2023 - Boulevard Park Association

Volunteer Leaders: Lisa Austin, Mike Jaruszewicz & Abby Moorman
Meeting 9:00am, Saturday, NOVEMBER 11, 2023 @ Kingsley
Trick or Treat 6:00pm, Tuesday, OCTOBER 31, 2023
Porch-fest noon - 5:00, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 30, 2023
Walking Tour 7:00pm, Monday, JUNE 5, 2023 started @ Strong Vincent
Gardening Demo 9:00am, Saturday, MAY 6, 2023 Tess Frawley introduced her edible landscape company, Eat Your Yard !
Clean-up 9:00am, Saturday, APRIL 22, 2023 w/ GANNON started @ Strong Vincent
Meeting 9:00am, Saturday, MARCH 18, 2023 @ Kingsley

2022 - Boulevard Park Association

Volunteer Leaders: Lisa Austin & Mike Jaruszewicz
Porch-Fest noon - 5:00, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 24, 2022
Bayfront Town Hall Tuesday, AUGUST 9, 2022 / Blasco Library
Update on Bayfront Lawsuit filed Dec 2020 by EarthJustice on behalf of PennFuture, NAACP, etc
Clean-up 9:00am, Saturday, APRIL 2, 2022 w/ GANNON

Bayfront Parkway Litigation Update – 4.14.22

In December 2020, the NAACP Erie Unit and PennFuture, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration and PennDOT to challenge the approval of the Erie Bayfront Parkway Project. The lawsuit argues that the decision to approve the project violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Aid Highway Act because PenDOT failed to examine the project’s potential impacts, including impacts on local residents, and failed to hold a public hearing. After the lawsuit was filed, the federal government was required to turned over all of the documents that the agencies reviewed in deciding to approve the project. These documents are called the “administrative record.” 

In September 2021, Earthjustice filed papers asking the court to rule in favor of the NAACP and PennFuture based on the administrative record. Earthjustice made a number of arguments, including that the agencies’ analysis was flawed because it relied on incorrect numbers. The Federal Highway Administration and PennDOT, in turn, asked the court to rule in their favor based on the administrative record. A few days before Earthjustice’s deadline to respond, the federal government’s lawyers filed a notice with the court attempting to change numbers in the administrative record that Earthjustice had relied on to show their analysis was incorrect. In other words, we were correct that their analysis was wrong, and the agencies tried to change the numbers after the fact to support their original decision. Earthjustice opposed the agencies’ filing and argued to the court that the agencies’ attempt to change the record after the fact meant that we should win the case. The judge was interested in this argument and convened a conference to discuss. The night before the conference, the federal government filed two additional documents that should have been included in the administrative record, but were not. These documents directly responded to arguments we raised when we opposed them changing the administrative record.

 This type of attempt to change the administrative record so late in the case and so dramatically is extremely unusual, if not unprecedented. At the conference, the judge gave Earthjustice an opportunity to submit additional papers arguing that the case should be resolved in our favor based on the government’s treatment of the administrative record. Now we are waiting for a ruling from the court. There is no deadline by which the court must rule, so it is hard to predict how long it will take, but we hope we will get a ruling within the next few months.

2021 - Boulevard Park Association

Volunteer Leaders: Lisa Austin & Mike Jaruszewicz
Clean-up 9:00am, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 25, 2021
Porch-fest noon-5:00pm, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021
Clean-up 9:00am, Saturday, AUGUST 28, 2021
Clean-up 9:00am, Saturday, JULY 24, 2021

PORCHFEST 2021
Dozens of folks from the neighborhood - and from as far away as Kane and Girard - brought folding chairs to enjoy the music on Saturday, September 11th. The schedule: 11:00am 1301 W9th (Jackie & Wayne Johnson’s FATHER BILL O’BRIAN Acoustic Rock N’ Roll 12:00pm 1132 W Ninth JULIA HAMILTON Acoustic Potpourri 1:00pm W Ninth & Washington THE OLD GUYS Soul on a Bus (Ernie Williams, Blane Baker, John Gavin, Willie James Tate & Dave Vactor) 2:00pm 1242 W Tenth CEE BROWN Award-winning Rap 3:00pm 1252 W Ninth THE V BAND Music for your Soul: Jazz, Blues, Pop & Folk- Phil Papotnik, Dave Van Amburg, David Blaetz & Ricky Hopkins
4:00pm 1402 W Tenth (Pineapple Eddie Southern Bistro) - MONICA LEWIS Acoustic Covers of Songs Made Famous by Women

2021 LIGHTS ON

Our West Bayfront received an $85,000 “Lights On” grant that has helped them purchase energy efficient “dawn to dusk” bulbs. Keeping “lights on” will brighten dark streets. The bulb will automatically turn itself off in the morning and back on at night. Thanks to the OWB grant, BPA now has free “Dawn to Dusk” light bulbs to distribute.

If you’d like a free bulb, just send an email with “FREE BULB” in the subject line to: <BoulevardParkErie@gmail.com>. Include your name, address and phone number.

2020 - Boulevard Park Association / Bayfront Highway

LAWSUIT opposES bayfront highway - DEC 2020

On behalf of the ErieNAACP and PennFuture, Earth Justice filed a Federal Lawsuit opposing PennDOT’s and the FHWA’s decision to skip the required NEPA Environmental Assessment before proceeding with a $100M project to double traffic on the Bayfront Highway and further limiting BPA, OWB and BEST resident access to the waterfront.

Want to help? Send a donation to EarthJustice, the Erie NAACP and/or PennFuture

ABOUT Boulevard Park Association

BOUNDARIES
Properties on the north and south sides of streets from West 6th to West 12th. The western boundary is I-79 and includes Landmark Square Apartments. The eastern boundary is Cascade Street. BPA is located within the City of Erie’s West Bayfront and within the boundaries of the Our West Bayfront 501c3 organization managed by a board appointed by Gannon University.

GOALS:
Through community dialogue, education & citizen advocacy BPA volunteers work to:
- support safety,
- foster volunteerism,
- increase long-term residency,
- prioritize pedestrians & bicyclists,
- promote preservation,
- encourage equitable & sustainable urban design,
- attract desirable development.

ACTIVITIES include:
cultivating community events including workshops, panel discussions, musical events, yard sales & clean-ups, helping to identify & remove dying street trees & planting healthy street trees, helping to establish (and patronize) local businesses, supporting aesthetically-appropriate maintenance, encouraging more street parking - & less front-yard parking (by encouraging the removal of street parking restrictions & excessive ticketing) - and watching the sun rise and set.

GREAT PLACES in and next to Boulevard Park

Take a walk to the park: LEAF - Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park.

HISTORIC BAYFRONT NEIGHBORHOOD

The City of Erie’s Boulevard Park was established at the dawn of the 20th century by Andrew P. Weschler. Weschler claimed that Boulevard Park was “Erie’s Most Beautiful Residence Section.”

Weschler described desirable homes being constructed on the 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300 blocks of West 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th streets and the five perpendicular north-south roads: Cascade St., Raspberry St., Cranberry St., Washington Place and Weschler Avenue.

Boulevard Park featured convenient transit with (trolley) car lines encircling the neighborhood including “double tracks” on Weschler.

Additional attractions included sixteen foot-wide boulevards on West 10th, twenty foot-wide “Park Ovals” on Washington Avenue and a twenty-four foot diameter Park Circle (with a sun dial) at the intersection of West 10th and Washington Place.