Published: November 05, 2005 11:41 pm            

Neighborhood revival: Signs point to period of renewal for Kernville

Johnstown — Pat Aveni grew up in a kinder, gentler Kernville – a place where boys organized softball teams, men pitched horseshoes and families shopped at the corner store.

But for the 72-year-old, lifelong resident of the Johnstown neighborhood, those memories have nothing in common with the blighted homes and vacant lots that now dominate the streets outside her home.

So as city officials bubble with enthusiasm about a confluence of development initiatives that could lead to Kernville’s long-awaited revitalization, Aveni has a simple reaction:

It’s about time.

“If this is going to bring in businesses and something to help us build on, go for it,” the Napoleon Street resident said.

“If you don’t take chances, you won’t go anywhere.”

Residents and business owners in one of Johnstown’s poorest neighborhoods have heard enthusiastic promises before, only to see few results.

But many see something different this time: High hopes are buttressed by blueprints and proposals are strengthened by turning shovels, with Franklin Street seen as fertile ground for a community’s rebirth.

“Franklin Street is becoming ‘Main Street Johnstown,’ ” said Brad Clemenson, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown. “It connects the central business district with the development surrounding the hospitals.

In between, Kernville offers a prime area for growth.”

‘A conscious effort’

It all starts with the high-octane engine for Kernville’s growth: Conemaugh Health System’s Greater Johnstown Regional Technology Complex on Franklin Street.

Next year, the complex will begin to rise from the rubble of a longtime Kernville stalwart, Sani-Dairy. Expected to cost $20 million or more in its first phase, the complex will create hundreds of jobs.

And it could send a much-needed economic shock wave through Kernville and beyond.

“The great part about the site is, we really hope for it to be the beginning of the transformation of the city of Johnstown,” said Mike Lauf, Conemaugh’s vice president for business development and governmental affairs.

“We want to work with the city and developer to do anything we can for the neighborhoods in the city, especially Kernville.”

Officials already have seen the beginnings of a ripple effect, with a doctor breaking ground last month for the Gella Professional Building at Franklin and Dibert streets.

Other governmental and commercial development has sprung up in Kernville within the past decade or so, including construction of Napoleon Place, South Street Station and New Day Inc.

Greater Johnstown Water Authority moved to the neighborhood earlier this year, constructing a $1.5 million headquarters on Franklin Street.

And officials are turning to art as a revitalization tool.

Johnstown has launched its Kernville Arts District program. It is aimed at attracting artists nationwide to live, work and sell their wares in refurbished homes.

With zoning changes, available grants and reduced-interest financing, officials are hoping studios and galleries will help reinvent Kernville.

“We haven’t fully implemented the marketing strategy at this point,” said Jim White, city economic development coordinator. “But I think word of mouth is starting to get around, at least on the East Coast.”

So why Kernville, and why now? Officials say the neighborhood’s brightening economic outlook is no accident.

“It was a conscious effort,” White said.

‘It had a cloud over it’

Kernville once was one of Johnstown’s most affluent neighborhoods, with homes built on a grand scale by wealthy businessmen. One Somerset Street residence was so large that kids played basketball in its attic.

The community continued to thrive through the first part of the 20th century. Older residents fondly recall a tight-knit neighborhood that hosted amateur sports teams, mom-and-pop shops and even its own theater, the Lyric.

“It was a great place to grow up,” said 79-year-old Mary Diehl of Hornerstown, who spent her youth in Kernville. “We were close to downtown, we were close to our schools.”

But Kernville has declined, its fortunes following those of an economically distressed city that lost its big industry. In some respects, the neighborhood has taken an especially hard hit: The 2000 census found 40 percent of residents below poverty level.

Business activity has fallen off as well, including the loss of Galliker Dairy Co. in 1973 and Sani-Dairy in 1999.

According to a Johnstown city directory, Kernville in 1955 had 75 businesses on Franklin, Napoleon and Somerset streets – the neighborhood’s main thoroughfares. That fell to 65 businesses by 1975. The 2004 directory lists only 40 businesses on those three streets.

So officials have targeted the neighborhood, making it part of the city’s newly designated “neighborhood revitalization strategy area” – a federal label that spurred a detailed renewal plan for Kernville and downtown. Among its goals: Eliminating blight, redeveloping property and nurturing private enterprise.

“They’re not just blowing smoke – they’re actually going to do it,” said city Councilman Benny Britt, who lives in Kernville.

City leaders see geography as one of the neighborhood’s chief advantages. It nestles snugly against Johnstown’s central business district, and Franklin Street serves as a vital city artery – not to mention the prime link between Memorial Medical Center’s two campuses.

Some of the neighborhood’s problems – including blight and vacant lots – also make it ripe for change.

City officials and Johnstown Redevelopment Authority administrators have been purchasing property, hoping to create space for commercial and residential development.

“Right now, the time is right,” authority Director Ron Repak said. “We need to continue to clear out blight to capture the momentum.”

In fact, that momentum has some officials concerned about a previously unthinkable possibility: Unrealistic escalation of Kernville property values.

“It creates a false sense of a property being an absolute ‘must-have,’ ” Repak said.

“That’s not really the case because we’ll just shift our focus elsewhere to use our limited resources. Someone can stand to ask twice the value of the property, but they’re going to stand there a long time.”

At this point, though, land acquisitions seem to be moving forward. For White, who also makes his home in Kernville, it’s a natural evolution: Lay the right foundation and good things will happen.

“(The neighborhood) wasn’t dead – it had a cloud over it,” White said. “People didn’t look at Kernville as a place where they wanted to invest, and that’s starting to change.

“There was never any doubt in my mind that the neighborhood can be revitalized.”

‘Community pride’

While many discuss Kernville’s long-term prospects, some already notice signs that the community has turned a corner.

Two decades ago, the Rev. Ron Carnevali Sr. worked with children in the neighborhood. Now, as pastor at Johnstown Grace Brethren Church on Napoleon Street, Carnevali can’t help but sense a change for the better.

“There seems to be much more community pride now,” Carnevali said.

“The homes that were not cared for look worse now,” he said. “But they’re tearing them down, and that’s a good sign.”

And “Kernville” no longer is synonymous with crime.

City police Chief Craig Foust notes that a notorious Franklin Street drug hangout, Santo’s and Joe’s Restaurant and Lounge, has been shut down.

City officials are purchasing that property and planning demolition.

“Kernville at one time was the hot spot for crime in the city,” Foust said. “But recently it has slowed down considerably.”

Some people worry that their homes are jeopardized by commercial development.

“They’re going to ruin the residential quality of Kernville by tearing out all these properties,” said Napoleon Street resident Mary Ann Michuk.

“Let’s not try and push everybody out of Kernville,” Michuk said. “Where are we going to go? Out to the suburbs?”

But officials say they are focused on trying to bring more people into Kernville, whether they are entrepreneurs or employees who want to live close to their workplace.

And Aveni is ready to lay out a welcome mat.

“No matter which way it goes, it’s got to be better than it is now,” she said. “We can pull ourselves up if we all pull together.”

        

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