2019 Articles
Season of giving?
This is the time of year when people give the most to charities. We’ve paid the annual household bills, and now we decide how much we have to spare for others.
Effective altruism
On Tuesday, we discussed donating to charity, focused on Pottstown. But the neediest people don’t live here. 583 (2020-1-2)
A memorable Christmas trip
My earliest Christmas memory dates to December 1953, when I first saw America’s most beautiful store — John Wanamaker’s, across the street from Philadelphia City Hall.
Stores that uplift and inspire
Interestingly, Wanamaker’s Department Store advertised heavily in Pottstown newspapers in the early 1900s, so a lot of Pottstonians must have shopped there by taking the train, a faster and easier trip than driving today.
The rise of charter schools
Rallies were held simultaneously Dec. 5 at 17 school districts statewide to protest the way Pennsylvania funds its public schools. District officials called for full implementation of a “fair funding” formula. Protesters also sought reforms in the way public charter schools are established and funded.
Charters undermine communities
Charter schools undermine struggling communities like Pottstown. Thanks to charter schools, motivated parents in urban areas can remove their children from regular public schools, further concentrating the poor left behind.
Life as we know it coming to an end
After 30 years of pollyanna talk from scientists optimistically hoping humanity will come together and reduce greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to avert dramatic climate change, a United Nations panel conceded last month that it’s probably too late.
The closest analogy
New school director picks Pottstown
Steven and Judith Kline moved to Pottstown’s North End two years ago from increasingly developed New Hanover Township. Steven, retired principal of Lower Merion's Harriton High School, will join the Pottstown School Board Thursday.
Holiday House Tour this Sunday
Twelve of Pottstown’s most historic homes, some never before opened to the public, will be on the Historic Pottstown Holiday Tour 1 to 5 p.m. this Sunday. Tickets are available ahead of time and on the day of the tour at Studio 36 Bead Shop and Artisan Gallery, 105 E. High Street.
1807 gem is a home once more
It’s been 10 years since an American Federal-style house at 548 Manatawny Street, built in 1807 by farmer Jacob Levengood, was first threatened with demolition.
Roller Mill renovation almost done
The historic 1725 Pottstown Roller Mill, just west of Hanover Street, is set to open in the next few weeks after a complete renovation by the Zimrick Group, a partnership of Ken Zimmerman and Greg Emrick.
Rich man's epiphany
While Pottstown schools have individual success stories, it has not come close to eradicating generational poverty. Nor has any other American school district serving substantial numbers of children in poverty.
Rich man's epiphany (pt 2)
On Tuesday we published excerpts from a multi-millionaire’s essay in The Nation magazine regarding public schools and children in poverty. He made (to him) the startling discovery that schools can’t solve inequality in America.
Pottstown's grim finances
Next month, Pottstown Council is expected to increase real estate taxes 4.25 percent for 2020. That’s on top of a 12 percent tax increase in 2018 and a 9 percent tax increase this year. Even with these tax increases, however, Pottstown will face a yawning gulf between revenues and expenses in future years.
Schools take lion's share of taxes
Most of Pottstown’s real estate taxes — 73 percent — are levied by the Pottstown School District, which serves the same taxpayers as the borough.
Recycling: It's a big deal
It’s great to be first in the nation for something positive. Pottstown is now America’s first community to have curbside recycling of flexible plastic packaging materials such as grocery bags, food pouches, and bubble wrap.
Recycling and clean streets
The following essay by Julia Ross, a former U.S. Fulbright scholar in Taiwan, shows how much our culture needs to change to protect the environment by eliminating waste.
ULI themes still a work in progress
The most recent ULI report — presented by panel members Friday to about 70 stakeholders at the Steel River Playhouse — continued many of the same themes as a third ULI report in 2009.
ULI 2019 plan: smorgasbord of ideas
Seven community development experts from all over the country have now returned home after spending six days in Pottstown last week crafting a plan to invigorate our borough.
ULI makes another visit to Pottstown
This week, a panel of nationwide experts from ULI — the Urban Land Institute — is visiting Pottstown to evaluate the community’s strengths and weaknesses and suggest ways we can promote economic development and enhance our quality of life.
ULI sparks Pottstown's 'town center'
Few people remember, but Pottstown’s borough hall and Smith Family Plaza on High Street were first conceived in 1989 by a panel for ULI — the Urban Land Institute.
Pottstown students aid Africans
Having won a nationwide “innovators” competition sponsored by the Dow Chemical Co., Pottstown pre-engineering students Jacob Eames and David Hicks joined their teacher, Andy Bachman, on a 10-day mission last summer to Kenya to help enlarge a K-8 public school sponsored by WE.org, an international community - building charity.
What's your consumption factor?
On Tuesday, we wrote about a mission two Pottstown students and their teacher took to Kenya, where they encountered extreme poverty. Our students are budding innovators, tasked with solving big problems in the coming decades. The following essay by renowned anthropologist Jared Diamond provides a broad look at what they face:
Farm field's last crop: houses
Bulldozers have scraped away much of what used to be 143 acres of farm fields at Bleim Road and North Pleasantview Road to build 178 homes, some of which have already been completed.
Townships losing virgin land
From Upper Pottsgrove to New Hanover to Lower Frederick, more sprawling development is coming to a site near you. Sprawling developments fragment the landscape and erode native habitats.
Great Gateway
Today, nearly 20 years after the Mrs. Smith’s Pie Co. complex was demolished, two new mixed-use buildings have been completed on the most visible part of the site, forming a handsome entryway to Pottstown.
Shirt factory project underway
Two million dollars in renovations have begun at the 19th century Meyerhoff shirt factory at Charlotte and Cherry streets, which was last used in the 1990s as a Mrs. Smith’s Pie Co. laboratory.
Dismal Theorem coming true?
One thing we know for sure is that a greater than 10 percent chance of the earth’s eventual warming of 11 degrees Fahrenheit or more — the end of the human adventure on the planet as we know it — is too high -- Dismal Theorem.
How the other half lives
Recently, in a campaign speech at a re-election rally for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Donald Trump Jr. brought up his time in Pottstown without specifically mentioning the Hill School.
Trash man cometh with good deal
Last week, Pottstown Council awarded a three-year trash pick-up contract to J.P. Mascaro for $8 million. Our trash collectors have one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the borough.
Before the bins
It’s easy to forget how terrible our downtown streets looked prior to 2009, when curbside trash was stuffed in a variety of beat-up trash cans (often missing lids) cardboard boxes and plastic bags that were often ripped open by animals, leaving a trail of garbage on the sidewalk.
Pottstown's first LERTA project
Three years after LERTA was passed, involving lots of hype and hand-wringing, just one property owner has applied. Daniel Helwig was accepted into LERTA last year and enjoys reduced taxes for improvements he has made to his property.
Land bank inching forward
Land banks are a great concept, and they have done well in other Pennsylvania municipalities. After nearly two years, it’s time for Pottstown’s Land bank board to advance from “talking” to “doing.”
Sold!
Back in 2015, Kimberton Waldorf senior Hannah Wolfram bought a vacant house at 121 King Street with an investor to renovate as her senior project.
Pottstown bed and breakfast
There is no better evidence that Pottstown has “arrived” than the opening of the Three Daughters Inn, a bed and breakfast at 1016 High Street, owned and operated by Tracy and Jay Purdy.
Glad they're gone
It's easy to forget that before renovations were completed five years ago , Pottstown’s elementary schools were degraded by 23 cheap, ugly modulars. Some of them had been there for 15 years.
Hospital: huge revenue loss
Tax revenues from recently refurbished properties are chump change compared to the plunge in Pottstown’s tax base when Tower Health obtained tax-exempt status for Pottstown Hospital in 2017.
Pottstown's floral displays
One of the great things about a traditional town like Pottstown is its residents’ ability to share their flowers and gardens with others.
More parking lot trees needed
To fight climate change and manage stormwater, our municipalities need abundant trees. The most effective place to add trees is parking lots.
Of quarterbacks and teachers
As best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell points out, teaching is a profession where it’s almost impossible to predict how a novice will do until he or she actually tries it.
Education: Winners and losers?
School begins in two weeks. Time for school districts to start teaching to the state test, with the results published by the State Department of Education so the public can “tsk-tsk” and rank schools.
Too much asphalt
Most of Pottstown's impervious surface is dedicated to cars. More of our town is covered with parking lots than with buildings — 14% for buildings and 15% for parking lots. Another 9% of Pottstown’s surface is used for streets.
Sidewalk rain garden thriving
In 2015, as a demonstration project, Trees Inc. installed Pottstown’s first sidewalk rain garden along Walnut Street next to the Pottstown School District administration building. Four years later, it’s flourishing.
Non-profits would pay also
An additional feature of a stormwater runoff fee would be its application to tax-exempt properties. Because a stormwater runoff fee is not a tax, tax-exempt properties would have to pay it.
Non-profits would pay also
An additional feature of a stormwater runoff fee would be its application to tax-exempt properties. Because a stormwater runoff fee is not a tax, tax-exempt properties would have to pay it.
Flooding: the new normal?
The last four years have been the wettest on record in Pennsylvania, going back to 1895, when records
were first kept.
Facing up to hard truths
Back in 2016, an engineering consultant delivered a 57-page stormwater master plan to the Pottstown Water and Sewer Authority.
You need a town for a parade
Thousands flocked to Pottstown last week for the annual Fourth of July Parade, which has been conducted on High Street for more than a century (in recent years, sponsored by the Pottstown Rotary Club). You won’t find such parades in the Pottsgroves, the Coventries, or any of the other auto-oriented suburbs surrounding Pottstown.
Iacocca molded by school teachers
Automotive giant Lee Iacocca died last week at 94. Iacocca was the most famous graduate of my alma mater, William Allen High School in Allentown, and spoke at the commencement of my graduating class in 1966.
Five years, 93 replacement trees
As people gather for Thursday’s Fourth of July Parade, they will find 16 newly planted trees on High Street and nearby Pottstown thoroughfares, replacing trees that died. Some of the new trees are pictured below. In the last five years, 93 such replacement trees have been planted.
Trees: modest cost, big benefits
Today is the day Pottstown’s street trees are most appreciated, as people seek shady spots on High Street to watch the Fourth of July Parade.
More than two-thirds of Pottstown’s 3,000 street have been planted by Trees Inc., a non-profit corporation established by Pottstown civic leaders in 1984 to plant and maintain street trees in the borough..
Police compensation soars
State-approved economic consultants have concluded that unless Pottstown can rein in police personnel costs — including pensions and health benefits — it will need major tax increases annually to cover a growing budget deficit.
Retiree benefits No. 1 budget problem
Last December, Pottstown Council voted to increase real estate taxes 9.5 percent for 2019, on top of a 12 percent tax increase for 2018. All the extra money — and then some — has been gobbled up by borough employee pensions and health benefits.
School pension costs skyrocket
State subsidies have increased twice as much as the school budget has risen — more than triple the rate of inflation. Where’s all that extra money going?
Top Pottstown School District retirees
As of 2018, the Pottstown School District has 402 former employees receiving pensions. There are more than four retirees for every five employees still working.
Foundation boosts college-bound
Nine of the students who graduated from Pottstown High School last week have a head start on college, paid in part or in full by the Foundation for Pottstown Education.
Foundation helps local education
The best way for private donors to increase the quality of public education in Pottstown is through the non-profit Foundation for Pottstown Education.
Bond issue for streets?
When our streets are full of ruts and potholes, it affects everyone and presents a negative image of our town. Perhaps the borough should make an investment in our streets.
Hill fundraising falls short
The biggest economic story of our era is the increasing disparity of incomes among Americans. The most affluent 20 percent control 85 percent of the nation's wealth. Very few share it.
School district draining reserves
Instead of making a decision to not replace a retiring teacher, the school board decided to further drain Pottstown's reserves instead. This is not sustainable.
Not ready for prime time?
There's no question the new ParkMobile on-street parking system using a smart phone app is the wave of the future. We may not be ready for it yet.
Democracy is more than voting
Democracy is a lot more than voting, which is one way of several that that citizens can make their government accountable.
Pottstown people value their town
Negative talk about Pottstown is one thing. The reality as experienced by people who actually live here may be different.
Rupert pilots bicycling program
You can’t walk or ride your bike to school in most Pennsylvania school districts, but in Pottstown you can.
Crossing guards help us feel safe
Pottstown deploys 25 crossing guards every school day to watch over children at intersections throughout town.
Great mural! Now, can we fix the entryway sign, please?
The Schuylkill River trailhead at Riverfront Park in Pottstown features a large entryway sign to orient people using the trail to downtown Pottstown. For nearly two years, this sign, which contains outdated information, has been peeling from its structure.
Take a seat at the Pottstown library
Visit the Pottstown Regional Public Library 6 to 9 p.m. this Saturday to bid on unique 1960s wooden library chairs decorated by Pottstown artists. Each of the 20 chairs is painted with a different book theme by volunteer artists, ranging from professionals to students from local schools.
Another Earth Week, not much action
The Notre Dame fire was a terrible tragedy, but it pales in comparison to the catastrophe that’s just over the horizon: irreversible climate change.
Arbor Day: Rotary's green gift
Last summer, the Pottstown Rotary Club planted a municipal nursery behind Pottstown High School. The initial planting consisted of 100 shade tree saplings. Rotarians, aided by Pottstown High School students in the Rotary’s Interact Club, will shortly plant 20 more saplings to replace trees that didn’t make it.
Employer, employee listings for 2018
Eight years ago, when PAID reorganized, it adopted by-laws requiring PAID’s director to submit an annual progress report that included an inventory of all borough businesses.
Pottstown's most valuable real estate
Pottstown has about 8,700 parcels, of which 326 are tax exempt. These tax exempt parcels account for more than 20 percent of the total value of Pottstown’s properties.
Residency offer attracts six homebuyers
In 2016, the Pottstown School Board and the Foundation for Pottstown Education approved a program to offer professional staff a five-year, $10,000 forgivable loan to buy a home in Pottstown.
2018 Pottstown crime at its lowest point in 20+ years
As shown on a chart with this essay, serious crime in Pottstown has actually decreased, not increased. In fact, Pottstown experienced the lowest overall crime rate last year in more than 25 years.
Wealth, civic duty, honor
Last month the Reading Eagle Company filed for bankruptcy protection. The newspaper has been owned by the same family since its founding in 1868.
The great equalizer
In the end, death is the great equalizer. It claims everyone from the homeless people on High Street to the billionaires on their lavish country estates. Could we share a little before we go?
The laugh is on education
Much of what we do in school is cram and memorize enough facts to get through the test. Then we promptly forget what we learned.
Learning not to learn
Children's learning in the five years before they begin formal schooling is incredible. Then, in school, they learn not to learn.
What do we know about children?
The education of our children is rightly considered a vital concern. But just what do we know about raising them?
Time and mobility in schools
On Tuesday, we discussed an iconoclastic book by psychologist Judith Rich Harris, who claimed parents have very little influence on their children’s development outside the home. But what about school?
Building to excess (3 of 4)
The Pottstown School District never needed the administrative annex building, formerly the Irene Boyer Home for elderly women. It spent nearly $2 million buying and renovating a building now worth $400,000.
Building to excess (2 of 4)
Although Pottstown High School’s population had dropped below 700 students in the mid 1990s, the school board nevertheless decided to enlarge it with a huge new gym.
Building to excess (1 of 4)
For most of its 85-year history, the Pottstown Middle School was right- sized for its mission. Unfortunately, needed renovations soon turned into a costly building extravaganza.
Building to excess (2 of 4)
Although Pottstown High School’s population had dropped below 700 students in the mid 1990s, the school board nevertheless decided to enlarge it with a huge new gym.
Reforming teachers' salary schedule
On Thursday night, the Pottstown School Board will meet in executive session to discuss contract negotiations with the Federation of Pottstown Teachers.
Middle school proposal: $750,000+
The Pottstown School District is considering moving its fifth grade students from the middle school to the former Edgewood Elementary School.
Education spending perspective
The U.S. spends more on education than nearly all other countries. Pennsylvania spends more on education than most states, and Pottstown spends more money than most districts in Pennsylvania.
High poverty district spending
Pottstown has the sixth highest local tax effort in Pennsylvania. Of the 50 school districts with the highest percentage of low income students:
Two-thirds have a higher percentage of low-income students than Pottstown.
Two-thirds spend less per pupil than Pottstown.
Pottstown: Tax well is dry
The wealth of this community has fallen dramatically in recent years. The assessed value of our property is less than it was 20 years ago. Can we just keep raising taxes?
Skyrocketing costs ... better results?
Pottstown School District spending has been triple the rate of inflation in recent decades.
Asking for trouble?
Pottstown Council will conduct a public hearing 7:30 tomorrow night at its Committee of the Whole meeting on a request by the Montgomery Elks Lodge, 605 Walnut Street, to obtain a liquor license.
The Times They are A-Changin'
It’s not surprising that Weitzenkorn’s men’s store is downsizing and moving to Phoenixville, which has a healthier downtown. The surprise is how long the 150- year-old store has held out in Pottstown.
Gateway to Pottstown almost done
The Hanover Square gateway building stands at the entrance to Pottstown across from the Hanover Street bridge. The second gateway building (white at left) awaits a brick façade. The project has created an attractive entryway to Pottstown
Shirt factory project to proceed
It has taken nearly 20 years for the former Mrs. Smith's Pie Co. site to be redeveloped. Let’s hope it doesn’t take that long for the renovation of the 19th century Meyerhoff shirt factory at Charlotte and Cherry streets, which was last used in the 1990s as a Mrs. Smith’s Pie Co. laboratory.
No rush to decision on Edgewood
With a steeply declining tax base and the sixth highest taxes of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts, the Pottstown School Board should look long and hard before spending millions of dollars to reopen Edgewood School.
Hill School update
Work continues on a $15.1 million renovation of The Hill School’s Dining Hall, to be finished sometime this year. Meanwhile, The Hill School has submitted plans to the borough for a $16 million “transformational” STEM center called the Quadrivium.
No end to costly top-down mandates
It’s easy to keep state taxes down when you simply pass your costs on to local municipalities.
Can we act for the common good?
With the sixth highest school taxes in Pennsylvania, it’s vitally important to recognize our public schools are not the only game in town.
Can we fix a prominent eyesore?
A Conshohocken developer will ask Pottstown Council this month to waive a land development plan for changes it wants to make at High Street Plaza, a strip development on East High Street where a Subway Restaurant and beverage distributor used to be located.
Bike lanes coming to Harrisburg
Last spring, Pottstown became only the third municipality outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to install protected bike lanes. Now Harrisburg is joining the ranks of cities with protected bike lanes.
Using newspaper to promote ideas
Two hundred years ago, Alexander Hamilton founded a newspaper called the New York Evening Post to espouse his political views.
Thoughts for 2019
Here are some issues we need to address in 2019 to best manage Pottstown's resources for the common good.