Two new, heatable rooms under construction at St. Anthony's, thanks to the Capital Region Builders and Remodelers Association. At work November 14 were (from left) Dick Stewart, of Stewart Construction; Mike Roarke, of Roarke Construction; and Matt Shanbo of Stewart Construction. The association and volunteers are donating materials and labor. Much appreciated! 

There will be two GSCA-related work parties this weekend and next, one starting Halloween day at St. Anthony’s and one this Sunday at our People’s Garden run by Youth Organics at Third and Hawk. Both are gifts from our friends. In the meantime, work of a different sort continues at St. Anthony’s — neighbors doing art under the direction of our Artist in Residence, Melissa (Missy) Marceau.

So, there are opportunities to get involved in lots of ways — artists and teachers (aspiring artists also), gardeners, cooks and some light carpentry.

Starting next Friday (the 31^st), volunteer contractors and their crews who are members of the Capital Region Builders and Remodelers Association will be working to build us two rooms behind he bathrooms on the main floor. One will be an all-purpose meeting and activities room and a second, smaller room could be our future office. I expect for the next year or so, both rooms will be very flexible in their uses — for instance for art classes in one space and meetings in another. This project may take a while to complete, and we probably will not be able to heat the spaces this winter, but they will be built so that they are very energy efficient.

 Some not-as-visible steps along the way:

First, we have new power going into the building, and as of Monday it will be hooked up and we will no longer have to worry about that old ceramic circuit breaker in the basement. Thank our name saint that in five years we never had a blowout. What this means is a new set of circuits and a much safer, more reliable electrical system that will give us confidence that we can set up any lighting and sound system known to man and not have to worry.

What it also means is that our grant from the Dormitory Authority is almost at an end. Our electrical contractor, Steve Erickson, can finish up his work now that National Grid has come and gone, and that is the last contractor covered by the grant. For me, it will be a welcome end to a lot of paperwork, However, we end up about $20,000 in debt because we had to pay for emergency roof work. We will need to focus quickly on raising that money so we can pay back our very patient lenders, the Community Loan Fund and our local "bank", Money Game.

That's not all. Chris Mercogliano has secured an agreement from National Grid that they will also install a new gas line into the building with in the next month or so. This is vital as we move forward with plans for heating the building. 

And, speaking of energy planning, we have a go-ahead from the New York State Power Authority to conduct an energy audit of the building. This was organized by Mike DeWein and is again through the good offices of Assemblyman Jack McEneny's staff. The energy audit is the next step in developing a plan for heating the building and working with energy sources that will be as sustainable as possible, and won't saddle us with uncontrollable bills for the rest of our existence. 

Mike DeWein, who has been arranging an energy audit for St. Anthony's, asked me the other day to see if I could find anybody who could tell us about energy use in the building prior to when it went out of service. Considering the fact that the building ceased being a church back in 1972, that is a tall order and neither he nor I am very hopeful. 

But hey, it's worth a shot. I called the Diocese to find that Joe Dejulio, who had been taking care of the building for the diocese until GSCA (then Mansion Community Arts) bought the building, has retired and seems to have left the area. A nice lady in the real property office offered to go down to the basement and see if she could find any records. Nope, nothing there. 

Well, Mike said, how about calling heating oil companies? I don't relish the prospect of getting out the phone book and calling every one, but the least I could do is call Long Oil, which is basically right in the neighborhood. I left a message last week, and today got a call back from Jerry. 

Jerry knows the building pretty well, because after St. Anthony's closed as a church the owners, I assume the diocese, rented it out to the state as a site for processing and mailing election material. His wife worked there for several years, and he visited often. And because he was working for an oil company, he got the job of draining the two 75 gallon oil tanks in the basement when the state left in 1979. 

Unfortunately, Jerry says, Long Oil was not supplying oil to St. Anthony's before it closed and doesn't know who did. But we had a good talk about the neighborhood, and his memory of attending a funeral as a young boy at St. Anthony's. And, at least we know the oil tanks have been drained and we won't have to face that hurdle. 

Two new developments on the outside of St. Anthony’s: 

First, our long anxiety over the missing front doors is over, and the wait was well worth it. The doors, not only repainted, but rebuilt and with new hardware, are back in place. I can’t tell you how many people contacted me wondering what was going on — we we okay? 

Now they know. And the restoration team, Worth Gretter and Frank Houde, were not shy about the paint job. They matched what they can detect of the old paint, decades ago, with an eye-catching maroon and purple design.

The other development is a sign on the Madison Avenue side of the building, where the Boarded Up art show has been playing to increasing admiration since early spring. Written by the curators of Boarded Up, Emily Collins and Jeff Root, it’s a heartfelt “thank you” to the artists and their audience, and a brief reflection on how art happens.  

“So many of you have slowed down to look and talk about the art on this wall. “To remember art you have created.

“To imagine art you can create. 

“This project is just one small example of what we all try to do each day.

I can’t think of a better statement of what “community art” means, or a better invitation to the future of GSCA.

Boarded Up comes to a close on Friday, August 1, when the 40 pieces of art created by artists near and far (but mostly quite near) are on display at the church, and will be auctioned off to raise money for future projects. 

For more information, contact tommcph@earthlink.net

Youth Organics has been off to a great start! The gardens look beautiful. The kale and cabbage are getting very big. Our garlic is beautiful. Last week, we planted watermelon, cucumbers, and hot peppers. The beans are coming up nicely. The mustard greens, arugula, spinach, mizuna greens and some lettuces are ready for picking. The peas are flowering and should be ready for the 2nd week of pickup. Sadly, our Spring Crew ends next week. We have had a great crew this spring, with 9 youth in total. They all worked very hard to build raised beds, which mostly involved bringing compost up the hill in wheelbarrows, and they made sure that everything was planted well and tended to. If you would like to meet all the youth who helped grow your food all are invited to attend the Community Dinner on Wednesday June 11th at the Harriet Tubman Free School- 59 Elizabeth St. Dinner begins at 6. The menu includes: turkey, collards, potatoes and cabbage, lasagna, a big garden salad and raspberry lemonade. The event is free.

Another important way to get involved with us this year is to help us out in the gardens. We need help tending our gardens between the Spring and Summer Crews: June 16th-July3rd. We won't have consistent youth during these three critical weeks of growing so we need extra hands to care for the garden. Work will consist of harvesting, weeding, watering, making beds and planting in the 3rd Ave People's Harvest Garden and the Selkirk Garden. All those who help out can take some fresh garden produce home in exchange for your hard work. All ages welcome. There will be both light and hard work to do.

As we finish up the current phase of our St. Anthony's work on the main floor, our attention turns to probably the most important decision Grand Street Community Arts will ever make -- how can we heat this huge space and make it comfortable and at the same time not break the bank?

The sanctuary, of course, is the biggest concern. By design, it's always going to be one very large, open space.And the builders of St. Anthony's did not have the same concerns 100 years ago because energy was cheap. They built it to be beautiful and to last forever, but they didn't worry much about conserving energy. Now, being green is not only the right thing to do, it's the only thing.

It's a decision we have to make now, because our architect (Janet Null, who patiently keeps us on track) tells us it would be foolish to design the basement space until we have heating systems for both levels figured out. Will there be ducts, or heating coils or radiators or other such necessities to work around? Since we are in the process of developing a plan for the Harriet Tubman Free School, the alternative high school affiliated with the Free School, to share the basement space, we need to make these decisions as soon as possible.

So we are on a journey of exploration and education. Just about all of our building committee members and some of the other neighborhood residents who help out with various projects at St. Anthony's have some interest in green technology, and some of are really expert in various aspects of green energy. How about a veggie oil heating system?

Our neighbors are somewhat taken aback by the plywood that has replaced the front doors at St. Anthony's. That's because Worth Gretter and Frank Houde have the doors in Frank's shop on Elm Street. They are scraping and peeling off layers of old gunk, fixing some decay and will then refinish them to an approximation of the most previous former glory. That, according to current plans, would be a natural wood finish with a gold trim. But they're not set on that — if you remember what the doors looked like thirty years ago, let us know, but quickly because they are moving right along. The final step will be to install new hardware with "crash bars" so we meet code.

This is one of many all-volunteer projects that neighborhood residents have taken on to lovingly restore our little gem. Thanks, guys!

Alot of dust and banging, loud noise, people working hard and
laughing. HTFS students Molly and Ruby  were very focused on scraping plaster from the wall.  There was an excitement bubbling as all the dust was blowing around. There was a purpose in the air. No one seemed bored today.

As I thanked one of the workers/apprentices from the masons union for all
the hard work they were doing, he thanked me for the opportunity and
was grateful for the chance to be able to contribute to the
beautification of the space. I could see him begin to envision what
might take place there.

Nitya Jess Oppenheimer, is the program director for YO! and works for Grand Street Community Arts.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.