Airs Monday, December 12th at 7pm on WVIA TV
Join us live in our studio audience! Reserve your seats here.
Has your favorite local shop been replaced by a big box store or online only shopping experience? Keystone Edition takes a deeper dive into what it’s like on a typical Main street and what business owners are doing to reinvigorate and reinvent downtown shopping.
Resources
- The Commonwealth’s 2023 Premier Conference on Revitalization in Scranton: Making Room: Housing for a Vibrant Community (June 25-28, 2023)
- Conference call for session proposals(Due January 27th, 2023)
- Padowntown.org
- PA Downtown Center - Resources
- Pennsylvania’s Main Streets through the Pandemic
- Designing for Distance
Panelists
Julie Fitzpatrick - Executive Director, Pennsylvania Downtown Center
Julie has been with Pennsylvania Downtown Center since 2005 and was appointed as the Executive Director in July 2019. She has been involved with a variety of projects in communities all over the commonwealth, including community visioning, developing regional downtown revitalization strategies, establishing tourism infrastructure plans, and developing business improvement district plans and other strategic planning activities. She also provides board and committee education and technical assistance to designated DCED Keystone Communities Main Street and Elm Street programs, as well as to communities that are non-designated. Currently, she is working with PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) on a project focused on Nature-Based Placemaking, and with the PA Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) on developing a Design Guidelines workbook.
She has a Master of Science degree in Community and Regional Planning, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and Anthropology from Temple University and has done coursework in their landscape architecture program. She attributes her focus on people-centered service and the importance of building relationships to 18 years of small business management at a locally owned independent downtown pharmacy. Her previous non-profit experience includes volunteering with Mulberry Arts Studio, WITF-public TV and radio, the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, and the Susquehanna Waldorf School. She served on the board of the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network (SSBN) for more than six years and is currently on the board for the Pennsylvania Urban & Community Forestry Council, the Susquehanna Riverlands Leadership Committee, as well as a member of the Pennsylvania Pedestrian & Pedacycle Advisory Committee. She serves her local community by volunteering with the Marietta Restoration Associates. Julie resides in a 210 year-old home along the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County and enjoys the trail and small town charm of Marietta.
Betsy Kramer - Revitalization Coordinator, SEDA-COG
Betsy led the Shamokin Area Implementation Plan for Revitalization, dubbed GoShamokin Plan from procurement and contract management to implementation of programs and projects focused on strategic development and revitalization.
Examples of areas of impact include assisting Shamokin with creating capacity at the local level to achieve such projects as a LERTA Tax Assistance program, successfully receiving EPA Community-Wide Brownfield grant funding, Illumination Station pocket park utilizing three funding sources, Hydraulic and Hydrology (H&H) Study, assisting with $7,750,000 RACP projects, $500,000 RLF project, $100,000 Façade Grant funding through Keystone Communities/DCED and HOME HUD funding.
Michael Lombardo - Mayor, Pittston
In 1996, Lombardo, feeling frustrated with the condition of his hometown, entered the race for mayor of the City of Pittston. In November of 1997, he was elected the youngest mayor in the history of the city. He was sworn into office in January of 1998 and served for two terms, until January of 2006. Upon leaving office, he was appointed to the board of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Pittston where he served until December of 2017.
In 2017, Lombardo decided to run again for the position of mayor in the City of Pittston. He was elected in November of 2017 and sworn into office in January of 2018 to begin a third term as mayor. In November of 2021, Lombardo was elected to a fourth term, commencing January of 2022.