Icing on the Cake

By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director

In February of 2005 Governor Ed Rendell came to Bradford with $11 million for Impact Bradford.

The downtown streetscape project "is icing on the Impact Bradford cake," Sara Andrews said Thursday afternoon prior to a ribbon cutting for the project.

Andrews, executive director of the Office of Economic and Community Development, said the streetscape project is a "perfect complement" to Old City, the Bradford Family YMCA and the Boylston Street Medical Plaza.

Andrews also thanked the Impact Bradford partners for helping to bring the project to life. The partners are the Bradford Area School District, Bradford Regional Medical Center, which is currently undergoing renovations of its own, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the City of Bradford and Zippo Manufacturing Company.

"Zippo, while facing some challenges," she said, "is still the main economic development driver in the community."

Andrews also recognized former OECD executive director Ray McMahon, who she said was the "point man" when the project was in its infancy.

Debbie Huston of the OECD, Andrews said, "has been there from Day One making sure that everything you see today is the way it is."

"I admire her for the dedication she's brought to this project and to the Old City Hall project," she said.

In her remarks, Huston thanked Nick Cummins and his crew for going above and beyond the call of duty to get the intersection of Boylston and Kennedy streets ready for Thursday's ceremony.

"Their dedication to completing this project is truly remarkable," Huston said.

Mayor Tom Riel told the crowd, "We all need to give praise and a round of applause to the two preceding mayors, Connie Cavallaro and Michele Corignani, who are really the ones who initiated all this and had the vision for all this to occur."

Riel said the Onofrio Street, Old City Hall and Streetscape projects show that things can get better in Bradford. He said the city has come a long way in 10 years, and still has a long way to go, and he hopes city council can count on support from the public and from Harrisburg to have more projects like these come to fruition.

Dr. John Addis, the first tenant in Old City Hall, offered a similar sentiment. "Let's not sit on our duffs and let this beautician and rehabilitation stop here," he said. "Let us continue to bring our city back to life with the energy, creativity and knowledge that is within our populous."

Addis commended the OECD for seeing what the community needed and going after it.

"The OECD had foresight. Most of us in the community … thought initially they were nuts in terms of trying to restore this building," he joked.

He said old historical buildings, according to one of our founding fathers, should be preserved and appreciated, not destroyed.

"Sara, Debbie and Jeff (Andrews) honored that saying and they, along with their staff, and the city deserve accolades for what they've done."

Jackie Parker of the state Department of Community and Economic Development said the Impact Bradford project – and Onofrio Street – are exactly what Rendell envisioned for core communities in the state.

State Senator Joe Scarnati and State Representative Marty Causer were also on hand for the ceremonies, and Andrews said, "A lot of people don't know the work and effort put in by both Marty and Joe in Harrisburg to help our community grow."


Scarnati said sometimes projects like this are difficult because critics tell people what they should or shouldn't have done, or what could have been done differently. "Being an elected official in a small town – and in an economic development agency – takes a lot of hard work, it takes a lot of coordination, and it really takes bringing the town together," he said.

Causer said this is a "perfect example of an entire community coming together to work on a project to revitalize the town."

As the ceremony and dedication went on, a crew from Hoffman Landscape continued working at the corner of Kennedy and Boylston streets. Sara Andrews said the project should be completely finished -- except for a traffic light -- in a couple of weeks. The traffic light should be installed in the spring.