Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

FACES OF DOWNTOWN
EDGE continued from 13
Although Edge is morally opposed to
strip clubs, he argues the adult businesses
are stunting growth on lower
Broad Street, which has received a boost
from the opening of the Miller Theater
and the announcement of the $94 million
Riverfront at the Depot project on
the 500 block of Reynolds Street.
If Lester’s businesses close – as other
grandfathered strip clubs did after losing
their license – “it will absolutely make a
difference,” Edge said.
“People are buying property and speculating,
waiting and anticipating the day
when those clubs close,” Edge said. “There’s
a stigma that goes with those businesses. It
KEUROGLIAN continued from 15
other, you’re going to get offended when
you see crime taking place at your neighbor’s
house.”
What started with Tuesday night
potluck dinners at his Walker Street
home has grown into block-by-block
clean-up initiatives that attract hundreds
of residents and volunteers. The father of
two has literally flipped the script in Olde
Town: Criminals now look over their
shoulders.
After driving dealers and prostitutes
into the shadows through aggressive
reporting, Keuroglian and other neighborhood
activists turned their focus to
the places they congregate – dilapidated
rental properties, abandoned homes and
overgrown lots.
Rather than overburdening police
and code enforcement personnel with
complaints, volunteers have made the
officials’ jobs easier by using a “nuisance
property rubric” to crack down on problem
zones.
“Criminals like darkness, so it doesn’t
bother me to tear down blighted homes,”
Keuroglian said. “The light causes
does hinder that entire block.”
The Lester family has filed a lawsuit
against the city, arguing the ordinance
violates the clubs’ First Amendment
right to free speech and its 14th
Amendment right to equal protection
under the law. Edge said he believes
the lawsuits are a last-ditch effort to
keep the strip clubs operating as long as
possible.
The prohibition of alcohol and nude
dancing goes into effect Jan. 1. Edge said
he believes the demise of the topless bars
will reduce crime and have a positive
impact on patrons and employees.
“There’s this image of strip clubs that
Hollywood romanticizes,” Edge said.
“It’s very much not the case here.”
darkness to flee.”
Keuroglian, who has been involved
with ministries since college, spent
years as a top salesman for a national
medical-device maker before his job
was eliminated in a corporate merger.
He was recruited to Augusta by First
Presbyterian Church to run its young
professionals program in 2008.
Ironically, the company’s new owner
offered to hire him back just as he was
getting settled in. Keuroglian was
tempted after two men attempted to
rob him while he was unpacking his car
during his first night in Olde Town. The
would-be assailants fled when he pulled a
shotgun from his back seat.
He credits his wife, Melissa, for
convincing him his higher calling was
Augusta, not a six-figure salary.
“She said to me, ‘No. Why are we
here? We made a decision to trust God.
When is it going to be enough for you to
trust God?’” Keuroglian said. “She was
the bedrock to see that, maybe, these
were just trials. But after that first week
of being here, we started seeing signs of
God working. We started seeing signs
this neighborhood was coming back.”
HINES continued from 17
other how to grow food again –
something we have lost in our
modern food system,” she said.
This mission is particularly
important as Harrisburg is
considered a “food desert” since
the closure of the 15th Street
Kroger – the area’s sole supermarket
– two years ago.
Hines’ network of volunteers
help run other gardens,
including one at Golden Harvest
Food Bank that provides fresh
produce and herbs to supplement
the donated packaged and
canned goods served at the food
bank’s Master’s Table Soup
Kitchen, which feeds about 300
people daily.
And at 109 Eve St., directly
behind the Salvation Army Kroc
Center, is the Augusta Locally
Grown Veggie Park Farmers
market, now it its seventh
year of operation. Open every
Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. between
April and October, the market
gives small growers a venue to
peddle their produce.
It also offers double discounts
to people paying with
SNAP benefits (better known
as “food stamps”) to incentivize
healthier eating. Academic
studies suggested low-income
households see quality-of-life
improvements when reducing
their consumption of fast food
and convenience items.
“It’s not just about growing
food,” Hines said. “It’s
about growing economic
opportunities.”
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