A note from Sophia at WWNP:
Mayor Sal Panto and Lafayette College President Dan Weiss will join the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley at a press conference Tuesday to announce that Air Products has joined the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership as a corporate sponsor. The press conference will be held at the Partnership's office located at 668 Northampton Street on Tuesday, May 18, at 11:30 AM.
The West Ward Neighborhood Partnership, operated by CACLV, serves the area bounded by Sixth Street to the east, 15th Street to the west, Butler Street to the south, and Bushkill Creek to the north. The Partnership’s core funding is provided by Easton Hospital and Lafayette Ambassador Bank, which are investing $1 million each over ten years, for which they are receiving tax credits from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The West Ward Neighborhood Partnership is also Easton’s Elm Street Program.
To date, the 600 block of Northampton Street has been “streetscaped,” more than 300 new trees have been planted, over 50 residential facades have been improved, and nearly 70 sidewalks have been replaced. Funding was provided to the Boys and Girls Club to start and operate the teen center on Northampton Street. Additionally, commercial signs have been upgraded, porches painted and repaired, and murals and mosaics created. The partnership also receives $730,000 over five years from the Wachovia Regional Foundation to fund an urban ecology project, which is creating community gardens, supporting Lafayette College “Tech Clinics,” funding a feasibility study that could lead to creation of a new park, and much more.
Alan L. Jennings
Executive Director
Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley
610.691.5620, Fax 610.691.6582, ajennings@caclv.org
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7 comments:
The streetscaping project touted in this press release is a disgrace. I've been avoiding the topic but a liesurely walk through the project zone this week left me amazed at the level of decrepitude left behind by this so-called improvement. As someone with clients investing financially in the city, it is an embarrassment. I will be posting a specific story on my critique of the project in the near future.
DRL
agreed!
What really has improved? It all looks the same to me.
Granted it hasn't DRAMATICALLY improved but you have to admit it doesn't look as scary as it had been before.
It's going to take a LOT more work to get it to look welcoming but it certainly doesn't look as ghetto!
There are trees and plants suppose to go in but can't somebody at least go pick up the trash and do some weed whacking till that happens? WWNP is a business right on that block - shouldn't they take a lead with that upkeep? Or is it only volunteers that get to pick up trash?
WWNP's "consultants" have made the whimsical decision that they can place things like "native grasses" and create "sustainable ecosystems" in a social vaccuum and have it survive. This block isn't a botanist's laboratory. It is probably closer to a psych ward. Did anybody stop to think what would happen when you placed a ruralised landscape in an urban neighborhood of practically 100% non-owner occupied buildings?
DRL
All improvements but for the tree lawns are fine. Albeit someone forgot about basements under the sidewalks. It is the perfect example of doing something rather than nothing when you don't have enough money to do everything. There should have been pavers in the tree lawn and not grass - regardless of what types of grasses. These people don't have lawn mowers to care for the grass and cut it. Plus the soil is 2 inches below the sidewalk. The city should have been in charge -- it's their street not the WWNP.
What is a tree lawn? Is that the grass between the trees? I dont think it is suppose to be a tree lawn if so. It suppose to be native species that you just let grow right? Its not what people are used to seeing with their manicured lawns but we can get used to it now that there is not any real country side left to look at. By the way I pick up the trash in front of my house - thats just something you do as a good neighbor. I guess renters dont do that but the landlords and the businesses should and if they dont isnt that a fine or a codes violation? It should be if it isnt. We have to start impressing on people that littering is an incredibly shameful and unacceptable thing to do. Can't believe how many of us just accept it day after day. Its actually very depressing to see it. Its says people dont care about the world. Its a degrading thing to do. Its degrading to all of us and tells the truth about who we are.
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