2.5 Miles Of York County Rail Trail To Open Wednesday

One of the final pieces to fully connect the York County Heritage Rail Trail will officially open with pomp and circumstance Wednesday.

The newly constructed 2.5-mile section of the rail trail just north of York City will connect with the trail’s northern extension and all but connects with the trail’s southern portion.

The new section runs from the intersection of Route 30 and Loucks Mill Road in Springettsbury Township north along the east side of the Codorus Creek to Emig Road in Manchester Township.

Gwen Loose, executive director of the rail trail authority, did a final walk-through of a new trail bridge at Emig Road that ties the new section to the northern extension and was met by people already traversing the trail.

Read more:

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_27964759/2-5-miles-york-county-rail-trail-open

Urban Strategist To York County Community Foundation: Stakes High For City

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blame the millennials.

Those gadget-wielding young people born in the 1980s and 1990s are the reason America’s real-estate market seems, well, a bit confused.

After decades of suburban sprawl designed to accommodate the nation’s love affair with its cars, millennials and “the creative class” want something else — a walkable place to live, said Christopher Leinberger, an urban strategist and researcher who visited York this week.

That demand for urban life — where people can live, work and play within a relatively small geographic area — is both driving and slowing the economic recovery these days, Leinberger said.

Read more: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/news/ci_25776014/design-future

York’s West End: Businesses Want To Infuse New Life Into Neighborhood

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just across the Codorus Creek from the heart of York’s downtown, a steady line of traffic regularly passes through the 200 block of West Philadelphia Street, following the turn of the street uphill past smartly painted homes and storefronts.

Growing up in York more than three decades ago, Steve Billet knew the area colloquially as the “colonial block.” It was a place that had a good reputation and housed property that was a wise investment for owners, he said.

On a Monday in March, however, many of the cars that idled at a nearby stoplight would continue on West Philadelphia without stopping. The idea that the city has nothing to offer has plagued York’s image and dissuaded business owners for years, and many entrepreneurs have struggled to make their shop a destination.

Still, when Billet had an opportunity to purchase a building in the 200 block in 1999, he took it. And when he and his partner David Smith decided to drop out of the rat race — as Smith puts it — to switch careers and return to the city, they settled on the spot that Billet had bought a decade and a half before as the site of their new venture.

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_25440353/yorks-west-end-businesses-want-infuse-new-life