In November of 2005, a portion of the Friendship neighborhood was designated as Elm Street district. The Elm Street program aims to revitalize residential corridors that are adjacent to local business districts. Elm Street is the residential counterpart to the Main Street program. The Elm Street program has made a huge impact on the beauty of Friendship by planting trees, improving Baum Grove and installing neighborhood bulletin boards and trash receptacles.
Elm Street is a five-year program that grants access to annual reinvestment funding and provides the community with an Elm Street Manager to carry out the program. Committees comprised of residents and representatives from FDA and FPG will coordinate district initiatives. The committees then pursue projects that address the five points of the Elm Street Program – Clean, Safe and Green; Design; Neighbors and Economy; Image and Identity; and Sustainable Organizations. The committees also work closely with the adjacent business district to coordinate revitalization efforts and activities.
In just its first year, the Elm Street program has made a huge impact on the beauty of Friendship. Some of the accomplishments achieved in 2006 are:
- Submitted 60 tree locations to the City Forester for assessment.
- Contracted Bartlett Tree Experts to prune nearly forty existing trees in the community and remove ten hazardous tree stumps.
- Planted 28 new trees in the neighborhood with many more soon to come.
- Improved Baum Grove, the neighborhood green space of Friendship. Improvements include:
- Pruned many trees,
- Improved the flowerbeds
- Added a beautiful community herb garden
- Installed bike racks.
- Organized two neighborhood trash pick-up days.
- Held a neighborhood wide tree-pruning workshop.
- Installed ten new trash receptacles throughout the community.
- Conducted a STREET LIGHT STROLL through the community to identify areas in the neighborhood where street lighting is scarce. All lighting options were also discussed and a street light campaign will soon be implemented.
- Organized a poetry contest to integrate public art into benches which will be installed at Baum Grove.
- Received a Keep America Beautiful Litter Index Program, a three-part program to help decrease litter in the neighborhood. Our district was one of two Elm Street Districts to receive this program.
- Secured bids for the planting of 88 trees.
During its second year of the program, the Elm Street Committee has again been hard at work greening and beautifying the Friendship community. Some of the most notable accomplishments in 2007 include:
- Integrated public art into Baum Grove by commissioning unique benches and chess tables by Outlaw Studios and the Clay Penn.
- Organized a City-wide poetry contest focusing on community, with the winning works engraved on the concrete benches in Baum Grove which were unveiled at the Friendship Flower and Folk Festival.
- Worked with Pittsburgh Montessori School to improve the playpark and have been very instrumental in the creation of the Peace Garden, where Elm Street funds were used for the purchase of the Peace Pole and the compost for the garden.
- Replaced the two sick trees that were taken down around the playpark with seven new ones. Future plans include installing 4 bike racks and replacing a destroyed trash receptacle.
- Friendship was also the first district to plant street trees, with 68 trees planted in the district this past spring. Residents that received trees have received info on care and maintenance.
- Identified dark areas as part of Street Light Strolls and in the coming months, the committee plans to help residents install porch lights to help mitigate conditions in some of the darkest areas.
- Ten new trash cans have been placed throughout the Elm Street District.
2008 proved to once again be a very successful year for the program. Accomplishments include:
- Furnished Baum Grove, Friendship’s community park with lighting. Lighting was installed on the twelve trees around the perimeter of the park, the paths crossing the park, the back wall of the car dealership and the tree in the center of the park.
- Commissioned the construction of 9 Bulletin Boards throughout the neighborhood.
- Installed 10 new trashcans throughout the neighborhood.
- Planted 10 new trees.
- Partnership with FPUF has resulted in their administering $30,000 in tree related services including enlarging tree pits, modifying sidewalks to ensure that Friendship’s oldest trees stay healthy, inspecting the 64 trees planted last year, and educating Friendship’s residents about proper long term tree care.
- Recapped the resilient surface at the community playpark at Pittsburgh Montessori School.
- Held a competitive Pick Up Penn Event and collected over 50 bags of trash along Penn Avenue and the neighborhood.
As the Elm Street program persists, Friendship will continue to blossom into a beautiful, green community.
