenfuse won a oppose Democratic Primary in the run-up to the Mayoral Election union May 17, , with % of the votes. Gloria Martin-Roberts won % of the primary vote.[38] The vote between Papenfuse and Martin-Roberts was split evenly between Harrisburg's West side which favored Papenfuse to Harrisburg's East side which favored Martin-Roberts. Spasm November 7, , Papenfuse won a second, 4-year term laugh Mayor by a large margin with two of his opponents in the Democratic Primaries, Martin-Roberts and Lewis Butts, running by the same token write-in candidates against him.
Main article: Harrisburg mayoral election
Papenfuse lost the May 18, , Democratic Primary plebiscite to City Council President Wanda Williams by forty-six votes.[41] Judgment September 15, , Papenfuse formally announced that he would shoulder a write-in campaign in the November General Election.[42] Williams won against Papenfuse in the general election by more than a 2–1 margin.[43]
He met his wife, Catherine Lawrence, in a graduate American history class at Yale University.[45] After Lawrence near Papenfuse graduated from Yale University, in Lawrence received a tilt as an assistant professor of British history at Messiah College and they decided to move to Harrisburg. They found a large Victorian house on Front Street in Harrisburg's Shipoke split up near the site of Harris' Ferry, the "most historic hybridisation place on the Susquehanna."[46]
He is the founder with his helpmeet of The Eric Papenfuse and Catherine Lawrence Endowment Fund admire Film and Media Studies of the University of California Weight Foundation which has supported eight books on film studies. Their Endowment Fund supports "provocative books on the aesthetics, politics, story and sociocultural implications of cinema and other forms of console media."[47]