I’ll be at the Chestnut Street Park today from about 5-6:15 to have some fun and observe National Night Out before going to a local bloggers’ meeting. Although I tweaked my back at the gym yesterday, I’ll be bringing some basketballs — I think I’ll still be able to run a few dribbling games with the kids 🙂
National Night Out is in its 27th year. Their website describes the event as “an effective, inexpensive and enjoyable program to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships in our fight for a safer nation.” Locally, the event is being organized and sponsored by Genesis Housing Corp., Victory Christian Life Center and Citizens for Pottstown’s Revitalization. The park is at the corner of Chestnut and Washington Streets. See you there!
If you’re looking to kick off your weekend with outstanding bluegrass, rock, gospel, country and jazz, look no further than the incomparable Travis Wetzel Trio this Friday, July 30th at the Tri-County Performing Arts Center on High Street in downtown Pottstown. These musicians are at the top of their game and they’ve played with the best in the business.
Travis Wetzel is a dynamic musician, song writer, and vocalist. He’s been the lead fiddler/violinist on countless recording projects and has performed and recorded with the likes of Bill Monroe, Del McCoury, Mac Wiseman, David Frizzell and jazz legend Stephane Grappelli.
Travis has worked for charitable organizations such as HALTER Therapeutic Riding Program with Wynonna Judd, The Parent Project with Charles Osgood of CBS’s Sunday Morning, and the VSA Arts of NJ. He can be seen and heard almost every week on the Grand Ole Opry with legendary instrumentalist and singer Jesse McReynolds.
Bass player Ron Greenstein has toured Europe and the US with the Lewis Brothers and currently plays bass for folk icons Tom Paxton and The Chad Mitchell Trio.
Acoustic guitarist Bob Harris has performed, produced and recorded nearly 1000 albums and sessions with some of the industry’s top acoustic and country musicians. A member of fiddle legend Vassar Clements’ band for 15 years, Bob was also the first place winner of Guitar Player International’s “Ultimate Guitar Competition” in 1992.
211 E. High StreetAfter a mad flurry of guesses among several fierce competitors, our winner is Debby Weber of Pottstown! She gets a 30-minute massage from High Street Yoga. Thanks to Barbara of High Street Yoga for the donation!
Main Line Financial Advisors occupy the former S. Miller & Son building at 211 East High Street. The image in the Positively!Pottstown header was taken from a photo of their front doorway. In addition to the intricate woodwork, I liked the blue of the letters and tried to mimic it in my header. Then I went for the Curlz MT font to mimic the woodwork. Totally amateur design sensibility!
S. Miller & Sons was a men’s clothing shop. The Millers were a German-Jewish family that came to Pottstown in the 1880s according to a story about a small Jewish cemetery on State Road in an Upper Pottsgrove newsletter from April 2009. (Unfortunately, the direct link to that newsletter seems to be broken now.)
There are just so many funky factoids out there in cyberspace. Check out this link from a publication called “The Clothier and Furnisher, A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Men’s Apparel,” established in 1872 and published out of New York City. On page 50 of their February 1895 issue, it says, “As soon as their alterations are completed, S. Miller and Son, clothiers, Pottstown, Pa., will occupy the store at 211 High Street.” S. Miller & Son Facade
In another publication called The Railroad Trainman, Vol. 25 from 1908, S. Miller & Son is listed as being located at 221 High Street. Maybe that was a typo? Apparently, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen allowed members to list businesses in their towns, encouraging other members to patronize them. Hmmm… my paternal grandfather spent his whole career working for the Reading Railroad out of Pottstown. Wonder if he was a member…
Main Line Financial Advisors does financial planning for individuals, families, businesses and institutions, along with integrated accounting and tax planning. The company was founded by Alfred “Fred” F. Matarazzo; his son Alfred “Al” F. Matarazzo, Jr. is the managing partner. In 2005 they expanded and developed their Pottstown office. They also have offices in Narberth and Malvern.
ANOTHER HINT TO HELP THE DETECTIVES “SEE” IT: There’s a pattern on the windows above the woodwork. You have to look at the image on the blog. It’s not visible on the Facebook icon. If you’re walking in the 200-400 blocks of High Street, try to find the pattern on the windows and you will be led to the woodwork. (Hope the glass still looks like that…)
There were a few comments on the Positively!Pottstown facebook page. So far we’ve got Positively Pasta and the Elks Lodge as guesses — but no winners.
Some great news: Barbara Kosiewicz of High Street Yoga has offered a 30-minute massage to the winner! Check out her blog here.
Okay, here’s a hint to narrow it down, so everyone can go out to High Street after work and solve this mystery: The building is in the 200-400 blocks of High Street.
SEE THE COMMENT BELOW FOR THE RUNNING LIST OF GUESSES!
For a while now, I’ve wanted to talk about the image in the header of the Positively!Pottstown blog. I’ve thought about holding a contest to see if anyone can guess what building in town has the architectural detail shown in the photo. But, frankly, I worry that there might be a really long, cyberspace silence, and that’s not good for a blog’s business! Okay, what the heck? I’m a writer, I’ve endured plenty of rejections, let’s do it anyway!
Does anyone know where those little, carved wood curlicues live?
Hints:
They’re on High Street.
You do not need to trespass or climb a ladder or creep through alleyways to see them.
You do not need special glasses or binoculars, just an eye for detail.
I’m kinda hoping the people who own/use the building won’t give it away, although I’ll gladly post about the history of the building, its current use and some more photos once it’s identified.
I’ll scare up a gift certificate to somewhere for the first person who identifies the building.Let’s have a deadline of tomorrow at 3 pm.
The view from Jason Bobst’s third floor office in Borough Hall provides a glimpse of the work he faces every day, managing what is essentially a small city that has a small-town feel.
As Pottstown’s Borough Manager, Bobst oversees not only the typical activities of local government, but three other entities that are more often associated with cities and usually governed by separate entities. These are the Pottstown Area Rapid Transit system, the Pottstown Municipal Airport and the Borough Authority, which provides water and sewer to residents and businesses. That’s a lot of responsibility for any manager, but 28-year-old Bobst takes it all in stride and is already making his own mark on the position.
“One of my biggest goals is to get citizens more active,” he said. And the key to that is communication. By using technology more effectively and holding face-to-face meetings in every ward, Bobst hopes people are encouraged to get involved.
The Borough now sends out a newsletter three times per year, and there is a monthly show on PCTV about various aspects of local government. On the odd-numbered months, the program features Bobst and an elected Councilor. On the even-numbered months, a department head is featured, talking about what exactly their department does.
Another use of technology is the implementation of the Swiftreach Network, or Swift911. Residents and businesses can sign up to receive calls in the event of an emergency or for getting important information. More about this service can be found on the Borough’s home page and, if you’re interested, you can then fill out this form.
These communication efforts are coupled with the recently-instituted ward meetings, which take place in the neighborhoods and give residents a chance to get to know and directly address their elected officials, police, a public works representative and Bobst.
Jason is a 2004 graduate of St. Joseph’s University, where he majored in business administration and political science. He stepped up to Borough Manager a little over a year ago, after starting out as Assistant Borough Manager in September 2007 and serving as interim Codes Manager and interim Finance Director before taking the helm.
In view of the recently proposed amendments to the rental ordinance and the Pottstown Partnership coming to fruition, he said, “There’s a concerted effort now to get things done, being pro-active rather than reactive. We need to keep setting goals and benchmarks and have a plan of attack. I may not always have the answers, but I know where to get the answers.”
Eventually, he’d like to get his master’s degree in public administration.
“It’ll happen, but I’ve been kind of busy since starting this job,” he said with a smile.
What does he listen to on his iPod to relax?
“I like the whole range of classic rock. Chicago, Led Zeppelin, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Phish. I grew up listening to WOGL.” Jason Bobst, Borough Manager
That’s 98.1 FM, an oldies radio station that plays a lot of songs that some of us – ahem – listened to when they first came out in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
And Bobst admitted to being a Parrot Head, a commonly used term for a Jimmy Buffett fan. He hasn’t missed a concert since he was 15! So, we’ll let Jimmy wrap this up, tug on our heartstrings and carry us through the weekend. This is his 1974 hit, “Come Monday.”
Exactly the kind of issue that would benefit from analysis and advocacy by the First Suburbs coalition is how PennDOT and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) set transportation funding priorities.
From their website: “The Southeastern Pennsylvania First Suburbs Project is a regional coalition of community leaders from developed suburbs that have joined together to harness their communities’ power by directly engaging citizens to affect policies and practices that will lead to the stabilization and revitalization of their communities.”
They’re holding the Building One Pennsylvania Summit tomorrow, Friday, July 16, 2010, 10:00am – 4:00pm (doors open at 9:00) at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, 750 E. King Street, Lancaster, PA.
I know a few Pottstown residents are going and I hope someone is going to officially represent the Borough.
In a recent presentation to Pottstown Borough Council, a representative of the DVRPC described how the funding for the repair/replacement of the historic Keim Street Bridge wouldn’t be available for approximately 6-8 more years, or completed for at least 10 years. See The Mercury’s video here. The issue was also discussed by Jeff Leflar on the Code Blue blog.
In the video, Council President Stephen Toroney notes that, ideally, the bridge would be re-aligned with Keim Street AND Keystone Boulevard would be extended to the Route 422 Stowe interchange, thus allowing Pottstown to be part of the 422 flow rather than cut off from it. Toroney rightly pointed out, “That’s the key to our Bethlehem Steel site. To get some businesses in there.” He asked about the possibility of fast-tracking and a public/private partnership to make those things happen. It wasn’t clear, due to the video editing, whether the DVRPC representative ever responded directly to those questions.
I would not let this go. And I don’t mean that in a confrontational way. I mean that there is a strong regional planning case to be made for addressing this root-cause, which is directly connected to jobs and fiscal stability, through recurring dialogue and a working relationship with these agencies specifically around this issue.
This problem is reminiscent of the ultimate effect on many of our nation’s cities of the Federal Highway Act of 1956, which funded the interstate highway system. Massive roadways and overpasses cut downtowns off from their rivers and diverted people, in their vehicles, away from city centers, opening up the countryside to housing and malls – what we now call “sprawl” – and leading to the disinvestment in urban cores.
On a smaller scale, that is what the current PennDOT/DVRPC transportation funding schedule perpetuates – the continued re-routing of traffic (and consumer dollars) around a town center/small city. This funding schedule, even if unintended, is in effect their public policy. It is a policy that, due to inadequate access for the movement of raw materials and finished goods, actually also hinders private sector economic development dollars from flowing into Pottstown.
For Pottstown’s former industrial sites ever to be re-used to their fullest, the newly formed Pottstown Partnership (which includes the County) will want to hit the ground running in talks with PennDOT and DVRPC to re-consider the current timeline on the Keim Street Bridge and to get the Keystone Boulevard extension on the table. The Partnership will also need to actively engage property owners, determining any clean-up and marketing strategies that will put these sites back in use. They are absolutely essential to Pottstown’s revitalization. None of these efforts toward the Pottstown Industrial Complex should be news. They are part of Goal #1 in the Action Plan of the Pottstown Economic Development Strategic Plan (March 2008).
There may be a history here (of inaction) such that funding agencies might be leery of directing resources where they’re skeptical about their ultimate benefit. Fair enough. That’s where the Borough – on its own and in the context of the Partnership – needs to step up and be pro-active with property owners, pro-active in seeking grants for brownfields redevelopment and putting together a package of other financing incentives, and leading the way in this kind of First Suburbs conversation.
I was in downtown Pottstown last week (interviewing your hard-working Borough Manager, Jason Bobst; look for that post in a couple days!), and I dropped in at Martha’s Famous on High Street in search of some cornbread.Martha's FamousI’d been there months ago, when they first opened, but it was at night, and they’d actually run out of cornbread by then. Yes, I can vouch for the BBQ chicken and the candied yams – authentic, tasty and filling. But I’d been thinking about the cornbread ever since.
It was just after 3 pm, and dinner was just a glimmer on the horizon, so I ordered up two pieces of cornbread and sat right down at a table in their large, air-conditioned dining area and it was just heavenly – all buttery and moist and lightly sweet. (Would one piece of cornbread have sufficed? I think not.)
Whenever I make cornbread, I follow the recipe on the box, and it’s always kind of dry. Do I ever learn my lesson and add more butter or oil to make it moist? No. I just keep following the directions. I really need to cut loose every now and then, to take a chance, to live! Or I can just stop in at Martha’s Famous and get my fix there, because there’s also some sweet potato pie and a pineapple upside down cake that I still have to try…
Check them out online and use this coupon to get $3 off any order of $20 or more.
Martha’s Famous
259 E. High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
484-624-4131
Dine in, take-out or delivery
Hours
Mon-Thurs 7am-10pm
Fri-Sat 7am-11pm
Sun 11:30am-6pm
I posted this earlier today at The Mercury (as Number5). The Mercury/First Suburbs project asked for feedback about proposed changes to the rental registration/inspection ordinance.
” Even Keel has hit the nail on the head. The current ordinances were/are not being enforced. Maybe some combination of revisions to the current ordinances would be ideal, although I’m skeptical of yet more layers & tougher sanctions in an environment where the most basic enforcement hasn’t even been tried yet. And Meadowdeb makes a good point: there are existing laws regarding landlord/tenant rights. An understanding of these must be explicitly part of the discussion.
Bottom line: passing ordinances is not that hard. Enforcement is and that’s been the problem. There should be much more discussion about how enforcement would work. Notifying tenants & landlords, scheduling inspections, showing up for inspections, re-scheduling, collecting fees, procedures with the courts, setting up payment systems for each instance where money might change hands, etc. This should all be thought out before changing an ordinance. What will be the day-to-day reality of any ordinance, even the existing ones?
What is the current Codes Dept. capable of handling right now on top of current duties? I admit I have no idea, so I have to imagine… I’m picturing an inspector coming back to the office from a day of inspections and re-inspections. Did he/she record the inspection results in a handheld device? Does he/she sit at a computer and input the data into a database that’s been set up… by whom? Does he/she hand a pile of papers to an administrative assistant? Are there paper files and computer files? How long does it take to send out the letter telling the landlord what repairs need to be done? The next day or a week or a month? How many units are we talking about here? How much time does a landlord get to do repairs? Does the landlord call to schedule the re-inspection, or is it put in the violation letter? Do inspections start in different parts of town simultaneously? Is there one inspector assigned to each ward or do they work all over town? How do you track the data that’s being collected so that you know how many units/buildings you’ve been to and whether your program is succeeding so that you can report the numbers to the taxpayers on a quarterly basis on your website? Just going through this exercise makes me think annual inspections are too much. By the time you’ve closed a lot of files, it’ll almost be time to give 60-day notice for the next inspection. And does any governmental entity really want to be collecting/tracking security deposits??
I’m not ashamed of having been a bureaucrat in a previous life. As a planner, maybe it’s in my DNA. Bureaucracies can be set up efficiently to accomplish a public policy goal, or they can be an unworkable, expensive nightmare. “Good government” – Pottstown has to be going for that. So, what, EXACTLY, needs to be in place to make enforcement a reality? And can the program pay for itself – salaries, paper, postage, computer & database management? Has there been any discussion based on facts – like the number of rental units in town – to justify proposed fees or prove fiscal sustainability?
Is it possible that the current ordinances could get things moving in the right direction & allow the Borough to put the proper systems in place and then re-assess the program after a year or two of operation? In any event, why not take the time now, in a public roundtable setting, to vet any changes or even new enforcement of existing laws with the stakeholders (landlords, tenants, concerned homeowners)? Then allow for Council to have a public discussion and accept public comment over the course of several meetings. It’s good of The Mercury to do this, but it really should be happening face-to-face at Borough Hall, with civility a top priority.
Proceeding with caution & collaborating could avoid lawsuits, save tax dollars in the long run, and get everyone a program that mostly (nothing’s perfect) achieves the desired outcomes: safe & decent housing and neighborhoods, housing stock that maintains or increases in value, and more positive perceptions of the town, which actually have a basis in reality.
Positively Pottstown blog 
