Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Jared Barcz with me. Welcome, Jared.
Jared Barcz: Hello, Toni.
Toni: How are you today?
Jared: I’m doing very well, thanks. How are you?
Toni: I’m just great. So, Jared, welcome to the Project. Take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jared: Well, I was born here in Reading, and definitely decided to stay in Reading. I started my business here, the Home Artisan Group. We do home remodeling, additions, homes, and I want to be a part of the revitalization of Reading. Proud to serve on the zoning board for about six years now, and just overall like to be part of this city.
Toni: Fantastic. They’re lucky to have you. Let’s go into the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Jared: Well, I believe that inspiration comes in many different forms. Sometimes an inspiration can just be filling an easy niche that could make you money. For myself, I like to think that inspiration comes from a different part of my brain than the one that just handles everyday tasks. Those ideas tend to be things that are win-win or win-win-win situations where you can fill a niche, and at the same time make money, and at the same time possibly even be part of inspiring others and spurning further growth.
Toni: That sounds like a pretty big pot of inspiration.
Jared: It’s not going to come all the time.
Toni: That was going to be my next question. Do you know when you’re inspired?
Jared: I think so. I keep a lot of notes and have a lot of forms handy to myself at pretty much any given time that if an idea pops into my head, I have the ability to record it. Sometimes that is possibly the biggest thing that you could do, because if you’re caught up in the jumble of life and something really pops into your head that’s great and you get back into the jumble, it might not be there. I think most times it often isn't, so yes, putting them all together in a record and then sitting down every once in a while, and compiling them or knowing that you have that is a pretty good resource.
Toni: Have you acted on that in the past, that inspiration?
Jared: Absolutely.
Toni: So, you are inspired by ideas, and then you record those ideas, and then possibly turn them into a reality.
Jared: Correct.
Toni: Okay. So, how have you done that here in Berks County?
Jared: Well, the biggest thing that I think is what I would call an accomplishment would be getting an area of Reading rezoned as the Riverfront Overlay District. The area that’s often been looked at to develop our riverfront, which is probably our biggest untapped resource, is from RACC on the south side of the city towards the Canal Street Restaurant. There’s a number of problems with that issue, starting with the fact that it’s already occupied. There’s a sewage treatment plant by there, so it wouldn’t really serve well for a park.
It came to my attention during a city meeting that there were 52 acres undeveloped that are over near Bear Park with really good frontage to the river. It’s right at the confluence of the Tulpehocken, and that, along with Aaron Booth, who chairs the HARB board, we got together and just took it a step at a time until we got the zoning changed. That really just paves the way for a future developer or somebody like that to take in developing the riverfront, but it wouldn’t have a standing chance if the zoning didn’t fit that use. Now instead of having a factory there or something like that, which mostly likely would create around 500 jobs in an ideal situation, there’s now the possibility of having an entire community there that could create thousands of jobs.
Toni: That’s fantastic. You actually saw a need, and you just did something about it. You stayed with it and did something about it, right?
Jared: Correct.
Toni: I don’t mean for that to sound so simple, because I can only imagine it wasn’t, but you saw something, you took your skills and your talent, you were inspired to make a difference. By staying with that, you did, and that’s fantastic.
Jared: Correct.
Toni: Yeah. Way to go! Who in Berks County inspires you?
Jared: There are quite a lot of choices, but I have to say that my go-to right now would be Craig Poole. I just had a new employee move into the area from Tennessee. There was a little bit of a kerfuffle with getting his house open immediately, and I was so happy to take him to the DoubleTree and have him be there with that amazingly courteous staff — the award-winning staff — and how he has inspired them, how he’s given them the channels and the resources to do their jobs excellently and to improve their lives. There really isn't anything else that I can look at and say that is as successful and as overwhelmingly positive anywhere else. There’s a lot of really smaller examples, and they all deserve credit, but Craig is doing an amazing job.
I think it’s a really great gateway into the city also when you can have people that don’t generally think of coming into Reading to do something for entertainment and they can come to his place, have an entire experience across the street with the Sovereign Center [now Santander Arena], come back to Cheers for drinks, and leave, never really touching the city, but that’s the starting point. That’s where they stay. “Oh, you know what? I don’t have to go everywhere. I can go to these areas. It’s well-lit and safe, and I can support businesses in Reading.”
Toni: Anybody else in Berks County inspire you?
Jared: From an entrepreneurial standpoint, Alan Shuman. I really like what he’s doing. I think it’s intelligent in a lot of ways. I’ve been proud to be part of a couple of his projects. I think we need more people who see the vision of what Reading is right on the cusp of becoming at any point when we hit the critical mass point. He’s done a lot to improve some really important buildings. I think the signage on the Abraham Lincoln, which came by the zoning board — when I saw that, I was pretty excited about it. When I saw it actually erected and how it looks, it’s fantastic.
Toni: These are people that, just like you, were inspired by making a difference and changing something so that it would be able to be used differently. You’ve just named two people who do exactly the same thing. You can see why you’re inspired by them. So, what do you want your legacy to be?
Jared: I’d like to help people see more opportunities. Overall, I actually think the numbers are behind me on this. We’re at the luckiest time in human existence. The news that we hear is often negative, but the reality of what’s been happening with the poverty level, with people dying of famine, people dying in wars, all of that, is going better and better and better. But at the same time, there’s been the ease of access of information that is bringing news to us in a stream like it’s never been before, and it’s often negative, because that is when it catches our attention.
We’re still very strongly wired to fight or flight as my wife with the psychology degree would point out. I think there’s another response that a lot of us are trying to develop, and it’s maybe more along the lines of acceptance. New information comes. Don’t fight it. Don’t run from it. Think about it rationally. Come up with solutions. I would like to leave behind a lot of people that were having bad days and realized it wasn’t all that bad, or thought they were having a bad year, and maybe they were, but realized they could turn it around if they focused on solutions. All those people turning their head a slightly different direction can inspire countless more in turn, if they go about their lives in a different way. That would make me very happy to know that that had been accomplished.
Toni: You are already living that legacy by providing opportunities for change in the work that you do. We just have to point people in the direction of where those changes were made. You’re already living your legacy.
Jared: Absolutely. You can look at Reading, and there’s always going to be problems. I like to say we’re a small city with big city problems. If you put enough people together, there are going to be incidents, but what we have to focus on is the fact that there are so many businesses in the area running great establishments with fantastic local live music — there’s an unbelievable amount of great musicians right now that are from this area. You can go have an amazing time in Reading, and there is all those opportunities there. You’re always going to be able to look at the negative if you want to find it, because we’re big enough that it’s going to happen. The amazing things that are happening are starting to really take off, in my opinion.
Toni: Yeah, and that’s going to be an awesome thing to watch, isn't it?
Jared: It is. When those fires hit critical mass and it takes off, it’s going to be really great.
Toni: It is. Well, Jared, thank you so much for doing what you do, and also for showing up to the Get Inspired! Project.
Jared: Thank you for having me.
