I am looking forward to warm nights, fireflies in the park, warm sidewalks, and water play.  And enjoying everything our local environments, be it city or country or somewhere in between, have to offer.  So, in the spirit of building our economies in our townships, municipalities, towns and cities in this region, do it local this summer!  And while you are at it, tell your friends about SSBN.  We’d like to meet them.

SSBN: Thinking local first in spring 2012 and always.

It is such a pleasure to enjoy time in one of our local downtown areas and see our Think Local First poster on the wall of a local gathering place.  The board shown here was covered with a variety of announcements including one advertisment for a lead vocalist position in a local band, one announcing the opening of a CSA, and one poster looking for a lost dog.  That is how a community communicates. . . . through posters and messages on bulletin boards, and well, maybe on a social media site or two.

We are excited to communicate with you about local happenings involving SSBN in 2012.  Please pen us in and stop by our monthly mixers, our Shred-It and Stay Earth Day Event at Long’s Park, and the Millersville University Sustainability Conference, September 27 & 28, 2012.  SSBN is a conference partner for that event and we hope some of you to participate and share your expertise about local sustainable initiatives.  So, happy spring!  We hope to see you at one of our local events.

We are happy that others are joining us in defining local in Lancaster.  We like these ideas and the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce’s new campaign.   We are glad they are joining us and much of what they are doing resonates with our Think Local First efforts.  Their campaign is different from ours, of course.  But one of their pieces of literature suggests consumers begin to think locally when purchasing goods and services by asking themselves seven key questions.  We like their questions and could add several more to their list.  We hope you will join us to push it one step further like we have done since SSBN started.  We (still) Think Local First.  

We would also like to pause for a moment to dedicate this year’s campaign in memory of our friend John Svatek,  a long time champion of SSBN and Think Local First.  We miss you.

A few of this year’s ssbn member collaborators include Horn Farm Center, Lemon Street Market, Mommalicious and My Aunt Debbie, and John J. Jeffries. Students will also cover projects like the Lancaster Green Infrastructure Initiative through the Lancaster County Planning Commission, and two new features, Sustainable Day Trips from Lancaster County and a Sustainable Walking Tour through Lancaster City and County.

The map project will be completed thorough a collaboration with Dr. Jessica Kelly and graduate students in the Millersville University geography department, using GIS (Geographic Interface System) software, to create an interactive map featuring local “green” sites.

Irwin would like to thank past ssbn member collaborators Community Heritage Partners, Conestoga dpi, Essen, Expressly Local, Fresco Green, J.A. Sharp Custom Jewelers, Longview Structures, Nuts about Granola, and Natural Alliance. Irwin adds, “Without the help of resources like ssbn and the Lancaster and York Green Pages, this project would not have gotten started in 2008.” Visit PGL here

Project Green Lancaster, a sustainable website supported by Millersville University Department of Communication and Theatre, is busy creating new locally focused content this fall.  The website, written by undergraduate students, heads into its fourth year of existence to launch twenty-six new pages in the EDUCATE section of the site in mid-December.  Dr. Stacey Irwin, project manager and associate professor in the Millersville University Department of Communication and Theatre notes “this new content will add close to 130,000 new words about local sustainability efforts in the Susquehanna Valley to the site.”

A few of this year’s ssbn member collaborators include Horn Farm Center, Lemon Street Market, Mamalicious and My Aunt Debbie, and John J. Jeffries.  Students will also cover projects like the Lancaster Green Infrastructure Initiative through the Lancaster County Planning Commission, and two new features, Sustainable Day Trips from Lancaster County and a Sustainable Walking Tour through Lancaster City and County.

The map project will be completed thorough a collaboration with Dr. Jessica Kelly and graduate students in the Millersville University geography department, using GIS (Geographic Interface System) software, to create an interactive map featuring local “green” sites.  I

Irwin would like to thank past ssbn member collaborators Community Heritage Partners, Conestoga dpi, Essen, Expressly Local, Fresco Green, J.A. Sharp Custom Jewelers, Longview Structures, Nuts about Granola, and Natural Alliance.  Irwin adds, “Without the help of resources like ssbn and the Lancaster and York Green Pages, this project would not have gotten started in 2008.”   Visit PGL at http://www.millersville.edu/~digitalw/env2008/index.htm

SSBN founding member Community Heritage Partners (CHP), architects, planners, preservation and development consultants, in Lancaster, is now working on early plans for a new winery in rural Lancaster County.

Rural Cultural Heritage Museum moves Closer to Reality

CHP’s planning and design work has resumed on a cultural heritage center, exhibition museum, and community meeting center near Leola in Lancaster County.  Four years ago, exterior restoration, including reconstruction of the original masonry openings and wrap-around “piazza” porch, was completed.  Next steps will involve interior facility planning, site development approvals and phased construction.  The facility will eventually open to the public in a few years

Major Central Market Renovations Drawn from CHP’s Design Guidelines for Preservation and Development. Win Statewide Award

Recently completed renovations for Lancaster’s Central Market were built around historical research, planning, design recommendations and guidelines produced by CHP between 2007 and 2009 for the Central Market Trust and the City of Lancaster.  The 500+ pg report had the endorsement of the PA Historical and Museum Commission’s Bureau for Historic Preservation.

Acting as lead preservation advisor and architect, CHP principal Gene Aleci, worked with project sponsors Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County and Friends of Central Market, to draw together a group of firms and consultants who collaborated on historical research, physical conditions assessments and documentation of the market’s existing conditions, historic preservation analysis, design guidance and cultural resource management expertise, to produce the report.  Lancaster Architects Paden-de laFuente documented existing architectural conditions, and Hammel Associates contributed commentary on mechanical and electrical systems.  Linda Aleci, a frequent collaborator and public market consultant with CHP, (also Professor of Art History and Affiliated Scholar with the Local Economy Center at Franklin &Marshall College) provided much of the historical background and research on the market and site, and on public market history more broadly.  She also served as editor for the final report.

Recently, Preservation Pennsylvania announced the market renovation work completed this year will receive its annual statewide award.  Congratulations to all our collaborators and sponsors, as well as to the City of Lancaster for a job well done !

This is the fourth public market project for CHP, including work for Columbia’s historic Market House, York Central Market, and the City of Portland, Maine, all accomplished over the past 12 years.  In 2010, CHP won an honorable mention in an international public market competition in Los Angeles, for their Portland Public Market planning and urban development plan.

For more on our public market projects:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.241387922570571.56792.166392100070154

West King Development is Happening

CHP’s West King downtown development project in Lancaster continues apace, despite difficult economic times.  Studio desks and private offices are available for monthly or annual rent to individuals and small companies.  Please call 393-1639 for more info.

The three-building complex now is headquarters for:  Viktor Yeliohin’s International Ballet Academy, CHP’s design studios and corporate offices, KIWI Marketing Group (also an SSBN member), Nuts About Granola (another SSBN member !), Kovalec Goudmandise – a locally owned specialty pastry production kitchen, and Expressly Local Food, downtown Lancaster’s only local fresh foods, “farm-to-city” grocery store at 213 West King Street.)

In the next few months, more tenants will be joining us.  Call 717-393-1639 about future residential development, and studio spaces for rent, or by email:  kingstreet@chpartners.net

For more info: visit “City Living on West King” on Facebook

Send an email to Aleci@CHPartners.net and CHP will send you their newsletter.  Thanks !