Residents Of Homewood Search For Alternative To Demolishing Houses

Locator map with the Homewood North neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Homewood‘s sense of place is eroding so fast that 184 homes have been razed since 2011 and another 232 are condemned. Residents are torn. They value the building stock that attests to better days, but blight is outpacing opportunities to save what’s viable.

Just in time for the neighborhood’s biggest investment in decades, Operation Better Block staff began a door-to-door campaign to motivate hundreds of residents to face this crisis by helping to plan housing strategies.

“Demolition was the only recourse people thought we had,” said Jerome Jackson, executive director of Operation Better Block. Even if it is, he added, people need information to be comfortable with that.

A neighborhood advocacy nonprofit since 1971, Operation Better Block initiated a resident-driven plan for the use of vacant land and buildings two years ago in a test area of 46 parcels near Pittsburgh Faison K-5. The school was a crucial reason to strengthen that area, which is also near the East Busway and the ripest area for investment.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/residents-of-homewood-search-for-alternative-to-demolishing-houses-706527/#ixzz2h3n9teMY

Frugal California University Of Pennsylvania Cuts Back On Spending, Saves Millions

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Washington County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Channel-surfing college football fans may notice one area team missing from this fall’s TV lineup.

California University of Pennsylvania decided it no longer could justify spending up to $150,000 a season to produce and broadcast games played by its Division II Vulcans football team — not with classroom cuts looming.

Suddenly frugal Cal U also pared service on its Vulcan Flyer, a shuttle named for the school’s mascot that used to leave campus stops every 10 minutes. Students now wait a bit longer, saving Cal U half a million dollars.

Still more money — another $1.6 million — was recouped by telling campus departments to return unspent money at year’s end, suspending a practice that had let them amass surpluses, even in years that the university tapped reserves to balance its books.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/frugal-california-university-of-pennsylvania-cuts-back-on-spending-saves-millions-706559/#ixzz2h3iK9R1u

Lancaster City Hall Addition Expected To Bring Greater Efficiency To Government

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Architect Bruce Evans’ charge in designing a City Hall addition was to create space that would help Lancaster city employees work more efficiently and be better able to serve the public.

From his own experience, Evans knew the inefficiency and frustration of taking plans to City Hall for review by city building officials, then having to take them to fire inspectors in Southern Market Center, four blocks away. Sometimes, he then would have to return to City Hall.

When the 18,000-square-foot addition to City Hall is complete, the city’s housing, building and fire code inspectors will work together in the same office. Plans can be reviewed simultaneously in shared meeting spaces.

Similarly, on the floor above, planners from the city Economic Development & Neighborhood Revitalization departments will be grouped with Public Works staffers, who oversee the impact of those plans on the city’s public spaces.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/903017_Lancaster-City-Hall-addition-expected-to-bring-greater-efficiency-to-government.html#ixzz2h3fTg310

Hotel Lancaster Will Replace The Brunswick Downtown

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Standing amid workers installing tile and trim and painting the new lobby, real estate developer John Meeder declared: “The experience starts here.”

The experience is one of a bright, open lobby; clean, well appointed rooms; and a well-managed facility.

It will be the experience of The Hotel Lancaster, promised Meeder.

“The Brunswick is history. It is no longer the name of this hotel,” he said. “Sorry historians, but there is too much baggage.”

The street-level lobby had long been recommended by urban planners, but by moving it to the East Chestnut Street side of the building, Meeder and his partners also are getting a new address.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/901905_Hotel-Lancaster-will-replace-the-Brunswick-downtown.html#ixzz2h3cWK938

A Year After A Shift On Second Street, Harrisburg’s Restaurant Row Is ‘Kinder, Gentler’ — And A Bit More Mature, Businesses Say

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is not your twenty-somethings’ Second Street. Sure, Harrisburg’s Restaurant Row remains a haven for newly-minted but decidedly inexperienced drinkers that can lead to problems for establishment owners, their patrons and police.

But over the past year, there has been a deliberate shift on Second Street. Its character has mellowed and matured, some business owners say. And the proof is in the character of the crowds. It’s a slightly older customer base now seen in upstart — and upscale — establishments such as the Federal Taphouse, the Susquehanna Ale House and the Second Street Comedy Club.

The turning point came in early 2012. After a string of stabbings, including a fatality, the Dragonfly nightclub abruptly closed. Instead of a driving beat, the space was given over to craft beer and gourmet burgers with the summer opening of the Federal Taphouse. By all accounts, the joint venture of Corey Fogarty of Fogarty Hospitality and Judd Goodman of Brubar Inc. has been a smashing success.

Not only is business good. Business as usual has changed on Second Street as a result. Crowds are a little older. Instead of bargain beer specials, thirty- and forty-somethings are spending $7 and $8 a beer. They’re coming in for dinner, shifting peak hours to between 5 p.m. and midnight, instead of midnight to 2 a.m.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/a_year_after_a_shift_on_second.html#incart_m-rpt-2

Concern Rises Over Break-Ins In Philly’s Suburbs

Debbie Campolo’s husband came home one day in February to find the front door of their house in Radnor smashed open. The target was clear – her jewelry box sat empty on the bedroom dresser.

“They took everything I had, even the stuff my kids made me,” said Campolo, a physical therapist who lives near Overbrook Golf Club.

Then she talked to three or four neighbors and workout pals who said the same thing had happened to them. And she found out that a few weeks before her break-in, a house three doors down had been hit the same way.

“They come in, pull a pillowcase off of a pillow, and then they dump the contents of a jewelry box right in it,” Campolo said.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131007_Concern_rises_over_suburban_break-ins.html#hrufsVizGfw2Jb0b.99

Riverfest Returns To Pottstown’s Riverfront Park

POTTSTOWN, PA — In addition to the Halloween-themed Temple of Terror, Halloween Parade and Monster Dash 5K, another crucial element of the borough’s growing October-long slate of activities is the resurrection of Riverfest.

Scheduled this year for Oct. 12, from noon to 6 p.m. along the Schuylkill River and from 6 to 8 p.m. in downtown Pottstown, the list of things to do during this special day is truly dizzying.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131006/riverfest-returns-to-pottstowns-riverfront-park

Pottstown’s Positively Pasta Owners Are Shifting Focus To Pasta Manufacturing

POTTSTOWN, PA — After 13 years at 115 High St. in downtown Pottstown, the café at Positively Pasta is closing. Owners Karen and Chris Foster have made the decision to close down the café part of the business so they can focus on their pasta manufacturing.

The couple sent a letter recently to about 120 of their regular customers, letting them know that Oct. 11 will be the last day for Positively Pasta’s café.

“We have been fortunate to be in Pottstown now for almost 13 years and it has been our pleasure to serve each and every one of you,” the couple said in the letter.

It is the pasta manufacturing side of the business that gave the couple their start 26 years ago, and Karen Foster said that trying to do both the café and the manufacturing was starting to take too many hours.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/business/20131007/pottstowns-positively-pasta-owners-are-shifting-focus-to-pasta-manufacturing