Our friend the Golden Cockroach has a few things to say about what’s happening in Pottstown. Very eye-opening commentary. History has a way of continually repeating itself in the borough. Perhaps because of political inbreeding. Time for some new blood and fresh air.
Tag Archives: Pottstown Borough Hall
Pottstown School Board Vice President Dennis Wausnock Dies At 77
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
POTTSTOWN — The word most spoken by those reflecting on Tuesday’s death of longtime public official Dennis Wausnock, who served in public offices in the borough for more than 20 years, was “dedicated.”
Wausnock, 77, died Tuesday at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center after a long battle with congestive heart failure.
A U.S. Air Force veteran of the Korean War, Wausnock’s public service included 16 years on the Pottstown Borough Council, where he served as both vice president and president.
He was three years into his second four-year term on the Pottstown School Board, also serving as vice president, when he passed away.
Dog Fighting In Pottstown: A Tragic Result Of Government Negligence…
EDITORIAL
Pottstown Borough Hall
Our scuz-busting friend, the Golden Cockroach, has more horrific news about the results of the absentee extractive investors who have taken over large numbers of properties in Pottstown. These folks buy up homes for “cents on the dollar” and rent them to anybody who will pay their rent in “cash”, **wink, wink. The properties are not maintained and the tenants are left to run wild and terrorize their neighbors.
The typical absentee extractive investor lives in a large suburban home, in a township where mostly upper middle class white folk congregate. They take their wads of “rental cash” and do “fun stuff” like take vacations to tropical locations with municipal employees (who also make wads of cash thanks to the overburdened taxpayers in Pottstown). While these folks are sunbathing, and having drinks with little umbrellas in them, back at the ranch all hell is breaking loose. OR when they aren’t sunbathing and having funky beverages south of the border, they are at home in their virtually crime-free suburban communities reading about Pottstown’s ills in the Mercury.
Meanwhile, Pottstown is falling apart and these rental properties are crumbling off their foundations. HOWEVER, unless “I” live next to a problem rental property it’s not my problem. These properties somehow pass inspection, they are somehow issued occupancy permits and everybody is happy. Well, except for the people who live in Pottstown and are being terrorized by these tenants who aren’t properly vetted before being allowed to occupy said rental properties. But again, unless it directly impacts me, it’s not my problem. RIGHT?
Apparently, this is the attitude emanating from Pottstown Borough Hall. This attitude comes across loud and clear when you read the latest post from the Golden Cockroach. You should be utterly incensed by the complete disregard for the residents of Pottstown. This stunning information confirms what we have always thought. The fact that it was said out loud by a municipal employee makes us sick.
The result of this blatant contempt for Pottstown is crime. Evidently, we can now add dog fighting to the list of heinous crimes being perpetrated in Pottstown and ignored by the very folks who are paid to look after the interests of the taxpayers. Why? Because many municipal employees do not live in Pottstown and these problems do not impact their quality of life. Ergo, it’s not my problem. They can read the Mercury on their iPad while they sip their morning latte from the safety of their suburb. After reading about “life in Pottstown” they can head into the office for another fun-filled day of work “screw over the taxpayer” behind bullet-proof glass. We think that’s a game like “pin the tail on the donkey” but we aren’t 100 percent sure. Can you hear them cackling as they drive over the borough line with their big fat paychecks?
So we have people with virtually no interest in seeing Pottstown revitalize running the show. These same people are allowing absentee extractive investors to make large profits at the expense of the fine folks who do live in Pottstown (and who pay very high taxes for these stellar municipal services brought to you by people who don’t give a shit crap).
Crime is running rampant and no matter now many miniature golf courses you build, you are still putting lipstick on a pig. Don’t get us wrong, miniature golf is fun and we expect to try it out soon, however there are far more important issues that need to be addressed. CRIME and JOBS should be the TOP priority of the municipal government. The job market should be high and crime should be low! It’s ass-backwards in Pottstown! It’s time for the taxpayers to say “enough” and hold these co-perpetrators accountable for Pottstown’s ruination.
Please take a few minutes to read Golden Cockroach’s latest post. Please watch the video about the animal abuse and dog fighting if you haven’t already seen it. The video is included in the post for your convenience.
Pottstown Fires Codes Worker Being Investigated For Taking Developer’s Check
Editor’s note: I think this incident illustrates how broken Pottstown‘s municipal government really is. Apparently, in the past, it was anything goes in borough hall. While, BM Flanders isn’t on my hit parade (and I am sure the feeling is mutual) at least he is handling this situation rather than sweeping it under the carpet. The carpet in borough hall is very lumpy…there has been a good deal of crap kicked under the rug in that building for years.
Frankly, we think Codes should be outsourced. It’s the poster child for a dysfunctional department. Maybe after a period of time passes, the department could be reinstated and an entirely new staff hired.
POTTSTOWN — The firing of zoning work leader Michelle Fry from the codes office is just one of the developments in the borough department that has recently received so much scrutiny.
Of Fry, formerly known as Michelle Borzick, Borough Manager Mark Flanders would say only that “she is no longer employed by the borough,” and said he would neither confirm nor deny that her departure was connected to a police investigation of her alleged acceptance of a check from developer and convicted thief Frank McLaughlin of East Coventry.
Fry, however, confirmed to The Mercury Tuesday that she is using a standing borough process to appeal her termination. She declined to comment further.
McLaughlin was sentenced in Montgomery County Court last month to three years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft by unlawful taking in connection with his use of devices to by-pass water meters so he would not have water bills at his property.
Pottstown Purchase Of iPads Questionable
Editor’s note: We SO agree! Chief BM has a spending addiction.
Going paperless, going green, embracing technology are goals of government these days, and Pottstown borough is getting on board.
A positive path to be sure, but it comes with a cost.
At Pottstown’s council meeting last week, it was announced that the borough has purchased 23 iPads for members of borough council, the mayor, and members of the borough authority.
Each iPad cost $389 for a total of $9,960 with the cost of the covers, Borough Manager Mark Flanders reported.
Police Investigating Pottstown Codes Worker Regarding Landlord’s Check
Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
POTTSTOWN — An employee of the borough codes office was escorted out of borough hall by police last week and her removal is likely connected to an investigation of whether the employee received a check from a developer and landlord for personal use, The Mercury has confirmed.
Several sources confirmed that Michelle Fry, formerly Michelle Borzick, a “zoning work leader” in the codes office, was escorted from the borough hall code office on Feb. 13.
Contacted Tuesday and asked for comment, Borough Manager Mark Flanders said, “We don’t comment on personnel matters.”
In an e-mail, Fry wrote Tuesday that she also had “no comment.”
Pottstown Reconsiders Government ‘Mission’ And ‘Core Values’
Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Editor’s note: I would say you get what you pay for but Mr. Flanders makes more money that many mayors of Pennsylvania’s largest cities. Then again, we are asked to believe that in the entire United States of America there is no one more qualified to run a borough of 22,377 people than the Pottstown Chief of Police. Interestingly enough, Pottstown’s crime rate is higher than many major cities in Pennsylvania. I wonder if that was the determining factor for his selection 😉
POTTSTOWN — It is not uncommon for a new company or a new administration to try to re-boot their operation by sitting down and asking themselves “what is our mission?” or “what are our core values?”
Well, you can add the Borough of Pottstown to the list of those organizations.
And even though the borough’s mission statement and core values were updated as recently as Oct. 11, 2011, Borough Manager Mark Flanders has presented borough council with drafts of a new mission statement and new core values for the borough.
He wants to know what they think before they become official.
The mission statement discussion is on the agenda for Wednesday night’s borough council meeting.
Pottstown Borough Departments Reorganized
Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
POTTSTOWN — After several years without one, Pottstown has a new assistant borough manager — although she has a familiar face.
Erica Weekley, who has spent the last several years as Pottstown’s grants administrator, was the person newly-minted Borough Manager Mark Flanders chose for the post.
He made the announcement during the Dec. 10 council meeting.
And those are not the only changes either already implemented or in the works at borough hall.
SavePottstown! Has “Reactivated” Due To The Deteriorating State Of Pottstown
Editor’s note: They’re back and looking for hard facts about the increasing corruption of local government, in an effort to expose the seamy underbelly of Pottstown politics. Looks like that den of “vipers” in Pottstown Borough Hall is about to meet their mongoose! Bwahahahahaha!
What Stinks?
POTTSTOWN, PA – Hello folks…is this thing working?
After receiving countless correspondence from our loyal readers and shedding many tears over the injustices that have become far too commonplace in our fair town over the past year, we have decided to rev up the SavePottstown!! engines in order to be the change we want to see in Pottstown.
Read more: http://savepottstown.com/lang/es/2012/12/what-stinks/
Questions Of Unethical, Sexual Conduct By Pottstown Police Chief/Interim Borough Manager Mark Flanders
Editor’s Note: The Goldencockroach has opened Pandora’s box, also known as Pottstown politics, and all kinds of noxious gases are escaping into the atmosphere. Getting to the bottom of the shenanigans going on in Pottstown Borough Hall is like peeling a rotten onion. Each layer is more putrid that the previous one.
The governing process utilized by borough leadership is mushroom management. Keep the taxpayers in the dark and buried in dung. There is plenty of dung to go around.
The elected leadership of Pottstown evidently has a fondness for the feudal system. The taxpayers aka “serfs” are treated as a nonentity and taxed to death. The leadership aka the “landed gentry” recklessly spend tax dollars like there is no tomorrow.
Speaking of reckless spending, evidently we wasted money on a supposed national search for a new borough manager only to have the job handed to Mark Flanders. So you people are telling us there no one person in the United States of America who is more qualified to run Pottstown than the Chief of Police????? Has anybody noticed the crime rate in Pottstown???? Evidently we reward poor performance with a promotion and a hefty raise. Are there even metrics in place in borough hall to evaluate employees or do we just give raises and promotions to our friends? Knod, knod, wink, wink…
An outside agency, not connected to anyone in Pottstown, nor intimidated by anyone in Pottstown, needs to do a thorough audit of Pottstown Borough Council and Pottstown Borough Hall. We think the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should involve itself in an official capacity. If not Act 47 then the establishment of an oversight committee to ensure borough government becomes more transparent, review the overinflated budget and come up with a more realistic number for a borough of 22,377 inhabitants.
Click on the link below to read a ‘Peyton Place’ like narrative from the Goldencockroach:
The Ninth Annual Carousel Of Flavor Restaurant Festival
Date: Sunday, Sept 30, 2012 from noon to 4 p.m.
Where: 100 Block of High Street, Pottstown (in front of Borough Hall)
Expanded wine and beer garden this year! Over 4,000 attended last year. Featuring live bands, crafters and a clown for children of all ages.
Body Unnoticed In Pottstown Park For 8 To 12 Hours
Editor’s note: It’s rather hard to believe that a dead body could be a few hundred feet away from Borough Hall, the Brick House and in view of High Street and nobody noticed? Is the homeless problem so bad that we just ignore someone lying on the ground in a public place? If the woman died where she was photographed, how could she have been there that long and nobody thought something was wrong?
POTTSTOWN, PA — The woman whose lifeless body was found lying near the fountain in Smith Family Plaza Thursday evening has been identified by the county coroner who said she was likely there for 8 to 12 hours before someone alerted authorities.
Dr. Walter I. Hofman said the woman has been identified as 49-year-old Cynthia Atkinson, believed to be homeless. Hofman said no next of kin has been identified.
Body Found In Pottstown Borough Hall Park
POTTSTOWN, PA — The body of a woman was found in Smith Family Plaza Thursday evening.
A passerby alerted police to the discovery about 6:45 p.m. and investigating officers found the woman dead by the fountain on the park on High Street, opposite Pottstown Borough Hall.
Police had not identified the body as of 8 p.m., although they estimated her age to be about 40.
Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120622/NEWS01/120629801/body-found-in-pottstown-borough-hall-park
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