YWCA Housing and Employment Services Presents:

 

Hungry and Homeless in Bradford?

Say It Isn’t So!!

 

Monday Nov. 17th, 6PM

YWCA   24 West Corydon St

Panelists for this open forum include:

 

Rev. LeRoy Beckes                  The Friendship Table

Dale Brundage                          Bradford Housing Authority

Jerry Peterson                          Riddell House

Dan Green                                YWCA Food Pantry

Bart Simpson                            Angel Food Ministry

Capt. Deb Weigner                  The Salvation Army

Denise King                              YWCA Homeless Shelter

 

Please join us as we discuss the topics of hunger and     

homelessness in the Bradford area.

National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

 

November 16-22, 2008

 

 

The City of Bradford’s Office of Economic and Community Development is pleased to announce that it will be hosting two separate ribbon-cutting ceremonies to celebrate the accomplishments of two significant community development projects funded in part through the Impact Bradford project. The first ribbon-cutting & dedication ceremony will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 25th, at the intersection of Onofrio Street and North Onofrio Street. This ceremony will celebrate the revitalization of Onofrio Street through the renovation of sixteen homes and the construction of sixteen new homes along with significant cleanup and infrastructure improvements that have taken place over the past ten years.

The second ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in front of the Old City Hall Building on Kennedy Street. This ceremony celebrates the completion of the final phase of the revitalization and redevelopment of the Boylston Street and Kennedy Street area of historic downtown Bradford. The $2.2 million downtown streetscape project primarily funded through Impact Bradford includes the replacement of curbs and sidewalks, which include decorative stamped concrete and traffic-calming areas, new stamped-concrete crosswalks, decorative streetlights, new trees and plantings and the upgrade of the traffic signal at the corner of Kennedy Street and Boylston Street.

Speakers for these ceremonies include Jackie Z. Parker, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Community Action Team. Ms. Parker is representing Govenor Rendell. Other speakers included Senator Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, Representative Martin Causer and Bradford City Mayor Tom Riel. The public is invited to help the Bradford community celebrate by attending both of these ceremonies.

Graffiti in Bradford, was the order of business at the Bradford City Council Graffiti Work Session held on September 9. The work session was open to the public, with about 20 local residents attending in addition to City Council members.

Based on ordinances from various other municipalities, Council presented a draft ordinance. The draft ordinance can be found here. After a reading of the draft by Mayor Tom Riel, comments were called for from the residents.

The ordinace proposes to:

• Formally make graffiti a crime.
• Ban the sale to, and possession of, spray paint for minors.
• Require property owners to clean up graffiti in a reasonable time period.

During the public comment period, residents aired concerns such as, what penalties could be levied for offenders, and if the ordinance would apply to everyone equally.

The proposed ordinance leaves punishment up to Pennsylvania state guidelines as imposed by a judge. It also specifically states that it applies to, “associations, businesses, clubs, corporations, partnerships, and bodies politic”.

Read the rest of this entry »

First there was a wrap-up party at the Bank Street Community Garden. The party marks the end of the garden’s design and construction. It was also intended to thank Kara Smith and Rachel Ence, the interns who contributed so much to make the project a reality. See our previous post with video.

After the wrap-up party, Bradford held it’s first celebration of National Night Out in the Family Video parking lot on West Washington Street. The City of Bradford Police Department provided children’s fingerprinting ID kits, safety information, and gave tours of the City’s Emergency Response Team van. The local D.A.R.T. (Diving And Recovery Team) were also there to explain their operations. McKean County CARE for Children was on hand with safety information and SAFE Kids McKean County handouts.

Project Pride Manager Linda Campongiani explains the concept behind Bradford’s National Night Out:

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Inch by inch and row by row, making your garden grow takes patience and dedication. The garden is a great metaphor for many of the projects being carried out by Bradford’s Office of Economic and Community Development (OECD). Ambitious works like the Elm Street Project (Map) take years of planning and effort to show results.

Part of the Elm Street project’s rejuvenation of neighborhoods is the Bank Street Community Garden. Take one dilapidated property that isn’t on the tax roles anyhow, add volunteers, creativity, and dedication, and what can be accomplished?

Thanks to Elm Street Project Manager Lisa Campogiani, Interns Kara & Rachel, and the volunteers who are donating labor and materials, the gardening project is coming together in one neighborhood. Hopefully it is just the first.

Rachel attends Penn State, and Kara attends Cornell. The are both Landscape Architecture majors contributing their skills (and labor) to the garden. Both chose to come to Bradford because of our location in the Allegany National Forest. They have created the Bank Street Community Garden Blog.