Pottstown Gets Federal $300,000 Clean-up Grant

This map shows the Keystone Employment and Economic Plan region along Keystone Boulevard in Pottstown and West Pottsgrove township, part of which is now eligible to access $300,000 in EPA brownfield clean-up funds.

Re-development projects in downtown and along Keystone Boulevard may get a boost from a $300,000 grant announced Wednesday.

The grant is from the Environmental Protection Agency's "Brownfield" program, which seeks to clean contamination out of old industrial and commercial sites to get them ready for redevelopment.

The grant was awarded to the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority, but is specific to two census tracts in Pottstown.

One includes the downtown area from South Washington Street east, as well as the properties along Keystone Boulevard, a priority area for redevelopment in the borough.

“I am delighted to announce this much needed investment from the EPA into the cleanup of these abandoned industrial sites in the district,” said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist.

“This project will launch the environmental cleanup of neglected properties and boost the revitalization efforts that have been ongoing in Pottstown,” Dean said in a press release.

"I'm confident this grant program can assist in attracting development because it can cover front-end costs," said Jerry Nugent, executive director of the re-development authority.

The ribbon cutting for Cedarville Engineering at the 

BB&T Bank building in 2018.

He said the program has already worked well in Pottstown, helping to move numerous redevelopment projects closer to completion.

For example, Brownfields funding was used to identify lead and asbestos in the top three floors of the
BB & T Bank building at the northwest corner of High and Hanover streets.

"That assessment allowed us to provide a low-interest $250,000 loan to clean it up," he said.

Those floors are now home to a growing engineering company, Cedarville Engineering.

The brownfields assessment program has also helped identify contamination at the borough's Pollock Park and the ongoing clean-up at Pottstown Plating, located at the corner of South Washington Street and Industrial Highway.

Clean-up efforts continue at the former Pottstown Plating.

A brownfield grant also helped to identify contaminants at the former PECO sub-station that is now home to the Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area and Montgomery County Community College Innovation Center in Riverfront Park.

"If you want to get financing, the first thing the bank requires is a phase one environmental assessment and these grants can help cover those costs to make sure the re-development project does not become unsustainable economically," Nugent explained.

A member of Pottstown's Blighted Property Review Committee, Nugent is intimately familiar with neglected properties in the borough in need of redevelopment.

So too is Peggy Lee-Clark, the executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development, the borough's economic development arm.

She said although the Keystone Boulevard area, which is part of a specific re-development plan called KEEP, is a borough priority, she wanted to make sure the grant could also be used downtown.

PAID Executive Director Peggy Lee-Clark in front of a 

map of the KEEP redevelopment zone.

"I did not want to limit it to the Keystone site," Lee-Clark said. "With all the types of industry which
were in Pottstown in the past, I've always said you could drill into the middle of High Street and find an environmental issue."

"We didn't want to be locked into a single project, and the redevelopment authority has been very nimble, stepping in when its needed," she said.

Just last month, a $142 million "green energy" business was proposed for the borough's western border off Keystone Boulevard.

The project is the first to be considered under the KEEP plan for Keystone Boulevard, a joint plan between the borough and West Pottsgrove Township that has been seven years in the making.

KEEP stands for Keystone Employment and Economic Plan.

Nugent said generally, the EPA likes to see the money spent within two years and is part of the application process through the redevelopment authority to access the money.

"It can be extended for the right reason, and we've been pretty lucky with EPA and have a good track record with them," Nugent said.

Brownfield Benefits

Nationwide, 151 communities are selected to receive grant awards totaling over $65.6 million. in EPA brownfields funding.

Eight of those were in in Pennsylvania totaling $3.7 million and the only one was awarded in Montgomery County.

“These grants will help communities in need transform contaminated sites into community assets that not only create jobs and jumpstart economic development but also improve public health and the environment,” EPA Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio, said in a press release announcing the grants.

“These funds are going to areas that need them the most. Several of the selected recipients are receiving Brownfields grants for the first time or targeted to areas within Opportunity Zones,” he said.

In fact, the two Census tracts identified in this grant are two of the three identified in the federal Opportunity Zones identified in the 2018 tax reform, which offer tax benefits for developments located in the zone.

The benefit for the investors is it allows them to defer and, in some cases eliminate, income taxes on the capital gains earned from the investments those funds make in projects in the low-income Census tracts designated as “Opportunity Zones.”

There are estimated to be more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States.

EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $1.6 billion in brownfield grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse, according to the agency website.

To date, brownfields investments have leveraged more than $31 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. "Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding leveraged more than 160,000 jobs from both public and private sources," according to the site, which also noted the program also:
Increases Local Tax Revenue: A study of 48 brownfield sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional local tax revenue was generated in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of these sites.
Increases Residential Property Values: Another study found that property values of homes near revitalized brownfields sites increased between 5 and 15 percent following cleanup.

Through fiscal year 2019, on average, $17.45 was leveraged for each EPA Brownfields dollar and nine jobs leveraged per $100,000 of EPA brownfields funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund cooperative agreements, according to EPA statistics.

"Brownfield sites also tend to have greater location efficiency than alternative development scenarios," according to the agency.

Results of five pilot studies show a 32 to 57 percent reduction in vehicle miles traveled when development occurred at a brownfield site rather than a greenfield.

Fewer vehicle miles traveled means a reduction in pollution emissions including greenhouse gases. These same site comparisons show an estimated 47 to 62 percent reduction of stormwater runoff for brownfield site development.

Dragon Boat Will Ferry Santa to Pottstown Saturday

Santa will arrive in downtown Pottstown Saturday via dragon boat, crossing the Schuylkill River to land in Riverfront Park, before riding a fire truck downtown for more holiday fun.

There was news a-plenty at last night's Borough Council meeting, which we will get to in tomorrow's post, but first I want to let everyone know how busy Santa Clause will be in Pottstown, particularly on Saturday.

Despite the fact that no one provided any of this information to the newspaper, or me, the economic development report delivered at Wednesday night's council meeting by Peggy Lee-Clark, executive director of PAID, provides the basics.

Christmas magic begins Friday night at The Alley on High Street, which is now decorated as a
"Christmas Village" and from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday, vendors including NV Donuts, will be there along with a Christmas Tree.

"But the real excitement starts on Saturday," Lee-Clark said.

From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Santa will be at The Pottstown Integrated Wellness Complex at 724 N. Adams Street, known to most as the YMCA, to visit with children and adults alike.

From 12 to 2 p.m., Beverly's Pastry Shop at 322 High St. will host Christmas cookie decorating.

The big man in the red suit will arrive in downtown Pottstown via, get this, a dragon boat, which will ferry him and his throne across the Schuylkill River to Riverfront Park at 2 p.m.

From there, he will ride a fire truck to The Alley on High Street to hob knob with Pottstown peeps.

From 3 to 6 p.m. is the official "Holiday Stroll" on High Street where shoppers can fill out a "bingo card" with a theme from "A Christmas Story," which, by zero coincidence, is the show that opens at Steel River Playhouse, which opens Friday and runs through Dec. 22.

Bingo cards can be obtained from the Schuylkill River Heritage Area in Riverfront Park, where Santa will stop by after his sojourn across the river, and at The High Street Terminal market, 300 High St.

But make sure you are back at Smith Family Plaza in front of borough hall by 7 because that's when the tree lighting begins.

It is also when the winners of the contest for businesses decorating the planters outside their buildings will be announced by the judge, Mayor Stephanie Henrick.

(Santa will return to Pottstown on Dec. 21, when he will ride a fire truck through town, according to Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand.)

And don't forget on Sunday is the Historic Holiday House tour, proceeds from which raise money to pay for July 4, 2020 fireworks at the GoFourth Festival in Memorial Park. Read more about that here.

Here is video of Lee-Clark's report:



And for those of you who can't wait for the hard news out of last night's meeting, here are the Tweets from the meeting.

Tax Hike Down, 5-Year Police Pact Gives

French Style 'Party in White' Marks Summer's End

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Hobart's Run

Three Pottstown organizations are planning to bring back an event that eases the transition from summer to fall with a stylish, fun flair featuring local food, drink, and live music.

 The Second Annual Fete en Blanc (French for “Party in White”) will be held on Friday, Sept. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the picturesque Smith Family Plaza at Pottstown’s Borough Hall, 100 East Street.

Fete en Blanc, organized by Hobart’s Run, the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority (PDIDA), and Pottstown Area Industrial Development (PAID), is modeled after traditional Fete en Blanc or Diner en Blanc (Dinner in White) events held in communities around the world, including Philadelphia and Lancaster, in late summer or early fall. 

You get the idea, everyone dresses in white.

All-in-white attired attendees traditionally wave white napkins as they dine together and say farewell to summer.

“This event is a celebration for Pottstown,” says Stephanie Trauner, Administrative Director for Hobart’s Run and a member of the Fete en Blanc planning committee. 

“It is not a fundraiser: The goal is simply to bring people together for a light-hearted, fun event and encourage area residents to make new friends and connections with people from Pottstown as well as surrounding areas.”

“Fete en Blanc definitely will allow participants to see Pottstown in the best ‘light!’” says Peggy Lee-Clark, Executive Director of PAID. 

“We were eager to continue this celebration as it showcases the best of Pottstown to people both here and from the larger region– whether it’s our downtown amenities, local restaurants and talent, or our diverse and engaged residents.” 

“PDIDA is thrilled to be joining PAID and Hobart’s Run in bringing Fete en Blanc back for its second year, especially based on the high degree of positive energy we felt during the fun event last year,” notes Sheila Dugan, Pottstown’s Main Street Manager.

Added Twila Fisher, Director of Community and Economic Development for The Hill School and Hobart’s Run: “Fete En Blanc is a natural opportunity to relate over food and music in a beautiful, outdoor setting. Hobart’s Run is excited to be a part of this effort to bring the Pottstown community together in a new way!”

What's a party without a little music?

Eat, drink, and enjoy music – but please wear white!

Guests are asked to dress in white – whether in casual or dressier attire, as anything goes, as long as it’s white – and gather for al fresco dining paired with live entertainment. Although there is not an attendance fee, guests must RSVP and obtain a ticket by going to the Fete en Blanc link under “Events” at www.downtownpottstown.org.

Participants may either bring their own beverages of choice (and white or clear glasses or cups) and their own dinner or snacks, or pre-order food by September 10th by calling the following participating Pottstown “Picnic Partner” vendors: The Avenue, Grumpy’s, iCreate Café, Lily’s, and the PUB (Pottstown United Brewery), as well as boxed desserts by Beverly’s. Pre-ordered meals, priced at about $10, will be available for pick-up at the event. A

 complete menu listing and ordering information is available at the event registration link at www.downtownpottstown.org; this list is likely to grow as well. Manatawny Still Works will offer samplings and bottles for sale (bring your own mixers) and other “adult beverage” vendors likely will participate, for those who do not wish to BYOB.

Live music will be provided by hip area acoustic guitarist Drew Gess, local cabaret vocalists Mickey and Maddy Ramirez, and Maggie Nace, known for her cover performances from the Beatles and other artists. Area businesses will decorate their windows with the Fete en Blanc all-white theme as
they get into the seasonal spirit.

What better way to say goodbye to summer than by gathering with friends, old and new, at this event?

RSVP at www.downtownpottstown.org so that Fete en Blanc planners can be sure to have enough tables, chairs, and white linens on hand, and remember to place food orders by Sept. 10. Fete en Blanc will be held even if there is a bit of light rain, although it will be cancelled if there are storms or heavy rain (check out the website for updates). Also, pre-ordered meals will be available for pick up rain or shine!

Budget Questions and First Firefighter of the Year

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottstown Fire Chief Michael Lessar congratulates Michael Sedlock of t he North End Fire Company who is retiring after 48 years of volunteer service and was named the first-ever Pottstown Firefighter of the Year.

The Firefighter of the Year Award

Wednesday night was a very long meeting, with a very long agenda and lots of information which, at midnight, my head is a little too thick to convey coherently.

Instead, I will offer some highlights, the most important of which is related to the budget and its 18 percent tax hike.

No decisions were made about the budget and in a weird kind of kabuki budget theater, Vice President Sheryl Miller outlined some specific cuts, only to be told that council can only suggest areas to cut and its up to the borough manager to make it happen.

So despite Miller suggesting several specific administrative cuts, such as not hiring an assistant public works director, getting rid of one of two human resources director assistants and cutting down on open window hours, Borough Manager Mark Flanders and Council President Dan Weand kept asking her "what services to you want to cut?"

It was frustrating to watch and, likely, more frustrating to live through.

Also important is the return of the folks from Department of Community and Economic Development's Governor's Center for Local Government Services were back.

Their Early Intervention Program, started back in 2007 and completed in 2009, is what created a report with 122 suggestions on ways Pottstown could economize. They would like to do the same thing again, which council seemed amendable to, but which would not be soon enough to affect the proposed 2018 budget.

Also significant is a plan for the construction of the new station in Memorial Park for the Colebrookdale Railroad, which will require a land swap to happen.

Nathaniel Guest, who runs the railroad, said so far most of the nearly $2 million in economic impact is in Boyertown, because there is a station there, and he wants some of that benefit to come to Pottstown, "my home town."

Anyway, lots of other things in the works, such as a proposal to establish a group home at 306 N. Charlotte St., which is on the northeast corner of the intersection with Lincoln Avenue, but for now, you will have to be satisfied with the Tweets from the meeting ...

Joint Meeting Focuses on Getting PAID

Peggy Lee Clark was in an unusual spot Tuesday night.

As the new executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development, Pottstown's economic development arm, she was obligated to give a report on the activities of her predecessor, Steve Bamford.

The occasion was the quarterly joint meeting of Pottstown Borough Council and the Pottstown School Board, a meeting of such import only three members of the school board bothered to show up.

Nevertheless, there was some news to be found amid the reports.

Clark reported that for the second time, a grant application to the state for the refurbishment of the former Ellis Mills building on High Street was turned down. Now the owner, Scott Bentley, who spend a fair bit of change trying to clear the interior, is now interested in selling.

On a brighter note, she said a deal for the purchase of the former Prince's Bakery on South Washington Street is close to closing and the new owners aim to transform the space into a restaurant.

But perhaps the best news of all is that Cedarville Engineering LLC, has not only moved from Chester County to Pottstown, but brought 35 jobs along the way, projected to expand to 50 by next year.

The will move into what is now the BB & T Bank building at the corner of High and North Hanover streets. The top three floors of that building have been vacant for 20 years, but Cedarvill will occupy the top floor and has right of first refusal for the two floors beneath it, Clark said.

"We want development that provides living wage jobs," Clark said.

Both boards also talked about the need to prepare for the pending sale of Pottstown Memorial Medical Center to Reading Health Systems and the loss of nearly $900,000 in tax revenue for the school district and less for the borough should the property come off the tax rolls because the new owner is non-profit.

Here are the Tweets from the rest of the meeting:

New Pottstown Super and Walking School Bus Kudos

Photo by Evan Brandt

Just some of the many volunteers who make Pottstown's Walking School Bus a success were thanked by the school board during Monday night's meeting.

As most of you no doubt know from reading your Tuesday morning Mercury, Acting Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez dropped the "acting" last night and became just Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez.

So I won't waste your precious reading time by focusing on that. Go buy a newspaper!

But something else that happened Monday night is also worthy of your attention.

In case you've missed in the pages of The Mercury, Pottstown is experimenting with something called The Walking School Bus.

The idea is adult volunteers accompany students walking to Rupert Elementary School and pick-up students along the route so they can all walk together, improving safety and getting exercise.

The problem is 95 percent of those programs fail in the first year, as Rodriguez noted.

But not in Pottstown. Here, the program has increased in size, as is evidenced in the photo above, which shows just a portion of the many volunteers whose names were read off Monday by wellness coordinator David Genova.

Congrats to all.

Also of note last night, the board voted to raise by 10 percent the fees charged for renting school facilities and to charge parking fees as well.

The Foundation for Pottstown Education announced the final arrangements to fund a program by which teachers and other district employees would be provided with a $10,000 forgivable loan  to buy a house in the borough.

There were a few other things of interest as well, and you can find them here among the Tweets, rife, as usual, with typos.

PottsTOWN Talks Economy and More

No, this is not a photo from last night's PottsTOWN Talks meeting. It is a photo from last month's meeting. But our new free-lancer Nancy March was so busy live Tweeting the meeting, that she didn't Tweet any photos.

 Welcome, guest Tweeter/Blogger Nancy March.

Never able to stay away from local news for long, March, the former editor of The Mercury, came out of retirement this week to cover some stories for us as a free-lancer.

One of them was last night's PottsTOWN Talks meeting, the second in as many months.

(I was busy at a Pottsgrove School Board meeting that was as brief as it was absent of earth-shattering news.)

This month's topic was the local economy and the meeting started off with presentations from two executive directors, Steve Bamford from Pottstown Area Industrial Development, or PAID; and Sheila Dugan of Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, or PDIDA.

Also speaking was Matt Green, a local realtor and activist and former Pottstown police officer.

Then the meeting, which was attended by about 50 people, according to March's Tweets, broke up into smaller groups to brainstorm specific actions in specific areas -- economic development, community engagement and external marketing.

Although the dates have not been set, the topics for the next two PottsTOWN Talks meetings have, according to organizer Emanuel Wilkerson: schools, then neighborhoods.

And here are March's Tweets from last night's meeting. An article will also be published in The Mercury.

Some New Ideas on Tax Breaks

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottstown Schools Superintendent Jeff Sparagana began the joint school board borough council meeting Tuesday with a shameless plug (which we are totally falling for) for The Wiz, Pottstown's first full-district musical in seven years, being staged on March 4, 5 and 6 at Pottstown High School.

Against all odds, the joint meeting of Pottstown Borough Council and Pottstown School Board Tuesday turned out to be fairly interesting and to contain one or two novel ideas.

Yes people, it can happen.

Hat's are off to school board member Polly Weand who, apparently after reading how some other communities have approached the LERTA tax break question, made some interesting suggestions.

For the uninitiated, LERTA stands for Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance.

And the question of whether to enact one in Pottstown has been held up by the school board for months.

That log-jam seemed to break Tuesday when Weand suggested that in addition to giving people a sliding scale tax break on the assessed value of their property improvements over time, that they raise the stakes for those who commit to hiring local people.

She also suggested, and council and the school board ultimately agreed, to forming a joint committee to quickly (emphasis on quickly) come up with other incentives that might move Pottstown in the right direction and which could be written into the LERTA statute.

Ideas include a "threshold investment" to qualify, shortening the length of time the tax abatement is in place and breaks for residential properties that are purchased or occupied by teachers and first-responders.

The committee of four was appointed and hopes to finish its suggestions in as little as two month's time.

Also discussed were the Pottstown In Focus film festival, the tourism and recreation district, Pottstown's sustainability plan and plans to teach school children more walking and biking safety.

Without further ado, here are the Tweets and links:

Wednesday Briefing Set for Pottstown Off-Ramp on the Digital Super-Highway

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc.

The Pennsylvania Gigabit Revolution is a broadband initiative to maximize every possible synergy for six "off-ramps" from an ultra-high capacity fiber broadband system to be constructed in 2016 running from New York City through the Pottstown area to Ashburn, Virginia.

The program is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Broadband Outreach and Aggregation Fund.

Presently, most ultra-high capacity fiber between NYC and DC runs along the Amtrak/I-95 corridor. York-based, United Fiber & Data (UFD) is building this ultra-high capacity fiber broadband to improve redundancy, capacity, and safety. 

Like interchanges on interstate highways, the UFD fiber creates an opportunity for communities that maximize an "off-ramp" to this digital super-highway.

Representatives of UFD and Business Information Group, Inc. will be hosting a briefing in Pottstown at 1:30 p.m. onWednesday, Feb. 17, in the Community Room of Montgomery County Community College, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. 

The public is encouraged to attend. 

This meeting was originally scheduled for January 25, but was postponed due to the weather. 

To learn more visitwww.gigabitrev.com.

Marable St.? Fire Services? Residential Tax Breaks?

Photo by Evan Brandt

Photo of a Photo: Mercury Photographer Kevin Hoffman arranges borough council and staff for the photo that will be buried in the new time capsule to be opened in 50 years and buried about where the officials are standing.

Wednesday was a long one as borough council meetings go.

Starting at 6:30 p.m. with two conditional use hearings and now winding up until 9:30.

There were lots of things discussed, but the major ones in no particular order were:

• What to do about expiring fire services agreements; 
• Whether a cell tower should be allowed at the wastewater treatment plant; 
• Whether to re-name Cross Street for Newstell Marable;
• Whether to renew the lease with Fly-Elite to operate Pottstown airport;
• Whether to move forward with a new LERTA district;
• Whether to finance new emergency radios from the county and own them or allow fire companies to buy them from the borough;
• And a few others.

You can read all about them in the Tweets below and in upcoming stories in The Mercury, your local newspaper for more than 75 years.

Lurching Toward LERTA

A page from the PAID annual report, reviewed Wednesday at the joint Pottstown Borough Council/School Board meeting.

Steve Bamford was a busy guy Wednesday night.

After members of both boards took a tour of the newly renovated Franklin Elementary School, Bamford, the borough's main economic development officer, delivered not only the annual report of

Steve Bamford gets ready to deliver his report.

the Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc., which he heads; he also updated both boards on a new tax incentive under consideration.

The tax incentive is called LERTA, which stands for Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance.

Borough and school district staff are recommending a district that encompasses the entire borough, but does not include residential properties -- at least not yet.

Borough Manager Mark Flanders said staff does not want to abandon the potential for using the LERTA credits for residential properties, merely that is it more complex and they feel it would be better to get the program up and running for commercial and industrial properties first.

Borough Council unanimously voted to authorize Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr.  to move forward with crafting the new ordinance.

However the school board, which had six members and an apparent antipathy to using the taxpayer-funded microphones provided for the meeting, could not seem to decide (it was hard to tell) and seemed to push its vote on the next school board meeting.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.

A Non-Uniform Meeting

The students of Pottstown High School will be pleased to kn ow that the school board seems inclined to give them a chance to prove the school does not need a uniform policy.

Well at least those of you who don't already follow me on Twitter (hint, hint) ... because those lucky few know already.

The trial period, if adopted Monday, will go until the end of the year, and Superintendent Jeff Sparagana said the distirct will do a "three-year look-back" to see how compliance and discipline issues compare for the same period with, and without the uniform policy being in place.

Emmanuel Wilkerson, the student member of the board who presented the idea to the board and has guided it to this point, expressed confidence in the student body's ability to demonstrate that they can responsible dress those bodies.

Also worthy of note was a presentation by Borough Manager Mark Flanders and PAID Executive Director Steve Bamford on the idea of establishing one or several LERTA districts in town as a way to spur economic development.

And whether or not the district has enough money to both replace the flat roof on the administration building, and undertake other roof and masonry repairs at other buildings was a subject of much discussion and will await a vote on Monday night.

Here are the many, many, many Tweets from the meeting.

The Arts Make Pottstown a Target for New Business

Careful kid, you'll put your eye out!

If you are excited by the news that a high-tech firm with more than 30 good-paying jobs plans to move from a farm field in East Vincent to High Street, you can thank Ralphie and his Christmas wish for a Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock.

"A Christmas Story," the seasonal offering at Pottstown's downtown TriCounty Performing Arts Center, was among the shows that first attracted VideoRay President Scott Bentley to Pottstown.

Bentley lives in North Coventry but said during an interview last week that "I never really came in to Pottstown until I started attending shows at the TriPAC."

He's been to several, but identified, with some difficulty, "A Christmas Story" as his favorite.

Scott Bentley, left

Once he started coming to Pottstown, he kept coming, and it looks like he and his company will be here to stay.

Steve Bamford, PAID's executive director and the guy who helped convince Bentley to bring his business here, said the story is not that unusual.

He said quality companies that want to keep valued employees, look to things like quality of life and the arts when deciding where to locate to they can keep those employees.

This is the latest and clearest example of what many leaders in Pottstown have been arguing for some time, that the arts can be an economic driver as well as a benefit to quality of life.

It's something I was trying to say in my Feb. 13 post about "creative currency" after a weekend visit to New York City.

But apparently I wasn't saying anything that the third generation of a national study didn't already know.

There's more economic impact to the arts than the price of admission.

The study, Arts and Economic Prosperity III, was released just last October, by Americans for the Arts.


In it, Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson is quoted as saying "not only do the arts provide a much-needed social escape for many in our communities, they also help drive local economies."

"Having an abundance of unique arts and events means more revenue for local businesses and makes our communities more attractive to young, talented professionals  whose decisions on where to start a career or business are increasingly driven by quality of life and the availability of cultural amenities," Peterson said in the report.


You can read more of the report here.

If you're not inclined to read it yourself, (it IS 300 pages) here are a few highlights:

•  "Nationally, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity every year—$63.1 billion in spending by organizations and an additional $103.1 billion in event-related spending by their audiences."

The $166.2 billion in total economic activity has a significant national impact, generating the following:

• 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs

• $104.2 billion in household income

• $7.9 billion in local government tax revenues

• $9.1 billion in state government tax revenues

• $12.6 billion in federal income tax revenues

(Hint to Pottstown leaders: the site even provides a free, on-line Arts and Economic Prosperity Calculator by which you can calculate the specific economic impact that might be expected from promoting an arts economy, as well as a tool-kit you can use to find out what works and what just sounds good.)

Understand, the above figures are not irrelevantly culled from Dallas or East Jabib Arkansas. The study's findings include figures from 11 Pennsylvania locations, including Lancaster, the Lehigh Valley and the "greater Philadelphia area," which includes Chester and Montgomery counties.

You can view Lancaster's numbers here; the Lehigh Valley's here; and Philadelphia County's here.

Among the things to be found there are figures showing spending by arts organizations and their audiences support nearly 31,000 in greater Philadelphia; more than 6,000 jobs in the Lehigh Valley and nearly 800 jobs in Lancaster.

It also shows that arts attractions bring in more dollars because it brings additional visitors from outside the area, who stay longer than locals and spend more than other U.S. travelers.

"When a community attracts cultural tourists, it harnesses even greater economic rewards," the report found.

"Non-local audiences spend twice as much as their local counterparts. Arts and culture are magnets for tourists and tourism research repeatedly shows that cultural travelers stay longer and spend more."

Better news is that the arts are a growing industry, as compared to other aspects of the economy.

In the past five years, the economic activity generated by the arts has increased by 24 percent.

"Right now, cities around the world are competing to attract new businesses as well as our brightest young professionals," the report said. "The winners will be communities that offer an abundance of arts and culture opportunities."

Hopefully, now that word is getting out about Pottstown, we can share in some of that abundance.

There are some promising signs, like the fact that Tri-PAC's most recently production, "Ain't Misbehavin'" sold out.

(Their next offering is a drama, "Toys in the Attic," which runs from March 8 to March 25.)

(If you would like to know about other shows in the area, check out Cheryl Thornburg’s “Curtain Call” blog on The Mercury web page with reviews and theater news.)

And who knows? Perhaps somewhere out there, a business owner is taking a second look at Pottstown because of a pleasant ride on the Schuylkill River Trail, or because a child takes music lessons at the High Street Music Co., or pottery classes at the Gallery on High.

Yes, once they get here, they have to be welcomed and the fit has to be right. But Steve Bamford has just shown us that high speed Internet, city water, city sewer, paved parking, restaurants can bring jobs.

Arts and Economic Prosperity III "shows conclusively that, locally as well as nationally, the arts means business."

Let's make Pottstown one of the places where that conclusion can be proven -- again and again.

That kind of gift is 10 times better than a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock (although that's pretty cool too.)

Share Your Thoughts About Downtown Pottstown

If you're a merchant downtown, or you care about downtown stores, you might want to clear your calendar tomorrow for a meeting of the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority.

The meeting will be on the third floor of this building.

Starting at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 24, the meeting will be held in council chambers, the third floor of Pottstown Borough Hall, 100 E. High St., Pottstown.

PDIDA President Sheila Dugan will provide a re-cap of 2011, including the board re-organization, targeting new businesses, better marketing of downtown events and goals for 2012.

Susan Storb will report on PDIDA's finances, showing administrative costs have been cut by 50 percent and the importance of making timely payments.

Board member Andrew Monastra will report on the Facade loans and assessment payments.

Board member Cindy Brower will report on events and committees on tab for 2012, as well as the need for a yearly calendar of events downtown.

The PDIDA office is located in the first floor of this building on N. Hanover Street

Board member John Armato will provide a report on communications, including a "Monthly PDIDA Corner" report both in The Mercury and on-line.

Board member Ben Moscia will report on cleaning up downtown, snow removal and littering laws.

And then the meeting will be opened up for a merchant discussion, in which input on merchant issues, concern and suggestions will be solicited.

Also present will be Steve Bamford, the new executive director of PAID, Borough Manager Jason Bobst and members of borough council.

Because this meeting occurs at the same time as the Pottsgrove School Board meeting about re-districting the elementary schools there, our coverage of this will be limited ... if there is anything at all. So take notes and let us know how it goes.