New Kensington residents take to the streets in hopes of reviving the downtown scene
My town and they're trying to revive it. Like many towns across the United States, they are boarded up and reduced to what used to be known as a ghosttown.
I remember when it was booming....before progress took hold. Before K marts and Cosco....before malls replaced these mom and pop stores.
When we didn't know what to do with ourselves we would go window shopping...downtown...and that was fun. Then we'd go to Woolworth's or Murphy's, or Isaly's and indulge ourselves in a milkshake.
Later, my husband Allen and I owned a toy store...Gordon Toys on 4th Avenue....but then after years...everything halted and our town literally 'died'.
Now the do gooders are trying to revive it. Can they??? Will they??? I sure hope so.
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New Kensington’s future on display for a day
October 16, 2015 12:00 AM
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By Tim Means
In its heyday around 1950, New Kensington was a bustling town of 25,000 people, considered the gateway to Westmoreland County. It had its own brewery, library, dairy, railroad station, newspaper, opera house and fire department.
Half a century later, after the decline of industry in the region and the loss of half of its population, today’s downtown New Kensington is full of empty storefronts and faded signs. A few small businesses struggle to bring in new customers.
On Saturday, however, visitors can get a glimpse of what the town might become.
From noon to 8 p.m., downtown New Kensington will be transformed with pop-up businesses in empty storefronts plus food, art, music and lights as part of a revitalization initiative called Better Block.
Better Block is a community improvement project that began on one block in Dallas, Texas, in 2010 and has spread to dozens of cities across the country, including San Francisco, Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio. The project focuses on bringing together city officials, local nonprofits, businesses and residents to clean up, repaint and restore a commercial downtown area.
“This is a downtown makeover to show what New Kensington could be,” said Jessica Levine, ReStore manager for Habitat for Humanity of Allegheny Valley and an organizer for the second Better Block event in New Kensington. “To showcase the town’s potential, we have a pop-up dog park, two stages booked with live music, a beer garden built from pallets, a pop-up winery and art gallery, and dozens of food and craft vendors.”
The now-defunct Hart’s department store building will hold a vintage wedding show, displaying dresses from the ’40s through the ’80s, some bought at Hart’s, complete with stories from the women who wore them.
“We want to show a safe and wonderful downtown in the evening hours,” Ms. Levine said. “A dozen different people will give you a dozen different reasons why New Kensington has changed. What will bring it back is young people who see the potential. It takes people with energy and commitment.”
New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo praised the people working together to create a vision of the future for a single day.
“It creates a certain kind of buzz. This is the second Better Block event we’ve had. The first was in May, and we had over 2,000 people turn out. From a city perspective, it is great to see that much life and energy come back to the downtown area. It allows us to transform downtown and show what it can be,” Mr. Guzzo said. “This is done mostly by volunteers all pulling together.”
The city will provide some services and allow the use of some public properties, he said, but the cost is not significant. A $3,500 grant from the Greater Alle-Kiski Association of Realtors is paying for insurance and the use of public facilities for the day.
Public art projects are planned by art students from Valley High School, the Pittsburgh Office of Public Art and local artists, who are working to connect new and nostalgic imagery of downtown.
In one empty storefront, a team from the Penn State’s New Kensington campus will offer a pop-up tech/entrepreneur shop.
The event will take place along Fourth and Fifth avenues and Ninth and 10th streets. Streets will not be blocked off, but sidewalk areas will be expanded for seating. Temporary crosswalks and bicycle lanes will be installed by local university students.
