City of Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello along with other state and local officials spoke this afternoon at a press conference in the Lebanon County Municipal Building to discuss Lebanon’s recent designation as a Keystone Main Street, a 5-year status that will unlock preferential funding and tax rebates for downtown revitalization.
“Our purpose is to get our main street in top physical state and capitalize on our best physical assets,” explained Mayor Sherry Capello at the event.
Fadia Halma, Lehigh Valley Regional Director at Department of Community and Economic Development, also spoke at the event. “Thank you to the mayor and her very great team,” she explained. “They’ve been working with us for over a year now and have been very aggressive and dedicated to improving the downtown.”
Greg Bracale, president of the Community of Lebanon Assocation, said that his organization was excited about being the sponsoring organization of the application.
“With this designation, we have all the tools in our toolbox, and we stand ready for the next chapter of our great city,” said Bracale.
Bill Fontana, excecutive director of the PA Downtown Center, also spoke and revealed that fewer than 1% of Pennsylvania commmunities have been a part of this program, but this is actually Lebanon’s second time in the program. The first was 1999-2004.
“Things have changed pretty dramatically in the program since the first time around,” explained Fontana. Since 1987, the program has led to $1.38 billion in main street renovations and 1 million volunteer hours.
No questions were asked at the press conference. LebTown attended virtually thanks to Jo Ellen Litz’s Facebook stream, embeddd below.