Bring your own hard hat to Wolf inauguration

    A man walks in the snow in front of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. The Capitol complex is in the midst of a years-long project to make roof and lighting replacements, as well as fountain repairs. (AP photo/Matt Rourke)

    A man walks in the snow in front of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. The Capitol complex is in the midst of a years-long project to make roof and lighting replacements, as well as fountain repairs. (AP photo/Matt Rourke)

    Governor-elect Tom Wolf joked frequently on the campaign trail that he started his career in the Wolf family cabinet-making company in a warehouse, driving a forklift. So maybe he’ll feel at home outside Pennsylvania’s Capitol complex on inauguration day in less than two weeks.

     

    The Democrat will take his oath of office in a construction zone.

    The Capitol complex is in the midst of a years-long project to make roof and lighting replacements, as well as fountain repairs.

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    State Department of General Services spokesman Troy Thompson said work would stop Jan. 20, and the construction shouldn’t be too obvious to guests attending the inauguration.

    “It is a construction zone, so there may be certain items in view, but we don’t anticipate them being significant,” Thompson said.

    The construction project began last summer and isn’t expected to be finished until 2016. His agency knew it was likely to interfere in someone’s inauguration, but the upgrades were too important to postpone, Thompson said.

    “These are projects that needed to be done,” he said. “They were put off for way too long. The chance for further deterioration of these structures was just too important not to address as soon as possible.”

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