Urban Strategist To York County Community Foundation: Stakes High For City

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

Blame the millennials.

Those gadget-wielding young people born in the 1980s and 1990s are the reason America’s real-estate market seems, well, a bit confused.

After decades of suburban sprawl designed to accommodate the nation’s love affair with its cars, millennials and “the creative class” want something else — a walkable place to live, said Christopher Leinberger, an urban strategist and researcher who visited York this week.

That demand for urban life — where people can live, work and play within a relatively small geographic area — is both driving and slowing the economic recovery these days, Leinberger said.

Read more: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/news/ci_25776014/design-future

Sonic, America’s Drive-In Is Coming To Pottstown

This is a bitter-sweet post.  I am very glad Sonic is coming to Pottstown, however, it’s more border development.  Sonic obtained a zoning change to build on the west side of Route 100, adjacent to Upland Square. 

I am happy to see that the idea of some revenue sharing is being bantered about since Pottstown is getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop on all this development.  We all benefit from development but cash strapped Pottstown is the hub of this area and needs to see some benefit other than traffic congestion.

My response to Elwood Taylor’s (Upper Pottsgrove Commissioner) rebuttal of Steve Toroney’s letter about border development, is chill out Elwood.  Steve has a valid point.  Pottstown needs to get a piece of the development pie too.  We still lost other taxes/fees from Giant and other retailers who moved to Upland Square so it’s still less money for Pottstown, even taking into consideration borough employees will still generate Earned Income Tax.  Also border development feeds urban sprawl which is something we are supposed to be trying to control.

This needs to be a win-win for everybody.  That’s supposed to be the point of having a Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee.  Just sayin’ Elwood.