A New Dawn For Downtown Easton

English: Skyline of Easton, PA from Lafayette College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Dear Bobbleheads on Pottstown Borough Council, please notice Easton is not salivating over Section 8 housing projects and cheap townhomes.  There is job creation, shopping, dining, entertainment and population growth in the coveted 25- 35 y/o demographic and the seniors with disposable income segment. MARKET RATE HOUSING is attracting people with jobs!  Easton had 26,800 people as of the 2010 census so we are talking a Pottstown-sized community. Take a field trip!

“We threw every zoning and land development regulation away,” Bradley said. “We opened the frontier to the investment that happened after that.”

Diane Haviland and her husband, Ken Greene, are empty-nesters who found Easton’s downtown by accident. Preparing for their retirement years in 2010, they bought 4 acres in Harmony Township, N.J., to build their 3,500-square-foot dream home, complete with a pool, library and bar.

They’d rented an apartment in Easton while they built what they assumed would be their last home. The designs were drawn and building permits issued, but as they stood on the empty lot ready to turn the bulldozers loose, Haviland and Greene had a joint epiphany.

“We looked at each other and thought, why would we leave Easton? We love it there,” Haviland said. “So, now I have plans for a beautiful home and 4 acres for sale.”

The couple bought a vacant three-story building on Centre Square.  After a more than $1 million renovation, they’ll rent out the first floor and live out their years in the floors above.

Read more:   http://www.mcall.com/news/local/easton/mc-easton-downtown-boom-20130601,0,4168076,full.story

Town By Town: Somerton, A Suburban Feel In The City

Somerton is rare among Philadelphia neighborhoods: Its borders are fairly clear.

“It’s really more of a square,” says Seth Kaplan, 28, who grew up in Bustleton and chose to buy his first home here in 2009.  The house – where Kaplan, chief of staff for State Rep. Kevin Boyle, lives with wife Melissa, son Dylan, 3, and daughter Michaela, 2 – had “a low sale price in a great neighborhood,” though it “needed to be completely gutted.”

Easily discernible borders are just one thing in Somerton’s favor.  Another, says Keller-Williams real estate agent Mike Fitzpatrick, is a “strong sense of community and the political wherewithal to keep it that way.”

With a view of Montgomery County to the northwest and Bucks County to the northeast, Somerton has the feel of the suburbs without being there.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/town-by-town/20130602_Town_By_Town__Somerton__a_suburban_feel_in_the_city.html#dPS2LuesjGDwoLux.99

‘Doc-In-A-Box’ Centers On Rise For Urgent Care

Temple University logo (no text, “T” only) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Only a week after Shannon Cropper first noticed Temple University‘s cherry-and-white “T” on a ReadyCare Center at the Pavilion in Jenkintown, he found himself sitting in an examination room there with his 9-year-old daughter, Kennedy, who had tumbled off her bicycle and twisted her ankle.

“I’m having a hard time walking on it,” Kennedy said as she rested the injured joint on her father’s lap.

Just 45 minutes after entering the ReadyCare’s bright waiting room, Kennedy had had her vital signs taken, been examined by a doctor, and had her swollen ankle X-rayed.  Father and daughter were now waiting for a radiologist a few miles down the road at Temple University Hospital to read the film.

“It’s well-organized,” Cropper said of ReadyCare, one of a growing number of urgent-care centers set up by hospitals like Temple. “My first impression is that this is amazing.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/20130602__Doc-in-a-box__centers_on_rise_for_urgent_care.html#uUgTPq9FCI56bmds.99

Cops: Nine People Shot In 24 Hours In Philly

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nine people were shot in a 24-hour period in the city this weekend, including six people who were injured in two separate triple shootings, according to police.

The bloodshed began at 11:53 p.m. Friday, when an unknown person or persons opened fire on Parrish Street near 12th in North Philadelphia.  Injured in that hail of gunfire was an 18-year-old man who was shot once in the buttocks and taken to Hahnemann University Hospital in stable condition; a 17-year-old boy who was shot once in the left hip and once in the back and was taken to the same hospital in critical condition; and a 19-year-old man who was shot in the right leg and chest and taken to Hahnemann in stable condition, police said.

Cops did not release a motive or suspects in the shootings.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/Cops-Nine-people-shot-in-24-hours-in-Philly.html#i8LBbMZTWJWdkOzq.99

Party Atmosphere Aids Painters Working To Brighten Reading Blocks

Replacing their button-down collars for T-shirts, employees of several local firms and organizations grabbed scrapers and paintbrushes and helped 20 families in the 6th Ward spruce up the facades of their homes Saturday.

It was part of Operation Facelift, run by Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Berks Inc. since 1989.

This year it focused on the 200 and 300 blocks of North Second Street and the 100 block of Elm Street.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=482280