Program aims to improve facade
MONONGAHELA – Longtime paramedic Amber Staffen-Leezer always wanted to bring beauty to the world as a part of her lifelong goal of opening her own business.
Beauty was in the eye of the beholder when Staffen-Leezer signed a lease to pursue that aspiration at 424 W. Main St. in Monongahela, and opened the doors to Angel’s Secret Flowers Aug. 10, 2015.
The storefront, belonging to Tom Ruschak since 1969, was home to his own West Main Street Pharmacy until 1997, then followed by Monongahela Antiques, another flower shop and a construction company’s headquarters. Exactly one year after Staffen-Leezer began spreading beauty through flower arrangements, wreaths and gift baskets, Monongahela council awarded Ruschak a $4,000 grant to help cover the cost of restoring the front of the building.
“How would you like to do something to your property and get one-third of that money back?” said Ruschak.
Having a plan in place to redo the facade of the building, which dates to 1905, was the main reason Ruschak, and now Staffen-Leezer, is the beneficiary of the building’s facelift.
“It’s been pretty exciting all the way through,” said Staffen-Leezer. “The owner of the building is absolutely wonderful to work with and includes me in all of the meetings.”
The grant, which is the first approved by council under its facade improvement program funded by slots revenue from The Meadows Casino in North Strabane Township, is part of a $65,000 pool available for reimbursement on projects that have already been considered or initiated.
Revitalizing the downtown and central business district is the goal of the Monongahela Main Street Program, a nonprofit, community group.
“The problem is when we do different parades or events in the historic parts of town, the buildings look awful,” said Terry Necciai, an architectural historian and one of the leaders of the Monongahela Main Street Program. “Some of them haven’t even been painted in 75 years. I’ve donated half my time in the last year to make this happen. The events are here, but they aren’t going to grow if our downtown stays like this.”
The program will be able to help improve at least 13 buildings in Monongahela with grants up to $5,000, or one-third of the cost of a project, to help mitigate costs.
For Necciai and Ruschak, who both want the program to succeed and benefit the entire downtown area, believe it’s a matter of the willingness of building owners and businesses to make the commitment.
“I am 100 percent for anybody that needs and wants improvement,” said Ruschak. “It’s important to take advantage of that improvement and make Monongahela be the centerpiece for the Mon Valley area.”
“If we have a few hundred people coming to an event, why aren’t we giving them a place to go beforehand or afterward?” said Necciai.
After working with other Main Street programs throughout the years, including those in Charleroi and Somerset, Necciai said that many different approaches to improving areas have been attempted, but to succeed it takes a flexible concept.
According to Necciai, it was a concept grasped in the 1980s with a four-point approach that consists of organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring.
“At first, a lot of places thought they could make the buildings pretty and then walk away,” he said. “Some make the buildings look the same. Some tried to recruit a big business. These weren’t the right solution to towns around the country. You need all of those things in the four-point approach.”
As Staffen-Leezer prepares to reap the reward of the facelift, her business could be one of many to see change over the next year in Monongahela.
“I was raised in Monongahela, in Forward Township, and being here is something I would’ve never expected when I was younger,” said Staffen-Leezer. “It’s amazing to have a landlord as supportive as he is of my business. I plan on staying here forever.”