July 4th Events Canceled and Other Business

What much of the Pottstown area feared came to pass Wednesday night; official word that there will be no parade, no fireworks and no Independence Day festivities in Pottstown this year.

Marcia Levengood, co-chair of Independence Day Ltd., the non-profit organization which has struggled to field events for the last three years, said almost no contributions were received as a result of fundraising efforts.

Borough Council President Dan Weand reiterated that the borough never has, and has no intention to start now, of funding the event with taxpayer dollars.

And council member Dennis Arms wondered why council is complacent enough to allow Borough Manager Mark Flanders to spend $2,500 to hire a consultant to find a replacement for the departing Assistant Borough Manager Eric Batdorf, when the borough "has an HR department charged with hiring and recruiting," but won't spend money on a July 4th parade.

And so it went. You can read and watch more about that in the Tweets below.

On to the "other business."

First of all, Vice President Sheryl Miller sketched out a way that the Pottstown Human Relations Commission could be put back up and running. Significant among the changes sought are appointment of commissioners by borough council and not the mayor, as happens now.

The PART bus system, whose $2.3 million budget will likely be approved at Monday's meeting, will have a fare increase starting July 1 after a public hearing at which no one spoke.

The LERTA tax break, or as the Digital Notebook staff calls it -- "The Never-Ending Story" -- may finally be adopted at the joint council school board meeting on June 21

And what we all hope will be the final version of plans for the land on the former Mrs. Smith's Pies site at south Hanover and Industrial Drive -- now called Hanover Square -- will be voted on Monday.

That should be enough to keep me on my toes for a couple days.

Here are the Tweets 'N More: