U.S. Added Surprisingly Strong 204,000 Jobs In October

The U.S. added a surprising 204,000 jobs in October, meaning private-employer hiring much more than offset the effect on jobs from the 16-day government shutdown.

“Maybe the government should be shut down more often,” said Kenneth Mayland, economist at Clearview Economics, Pepper Pike, Ohio.

The Labor Department on Friday also revised September and August job gains by a combined 60,000.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent last month from 7.2 percent in September, said the agency.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5031098-74/jobs-added-government#ixzz2k4vUYkAe 
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With Financing Woes Resolved, Construction Begins At Allentown’s Schoen’s Building

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With its financing woes behind it, construction began today on the $9.8 million renovation of the former Schoen’s Furniture Store in Allentown.

The 612 W. Hamilton St. structure has now been dubbed the Trifecta Building after its primary tenant, Trifecta Technologies, the software firm that will occupy the top three of the building’s six floors.

During an open house and construction launch party today, Trifecta founder and CEO Doug Pelletier expressed excitement about being part of the City Center neighborhood’s ongoing revitalization.

“We’re coming downtown, and we’re not just coming here to work,” Pelletier said. “We’re going to drink in your bars, we’re going to eat in your restaurants, we’re going to cheer at the arena. That’s what we love about coming here.”

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/allentown/index.ssf/2013/11/with_financing_woes_resolved_c.html

Mobile Meth Lab Explodes In Kingston Twp.

English: Map of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania highlighting Kingston Township (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

KINGSTON TWP. – Three people were injured Thursday after a mobile methamphetamine lab “blew up,” spraying lighter fluid and Draino on the occupants of a moving vehicle, according to police.

Two occupants of the vehicle and a good Samaritan who tried to help them were injured after the one-pot meth lab – which uses a plastic bottle to mix ingredients – exploded in the 700 block of Carverton Road about 10:20 a.m., police said.

Police were called to the area to a report of a vehicle fire and arrived to find a black Chevrolet Equinox in the road with smoke billowing from the passenger’s side front window, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in court.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/mobile-meth-lab-explodes-in-kingston-twp-1.1582116

Changing Skyline: For A West Schuylkill Site, Time To Bridge Its Moat

English: 30th Street Station In Philadelphia. Roughly speaking, the center of commuting in Philly, the former center of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Philly’s main Amtrak station (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  There are some really exciting projects going on in Philadelphia as of late.

To hear the champions of Philadelphia’s university district tell it, the west bank of the Schuylkill is poised to give Center City’s skyline a run for its money.

Last week, Brandywine Realty Trust announced plans for its third riverfront skyscraper, a sharply faceted, 47-story office-and-apartment tower at 30th and Walnut Streets. West Philadelphia office space now commands higher rents than the aging behemoths in the city’s legacy downtown. Such is the clamor to live close to the big campuses that at least five residential high-rises are in the works.

It’s nice to see the city’s skyline stretching west. But a clutch of shimmering skyscrapers do not a neighborhood make.

Overlooked in all the hoopla over Brandywine’s latest project, FMC Tower at Cira Centre South, are the conditions on the ground. The site is cut off from the Schuylkill waterfront by a large, triangular moat, which looks down on the train tracks that feed into 30th Street Station and is one of several barriers that make walking there an unpleasant, and often hair-raising, experience.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/home/20131108_Changing_Skyline__For_a_West_Schuylkill__time_to_bridge_its_moat.html#4677tKeG0ScuYbfb.99

50-Story Hotel Proposal For Center City Gains In Council

English: This is my own work, Public Domain Photograph, not copyrighted Ed Yakovich http://www.flickr.com/photos/10396190@N04 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

City Council moved closer Thursday to approving millions in tax breaks for a contentious 50-story hotel development in the heart of Center City.

The $280 million tower would include two hotel brands – W and Elements – built on a parking lot at 15th and Chestnut Streets, a half-acre plot adjacent to the disastrous 1991 fire that consumed One Meridian Plaza and resulted in the deaths of three firefighters.

The developers, Brook Lenfest and Jeffrey Cohen, say they can’t build there without tax increment financing (TIF), a deal in which they would borrow $33 million and repay the loan through tax breaks authorized by the city.

The project – and TIFs in general – has its critics, and the Council chamber was packed Thursday with lobbyists, supporters, and opponents, who waited out a hearing that lasted more than five hours.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20131108_50-story_hotel_proposal_for_Center_City_gains_in_Council.html#q0H4BjrGoLvkrcT5.99

Facing 4.3% Tax Hike, Pottstown Working To Close $330K Budget Deficit

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

POTTSTOWN, PA — The public got its first look at the proposed $38.3 million borough budget for 2014 on Wednesday night and saw a projected deficit of more than $330,000 — the rough equivalent of a 4.3 percent property tax increase.

Finance Director Janice Lee made the budget presentation, but did not identify how the administration will propose to close the deficit, which her presentation spreadsheet pegged more specifically at $332,308.

Other than a property tax increase, options for closing that budget gap could include additional revenue from other sources or decreased expenses.

Asked after the meeting how much of a tax hike would be needed to close that gap, Lee declined to speculate and noted that the administration has not yet made a recommendation to borough council, whose members listened to the budget presentation Wednesday night but asked no questions.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131107/facing-43-tax-hike-pottstown-working-to-close-330k-budget-deficit

Former Reading Police Official To Head Norristown Department

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

Editor’s note:  It appears Norristown had its act together when it came to finding the most qualified candidate for their new police chief.   Notice they didn’t just move up the next guy in line.  Making these kinds of smart hiring decisions will help Norristown revitalize, making it safer for residents and more attractive to development.

Mark E. Talbot Sr., Reading’s former deputy police chief who left in 2011 to lead a state bureau, has been appointed police chief in Norristown, the seat of Montgomery County.

After an eight-month search, borough council appointed Talbot, 43, on Wednesday.

He’ll be sworn in Nov. 19 and will be paid $117,000.

“It’s a great place for me to be,” Talbot said Thursday of Norristown. “They have some challenges that I can be a part of making a whole lot better.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=518524

iCreate Cafe To Host Baba Ghanooj Festival In Pottstown, November 12th & 13th

iCreate Cafe is located at 130 King Street, Pottstown.  You can check out their website at:

http://www.icreatecafe.org/ for more information.