Husband and wife team of Steve Nelson and Kimberly Stever, of Doylestown, of Eastwick Solutions, a company helping create economic vitality of for local economies and downtowns, toured the City of Pittston this week to get a closer look the city’s progress.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston City Mayor Michael Lombardo, fourth from the left, along with city officials lead a tour of the city to a group from Forrest City and Carbondale, along with members of Eastwick Solutions who are intested in the city’s economic and art development progression over the last few years.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
PITTSTON — Kimberly Stever, of Doylestown, fell in love with the City of Pittston back in 2015 when doing research for her company, Eastwick Solutions. This past week, she finally had a chance to see the city on a tour given by Mayor Michael Lombardo and members of his staff.
“I never visited Pittston, but everything I saw online got me very interested in the city and how they progressed with incorporating art with the revitalization the city,” Stever said. “Pittston took a crumb of an idea like the Tomato Festival, made it emblematic and grew from there.”
According to Eastwick Solutions’ website, they help communities and destinations reach their potential through thoughtful assessment and analysis, proactive public engagement to create strategies, actions, visitor experiences and programs that support economic development and enhance the quality of place and livability.
Eastwick Solutions is working on two pilot programs through the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) with Forrest City in Susquehanna Co. and Carbondale in Lackawanna Co.
A group of Stever’s constituents, along with her husband and co-worker, Steve Nelson, took a 1-hour and 45-minute tour of the city to get ideas from Mayor Lombardo, Mary Kroptavich, Pittston’s Main Street manager, Joe Chacke, Redevelopment Authority director, and Shannon Bonacci, Pittston Redevelopment Authority.
Stever decided to tour Pittston because its trails and proximity to the river as such the case with Carbondale and Forrest City.
“It’s always good to showcase the city in any capacity,” Mayor Lombardo said. “This put in a light that DCNR would look at us and where we can connect our trail system to the north and south of us. Kimberly wanted to see some deployed strategies in our city and we were happy to help. It was an enjoyable day.”
