Date: January 15, 2008
Place: Foster Township Municipal Building
Project: City of Bradford Master Plan
Client: City of Bradford
Time: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
MCF No.: 44506002
Attendees:
Tom Riel, City of Bradford Mayor
Rick Benton, City of Bradford Councilman
Bob Dingley, City of Bradford Councilman
Roberta Sarraf, Zoning / Planning Consultant
Albert Filoni, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Ken Lee, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Amy Maceyko, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Purpose: To discuss the master plan process, get the councilmens’ input on what improvements are needed and talk about how they can support the master plan implementation.
Items Discussed:
1. Mr. Filoni began by discussing the goals and the purpose of the master plan. Studies in the past have focused on specific challenges instead of being a comprehensive plan for the whole Tuna Valley. The goal of this process is to develop a series of actionable strategies that all three municipalities can endorse and to engage residents in the process so they will work together to improve the community after the planning process is over. The planning team is meeting with as many groups as possible to understand the myriad of issues that affect all three municipalities and determine the best group of strategies for improving the quality of life in Bradford. One of the major foci of all three municipalities is downtown Bradford and how to make it a more vibrant and inviting place for the benefit of the whole region.
2. Mr. Riel, Mr. Benton and Mr. Dingley are all new to their positions and are on council because they think that the quality of life in Bradford could be better.
3. Mr. Dingley wants to focus on activities for the youth in Bradford and giving them reasons to stay in the area. He wants the University to provide more benefits to the City and use it as an important resource for local growth. He would like to see a better town-gown relationship, but he doesn’t think that Bradford should be another State College, PA.
a. Existing attractions include the ice rink in Callahan Park (regional attraction), the skateboard park, the bowling alley (there is now only 1 instead of 3)
and the swimming pool.
b. When Mr. Dingley was young, the YMCA was a popular destination. There were dances there on Friday and Saturday nights and a variety of afterschool
activities. There was also a recreation center by the hospital which had music and food.
c. The area has lost the roller rink. It has also lost Angel’s, which had video games, miniature golf, pool tables and food.
d. Mr. Riel pointed out that part of the issue is that low-income kids have less to do because they don’t have a computer at home.
e. Maybe there are local service organizations that would sponsor activities – cover pool fees and provide food, sponsor dances
f. What could happen at the ice rink in the summer?
4. Mr. Riel is concerned about a rising graffiti problem and would like to see better enforcement of the curfew law.
5. It can be hard for high school graduates to find local, decent paying jobs if they don’t have connections to employers.
6. Mr. Riel said that the drug problem in Bradford is one of the reasons why he ran for mayor. He also named problems with code enforcement, increasing blight, unattractiveness (there are abandoned shopping carts all over town) and an ineffective police department as additional reasons. He has already made changes to the police department leadership and is working on a plan for dealing with shopping carts. He thinks that apathy is a big issue in Bradford.
7. Mr. Dingley described himself as the “blue collar” member of City Council and sees the blue collar workers in Bradford as his constituents. He didn’t like the fact that the police would be stationed outside of local bars to maximize their DUI arrests under the leadership of the former mayor.
8. The phrase “We’ve never done it that way” is heard too often in Bradford.
9. Mr. Filoni reviewed the drawing showing the main gateways into downtown Bradford, the one of the Veteran’s Square area and the one of the proposed Pine Street development. Input from the committees and the downtown building owners about these ideas have all been very positive so far.
10. Other thoughts that resulted from the discussion:
a. “You can’t legislate pride”
b. More productivity is needed from the code enforcement office.
c. The work of the Elm Street Manager to organize clean-up efforts in that neighborhood have had success. It would be nice to do this kind of program on a
larger basis.
d. The master plan consulting team doesn’t need to do formal presentations for City Council. There are members on the committees and the OECD staff
can provide information, too.
With no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned. The foregoing constitutes the major items accepted by the attendees. If there are any additions or corrections to these minutes, please notify the Architect.
Respectfully submitted,
MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Amy P. Maceyko, AIA, LEED AP