New A.C. Mayor Vows Better Relationships With State, Casinos

English: Atlantic City (NJ) – The boardwalk in a rainy day (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Talk about shuffling the deck.

In an unexpected outcome, voters replaced two-term incumbent and Gov. Christie foe Mayor Lorenzo Langford with an openly gay Republican who rides a bicycle to work and whose current job is with the state board that oversees the governor’s tourism district.

“Atlantic City is amazing at how it reinvents itself,” Mayor-elect Don Guardian said Wednesday in a bit of understatement to supporters and press at his Atlantic Avenue headquarters.

The 60-year-old Guardian, an Eagle Scout who came to Atlantic City from Bergen County to be an executive with the local Boy Scouts, has spent 20 years as head of the city’s Special Improvement District, a division of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which oversees the state Tourism District.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20131107_New_A_C__mayor_vows_better_relationships_with_state__casinos.html#v7d88YUJXs8ogS5u.99

Pottstown Poised To Loosen Tree Rules

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note: What’s that I hear?  Is it the sound of wailing coming from the 200 block of Chestnut Street?  To say the tree ordinance was “a little bit extreme” is the understatement of the decade.

POTTSTOWN — Borough council is expected to vote Monday on a proposal to lessen the requirements for plantingtrees when a property is developed or re-developed.

Specifically, the vote would authorize Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. to advertise an amendment to the borough’s sub-division and land development ordinance, known as a SLDO, and would apply to “open space trees” and to “parking lot trees.”

“This is the result of an ongoing theme at the planning commission,” Garner told council during the Wednesday work session.

“We were calculating a large number of trees and then granting waivers and it was becoming problematic,” he said.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130906/NEWS01/130909576/pottstown-poised-to-loosen-tree-rules

Spencer Unveils Bold Plan For Reading

English: Downtown Reading, Pennsylvania; with Berks County courthouse on left; July 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reading Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer on Thursday outlined an ambitious agenda of more than a dozen initiatives, some already begun, to improve the finances and conditions of the city and its neighborhoods.

Speaking to several dozen people attending the Pennsylvania Economy League’s Issues Forum at the Berkshire Country Club in Bern Township, Spencer recounted his campaign themes and said: “Those are the promises; what people expect is performance.”

He then led the audience through a rapid-fire explanation of where the city is and where it’s planning to go in several key areas.

He said the city has set goals for each area and is requiring any department initiatives to match those goals, with their results to be measured.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=472999

Pottstown Sheds Regulations To Be More Business Friendly

The Fishwrap is reporting that an effort is finally being made to become more business friendly and welcoming to investors in our central business district.  I say, “Here, here!”  It’s about time. 

Driving down High Street should be an exciting experience, however, it is the opposite as of late.  Removing rules and procedures, that needlessly delay construction, is a good thing.  If we would work really hard at filling up all those empty retail spaces downtown, it would go a LONG WAY toward helping the tax base, drawing people downtown to spend money on goods and services and creating employment!  In the past we have worried about looks (and trees), at any cost, and you see the result.  Crickets!

Two Roy’s Rants thumbs up to Jason Bobst and Councilor Chomnuk for cutting through the Hyltonesque gobbledygook and trying to foster a climate that says “Pottstown is open for business”.