Land Bank Ordinance Legislation To Boost Lot Cleanups In Pittsburgh

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of Pittsburgh’s vacant lots become dumping grounds for used tires. Others get filled with construction debris. Some are overwhelmed with knotweed, a thick and invasive species that has been a plague since Bill Harlak started cleaning lots 34 years ago.

Harlak is executive director of City Source Associates, the city’s property maintenance contractor. He attempts to keep tidy 7,200 vacant city-owned lots, plus 1,400 the Urban Redevelopment Authority owns. His dozen employees clean perhaps 2,000 lots a year, he said.

“There’s always more land,” he said.

Surplus city-owned property, whether a patch of grass or an abandoned home, drains about $5.5 million a year from the budget, according to the city planning department. The estimate includes costs to the Department of Public Works, Bureau of Building Inspection and police. A newly established land bank could reduce the cost — if it can succeed in selling abandoned properties.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5946208-74/lots-vacant-lot#ixzz30C8n1ZVa
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Sheryl Miller For Pottstown 3rd Ward Councilor

Budget Preparations Getting Started In Pottstown Borough

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POTTSTOWN, PA — Although Pottstown Borough Council has yet to be presented with a budget draft, the members of council’s finance committee have.

It is too soon to say if council will be able to avoid raising property taxes for two years in a row, but it is obviously on everybody’s mind.

Councilman Dan Weand, who chairs the finance committee, told council that he likes the way the borough finances are shaping up.

“So far, with 75 percent of the year passed, we’ve brought in 85 percent of the revenue and only seen 74 percent of the expenses,” said Weand.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131019/budget-preparations-getting-started-in-pottstown-borough

Reading City Council Moves On Plan To Fix Aging Sewer System

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The administration and City Council on Monday revved up the plan to fix the city’s estimated 170 miles of sanitary sewer pipe, awarding an $847,747 contract to a firm just to oversee other contractors’ investigations of what’s wrong.

Hazen & Sawyer, Philadelphia, will use the voluminous data coming in from those other probes to build a computer model of the pipe system, assess where its problems are and what repairs are needed, and evaluate which areas will need more capacity in coming years.

“It’s important to have a firm that can handle the data,” Deborah A.S. Hoag, city utility systems manager, told council members.

She said the data coming from other contractors – who have built a special map of the system and televised and smoke-tested many of the pipes – is phenomenally huge.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=516474

Pottstown Primary In 7th Ward Pits Conard vs. Kirkland

Editor’s note:  We here at Roy’s Rants are endorsing Cindy Conard.  We had the opportunity to meet Cindy a few weeks ago when we toured 716 Adams street (a disgusting rental property in 7th Ward) along with Cindy, her husband and some other civic minded folks.  Mr. Kirkland was not in attendance.  He was contacted, responded after four days and was more concerned about who the tenant told her story to rather than helping solve her problem.

Mr. Kirkland has had four years to do something to distinguish himself from the pack.  I am still waiting to see some actual leadership.  As for his being a strictly door-to-door person…why was Dan Weand going door-to-door for you, Joe?  Seems like that should be something you would do for yourself.  You won’t be losing 40 pounds again that way.  I must say many of Mr. Kirkland’s quotes in the article made me chuckle.

We think Pottstown could indeed benefit from some leadership before it turns into Camden or Chester.

Having attended several council meetings, Conard said she feels Pottstown needs to find a way to engage in a more constructive way with borough council.

“People interact with Pottstown when they have an issue,” she said.  But council needs to find the leadership to bring the town together in a “shared vision, you know, what we want to be when we grow up.”

Conard is a senior manager of quality assurance with Altria.

“I’m not a politician, but I do believe that Pottstown could benefit from some leadership,” she said.

Full article:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130517/NEWS01/130519285/pottstown-primary-in-7th-ward-pits-conard-vs-kirkland#full_story