A wrecking ball has swung through wide paths of downtown Erie in recent weeks, and Erie Times-News reporters and photographers have been there to record the transition. Old factories have been felled on W. 12th Street, as has a block-long string of storefronts on W. 10th Street, just west of Peach Street.
But there's also a lot of building going on here, too, and if you've been watching photographs in the newspaper in the past month, you've seen what looks like an exciting part of Erie's future.
In the downtown area, the new bayfront convention center at the foot of Sassafras Street continues to take shape. A new hotel and an expansive parking garage are scheduled to be built next -- just across the slip from the convention center.
Today is a warm, gloriously sunny day, prompting many downtown workers to go out and lunchtime to catch a few rays. A popular spot is the picnic table outside Jerry Uht Park, where the big right-field beer garden project is well under way. It looks much larger than what many of us had envisioned, and just staring at the huge concrete pilings made me thirsty for one of those delicious beers they'll be serving there, starting next April.
A few miles to the south of Erie, the new Presque Isle Downs and Slots Center appears to be rounding the home stretch, if you'll pardon the pun. The slots operation is expected to be operating by February, and the race track should be up and running by October, 2007.
Incidentally, Erie's racing and slots center received a huge boost on Election Day, courtesy of Ohio's voters, who turned thumbs down on a gambling initiative, which would have greatly benefitted horse racing there. Now, not only should this region receive an influx of folks from northeastern Ohio, looking to have some fun at the slots center, I think a lot of horse owners and trainers might move from Ohio to Presque Isle Downs.
I know this is a sunny view of all that's happening in this region, but on such a beautiful Indian summer afternoon, it's hard not to feel optimistic.
-- Kevin Cuneo