There have been several exciting things happening in Ward 5 over the past few months.
First, Dollar General has opened its doors. The building that the Dollar General is in (fondly referred to as the Old Medic Building) received a million-dollar makeover and looks much better. We are hoping that Dollar General will be an asset to the Downtown area.
Speaking of Downtown, the Bedford Downtown Alliance has been formed in order to work towards revitalizing our Downtown area. On Tuesday May 8th and Wednesday May 9th, the BDA will be hosting a team from Ohio’s Heritage Ohio program who will be doing an assessment of our Downtown area which will then be used to create a plan of attack on how to revitalize our Downtown. I am very excited about this program and plan as it has been used by cities like Kent, Lakewood and Painesville to successfully revitalize their Historic Districts.
Beyond our Downtown area, there are several other buildings in Bedford that are getting a makeover. As I have mentioned previously, Ellenwood is undergoing asbestos abatement followed by a refresh on the interior of the building. The asbestos removal is taking longer than expected, but the extra time is worth it to know that the building has had all of the potentially harmful materials removed from it. Once the asbestos abatement is complete, the lighting will all be replaced, the flooring will be given a new look and the whole interior of the building will be repainted. Ellenwood will seem like a whole new place when everything is done.
At the other end of Ward 5, the Historical Society is also working towards a facelift. Under the careful eye of Elmer Shultz, the Bedford historical Museum has been doing a bit of de-cluttering and rearranging in order to make room for new and more modern exhibits. In the same vein, the Old Baptist Church is also being renovated so that it can be better utilized by the community. If you have not been by the Museum lately, you should stop in and see the changes.
With the warm weather, our minds can turn to what we will be doing this summer.
The schedule of events on Bedford Commons can be found here.
The Southeast Chamber of Commerce is also putting on their weekly Parties in the Park. The schedule for those can be found here.
