Author: Harrison Horst
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Harrison Horst, Senior Contributor
Harrison is a freelance writer and podcaster in the thick of his first major podcast project, called "Shifting Climates." Though his degree is in sociology, Harrison found himself drawn to communications in college and ended up editing his school newspaper, The Weather Vane, at Eastern Mennonite University. Originally from central Pennsylvania, Harrison enjoys the pace of life in Harrisonburg but hopes, in the short term, to travel and live in east Asia.
‘I’m not sick–I’m crying’
“You mean, you haven’t eaten in nine hours?” The hazmat-suited doctor standing before me stared at me, pills in rubber-gloved hand, confusion apparent through the voice muffled by a face mask. I shook my head, sitting up on the steel-frame quarantine bed. “Well, you need to have these pills with food…” he muttered, half to himself, shifting uncomfortably. We looked at the clock; it was almost midnight. “I’ll see if I can find something for you.”
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Amid Harrisonburg’s housing evolution, some neighbors play zone defense
Two visions about the future of housing in Harrisonburg have been colliding in a neighborhood tucked between JMU’s ever expanding East Campus and the heavily-traveled Port Republic Road corridor.
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Short-term rentals like Airbnbs are causing long-term concerns and even longer public meetings
As Harrisonburg continues its experiment with how to regulate Airbnb properties and other short-term rentals, the planning commission — and city council — are now wrestling with how to fairly decide who gets a permit and how to do so efficiently and with the fewest unintended consequences.
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Glut of short-term rental applications could keep planning commission burning the midnight oil
The most recent planning commission agenda packet – containing a first batch of short-term rental special use permit applications – was so large that it broke the city website, eventually had to be uploaded in three parts, and pushed the commission’s meeting well past midnight.
New report suggests international immigration drove city population growth last year
According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, Harrisonburg’s population would have shrunk last year had it not been for international immigration. Instead, the report says, the city was one of nine localities in the state to realize a population increase – quite small, in Harrisonburg’s case – driven entirely by immigration.
Tricky negotiations on city schools’ solar project near resolution, though total size now significantly smaller
A high-profile solar project put forth by the Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) is one step closer to being finalized after a months-long, three-way dance between the school board, solar developer Secure Futures, and the Harrisonburg Electric Commission (HEC).
Local group conducts “solar census,” as HEC raises solar cap to 2% percent
With solar energy growing quickly in the city (and soon to take another leap, if the school board has its way), an effort is underway to document and map every installation in the city. The 2019 Harrisonburg Solar Census launched on March 30 and will make the information it gathers accessible to the public.
June 7, 2019
Harrisonburg’s draft Environmental Action Plan goes public – minus a focus on renewable energy
On Wednesday evening, several dozen gathered downtown to get into the weeds of the city’s latest push to go green. It’s an effort that will be guided by an Environmental Action Plan (EAP), a sustainability roadmap being developed by city staff along with the city’s appointed Environmental Performance Standards Advisory Committee (EPSAC).