Jesse Lewis, the Bloomsburg University planning student, who was a full-time intern with the LNC this summer compiled this description of his experience over the past 6 months. It's great to see all the different things he worked on. The work represents a substantial contribution to the community (and doesn't even mention the initial planning study he undertook to look at canoe/kayak river access feasibility at four sites in the area). Lewisburg was lucky to have his assistance this year.
In his own words:
The time has come for me to say goodbye to the wonderful Borough of Lewisburg. I can’t believe that it is already mid-August and the summer is almost over. My internship started with volunteer time with the LNC and Elm Street Program in February, 6 full months ago, under the supervision of Dan Greene and Samantha Pearson. I have learned a lot and met many helpful and intelligent individuals throughout my internship with the Lewisburg Neighborhoods Corporation. This letter is a brief synopsis of the work I’ve done and some of the networking it afforded throughout the summer.
First, I started working with Dan Greene and eventually worked for Sam Pearson, after Mr. Greene resigned. Mr. Greene gave me an initial overview of the community which included walking and driving tours of the North Ward neighborhood and the surrounding Lewisburg region. He also started me off by introducing me to important individuals throughout my internship, including Union County GIS analyst Madeline Layos and director Susan Reese, as well as Mayor Judy Wagner, Lewisburg Borough Manager Chad Smith, LNC chairwoman Susan Warner-Mills, Ted Strosser, and Dan Remley, just to name a few.
Samantha Pearson came in and directed me towards my main undertaking for the summer internship. This would be a preliminary study of the “new neighborhood” (now called North Ward), which would include a demographic study, a flood analysis, a parking assessment, and also the utilization of GIS software to illustrate some of the discoveries throughout the study. I was also directed to utilize the Union County Historical Society at the county courthouse for my research of the neighborhood and the borough. While there I met Mrs. Elaine Wintjen, and was informed of many interesting facts about Lewisburg, including the history behind its founder Ludwig Derr.
I started my assessments of the North Ward with a demographic analysis of the neighborhood. My data was compiled from the U.S. Census Bureau and was brought into GIS software to extract statistics for the neighborhood. Upon doing this I created a map of population density in the neighborhood and was able to see total population and housing data for the North Ward. This information will be helpful to the Elm Street Program and LNC in comparing trends and patterns between different parts of the borough.
I also gathered flood data from the GIS office and generated flood maps depicting the 100 and 500 year flood zones in the North Ward, as well as flood line data at 4 foot intervals throughout the community. Another map that I created, that is still being worked on, is a renter and owner occupancy map for the North Ward showing the renter occupancy being much less than that of the Bull Run neighborhood. Other map projects that I worked on included a couple base map posters for the North Ward and also a map illustrating the building dates of structures in the neighborhood. Of these maps, the renter occupancy was the most difficult to generate because the attribute data had to be collected by myself, rather than collecting it from the U.S. Census Bureau, due to the most updated data not being available as of yet.
Aside from mapping and other GIS work, I stayed busy in other ways throughout the summer as well. In June, I began a sidewalk inventory of Ward 3 (which is all of Bull Run plus a little more) for the Borough of Lewisburg, under the supervision of Chad Smith. This involved me walking throughout the ward up and down the sidewalks, gathering photo evidence of “severe” sidewalks, or sidewalks that will require replacement. Before conducting the inventory I created an Excel spreadsheet to follow along, like a tally list, as I walked throughout the community. This was a refreshing assignment that pulled me away from computers for a week or so, which was quite needed.
After the sidewalk inventory I began a preliminary parking assessment of the North Ward. This included me walking throughout the community as well. I tallied all of the available parking spots, both on street and off street for the neighborhood and I illustrated my results, via a GIS map at the August 1st Elm Street Program public meeting at the Senior Center. This assessment will be helpful to future interns and employees of the LNC whom will conduct a more in depth parking assessment.
The final large project that took much of my time throughout the summer was the creation of my mailing list for the North Ward in Microsoft Excel, which I also used to find renter and owner data previously mentioned. This project was a time-consuming, at times tedious project, but was also a very realistic portrait of what urban planners deal with in all different kinds of municipalities. I had to use GIS attribute data that I exported to Microsoft Excel to start a mailing list. I then had to cross reference spreadsheets that I received from the borough and from Central Keystone Council of Governments (CK-COG) with my existing data to make an updated list of the North Ward residents and tenants. This is also still being revised but is for the most part is finished.
I enjoyed my internship and the tasks that were assigned to me throughout. I also feel that I am more prepared for the next step in life, be it a job or grad school, I can use the skills I learned from Mrs. Pearson and the Lewisburg community to advance myself in life. I appreciated all the assistance and hospitality I received throughout the spring and summer and I thank everyone I met for the patience in my learning process. Thanks!
