[LNP | LancasterOnline] Brad Chambers, Tom Jones lead in latest polling of Lancaster County’s most competitive races this fall
Brad Chambers
JADES CAMPOS | LNP STAFF WRITER
Recent polling by a national nonprofit that studies trends in state legislative elections suggests Lancaster County’s most competitive midterm races could produce upsets.
Columbia Democrat Brad Chambers has a one-point lead over Republican incumbent Brett Miller in the 41st state House District, according to a poll conducted this month by State Navigate.
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[LNP | LancasterOnline] Columbia Borough School District renews dual enrollment contract with Elizabethtown College
CHRISTY RAE AMMONS | FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
When: Columbia Borough School Board meeting, Sept. 17.
What happened: Board members approved the renewal of a dual enrollment agreement with Elizabethtown College. The contract would look the same as the prior agreement, but with altered dates, Superintendent Ashley Rizzo said.
Quotable: “We’d update that partnership so that our students who qualify — the school’s juniors and seniors — may enroll at Elizabethtown at a very reduced price for credit and also have the opportunity through the Columbia Ed Foundation for additional financial support to start to earn some college credit while in high school,” Rizzo said.
What it means: According to the agreement, Columbia students who are accepted into the dual enrollment program will be able to earn 24 college credits during the academic year. Those credits would simultaneously count toward the pupil’s high school requirements.
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Bridging creatives to community’: SRCC welcomes musicians and artists
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
A small nonprofit is trying to turn a hidden venue into the creative heartbeat of Columbia.
The Susquehanna River Creative Conspiracy (SRCC), a registered 501(c)(3) based at 156b Lancaster Ave., has spent the past few years quietly building what co-founder and CEO TJ Carrozza calls a “one stop shop to write, record, and perform”: part rehearsal space, part recording studio, part music venue, and part community art and craft studio, all rolled into one.
“Bridging creatives to community,” is how Carrozza sums up the mission. In practice, that means offering musicians and artists something often hard to find: an affordable, fully equipped place to actually make things.
SRCC’s current home wasn’t the group’s first stop. The organization originally set up shop in a warehouse on Avenue H, right behind the historic Keystone hook and ladder building, where it lasted about eight months. “That warehouse didn’t work out,” Carrozza said. “We almost completely disbanded as an organization.”
The group regrouped and has now spent three years at the Lancaster Avenue location, a stretch Carrozza describes as slow but steady.
“We’ve been here for three years, struggling financially and just slowly growing by word of mouth,” he said. “It’s been a really slow growth but it’s a very strong foundation.”
That foundation was solidified recently when SRCC signed a new three-year lease on the building, locking in its future at the space for the foreseeable term.
Walking through SRCC feels less like touring a single studio and more like navigating a labyrinth of rooms, each built around a different piece of the creative process. A stairway painted by local artist Eric Tonzola leads visitors between them.
At the core of SRCC’s model is a low-cost rehearsal and practice space paired with a recording studio and a venue to perform in, a pipeline Carrozza describes functioning much like a “band incubator.”
Musicians can write material, record it, and then take it straight to a stage without ever leaving the building. A digital mixer helps handle the recording side, and SRCC has hosted concerts both downstairs and in the backyard, in addition to its regular stage shows.
The building also houses a dedicated podcast room, and there are plans to add a music lesson room as well.
For Carrozza, the art side of the operation is just as important as the music. He sees SRCC as a true community art studio: members get access to shared materials, and a key to the building, so they can come and go to work on projects. People also use the space to shoot music videos.
Carrozza has long wanted to add a community wood shop to SRCC’s offerings, and for now he’s testing that idea on a smaller scale: he rents basement space at Kettle Works, paying extra to run a wood shop there.
“My dream was always to offer a community wood shop where it’s shared tools, shared experience; have workshops, have lessons, have education,” Carrozza said. “We’re doing that here now with the music.”
SRCC’s Tuesday night open mic regularly draws performers and audiences, and its popularity is prompting the group to expand the format. In the near future, SRCC plans to launch a second open mic aimed specifically at young performers, ages 20 and under. The new series will include a mentorship and education component, Carrozza said, designed in part to help kids work through stage fright before they perform.
The open mic nights have helped SRCC catch the attention of larger regional players in the arts world, including Music For Everyone, a well-known Lancaster County arts organization.
SRCC’s presence in Columbia extends past its Lancaster Avenue walls. The nonprofit has installed several artist-painted pianos around Columbia and Marietta, and is planning a mini mural art installation at Columbia River Park in 2027, as Columbia Spy reported HERE.
The group is also looking to bring its programming into more public spaces closer to home. “We’re going to start doing more music events outside at the visitors center [Columbia River Park] here in Columbia,” Carrozza said.
Community good will has followed the organization as it’s grown. At a recent fundraiser, bands played both inside the building and out in the backyard. That same event gave a glimpse of just how fast SRCC’s creative community can move: Tonzola, the artist behind the painted stairway, completed a painting on-site in just two hours.
“It’s a community where everyone knows each other,” Carrozza said, “and if you don’t, you become friends with everybody who’s here.”
The group is preparing to launch a new website in the near future that will showcase additional programs not yet listed online. In the meantime, the organization’s regular schedule — including its Tuesday night open mics — continues at the Lancaster Avenue location.
https://columbiapa-17512.blogspot.com/2026/09/bridging-creatives-to-community-srcc.html?m=1
Columbia Borough manager’s resignation sparks heated exchanges during council meeting
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Jack Brommer sat quietly while being discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.
The announcement of Borough Manager Jack Brommer’s resignation was met with praise and criticism at Tuesday’s Columbia Borough Council meeting.
Council President Eric Kauffman praised Brommer’s dedication to transparency, saying he tried to be “as open as possible” and answered questions honestly even when the answers were difficult. Kauffman said he had planned to deliver a “state of the union” address touting the borough’s progress the same weekend Brommer’s resignation letter arrived.
Mayor Leo Lutz framed Brommer’s departure as the latest in a long line of borough managers, finance managers and other staff who have left the borough. Lutz argued that these people are professionals who won’t tolerate being labeled “a thief, a liar” in council chambers, offices or on social media, and warned that any future manager will face the same fate “unless some changes are made.”
Lutz credited Brommer with helping pull the borough out of what he called “one hell of a mess,” while acknowledging the transition “took its toll.” He said rumors of impropriety by employees have long circulated in the borough without any employee or council member ever being found to have done anything wrong. “People need to start respecting the people that are put in positions to take care of the job,” Lutz said.
Lutz: “Columbia people think worse of Columbia than the people outside.”
Lutz predicted the manager’s office will remain a revolving door if the treatment of staff doesn’t change. He added that Columbia’s reputation suffers most from its own residents’ negativity, rather than from outsiders’ opinions. “Columbia people think worse of Columbia than the people outside,” Lutz said.
Council Vice President Heather Zink backed that view, describing being confronted by peers from the state boroughs association who were surprised the resignation had become news at all.
Not everyone in the room agreed with the mayor. Longtime resident Frank Doutrich, who said he’s attended borough meetings for more than 60 years, argued that council made a mistake elevating Brommer, given his close ties to Lutz, and suggested the position itself — distinct from running a police department — may not have suited him.
Doutrich: “Until the mayor ends his position here, this town will never turn around.”
Doutrich called on council to explain publicly why Brommer was trained by two former borough managers, hired as acting manager, then promoted to borough manager. He concluded with a dig at Lutz: “Until the mayor ends his position here, this town will never turn around.”
Thompson: “You look at how you left our police department.”
The exchange grew more contentious when resident Robert Thompson told Brommer, “I don’t think you’re a dishonest man. Personally, I do think you’re an incompetent man. You look at how you left our police department.” Lutz shot back that the staffing shortfall dated back years, to a grant-funded hiring push the borough couldn’t sustain after the grant expired, and pressed Thompson on his own conduct, referencing a recent arrest and a batch of right-to-know requests Thompson reportedly has filed with the borough. (Earlier in the meeting, there was a discussion on how the abundance of right-to-know requests — more than 50, not all of which were from Thompson — added to attorney’s fees.)
How Columbia Borough built a community-wide video security network
For more than 16 years, Columbia has worked with Lancaster-area security integrator App-Techs to develop and expand a distributed wireless video network serving its downtown, public buildings, parks and other borough facilities.
Today, the system supports roughly 83 camera feeds, including 4K multi-lens and PTZ cameras, primarily from iPro.
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https://securityjournalamericas.com/open-platform-vms-milestone-systems/
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’S LINDEN STREET BUILD BRINGS HOMEOWNERSHIP WITHIN REACH
There are two Albatwitch events this year!
Albatwitch painting by Eric Tonzola [Columbia Spy photo]
There will be two Albatwitch events this year — one in Columbia and one in Wrightsville. Here are the details:
Albatwitch Harvest Festival
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26.
Where: Columbia River Park, 41 Walnut St., Columbia.
Cost: Free admission.
Benefits: Columbia Parks and Recreation.
Albatwitch Day
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10.
Where: Riverfront Park, 431 S. Front St., Wrightsville.
Cost: Free admission.
Benefits: Columbia Historic Preservation Society.
