The passing of Roy Reifsnyder last week has left a hole not only in the hearts of many Pottstownians, but also in the role of tax collector.
Perhaps best known to thousands of young ballplayers and their parents, myself included, for his 38 years of volunteering with the Pottstown Little League, Reifsnyder also spent eight years as a chaperone for the Pottstown High School marching band, as well as having a hand in planning Pottstown's signature July 4th parade every year.
And borough council only has 30 days to replace him, according to the borough code, Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. said during Monday's council meeting.
The borough is looking for applicants for the post. To be appointed, one must have lived in Pottstown for at least a year, and be able to obtain a surety bond.
Borough Manager Justin Keller said changes made several years ago mean the job does not require much work, given that the borough staff performs most of the functions, and the salary is "a small amount."
"The person has to perform some perfunctory duties, that do not involve collecting the actual taxes," said Keller. "It's not a huge amount of responsibility." But because this is Pennsylvania, the post is required by law.
And the borough must a person by its June 3 meeting to be in compliance, said Garner. If no one is appointed, the law passes the responsibility on to the borough's "vacancy board," which is basically borough council plus one additional "vacancy board" member, to appoint someone.
Failing that, the post can be filled by someone petitioning the Court of Common Pleas to be appointed.
Whomever fills the post will remain through 2021, the year that the choice is once again up to the voters.
"The most important thing is to find someone who is interested and wants to do it," said Garner.
Those interested should send a letter or email to Keller at borough hall. Council may choose to publicly interview applicants at the June 3 meeting.
Blogger's Note:The following was submitted by Ron Williams, organizer of the Annual PowWow on Manatawny Creek:
The news and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic has caused us to pay closer attention to the messages and warnings being made by media and government officials as we prepared for our 7th Annual PowWow on Manatawny Creek.
Our PowWow is one that I know we all look forward to as we come together to celebrate with friends, family and neighbors. It is an opportunity to share our love and respect with others and to teach a lesson of fellowship in dance and song.
It isn’t easy putting this event together. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle and I am always anxious up to the moment of Grand Entry, hoping we got it right. But I am ever grateful for the support and encouragement I get from the community and all of you.
As this Pandemic continues to impose its viral impact on our communities it is very likely that the current responsibility which we all share in either practicing healthy distances from one another or otherwise quarantining ourselves will not soon be ended.
Ron Williams
Regretfully, we are postponing our May 2, May 3 PowWow on Manatawny Creek and re-scheduling it to Aug. 20, Aug. 30.
I hope that you will understand our reason for making this difficult decision but as it has become undeniably apparent that this disease is not going to simply disappear in a month, it would be irresponsible to encourage anybody to participate in a gathering such as this at this time.
So I don't want to jinx it, but I am starting to have a spark of hope about Pottstown.
As a resident and taxpayer of more than 20 years, it is not something I say lightly.
My wife Karen and I bought a house way back when the Schuylkill Valley Metro still seemed like a viable possibility.
I grew up in New York's Hudson Valley, just north of New York City, where three separate Metro-North commuter train lines ferry untold millions of commuters in and out of Manhattan ever day.
As the editor of two weekly papers (and too many other non-newspapery publications to name here), I was familiar with many of the towns that had train stations along the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines.
I have often told people in Pennsylvania, having a train station did not guarantee a vibrant downtown in those of Westchester and Putnam counties, but few of the vibrant many downtowns that existed lacked a train station.
Neither passenger, nor commuter trains have stop here.
When we first visited Pottstown in 1997, Karen and I were fooled by the very active looking train station at Security Plaza, and disappointed when we discovered looks were deceiving.
But we bought a house anyway, thinking the train was coming and it would be a good investment, with the town likely to get back on its feet again in a few years.
We've been waiting every since, vacillating between not being willing to be fly-by-nighters and give up; and feeling throw-up-your-hands exasperation at how often this town shoots itself in the foot when it seems to be on the cusp of great things.
With a tip of the hat to the ever-enthusiastic John Armato, I will employ a sports analogy here, one borrowed from him in fact, that you go onto the field with the team you have.
I suppose the same can be said for revitalization.
Read about a town making a comeback in a big city daily or a national magazine, and it always seems like the town's leaders came to a realization, had a vision and pursued it with gumption and unity.
The Mayor Likes to talk about all the things to do in town:
But the reality of covering life in Pottstown day-to-day is knowing how often the comeback seems to be one-step forward, two-steps back.
In fact people have accused me of holding back on stories, rightly so, that could mean revitalization because I feel The Mercury to be guilty of raising false hope too many times.
And of course, the local newspaper plays a role in those perceptions, caught between the duty to report the bad stuff, particularly failures of leadership, and the desire to help lift up the town we cover and live in.
The problem was, the Pottstown Police had chosen that morning to conduct a giant warrant sweep, and had picked up more than a dozen folks wanted on outstanding warrants. Our dogged police reporter Brandie Kessler had rode along with a photographer and we had all the elements for a front page that would empty the honor boxes.
Had things gone their usual course, that day's front page would have featured fugitives in handcuffs, being led into police cars, an image I find to be very ho hum but which demonstrably sells lots and lots of newspapers.
Mercury coverage of a 2012 warrant sweep was typical.
But I didn't want us to do what we always did. I argued with then-editor Nancy March that we would do the community a giant disservice if the story we told the day after a wildly successful demonstration of community cooperation was pictures of wanted criminals on the front page.
We publish warrant sweeps all the time. And yes, they are news, but on this day, they should not be the top news, I said.
To her credit, she agreed immediately, somewhat to the amazement of the spot news team I might add.
The Open Doors festival faded away in subsequent years, and we still publish warrant sweeps although, with The Mercury's depleted resources, far fewer than we used to.
We only made a difference that day, but it mattered. I tell this story not to pump up my own tires, as my friend Hugh likes to say, but to help people understand that despite what it may seem like on the front page, we care deeply about what happens in Pottstown.
I say all of this to return to my point about hope for the future.
I found it in, of all places, the pages of The Mercury, Thursday's edition to be exact.
A friend of mine who works at The New York Times sent me an email questioning why this was front page news and I laughed and wrote back and said "you have to know Pottstown."
Which we do. It stood for a week as the second most popular story on our web site.
One might not think that an Asian-fusion restaurant would play well in a traditionally blue-collar town like Pottstown but from what I heard, it was a three-hour wait for a table on Friday's big opening night.
I heard that while sitting on a picnic table in The Alley on High Street, a rather ingenious invention by the owners of Kiki Vodka (more on that in a minute) that took the vacant lot once occupied long ago by The Hippodrome Theater and turned it into a kind of urban picnic grove.
Evidently, we now calls these things "a pop-up beer garden."
Featured in The Mercury in July, it has a mobile home parked there from which taps spout a variety and ever-changing mix of local beers, as well as Kiki's vodka infusions. Across the way is a shack which sells even more types of beer in cans.
The Alley on High Street
In the parking lot out back was a food truck from Philly (they rotate as well) along with a truck selling, of all things, award-winning cupcakes.
Although curious for months, we were finally lured there to hear a band featuring saxophonist Marley Bryan, one of my son's classmates in the Pottstown High School Jazz Band.
It was great fun and we saw lots of people we know and had a grand old time.
Many arrived saying that had begun their evening at The Blue Elephant.
On the same evening, more visitors arrived after being at a Pottstown High School football game, taking place once again on a Friday night, thanks to a community effort to raise the money to return lights to Grigg Memorial Field.
To make it even better, it was Senior Night and the Trojans won their second of three games this season. (Beating Pottsgrove's current record, but again, I don't want to jinx anything so just pretend I didn't write that ...)
Also on the same night, people were packed into the Carousel at Pottstown's First Friday event, which featured a sidewalk chalk event, cornhole tournament and, (dare I say it?) beer and wine.
Sunday's front page contained the news that the folks over at the Carousel, who have taken over management of the adjacent mini-golf course, made upgrades there and plan more, are looking to make changes to allow a restaurant on site, complete with, yes, alcohol.
Down the street, the long-vacant Pottstown Diner at the borough's western gateway, has been remodeled and is now re-opened for business.
Across the street from The Alley on High Street is not only the Pottstown United Brewing, but the Splitting Edge Ax Throwing facility beneath which another micro-brewery will soon be opening.
Further down the street is the former Pottstown Farmer's Market, recently re-named The High Street Terminal, where Ay Caramba Tacos, the afore-mentioned Kiki's Vodka, Honey's Home-Brewed Cafe, Flavor's Deli, Happy Blooms & Co, Barrister's Bagel Co. and more have all taken root.
More than one person I've spoken with over the years has said "as goes High Street, so goes Pottstown." Let's hope so.
Speaking of High Street, on the same day we informed those who didn't already know about The Very Best and The Blue Elephant, columnist Tom Hylton gave us a look at Pottstown's newest (first?) Bed and; Breakfast, The Three Daughters Inn on High Street.
It is run by Tracey and Jay Purdy who moved to Pottstown from Limerck because they believe in the town's potential.
I am friends with Tracy on Facebook and if her post the other day that for the first time since they
opened, they did not have all their rooms filled is any indication, their belief (and sizable financial investment) was well-placed.
Speaking of Facebook, a platform I use like a rented mule but nevertheless often disparage for the comment abuse it hosts, I have noticed positive activity there as well.
And lately, I have become more aware (maybe it was always there and I've been blinded by being busy, or cynicism, or both) of the multitude of events, groups activities available in town, all of which help add to that mysterious-but-necessary element to success -- quality of life.
I have been madly sharing them on the Positives in Pottstown page, sometimes at very strange hours I'll admit, and encourage anyone running a program to tag me so I can share more.
This positive progress will need to be repeated with it comes to The Ricketts Center. The characterless departure of the Olivett Boys and Girls Club creates both peril and opportunity for the center, which has struggled for decades to find its financial footing and fulfill its promise to the community.
Let's make our next success The Ricketts Center.
The view from the outside seems to indicate the potential for partnerships to finally coalesce around the center's mission. Let us hope so.
Because for this positive momentum to have true meaning, it has to touch all of Pottstown's diverse facets.
Let's hope we do not fall victim to the frequent Facebook trope of saying "before they do that they need to fix/deal with .... fill in the complaint here."
Progress, like life, does not always move forward on a linear path, and in fits, starts and set-backs. It comes from unexpected directions, sometimes at the worst of times, and it almost always comes cloaked in challenge, which is a commodity Pottstown has in abundance.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by Hobart's Run.
Hobart’s Run, The Hill School-backed neighborhood development group, is launching a pilot program designed to help residents buy homes in the around surrounding the school.
Called the The Hobart’s Run Homeownership Incentive Program, it is aimed at helping homebuyers cover closing costs on homes purchased as primary residences in the Hobart’s Run neighborhood in Pottstown.
The program will award approved applicants a forgivable loan of $5,000 toward closing costs, starting this fall.
Eligible applicants for this program must purchase a home within Pottstown’s Hobart’s Run district, which consists of approximately 600 parcels in the borough within Queen Street in the south; North Adams on the west; Beech, Grant, and Jackson streets on the north; and Keim Street on the east.
The successful applicant must maintain primary residence in the home until the loan is forgiven.
Twila Fisher
The applicant does not need to be a first-time homebuyer in order to be eligible for these funds, but may not have owned another home within the past two years and must be moving from a rental situation in the borough and into Hobart’s Run homeownership.
Funds from the rental of a home recently renovated by Hobart’s Run and now occupied will be utilized to provide more HIP forgivable loans.
“While not a panacea, there is substantial research showing a tie between increasing homeownership and improved community stability,” Twila Fisher, director of community and economic development for Hobart’s Run and The Hill School, said in a release announcing the program.
“Homeownership often offers not only tangible economic benefits to families but also strengthens entire communities, through means ranging from increased civic participation of the owners, to enhanced property maintenance and improvements," Fisher said in the release.
“The HIP program serves the Hobart’s Run mission to help make Hobart’s Run – and all of Pottstown – ‘clean and green,’ safe, and inclusive -- and, of course, to encourage homeownership,” Fisher said. “By strengthening this neighborhood, we hope to inspire additional revitalization efforts throughout the town.”
PROCESS AND LOAN TERMS
Applicants will need to fill out the Hobart’s Run HIP application and other related documentation. Interested parties should email hobartsrun.pottstown@gmail.com or call Fisher at 610-705-1016 to receive details and a copy of the application.
All completed application packages will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis at Hobart’s Run, c/o 860 Beech St., Pottstown, PA 19464 or the above email address.
The applicant’s mortgage loan may not exceed $250,000 and must be issued by a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac approved lender. The buyer must contribute at least $500 toward the home purchase and, as stated, must use the property as a principal residence at least until the loan is fully forgiven. The $5,000 is forgivable at the rate of $1,000 per year over five years.
Prior to settlement, the buyer must agree to attend a driving tour and short presentation about Hobart’s Run as well as a two-hour homeownership and financial literacy class.
“Learning about and embracing our neighborhood is an important aspect of our focus as a community-building organization,” says Cathy Skitko, Senior Director of Hobart’s Run Communications. “We would love to see more new homeowners and other new residents participating in Hobart’s Run block clean-ups and other neighborhood and Pottstown events.”
Closing on the property must occur within 90 days of acceptance into the HIP program.
The loan will be recorded with the Montgomery County Recorder of Deeds as a lien on the property until it is fully forgiven. At that time, a loan forgiveness certificate will be issued to the homeowner and the Recorder of Deeds office will be notified of loan completion. If the buyer defaults on these restrictions, the loan will be due immediately and must be paid in full.
This program was developed using Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) procedural guidelines.
The HIP initiative is one of numerous ‘clean and green’ and safety enhancement programs implemented by Hobart’s Run. A few examples include block clean-ups and an “Adopt-a-Trashcan” effort; support of Edgewood Cemetery’s restoration and maintenance; installation of security cameras in the Borough; acquisition of a DCED grant to install streetlights and repair sidewalks in the 600 and 700 blocks of Beech Street (with work scheduled to begin soon); the launch of a Façade Improvement Grant (FIG) program (pending as Hobart’s Run finalizes documentation); renovation of two distressed properties; and collaboration with investors to promote private real estate activity.
Hobart’s Run also partners with other organizations and leads numerous other initiatives to encourage business development and support healthy, Pottstown community-wide events.
A 501(c)(3), the Hobart's Run neighborhood initiative was officially launched by The Hill School in 2016 to work with residents and property owners to revitalize the neighborhood through projects that create a clean, safe, and inclusive community; provide incentives for home ownership and home improvements; and generate positive, sustainable commercial and retail development.
Jeffrey Cades of Gilbertsville, left, gets instruction from county employee Frank Spollen on amending his paper ballot during a demonstration of Montgomery County's new voting machines Tuesday at Montgomery County Community College's West Campus in Pottstown. The machines will make their debut during next month's primary election on May 21.
In the wake of fears about tampering with electronic voting machines during the 2016 elections, Montgomery County is in the midst of a roll-out of its new voting machines, which will create paper records of every vote.
Montgomery County Commissioners Chairwoman Valerie Arkoosh said the county was already in the process of replacing its previous machines, now more than 20 years old, when Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law requiring Pennsylvania voting machines to keep paper records.
June Landis of Limerick watches as her ballot is submitted.
"We had been socking money away to pay for new machines before the governor signed that bill," she said.
The Dominion Voting System cost $3.5 million, nearly $1 million of which was provided by federal funding.
When all is said and done, the contract will cost about $5 million over the course of eight years of maintenance, servicing and upgrades.
Arkoosh said the system chosen was the least expensive and the one overwhelmingly preferred by the 300-or-so people who showed up last year at the Montgomery County Community College's main campus in Blue Bell where the 11 possible models were on display.
County employee Frank Spollen explains the new voting machines to, from left, Pottstown Councilwoman Trenita Lindsay, Annette Kobb of Pottstown and Ted Josey of Collegeville.
"This is what our constituents wanted," she said.
"I love a paper ballot," said June Landis of Limerick as she tried it out during the demonstration at the community college's West Campus in Pottstown Tuesday night. "It can't be hacked and it's available for a re-count if necessary."
Arkoosh said the county decided against issuing paper receipts reflecting the vote cast "because it would be used for intimidation, like if a spouse demands to see how a spouse voted. Also, it could be used as proof to sell votes."
These machines will not be connected to the Internet, which was also true of the previous machines, Arkoosh said.
She said the paper records will be kept for at least two years and the county is in discussions with the Pennsylvania Department of State to look into holding random accuracy audits of machines to match them against the paper records.
"We're just trying to figure out how many we need to audit to be statistically significant," Arkoosh said.
Joan Chambers of Lower Frederick isn't so sure about the new machines. Here she is having the machine explained to her:
"I think I'm too old for change," Chambers said with a laugh after she finished. "The first time I tried it got spit back out and told me there were four things wrong with it."
Faux voters fill out faux ballots as part of the effort Tuesday to familiarize themselves with Montgomery County's new voting machines which will be used for the first time during the May 21 primary election.
Teresa Harris, communication manager for Montgomery County, said the county has been keeping track of concerns raised by residents as the machines tour the county for similar demonstrations.
"The most frequent complaint we get is people didn't know we were changing them," she said. "People are also worried it will take too much time and make the lines longer."
But the fact that the machines will be used for the first time in an off-year primary election, traditionally the one with the lowest voter turn-out, may help voters ease into the new method, Harris said.
The faux ballot.
For the test, those who showed up were given a faux ballot for the "Famous Names Acceptance
Election." It asked faux voters to pick their favorite sports team, author, musician, artist, TV talk-show host, college and even past president.
On the reverse side, ballot questions, one simple, one complicated, offered yes/no options. Voters fill in "bubbles," much like standardized tests from school, to make their selections.
The ballot is scanned optically and the machine takes note if there are any discrepancies, like an "under vote," someone not filling in a bubble, or offering a write-in alternative.
This reporter's attempt to befuddle the machine by writing in two votes proved futile, this despite the fact that I indicated the New York Mets are one of my favorite sports teams. (They're not, but I like them more than the Yankees.)
Here is video of my vote being cast:
"It's pretty simple," Gilbertsville resident Jeffrey Cades said of the new voting method. "And I'm glad they have some way to verify the vote and do a re-count if they have to."
"I think it's an improvement over what we had previously and it works pretty fast once you know how to use it," Cades said.
Pottstown Land Bank Chairwoman Deb Penrod and Pottstown
School Board member John Armato get instruction on the
new voting machines being demonstrated last night.
There will be two more demonstrations and, like in Pottstown, they will be held at 6 p.m. and precede "Conversations with the Commissioners" town hall meetings.
The next one is scheduled for Wednesday, May at in Pennsburg, in the multi-purpose room of the Upper Perkiomen Education Center at 2229 East Buck Road.
The last one will be Monday, May 6 in the Great Room in the commons Building at Arcadia University, 450 S. Easton Road in Glenside.
And now, without further ado, are the Tweets from the event. (Look for coverage of the Conversations with the Commissioners event which followed the voting machine demonstration in a subsequent blog post.)
About 50 people attended last night's Community Discussion about the future of Pottstown.
Revitalize your community with five questions.
That was the figurative task set before about 50 people who gathered Thursday night for the second of three Community Discussions organized by a group of people hoping to move Pottstown forward and away from the spiral of violence that has recently consumed the headlines.
People set at seven tables, many with someone they had never met before, and worked on the five questions together.
The questions were designed to elicit discussion about community priorities, as well as begin to outline goals to pursue to help improve the borough.
Twila Fisher, Hobart's Run Executive Director, and Rian Wallace, former Pittsburgh Steeler, sat at a table that talked about the importance of technology in raising youth up into self-sufficiency.
"You cannot live in Pottstown and not be familiar with the post-industrial trauma. We see it in the loss of living wage jobs; the poverty; the stress of trying to make ends meet, struggling to just get by and maybe never getting ahead," co-organizer Hannah Davis said.
"We talk about a community center, but we are not centered as a community," Pottstown native and community co-organizer David Charles said.
He spoke after Davis talked about how she found her "second family" at the Ricketts Community Center which, she feels, is hampered by its management by Olivet Boys and Girls Club, which is based in Reading.
Here's most of what she had to say:
Davis said she had planned to leave Pottstown and do community development somewhere else in the world, but volunteering at the Ricketts Center provided an "awakening" to the fact that she could do it right here.
"I realized I didn't need to move to another continent to do important work. There was enough work to be done when I stepped out my front door," Davis said.
Hannah Davis, left, works with her table on the night's 5 questions.
Despite her appreciation for the people at the Ricketts Center, "there was one source of frustration that I kept butting my head up against, and that was Olivet Boys & Girls Club."
The borough owns the Ricketts Center, and leases it to Olivet to run programs there. But there have been rumblings almost from the beginning about the limited hours and prohibition against adults and children mixing at the center, thus keeping parents away from doing things there with their children.
The lease is up this year and Davis said she and several other activists have presented council with an alternative to signing another lease with Olivet.
"It is time to reclaim the things that are ours," said Charles.
David Charles, in hat, talks with one of the tables about Pottstown's need to connect with students at the middle school.
Charles, who spoke fondly about growing up in Penn Village public housing, now called Bright Hope, and the friends and outdoor fun he had there.
He said afterward he firmly believes the loss of things like Gruber Pool and the limited offerings at the Ricketts Center have contributed to the recent increase in violence in Pottstown Middle School, where he runs a mentoring program.
"When Gruber Pool closed, it changed the culture of our town. Kids got in trouble for stealing because they had noting to do," Charles said.
Students at this table want to start a multi-cultural club at Pottstown High School next year where people of different backgrounds can "feel safe."
So it's up to the people who live here to make it better, he said, and with that, the discussions began
and the paths they took were as diverse as the people speaking.
One table talked about how music, food trucks or events with animals might draw more people to a community center.
At another table, Pottstown alum Rian Wallace stressed the importance of teaching Pottstown's youth financial literacy, how to parlay technology into entrepreneurship. "You have to teach the kids the potential of this technology they're holding in their hands. It's the gateway to the world," said Wallace.
In the end, each table offered up thing they had learned from their discussions. Here is a rough sampling:
Pottstown needs more unity
Don't be afraid to speak up
This table talked about organizing block parties around the borough.
People in Pottstown come from different backgrounds and don't always agree, but "we can still have the difficult conversations and still get along
"Everyone wants to feel safe
Youth and adults need to be prepared for the modern world
We can't put a band aid on, or gloss over the issues that we have here
Pottstown has the opportunity to be the model for how a town transforms from a post-industrial town to a self-sustaining one
Our diversity is a positive. And positive ideas, breed positive collaboration which breeds positive action
Family-oriented events, with music and/or food or with animals could draw people to a community center this table decided.
Afterward Charles said he and those working with him will collect the data taken from these meetings and approach those people selected as the leaders they trust and "ask them how they can help."
The third and final community discussion will be held at the same location, Connections on High at 238 High St. on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Charles urged those there Thursday to think of two people who should be at these meetings but wasn't.
Some Pottstown Borough Council members started 2019 in Riverfornt Park Tuesday by jumping into the Schuylkill River. From left are Seventh Ward Councilman Joe Kirkland, Council Vice president Carol Kulp, Third Ward Councilman Don Lebedynsky and Mayor Stephanie Henrick. If Kulp looks warm and dry to you, it's because she stayed on the shoreline.
Pottstown School Board member Raymond Rose.
For the 11th consecutive year, people flush with the holiday spirit plunged into the not-so-chilly waters of the Schuylkill River Tuesday morning to mark the start of another year.
Fueled by coffee, hot dogs and sauerkraut -- and dressed in everything from matching pajamas, to tutus to full scuba body suits -- they took leave of the shoreline, and some might say their sanity, for a quick dip in the fast-moving current.
Swimmers waded into a small roped-off area of the river, due to the high water levels and rapid current, under the watchful eye of the dive rescue team there to safeguard the swimmers.
Among those in full rescue gear was West Pottsgrove Township Manager Craig Lloyd who, it turns out, is a fully certified scuba instructor and has been running with the dive team as a volunteer for a full seven years.
In fact, he volunteers with two dive teams, Lloyd said.
So yes, he knows his New Year's Day will be "cold and wet" every year, "so I take it easy on New Year's Eve," he joked.
West Pottsgrove Township Manager Craig Lloyd, right, in full dive regalia.
Also among those making the plunge more "official," was Pottstown School Board member Raymond Rose; Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick and fellow borough council members Joe Kirkland and Don Lebedynsky.
Council Vice president Carol Kulp was there too, but stayed dry on the shoreline.
Rose took the plunge with about as many inches of skin covered as is humanly possible, while his fellow board member, John Armato, again the declined the ritual of an actual dunking.
No doubt, should Armato ever decide to take the plunge, he would insist on swimming to the North Coventry shore on the other side.
Pottstown School Board member John Armato, right, admires Mayor Stephanie Henrick's swimwear.
But given how high and swift the Schuylkill was Tuesday morning, he might not have made the opposite shore until he reached Phoenixille, so perhaps its best he remained a landlubber this year.
In the true appreciation of the absurd nature of Pottstown's river ritual, Henrick and Lebedynsky donned ballet tutus.
No really.
Hey I'm not kidding. I'm a professional journalist. I wouldn't just make something up .....
Look, I've posted pictures OK? Geez.
Others wore hats, crying baby face masks or even swim trunks that left little to the imagination (yeah, we're talking about you Mosaic Community Garden Manager Dan Price.)
Hey, if you're going to jump into a river in the middle of winter, you might as well do it in style.
My personal favorite this year was the family who took the latest trend of wearing matching pajamas to a whole new level (shown here at left.)
For reasons that escape explanation, the Pottstown Parks and Recreation Personnel -- who deserve our thanks for staging and turning out for this event every year without fail -- settled upon an AC/DC sound track through the loudspeakers prior to the 10:30 dunking, giving the lead up to the affair a distinctive feel that I will decline to describe, other than to say it may not have been welcomes by those of us who were a little hungover.
After a well-delivered rendition of the national anthem, which was accompanied by an unsought partnership with several howling dogs in the crowd, the few, the brave and the unbalanced, left dry land for the Schuylkill's 45-degree embrace.
Parks and Recreation Director Michael Lenhart estimated about 75 went into the water.
Far more kept a good grip on their common sense and watched them do it.
It looked like this:
Afterward, the moistened revelers scuttled to the other side of the park where a bonfire warmed and dried them much more quickly and thoroughly than one might have thought possible.
The heat from the fire was intense and, after several people tossed their hopelessly muddied swim shoes into the blaze, the smell was of more than just burning pallets.
As always, the Phillies Fire Company was on hand, firehoses in hand, to tame the blaze and to ensure it did not get out of hand.
And so we lumber into another year, the turn of the century fading in the rear-view mirror.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the organizers of EcoFest. Three out of every four Americans are looking to help the environment as they go about their daily lives, according to a 2016 Pew survey.
They'll get a chance to learn how on May 12 at Pottstown's first EcoFest where the focus will be on lifestyle changes that have the biggest impact.
The Pottstown EcoFest will be held from noon to 4 p.m., at Smith Family Plaza Park, 100 E. High Street, Pottstown.
Everyone of all ages and outlooks can enjoy shmoozing with chickens and baby goats, test driving an electric scooter, posing with an adoptable dog at the world’s premier BFF kissing booth, plus:
Dance to live music by Julia Othmer, Caitlin Jaene and Rick Denzien
Hear a talk by Christina Pirello, cancer survivor turned Emmy-award- winning chef and host of Christina Cooks
Get nutrition advice from Angel Santos, body-builder and organic farmer
Enjoy delicious earth-friendly entrees, desserts, and smoothies from nine local businesses.
Shop for Mother’s Day (locally-made chocolate, organic flowers, native plants, and more)
Make Mom a gift with with Pottstown Art Center’s kids activities
Choose from a variety of free saplings courtesy of Bartlett Tree Service
Get faces painted for free by Kiwanis Club
Earn a cookie from Crust Bakery by watching a video
Create a menu of favorite foods from 90 vegan options at the Vegan Challenge
Bring pets to a Blessing of the Animals
The first 250 people to arrive at the EcoFest will receive a free tote bag with environmentally-friendly product and food samples.
Local businesses and nonprofits will showcase food, products, services, and practices that protect people, animals and the planet. And vendors will set an example of green shopping by selling products made from eco-friendly materials, by using sustainable packaging, and by minimizing, recycling and composting trash.
Rescue groups will also be there to find loving homes for animals.
Prospective vendors and non-profits can register at www.mobilizationforanimals.org. For more information or to volunteer, call: 267-647-4961 or email mfaevent@yahoo.com.
So, as the front page on the right makes fairly clear, Election Night can be a bit of a heavy lift for me.
What are called "off-year" elections, are very much on years for local journalists.
And despite the fact that it is 1:30 a.m. and I have written 13 election stories in the past few hours, I thought I might share a few thoughts.
First, look how much your vote counts in local elections.
By our calculations, candidates won by single digit results in several races, with votes as few as two making the difference Tuesday night.
We'll see if they survive any challenges, but the election of Democrat Tyrone Robinson in Upper Pottsgrove by a two-vote margin is about as close as it gets.
The race for Birdsboro mayor was decided by seven votes.
In Pottsgrove, incumbent Rick Rabinowitz lost his seat on the Pottsgrove School Board by 16 votes.
I will be sorry to see him go.
He's a good board member, does his research, asks good questions and challenges the administration when he thinks he should.
He surely lost votes in the primary because of his role in the dispute about prayer at graduation last year, but although it was handled a bit clumsily, he was right from a legal standpoint. He took a stand for the right thing and paid a pretty stiff price.
For all the same reasons, I will also be sorry to see Tom Hylton leave the Pottstown School Board.
This was not a good year to run as a Republican in most boroughs.
But Hylton is no more a Republican than a Democrat. He is a unique individual with a unique perspective, and if you can get past the quirks, he brings a thoughtful (and forceful) point of view to a school board that could use some more of that.
Speaking of running as a Republican, I would be remiss if I did not observe that Democrats made big gains in local elections this year in what I think has to, in some part, be chalked up to disaffection with President Donald Trump.
In the region's more diverse boroughs -- like Pottstown and Phoenixville -- Democrats won all the seats. And in Chester County, for the first time since the 1700s, they won a bunch of county-wide row offices as well.
Even in the Republican bastion of the Owen J. Roberts School District, two Democrats won seats on the school board -- albeit by slim margins, but let's not forget, this is OJR.
And in Boyertown School District, where a Trump-like approach was adopted by some advocates for one slate of candidates, those candidates lost two out of four races.
This whole democracy thing continues to be pretty interesting.
The Pottsgrove Trail, one of four major trails proposed in the study, would stretch up Pleasantview Road from High Street, then head northwest along Buchert Road, slide along the woods at the edge of the Pottsgrove High School property, through the Brookside Restaurant property and cross North Charlotte Street there near the entrance for Sunset Park and them up to Hollenbach Park on North Hanover Street, opposite Pottsgrove Middle School.
Years in the making, and years yet to reach completion, a plan to expand and connect trails throughout the greater Pottstown area and to the ever-more popular Schuylkill River Trail took an important step last night.
A public hearing on the Tri-County Trail Study attracted about 14 people Wednesday night and also revealed details about the proposals, including their eye-popping cost.
Michael Lane, the regional recreation director, outlined the plans that include four or five primary trail systems (depending on how you count them), each of which will be completed in segements as funding becomes available, and said it may be 10 or 20 years before the trails outlined in the study are actually built.
The highlighted section shows the first priority for the Coventry Trail.
The first he revealed is the Coventry Trail, which begins out of Kenilworth Park and stretch up along the township line between North and East Coventry before heading west to eventually connect with the trail system in French Creek State Park.
When complete, it could cost between $1.2 million to $1.7 million, said Lane.
Missing is a link between Kenilworth Park and the the Schuylkill River Trail, which will cross the river back into Montgomery County on the new Route 422 bridge now being built. From there, it will proceed along Industrial Highway in Pottstown to Riverfront Park on a section of the trail now also being built.
A second, and less expensive trail, is called the West Trail. It will proceed from the Schuylkill River
Trail through West Pottsgrove up Grosstown Road to Manatawny Street, where it will connected to Murgia Park, along Manatawny Creek and across from the intersection with Sell Road.
That section is only anticipated to cost $546,845.
There, it will connect with a third primary trail called the Manatawny Trail, which will stretch along the west bank of Manatawny Creek from Memorial Park, beneath Route 100 and along the Colebrookdale Railroad line.
The outlined sections show the priority segments of the West and
Manatawny trails as proposed in the regional study.
A pedestrian bridge is planned to cross Manatawny Creek near Murgia Park as well as a smaller bridge to connect the two sides of Murgia Creek on either side of Goose Run.
The Manatawny Trail, with completed, could cost between $2.5 million and $2.7 million. The priority section of this trail would stretch from Memorial Park to under the Route 100 bridge to allow for safer pedestrian crossing of Route 100.
West trail will also have a connections to a trail through the West Pottsgrove Township Park behind the township building and into the Circle of Progress to connect with Sly Fox Brewery there. The Manatawny Trail will also connect to the Circle of Progress there.
The next trail is called the Pottsgrove Trail, and it is envisioned to stretch up Pleasantview Road from High Street, turn left near Buchert Road, after making its way through Gerald Richards Park, and reach Pottsgrove High School.
There, it will skirt the edges of the woods and make its way through the Brookside Restaurant property to emerge on North Charlotte Street near the entrance to Sunset Park in Upper Pottsgrove.
The sprawling and more conceptual Upper West Trail
The crossing of that busy road, which is also Route 663, will become safer now that PennDOT has agreed to lower the speed limit on North Charlotte Street to 25 miles per hour between Mervine Street and School Lane.
From there make its way to Hollenbach Park on North Hanover Street, opposite Pottsgrove Middle School.
This is also the point at which the Pottsgrove Trail will connect with the Walk Bike Pottstown trail
system now under construction in the borough, which will provide another connection to Riverfront Park and the Schuylkill River Trail there.
The final section is called the Upper West Trail and it is more conceptual now than the other trails, this given that it envisions a connection through New Hanover Township to the Perkiomen Trail in Green Lane.
The cost of that trail runs anywhere from $2.3 million to $4 million or $5 million depending on what kind of options are pursued, such as allowing equestrian access on certain portions.
The section of the Upper West Trail which has been prioritized
However, a small portion has been prioritized that would connect Murgia Park with the Goose Run Recreation Area in Douglass (Berks) Township. The route will depend on whether negotiations with Waste Management, which owns the Pottstown Landfill, results in allowing access through that property.
That cost is currently estimated at about $800,000.
Whenever possible, the trails use public parks, public properties and public right of ways in order to avoid private property.
Lane said that no trail would proceed through private property without those property owners first agreeing to negotiate.
A resident of North Coventry, who declined to give his name for publication, and Marc Kenline of Pottstown both said there should be more notification of private property owners who could be affected by the planned trails.
A 30-day public comment period continues through Sept. 2 and can be sent to lane in writing at Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee, 140 College Dr., Pottstown, PA 19464.
And now what you've all been waiting for ... THE TWEETS!
Our sense of the TCN photo contest is that they are looking for something a little more current than this.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by TriCounty Community Network and seems like a capital idea to us!
As part of its 10-year anniversary celebration, the TriCounty Community Network (TCN) invites children and adults to share photos of places, things and symbols that inspire them in the Greater Pottstown community.
“The photo contest provides community members with a great way to celebrate the positive aspects of our
Photo by Evan Brandt
Maybe just a photo like these twin homes on North Charlotte Street.
area,” said Holly L. Parker, TCN executive director. “For example, we encourage people to take photos of places that are special to them or things that inspire pride in our town.”
Photos, with contact information, should be submitted by email to info@tcnetwork.org by Sept. 1.
All photo entries will be displayed during TCN’s anniversary celebration on Sept. 20 as well as in other community spaces. Gift cards will be awarded for winners in two categories: children and youth ages 1-17 and adults age 18 and older.
The TriCounty Community Network is a non-profit partnership of companies and organizations, public agencies and community advocates working together to solve problems in the greater Pottstown region. The network extends across community and workforce sustainability, health, social and environmental sectors of communities in Western Montgomery, Northern Chester and Eastern Berks counties.
To learn more about TCN, visit tcnetwork.org or join the conversation on Twitter @TCN_Pottstown or by searching for TriCounty Community Network on Facebook.
Council Vice President Sheryl Miller, standing at left, speaks during the first-ever 'Town Talk' event organized by school board member Emanuel Wilkerson, standing at right.
"Can we talk?"
That was the simple idea behind Pottstown School Board member Emanuel Wilkerson's desire to gather as many people in town in one place and have a conversation about the future.
Valerie Jackson was the first people in the crowd to speak up.
The place was Connections on High in space designed exactly for this kind of event.
Wilkerson set out an ambitious discussion agenda, with three major topics, social diversity, the future of Pottstown and involvement of our youth.
As with most agendas at open meetings, it was a way to get things started and once they got started, they hummed along pretty well.
There was the requisite reminiscing about how vibrant Pottstown used to be, but there were also new voices and new ideas, something a public meeting in Pottstown has not experience very often in recent years.
Emanuel Wilkerson begins the forum.
If nothing else, having people other than the usual suspects resulted in some new ideas and what seemed to this observer to be a burgeoning sense of pride in town -- one of Wilkerson's goals.
As lifetime residents spoke about all there is to do in town, and new residents talked about why they moved to Pottstown and what they like about it, it seemed to down on people that perhaps its time to stop letting other people define their town.
Wilkerson indicated that he intends to host another meeting next month, although no date was announced.
Lets hope it happens because things are off to a good start.
