By Cliff Lewis

The 300 block of North Queen Street may well be the cradle of a cultural Renaissance in Downtown Lancaster. And the glowing center of this gestating movement would have to be Building Character.

Tucked away from the west side of Queen, Building Character’s exposed brick walls and bare rafters have come to shelter a colorful arrangement of local music, art, clothing, and film. The now city-wide tradition of Music Fridays (on the third week of each month) first pulsed through these very walls to the tune of the Faux Minx, Lancaster’s hardest-working jazz-funk quintet. And, from the looks of things, this is only the beginning of Building Character’s impact on Lancaster’s local culture.

Before April 2007, Building Character was a drab and silent warehouse. Had it not been for the efforts of local preservationists, this 19th century structure, designed by the same architect as Penn Square’s Greist building, would have been flattened into a parking lot. Instead, the building served as a small-time storage facility until less than two years ago, when Tony Nies and Marty Hulse conceived the idea for a Downtown-based market for antique architectural salvage material.

Not long after its initial opening, the facility became a fresh venue for emerging Lancaster musicians—apparently a hot commodity at the moment: “The Chameleon,” Nies explained, “kind of lost the [status of being] known as the local, raw, underground space for up and coming local artists. Now they’re booking David Archuleta.” Two years ago, when folk artist and former “Vigilante of Love” Bill Malone visited Lancaster, he performed at the Chameleon. This Saturday, February 28, Malone will perform at Building Character.

Building Character bears a stark and stylish atmosphere, setting a new local standard for the adaptive reuse of historic industrial structures. Indeed, its entire eclectic block is defined by a spirit of adaptation and reuse—from clothing, to windows, to vintage cigarette lighters. As Nies puts it, “Almost everything in the block reuses in some way….That’s one of the things that the block stands for.”

Building Character is located at 342 North Queen, Warehouse B. Building Character houses a diverse array of cultural events, all of which are listed on their Event Calendar.

(First report by Cliff B. Lewis on the Downtown cultural scene)

The 300 block of North Queen Street may well be the cradle of a cultural Renaissance in Downtown Lancaster. And the glowing center of this gestating movement would have to be Building Character.

Tucked away from the west side of Queen, Building Character’s exposed brick walls and bare rafters have come to shelter a colorful arrangement of local music, art, clothing, and film. The now city-wide tradition of Music Fridays (on the third week of each month) first pulsed through these very walls to the tune of the Faux Minx, Lancaster’s hardest-working jazz-funk quintet. And, from the looks of things, this is only the beginning of Building Character’s impact on Lancaster’s local culture.

Before April 2007, Building Character was a drab and silent warehouse. Had it not been for the efforts of local preservationists, this 19th century structure, designed by the same architect as Penn Square’s Greist building, would have been flattened into a parking lot. Instead, the building served as a small-time storage facility until less than two years ago, when Tony Nies and Marty Hulse conceived the idea for a Downtown-based market for antique architectural salvage material.

Not long after its initial opening, the facility became a fresh venue for emerging Lancaster musicians—apparently a hot commodity at the moment: “The Chameleon,” Nies explained, “kind of lost the [status of being] known as the local, raw, underground space for up and coming local artists. Now they’re booking David Archuleta.” Two years ago, when folk artist and former “Vigilante of Love” Bill Malone visited Lancaster, he performed at the Chameleon. This Saturday, February 28, Malone will perform at Building Character.

Building Character bears a stark and stylish atmosphere, setting a new local standard for the adaptive reuse of historic industrial structures. Indeed, its entire eclectic block is defined by a spirit of adaptation and reuse—from clothing, to windows, to vintage cigarette lighters. As Nies puts it, “Almost everything in the block reuses in some way….That’s one of the things that the block stands for.”

Building Character is located at 342 North Queen, Warehouse B. Building Character houses a diverse array of cultural events, all of which are listed on their Event Calendar.

According to the Feb. 25th Philadelphia Daily News, one of the main issues between creditors and management is whether to continue to publish the Daily News in addition to the Inquirer or allow Philadelphia to become a one newspaper city.

According to the article, Brian Tierney, publisher of both newspapers, declared “We’ve been able to save $75 million in costs in Philadelphia by working with people and treating people with respect… As long as I’m running the place, the Daily News will never be closed and we’ll never rescind our contracts.”

Veri and Jamanis are scheduled to perform the full Gershwin program at Weil Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) on March 26th at 8pm, not at 12:15am as was previously reported during a moment of our publisher’s mental lapse!

by Cliff B. Lewis

“Greenscapes” was formally adopted today as a new element in the Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan. The Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the initiative after a public presentation by Michael Domin, Principal Planner for the Lancaster County Planning Commission.

Prior to the final vote, County Commissioner Craig Lehman asserted that Greenscapes has everything to do with Lancaster’s economic development, in as much as young American families will be more likely lay down their roots in an area with preserved and accessible natural “amenities.” And ultimately, Lehman noted, this initiative serves to ensure that “the Lancaster County we love will remain 100, 200, 300 years from now.”

As defined in the official document, Greenscapes will exist to define “a vision, goals and objectives, strategies, and tools to preserve, conserve, restore, and enhance natural resources through the establishment of a countywide, integrated green infrastructure system.” It should be noted from the outset that this plan does not initially institute any ‘hard’ legislation to plant trees, protect developable land, or ‘green’ our existing infrastructure. Rather, “Greenscapes” serves to set a clear vision for local growth.

The term “green infrastructure,” in itself, projects a focused vision for our local community.

Distinct from the ‘gray’ infrastructure of transportation, plumbing, and energy lines, green infrastructure consists of the rivers, fields, and forests that serve to “protect, enhance, and restore the natural functions and services of an ecosystem.” The Greenscapes initiative emphasizes the economic and social ’services’ provided our surrounding eco-system and places these services on par with those provided by our roads, pipes, and telephone lines.

The plan will pursue its four goals of Preservation, Conservation, Restoration, and Recreation through several “action initiatives,” including

• A Lancaster County Green Infrastructure (GI) website,
• Local GI-related events,
• Municipal GI plans,
• A GI overlay zoning district,
• County GI funding program,
• Completion of the Countywide Regional Park and Greenway Trail System,
• A local GI summit,
• A local GI coalition,
• And the formation of Environmental Advisory Councils.

Several local community members took the floor to commend the planning and approval of Greenscapes. Ralph Goodno, President of the Lancaster County Conservancy, praised this natural preservation initiative for living up to the County’s past accomplishments in preserving its agricultural land.

A document detailing the complete vision of “Greenscapes” is available at www.co.lancaster.pa.us .

For admirers of the Lancaster piano duo, artistic founders of the Pennsylvania Music Academy (PAM), and for those who simply enjoy good music and travel, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWwu_mj6YpQ .

Veri’s former Lancaster piano student, now Budapest resident, and current East European real estate developer Richard Field ‘filmed’ the couple with “a hand held high definition HDCCD video camera and a cheap tripod” as they went sight seeing in Budapest and during their concert. He then edited their sight seeing and concertizing into a very educational and entertaining short video.

The concert sound track is actually from Veri’s original two piano transcription of “An American in Paris” that Veri and Jamanis recorded and released in 1997 to mark Gershwin’s 100th birthday, which explains its high reproduction quality.

Veri and Jamanis are scheduled to perform the full Gershwin program at Weil Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) on March 26th at 8:00 pm.

Feb. 24: “Volunteers found 734 people living in homeless shelters, transitional housing and on the streets. That number is 27 more than a year ago, and the highest number found in the annual count done in the last 15 years… [Kay Moshier] McDivitt believes the Jan. 26 survey likely would have found more people if it was done six months later, when homeless people are found living in tents in campgrounds and by the river in the summer months.”

WATCHDOG: A wag of the tail for a good job of reporting.

by Cliff B. Lewis

A new Green Infrastructure Element in the Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan will be presented tommorow for final affirmation at the Lancaster County Commissioners’ weekly meeting.

The new initiative, known as Greenscapes, will serve as a replacement and expansion upon a similar Lancaster open space plan from 1992. Greenscapes will provide the county with guidance from a variety of avenues — from planning to public events — with the purpose of promoting environmentally considerate growth in Lancaster County.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be held at 150 N Queen, in Room 701, beginning at 9:15 am. The event is open to the public and will feature a formal presentation of Greenscapes, including a visual presentation of the plan’s priorities and components.

All who value the clean and responsible growth of Lancaster County should be encouraged to lend their presence and voice to this meeting.

For more information regarding the Lancaster County Commissioners, visit
www.co.lancaster.pa.us/lanco.

A Feb. 24th article discusses Senator Arlen Specter comments on the recently passed “Stimulus Bill” as follows: “Going back to the economic stimulus bill, Specter said he believed the final bill should have included more tax cuts than spending. Specter said the inefficiency of the government has been shown during the economic crisis, especially with former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s action to buy ‘toxic debt,’ which still hasn’t broken the freeze on credit…’The government is so ineffective at carrying out these plans that if people have the money themselves, it has a better chance of getting into the economy’ Specter said.”

WATCHDOG: When the Senate vote was in balance, Specter was given fifteen minutes in which he articulated the Republican position about the shortcomings of the bill. Then he announced he was braking ranks and voting for it due to the urgency of the moment.

Assuming the Republicans were correct (which Specter reiterates in part above), would a delay of a week or two to achieve useful modifications have been too high a price? Specter will have to answer that question in the 2010 Republican primary and, if he wins, again in the general election.

NewsLanc welcomes Cliff Lewis as a reporter and feature writer.

He is a 2008 graduate of Millersville University, majoring in English with a minor in History.

Cliff is also a local musician, a coffee aficionado, and a card-carrying Downtown Lancastrian. He and his wife currently reside on West Orange Street.

Until accepting his new position, Cliff was employed as a technical writer. Cliff learned of the opening from announcements on the NewsLanc web site. He responded to the challenge!