Downtown Revitalization Gives Erie Nomination for All-America City
Erie has a reason to be proud. Our city is one of 32 municipalities to be named finalists for the All-America City Awards sponsored by the National Civic League.
Ten cities will be chosen in a competition in Tampa on June 16-19. If Erie makes the cut and earns an All-America City designation, there is potential to parlay that honor into positive publicity about what makes our city such an attractive place to live, work and recreate.
One factor considered in selecting All-America City finalists is downtown revitalization. Erie has made remarkable progress on that score, as the central city has been transformed into a vibrant and safe place for local residents and tourists to dine, see live theater, attend sporting events, enjoy some laughs at Jr.’s Last Laugh Comedy Club, browse art galleries and shop at some new small boutiques. You can hop EMTA’s Bayliner Trolley and travel from our beautiful bayfront all along State Street.
Renters already enjoy cool urban apartments at places like Modern Tool Square and Lovell Place. Visitors can check into lovely bed-and-breakfasts within walking distance of downtown. Soon, homeowners will be able to set up their households in downtown Erie at the Mercantile Building and other developments that will follow.
Erie’s application also highlights the Weed and Seed anti-crime initiative, and summer and afterschool programs for kids.
The announcement that Erie is an All-America City finalist dovetails nicely with timing for a program coming up in early May, sponsored by the Erie Center for Design and Preservation.
Donovan Rypkema, a nationally recognized consultant on downtown revitalization and the reuse of historic properties, will visit Erie to talk about the positive effects that local preservation makes on the local economy, according to Margaret Kennedy, a board member of the Erie Center for Design and Preservation. Rypkema will have lunch with government officials on May 9, then give a talk at Erie Insurance at 2 p.m.
In another coincidence of good timing and a sign of progress, Joe Cole, a Democratic candidate for the Canton, Ohio, City Council, says that Canton needs to learn from “success stories like Erie, Pa.,” according to a recent story in the Canton Repository.
The last time Erie was an All-America City was in 1972, and Mayor Lou Tullio knew how to play up the honor as he made sure that everyone coming into the city limits knew about the designation.
As City Council President Joe Schember has said about the award nomination, “Sometimes we’re our own worst critics. It’s nice to have some outside validation for the progress we’re making.”
Now let’s pump up the community to cheer on Erie’s application, which officially covers the city, but, in reality, encompassed the region. After all, “we’re as All-American as Smith’s hot dogs from Sara’s, cherry pie from North East and baseball at Jerry Uht Park in downtown Erie.”