Historic Little Italy Neighborhood Revitalization

Vision Statement

The Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy for Historic Little Italy has developed rapidly since public meetings were first held in 2007. This strategy has been built on many studies, past and present. Many residents, businesses, agencies, and groups and organiztions of all types have also generously provided the input necessary to help steer this revitalization project in the right direction.

The Planning Advisory Committee recognized that the current population in Little Italy is comprised of many ethnic groups in addition to the traditional Italians. In an attempt to acknowledge the diversity of ethnic groups in the neighborhood today, while emphasizing what the neighborhood is historically most well-known for, the name “ Historic Little Italy” was agreed upon.

The participants in the planning process developed the following vision statement, as a reflection of the goals and initiatives discussed during the various public input sessions and PAC meetings, as well as previous planning and development efforts. This vision statement embodies the goals of the redevelopment effort in the Historic Little Italy neighborhood:

The boundaries of Little Italy have always been rather fluid. For the purposes of this project, Historic Little Italy has been defined as including about 18 blocks of the City of Erie's west side (Census Tract #12) from Sassafras Street on the east side through Liberty Street on the west, and from 16th Street on the north side through 19th Street on the south side.

Featured Article:

Quite some time ago, John Donofrio wrote a wonderful article about the history of Little Italy in honor of it's 50th Anniversary. He generously allowed us to reproduce it here.  Click here to read this hard-to-find article.