Mark Fainstein

Erie's Unlikely Benefactor: Its Casino

Legalized gambling is a familiar part of the modern American landscape. But an innovative scheme in a lakeside city in western Pennsylvania shows new possibilities for putting casino revenue to positive public use.
Allison Osberg / Courtesy of Tides Institute and Museum of Art

Little Town, Big Art

“The arts” might seem a frill or nicety. In Eastport, Maine, they’ve been at the center of economic and civic plans and have helped the little city “punch above its weight.”
Courtesy of Erie County Public Library

A Waterfront Library

In Erie, Pennsylvania, a public institution is building on its nautical past to open a world of opportunity for local residents.
Joel Deuterman, founder and CEO of Velocity Network, outside downtown Erie’s now-abandoned Rothrock Building, which he bought and will make his company's headquarters
Nick Warren / Erie Reader

Erie and America

The challenges of Rust Belt America are real, and well-known. What’s less familiar is the response some mid-sized cities are making.