Erie's Year in Review 2024

Erin Phillips

A lot has happened in Erie over the past year and in our annual Year in Review, we'll unpack most of it for you. We touch on almost everything from Erie's progress and setbacks in economics, politics, arts and culture, environmental actions, education, and our year at the Reader.

Wait. Did all of 2024 just happen within the last month?

As I sit down to write this year's Year in Review, I find it difficult to reflect on more than the last quarter of the year, as it is obviously so consequential to our collective well-being. But as an exercise in setting healthy boundaries (which we can all stand to do more of), I'm making a point to look beyond the national firehose of embarrassment (at its best) and global panic (at its worst) to bring you up to speed on anything locally significant you may have missed in the past year — or what may have been overshadowed in recent weeks.

A lot has happened in Erie in 2024 — from local politics to our arts and culture scene, from economic development to environmental progress. Obviously there have been questionable local decisions that we have to reckon with, but there are also plenty of reasons to celebrate. We have a lot of changemakers in Erie and, as our country's decisions are increasingly being made by real-life cartoon villains, we have to rely on local levelheadedness in leadership, our community's resilience, our welcoming spirit and generous inclinations, our creative thinkers, and inspiring helpers to see Erie through to the future and make it a healthy, thriving place worthy of passing down to younger generations.

So — let's take stock and review our year, Erie.

 JUMP TO A SECTION

Erie's Growth: Downtown and Beyond

Erie's Political Landscape

Erie's Art, Culture, and Athletics

Learning and Earning: Erie's Educational Options

Local Reactions and Pro-actions to Climate Change

The Erie Reader's Year in Review

Erie's Growth: Downtown and Beyond

A number of economic strides, small business successes, and infrastructure improvements have happened in Erie in 2024 including (clockwise from top left): the economic boon from being within the path of totality of the total solar eclipse in April, the completion of the expERIEnce Children's museums final expansion and renovation project, Celebrate Erie's massive crowds, and the continued restoration efforts on (and off of) Millionaire's Row at the hands of the Historic Erie Preservation Trust. (Photos: Erie Downtown Partnership/Erin Phillips)

It may feel like a million years ago, but remember back in April when the sun and moon aligned and plunged Erie County into darkness for a few brief moments? Erie being situated within the path of totality was an opportunity for us all to experience something celestial and otherworldly together — in a moment of silence and awe at the universe. It was really something. And it was actually a pretty big boon to our local economy. According to the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, Erie welcomed approximately 200,000 visitors, injecting upwards of $50 million into the local economy.

I would venture a guess that a lot of that cash was spent in our burgeoning and beautified downtown. Downtown Erie is where Erie (as we know it) began and its progress is always a litmus test towards progress throughout our county — and downtown has been busy. With local nonprofits like the Erie Downtown Development Corporation and the Erie Downtown Partnership (not to mention the under-the-radar work of local neighborhood groups like Our West Bayfront, the Bayfront Eastside Taskforce, and the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network) — there are a ton of folks out there working to make Erie cooler, more accessible, and more beautiful, while opening pathways to opportunities and programs of service.

The expERIEnce Children's Museum (winner of Best of Erie's Best Museum in 2023) wrapped up construction on phase two of its former home in the historic livery of the Boston Store on French Street in July, thus connecting the new building with the old, and officially cutting the ribbon on their impressive more than 30,000-square-foot facility. New exhibits range from art and creative thinking, to recycling, construction, invention, STEM, and more with dozens of hands-on ways for little ones to tinker, learn, and play. It is an incredible resource for Erie's youngest population.

With work underway on the Bayfront Connector project, you can literally watch progress happening in real time. One can only hope that the plans eventually decided upon by local government and executed by PennDOT will be in Erie's best future interest — but regardless of the eventual outcome, expect construction for the foreseeable future and make a plan to divert your commute away from the mess for a while.

Perhaps onto 12th Street? The thoroughfare has recently come under closer examination, as the city has drafted a proposal for the 12th Street Reimagined project — which was written after input sessions with the community and hiring consultants using funding from the aforementioned PA Department of Community and Economic Development. The plan aims to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety and infrastructure, redevelop and mark historical sites, "greenify" the streets with boulevards, planters, and new trees, offer facade improvement incentives for property owners, and install public art — to name a few.

Part of designating sites as historic would fall under the purview of Erie's growing Historic Preservation Program which, this year, has installed a new planner (Heather Olson), published a Historic Preservation Plan, and has been working to establish protocols for historic building landmark designation within the City of Erie. So far, locally designated structures include PACA's Meyer Building, the Federal Courthouse complex, Erie Day School, a private residence in the Frontier neighborhood, and, most recently, the Erie Art Museum's Customs House. The program has also recently launched a citywide historic resource survey which will document structures, including those which have historically been left out of those types of surveys — namely, culturally significant properties (not just architecturally significant), those in underserved and neglected neighborhoods, and those properties that have "come of age" since the last survey — buildings need to be 50+ years old to be considered historic (although this writer takes umbrage with such a rapidly approaching definition of her own historic significance).

In the same breath, one must acknowledge the continued overall vibe-changing progress happening in the West Sixth Street Historic District at the hands of the Historic Erie Preservation Trust, benefactor Tom Hagen, and architect Jeff Kidder (along with scads of local construction companies). Current projects in progress include the former Sophia's Tavern on West Sixth and Cherry, which is slated to be occupied by local queen-of-flaky-layers Jessica Schultz (40 Under 40 Class of 2023) and her bakery Herb and Honey in the coming year. Additionally, neighbors and visitors can watch the work happening on the Thayer Thompson House at West Eighth and Cherry, the Olds Norman House at West Seventh and Sassafras (which is reportedly being shorn up for eventual structural movement to West Sixth Street), and the Carter Shannon House on West Sixth and Sassafras (among others) as these projects move towards completion to join the meticulously restored and renovated homes on Millionaire's Row.

With all of the progress happening downtown, it's always nice to have a reason to celebrate it — and the City of Erie (along with its many local partnerships) delivers with Celebrate Erie. This year's event was one to remember, with the 30-year reunion of Erie's own One World Tribe on opening night, followed by national touring acts Jimmy Eat World, Wheatus, and Gabby Barrett all playing to the gorgeous backdrop of the sun setting over the bay and Bicentennial Tower to the north, and all of the shiny, newly-restored historic buildings along State Street. Erie was looking pretty darn pretty, and it was an honor to celebrate all of it together for that weekend in August.

Erie's Political Landscape

Erie's decision-makers have a huge impact on our local community's smooth functioning. There have been ups and downs this year, politically (clockwise from top left): Erie City Councilwoman Jasmine Flores became the youngest and the first Latina to preside over city council, the Millcreek Township general authority voted to demolish a former schoolhouse at the entry to Presque Isle, Daria Devlin adds herself to the Democratic primary ticket to run against Joe Schember in the upcoming mayoral election, and County Executive Brenton Davis had custom fake police badges made for himself and his staff, using taxpayer dollars.

(Photos: Jessica Hunter, Citizens in Support of Saving the Schoolhouse, Erie County Government)

Let's start with a bright spot, shall we? Erie City Councilwoman Jasmine Flores (40 Under 40 Class of 2023) became the youngest and the first Latina to preside over city council. This was a long overdue historic moment for the city.

Her seat was barely warm, however, when her job of overseeing the interviews of applicants for an open spot on council (rather than it just being filled with an elected councilperson — a result of Councilman Ed Brzezinski running for two seats when he is, in fact, just one person) was thwarted. A mere 24 hours after his retirement (they had a cake and everything), Mel Witherspoon (who had reached his term limit) was appointed to the open seat and the 13 public applicants were not interviewed, as was the initial plan. To begin the year with such a shady political move was a shame, and really, an affront to the people of Erie who should (as we are still technically living in a democracy) be able to fairly choose their own representatives.

Speaking of representatives, let's spend a moment on County Executive Brenton Davis. You should be able to identify him more clearly this year, given that he spent taxpayer money on having custom fake police badges made for himself and his administration (Davis' is emblazoned with the number 007 — I wish I was kidding).

This year's dumpster fire of county government has been curtailed ever so slightly, with actual Democrats taking the majority of the seats on Erie County Council — Davis' "yes men" have been replaced by "hold-on-a-minute" men and we've restored some amount of balance to county government. This holds less water, however, when it comes to the budget — which was approved by council (4-3) at the end of November. Following this approved budget, a number of items were then vetoed by the county executive — some of which stood, some of which were overturned, and some of which were discarded, as they could not legally be vetoed. This budget also includes another tax hike — which wasn't in Davis's initial proposed budget. However the budget set forth by Davis had some very bad math, as was swiftly pointed out by council and independent accountants.

Any veto by Davis requires five votes from council to overturn. This policy came into play well before the budget was on the table when, back in March, county council voted to rescind Davis' controversial lease of a portion of the Blasco Memorial Library to Gannon University to house their water research facility — but this vote was immediately vetoed by Davis and the necessary votes to override it simply weren't there.

State Senator Dan Laughlin won reelection to his position as state senator in a race against local educator, former Democratic party chair, and former contributing editor to this publication Jim Wertz. Laughlin won reelection despite that contested column Wertz wrote about him way back in July of 2022, which, Laughlin claimed, would hinder his ability to be re-elected (which it very clearly did not). And yet, Laughlin's lawsuit against Wertz and this publication soldiers on at great cost of time, money, and energy to everyone involved.

Mayor Joe Schember will have some opposition when he runs for (what would be) his final term as mayor in the upcoming year. Democrat Daria Devlin announced her campaign recently as she feels that she will "provide the change that Erie is hungry for." The school board director, nonprofit leader, and graduate of Erie's public schools is facing an uphill climb against the incumbent and we'll look forward to seeing what transpires as the year progresses.

Outside the city, Millcreek Township has been busy demolishing a large swath of buildings near the entrance to Presque Isle in anticipation of attracting developers to the area. The former Sandbar, Manor Motel, and Joe Roots restaurant have already been heaped onto the landfill and, upcoming, remaining portions of the Bel Aire hotel and, much to the chagrin of local advocates, the former Grasshopper building. The latter was originally built as a schoolhouse that has since been deemed "not historically significant" by a hired historic preservation expert out of Pittsburgh who used the strict protocols of the National Register of Historic Places criteria in her assessment. In November, the Millcreek General Authority voted to demolish this building, one of the few structures harkening to Millcreek's history remaining in the township.

Recently, City Council chambers have been crowded with citizens voicing their concerns to local government. Last year, the contentious issue that brought out the citizenry were the proposed bike lanes for Greengarden Boulevard — that issue has since been resolved and the hot-button bike lanes were installed this year, as the Active Erie plan rolls forward.

This year, council heard comments from the community about a couple of issues dear to our community's heart — one being Erie's lack of open container policy, which came inches away from being revoked, but was tabled and essentially forfeited thanks to the advocacy of some local brewers and those speaking on behalf of Erie's already-targeted unhoused community.

The other jam-packed meeting happened on the same night as advocates of the Erie Spiritual Coalition's Tenant Bill of Rights queued up to speak. The focus was unfortunately distracted from this pressing housing-rights issue by a contingent of MAGA supporters (donning red hats — not white hoods, as one citizen's shirt disturbingly pointed out) expressed their outrage at Councilwoman Flores for speaking negatively on social media about Trump and his supporters ahead of the election.

Regardless of this recent behavior of a small contingent of Erie — our city continues to be a welcoming place for all who would like to pursue their happiness in America. Our population continues to be bolstered by New Americans, while, at the same time, we stand as a place of refuge for those escaping unthinkable conditions in their homelands. According to USCRI-Erie, refugees resettled in Erie come primarily from Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iraq, Russia, Somalia, Syria, and Ukraine. These folks help hold our declining population steady, help bolster our economy by collectively purchasing and repairing housing (often in neighborhoods where occupancy and housing conditions are in decline), starting local small businesses, paying taxes, and generally making the fabric of our city more diverse, interesting, delicious, and beautiful. While the future of refugees and immigration is uncertain under the incoming administration — 2024 should be celebrated as a year of progress and hope in this sector, locally.

Erie's Art, Culture, and Athletics

Erie's arts, culture, and athletics scenes have had much to celebrate in 2024 including (clockwise from top left): the 50th anniversary of Glass Growers Gallery, the triumphant return of Blues and Jazz Festival, the Erie SeaWolves winning a repeat Eastern League Championship, and a record-breaking Erie Gives Day. (Photos: Glass Growers Gallery/Erin Phillips/Erie Downtown Partnership)

Enough about politics. Seriously — boundaries. You can never have too many.

Erie is as beautiful as it is largely because of our robust, diverse, and super creative art scene. While places like FEED Media Art Center, Grounded Print and Paper Studio, City Gallery, 1020 Collective and their satellite 1020 at the Bastion, Glass Growers Gallery, the Erie Center for Arts & Technology (ECAT), the Studio at St. Mary's, and the stalwart Erie Art Museum, along with handfuls of other galleries and spaces making up the visual art landscape of Erie — there always seems to be a new spot to mention. This year, Erie African Arts (13 E. 13th St.) joined the scene with authentic art sourced from artists across the diaspora including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda, among others.

In performing arts news, the folks at All an Act Theatre continue their efforts to recover from a devastating fire that tore through their space within the Community Shelter Services building back in April. They have been diligently fundraising and restoring the space bit by bit (the historic ceiling in the theater space has now been completely repaired and restored). The troupe has been relying on the space at the Station Dinner Theater to occasionally host their shows in the meantime — look forward to an upcoming Agatha Christie production there soon and check out their website (allanact.net) to donate to their restoration efforts. Community theater truly takes the whole community!

In last year's Year in Review, I noted a change in leadership in the arts community when the then executive director of Erie Arts and Culture Patrick Fisher resigned and a new leader was found in Anne O'Dell. Well, this year we've got another change in leadership — O'Dell has moved on from the organization and Casey Corritore (40 Under 40 Class of 2023) has been named interim director. We'll keep you posted on any further shifts. Erie Arts and Culture has also moved offices and is now located in the light-filled, gorgeously historic Cashier's House on State Street.

We had some great milestones to celebrate in the art world this year — Glass Growers Gallery celebrated their 50th anniversary. For a small business to achieve the staying power of half a century is pretty impressive and speaks to the curatorial savvy and outstanding customer service of the mainstay downtown art hub. Kudos! Also! Erie's Blues and Jazz Fest came back, baby! We all dearly missed the yearly takeover of Frontier Park in 2023 and all of the organizers, volunteers, musicians, vendors, and attendees were more than happy to pull out all the stops for the festival's triumphant return this year.

And while we're on the subject of making Erie more beautiful — what's more beautiful than our generosity? 2024's Erie Gives Day was a resounding success and the improvements the Erie Community Foundation made to the process paid off — benefiting more than 500 nonprofits, 34,763 individual gifts were made totaling $9,709,602. Um, wow. It feels entirely possible that next year we could reach the $10 million mark. Way to go, Erie — this is an absolutely game-changing amount of money for those doing the work to make our community a better, safer, more beautiful place.

Outside of art — Erie's culture also includes local sports and we found ourselves, once again, howling for those SeaWolves! In taking the first two of the best-of-three Eastern League Championship Series, the Howlers claimed their second consecutive EL title with a 3-2 win over the Somerset Patriots in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Congratulations to those Erie boys of summer! Keep up the great work!

In college sports it is worth noting that Mercyhurst University seized the day and attained Division One status in 2024, joining the NCAA's Northeast Conference. Welcome to the big leagues, Lakers!

Learning and Earning: Erie's Educational Options

Erie's educational scene grows, morphs, changes, and improves with Erie's overall growth each year (clockwise from top left): Erie High School became a United Way Community School, the Jefferson Educational Society's Global Summit packed the Bayfront Convention Center with folks listening to a talk given by Liz Cheney, the Erie County Community College celebrated their second graduating class, and E-CAT expanded their offerings to include construction trade opportunities. (Photos: Jessica Hunter / JES / EC3 / Erin Phillips)

Erie's got brains!

Outside of our traditional higher education facilities like the aforementioned Mercyhurst University, Penn State Behrend, Gannon University, PennWest Edinboro, and LECOM, our hard-fought-for Erie County Community College (EC3) is continuing to bolster our educational landscape. EC3 honored their second graduating class this spring and celebrated the moment by hosting First Lady Jill Biden as their commencement speaker.

Speaking of women in politics, Liz Cheney spoke to an absolutely packed house at the Bayfront Convention Center, kicking off the Jefferson Educational Society's 16th Global Summit. Her discussion was literally record-breaking: it was the single largest paid educational program in Erie history. Additional highlights of the local think tank's summit this year included talks led by Chris Matthews, Heather Cox Richardson, and Stephen A. Smith, among many others.

In yet another form of non-traditional educational opportunities in Erie, the Erie Center for Arts and Technology (ECAT) has launched their construction trades program, which is a tuition-free program that allows those enrolled to train as carpenter's apprentices in well-equipped facilities, giving them all of the skills and certifications necessary to enter the workforce and help to (literally) build a better Erie. This trade offering joins their other training opportunities that include a variety of healthcare sector educational programs.

The United Way has gained historic ground in their Community Schools program when it announced that Erie High, our city's public high school, would be named as such (one of the only Community High Schools in the country). The United Way has worked to install four Community School directors and to inject investments from community business partners into the school — increasing access to resources, helping to create pathways to greater attendance and academic success, and ultimately, to brighter futures for Erie's youth.

Local Reactions and Pro-actions to Climate Change

What has Erie accomplished in the past year in terms of combating climate change? Local environmental advocate Jenny Tompkins (bottom left) weighs in (clockwise from top left): LEAF's ReLEAF program planted a "tiny forest" in a park on Erie's east side, we beat our single-day snowfall record in a society-halting snowstorm on Black Friday, and the National Marine Sanctuary designation of the Lake Erie Quadrangle is gaining ground. (Photos: Stan Zlotkowski / Patrick Grab - 814 Photos / Jessica Hunter)

Have you guys experienced any weird weather lately? Oh, like, you know, a metric shit-ton of snowfall within the span of a few hours? And yes, here in Erie, we're used to it to some degree, but this Black Friday snowfall was actually record-breaking — taking out the previous single-day snowfall record from the Christmas Day dump of 2017. Climate change obviously isn't just about warmth — it's about freakish, unprecedented, extreme weather events (like an inland mountain town in North Carolina getting obliterated by a hurricane or what is pretty much the new normal of constant wildfires across North America).

Last year, this local environmental action section caught the attention of Jenny Tompkins, who contacted me about collaborating and sharing data. She has subsequently written an op-ed for the Reader and appeared in our 2024's 40 Under 40 class. Tompkins is the Clean Water Campaign Manager for PennFuture, a state-wide organization that is working to "lead the transition to a clean energy economy in Pennsylvania and beyond." This year, I went straight to the source and asked Jenny to send along a few of the strides our local community has made, environmentally. And she came through.

When it comes to clean water and conservation, an area of particular importance to our lakeside community, Erie has gotten to work.

•  Erie Water Works invested over $40 million to remove lead from the water supply.
• Regardless of where you stand on the location decision, Gannon's Project NePTWNE appointed a lead in Dr. Sherri Mason and plans for the eventual water research and education center have been made public.
• The National Marine Sanctuary designation for the Lake Erie Quadrangle is moving in a positive direction and being locally spearheaded by Honey Stempka (40 Under 40 Class of 2015), who was key in the initial application process and knows the project front to back.
• LEAF's ReLeaf tree planting initiative installed a tiny forest in clandestine green space within Franklin Park on Erie's east side — this is a clever and innovative way to use nature's own built-in drive to compete for sunlight to speed up the tree growing process.

Erie's getting there as we work towards producing more clean energy, utilizing green technology, moving away from fossil fuels, and working towards reigning in our own contributions to climate change.

• Solar United Neighbors launched a local Erie County Solar Co-op which connects people in Erie with resources and gives them a helping hand when installing solar power either in their homes or businesses. The program basically makes the whole process of converting to solar energy way less overwhelming, expensive, and daunting.
• According to the Green Building Alliance and their Erie 2030 District Progress Report, Erie has experienced a 17.5 percent energy demand reduction and has saved over $4 million in energy costs.
• A $3 million state grant was awarded to the City of Erie for the purchase of electric refuse and recycling trucks. An additional $4 million was granted to Erie's Public Schools for the implementation of 12 electric school buses.

While PennFuture continues to lead the way in terms of local environmental advocacy, there have been a number of environmental justice groups working to bring Erie up to speed, environmentally.

• Groundwork Erie, a local branch of a larger environmental justice organization, named a new executive director in Erin Carey, as they continue their work in local neighborhoods by supporting urban farming, involving Erie's youth in sustainable agricultural practices, creating native greenspace, and more.
• The former Erie Coke site was acquired by the Port Authority and the EPA has begun testing the soil for potential off-site contamination
• The Minority Community Investment Coalition's Grow Erie project received a $50,000 grant from the PA Department of Agriculture. Grow Erie is a aquaponics farm built on the formerly under-utilized Savocchio Park on Erie's east side.
• Mercyhurst University recently implemented a new major: Sustainability Studies. Development of this program will obviously benefit students who choose to go into fields like green technology, sustainable agriculture, or climate science, but it will also have an impact locally as projects, studies, and community action will likely result.

 A huge thank you to Jenny Tompkins for taking the time to bring us all up to speed and give us all a bit to feel proud of — Erie is working, in all different sectors and throughout governments, businesses, and educational institutions to make Erie a more sustainable place. While there is still a ton of work to do (and a lot of that work will be forced upon us) — and while nationally, we are very likely about to take a number of steps backwards — we can and should be proud of the work we're collectively doing to shore up Pennsylvania's future.

The Erie Reader's Year in Review

Photo: Erin Phillips

Here at the Reader, we're continuing to do all of the things we've always done since 2010 and always adding on to those accomplishments. Everyone looks forward to Erie's 40 Under 40 and 2024's class was a stellar one — so many young, inspiring people who are making Erie better bit by bit. It's a pleasure to sort through all those nominations every year and get to know, photograph, and celebrate all of the 40 we eventually choose. This year, we held our 40 Under 40 Experience at FEED Media Art Center and it was quite possibly the best one ever. Thank you to owner Benton Bainbridge and acolyte Alex Staley for all their help and support in pulling off the party of the year!

Voting just closed on Best of Erie 2024 and we're so excited to share those results with you next month. Thank you for taking the time to vote for your favorite people, places, and things in Erie. We definitely have some surprises and upsets to share this year — stay tuned!

Just last month we announced our brand new membership program — this has been about a year in the making and we're eager to give our readers another way to support the Erie Reader (which, if you somehow didn't already know, is the only local voice for news, arts, and culture in Erie). For $15 a month, our members will receive a print copy of the Reader mailed to them (this is something that out-of-towners have requested for years), get an exclusive "Members Only" newsletter curated by yours truly, be entered into exclusive drawings for events tickets, receive discounts to Erie Reader events, and get a PDF of the issue emailed two days prior to print publication. It's a win/win — we get some very necessary financial support to keep on keeping on and you get a bunch of fun extras! Click the SUBSCRIBE button on our homepage to learn more.

In 2024, we welcomed local home-cooking and food history enthusiast Morgan Yezzi into the Reader fold and he's been providing an in-depth breakdown of a reworked recipe from the historic 1881 Erie Cook Book by Laura Sterrett every month in his Erie Cook Book Revisited column. It's a fun way to connect with local history while making a delicious dish for your family. Look forward to more niche subculture columns coming in 2025 — did someone say birding? Just you wait!

In 2024, myself and everyone's favorite book reviewer Ally Kutz began the official Erie Reader Book Club in partnership with our friends at Werner Books and Coffee. Since April we've been reading and discussing books that correspond with the monthly themes of our issues. For this Year in Review issue we're reading The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, if you'd like to join us (Saturday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m.). We've got a great, friendly, interesting group (with no fewer than three guaranteed Vickys every month, IYKYK) with some members that come every month and some that join in here and there. It's non-committal, it's thought-provoking, it's community building — come see for yourself.

At the end of it all (as I find myself now), we'd just really like to say thank you to our readers. We couldn't be us without you. Thank you for your continued support, your enthusiasm, and your time. Thank you for finding a place for us on your coffee tables and waiting rooms. Thank you for having our backs in the comments sections. Thank you for sharing our stories and for being a part of this small, independent, print media experiment. Happy holidays and happy new year. We look forward to working through 2025, right by your side.

Erin Phillips is honored to serve in her role as Managing Editor and to have the privilege of compiling this, her second-ever Year in Review. It is a creative challenge that has no match. She can be reached at erin@eriereader.com