Girardville PRIDE planning to plant trees downtown
BY JOHN E. USALIS, EDITOR
06/30/2007
GIRARDVILLE — Girardville PRIDE will be planting
trees along Main Street as a downtown beautification project, beginning
with a block or two at first to judge the landscaping effect.
The project was discussed at Monday’s meeting
at borough hall and was favored by those in attendance. Design committee
co-chairperson Joseph Chiaretti explained that the yellow “X”
marked on sidewalks indicate where a tree could be placed.
“Everybody is wondering what those yellow ‘X’s
are. Well, that’s going to be a tree if we have our way,”
said Chiaretti.
Chiaretti spoke to a private landscaper who has done
work from some communities to see about what the costs could be. He
said the estimated cost per tree could be about $300, though that
would not include any additional work to prepare the site, such as
cutting through a concrete pavement. PRIDE will work with property
owners to best locate trees in front of their properties.
“What I think we should do is decide among ourselves
to decide where we could put four or five trees,” said Chiaretti.
“I would recommend putting them all on one block so that we can
see just what it looks like on one side of the street.”
While there was some discussion on possible locations
to plant the test trees, no decision was made by the committee. There
was a question about the maintenance and trimming of the trees as
to whether the responsibility would fall to the property owner. Chiaretti,
who is a borough councilman, said maintenance would not be a major
issue and borough employees could keep the trees trimmed as needed.
“I have the same type of trees in front of my
house that would be used. If you leave them grow, they’ll get
tall, but they are so easy to trim,” he explained. “I think
our borough workers could take care of it if they do it every year.
They are so easy to manicure that we would have no problem with that.
If it does become a problem, I will pay to have those trees trimmed
every year.
“I’m committed to this. I want to see these
trees in Girardville,” said Chiaretti.
Chiaretti added that memorials could also be received
to help offset some of the cost for purchasing trees.
In another design committee matter, co-chairperson
Kathy Centiole said the design committee will sponsor a grant application
workshop on July 18.
PRIDE President Joseph Quinn spoke about the recent
weeklong celebration marking the 175th anniversary of the borough.
“I want to thank everybody for their efforts for
the last four to five months. I don’t think we could have had
a better week if we had four years to plan,” said Quinn. “The
weather held up, all the organizations dived in to help and I didn’t
get one negative response from anybody.”
Quinn said the anniversary committee met Sunday, where
it was reported that $5,766 remained in the committee’s operating
account.
“We talked about some suggestions on use, and
one of the things that was approved by the group was a new ‘Welcome
to Girardville’ sign at the west end of town,” said Quinn.
“I placed the order for that sign this morning. It should be
in in four to five weeks.”
Quinn said that when all the checks clear, there should
be about $4,300 left in the account. He said the funds will be transferred
to an escrow account with the borough and the anniversary committee
account will be closed.
Another thing discussed at Sunday’s meeting was
holding an annual “Community Day” similar to the event held
at the B Street Park on the final day of the 175th anniversary celebration,
though not quite as large.
“It would be a scaled-down picnic. All the groups
between now and the next meeting, which will be in September, to give
some thought about the picnic and the pros and cons,” said Quinn.
In other PRIDE business, Quinn reported the application
has been filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue for sales
tax exempt status for the nonprofit organization.
Upper Schuylkill Downtowns Economic Development Specialist
Jean Seibert told PRIDE members in her report about five highway billboards
that promote the USD communities and the Homecoming Weekend in September.
Using a laptop computer, Seibert also played one of the television
commercials advertising Girardville’s part during that weekend.
“The commercials will run the month of August,
reaching 588,000 households in Schuylkill County, Harrisburg, Lancaster
and other areas,” said Seibert. “They’ll run two times
a day, four days per week for four weeks. They’ll be seen on
Fox News, MSNBC and TNT.”
PRIDE is currently sponsoring the recently created
Girardville Historical Society, which will eventually become its own
independent organization. Borough historian Evelyn Marquardt attended
the meeting and discussed possible hours the society could open its
doors at its new headquarters at 1 W. Main St., the former Murray
Drug Store.
According to Centiole, who also co-chairs the PRIDE
organization committee, a temporary historical society chairperson
is needed to get the society moving in the right direction.
“What we desperately need is someone who can chair
it,” said Centiole. “We’ve been unsuccessful in finding
someone who is willing to take that on. The chairperson would organize
the meetings and gather membership. It’s a big undertaking.”
Marquardt recommended having the society headquarters
open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. once volunteers
become involved.
Promotions committee chairperson Ann Uzupis said donations
are being accepted for the gift basket, which will be raffled through
the Homecoming Weekend. The basket will be on display at Pioneer Day
in Higher Up Park in Ashland on Saturday, Aug. 18. She added that
volunteers are also needed for the “Top of the Morning”
event on Sunday, Sept. 2.
The next PRIDE meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, July
30.
© The News Item 2007
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