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Pa. DCED secretary visits Lewistown

LEWISTOWN — Dennis Davin, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), was taken on a tour of downtown Lewistown on Thursday. The tour started at the courthouse and hit the high marks of downtown. Mike Buffington, a local businessman and owner of a couple buildings gave most of the tour.

The first stop was the Old Montgomery Ward building. Buffington gave Davin a brief history of the building, as he is the owner. From there, they pointed out the Square Cafe and Bakery. The streetscape project was also mentioned.

William Gomes, chairman of Mifflin County Planning & Development, stepped in to talk about the 52 cement planter pots sprinkled throughout downtown. Buffington added that people can sponsor them and are then in charge of what is grown in it.

“You should see what this looks like by the end of August,” Scott Welham, the Lewistown Borough Manager, said.

The executive director of Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce, Rhonda Moore, stopped along Monument Square to talk about the planned 4×10 glass bus shelter that is in the works. She explained to Davin that they started a campaign to raise money for it, so it was all privately funded. Moore and Davin conversed about bus travel routes, landscaping and the projected date it would be installed.

Other landmarks that were pointed out were murals, trails and the railroad tracks.

Nick Felice, president/CEO of Mifflin County Industrial Development Corporation, chimed in to discuss the Mann Edge Terrace Rentals. Felice mentioned that they were green buildings and all energy efficient. Davin asked if there were any amenities, such as a pharmacy, nearby, to which Felice answered that they are conveniently located a block away.

The next stop of the tour was at Fountain Square Park. There, Buffington and Davin talked about some challenges still facing parts of downtown, such as structurally unsafe buildings and lead paint issues.

After the tour, everyone headed back to the courthouse for a closed meeting. Before Davin went into the meeting, he talked with the Sentinel about his thoughts of the tour and of downtown.

“It was great. It was very impressive. I was telling the mayor that we do a lot of these tours and and we see a lot of downtown areas like this and there are some that work and some that don’t work,” Davin said. “They’ve really done a great job here in Lewistown of paying attention to the little things that really help to make the downtown area a beautiful place and very walkable, with the planters and others things like that.”

Davin mentioned the importance of senior housing and that Lewistown gives seniors the ability to walk in the downtown area.

“The challenge is to continue this and to make sure they continue to develop [and] continue to get younger people interested in purchasing buildings,” Davin said.

Davin also talked about his favorite part of the tour.

“To be honest with you, I think it’s probably the mural that’s over there of the old movie theaters. That’s absolutely beautiful. It’s stunningly beautiful,” Davin said.

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