Mercyhurst announced today it will no longer be holding it’s 4th of July Celebration, opting instead to give money to the City of Erie to hold the Celebration at Liberty Park on the bayfront.
From the Mercyhurst press release:
Mayor Joseph Sinnott and Mercyhurst College President Dr. Tom Gamble jointly announced the contribution of a half-million dollars from the college to the City of Erie at a press conference held on the Erie campus Monday, May 21.
The Mercyhurst College Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Chair Marlene Mosco, has authorized the college to make a voluntary contribution of $500,000 over a three-year period to help the city meet its fiscal needs and relieve some of the strain on areas that impact its citizens most.
“Certainly Mercyhurst has made significant contributions to the quality of life in the Erie region through our community service, athletic events, lectures, movies, concerts and performances, not to mention our quality degree programs,” Gamble said. “Successful as these efforts have been, however, they have not been enough for the city in these daunting economic times, and we have an important stake in seeing that our city maintains its services. So, today Mercyhurst is proud to announce that it has elected to make a financial contribution toward reducing the city’s fiscal burden.”
“We are grateful to Mercyhurst College for this most generous gift and its commitment as a good neighbor to the City of Erie,” Sinnott said.
The city and the college also announced the conveyance of a beloved tradition – Mercyhurst’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration – to a new venue on the bayfront, with the city as organizer and Mercyhurst continuing to be a major sponsor. The Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, the Erie Parking Authority, the Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority, Lakeshore Towing Services, Connoisseur Media, LLC and Presque Isle State Park also will provide assistance.
More local coverage:
GoErie.com
YourErie.com
WICU-12
Ron has an interesting take on this already:
What other genius idea is taking place on the Bayfront right now? Major construction! [...] I have no idea how they expect to deal with the parking and traffic on the Bayfront, especially with the construction going on. And next year, after the construction is done? Good luck getting out of there after the fireworks are done with only one lane on each side. You’re going to need at least 3 people directing traffic, and it won’t be pretty.
Dennis will have more on this tomorrow morning, I’m sure. You can share your opinion in the comments on this post.
I don’t think that parking or construction will be a huge concern AS LONG AS proactive measures are taken before hand. As to the construction I’m not familiar with exactly what is happening (as I’m out of town) but if it is an impediment, plans should be made to have the areas under construction cleaned up and temporarily suspended for the 4th of July celebration.
In order to deal with parking, there should be plenty of signs directing people to off-location parking areas with shuttles running every 15 minutes. They should place these signs at critical junctures preventing unnecessary traffic onto the bayfront (such as 8th & Bayfront directing traffic over 8th street; 12th & State; etc.).
It will be interesting to see if they can pull this off.
Richard,
I thought about the shuttle service, as they already do the Park and Ride service. The problem with the shuttle service is that they’ll have to compete with the other traffic (Only one lane on each side!), so if they’re getting there every 15 minutes, my guess is that you might need to increase the amount of shuttles running…which would create more traffic.
Mercyhurst has an absolutely enormous draw every year. Unlike Mercyhurst though, it’s not easily accessible to people without a car. Unless you live nearby or park and start walking from Frontier Park, you’ll have to cross the Bayfront. Since those people near Mercyhurst who would have normally walked will now have to drive, I think you’ll see increased parking problems.
I really, really hope I’m wrong about all of this, but with all they’re doing to hype the Bayfront, the fact that it’s still only 1 lane on each side makes me uneasy about it.
Uhh, last time I checked, the Mercyhurst campus is in the city limits. Why not leave the celebration at Mercyhurst and have the city run it from there?
I have a feeling there is an underlying reason the celebration was moved. They have to highlight the Convention Center to all the out of town visitors that weekend!