Here's the third, that's right, the third, borough council report this month.
The first meeting, the re-organizational meeting, had a bit of excitement, when two new council members were sworn in.
And the work session last Wednesday at least had retirements of three employees who, together, had provided 100 years of service to the borough.
So, as you might have guessed, by the time they got to the voting meeting Monday night, there wasn't much more to say.
In fact, the meeting took barely a half hour.
Perhaps the most interesting thing was council's unanimous vote to oppose a zoning variance request from Ketteline Guerrier, who is seeking variances from the bed and breakfast ordinance, including not living in the building, not serving breakfast and not having dedicated parking.
Council's opposition was in deference to newly minted Council Vice President Don Lebedynsky, the councilman who represents the Third Ward, where the building is located.
Full disclosure, that location is 31 E. Fifth St., which is directly across the street from my house.
And I cannot make a claim to objectivity because when Guerrier approached us about her plans, my wife and I signed a letter in support of her proposal, which is to operate the home, which is quite large, as an Airbnb.
For those two of you who don't know, Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects people who want to rent out their homes with people who are looking for accommodations in that locale.
According to the website, "Airbnb began in 2008 when two designers who had space to share hosted three travelers looking for a place to stay. Now, millions of hosts and travelers choose to create a free Airbnb account so they can list their space and book unique accommodations anywhere in the world."
When we first moved in 20 years ago, a very nice couple, the Knittles, lived across the street. They had raised 11 children there so the home had been expanded several times.
Before I knew their name, Dottie Knittle, who knew everyone, had learned ours and my son's birthday. There was a present waiting on the front porch for him on his birthday, which was only about two months after we moved in. She and Harry could always be counted on to hand out ice pops when the neighborhood kids ran around during summer vacation.
When the house became too much for them, the Knittles sold it to retire to a tidy fishing spot and a nice family from Philadelphia moved in, but they stayed for only a few years. Then it was sold to an investor, who turned it into a rental.
Within a few years, drugs were being dealt out of the house, with people coming and going all the time. I helped the police build a case for the raid that ended their tenancy and they're gone now.
Guerrier is another investor, but when she approached us about her plans, the advantage which caught our attention was that by running it as an Airbnb, "if we get complaints, we can kick them out in 24 hours," she said.
Anyone who has lived across the street from a problem rental knows it can take months for the eviction process to proceed.
I appreciated that Guerrier had come to the neighbors to explain her plans and her rationale. She showed me another letter supporting her request from her neighbors on one side, and the neighbors next to us also indicated they were considering one as well.
What we were unable to appreciate was our elected councilman coming to us to find out what we think.
Because he didn't.
When the matter came up at Wednesday's work session, Lebedynsky said he had spoken with neighbors who had expressed concerns about parking.
Strange, that he never spoke with the people who live across the street from the property when getting the pulse of the neighborhood. Equally strange is the fact that parking is somewhat plentiful on our street, with a double lot next to our home, which is home to no car, and our own off-street parking in the rear.
So I don't know who Lebedynsky talked to, only that it was not us.
What I also appreciated was that Guerrier is trying to do things right and follow the rules. She came to the borough and tried to make her business venture legal.
Instead, our elected leaders will oppose her request, and we the taxpayers will pay the fee for Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. to go to the zoning hearing board and oppose the application for a new business in town.
And here I thought we were trying to be welcoming to a new businesses, particularly those that follow the rules?
I don't get it. Don't people who stay in an Airbnb spend money in town? I'll bet Peggy Lee-Clark, Pottstown's economic development chief, would have told Lebedynsky they do, if he bothered to ask.
Even more irritating is that if anyone wants to come to Pottstown the week the zoning hearing board will hear Guerrier's case, a quick check of the official Air BNB site shows me nine different places in the borough they could stay to sleep after the proceedings.
One wonders how many of those nine Air BNBs being advertised on the site have tried to follow the rules and received a bed and breakfast license from the borough. One also wonders, but not with much conviction, if the Licensing and Inspections Department will look those sites up and go cite those folks for zoning violations.
More importantly, one wonders if they should.
Don't we want to bring visitors to town? Aren't we always talking about the need for more hotel rooms?
What one begins NOT to wonder, sadly, is how Pottstown got its reputation for being a difficult place to do business; a reputation we now pay Lee-Clark taxpayer money to overcome so she can attract new business.
Not to lay on the irony too heavily here, but one might also find it remarkable that Mr. Lebedynsky is the head of a committee established last year that is supposed to "streamline procedures" in the borough to make it easier for businesses to come to town.
It's a committee to which Council President Dan Weand re-appointed him last night. The more things change ...
In other appointment news, council also re-appointed to one-year terms, all four incumbent members of the Blighted Property Review Committee, adding Deb Penrod as the fifth member.
Council also re-appointed Michael Benner to a five-year term on the Pottstown Borough Authority and Mark Patrizi to a three-year term on the Pottstown Zoning Hearing Board.
And with that, I urge you to click here to see the Tweets from last night's meeting.
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