Latrobe Revitalization Program Shifts Focus To Facade, Beautification Projects

Executive Director Jarod Trunzo detailed several projects the Latrobe Community Revitalization Program hopes to advance in the coming year at last week’s Latrobe City Council meeting.

Trunzo wanted to give council a “snapshot” of what the group is working on as it changes its focus on development instead of events.

The revitalization program will continue to operate the Latrobe Farmers Market, but has turned over Steelers Fest and the Great American Banana Split Festival to the Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Some projects will start in March when the weather breaks, then continue through the summer, Trunzo said.

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourlatrobe/yourlatrobemore/7751678-74/latrobe-trunzo-development#ixzz3S2xupFNs
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York’s West Jackson Street Project Near Completion

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

Clement Alleyne moved to West Jackson Street in 1984.

“It was nice, but it needed work,” he said.

Some 30 years later, it was definitely due for a change, Alleyne said.

With the help of several community partners, a $1 million improvement project has repaved the streets, updated lighting and added water-retention flower beds. Utility companies Columbia Gas and York Water have also replaced antiquated pipelines in the community.

Read more: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_26558416/west-jackson-street-project-near-completion

Washington/Chestnut St. Park Garden Party‏ In Pottstown

Hi All, 

Hope this note finds each of you in good health and spirits!  Spring is officially here, I’d I like to invite you to the  5th Annual Garden Party held at the Washington/Chestnut Sts. Park this Sunday, May 18. 
 
It will be a morning of beautifying the park with annuals and mulch donated by Colonial Gardens and light refreshments courtesy of Genesis Housing Corp.  Details are below and don’t forget your gardening tools! SHOVELS, RAKES and GLOVES!
 
WHAT: 5TH ANNUAL GARDEN PARTY
WHERE: WASHINGTON/CHESTNUT STS. PARK
DATE: Sunday MAY 18,2014
TIME: 10:00am – 12:00pm
 
Hope to See you there! 
Anna, Citizens for Pottstown CPR

These Artists In War-Ravaged Damascus Have Broken A Guinness World Record

Editor’s Note:  This is very inspiring and there are many pictures you can view when you click on the link below.  Love how people triumph over adversity!

Six Syrian artists have set a 2014 Guinness World Record. Using scraps from the streets of war-ravaged Damascus, in January they built the largest mural made from recycled material, beautifying the area outside a primary school in Syria’s capital.

It took Syrian artist Moaffak Makhoul and his team six months to complete the mural in the upscale Al Mazzeh area of Damascus. Guinness announced the win on Facebook on March 26.

The team used scrap objects like broken mirrors, bicycle wheels, and aluminum cans to construct the mural, measuring 7,749.98 feet across.

Read more/see pictures: http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamberger/these-artists-in-war-ravaged-damascus-have-broken-a-guinness

Pottstown’s Mosaic Community Land Trust Sponsors Garden Contest

 

To visit their website, click here:  http://pottstownclt.wordpress.com/  You can print out a full-sized application found under the Gardens page.  The link is under the flyer.

Creating Beauty In West Reading, One Tile At A Time

On the sidewalk along Penn Avenue in West Reading, Pam Roule glued down glass tiles under the late morning sun.

“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” the borough resident said as she placed the small pieces. “These are the clouds.”

Nearby, Mayor Shane J. Keller cut additional pieces of glass as the occasional West Reading Farmers Market patron stopped, groceries in hand, to view the progress on what eventually will be one of five mosaics on Chestnut Street near West Reading Elementary Center.

“The more you work with it, the more you learn,” said Roule, an artist with a studio on Playground Drive. “And it gets kind of addicting.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=422717

 

Catasauqua Mural Offers Views Of Local History

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

To Prakash Thakrar, the wall of one of his buildings isn’t brick and mortar — it’s a canvas.

And now that a new community development project turned his stack of brick into an acrylic tribute to the town where he does business, Thakrar is hopeful other local shop owners will join in with renderings of their own.

Allentown muralist Matt Halm recently put the finishing touches on a Welcome to Catasauqua sign — but one that treats people entering the borough from Pine Street to various views of the town’s history.

It’s part of a $12,000 mural Catasauqua added to a wall at 115-117 Pine Street.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/catasauqua/mc-catasauqua-mural-20120920,0,2641134.story

Poetry Paths Mural Outside Lancaster’s El Centro Hispano Reflects Fabric Of Community

What had been a large, blank wall outside the Spanish American Civic Association’s El Centro Hispano has become a reflection of the community.

Pictured on a new mural, the installation of which was completed last week, are depictions of 28 people.  Some of them work inside the center that serves Lancaster city’s Hispanic community.  Some of them helped establish SACA, and some helped establish the city’s Hispanic community six decades ago.

“It’s a record,” Carlos Graupera, SACA executive director, said of the 30-foot tall mural. “It’s a way to respect what happened in this community.”

Graupera, whose image is at the far end of the painted fabric mural, said the depictions include people who came to Lancaster from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.  It also includes many who were born in Lancaster of immigrant parents.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/666429_SACA-remembrance.html#ixzz1xV3mSNld

York YMCA Gets Involved At Grassroots Community Level

Image via Wikipedia

The York YMCA is giving away money to neighborhood groups in York City who are looking to fund various beautification projects.  The projects, if selected, are eligible to receive a grant from the YMCA for between $500 and $1500 dollars.  The dollar amount will be determined by the scope of the project.  This could be for tree-planting or flower-planting, for example.  Basically any projects that help make city neighborhoods more attractive will be considered.

The $30,000 pool of money, available in 2011, is being donated by the Women’s Giving Circle and the York County Community Foundation.  The York YMCA has a “Resources for Urban Neighborhoods” program that will be the initial recipient of this money.  In turn, the YMCA will distribute these fund based on the applications they receive.

If you are a York City resident who would like more information, a meeting is scheduled for January 11^th at 6:00 p.m. at the York YMCA which is located at 90 N. Newberry Street. 

Grant applications can be found online at http://www.runyork.org starting January 1^st. 

You may contact York YMCA Community Service Director, Jessica Fieldhouse at (717) 843-7884 ext. 243 or email her at jfieldhouse@yorkcoymca.org for information.