Below is an article in today's Express Times announcing a film festival to be held at the old Simon Silk Mill on Bushkill creek in the West Ward in October. The City has been working for a few years to put together a viable plan for revitalizing the Silk Mill buildings into an attraction centered around the arts, and this film festival is a first step in that direction.
Critics of the plan have said that the project will cost as much as $100 million to clean out hazardous materials and revitalize the buildings. Proponents of the project say that it is possible to fund it, and that the ultimate result will be an attraction that will draw commerce and tourism from surrounding areas, bringing more money into our local businesses. What do you think?
One of the film makers featured will be our very own WW neighbor Maciek Ulbrecht:
Express Times Article by Chris Knight on Silk Mill Film Festival
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6 comments:
I don't think of this mill as being in the West Ward, it is more in an area onto it's own. Bringing these new buildings back is a great idea and the vision presented over the last six months is encouraging. It appears a kot of hard work is going into the mill and it will be great to get people to the city to celebrate the arts. I also think its great that the college is involved.
According to maps going back to the 1800s, the Silk Mill has always been part of the West Ward. That was one of many interesting things that residents learned at Tom Jones's Hisoric West Ward Workshop at the Easton Library, which referenced historic maps from the Marx Room. The boundaries have always included Bushkill Drive, which is on the other side of Bushkill Creek--in other words the West Ward goes to the very base of the hill, where College "Hill" starts.
It's interesting that the City seems to have an interest in separating the Silk Mill from the West Ward, now that a large development project is planned there.
As an individual who grew up and lives in the WW I pointed out that I (ME, no one else) didn't view it qas the WW. As far as the City goes the only thing I ever heard is that the project will connect WW, CH and rthe downtown by means of a trail.
Yes, the trail, I think we're all looking forward to!
I really hope that the silk mill will house "stores", events that the normal everyday resident will want to go to...and not just visitors.That is my only real concern about the silk mill
Good point, Nikki. It's going to take some seriously progressive urban planning to make the Silk Mill a success. It's important to put businesses there that will draw residents and also help sustain each other.
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