Visiting every third door in the West Ward will be a demanding effort.  It will certainly take plenty of substantial sustenance to provide me with the energy needed!  Luckily, I know I’ll be able to count on Faouzi’s Talk of the Town.  Located on the 1000 block of Northampton Street, this storefront serves an overwhelming array of ice cream treats along with “drive-in” type fare and some Lebanese specialties.  The ice cream, though, really steals the show.  Faouzi’s must offer at least 40 flavors of soft serve, ranging from the traditional vanilla and chocolate to more curious concoctions such as bubble gum and root beer.  Serving sizes are huge, with even a small being extremely generous.  The owner, Faouzi, is extremely friendly, takes great pride in his business, and loves to see his customers enjoying their ice cream.  It’s currently pretty tricky for me to walk up the 1000 block now without a stop at Faouzi’s Talk of the Town, and I know that it’ll become impossible once it actually warms up and starts feeling like summer!

Welcome wanderers,

I am a rising junior at Lafayette majoring in Government & Law.  Along with LA and Courtney, I will be conducting surveys with the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership as a part of the Wachovia Urban Ecology Grant.  We will be examining the visual attractiveness of particular commercial and residential blocks, as well as taking a survey to determine residents’ satisfaction with their neighborhood.   These surveys will be used as “before and after” measures; the Wachovia Urban Ecology Grant represents a five-year effort.  By the end of the grant period, we hope to have made improvements to streetscapes and facades and used the results of the residential survey to align West Ward Neighborhood Partnership efforts most closely with neighborhood needs.  This should be an exciting and very meaningful summer!