Fathom that

February 9, 2005 in Uncategorized

I was downtown to grab some wings-to-go at KoKoMo’s when I noticed the storefront of “Fathom”. Specifically, I noticed the metal awning that looks like it’s made of feathers or leaves or something.

“Hey, that’s neat”, says I.

Then I read the sign, said “cool- they do web design, I’ll have to research them”, and walked away, promptly forgetting about Fathom and continuing on my wing-quest.

Then, on my lunch break, I see this excerpt on GrassrootsPA from this Patriot article. It turns out Fathom’s owner, Jason N. Smith, is planning to challenge mayor reed in the democratic primary. Oh, he joined the party *last month*.

Normally I’d be a little suspicious, But Smith does have some admirable activist history– specifically he was a major figure in the fight against Reeds absolutely silly Wild West Museum.

I *am*, however, somewhat suspicious of a web design company who’s entire site is a flash movie that links to single-page PDF’s, with a somewhat Mystery Meat-like navigation system. It sure is pretty though.

**updated 2:12PM**: In the comments below, Sara clues me in to Smith’s official site. Thanks!

**updated 7:33PM**: Smith himself has left a comment.

**updated 2/16 10:00 AM**: One last update, check out comments from Mike and Sara.

No Comments

  1. Jonathan

    February 9, 2005 at 1:41 pm

    A friend of mine works there. Sort of. He actually lives upstairs, watches over the museum, and also rents “office space” within Fathom.

    That’s interesting about Jason Smith. There’s a lot of stuff about this city and area in general that really lights a fire under my ass. The Civil War Museum is one, this Wild West Museum, and well, lots of stuff.

    I’ll have to agree, the site could be MUCH better than it is. But it sure beats HarrisburgWebsites.com

  2. Sara

    February 9, 2005 at 2:08 pm

    As of 1:30 p.m. today, this site went live: http://www.smithforharrisburg.com

  3. Ross M Karchner

    February 9, 2005 at 2:09 pm

    Thanks, Sara!

  4. Jason N. Smith

    February 9, 2005 at 4:46 pm

    Hey guys…

    It’s me, Jason Smith. I made that metal awning myself, and am glad you like it! The guy who designed the web site IS SCOTT, Jonathan’s pal. Scott bartered it to us in exchange for being able to live up there in the attic.

    Now, I will admit, our flash site does have its pros and cons. We’ve gotten a few new clients who love the flash…but it is a bear in a lot of respects. And developing flash sites for clients are tough too. Very sexy but hard to update and not everybody can see them.

    I am indeed running for Mayor. And if you vote for me, you will have a mayor who actually uses a word processor, email, and surfs the web. I believe that we should be able to pay all city bills and fines online, and that every printed document and form the city produces should be available online, too.

    I petitioned the administration to place the city budget online, too. And they did it! The web is a great way to promote connection and democracy.

    But it can and should be also reflected in the real world. I have lots of plans to make city hall more streamlined and user-friendly, too. As a designer by trade, I think that structure and intention can go a long way to create a “user interface” that citizens can get what they need from. I envision a single point of access for every question or form, and one phone number to reach your city government.

    I could go on. I am tickled that you all are talking about these issues, and I encourage you to stay involved. I would be happy to answer any question you have. Meanwhile, do check out my campaign site at http://www.smithforharrisburg.com

    Is it a perfect site? Probably not! But it is constantly evolving. I am just so grateful to Tattoo Jim for doing web design for it. He is a tattoo artist and web designer. His site is at http://www.theillustrated man.com

    Let me know if you have any ideas on how to communicate the campaign online. And thanks again for your interest.

    Oh, and on the party issue, I am a populist and a progressive. I have been an independent much of my life, supported Ross Perot in college. Been a republican, too. Grew up in a pretty conservative working family. I am not a traditional democrat, but I encourage you to judge me on my platform (on my web site).

    I think you will like what you see!

    Take care.

  5. Paul

    February 9, 2005 at 4:57 pm

    “And if you vote for me, you will have a mayor who actually uses a word processor, email, and surfs the web. ”

    And apparently one that checks his referral logs as well.. :)

  6. Ross M Karchner

    February 9, 2005 at 5:30 pm

    Not neccesarily, I took the easy way and emailed him.

    Jason– thanks for taking the time to respond!

  7. mschindler

    February 9, 2005 at 8:11 pm

    Jason,

    At the risk of abusing your invitation to ask questions, I can’t help but have a few hair-brained ones of my own. If you’re still following this thread, please consider answering any, if not all, of these.

    1. How do you reconcile running as a Democrat and “favoring” Bush in the last election? I think more than a few people will see this as a puzzling contradiction. Can you summarize your reasoning behind that decision?

    2. Being an artist myself, I’m wondering how do you plan to continue nurturing a creative class downtown. While Reed has certainly shown bad judgment in a number of areas (Ross already mentioned the two biggies), one cannot deny the positive development occurring part and parcel because of the Whitaker Center, which he did support. Do you see a direct correlation between the Whitaker Center for Arts and Science and the growth of small business downtown over the past 5 years? If so, how will your city plan continue to support the arts?

    3. Lastly, I just have one more revealing thing to know — what’s your favorite Madonna song? C’mon, everybody has a favorite. ;-)

    Mike

  8. Jason N. Smith

    February 10, 2005 at 1:34 am

    Mike–

    On politics, I have a rather interesting (I think) philosophy, developed over a lifetime of contradictions. I believe that people should be liberal close to home where government is most responsive and monies can be spent in line with local priorities. Nationally, I believe in small government. Wouldn’t it be great if you could give your national taxes locally and vice versa. Imagine the funds that would be available to do amazing things that really serve local communities. Of course, I am running for mayor and not for Emperor, so such a proposal has little hope of seeing the light of day.

    I am a supporter of gay rights and a friend of working people. And despite what you may have read in the paper (long story) I am an ally of many African Americans. Just not the two that Mayor Reed is friends with when he needs a political soundbyte.

    I say that I am a Progressive Populist…I believe strongly that people should have a voice in the decisions of local government?????which is why I have been so concerned by many of the local trends we see with the current administration. And I am a progressive?????I’m an idea guy who believes that there is ALWAYS a better way and that as the world evolves, we need to adapt and change so that we can serve modern needs with modern solutions.

    On the arts, you should know that my design firm has been doing work for the Symphony and Theatre Harrisburg?????and that I served on the Grant Board of Jump Street this year. I also created the Side-Door Cinema to show outdoor film behind my company in the summer. That series will continue this summer. All the proceeds go to support local culture, including the Capital Area School for the Arts, Moviate, and Phase Magazine. Last year I think we raised $1,200 or so. Not a fortune, but a lot of people had a lot of fun in the process.

    The Whitaker Center has created many challenges for local groups, and in some ways it represents a retreat rather than an advance for the arts. Basically take what’s left and consolidate it in one building.

    I envision a city that has multiple arts and cultural venues?????live theatre, jazz clubs, galleries, coffee houses, street music, and more. (Not saying close Whitaker by any means, but that a rising tide raises all boats and a thriving arts CULTURE is what we need). I believe that Midtown is the ideal place for a “cultural corridor” and I believe we should consider a gaslight district on 3rd St. Midtown similar to the one in San Diego and elsewhere. I think we should close the street at 6PM or so and thereby create a walking district with a concentration of artistic and cultural venues. Mind you, Midtown is already known for art cinema, rare books, and delicious ethnic foods. And it is where I have proposed we place the African American Heritage Center (with its own performance space, museum, small business incubator, jazz club, and restaurant). Hook all of this in with a rejuvenated Broad Street Market and some additional parking and we could see a major tourist destination for our city, perhaps dwarfing and complementing restaurant row and providing a magnet for artists regionally.

    As for my favorite Madonna song, that would be Like a Prayer. I don’t *like* it per se, but for some reason every time I hear her name, I can’t get that song out of my head.

    Hope this information is helpful to you. And I want you to know that whether there are 200 people reading this Blog or, well, just two, I am always happy to answer your questions.

    How many people DO read this by the way?!? ; )

  9. Ross

    February 10, 2005 at 8:17 am

    Somewhere between 2 and 200?

    My RSS feed has *about* 60 subscribers, but I’m not sure how it breaks down geographically, and I’m not sure how many people browse to the site via other means.

    And I’m not sure how many of these people delve into the comment section.

  10. mschindler

    February 10, 2005 at 10:17 am

    Ross is being humble. He’s been quite the celeb since LocalFeeds, and deservedly so. (Just don’t ask him when it’s coming back.)

    He own’s the blogger’s blog of Harrisburg for sure.

    Thanks, Jason, and I tend to agree with your assessment of Whitaker. Many people, I’m sure, would say the same but are too scared of the predominant hegemony to admit it.

    And it certainly sounds like you have a well thought out and exciting plan for the city, which could no doubt become a reality one day. I wish you the best of luck in becoming mayor and I’ll try to lend you support as I can (now that the “not running for Emporer” thing is in writing). ;-)

  11. Jonathan

    February 10, 2005 at 1:15 pm

    My thoughts are that the Whitaker Center is only one place for the arts in Harrisburg. To me, it doesn’t seem to promote the arts as well as having several places throughout the city to experience the arts.

    I often drive though parts of the city and sometimes even find a place park so that I can take some urban photos, and I imagine what these places once looked like. There are so many beautiful homes in Harrisburg that have seen their share of abuse and have turned into “not so good” neighborhoods. I wish there was a way to rejuvenate some neighborhoods and bring back their glory days. Besides a few small blocks of Midtown, most of that area is rather scary. In fact, a co-worker was robbed at gun-point this summer walking from the clubs on 2nd Street to Midtown.

  12. aharden

    February 10, 2005 at 1:38 pm

    Interesting reading. I just wanted to remind everyone that Mayor Reed’s Wild West Museum *is* alive and well in [Cygweb Stadium](http://www.nitevilla.net/forums/index.php/topic,1066.0/prev_next,prev.html). ;)

  13. Jonathan

    February 10, 2005 at 4:10 pm

    I think I may have found a partial answer to my housing complaint. This is quoted from the smithforharrisburg.com site:

    “Invest in our neighborhoods with city-wide bulk pickup, storm-drain clearing (to reduce street flooding), and a program to provide trees and sidewalk repair at cost savings. Stop tearing down empty homes to create low vacancy rates; protect them and fill them instead.”

    If this happens… I would LOVE to buy a beautiful home within the city. It’s actually a goal of mine for this year anyways.

  14. brian

    February 11, 2005 at 8:38 am

    Good luck Mr. Smith!

    A few notes about your site:

    1. I would suggest slightly fading the background clock image. The text is a bit difficult to read.

    2. Do you have an actual platform on the site? The “Reed vs Reality” section is good, but you definitely need the requisite “Platform” link.

    3. While we are currently floating around the blogosphere - ever think of starting a blog on the site? It would allow you to hype your events and introduce yourself to people.

    -b

  15. reader

    February 11, 2005 at 12:49 pm

    Just because a neighborhood has trees and nice sidewalks and offers an option for people to throw out more trash, doesn’t make it a safe neighborhood. To bring a bad neighborhood back to life and promote it as safe and accomodating place to live, you need to bring business to that neighborhood. Bringing business promotes the money for growth and change; planting trees and making it look pretty does not. It all comes down to money. Everything comes down to money.

  16. Jason Smith

    February 13, 2005 at 8:50 am

    You make a good point on bringing businesses to neighborhoods. I have been pondering the concept of mixed zoning to enable office use in some residential neighborhoods. After all, 24-hour use reduces crime and there is PLENTY of parking for the business duringthe day and more for residents at night.

    I am also pondering reforming our building codes to maker it easier to renovate historic buildings without having to meet the same stringent standards that new construction does.

    I believe there is no one golden bullet to fix all our city’s woes, but by realigning our priorities to serve the real needs of the people?????investing in people rather than artifacts?????I think we can move things in the right direction.

    Thank you for your comments! Feel free to connect with me on my web site, too: http://www.smithforharrisburg.com

  17. Rich Hauck

    February 15, 2005 at 6:03 pm

    Jason, I’ve been telling you to update that Flash Fathom site to something more usable!

    To those reading, Jason Smith is a visionary who knows his stuff; I think his run for mayor was inevitable and I wish him luck. Who knows, maybe he can put a plug in the brain-drain and get my wife and me to move back to PA!

  18. Jonathan

    February 16, 2005 at 2:06 pm

    I didn’t even know you DIDN’T live in PA Rich! So, if you moved away, can we expand BeyondSecond further than the Harrisburg City limits? :)

    PS. I don’t think the anonymous reader above actually read much of Jason Smith’s site ot his plans. If he did, he would have noticed that he mentions having a more active police presence in the neighborhoods.

  19. Rich Hauck

    February 17, 2005 at 3:22 pm

    My wife and I moved to NYC to attend separate graduate schools. I’m attending a school that encourages projects similar to Beyond Second. It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t find a program even remotely like this back home. As for when we finish up, I wouldn’t be surprised if I came back to Harrisburg [after a few years :) ]. I miss seeing the opportunities for growth the city has.

    Sorry, but Beyond Second is keeping it structure. Besides, it looks like Flickr is dominating the market anyway. I’m not going to be building a NYC Beyond Second version either; Harrisburg needs more of it and NYC has enough already.

    To chime back into the subject, I’ve always been impressed with the amount of passion Jason has towards the ‘burg. :)

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