Garfield Night Market Planning Committee
Ryan England is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Civil and Environmental engineering. He currently works for Earthen Vessels Outreach as Director of Operations. In his work with Earthen Vessels Outreach, he hopes to enhance and transform the lives of the people in the communities of Bloomfield, Garfield, and Friendship.
Christine Bethea is on the board of Friendship Development Associates. She is the founder and Director of GA/GI Festival, Pittsburgh's eco, art and technology event which programs the April "Unblurred" gallery crawl each year in the Penn Avenue Arts District. Ms. Bethea also runs an antique, art and collectibles shop, ARTica, and is an award-winning fiber artist and quilt historian, archived with the Senator John Heinz History Center, a Smithsonian affiliate.
Eve Picker’s is the founder and past president of cityLAB. Her expertise in inner city redevelopment and regeneration has earned her broad recognition both in the Pittsburgh community at large and nationally. She has even been called a local ‘folk hero’. Committed to good design, her work consistently aims to make a positive contribution to the public realm with every project.
Eve has a background as an architect, city planner, urban designer, real estate developer, economic development strategist, publisher (founding publisher of Pop City), and co-founder of a provocative public forum for urban issues. All of these have provided her with a rich understanding of how cities work, how urban neighborhoods can be revitalized, what policies are needed to do so, and the unique marketing that creates the buzz necessary for regeneration. With cityLAB, her first non-profit venture, Eve is turning her passion for cities to broader, city-wide revitalization issues. Read more about Eve at evepicker.com, or say hello at eve@smallchange.com.
John Folan is the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Professor of Architecture, Director of the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS), track Chair of the Masters of Urban Design (MUD) Program, and member of the Urban Laboratory faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Bachelor of Science in Architecture, High Honors) and the University of Pennsylvania (Masters of Architecture) where he was a Kahn Fellow and recipient of the Henry Adams Medal. Registered as an Architect since 1995, John has focused his research on the methodologies employed in the translation from drawing to building.
Maria Graziani has been a Garfield resident since 1999. Over the past 12 years she has been committed to the health and wellness of Garfield through her work starting and developing Healcrest Urban Farms, Inc. located on Hillcrest Street. Maria is not only a certified herbalist, urban farmer and small business owner, she is a professional Project Manager, an MBA student at Carlow University, a yogi and a dedicated single mother to her son Savitur Negus Tafari! They are pictured here spending a relaxing weekend at home in Garfield.
Rick Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation, has dedicated decades to the improvement of the neighborhood he lives and works in. In his role, he seeks to better the social, economic and physical fabric of the Bloomfield, Garfield and Friendship neighborhoods by engaging and inspiring members of the community.
Sara Blumenstein managed cityLAB's experiments and designed cityLAB's programs, graphics, and web projects from 2011 to 2014. She loved working on cityLAB's projects, especially the Garfield Night Market and Tiny Houses. Read more about Sara on her website.
Zach Restelli attended Allegheny College and currently lives in Pittsburgh. He is fascinated by urban development and building efficiency retrofits and now works with Bona Fide Homes LLC, where he hopes to maximize public utility through private venture while minimizing environmental impact. He strives to share his values and develop strong relationships in Pittsburgh's changing neighborhoods so the community as a whole can work to build better, more efficient places.