Northampton County Grant Will Buy Trolley For Downtown Easton

English: Skyline of Easton, PA from Lafayette College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Easton officials hope to ease the city’s rising parking problems by introducing a trolley to the Downtown area purchased through a Northampton County grant.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said today that the city plans to buy a used trolley sometime this month and have it up and running through the Downtown area this summer. With the city’s new parking garage not due for completion until autumn, the city will rely on the trolley to connect distant parking lots to popular tourist spots, Panto said.

“We can’t invent parking, so I think it’s the next best idea,” Panto said.

County Executive John Brown said the $42,000 grant from the Northampton County Gaming and Economic Redevelopment Authority is part of the county’s outreach to regional partners. The county will also allow the city to use the Northampton County Courthouse’s parking lots for the Easton Farmers’ Market and other large events, he said.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2014/05/northampton_county_grant_will.html

Once Nearly Extinct, Streetcar Gets New Life In US

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – When the auto plant here closed, this prosperous Wisconsin port city on Lake Michigan lost more than just its largest employer. Its sense of vitality seemed to drain away, and city leaders set out to find something that would inject life into the brick-storefront downtown while the economy went through a transition.

What they came up with was obsolete: an electric streetcar. Kenosha decided to bring back a relic that once clattered around metropolitan areas in pre-war America but was abandoned on the march to modernity.

More than a decade later, the experiment is now popping up all over. More than 30 cities around the country are planning to build streetcar systems or have done so recently. Dallas, Portland and Seattle all have new streetcar lines. Most projects involve spending millions of dollars to put back something that used to be there – often in the same stretches of pavement.

“It goes along with the revival of inner cities all over America,” said Steve Novick, transportation commissioner in Portland, which has spent more than $250 million to replace the lines the city shut down in 1950. “It’s too bad that they weren’t kept here all along.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/home/20131112_ap_043edaa93bec4e16a0a93d2539d71084.html#R3BS9I7CtAX4jqGH.99

Pottstown Holiday House Tour 2012

Christmas in the post-War United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Sunday, December 9th, the Historic Pottstown Neighborhood Association is proud to sponsor its annual holiday house tour, Historic Pottstown by Candlelight.  This event showcases some of Pottstown’s most treasured architectural wonders, both outside and inside!

Come and enjoy our tour to see what Pottstown has saved from the past and kept for the future. The tour includes homes and churches in the downtown Pottstown area and this year has been expanded to include other areas of town.

$12.00 Ticket includes:
Victorian Tea presented by the Doe Club at the Pottstown Elks from 12noon-2pm.  All homes and buildings on the tour are open from 1pm-6pm.  Free trolley transportation and refreshments for all ticket holders.

Tickets are available after Thanksgiving at Carter’s Locksmith Shop, 137 N Hanover Street. $12 in advance, $14 day of tour.

For more information contact Sue Krause at (610) 323-2229.

Oversight Of Allegheny County Transit To Shift From Pittsburgh Port Authority To Public Utility Commission

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

The Pennsylvania Legislature has approved a measure stripping the Port Authority of its power to regulate transportation services in Allegheny County, transferring it to the state’s Public Utility Commission.

Supporters of the measure, sponsored by House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, said it will end the Port Authority’s “monopoly” on providing transit service in the county.

“By allowing other transportation agencies to offer services, the people will be far better served,” Mr. Turzai said in a news release after the Senate approved the bill in a 27-21 vote. “Eliminating the transit monopoly is a win-win for taxpayers and transit riders.”

The bill was passed earlier by the House and now awaits Gov. Tom Corbett‘s approval. He will sign it, spokeswoman Kelli Roberts said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/transportation/oversight-of-county-transit-to-shift-from-port-authority-to-public-utility-commission-639869/#ixzz1xV84CRR5

SEPTA TO HALT SERVICE DURING HURRICANE IRENE

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All SEPTA Services To Be Suspended During Hurricane Irene. Operations to Halt at 12:30 a.m. Sunday; Services to Resume Mid-Day Sunday, As Conditions Permit.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (August 26, 2011)

In the interest of public safety, with a hurricane of historic proportions approaching the region, SEPTA will cease all transportation operations at12:30 a.m. Sunday.

All trips scheduled after 12:30 a.m. Sunday will be cancelled.  Service is not expected to resume until at least mid-day Sunday, following damage assessments and repairs. Service will resume on a route-by-route basis, based on conditions.

SEPTA strongly urges all customers who normally ride the system during this time period to make arrangements to go to your destination well in advance of the storm and be prepared to remain safely at that location until the storm has passed and service has resumed.

Announcements regarding the resumption of service will be announced through the Office of the Mayor of Philadelphia and SEPTA’s Website, www.septa.org.

All SEPTA employees normally assigned to work during the period of the shutdown or who are assigned to emergency duty are required to report to work at their assigned locations.