2020 Articles
Subverting democracy
On Dec. 4, state Rep. Tim Hennessey, who represents about half of Pottstown, degraded himself in a way I would never have thought possible.
Do we have a 'great man' for 2021?
The 19th century philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle gained fame for his “great man” theory of history.
Community champion
Last week, we discussed the enormous impact a few resourceful citizens could have on Pottstown’s quality of life by investing in our town. No one has set a better example than Charles Gulati, the president and CEO of SunnyBrook Ballroom.
Pottstown haven for poor
Only the Grinch would have turned down a request by the TriCounty Network and partner organizations to use the former St. Aloysius Elementary School on North Hanover Street to house up to 20 homeless people from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily through April 30.
How much wealth is enough?
It is mind-boggling that the top 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of the country’s wealth.
Or that the richest 20 percent of American households own 85 percent of the country’s wealth.
Private philanthropy needed
There’s plenty of private money around — especially among older citizens. If just a handful of these folks were willing to use some of their excess wealth to fix up Pottstown buildings, they could transform our town for the better.
Middle class shrinking
Middle class prosperity boomed from the end of World War II through the 1970s. Since then, however, incomes have grown much more slowly, except for the rich.
Money and quality of life
On Tuesday, we discussed the diminishing size of the American middle class and the increasing extremes of wealth and poverty in the United States. However, income isn’t the only way to measure our quality of life.
Lots of government priorities
Pottstown has the seventh highest tax effort in the state — higher than 95 percent of the 500 school districts in the Commonwealth. Education shouldn't be our only priority.
Where your local taxes go
Pottstown local government services cost a lot of money: About $109 million will be spent next year, not including federally funded bus service and grants received.
Penn rolls over in his grave
William Penn’s warning was never more apt than now, three centuries later, when a shameless president and his lackeys attempt to overturn the election of Joseph R. Biden as president.
Truth under assault
Since the Civil War, despite many bitter disputes, the Republican and Democratic parties followed basic norms of behavior and played by the rules.
That came to an end on Jan. 20, 2017, when Donald Trump was inaugurated president.
Schools closed in the fall of 1918
Virtual education was not an option in October 1918, when the Pottstown Board of Health, following state guidance, ordered the closure of all Pottstown schools from Oct. 4 until Nov. 4. Even The Hill School closed and sent all its students home.
Virtual Ed: few employees furloughed
The Pottstown School Board voted last summer to offer only virtual education to its students for the first semester of this school year, which ends Jan. 14, 2021. Few employees were furloughed.
Science and plastic pollution
Let us step back from our election turmoil and consider two important initiatives for the future well-being of the planet that can largely be done by the private sector.
Carbon neutral colleges
In 2015, scores of colleges and universities (including Montgomery County Community College) signed a pledge to become carbon neutral, that is, to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from their campuses.
The most important election
Today’s presidential election is the most important in 80 years. Just as in November 1940, it’s no exaggeration to say today’s candidates hold the destiny of the world in their hands.
Pandemic barely changes enrollment
The Pottstown School District has been providing eleven weeks of virtual education. The board will discuss the current situation at a committee meeting 6:30 tonight which will be posted live on the district’s Facebook page.
Trees need trimming, not removal
PECO recently announced it will be removing about 40 street trees, mostly flowering pear trees along Beech Street, as part of a $5 million project to replace utility poles in central Pottstown and add more.
Canopy trees and wires can co-exist
Street trees share the public right of way with other infrastructure. Water, sewer and gas pipes are all buried underground. In most of Pottstown, electric wires are hanging from utility poles. But thoughtful pruning can allow trees and wires to safely co-exist.
Koury lauded by Council
At its October meeting, Pottstown Council passed a resolution honoring Pottstown attorney John A. Koury Jr. of O’Donnell, Weiss & Mattei for outstanding service to the borough.
Historic factory to housing
The restoration of the 19th century Meyerhoff Shirt Factory at Charlotte and Cherry streets into 27 condominiums and market rate apartments is
almost done.
Technological revolution
Everyone agrees remote learning is inferior to in-person classrooms, but without the technological revolution in recent decades, many schools might not be open at all.
Decades of social distancing
The pandemic is just the most dramatic instance of social distancing -- a trend that’s been going on for the last six decades.
GOP Gov. Ridge endorses Biden
Tom Ridge is a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and the first U.S. secretary of Homeland Security. I will cast my vote for Joe Biden on Nov. 3. It will be my first vote for a Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
Trump bad for the economy
Mark Zandi is the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. It is decision time. If you are wrestling over whom to vote for in the presidential race and how the next president will handle the economy, then former Vice President Joe Biden should be your choice.
Edgewood Meadow growing
In 2017, the Pottstown School Board voted to convert three acres of grassy swale next to the former Edgewood Elementary School into a meadow. Three years later, the meadow is flourishing.
District to expand meadows
Encouraged by the success of the Edgewood School Meadow, the Pottstown School Board voted last month to plant meadows, rain gardens, and low mow areas next spring at its high school-middle school campus and all four elementary schools totaling 8 acres.
How bad does it have to get?
As bad as the pandemic is, it doesn’t pack nearly the punch of climate change, which if left unchecked could destroy civilization as we know it.
Ignoring all the warning signs
“I have failed to make the people here realize what is at stake. I am not strong enough, I suppose.”
America is constantly changing
One of the things I like best about Pottstown is its diversity. Black, white, working people, everybody gets along. But there are lots of Americans who are afraid of diversity, and President Trump, as usual, is selling exclusion and fear.
Demographics transforming the world
Countries like Spain, Italy, Japan and South Korea are projected to have half the population in 2100 that they have today.
When $600K is a drop in the bucket
Pottstown’s streets and homes and businesses are sitting on miles and miles of underground pipes, a lot of them a hundred years old or more.
Rethinking Memorial Park
Two summers in a row, flooding has caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Before rebuilding, serious consideration should be given to flood protection or moving facilities to another park.
Big changes in public education
This week commences the most unusual school year in the Pottstown School District’s 182-year history:
For the first time, education is being delivered remotely to students in their homes instead of physical school buildings.
Pottstown School Board oversight
Last week the Pottstown School Board gave carte blanche to our administrators to furlough employees as they see fit.
Huge challenge ahead
No one believes on-line learning is an adequate substitute for in-person classes, but with all the uncertainty of the pandemic, it’s the least bad option.
Best practices for virtual education
Sal Khan is a pioneer in virtual education. He recently offered his perspectives in The New York Times, as follows:
Flu hardly noted in PHS yearbook
In the Pottstown High School yearbooks of 1918 and 1919, the Spanish flu pandemic is barely mentioned. Classes, athletics, the school play, the senior trip to Washington, D.C., and commencement proceeded normally.
Big changes, and more to come
Just like our students of today, the 68 graduates of Pottstown High School, Class of 1919, had no idea
what was coming -- The Great Depression, World War II, the postwar loss of residents and manufacturing plants to the suburbs.We cannot imagine what lies ahead in our lives, either.
Mixed message
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control, recently said America could get the coronavirus "under control" within four to six weeks if everyone wore a face mask. But millions are unemployed, and schools can’t open, because many people just won’t wear face masks.
Pottstown teachers' perspective
We are writing on behalf of the teachers to adamantly request the adoption of full virtual distance learning for the fall of the 20-21 school year. A hybrid schedule as well as a full time classroom model is simply not safe and literally could cost the lives of any of our kids or staff.
Foundation boosts college-bound
Fifteen of the students who graduated from Pottstown High School last month have a head start on college, paid in part or in full by the Foundation for Pottstown Education.
Community college: a great start
Community colleges like the Montgomery County Community College are the best bargain in higher education,with more than 100 associate's degree and certification programs.
It's all up in the air
It’s hard to believe we are just five weeks away from the scheduled opening of Pottstown schools, and we still don’t know what that will look like.
It's the culture
There is a substantial portion of the population that hates being told what to do, even if it’s for their own good.
Dead trees removed, 16 planted
In January, Pottstown Council authorized Trees Inc. to remove 55 dead trees and replace some of them under the direction of the borough manager.
Trees Inc. 2020 report
The borough’s shade tree ordinance makes adjacent property owners responsible for street tree maintenance. That rarely happens. So non-profit Trees Inc. does the best it can. Here is our annual report.
Planet has lost half its trees
By the time the human race evolved 200,000 years ago, there were 5.6 trillion trees worldwide, according to researchers at the Yale School of Forestry. Since then, humans have removed nearly half of them.
Trees Inc. protects 131 ash trees
In 2002, an insect called the emerald ash borer was discovered in Michigan, probably hitchhiking on some imported wood packing material from China.
Since then the borer has spread in all directions, killing tens of millions of ash trees.
5,000 years of civilization
Lining a wall in my study is the Wall Chart of World History — 12 feet long. It captures in linear form about 5,000 years of recorded history.
A scientific prediction ignored
Human beings have done some magnificent things and some atrocities — lots of them, in fact — but civilization has survived. It’s far from certain that we will survive climate change.
A unique graduation
The Pottstown High School’s 140th graduation is now posted on the school district’s Facebook page. If you didn’t know better, you might be excused for thinking this was a normal graduation.
Edgewood misconceptions
There are so many misconceptions about the former Edgewood Elementary School it’s hard to know where to begin correcting them. Contrary to a misleading headline that appeared recently, the use of Edgewood is not changing.
Facing up to the inevitable
"Being Mortal," by surgeon Atul Gawande, provides a cold slap in the face about aging. Because society
has become so medically sophisticated, we find it ever harder to accept that as people age, they wear out and die.
Demographics to bring change
Already home to one of the nation’s oldest populations, Pennsylvania will see its elderly — age 65 and older — grow to almost 24 percent of the population in the next five years while the working-age population will actually decrease slightly.
Why I hope to die at 75 - Part 1
The following column by Penn ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D., aroused quite a controversy when it was first published in The Atlantic magazine in 2016. It is particularly noteworthy during the pandemic of 2020.
Why I hope to die at 75 - Part 2
The following column by Penn ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D., aroused quite a controversy when it was first published in The Atlantic magazine in 2016. It is particularly noteworthy during the pandemic of 2020.
Time has come to vote by mail
For the first time in nearly 50 years of voting, my wife and I will not be visiting the polls today.
Finding peace with our dogs
We seek wisdom everywhere and it is at our feet, teaching without even knowing it, if only we will listen, closely and carefully.
Middle School transformed
The following essay by a New York City eighth grader, recently published in The New York Times, offers a great perspective on how distance learning can improve public education.
New way to engage students
Like most school districts nationwide, Pottstown was forced into remote learning March 13 when the
pandemic forced school buildings to close.
Who's responsible?
To procreate a child and become a parent, one of the
greatest responsibilities in life, no training is required. No financial means testing.
Peerless educators
My jaw dropped at a class reunion as a classmate told me how he and his wife homeschooled their 13 biological children. Eight are now physicians.
Education won't be the same
We have yet to capitalize on the potential that technology offers to make learning more accessible to everyone. The pandemic is forcing us to speed things up.
Been there. Done that.
While Pottstown teachers, students and parents are scrambling to adapt to distance learning, others have been doing it for years.
No time for school tax increase
Nearly 1.5 million Pennsylvanians have lost their jobs during the last five weeks, nearly a quarter of the state’s workforce. This is no time for the Pottstown School District to increase taxes.
Strictly business
Here we are in the beginning of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and the school board has approved a three-year contract with business administrator Maureen Jampo, raising her compensation 33 percent by the end of her contract. What could we be thinking?
It could be worse
We’re all cooped up in our dwellings. The stress is showing. To match the shocking suddenness and privations of the pandemic, you’d have to go back to World War II.
Looking for meaning in suffering
There’s a lot of fear and suffering out there. No one knew more about human suffering and despair than Viktor Frankl.
A better way to hold meetings?
Last week, after participating in a virtual Pottstown School Board meeting (executive session) and observing a virtual Pottstown Council meeting on my home computer, I had to ask myself, is this better than in-person meetings?
When only a few sacrificed
The pandemic has left us all worried about the future. But for my generation, fear of the future was limited to a few — young men of draft age. The most awesome power government can exercise is killing its citizens. For many young men during the Vietnam war, the draft amounted to a death sentence.
Borough fully functional
Despite the pandemic, the essential functions of borough government continue, although some employees have been furloughed.
New era in education
With the pandemic, distance learning is Pottstown’s best option. Of course, it requires all students to have a computer and an internet connection.
Gates warned of pandemic
In April 2015, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates gave a TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk at its annual conference about the dangers of a worldwide pandemic.
Crisis: A preview of the Big One
The pandemic's trajectory is a truly horrific scenario. But the coronavirus doesn’t present the existential threat to humanity that climate change does.
Take a walk! Ride your bike!
Folks, it’s perfectly okay to take a walk or ride your bike if you keep your distance from others. You’ll be much better off physically and spiritually, and you might get to see parts of Pottstown you never saw before.
Coronavirus in context
Last week the New York Times published an estimate of how many people could die from the coronavirus in comparison to other top causes of death. I’ve extrapolated estimates for Pennsylvania and Montgomery County from national estimates.
An illuminating moment of peace
It is two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon in June. All I can see is the brilliant green of sunlit leaves and the deep blue of the sky.
Respect for the planet the beginning of wisdom
Mother Nature is using us once again as her tools, using the love of trees which she implanted in us long ago as the means to keep herself alive.
Assets waiting to be tapped
While High Street’s first floors are attracting restaurants, the upper floors have the potential to bring residents who can further energize the downtown.
Sprucing up the 400 block
There's a new initiative to improve the appearance of the 400 block of High Street, between Franklin and Washington Streets.
Quality rental market growing
Pottstown has lots of mid-sized buildings, once used for retail, offices, and light manufacturing, that are ideal for conversion into rental units.
Creating homes for renters
Keith and Christa Costello represent a new breed of landlords that have found ways to economically renovate derelict houses and provide nice homes.
It's all over town
It’s hard to walk anywhere in Pottstown without seeing signs for Seussical, the all-district musical opening tonight at Pottstown High School.
America's income inequality
There are mind-boggling disparities in the distribution of wealth among the people of the world and in America.
Housing market improves
More people are discovering Pottstown’s merits. A comparison of home sales over the last two years shows median sales prices are increasing -- nearly 18 percent!
Bickelmans show how it's done
Many people who have the money to renovate older housing buy new instead. They don’t want the hassles and uncertainties of renovations. The Bickelmans show how it's done.
Where your local taxes go
The traditional media focus most of their attention on federal issues, but many vitally important decisions are made right here in our back yard.
Increasing Pottstown's tax base
At next week's joint Council-School Board meeting will be a summary of the report on Pottstown by the Urban Land Institute, whose experts visited the borough for six days last October, sponsored by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation.
Employer, employee listings for 2019
Nine 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.
Borough traffic flow gets a lot better
Have you noticed? As you drive down High Street, especially in the evening, the traffic lights all turn green. That’s because the $13 million “closed loop system,” funded and installed by PennDOT, is up and running.
Mustard Seed Malawi
Shortly after Pottstown finance director Janice Lee retires next month, she’ll be flying to Africa to visit her daughter, Angela, and son-in-law, Alex Ishmael, at a free pre-school they operate in Malawi, one of the world’s most undeveloped countries.
All over but the shoutin'
About 100 concerned citizens attended a three-hour meeting last week to discuss the latest iteration of the proposed “New Hanover Town Center,” an agglomeration of housing and commercial space to be built on 209 acres at the former New Hanover Airport.
Integrated schools are the best
As a Pottstown school director and spouse of a retired Pottstown teacher, I have never doubted that for any child, the benefits of integrated schools far outweigh the “advantages” of homogeneous suburban schools.
Pottstown's special burden
Over the last 50 years, the middle class and the affluent have either abandoned or simply avoided traditional cities and towns, leaving an increasingly poor population behind.
Our memory isn't failing, after all
Good news, fellow Boomers!
According to Daniel Levitin, a PhD in neuroscience, most of us are not suffering from cognitive memory decline. We’re just a little slower with our short-term memories.
Hill School maintains standards
Unlike peers such as Lawrenceville and Peddie — and elite New England prep schools like Andover, Exeter, and Hotchkiss — The Hill School maintains a dress code: blazers, dress shirts and ties for males; blazers and collared shirts for females.
Removing nature at Riverfront Park
Pottstown parks department has engaged in a systematic effort to remove the natural woods and understory at a cost of thousands of taxpayer dollars to be replaced with a wide grass buffer which must then be regularly mowed with heavy equipment.
Years later, park sign still not fixed
Riverfront Park has a kiosk with a map of Pottstown showing the locations of restaurants, shops, restrooms, and services. Over time the information became outdated. And then the sign started peeling. At least three years ago, it became obvious the sign needed to be replaced.
But nothing has been done.
Note: the sign was eventually replaced.
Sad. Was it necessary?
Some 70 ash trees have been removed at Riverfront Park by the Pottstown Parks and Recreation Department. They were cut down as “preventative maintenance” because they might be killed by emerald ash borer in the future.
Ash trees can be treated, saved
Pottstown has 159 ash trees in the public right of way (street trees) that have been inventoried by Trees Inc., a private non-profit. All but 15 have been treated with an insecticide starting in 2014, and thus far only five have been infected.