My experience with the Social Security Administration has been nothing short of NIGHTMARISH…read more 1. I received a letter from the Social Security Administration stating that they were going to reduce my payments by 30% because they had determined that I had recently earned over $70,000. 2. I have not been employed since 1987. 3. I submitted tax douments proving this fact. 4. For two months, I heard from no one. 5. For two months I could reach no one. 6. Many days I waited on the phone for HOURS listening to ghastly canned music only to have a recording eventually tell me that my call could not be complete and I should call back another day. 7. When I did get someone, they told me to call another number. 8 When I called that other number, they told me to call the number I had previously called. 9. One day I got hold of someone in the Carlisle office. 10. That person told me that she had uncovered the problem. 11. She determined that a company in another state had evidently transposed someone else's social security number attributing their earnings to ME and that was why Social Security claimed that I had earned $70,000 when I had not. 12. She said she put a note in my records explaining this and asking that my case be expedited. 13. STILL I receive letters from Social Security telling me that I will continue to receive 30% less money than I originally received. 14. Yesterday, I waited four hours on the phone and was eventually given the recording telling me to call another day. 15. Today, I called at 8:00 on the dot, waited an hour, got someone who told me to call Harrisburg. I stopped her saying "NO. I have done that. They will tell me to call your number" 16. I asked her to look at my records. She told me THERE IS NO NOTE IN YOUR FILE EXPLAINING THAT ISSUE WITH A COMPANY MISTAKENLY ATTRIBUTING SOMEONE ELSE'S EARNINGS TO YOU. THERE IS NO NOT IN YOU FILE ASKING FOR YOUR CASE TO BE EXPEDITED. 17. THE WOMAN IN CARLISLE LIED TO ME. SHE FLAT OUT TOLD ME UNTRUTHS THAT I HAVE BEEN COUNTING ON TO GET MY MONEY BACK. LIAR. 18. The woman I spoke to this morning said I would need to make an appointment to speak with someone in person at my local office. 19. The earliest appointment is in two months time. 20. Kanisha, the person I spoke to today was respectful and tried her very best to help me, but she was incapable of helping me because she works for a broken, evil, incompetent, lazy, wicked, wretched, despicable, loathsome, abhorent, disreputable, vile, contemptible, unprincipled, cruel government agency that should be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.

Had to contact the Social Security Office in Harrisburg, Pa to schedule a review of my benefits. I…read morewas expecting to speak to a disgruntled Federal Government employee that was more interested in what time they were off work rather than helping me. I was PLEASANTLY surprised. I spoke to a representative named "Julie". She was cheerful, pleasant and informative. She answered my questions and scheduled my follow-up appointment without any trouble. Thank you Julie for renewing my faith in Federal government employees. Keep up the good work.

Mrs. Kilby was an amazing help. I never post reviews but she deserves something to show my…read moregratitude. She took her time, explained everything to me and didn't make me feel like I was wasting her time as most do from this place. Some people are just kind but it rare..she really was and I'm very grateful.

Over the past year I have come here a couple of times to get documents apostilled. I appreciate how…read morethey can issue apostilles within 15 minutes while you wait ... Ok I guess the best advice, I think should be mentioned right away is this .... if you are coming here to get a document apostilled ... especially if you are coming here for the first time .. Please remember to CALL the office before you come, to make sure you have everything you need and explain the document you want apostilled to the person issuing the apostille as it might need to be notarized before it can be apostilled (like my documents needed to be) For example, the person in front of me drove a couple of hours to this office in Harrisburg in hopes of receiving a document and have it apostilled here ... only to find out that this office could not issue the document he needed, only issue the apostille, meaning you needed to have the document already before coming here !! Pretty vital information ... It doesn't hurt to call and confirm information that you believe to be true ... even if it's just to make sure the office is open ! ; ) other useful info ... Walk-in requests are accepted from 8:30AM to 4:00PM, Monday through Friday (except State holidays) If using a GPS device for driving directions, please use 401 North Street for the street address. apostilles cost $15 per APostille ( i used checks ) you can also mail in a document to be apostilled, you must include a self addressed PRE PAID envelope ( if you are not in a rush ) Do not send CASH after 3 pm you must enter the main state building aka employees entrance to get to the North office building you must go through security (x-ray scanner ) bag check to get into this building

Last week I took my first Civil Service test to become a Parole Agent - sounds fun right?…read more Well, minus the 120 snore-inducing questions - the facility is pretty nice. The staff is friendly and accommodating. The chairs are comfy. AND they have a water cooler. Oooh la la talk about luxury. I just hate going downtown during the day because you have to park in the stinky garage. I hate the garage. Plus - I prefer my rendezvous(es) with downtown to come with a certain level of inebriation!

At least for the issuance of apostilles to authenticate public documents issued in Pennsylvania and…read morenotarized by state licensed notary publics, the Department of State is an efficient and cooperative office. We needed a bilingual document properly notarized by a notary fluent in Chinese and English to be authenticated in order to send it to China in order to conduct a business transaction. It is possible to mail the necessary papers to the particular office in Harrisburg along with a $15 per certification fee, and get it back in approximately one month. Or, we could drive to the state capitol and accomplish the same task in about 15 minutes; walking out with all we needed to send everything to China immediately. We opted to make the 110 mile trip each way and just get it done. It went exceedingly well. We drove the in two hours in a light snowstorm, found a place to park about a block from the "North Building," went through security, up to the second floor and into Room 201. There we were basically alone with Brenda, the official clerk dispensing postilles, who was bright and helpful. We filled out a form, handed over the notarized document with credit card payment of $15, and received the gold seal apostille in minutes. We couldn't believe how easy it was once we got to town. We thanked Brenda for her kind assistance and walked out into the blowing flurries to have lunch at Roxy's, the nearby historic luncheonette. Pro Tip- Parking is an issue in that part of town. We found parking in front of the State Museum about a block away. Metered parking, but only $4 for 4 hours. Way worth it.

Congratulations, and how fortunate for my husband's friend, Dr. Eliseo Rosario, who retired as a…read moreCarlisle pediatrician, to have his second photography exhibition in the lobby of the Harrisburg MLK City Government Center. This exhibition, titled "From City to City," encompasses Dr. Rosario's travels, which include NYC and Juno Beach in West Palm Beach. Unfortunately, all my photos have a light glare, so it's hard to appreciate them.

People have a lot of things to say about the City of Harrisburg, but I'm always one to give credit…read morewhere credit is due -- and the City absolutely deserves credit for putting together a really great Ice & Fire Festival in 2026. This was the 9th annual M&T Bank Ice & Fire Festival, held on Saturday, March 7 from 11am-7pm. The free event featured more than 60 large and small ice sculptures placed throughout the city along with a downtown street festival that included a giant ice slide, fire dancers, live ice carving demonstrations, fire pits with s'mores, live performances, kids activities, food trucks, and an artist market with local makers. The sculptures were scattered along the downtown festival path and extended out to locations like City Island, Midtown, Italian Lake, Shipoke, and Reservoir Park. Starting at 5pm, the sculptures were illuminated for the evening crowd. One thing the City did particularly well was helping visitors plan ahead for parking. Their website listed a wide variety of parking options in advance, which made it easy to gameplan before heading into the city. I ended up finding an excellent parking spot on City Island overlooking the river, which was honestly a surprise. I had expected parking to be chaotic, but there were actually plenty of spots available when I arrived. That immediately gave me hope that the festival might not be as overwhelmingly crowded as I had anticipated. One of the activities I was most excited about was the ice sculpture scavenger hunt. Participants could scan QR codes located at each sculpture to enter for a chance to win gift cards and prize baskets from local businesses. There were supposedly around 60 sculptures total across the city, but not all were within walking distance. I ended up visiting 23 sculptures, happily darting from sculpture to sculpture scanning codes and submitting entries along the way. The event also offered free s'mores kits at the top of every hour, and I happened to be near the distribution tent right when they were handing them out, so I grabbed one to bring home. A nice little bonus. I also spent some time browsing through the vendor areas set up throughout the festival. There was a great mix of local makers, artists, and small businesses participating, and it was fun to stop and chat with a few vendors and support some of the local offerings while I was there. The variety of vendors added a nice element to the festival experience and made it feel like more than just a walk-through event. One of the nicest surprises of the day was that the festival wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected. I was able to move around comfortably, see plenty of sculptures, visit vendors, and enjoy the experience without feeling overwhelmed or stuck in massive crowds. This was my first time attending the Ice & Fire Festival, and honestly it ended up being one of the better organized and thoughtfully laid out events I've attended in Harrisburg in quite a while. The scavenger hunt was a particularly fun way to explore the city and gave the whole event an interactive feel. Yes, it was cold -- but walking from sculpture to sculpture kept me warm. I also felt perfectly safe exploring the festival by myself and had zero anxiety even with the crowds. All in all, this was a really fun way to spend a chilly early-March afternoon in the city, and the Ice & Fire Festival has definitely earned a spot on my list of events to attend again next year!

Who doesn't like talking a stroll or bike ride over old shaky? Hard to believe Walnut Street Bridge…read morewas once open to vehicular traffic back in the day considering the size of cars way back when. Great views from on or under the bridge allow you to enjoy the river and scenery. Nice walk to city island to enjoy a baseball game or just recreate. Highly recommend a walk through Riverfront Park to enjoy all the area has to offer.

Someone was like, are you reviewing ALL the bridges, and I was like... "walnut ALL of them."…read more The bridges over the river Susquehanna are absolutely gorgeous. You can't really imagine a more beautiful sight in downtown Harrisburg, than these stunning bridges crossign the river. This is one of the beautiful old bridges that spans this gorgeous stretch of water. The cool thing is, this is a pedestrian bridge! How awesome is that? I bet you didn't even think those existed in the US. It no longer crosses the river because portions collapsed in 96 due to flooding, and it was never restored. Now it's open to pedestrians, basically as a long pier on either side.

i don't like the capital police because they arrest me whenever i dont use capital letters or…read moreapostrophes in correct places and especially when i do run on sentences which i do a lot. seriously though why is not using capital letters an offence. really. Seriously through - these guys are kind of intimidating. I don't know why the Capitol Building of Pennsylvania needs its own police department and it's kind of funny actually if you think about it because the Harrisburg PD could probably do a decent job at patrolling this. But anyway here they are and they sit next to the Capitol basically intimidating anybody that walks or Drives By with stares and their presence. I don't particularly like it but I don't hate it enough to give it less than a 3-star rating because they've never bothered me personally. They're just always there staring at me. No - they don't make me feel safe. Haven't you seen the YouTube videos of what police in this country are capable of?