Council Gets Conditional

Photo by Evan Brandt

Spring has sprung and the trees in Smith Family Plaza are blooming.

The Art of the Council Meeting

The proposal to convert the former Fecera's Furniture Warehouse into apartments for artists was back before borough council Wednesday night.

Good Food Cheap

Many of us take the food that graces our table for granted.

Others, usually those involved in a struggle to obtain it, know it isn't always so easy.

For those living on a tight budget (more and more of us it seems these days), Genesis Housing is providing some tips Thursday on how to fill that icebox on an ever-tightening budget.

The outsized poster above has all the salient details.

The workshop will be held at the Cluster Outreach Center run by the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities which, itself, could use a little help.

This photo at left was posted in the Cluster's Facebook page on May 10 with the following caption:

"For anyone living near Pottstown, please consider donating canned soup to the Pottstown Cluster. This is a picture taken today of the soup shelves in the food pantry."

Needless to say, donations will be welcomed.

The Outreach Center is located at the corner of King and Franklin streets in Pottstown in the old American Legion building. It provides free food and clothing to needy families in the area.

You can also help out by playing golf in the Cluster's annual golf tournament.

It will be held Monday, May 20 at Hickory Valley Golf Club (Presidential course).

A green on Hickory Valley's Presidential course.

The format is a scramble/shotgun start.

Registration is from 9:30 to 10:40 a.m. and the cost is $110 per golfer or $440 per foursome, which includes lunch cart, greens fee, beverage reception and dinner. 

Tee-off time is at 11 a.m. The rules briefing is at 10:40 a.m. and the reception begins at 4 p.m., which is also when the putting contest conclusion will be held.

Dinner, the awards, silent auction and 50-50 drawing will all begin at 5 p.m.

Where Do We Go From Here?



Source: Mosiac Community Land Trust

If you have ever wondered what Genesis Housing is doing in Pottstown's core neighborhood, know that each of these maroon rectangles represents a home Genesis has renovated and converted back into owner-occupied homes for moder-income families.

Genesis Housing Corporation, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, will hold a Community Meeting on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Pottstown Regional Public Library, 500 East High St., Pottstown.

What was once the dilapidated Little's Bar became these
Walnut Street homes thanks to Genesis.

Community members will be asked for their ideas to help develop future projects.

An update on Washington Street neighborhood projects including the new community garden will be discussed.

Information on the Homeowner Rehab Program and the Homebuyer Program will be provided.

The schedule for upcoming housing counseling classes on credit repair, budgeting and home buying will outlined.

Community concerns about Pottstown will be explored to help set priorities..

Judith Memberg, Executive Director of Genesis Housing Corporation, will provide an update on their Washington Street neighborhood housing developments including the rehabilitation of vacant properties for home buyers.

Genesis was also involved in the renovation
of the old Jefferson Elementary School
into senior apartments.

New upcoming projects will also be reviewed.

Genesis Housing Corporation serves Montgomery County as a non-profit community development organization and is dedicated to the development of affordable housing and to the education of consumers on housing and financial issues. Genesis Housing Corporation has worked with government agencies, other non-profit agencies and private housing developers to create affordable housing. Genesis Housing Corporation is certified for counseling for FannieMae, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), PA Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) and many banks and local government programs.

For more information, call 610-275-4357, visit www.genesishousing.org or on Facebook (www.facebook/GenesisHousing).

Pottstown Land Trust May Get its Chance

Last night's borough council meeting provided a peek into what seems likely to happen at the business meeting Monday -- the Mosaic Pottstown Community Land Trust may gets first chance to see if their model can work.

The borough is in possession of a property at 629 Walnut St. that is in pretty deplorable condition. It was taken for unpaid taxes, water bills, trash bills, you name it.

Two entities offered to take it off the borough's hands, renovate it, and sell it to put it back on the tax rolls.

One, Habitat for Humanity, is well established and has already done good work in town. The other is the land trust.

In his comments last night, Borough Manager Jason Bobst made it evident the staff intends to recommend handing the property over to the land trust.

His reasoning?: Habitat's methods use an all-volunteer work-force, including the future owner putting in "sweat equity." This is how the cost of the refurbished house is kept low. But it is, by its nature, a slow process, sometimes taking as long as two years to complete.

The land trust, on the other hand, intends to use paid professionals. It's method for keeping the price low on the refurbished house, is to maintain ownership of the land beneath the house, and just sell the structure to the new owner.

Bobst said the staff favors the speedier work, so long as the land trust, which has never done this beofore, can keep to a set of scheduled milestones.

"We're ready to prove our mettle," land trust spokesman David Jackson told council. He also said they hope to include as much "green technology" into the home as possible, to keep utility costs down for the new owners.

The group has already proved its mettle, to some extent, in the careful progress it has made in converting a former run-down playground once owned by the school district, into a community garden where food will be grown.

However, this will be the group's first attempt at its main objective, converting former blighted properties into affordable homes for first-time homebuyers.

Whatever physical constraints they encounter, they may also face difficulties in the market. Last month, Genesis Housing Inc., the borough's most prolific non-profit housing developer, asked council to help find buyers for homes they have already converted.

It seems that despite the fact that Pottstown's real estate values were never over-inflated enough to be affected by the bursting of the real estate bubble, people are still skittish about buying.

Council will vote on the matter at its meeting Monday, which begins at 7 p.m. in borough hall and is open for public comment.