Erie has many blessings to count

Nov. 28--Sun glinted off the white sails of the historic schooners and the shining waves, as smoke from booming mock cannon fire plumed, then drifted away into the deep blue sky.

The breathtaking parade of the tall ships around Presque Isle Bay on a flawless September afternoon -- that has to be one of the moments, Erie, to give thanks for this year.

Tall Ships Erie drew thousands to the bayfront, a one-time industrial eyesore now turned regional showplace. The festival -- a centerpiece of the two-year Perry 200 Commemoration -- smashed attendance projections and raised nearly half a million dollars, ensuring future maintenance of the U.S. Brig Niagara.

As the graceful ships glided across the bay, the view from Dobbins Landing took in the modern framework of the Bayfront Convention Center and the Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel, an area where hopes for radical transformation shifted into high gear this year.

Recently announced plans call for construction of another 200-room waterfront hotel adjacent to the convention center. And just Wednesday, Nick Scott Sr. unveiled plans for a $150 million waterfront development to be located west and north of Blasco Library.

As Erieites sit down for turkey and the trimmings today, their gratitude will likely be focused on the loved ones facing them across the tables. In response to a GoErie.com/Erie Times-News Facebook query, readers overwhelmingly named things close to home as their chief blessings -- family and health.

"I am thankful to have family and friends who love me. And every morning I wake up, I am thankful for another day," wrote Barbara McLane Schutte in an emblematic response.

But as Erie residents take stock of their good fortune this Thanksgiving, there is bounty and growth and hope -- like the promise of the waterfront -- for the region to celebrate as well.

The weather

It might be difficult to believe, but this year in Erie -- at least compared with 2012 -- the weather was something to celebrate.

Unseasonably warm weather in March 2012 called forth fruit blossoms that were killed off by freezing temperatures that followed. This year's combination of sun and rain, in contrast, brought forth bountiful blueberry, apple and, especially, grape harvests.

Rich Erdle, director of member relations at the National Grape Cooperative, owner of Welch Foods Inc., predicted a record grape harvest. Some growers said they even went so far as to shake off some fruit from the vine to ensure that remaining clusters ripened.

"It paid off for us," North East farmer Kathy Mobilia said in October.

While Erie's legendary lake-effect snow will likely chill fingertips and hamper travel in the coming months, Erie County Executive Barry Grossman said it is always good to remember that Erie is located in the "Goldilocks zone."

"So this holiday season, after griping about Erie's weather around your Thanksgiving table," Grossman said, "let's give thanks that we are not likely to experience the horrors of Katrina, or the crippling East Coast flooding from Andrea. ... All in all, a foot of snow is not such a bad deal after all."

Business boons

There is no doubt the region suffered some body blows this year -- most significantly on the economic front, with the news of 950 union and 100 salaried jobs to be lost at GE Transportation, the Erie region's largest employer.

But as the national economy continued its slow recovery, in Erie there was a major local investment to celebrate.

Lord Corp. is moving forward with its $100 million renovation of the former Bush Industries property in Summit Township. Lord plans to combine its two Erie facilities into one and, over the next three years, create another 74 full-time jobs. The first large groups of employees are expected to begin moving to the new facility in January.

The company's efforts won it a Commitment to Erie Award, an annual Times Publishing Company-sponsored honor that in September celebrated the contributions and successes of local businesses large and small, including a recycler, furniture and motorcycle retailers, and a microbrewery.

Gaining traction on violence

Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini launched the Unified Youth Violence Reduction Initiative in 2011 amid a surge of youth gun violence.

In 2012, that initiative celebrated the capture of more than two dozen of its most-wanted fugitives.

Success in 2013 is quieter, Daneri said. It takes the form of "bodies in chairs" -- residents showing up for community meetings who had not before, he said.

Such grass-roots buy-in is critical to the initiative's success, Daneri said.

"Clergy and business and neighborhood watch groups," Daneri said. "People know what this is about. They are interested and want to be part of it."

In another boost to the cause, Erie's new police chief, Randy Bowers, has taken a leadership role in the project by joining the nine-member steering committee that includes Daneri and Piccinini.

Downtown: someplace to be

Ask Erie resident Heather Cass what she is grateful for this Thanksgiving and she will tell you: Casey Wells.

Wells, the Erie County Convention Center Authority's executive director since 1992, stewarded the two-year, $47 million transformation of the recently unveiled swank new Erie Insurance Arena, where Elton John performed Nov. 18 to an adoring sellout crowd.

The revival of the Warner Theatre, another authority-managed property that is slated for the last phase of its own renovations, helped to start a downtown renewal in the 1980s, along with the original Tullio Arena, which opened in 1983. On some nights now, it can be difficult to grab a table in a restaurant or tavern as Otters, SeaWolves or BayHawks fans, concert- and theatergoers or convention center event attendees flood the downtown.

Cass, 42, said that when she was in her early 20s, downtown "was a place nobody went at night. Now, that's the first place we go. We're there all the time, at the Playhouse, at the BayHawks, at the Otters games, at the Plymouth to eat."

"Thank God for people like (Wells) and the board members of the ECCA who ... have brought these incredible things to our city, against all odds," Cass said.

Charity

While local poverty rates are still among the highest in the state, poverty numbers in Erie County, at 15.8 percent, and the city of Erie, at 25.7 percent, are down for the second straight year amid ongoing work targeting the problem by programs such as Erie Together and the Erie Future Fund, which provides scholarships.

Nonprofits in 2013 enjoyed an unexpected new source of revenue from social clubs that were under stricter mandates to turn over to charity proceeds of small games of chance.

A veteran of the helping profession, Sister Phyllis Hilbert, of the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network in Little Italy, said when she gives thanks today it will be for donors and volunteers alike. She's grateful for those who tend community gardens, mentor or teach, pick up trash on cleanup days and serve up dinners at Saint Paul's Center every Monday to those in need.

"Our neighbors who would do anything you ask them," she said. "They serve with joy."

LISA THOMPSON can be reached at 870-1802 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNthompson.

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