Category: River Roots Redevelopment Column
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Down for the Count, Digging for Dreams
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation I’ve been down for the count this week – the second casualty in our house to whatever bug’s been making the rounds. I was luckier than Kai, who had the full fever-and-cough package, but still found myself knocked flat for a couple of days. Short of breath. Lightheaded. Even the… Read more
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From Soggy Bottom to Something Better
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation If you know me, you know I have a hard time sitting still. So, of course, as soon as I felt like I had the hang of the skid loader, my fingers started itching for the next piece of equipment I’d like to learn: the digger. Or, in official terms,… Read more
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Small Miracles and Happy Accidents
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation This summer hasn’t just been about things breaking down (belts, bolts, my patience…), but even more it’s been about what got built in between all the repairs. And while I’m immensely proud of my awe-inspiring dragging skills, it’s the little, surprising discoveries that make me smile the most. Take that… Read more
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What Breaks First?
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Last week I told you how I finally got the skid loader humming again. But, honestly, the story of just how it broke down is too good to not share. First, there was that mud. Now, I wasn’t the one who was driving it when it got stuck, and I… Read more
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Everything Hurts and Nothing Works (Except Maybe My Skid Loader)
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation I said we’d be back in August. And here we are! Just… maybe not quite the way I imagined. Why does this ever surprise me anymore?? Anyway, back in July, I signed off with good intentions: to rest a little, focus on creative projects, maybe actually get a few videos… Read more
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It’s What Comes Next
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation The demolition work inside Seneca Plaza’s smaller building is almost complete – and the transformation is already spectacular! The previously claustrophobic hodge-podge of internal dividing walls is gone, and what’s left is one bright, open, and airy blank slate. For the first time in a long time, you can actually… Read more
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Where the Echo Still Lingers: Part Two
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Two weeks ago, we asked a simple question: Where are your memories held? We asked for your moments, your places, your stories. Your reminders of what matters, and why it’s worth remembering. And sure enough, some started coming in. Reminiscing in Rockland shared the importance of a playground: “There’s this… Read more
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Where the Echo Still Lingers
If you’ve ever had a flat tire, a busted mower, or a car that made a noise no one could quite diagnose… there’s a good chance Bruce Donaldson took a look at it. For fifty years, he’s been the mechanic down on River Avenue in Emlenton – with grease on his hands and stories for… Read more
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Progress isn’t always fast—but it’s still progress.
Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Welcome to June! And… this isn’t the article I hoped I’d be writing right now. I hoped we’d have more definitive updates, more visible progress, more reasons to celebrate. But, after two decades of doing this work, I can’t say I’m surprised. Slow, sometimes excruciatingly painful progress is the norm, not… Read more
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Redevelopment: 3 Pitfalls Worth Rethinking
Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation If you’ve ever raised an eyebrow at the word “redevelopment,” you’re not alone. We’ve all seen the news stories where we know something just ain’t right. Fly-by-night developers. Big, flashy ideas that seem totally out of place in a community. Here in our own region, let’s be honest – the biggest… Read more
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Conversations in Motion: What We Learned on a Thursday Afternoon in Emlenton
Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation It started as a simple plan: take a walk, capture some video footage, and talk about how different brains and personalities work together to build community. It turned into one of those seemingly-simple but deeply impactful afternoons that left me feeling a little lighter, a little clearer, and even more grateful… Read more
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“Right, so…. Wait, what was I saying?”
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation If you know me at all, you know that sentence comes out of my mouth at least three times a day. Sometimes four. I have a short-term memory that could charitably be described as… not great. I have Alexa reminders for the notes on my phone, which point to sticky… Read more