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02/21/2008 08:39 AM

ECR, E.G.& G., and Community Gather For Town Meeting
February 6, 2008:

EllwoodCity.org Staff

The first town meeting for the Ellwood City community members to explore the possibilities of revitalizing thier downtown took place Tuesday night at the SOI banquet hall as the Ellwood City Revitalization (ECR) Committee and E.G.&G. Consultants hosted a town hall meeting to discuss the future of downtown Ellwood City.

E.G.& G. Landscape Architect and Planner Rob Garrison was impressed with the initial showing.  “In the 20 years I have been doing town meeting, this was the best turnout I have send with well over 150 attendees to the first meeting,” Garrison stated.

Some notable attendees at the town hall meeting include police chief of operations, Richard McDonald, representatives from the office of state Rep. Jaret Gibbons, and County Commissioners.

Lenore Bazzichi, President of the Revitalization Committee, began the meeting, describing how ECR has got to where it is currently at and where it plans to head in the future.  Ms. Bazzichi later introduced the nationally recognized, Landscape / Architecture / Planning / Engineering firm, E.G. & G. from Akron, Ohio, and three of their architects and planners. 

Since 1981 EG&G has helped over eighty communities "create" prime real estate locations in their downtowns through economic development and revitalization.

EG&G desires to make Ellwood City not only look good but also have economic development in the future and also not only are focusing on the looks of the business areas but also residential areas.

Rich Cleveland, Manager of the E.G.& G. office in Akron showed visual clips of previously revitalized downtown projects, including Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, and Washington Pennsylvania, E.G. & G. and its landscape architects began speaking about the current condition of downtown Ellwood City and laid out the areas of downtown which are being focused on.

The areas within downtown area include Lawrence Avenue, from 10^th Street to 4^th Street, 5^th Street, Crescent Avenue to Spring Avenue, and 6^th Street, also from Crescent Avenue to Spring Avenue.

Garrison moved to discuss a 4-step process that move projects from concept to completion.  This plan entails, Design and Development, Financial Planning, Implementation Steps, and Construction.

Steps 1 – 3 are a six to nine month process.

At this point the meeting was opened up to the attendees to voice their opinions, reasons, and thoughts on suggested improvements to downtown Ellwood City.  Some of the suggested improvements included the following:

• A truck route so trucks do not come down Lawrence Avenue

• Make Lawrence Avenue one-way with diagonal parking on one side of the road

• Parking Garage to increase parking within area

• Improving visuals coming into town at various points

• Improvement of street signs

• Removing Parking Meters

• Moving some of the county offices into Ellwood City

• Providing Entertainment in the downtown area

• Creation of family oriented businesses

• Revitalize areas that used to be mills to get rid of eyesores

• Community get-togethers to provide entertainment for kids and families

• Elimination of Parking Tickets

• Having merchants honor store hours

Further information about the Ellwood City Revitalization and their committee can be found at www.ellwoodcityrevitalization.org and more information about nationally recognized E.G.& G. can be found at their website, www.eggco.com.

Pledge cards for individual donations are available at the Ellwood City Area Chamber of Commerce, the office of state Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10, Ellwood City; and ESB Bank.