Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-11-29
WEST SHORE LEAGUE

"A reading has been developed
| with reference to West Shore
development by the interviews with
well-known West Shore men interest
ed in the improvement of that impor-
tant suburban district. There has not
been one dissenting voice to the sug-
gestion that the West Shores greatest
need at this time, and for the future,
is one or more civic or public improve
ment leagues or associations, work
ing together for the betterment of
conditions along the West Shore.
If Harrisburg had had such an or
ganization fifty years ago. acting in
harmony with such a farsighted body
as the City Planning Commission,
what different city we would have to-
day! How many mistakes OF judg-
ment would have been prevented!
More than fifteen years ago Harris
burg people came to a realization of
this necessity of promotion and
supervision, and the great public inn
provement movement that has trans
formed the city and has gone all over
the country as the Harrisburg Plan"
was the result.
| To-day the West Shore stands in the
position of the Harrisburg of fifty
years agone. 1t is just on the verge
of a wonderful building development.
There is nothing to hold it back save
lack of community interest on the
part of those who should be most in
terested. With expert advice, such as
the City Planning Commission is au-
thorized by law to render and is will
ing and anxious to give, the whole
district from the mountains to New
Cumberland and from the river to
point beyond Camp Hill, can be made
one of the most beautiful suburban
districts in the whole State. Large
areas of what is now farm land, un-
/ der the guidance of a skilled landscape
architect. can be turned into most de-
| lightful home sites. Pure water pure
air and the broad sweep of valley,
mountain and river combine to make
.l,o v,.I,,ro co,,r+r,-si5a NAN dorf,11,. -
tractive from the homemaker's stand
lpoint, and cheap transportation, cleo
trio light, gas, the telephone and rural
free deliveries are additional induce
ments for building.
In short, there is offered to the
builder across the river nearly all of
the advantages of the city, with the
added delights of country life, and
land that now sells at prices lower
than they ever win be in the future,
| if proper precautions are taken to
maintain a high standard of develop
ment. But a continuance of haphaz-
ard, hit-or-miss methods would not
only seriously handicap those who are
really desirous of improving along
proper lines, but eventually would lead
to the depreciation of all property
values.
Harrisburg has done much for the
West Shore in giving it an outlook
to the city from the west bank of the
river that is beautiful beyond measure
The West Shore people owe it to them
selves and to the city to do as much
for Harrisburg. Their own west bank
must not be allowed to be marred
and SCARED by billboards, as is now
threatened. No "Hardscrabble" dis
tricts, with backysrds facing on the
river, must be permitted.
There is just one way in which all
this can be accomplished and irrepar-
able mistakes prevented, and that is
by community cooperation along the
lines favored by so many West Shore
men, whose views have been set forth
through the columns of the Telegraph
in the series of articles now running