A headline on the front page of the February 16 issue of the Paxton Herald screamed: Move Over Egypt! Unrest Ferments in City of Harrisburg...Sentiment To "Get Reed Back" Grows! Apparently Annette A. Antoun is a trend spotter.
"A move is underway in several different levels of people in the City to replace Mayor Linda Thompson with the former Mayor, Stephen R. Reed."
Annette has always had fanciful notions, but her current scenario --whether "fermenting" or "fomenting" -- sounds highly improbable to us. Minimal searching on the Internet paints an interesting picture. Seems you can't kick over a rock in this town without all sorts of unsavory connections coming to light. Unlike in days past, it's much more difficult for the creepy-crawlies to scurry off and hide.
Input "Annette Antoun" in a search engine and a number of links pop up; including one to a website called PaxtonHeraldSucks.com which has been around for more than a decade. Developed before the advent of blogs, the site details Antoun's involvement in Reed's Museum Mania and is maintained as an historical archive.
It seems Annette, a long time real estate speculator and Reed crony devised a scheme to build the "National African-American Museum of History and Culture" in some historic buildings in the 1000 block of N. Sixth St.
Why there? Much ado was made of a house at 1006 that once served as a hotel of sorts, but that was only the cover story. The motivating factor was not honoring African-American history in buildings with national historial significance, but Annette's owership of three properties -- one purchased in 1976 for $500 -- that would be acquired for the proposed museum.
Before the project was even annouced, Antoun quietly purchased the old Curtis Funeral Home at 1000 N. Sixth St. giving her control of three of the five required properties. The price? $30,000. The seller? Historic Harrisburg Association.
Fast forward a decade and development of the National AA Museum is well underway. On the National Mall. Not at Sixth and Boas Sts.
Meanwhile 1000 N. Sixth St., once the residence of Rev. Dr. Silas Comfort Swallow a religious conservative who ran for mayor on the Prohibitionist ticket and lost, remains undeveloped and unmaintained. According to neighborhood residents, the historic building has been under a City-issued condemnation order since April 15, 2010.
Condemnation Notice issued to Annette Antoun, publisher of the Paxton Herald
But wait, it gets better.
The condemned property is right across the street from Townhouse Apartments at 660 Boas St., Linda D. Thompson's legal residence.
Perhaps Linda wasn't aware of all these curious circumstances. But she is now.
On another, ironic note, Historic Harrisburg Association is currently seeking nominations for Harrisburg's Most Endangered Properties List 2011. According to the organization's website:
Our mission is to advocate for the preservation, restoration and stewardship of Harrisburg's architectural heritage. Historic Harrisburg Association monitors many challenging preservation and development issues facing Harrisburg. Over the years we have had success when local residents become involved and make their voices heard. HHA is here to support local efforts. We cannot do it without your support. Your participation will help us continue the perservation movement.In case you have any nominations for HHA's Endangered Properties List you can submit recommendations to info@HistoricHarrisburg.com.
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2 comments:
A little other tidbit of info, this one under "Guess Who's COming to Dinner?"
Linda Thompson was joined at lunch by none other than Congressman Tim Holden, his wife, Gwebn, and the chairman of the Dauphin County Democratic PArty, MArilyn Levin, this past Sunday, after church.
They ate at the Omega House on State Street.
Where is all of this going?
Some accuse Hartwick of having colluded with Holden and Clcolluding with CLark and Holden , Clark and Reed to generate support for the rally on Monday.
Yet, yet...
We now have agents, double agents, spies and counter-spies working to keep the Black vote intact for eklection purposes, while seemingly distancing themselves from Thompson in public.
An article about this contradiction, and the intense raciality of the approach, would be appreciated.
Historic Harrisburg is pretty much a joke. If they refuse to advocate for the preservation of a property they sold to a known speculator, how can they have ANY crediblity? Eleven years after they took the money and ran, the organization continues to pretend they had nothing to do with the continual blighting of a highly visible building. Shame on Historic Harrisburg Association.
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