Lawmakers wrestle with the proliferation of e-scooters on Pa. roadways • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

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Columbia Mini Mural Fest proposed for summer 2027

JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY 

Columbia Borough Council heard a pitch at its September 1 workshop for a new public art initiative aimed at bringing color and community engagement to the borough’s parks starting next summer.

TJ Carrozza, founder and executive director of the Susquehanna River Creative Conspiracy (SRCC), presented plans for the “Columbia Mini Mural Fest,” proposed for the Columbia Crossing River Trail Center in early summer 2027, with potential expansion to other borough parks in future years.

Carrozza said the concept originated when a colleague [Eric Tonzola] suggested installing pop-up murals in Columbia’s parks.

The plan is for up to 12 selected artists to create temporary mini-murals on constructed outdoor panels. The long-term vision is for an annual arts event supporting tourism and community identity.

Artists would apply through an open call with a $20 submission fee, with SRCC Studios and Switchboard Studios and Gallery serving as coordination hubs. All materials would be SRCC-supplied.

Potential construction of 6 double-sided mural walls (up to 12 mural surfaces). Each structure will be approximately 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide and secured into the ground, with coordination of the construction and placing with the proper Columbia Borough officials and staff.

Carrozza said the structures would use 4×4 posts set in concrete, with mural panels bolted on so they could be removed and rotated to other locations. He also suggested making panels double-sided to display more art.

Carrozza proposed debuting a prototype mural structure at this month’s Albatwitch Harvest Festival to build early buzz. 

The X’s show the proposed placement of the mural structures.

Heather Zink, council vice president, raised concerns that the proposed site would be used as a heavy-equipment access route during the upcoming Veterans Memorial Bridge project that could last up to five years and potentially damage the installations. Carrozza acknowledged the concern and suggested relocating structures closer to the park driveway.

Zink also questioned how mural designs would be vetted. Carrozza said SRCC had no formal review process yet but planned to create a submission form and possibly a review committee to ensure content stays “family-friendly” and not overly controversial.

Zink raised free speech concerns about the borough directly approving or rejecting individual artwork, comparing it to challenges with the borough’s sign ordinance. She suggested the borough should approve SRCC’s overall values and guidelines rather than reviewing each piece individually. Carrozza agreed.

“I don’t want it to be planned that a group of council members are going to be approving the artwork,” Zink said.

Council did not vote on the issue Tuesday night but indicated it would continue coordinating on the project, as planning continues ahead of the 2027 launch.

About SRCC
Carrozza described SRCC as a nonprofit dedicated to music and art that has operated a music and communal art studio on Lancaster Avenue for the past three years. The organization began about four years ago in a warehouse on Avenue H that “just didn’t end up working out.”

The SRCC logo incorporates the Veterans Memorial Bridge in its design.

“I didn’t start out on this with the intention of being a nonprofit. It just kind of organically went that way,” he said.

He also mentioned he had eyed the former Keystone Firehouse that was damaged recently by a tornado as a potential future home for SRCC, noting he was assembling investment plans for the building on the very day the storm hit.

Carrozza also highlighted SRCC’s painted piano program, which has placed pianos at Columbia Coffee & Cream and the Columbia Crossing building at Columbia River Park. He credited the Lancaster nonprofit “Music for Everyone” with inspiring the effort.

Angry, Young and Poor gets go-ahead to transform Columbia storefront

Mural designed by Eric Tonzola of Tonzola Art & Design, to be painted on the front wall 

JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY

Angry, Young and Poor got the go-ahead to transform a vacant storefront in the borough’s historic district after borough council gave its approval Tuesday night.

Council voted to approve a Certificate of Appropriateness for the project, which was issued by Columbia’s Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) on July 27th.

Reverse side of the front wall (Tonzola Art & Design)

The project, to be installed at the store’s new address at 137 Locust Street, will feature a mural on both sides of a front  half-wall by Eric Tonzola, and a window graphic by Italian graffiti artist Joe Tamponi.

Window graphic (Joe Tamponi)

Angry, Young and Poor, which recently moved to Columbia, is a record and clothing store that has operated in Lancaster City for more than 30 years. The business also features online sales.

16-year-old Columbia boy held for trial in fatal shooting of friend; victim’s mother, 2 others also held | Local News | lancasteronline.com

DAN NEPHIN | Staff Writer | LNP

The defense attorney for a Columbia teenager charged with fatally shooting his friend during gunplay in July conceded his client acted recklessly and tried to argue that the shooting did not amount to third-degree murder.

“Reckless? Absolutely. Involuntary manslaughter? Yes. Murder? No,” Lancaster County Public Defender Rian Thompson argued Tuesday at a brief preliminary hearing for Jose Manuel Lopez III, 16. “Nobody is saying this was intentional.”

Thompson argued that Lopez did not act with malice, a legal element that must be present to support a third-degree murder charge — the most serious charge Lopez faces in the July 18 death of Wilfredo Garcia, 17. He was seeking dismissal of the charge.

The shooting happened in Garcia’s mother’s Plane Street apartment while Garcia, Lopez and other teenagers were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, according to police.

But Lancaster County Assistant District Attorney Callista Chartier said Lopez admitted to police that he knew the gun was loaded when he pointed it at Garcia’s head and pulled the trigger.

And disregarding the clear risk of death or serious injury by doing so met the element of malice, she said.

Columbia District Judge Miles Bixler ordered Lopez to trial on third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and related offenses

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