Volume 28 No. 3 March 2012
Perry and Oliver high City of Asylum plans schools prepare for merge for new literary venue By Sarah Reagle
Photo by Kelsey Shea
In the library of Perry Traditional Academy, Oliver and Perry students have been writing their names on strips of blue and orange paper to create a unity chain. Sacco, principal of Perry. “We’re By Kelsey Shea working so hard to create an enviAnother color has joined the usu- ronment where all students feel safe al Commodore Blue that decks the and welcome.” Perry has been working with Olhalls of Perry Traditional Academy iver students by providing tours of in Observatory Hill — the orange of the building, creating a paper unity the Oliver Bears. chain, introducing kids to new activiWith the impending merger of ties that Oliver doesn’t offer, planthe two Northside high schools, staff, ning a mural and introducing Oliver faculty and administration at Oliver students to their new Perry classand Perry are working towards makmates. ing the transition as smooth as pos“A lot of the kids know each othsible. er,” said Sacco who said they would Tuesday afternoon, the 75 freshstop and say hello to each other in the men from Oliver High School who hallways. toured Perry were greeted by blue She also noted that most Perry and orange decorations in the hallstudents live in the Northside in the ways and the slogan “The Bears are same neighborhoods as Oliver stuin the Big Blue House,” which was dents, which will help with the trancreated by Perry’s student welcomsition. ing committee. “I think we’re really going to See Schools, page 6 have a seamless transition,” said Nina
A new City of Asylum project might give readers and writers a new place to convene, share work and take classes in the Central Northside. City of Asylum plans to build a community-based literary center on Monterey Street between Jacksonia Street and Sampsonia Way called Alphabet City, on a vacant lot where a bar and an abandoned home once stood. Alphabet City will include spaces for readings, writing classes and community meetings. It will also feature a bookstore, a bar-café-restaurant as well as two apartments for writers. The space will act as a platform for literary readings as well as small-scale music performances. “Our goal is that Alphabet City help unify the community, bridging differences among people,” said Henry Reese, director of City of Asylum. The literary hub will also offer programs for the community and for younger readers and writers. Alphabet City will implement a free book program, readings for children, teen programs and free compost distribution for neighborhood gardeners. The project hopes to include programming that accommodates all of the economic, cultural and racial diversity of the Northside. In 2011, the Alphabet City project received the LINC-Ford Foundation’s Space for Change award for its projected “catalytic impact in the community.” Reese hopes that this space will function as “an anchor to the eco-
nomic and cultural development of the interior of the Central Northside.” The project is currently held up with zoning issues stemming from a complaint filed by neighbors to the site. Several neighbors expressed concerns about parking in the dense residential area with limited offstreet and the privacy issues that having a public building near private residences could create. City of Asylum will meet with a judge in mid-March to try to resolve the issue. If the issue is cleared, Reese hopes construction will begin this summer. Reese said City of Asylum is currently redesigning the space to address some of these concerns. City of Asylum hopes to have Alphabet City open to the public in early 2013. However, Reese notes that there will be events held before the official opening. They will hold periodic events connected with the development of Alphabet City as well as literary readings so people can see the work in progress. According to Reese, with Alphabet City and other public art projects on Sampsonia Way, City of Asylum hopes, “to create a platform to transform the Central Northside into a space where we can imagine what is possible rather than dwelling on what holds us back.” Many individuals and foundations including the Hillman Foundation, the Richard King Mellon foun-
See Alphabet City, page 6