I-LEAD School Rocks Downtown Reading’s Redevelopment Plans

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

When CNA Insurance announced Monday that it was donating its downtown Reading office building to I-LEAD Charter School, it was done with quite a bit of fanfare.

The sidewalk outside the five-story building at Fourth and Penn streets was filled with people. Speakers praised CNA’s generosity and the work I-LEAD does.

Applause erupted as a ceremonial key exchanged hands.

But as the celebratory din diminished, some questions were raised.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=515758

Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority (PDIDA) Is On The Move!

Like the little engine that could, Sheila Dugan has taken the throttle of the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority (PDIDA) and is chugging uphill toward her vision of a revitalized central business district.

Unlike Main Street Managers in the past, this dynamo hit the ground running and is pulling PDIDA into the 21^st century at warp speed.  The PDIDA board has been reorganized, assessments are being collected, activities are being scheduled and a new cooperation is being fostered between PDIDA, borough hall, PAID, the TriCounty Community Network and other entities in Pottstown.

Sheila actually lives in Pottstown, is a downtown business owner (she and her husband own Grumpy’s) and her children attend the Pottstown School District.  Sheila is INVESTED in Pottstown (a missing component in past Main Street Managers).

The perception of business owners in the downtown, by the general public, is poor.  Sheila is trying to raise awareness that most businesses downtown are Mom and Pop operations.  In many cases, one owner, one employee.  Trying to “do it all” six days a week from open to close does not leave much time for people to attend PDIDA meetings (or much of anything else).

To combat the time problem, Sheila has come up with an innovative solution – block captains.  The block captains will talk with their assigned business owners and attend the meetings to speak for the group they represent.  The block captains will then convey the meeting results back to their group.  Email is also being used to keep PDIDA members updated, in addition to block captains and meetings.

Sheila has been working closely with the Pottstown Police Department and Borough Manager Mark Flanders toward a solution for the vagrant problem downtown.  Sheila said Mark Flanders and the Pottstown Police Department have been extremely helpful and cooperative in working toward a solution for this problem.  You will see more police officers downtown walking a beat along with other measures that are aimed at making the downtown clean, safe and a welcoming atmosphere for shoppers, arts and restaurant patrons.

PDIDA is also working with the numerous social services agencies in Pottstown.  These agencies will also play a role in managing the homeless and idle population that have been congregating downtown and hampering revitalization efforts.

Sheila works hand-in-hand with Pottstown Area Industrial Director Executive Director Steve Bamford to help market Pottstown and fill empty store fronts with new businesses.  She said Steve Bamford has been great to work with.  Marketing Pottstown is not an easy job.

Another important cooperative effort taking place is between the Pottstown Codes Department and PDIDA.  Every building within the PDIDA zone is being reviewed and code violations are being identified where they exist.  Clean and safe buildings are certainly more appealing to consumers!

Like many organizations, PDIDA has lost a large percentage of its funding.  Sheila said individual and corporate sponsors are desperately needed as well as volunteers.  For example, the PDIDA office downtown needs volunteers to help staff the office.  Sheila is also working on fundraising efforts and is applying for grants to help fund events and projects.

While we are on the subject of funding and budgets, Sheila is Pottstown’s official Main Street Manager but receives only a fraction of the salary the former managers were paid.  This is due to the loss of funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for the Main Street Program.  Pottstown is fortunate to have someone willing to take on this herculean task, put in the time, do the hard work and get results on a shoestring budget.

One last thing before I give you a list of upcoming events downtown.  A while ago, one of my readers asked me if the façade program was still in existence.  I emailed the former Main Street Manager, identified myself and posed my reader’s question.  I never received the courtesy of a reply.  I asked Sheila about this during our conversation and she told me that the façade program does indeed still exist and there is still money available.

Some exciting PDIDA events to look forward to include:

June 8 – 2^nd Annual Iron Horse, motorcycle show

June 20 – Rumble Downtown (includes Misty May-Treanor and live music).

July 20 – 2^nd Annual Sidewalk Sale

October 12 – 6^th Annual Riverfest – PDIDA is taking on this event and adding an evening component from 6pm – 8pm which will include live bands, artists, beer garden, a Bike/Art event and a TriPAC show at 8pm. Downtown restaurants will be participating.

Sheila said she is always looking for participants, live music, artists and street performers for PDIDA events.  I will again put in a plug for individual and corporate sponsors.

The Pottstown Visitors Center aka the PDIDA office is located at 17 North Hanover Street in downtown Pottstown.  The phone number is (610) 323-5400.  Sheila Dugan is the Main Street Manager and her direct line is (484) 948-6061.  The website is http://downtownpottstown.org/

Pottstown Mayor Bonnie Heath Tops Roy’s Rants Most Wanted List

I never thought the day would come when someone in this community would irritate me more than Mr. Hylton.  However, that day has now arrived.

Mayor Heath’s recent behavior is that of a petulant child.  The mayor stormed out of the last Pottstown Borough Council meeting after not getting her way on a vote.  Following close behind was her husband (Mr. Mayor), who as I reported in my last council coverage, made a derogatory comment about the collective intelligence of our council.

Pottstown has a weak mayor, strong council form of government.  We employ a professional manager (Jason) and the council dictates the course of action we take as a community.  Everyone takes direction from council.  Those seven elected officials, representing each ward of our borough, make the decisions that shape our future.  The Office of the Mayor is ceremonial (aka spirit bunny/ribbon cutter) and in the event of a tie vote on council the mayor is called on to cast the deciding vote.  The mayor also “oversees” the police department, which again appears to be fairly ceremonial as Chief Flanders runs the department.

After Bonnie’s stellar performance last month she went on WPAZ to bad mouth council and whine about the PDIDA vote, which Mo Gallant reported on her Pottstown’s Blog.  Again, is this a professional way for a mayor to act?  She may only be ceremonial; however, she is an elected official!  I suggest Bonnie run for council if being mayor does not have enough “teeth” for her liking.  Stop trying to make your job more important than it is!

Now we come to the most disturbing and egregious offense the mayor committed recently.  During the dedication ceremony at Pottsgrove Manor a few weekends ago, Bonnie approached two Montgomery County Commissioners and pushed for the PDIDA Downtown Lighting Project to be the number one priority for funding as Pottstown’s revitalization project.  Pottstown Borough Council had already voted and approved the Gallery School project as our top priority in March.  A presentation was made to Montgomery County, by the borough, supporting the Gallery School project as our number one priority for funding.  There was much debate by the Councilors about what Pottstown’s priority project should be at March’s council meeting.  A roll call vote was requested by President Toroney and the Gallery School project won.  This should have been the end of any debate!

In Bonnie’s “talks” with the Commissioners she relayed that the Galley School would profit greatly if the county funded the purchasing of their building.  This “information” was taken back to the committee who decides the funding.  This “information” is one of the reasons cited for their hesitation in funding the Gallery School project.  The final decisions have yet to be made, but Pottstown may get cut out completely for this round of revitalization dollars.  Once again, it appears to the county that Pottstown does not have its act together – a common complaint from them.  Unity of vision and speaking with one voice is essential when applying for grants and any kind of funding.  The ULI Report remarked that Pottstown’s in-fighting was a serious problem.

I must say this behavior is shocking.  This one woman side-show could not only hurt Pottstown but it could hurt one of the few businesses on High Street.  Council has gotten its act together and has worked better as a group lately.  They can agree to disagree.  As Councilor Gibson stated after Bonnie stormed out of the meeting – he doesn’t get mad when a vote doesn’t go his way; he has to respect his fellow Councilors and the will of the majority.  That is how things work in a democracy.  This meddling by the mayor could seriously jeopardize our downtown revitalization.  The mayor should be held directly responsible for any negative repercussions that her loose cannon behavior causes.  I again call upon Pottstown Borough Council to formally reprimand/censure, whatever terminology you would like to use, Mayor Bonnie Heath for totally overstepping her authority as Mayor of Pottstown; and knowingly and willfully undermining a binding vote of council (toward the revitalization of our central business district.)

Lastly, Mayor Heath was asked to do something that actually falls within her limited realm of mayoral responsibilities.  The mayor was asked to speak at a welcoming event for a family who is bicycling across the United States.  They were making a stop in Pottstown for the BMX event at Trilogy Park.  The mayor agreed to speak at the welcoming event on May 26^th at PMMC.  As part of the welcoming event, the family was to be presented with gift certificates to cover their meals while in town.  The mayor also agreed to go to three restaurants to get donated gift certificates for the family.  On May 26^th, the Mayor never showed up at the hospital to welcome the family nor did she speak with any businesses.  After the ride was finished down High St., people went and got the three gift certificates and presented them to the family the next day.  If you check out the family’s blog, they wrote a nice article about their stay in Pottstown.

http://www.ridethenation.org/1/post/2011/05/good-food-good-friends-good-racing.html

The next council meeting is Monday, June 13^th at 7:00 p.m. in Pottstown Borough Hall.  If you are as outraged by this behavior as I am, I would invite you to address council during the portion of the meeting that allows residents to comment.

Personally, I think our mayor should resign.  This is disgraceful behavior and harmful to Pottstown.  She should hang her head in shame!

Pottstown Mayor Storms Out Of Council Meeting After PDIDA Vote

Pottstown Mayor Bonnie Heath stormed out of tonight’s Pottstown Borough Council meeting after agenda item 7 did not pass (followed by her husband who made a derogatory remark about Council’s collective intelligence).  A roll call vote was requested by President Toroney.   The vote went as follows: Chomnuk – No, Gibson – Yes, Kirkland– Yes, Rhoads – No, Weand – No, Toroney – No.   Councilor Allen was absent.

During the Mayor’s lengthy report, Bonnie spent a great deal of time asking Council to vote yes for agenda item 7 which was a resolution authorizing the filing for funds with Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) in the amount of $60,000 for the Main Street, Exit Grant, New Communities program.  What this means to the average taxpayer is that by voting yes the Borough of Pottstown would have been on the hook for the $60,000 matching funds if the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority (PDIDA) failed to raise the other $60,000.  If PDIDA failed to raise the necessary $30,000 contribution each year, the Borough of Pottstown, by default, would have had to match the DCED grant.

The Finance Committee recommended that Council vote no because there is too much risk to the Borough to move forward, according to Finance Chairman and Fifth Ward Councilor Dan Weand.  The confidence in PDIDA’s ability to match this grant is very questionable.  According to Mayor Heath, PDIDA’s assessments would generate $42,000 a year leaving a positive balance for PDIDA of $12,000 each year.  Mayor Heath said there is no risk to Pottstown to approve this grant match because the DCED felt PDIDA would be able to match the funding based on their assessment figures.

President Toroney said PDIDA should look more toward volunteerism instead of paying a Main Street Manager.  He referenced Pottstown’s Riverfront Park as an excellent example of volunteerism.  President Toroney also said that Council does support PDIDA and downtown Pottstown, however, in this instance the majority of Council feels the financial risk is too great.  Councilor Kirkland said he was confident that PDIDA would be able to raise the needed funds.  Councilor Gibson said he supported PDIDA and voted yes for the resolution but did so “hoping” he made the right decision.

The majority of this money goes to pay the Main Street Manager’s salary.  Frankly, my experience with Mr. Wildrick is that he does not return emails.  Other than purple lights on the trees downtown and the Hometown Holiday events in December, did we get our bang for the buck in a year and a half?????  Evidently there are four members of Council who have the same question.  The other project Mr. Wildrick was working on was a skyline project to outline the downtown buildings like Boat House Row.  While this is a cool idea, it might make more sense to have a full downtown before we worry about ambient lighting.

Councilor Rhoads wondered how many businesses downtown are doing well.  If a number of businesses close that would hamper PDIDA’s ability to generate the sufficient funds to pay the DCED grant match.

President Toroney also stated that PDIDA needs to come up with a vision and a long-range plan.  We agree.

Councilor Gibson made the suggestion that PDIDA expand their territory to include more businesses in Pottstown.  The example he gave was the High Street Redner’s.   Redner’s makes money and as a company they give money to community projects and events in the form of corporate sponsorships.  Councilor Gibson said there are businesses that would love to be allowed to join PDIDA but are outside of their limited territory.

This vote means that unless PDIDA finds private sector funding (which is available) they will not have the funds to pay the Main Street Manager’s salary.

My suggestion to PDIDA is that you contact places like Lancaster and York, who have strong downtown organizations, and see what information you can glean from them.  I am sure they would gladly be of assistance and would be a wealth of information.

My other suggestion is that Mayor Heath should receive a formal reprimand from Council for leaving the meeting before adjournment.  As Councilor Gibson stated, every vote does not go his way but he respects the opinions and decisions of his fellow Councilors and does not get mad about it.  Councilors Rhoads and Weand echoed Councilor Gibson’s sentiments and were thanked by President Toroney.

Mayor Heath is an elected official who has an obligation to attend these meetings.  Because there were only six Councilors in attendance this evening, had there been a tie vote, the mayor casts the tie-breaking vote.  By leaving after agenda item 7, the mayor missed the voting for the remaining six agenda items! 

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!

West Reading, An Economic Success Story

Read this inspirational article about how West Reading transformed their stagnant downtown into a destination shopping area with 144 stores, restaurants and art galleries.

http://www.newpa.com/strengthen-your-community/success-stories/the-making-of-main-street/index.aspx