The Memorial Day fire in Pottstown at 377 N. Charlotte St.  displaced a family of five living in one side of the double and a family of six, headed up by a Section 8 matriarch…

Tracey Accor, (where the cooking oil caught on fire).  Tracey and family/friends have become notorious for causing destruction and bad ju ju in the neighborhoods where they have lived.  The Mercury reported…

“Goodwill Steam Fire Engine Company, Philadelphia Steam Fire Engine Company, Empire Hook and Ladder Company, and North End Fire Company, the four borough companies, responded to the fire.”

Who pays for the services of the fire companies?  You do, dear taxpayer.  While the Red Cross generously steps up to provide assistance, housing the family of six in a hotel.

PLEASE, on behalf of the fine residents and taxpayers of Pottstown DO NOT ENABLE TRACEY ACCOR TO LIVE IN POTTSTOWN EVER-EVER-EVER again. We can’t afford her and she contributes nothing but anger, crime, bad behavior and extra costs to our community.

On April 15th I published a post about a Pottstown landlord that rented his nice, well-maintained half a double on Evans St. to a Section 8 recipient, Tracey Accor, and her children.  Prior to moving out, Tracey and her cohorts intentionally went through the large, single family home like a wrecking crew, leaving over $7,000 in damages to the property, when all was said and done.

The Police informed the owner, Chris Dailey, that there had been continuous drug traffic since Accor moved in and on a number of occasions they surround the house with guns drawn, making arrests of several individuals inside the house.  Another incident found the Sheriff’s department ramming in the front door to arrest a daughter of Tracey’s who had outstanding warrants, the cost of these events are taken from your pocket and mine.  Tracey Accor is a BAD APPLE.

The Tale of Two Pottstown Property Owners and a Failed System

Chris took responsibility to report this abuse of voucher housing to Lynda Haley, Manager at Housing Voucher Choice Program of Montgomery County who, according to Chris, was polite, quite likely ineffective, but nice…Lynda also said she would open an investigation.  Just get the police and sheriff reports Lynda, they speak volumes.

This landlord had hoped that he could spare another property owner and good neighbors from heartache and destruction…

Nobody knows if Lynda Haley did or did not open a case to investigate Tracey Accor.  I guess, due to the special status and a “no tell” policy at the Montgomery County Voucher Housing office, there are no “checks and balances.”

Everything they do is shrouded in secrecy, even though the department, as with all of government,  is funded by taxpayers who have a Right to Know.    Compliance Officer

In this May, 2nd article in the Mercury the head of MontCo Voucher Housing, Joel Johnson, laments that due to budget cuts the department is not going to be changing light bulbs at the subsidized housing units owned by the County, (oh horrors).   Joel Johnson also said…

“We won’t be responding to the low priorities as fast because our staff is already stretched thin.”

MR. JOHNSON, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND BOROUGH OF POTTSTOWN:  Please know that the people of this community do not consider people like Tracey Accor to be “low priority”  NO !!  To the contrary, these are the people who DO NOT deserve to remain on the system while others, more worthy, are denied.

It would seem that if you are running low on funds, removing abusers from the system is a great place to trim the fat – don’t you think?  Either way, in the case of Tracey Accor:

WE WANT TRACEY ACCOR OUT OF OUR COMMUNITY.  IF YOU ARE AN INCOME PROPERTY OWNER – DON’T RENT TO HER.

Wednesday nights’ Committee of the Whole council meeting was jam packed with action.  A joyful event kicked off the evening with promotions for three members of the Pottstown Police Dept.

CONGRATULATIONS  Captain Thomas, Sgt. Grimm, and Cpl. Long…

We have a new Police Chief at the helm, a new Captain, who is much revered among his rank and file and people in the community.  The officers who were promoted have demonstrated their commitment to Pottstown and we anticipate that their experience and enthusiasm will reflect in a more balanced approach, to include community policing, and streamlining paperwork that has become the bane of the officers.  

If the police are mired in paperwork then they’re not out on our streets patrolling and interacting with residents – where we most need their presence to be seen and felt.

Among people who know these public servants there is a sense of hope, renewal…

They have our confidence and it’s time to see those crime stats head, sharply, in the opposite direction.

Pottstown Police Dept. announces promotions

A presentation by Genesis Housing and Housing Visions for a proposed 43 unit, low-income, tax credit development in the old Fecera’s Warehouse on Beech St. was moved up the agenda.

You can read the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the proposal for Fecera’s in today’s Mercury News, by Evan Brandt:

43 apartments planned for Pottstown furniture warehouse

In nearly five years, among all the council meetings I have attended, I have never seen a more vocal – downright animated council asking poignant questions of the low-income housing developers.   Absent were Dan Weand and Carol Kulp.

“I’m still not sold,” Borough Council President Stephen Toroney said. “This is the same tax credit that was sought by the Pearl Group and that was for a 55-and-older community and people still came out and protested.”

“I’m not against it, but I have concerns,” he said.  

One of the most insightful comments of the evening came from President Toroney, in response to an admonition by the developers, that the property is failing quickly and has sprung a leak in the center of the roof that is causing water issues that are leading to mold issues.

I can’t quote him word for word, (notes were a bit hasty), but the jest of his reply was based on the fact that since they purchased the Fecera’s building in July, 2007 the current owners, Dave Chawaga and Bill Felton, have not had their “feet held to the fire” for codes violations – that have lead to the accelerated decline of the buildings structure.

That statement holds true for the vast majority of homes, buildings, and their owners in the core neighborhood and scatted elsewhere throughout Pottstown.  There is no impediment to stop owners from enabling their buildings to fall into blight through neglect and, no impetus to do better, except…

The laws have changed, and they have teeth.  In light of the powerful tools available to leaders of every municipality in Pennsylvania, granted to them in Act 90 the Blight and Reclamation Law and in the boroughs own ordinances…

It is inexplicable and inexcusable that the borough remains idle, limping along with an understaffed, under technolog-ized, undereducated codes department, while buildings crumble at an accelerated pace and become dangerous, public nuisances, such as the old Levengood Dairy in the photo below:

Photo by Karl McWherter

This fact of the deteriorating structure, alone, should NOT be the reason to favor a development whose impact on Pottstown needs to be carefully vetted and understood…

To this day, the leaders of the borough have developed and adopted no plan or vision for the future of the community.

We have no road map by which to gauge the best direction for Pottstown.  We’ve no reason to  be assured that this project – or any other development – compliments present goals and contributes to a comprehensive plan for the future of the borough, because there are no goals or comprehensive plans.

While the presentation by the two non-profit organizations was interesting, at times even compelling, in the end – in my judgement…

it served only to delineate the the overwhelming need for the elected officials to lead the way to implementation of a plan for Pottstown.

It is my opinion that Pottstown will remain vulnerable to opportunistic tax credit developers, extractive income investors, agencies that promote group homes for drug addicts and prison parolees, businesses and other enterprises that will not contribute synergy and excitement to High St. or the downtown area – until such time as we have carefully crafted, together, a path to follow that is comprised of the multitude of studies and plans that respected organizations have provided the borough, through the years, at councils request.

The most recent plans include:

Urban Land Institute Study “Transformation Strategies” of 2008, as well as the Economic Strategic Development Plan, by Gannett-Fleming, Inc. (the link to this plan is not functional likely due to the need to tweak the new website).

President Steve Toroney also said that this low-income development is not “magic,” (a reference from the ULI Study that called our leaders to the task of creating magic by the river).

Steve went on to say that the proposal for the Beech St. Lofts – as originally designed for owner/occupied condominiums – including artist space, cafe and retail was, in his opinion, “Magic”… I agree.

Here’s a link to the Beech St. Lofts Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/beech.streetlofts?fref=ts

On the basis alone, that council has not taken the first step to develop a plan, I oppose this development and all developments of such magnitude that can set Pottstown on an unplanned and uncharted course into the future.   

Until we posses the necessary tools to measure the viability of developments with established goals and objectives, (the balast in our vessel), we will remain adrift on the sea employing  ”trial and error” as the only means of keeping Pottstown afloat. 

With that said, it is important to note that the question of property taxes also arose at council,  as to future requests by Housing Visions to minimize or alter their taxes in any way.  They replied:  ”No”, there will be no such requests.

But, before tax dollar signs can dance their seductive poses before the eyes of the decision makers in the borough…

This article was posted on Facebook yesterday, it is a must read.  I believe if our council people cannot see their way through the forest, just yet, to understand the need for a plan and a process then, based on the information in the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal News, they should heavily weigh their decision against this information before agreeing to send a letter of support to the State for this project.  Pottstowns School Board would be wise to do the same:

DEVELOPMENT – HOUSING VISIONS

.

Over the past few days a group of concerned citizens has rallied to introduce a petition to encourage the Pennsylvania Finance Housing Agency to deny tax credits to Syracuse, N.Y. based, low-income developer, Housing Visions.  

Sign the petition and share it :

Change.org

Last Wednesdays presentation to the Committee of the Whole left a lot of questions in the air…of course, we anticipate answers and it was said, at council, that the answers would be put up on the borough’s website.  

Here’s a couple links for a refresher of the proposal:

43 Apartments Planned For Pottstown Furniture Warehouse

How do we gauge “progress” without a vision, a plan and a process…

Frankly, the only RIGHT answer is that Pottstown doesn’t need 43 more low-income rental units.  

*** What we DO NEED – and – what seems to be OBVIOUS to most casual observers is we need relief from our burdens and a combined effort by HUD, the State, County and Local Gov’t to do everything possible to get a grip on the vast numbers of deplorable, unsafe, unstable rental housing units, their deplorable owners and their oft-times, disrespectful, mean-spirited tenants too.

We need other communities in Montgomery County to take their fair share of the poor and disenfranchised to care for them in THEIR COMMUNITIES, not to include Norristown who, like their twin borough of Pottstown, is feeling the pain as well.  There are no opportunities, in these two boroughs, for the poor to do better, and there will be no opportunities until we are in a position to take stock of what we have left and the guidance to build on it.  

CLIK HERE to link to a new video we put up on youtube today. 

Hard Copy petitions are available soon and residents will be making the rounds or you can contact us and arrange to sign one:  

ptownadvocates@hotmail.com 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 police from other boroughs work with P.town police to gain control of a violent gang of tenants on Washington St.

Take the ‘Norris’ off the town, add ‘Potts’ and Part One, in a series being published by the Times Herald on crime and “possible answers to stem the tide”… could be talking about our own community of Pottstown.

In fact, renowned historian and author, Michael Tolle, a former resident of West Norriton has written a book entitled, “What Killed Downtown”  (Can’t wait to get my copy).  Based on excepts from the book and interviews with Michael, he has thoughtfully crafted a chronological timeline of influences and events in Norristown’s history – leading up to what it has become today – Michael is quoted from the article:

“Whatever happened to Norristown was fundamental enough that it applies elsewhere. That was my hope when I started. I never intended to write a book about Norristown that was meant to be read only by people in Norristown.”

My focus here is Section 8, (naturally).  Call me obsessed but I own my home in Ward One, Pottstown, that is notoriously overrun with sub-standard rental housing. The tenants who rent here don’t seem to feel the need to keep the fact of their vouchers a secret, contrary to the guarded vault of privacy that HUD proclaims is designed to ‘protect’ the poor from being labeled.  Voucher renters here take pride in their ability to acquire a voucher and, little else…

In fact, many times, it is touted as an honor, a special reward – like winning a trophy – for being poor enough or pulling the wool over the governments eyes.

I have a next door neighbor whose social life consists of sitting, endless idle hours every day, on his side porch or at the back of his yard under his carport on the alley, drinking with men from the area – holding court in loud and raucous conversation with the men and women in Pottstown who have nothing better to do with their time.

Often, there are people who live, courtesy of Section 8, in homes and apartments nearby and they loudly discuss the various techniques they have learned to avoid the rules of subsidized housing.  From boyfriends who live with their babies mama’s, selling drugs from the rentals, while keeping it on the “low-down” (*wink *wink) – to women who openly discuss their young daughters pregnancies and how much money she will get, I hear it all – to my chagrin.

I know how many times a day, a week, or a month that either my husband or myself call the police to a Section 8 property for violent activity, drug sales, drug abuse, physical altercations and, situations that I consider child abuse.  I know when other neighbors call and I KNOW which rentals are Section 8 and which rentals are not.

Neighbors, throughout Pottstown, know who the Section 8 renters are on their blocks too, unless the rare voucher renter happens to be respectful and discreet, there are predictable behaviors, incidents and mannerisms common among most voucher holders, and besides, they don’t mind boasting about their virtually free rent.

So when I read and hear comments from the executive directors of Voucher Housing programs say:

Smoking from a pipe on the steps of a Section 8 rental. Reported to MCVH = they took NO action.

“However, studies don’t bear out any connection between subsidized housing and crime”, an observation from Joel Johnson, executive director of Montgomery County Housing Authority, in the Times Herald article, I ask myself and…

I ask all of you to think about the reasons HUD and directors who administer voucher housing, across the land, rotley repeat the same mantra? (We heard Joel say the same thing at the County Commish’s meeting in Pottstown too).

The directors don’t site studies that back up their statements, although they are easy enough to find on the internet. I’ve come across oodles and oodles of academic studies and research, every one of them appear to be slanted to the expected conclusion of the governments desire to impress upon you that section 8 has nothing to do with crime. They could very well be funded by HUD for that very purpose, for all I know, that is until….

July, 2008 when the Atlantic published this piece, by Hanna Rosen.  I’ll set the scene, but PLEASE be sure to read this story – it is a fabulous “who done it” !!

Set in Memphis, riddled with violent crime, live a normal married couple:  U. of Memphis Criminologist, Richard Janikowski and his wife, U. of Memphis Housing Expert, Phyllis Betts.  Both doing independent research, Janikowski mapping crime and Betts mapping Section 8 households, once the public housing projects were torn down and people were given vouchers, they dispersed throughout Memphis.  

Because this couple were workaholics, (most likely), and because they brought their work home with them they, (somewhat reluctantly), merged their maps of crime and Section 8 housing together.  Here’s what they found:

“Janikowski merged his computer map of crime patterns with Betts’s map of Section8 rentals. Where Janikowski saw a bunny rabbit, Betts saw a sideways horseshoe (“He has a better imagination,” she said). Otherwise, the match was near-perfect. On the merged map, dense violent-crime areas are shaded dark blue, and Section 8 addresses are represented by little red dots.

All of the dark-blue areas are covered in little red dots, like bursts of gunfire. The rest of the city has almost no dots.”

An American Murder Mystery:  ”Why is crime rising in so many American cities? The answer implicates one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs of recent decades.”

So let’s examine Mr. Johnson’s convictions:

Yesterday, a local homeowner and someone I consider a friend, (who is also dedicated and works to make positive change in Pottstown), reached out to share his perspective on the proposed Housing Visions development for Fecera’s.

It’s always refreshing when people here reach out to communicate, even when they know there will be differences of opinion, it’s the differences that challenge us to learn and see things from another point of view.  It’s also one of the only ways I know to reach compromise when decisions need to be made.

Although the conversation was passionate and there are many aspects to this development about which we will continue to agree to disagree, I appreciate that he felt compelled to talk with me and I think, despite our differences – we remain friends – although I haven’t confirmed that today!!  LOL….

I believe that there is a faction of people in the community that feel, as he does, that a developer who wants to sink $3.5 million into Pottstown should never be turned away at the door…

Just get them here and iron out the details – the basic crux of the conversation.  ”Ironing out the details” is a part of this concept that worries me as much as adding more low-income rentals to an already saturated neighborhood/community.

He holds the belief that the Fecera’s warehouse, the proposed site of the development, will continue to sit and blight unless Housing Visions, of Syracuse NY, is granted the tax credits to move forward with their 43 low-income rental units project.  

As I explained to him, it is evident to many of us, in the existing rental housing and overall conditions of the borough, that “ironing out details” isn’t a strong suit of our local government so, how can we trust that they can or will hold a developer of this magnitude to task once they are already here?

My friend also said that he took objection to the video that depicts conditions in and around rental housing in our community.  From his perspective, it appeared that I was implying that is what would become of Fecera’s over the long term.  

It’s understandable that it could be seen that way however, the intention was to bring awareness to the conditions that, again, exhibit a lack of skill and/or the right tools to assure the safety and benefit, to the community, of the  rental housing we already have.

Nothing, in my opinion, could be more detrimental to Pottstown than a $3.5 mil development that goes the way of most of the income properties in the core neighborhoods…

And besides, why isn’t this project being proposed in Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne or Penn Valley, if it is such a positive concept? Again…

Because it is aimed at low-income and voucher housing renters and that is what Pottstown is known for. 

It’s not difficult to feel a tug at the heart strings when I think about that beautiful old building, rife with possibility, and what could become of it.

The original plan, by the current owners, to retrofit the building with condominiums, a cafe, art studios and retail space was well loved and received warmly by a community of thoughtful people and town leaders alike.  The value of this plan for Pottstown, (among its many features), was the “homeownership” aspect of it.  Properly marketed and managed, it could have been THE development that turned the page. 

Every study I’ve come across maintains that homeownership markedly improves conditions in communities that are marred by blight and run down properties. A lot of renters just never feel the same connection or responsibility for their rental housing.  

Pride in ownership is the key.

The same remains true for tax credit low-income developments where statistics, in the studies I’ve read, point to the fact that they have only marginal positive impact on the neighborhoods surrounding them and there is an increase in crime that remains a mystery to researchers.

I think it’s a long shot to expect this development to deviate from the statistical observations in other communities. 

Why the owners of Fecera’s have chosen to walk away from their plans is not well understood at this time and, in fact, if the tax credits are not issued and the building remains empty the owners have a legal obligation to make repairs and keep it safe – in compliance with code.  The borough leadership has an obligation to make certain that they do.

The same can be said for all buildings in Pottstown and while it is perceived by homeowner/occupants that they are the focus of codes violations, residents also perceive reticence, on behalf of the borough, to violate absentee owners with the same fervor.  Another symptom of the diminished trust residents feel for their leadership.

Overall, there is a pervasive lack of information given to residents when projects pop up on the borough’s radar.  I see this developer, (and there have been others), as having not been forthright in attempting to engage the community, answering questions or making an effort to gain the goodwill and  support of residents.  They wooed the opinions of a few, who were carefully chosen, in the community and for all intents and purposes, slipped their proposal in the back door

But then, the same can be said of local government.   It’s not o.k. any more to assume that people here don’t care or use that as an excuse to avoid communicating with them.  Officials would serve their positions and taxpayers well to make the effort to bridge the communication gap.  Pottstown residents, in my experience, care deeply.  On this point, my friend and I agree.

The information and opinions shared on this blog and, by the people who comment, is this:  Communication between the elected and paid officials in Pottstown is the missing link that leads to vast misunderstanding and has built a moat, inhabited by snapping alligators, that separates residents from local government.

This blog can be edgy, at times.  From this edginess has come permission for others to express themselves, which is an important aspect of community.  I’ve received more than one call from people who have a vested interest in the prosperity of the borough, expressing concern for what they read here, some take umbrage with my style of delivery, but they have the integrity to speak with me about it, and still we remain friends.

What is new and exciting for residents is that through awareness and freedom to speak up, this blog has opened doors of communication between them, even when they don’t see eye-to-eye, a bond of trust is growing…

People in Pottstown can feel free to disagree and still remain committed to the same goals for our community and above all, still remain friends and associates.

Taxpayers and residents are putting their differences aside to join with their friends and neighbors to speak up, to share ideas and discuss solutions.

**THAT’S A GOOD THING**

The door is always open to the leaders of Pottstown and, I speak for all of us when I say, they are welcome to step over the threshold and join us, if they will enter with an open mind and leave their disdain for differing opinions at the door step. 

BBB Customer Complaint Summary   27 Complaints since 2010

In an email yesterday, yet another victim of Affinity/Brian Patrick said she contacted the State’s Attorney General’s office:

“I called the information line (215) 560-2402 to find out what form to use and was referred to another number, (215) 560-2414. I was then told that I would have to get a private attorney. They said that I needed talk to them because I have a personal contract with them and they would be able to help me file charges for fraud.

I’m thinking about drafting a letter with all of my statements and sending them to the Attorney General and various news stations. Do you think that the group would be interested in doing that? Maybe if we have enough complaints perhaps that will get the ball rolling somehow.”   The FBI is another consideration.

This ripped-off contractee lives in Philadelphia and is willing to coordinate an effort to determine how to go after Brian and Lori Patrick.  If you are interested in joining forces, she would like to hear from you.

Send an email to ptownadvocates@hotmail.com with “COUNT ME IN” in the heading and I’ll reply with her email address.

GOOGLE:  Brian Patrick Affinity Property Management for an overview of all the posts on the Golden Cockroach.  Be sure to read the comments.

In Pottstown this summer.

AND now it’s raining bullets too…9Pm Tuesday, June 26th corner of Beech and Washington Sts. while only blocks away, members of the community, the boro, the SD, and Hill School laid plans for a collaborative clean up in Ward One.

1(rampant drug dealing) + 1(gangs with guns) = 2(that’s the place to start the clean up).

Pottstown Has a Drug Problem, See For Yourself<click to go to RoysRants>

TONIGHT!!  TUESDAY, JUNE 25TH at the Rickett’s Center !! 

7Pm  640 Beech St. See Digital Notebook for details: 

Core Community Clean-up Planning Meeting Set for Tuesday

** Allen Davidheiser said he will make every effort to be there and I encourage and welcome other income property owners to join in.  

Last Summer I had an unexpected opportunity to talk with Attorney Michael Sarbanes of Baltimore, Md.  Mr. Sarbanes’ work has focused on strengthening communities on behalf of children and families as an attorney with the Community Law Center, among many notable contributions.

It was during our conversation that Michael shared the term:   “Extractive Investors.”  He went on to explain that an Extractive Investor, (aka slumlord), is someone who buys rental income property on the cheap, acquires tenants and does the least amount of maintenance or NO maintenance on their property.  They collect the rent and seldom, if ever, check in with the renters or nearby neighbors.  This cycle repeats until the property is abandoned or sent to Sheriff’s auction for back taxes and municipal liens, by which time it is usually uninhabitable and deemed to be blighted. Having extracted all of the financial benefits, the investor walks away leaving destruction for the community to grapple with.

Smoking from a pipe on the steps of a Section 8 rental. Reported to MCVH = they took NO action.

These are also the properties where you will find criminal activities as some renters choose to rent from Extractive Investors with full knowledge that their actions will go undetected by the owner.

The second type of rental income investor is smart and knowledgeable about protecting their investments and accruing value in their properties.  These investors understand how to manage their properties to maximize the experience for their tenants, the neighborhood and the community.  They maintain their properties, choose responsible tenants and make an effort to let the neighbors know that they will quickly address any problems that arise by giving their contact information to them.  These are also the investors that will support community efforts to improve neighborhoods and the quality of life for everyone. Eventually, many of them will sell their properties and realize a return on investment.

When all systems are in place and functional, there are checks and balances.  Rental ordinances require inspections and registration, police, codes and municipal employees are tasked with oversight of the safety, health and orderliness of individual properties and their inhabitants, landlords and neighbors step up to work with the municipality.

Yesterday, a homeowner put photo’s on Facebook of a rental property nearby where the tenants suddenly moved out and hastily deposited their trash on the ground – bags ripped open by critters over night.

The following morning, this is the view that awaited the neighbors, around 1101 South St. in the 6th Ward.

With the homeowners consent I posted the photo’s on my own timeline with details of who owns the property and how to contact the owner.  She also contacted the codes department.

This mess has been cleaned up!!  Mascaro’s took most of it and a good neighbor helped with the remainder.

Later in the morning, there was a knock at my front door.  A young man and woman asked me to step outside, he introduced himself as Allen Davidheiser, connected to the rental property featured on FB. Someone tipped him off about the photo’s and my comments.

As a courtesy, before talking with his attorney, he wanted me to know that I incorrectly listed him as owner of the property, that it is actually in a Trust.  After he left, I went back to check the info on the MontCo Property Records site, and sure enough – it is in a trust.  In 2005 the property was transfered, for $1 from Elwood F Davidheiser to Allen D. Davidheiser, Trust.   As it turns out, I was mistaken.  Allen D. Davidheiser owns the trust that owns the house, however that looks on paper, he’s responsible for managing the property.

As a heated conversation between myself, Allen and the young woman began to calm down, Allen told me that he would like to see property values go up in Pottstown.  A desire that I share and, I don’t know any homeowners here that wouldn’t like to see their home values increase. But, like other income investors I’ve spoken with recently, he feels that his back is up against the wall.

Other concerned investors have also, recently, put forth the effort to talk to me when their properties become a focus on FB or the Cockroach.  We’ve discovered that we have more in common than might meet the eye!  Other investors just have their attorneys send me threatening, ineffective letters, proving which side of the coin they are on.  I am learning a lot from conversations with good investors….

High taxes and an abundant pool of low-income voucher tenants, (many of whom exhibit no regard for their homes, neighborhoods or communities), leaves little room for investors to make better choices in tenants, coupled with low standards of inspections by MontCo Voucher Housing, voucher holders whose anti-social or criminal behaviors, even when reported, do not put them at risk of losing their vouchers, (they move and start all over again at another rental property), and, a crippled, limp-along-codes enforcement department…

Puts homeowners, good tenants and good landlords in precarious situations. What happen at 1101 South St., is that the tenant suddenly up and moved without letting Allen know his plans.

I would NOT want to make the choice to own rental property here under these circumstances.  However, for an investor who endeavors to be a good landlord, their plight has many similarities to our own plights as homeowners, and we can best serve our individual goals and collective goals with understanding and a big effort to work together.

That doesn’t mean that there are no investors that deserve to be featured on this blog, I will continue to make others aware of their actions.  But, from now on, all of us – homeowners – need to boldly make the effort to speak with nearby rental property owners who, in turn, need to meet the neighbors and make their contact information and their good will known to them.

The good landlords will be concerned and responsive.  The Extractors will “out” themselves, enabling us to clarify who’s who on our blocks and to more directly deal with the problems they contribute.

Allen Davidheiser agreed, we shook hands and we’re ready to roll forward.  We have everything to lose if we don’t see the light and get to work, together.

Allen said he would be willing to rally other good investors as myself, and others, have been rallying homeowners to meet up and set a course correction.

I anticipate that Extractive Investors will decline the opportunity to work with us because their own property values, cooperation and the welfare of the community isn’t their first concern.

I appreciate the opportunity to learn and understand, from the landlord’s perspective, the challenges they face and I believe they are open to hearing the challenges faced by homeowners, but we don’t need to dwell there… I believe we can begin to break the cycle of neglect, abusive renters, crime and blight.  It’s going to require dedication and hard work but with trust and respect everything is possible.

The grounds at Bright Hope are fresh, clean and well-landscaped with flowers – a park like setting and tidy housing units.

I learned recently that the tenants who live at Bright Hope, Montgomery County owned and managed, are required to attend class on how to keep their units, and the area around them clean, safe and healthy. Evidently, adult renters can be taught responsibility, but…

ON THE FLIP SIDE….

This is a MontCo owned property in the 500 block of King St.

This is what we see in our neighborhood, leading to the conclusion that MontCo can do better, it’s evidenced, where’s the effort to do better for this struggling little community?  It’s time for them to step up and work with all of Pottstown too.

The tension in the core, downtown neighborhoods has been palpable since the first snowdrop of Spring.  I’ve spoken of it elsewhere on this blog.  We live here, we feel it, we know when things are careening toward disaster.  

When neighbors say they look forward to rainy days because the streets are quiet – that’s a big clue.  

Tuesday night, while the “usual local suspects” joined together to meet at the Ricketts Center for an exciting new venture, teaming up with the SD, the Borough and the Hill School to make a positive impact in the 1st Ward, merely three block away, all hell was breaking loose.  RoysRants

A natural assumption, when the word was out of a car getting shot up, was – gang wars & drugs.  But, no…this was a group of young people and adults watching, video taping, and egging on two young african-american females who were scrapping in the street.  

The pivotal moment, when a big – and I mean big – tall man took a young, petite female and heaved her, by the neck through the air where she landed, painfully, on the pavement.  There was a video of this on Facebook for a short time yesterday, thankfully it was removed.  The shooting was retaliatory.  This time, no one was shot, but we are all victims of this crime. 

This behavior is tragic.  There is not one simple solution and it should never be construed as a problem that Pottstown can resolve alone.  We need the leaders of this County and the State to be involved too.  But WHO is going to make those connections and settle for nothing less than a hands-on commitment to do what’s right for this borough?  

WHO will, if not the people we elected to stand up for us?  

Again, I find myself beyond disappointed with the complete lack of interaction between local government and this community,

WE HAVE NO LEADERSHIP.   

In 2010 Pottstown was besieged with violence.  I spoke before council, as I had previously done, imploring them to step up.   Three times over 2 years I asked council to consider a “task force” on crime, to INCLUDE residents from each ward, each time, my suggestion was dismissed.  Flanders said there already was a task force, of sorts..

WHO?  WHERE?  WHAT HAVE THEY ACCOMPLISHED over these many years? 

Nevertheless, at the last and final request, I made it known that I intended to organize a community wide meeting for residents.  

Instead, Mayor Bonnie Heath “jumped to” and set up a meeting at Invictus Ministries with MontCo D.A., Risa Ferman and former Police Chief, Mark Flanders.  It was a move that clearly put them in control of how the meeting would be handled.  

And each resident was given a index card on which to write a question for the leaders to address. 

Had officials envisioned a mob of angry people?  Perhaps.  But, that’s not who  attended…

The angry mobs that they may have projected didn’t even know there was a meeting.  They were preoccupied doing what they always do:  fighting, selling drugs and trashing neighborhoods – unabated by law enforcement, borough policy, common sense or personal values.  

Out of a population of 22,000, the people that went to that meeting were the people who cared enough to be involved in finding solutions to the crime in our community, an untapped resource that remains untapped to this very day.  

Around 100 residents attended, (maybe you were there)?  Here was the perfect opportunity for real, dynamic LEADERSHIP but, that was not to be.

Here’s the re-cap of that meeting from the Mercury:

To Fight Crime Pottstown Must Step Up Says Chief

Now, mind you, that was nearly three years ago.  The residents at that meeting are the ones that DO and always have stepped up – but without follow through, guidance and LEADERSHIP they may be doing so ineffectively, according to the former Police Chief.

It certainly doesn’t seem fair or effective to blame good citizens when they can turn the same drug dealers in, give license plate numbers and descriptions for over three years and never see an arrest.

But, that was it -There was nothing more from the D.A., the Police Chief, or the Mayor. No follow up, no effort to educate or guide the community. That was the very last platitude. 

A lot has changed since then.  We have a new Borough Manager, a new Police Chief, a Codes Department that’s much lighter in manpower and resources, new management, promotions to the 3rd floor.  More  income investors buying up housing and renting to a rush of new Section 8 from Philly and all over.  More violence, crime and degradation. And a lot more people who really cared about this community have taken short sales on their homes and left Pottstown altogether. 

A lot has stayed the same:  primarily council composition, lack of communication with residents, no plan or process, no noticeable improvement in conditions, a few new businesses, (but still…nobody is making a raging difference on that end of the spectrum either)…

We have county leaders who have to pinpoint Pottstown on the atlas and use their GPS to find their way here- ditto for other politicians at the State level. 

Bullets, destruction and the rhetoric of fear have become too familiar to us.

We’re asking for LEADERSHIP.  We NEED their help, we want to repair our festering wounds.

Paid AND elected officials are offering no hopeful answers, not even blind prayers and platitudes any more.

Pottstown has been forgotten. The saddest thing is that those of us who work hard for change and really truly care about this community are leaving one by one, replaced by those who have no purpose- no connection, no reason to care about this community and it’s outcome.  And…

The real tragedy is that soon, all that will be left behind are the desperate lives of the very poor and their slumlords, social services and a bus that will take them anywhere they want to go – as long as they stay in Pottstown. 

We don’t have much time left before we become Camden.  This is NOT the time for ambiguity or ego trips.

If there is a REAL LEADER AMONG US…

 PLEASE COME FORWARD NOW.

And suddenly, I am reminded why I love Pottstown and why I believe we can move it forward, together.

A good, true, heart-warming story.

If you’ve had, (or have), a parent or someone close to you who is diagnosed with dementia, you’ll relate to the sadness of their confusion and, sometimes, the funnier side of this progressive disease.  It is life afterall.

My mom has dementia.  Although we live far apart we talk on the phone several times a week.  It can be difficult to grasp the progression of her changing reality over the phone but recently…

Most every day, since early April, is the day after Christmas for my mom. Nearly every phone call begins with a question:  ”Did you and the kids have a nice Christmas?” I always answer with enthusiasm, “oh yes, yes we did. We had such a nice dinner and a visit together.”

My dad is her caretaker.  We speak with each other less often because he’s partially deaf and doesn’t enjoy talking on the phone.  When we do take a minute to shout back and forth at each other he catches me up with things at home – in real time.

I spoke with mom this past Sunday.  After mom was assured that we’d had a nice Christmas, we talked about dogs, painting, the weather. I spoke with dad too, briefly.

My cell phone gave notice, with a swish, that I had just a few seconds left to say good-bye before the battery would put an abrupt end to the call, “talk to you again soon, I love you, my phone is going to die”…

As I get older I find myself more comfortable with “the familiar.” Many  months ago when the charger for my phone frayed, I patched it together, (on  the wings of hope).  I was concerned that they didn’t make regular old chargers for regular old flip phones any longer and I would be forced to buy a fancy schmancy phone that I really don’t need.

Held together with blue painters tape, the charger worked just fine if I took my time and plugged it in carefully then laid the phone down at just the right angle to the cord.

Clearly I knew I was charging on “borrowed time,” and…

Sunday, after the call to my parents, the charger drew its last breath.

It was my good intention to look for a replacement, long before that time came.  Like maybe one day when I was out running errands – a quick stop by Radio Shack – if only I could remember or had been savvy enough to make a list of stops I needed to make.

Yesterday morning was packed with activity – no chance to run out for a charger, so my phone remained dead.

My husband, back from running errands of his own, announced that my son had phoned him to say that grandma had phoned HIM – to say – that she couldn’t reach me and she was very, very worried about me, setting off a chain reaction of worry!

“O.K., I’ll  use your phone to call her as soon as I’m finished talking to the carpet guy,” who was beginning the job of installing new carpet up the stairs to the second floor.  Then, I said, ” I promise I’ll run right out to get a new charger…TODAY,” (my husband grimaced), he’d heard that one before.

No sooner had those words flown out of my mouth, there was knock at the door.  The carpet guy yelled, “hey, there’s a cop at the door.”

**Oh gosh, I thought, hope nothing’s coming down on the block that would bring the police to our neck of the woods this early in the day**

I ran to the door, flung it open to find the familiar, reassuring face of a young officer who has answered calls, this summer, when there has been trouble on our block.  Only this time, he came bearing a message – for me…

“Your dad phoned the police from his home in Colorado.  Your parents can’t reach you, they are worried about you and they want you to call them soon,” said the kind, young officer.

Flustered, my mind racing between embarrassment, *he must think I’m a negligent daughter who’s poor parents are suffering not knowing where I am or what I’m doing*  to confusion,

I was counting the days in my head, *gee today’s Monday and I talked to my parents on Sunday* – “When did they call,” I asked.  The officer said, “this morning.”

“Oh, o.k.” I replied, with a nervous laugh, quickly trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, hoping everything was all right back home.  I think I tried to explain mom’s confusion to the officer,  although I don’t really know if I did or just thought I did.

I thanked him for coming to my home.  As soon as I closed the door a fabulous feeling washed over me.  It was the very same warm, down home feeling of comfort I always got when watching the Andy Griffith show.

The care and concern for one another in Mayberry, (my personal definition of utopia), the familiarity and friendliness was just here…standing at my front door… right here – in Pottstown!!

I am reminded by this experience that we are a small community.  We have so much to build on and these old-fashioned values are not gone, maybe diminished, but NOT gone.

I remain even more optimistic that we can leverage partnerships with one another and strengthen the bonds that will build our community on these very old fashioned but real values.

This one, small act of kindness, the sense of duty by this police department and this officer – touched me deeply.

Thank you for your concern and thoughtfulness.  My mom and dad want you to know they appreciate your effort as well.

I quickly phoned home.

My folks are just fine and things have shifted, again, for my mother.  It’s not Christmas any more, but now, it’s a need to feel connected to me, their only daughter, at ALL times,  through the miles that separate us and to know I’m only a phone call away – no matter what trivial details fill my life and…

I can adapt.

I have a new charger, thanks to a neighbor who happened to have two.  I’ll not make the mistake, again, of being without a charged cell phone at the ready, at ALL times.  And…

just in case someone should call to tell me something miraculous – like – Donald Trump has just set up a trust fund of zillions of $$$ to revitalize Pottstown – I surely would not want to miss that call!!!

The week in review:

Beginning late 2011 neighbors in the 400 block of Cherry St. contacted me on Facebook to ask if I understood why the Police Dept. doesn’t make timely reports to the Mercury news about incidents and arrests that could enable neighbors to be aware of their surroundings or, in some cases, provide information to Police about what they see in their immediate areas.

458 Cherry St. Pottstown, Pa. Owner: Delilah Jeter

By August 2012, the house at 458 Cherry St. was a hotbed of drug activity and great concern for the homeowners around it.  A nearby neighbor reported, as it was taking place early one morning in August  (nearly a year ago)  that the SWAT team had surrounded the property and taken people from the house.

This was never reported to the newspaper.

Neighbors were unclear about the incident – the question:  was it a bust or a warrants sweep?  Nobody knew and it wasn’t long after that, the drug dealing resumed – status quo -

Yet, very near the house on Washington St., is a sign that proclaims the area to be a…

SCHOOL ZONE. 

Dealing drugs in school zones is an automatic 2 year sentence, so what happened, why were dealers still operating there?

The owner of the house, Delilah Jeter, moved out leaving her son, Carlise Jeter, to live on her property.  Perhaps she was unaware of his lifestyle?  Neighbors don’t buy that because she is seen at the property on occasion, most recently after the arrest of her son earlier this month.

In January 2013 neighbors alerted people on Facebook of a tragic incident in which a young woman was hospitalized, having purchased and consumed heroin from someone who was dealing at the Cherry St. house, Carlise Jeter was believed to be the person who sold the drugs to the girl.  Another distraught father reported to me that he was frightened for his son who was suffering addiction to heroin and fighting for his life – he believed the dealer worked from the same address.

By May of this year, people living near 458 Cherry St. were beside themselves with dismay.  There were junkies, dealers and hookers hanging out at all hours of the night and day.  They began to fear letting their children out of their houses to play on warm spring evenings.

Later, in June, once again…neighbors reported on Facebook, that there were problems on Cherry St. and cops were on the scene at 458.  But it was back to business as usual once they left the property…

Feeling abandoned by police, scared and finally… pissed-off… in mid-June the neighbors decided to take further action by contacting the District Attorney with reports on the D.A’s web page, they say that they felt it made a difference, and shortly afterward arrests were made.

D.A., Risa Ferman promised to address “quality of life issues” in Pottstown so PLEASE report to Police and follow up with a report to the D.A. when you know of drug activity :

Report Illegal Drug Activity 

CONTACT YOUR COUNCIL PERSON:  They are responsible to you…Let them know what’s going on, they REPRESENT YOU and their silence on these issues is unacceptable:

Contact Your Council Person <click>

I also encouraged them to contact Police Chief Drumheller.

Finally, a nearby homeowner reported on Facebook that on July 5th the house was searched and arrests were made.  The Mercury reports the arrests were made on July 3rd and the story didn’t go public until this week…

“Police arrested two men on July 3 after they found more than 150 bags of heroin in their possession.

Eric Eugene Moultrie, 38, of Philadelphia, was leaving a house in the 400 block of Cherry Street with Carlise Jeter, 39, of Pottstown, when police stopped them around 2:05 p.m. According to police, both men had active arrest warrants.”  

Police also found a loaded gun, bullets, oxycontin and lots of cash… 

 2 arrested in Pottstown with heroin, money in backpack

On July 15th, The Times-Tribute of Scranton carried a lengthy investigative report regarding an apartment building co-owned by State Rep., Marty Flynn. The article reports:

“The apartment building has been the venue of a shooting, alleged stabbing, drug overdose and other offenses, according to police records, yet has avoided condemnation and inspections.” 

 The story talks about Scranton law:

“Scranton police are the first line in enforcing the far-reaching law intended to improve the livability of rental units and quality of life in neighborhoods, but police don’t have the authority to close properties. Only code enforcement can do that.

Under the law, if police observe a riot, drug sales or manufacturing, a murder, a property clearly dangerous for occupancy – officers are to call a code enforcement officer, who usually evicts the occupants and shuts down the unit immediately.

Minor events such as noise violations or a fight typically prompt a disruptive conduct report SHARED with code enforcement. When three disruptive conduct reports are filed on one property in a six-month period, the building may be condemned.”

This is the Scranton Rental Registration Ordinance  

Police and Codes Departments do not work in tandem in Pottstown, at times, even giving the impression that they are at odds with each other.  Far too often when you make a report you’ll hear:  ”we don’t handle that, you’ll have to contact the Police,” or visa versa. YET…

We KNOW that we have good police officers that want to be effective in their chosen professions.  We KNOW that there are also good codes inspectors that want to be effective.  They’re limited by the management of this borough and it is wrong on every level for this to continue.  People of this community are going to hold council and paid officials responsible.  They are sick and tired of the “slum” treatment and neglect from property owners and their own government.

Our laws are archaic, the departments are uncooperative and disorganized and it’s costing this borough in hard cold dollars and cents and a reputation that keeps progress on the OUTside of our borders.

Everyday that these problems go unacknowledged… we lose ground.  Homeowners are leaving in droves, happy to be getting out while new rental investors are arriving in droves because they KNOW what they can get away with here…THEY MAKE A MOCKERY OF OUR LEADERSHIP… and still,  no end in sight to the crime and craziness.

People that live around 458 Cherry St. report that, (aside from a rash of thefts of their personal property taken from their yards), the block is much safer, quieter and they are relieved to have the house cleared of criminals.  It’s disheartening however, that an officer made it clear to a resident in the 400 block that he feels sorry for Delilah Jeter, the owner…

We find it very difficult to have compassion for a woman who appears to have ENABLED the criminal behavior of her own son and his co-horts, at the expense of the peace and safety of her neighbors and the children who live in that area.  It’s inexcusable.

We’d like to see her shut down and never again allowed to profit from the property.  It’s the right thing to do for this community.

We’d like to see the borough officials STAND UP FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE OF POTTSTOWN, NO EXCUSES…

TAKE A CHANCE – MAKE A WELL PUBLICIZED MOCKERY OF A FEW DRUG DEALERS, OTHER CRIMINALS AND NEGLIGENT PROPERTY OWNERS.  DO IT.  I guarantee THE word will get around fast saving taxpayers money and borough employees the redundancy of dealing with the same b.s. day after day.  Send the message… 

DON’T MESS WITH POTTSTOWN. 

It’s been nearly a year since Mark Flanders has sat in the seat as our interim/ borough manager and very little has changed for the better on the streets and in the neighborhoods of Pottstown, for all of his “familiarity” with the place and the people – how has this decision served the best interests of the community?

Council continues to defend their decision to reject professional borough manager applicants in favor of someone who “knows the borough so well” and “it would take an outsider at least a year to learn the ropes”  …  what have been the advantages to us, the taxpayers?   For all the promotions and salary increases we’ve seen little to no return on investment.  

Still, they’ve said and done NOTHING to address the crime and safety issues that are quickly spreading to neighborhoods that once thought they were immune.  

NOBODY IS IMMUNE IN POTTSTOWN yet NOBODY in local govt. is talking with the people of the borough.  Why so secretive about everything?  

Their continued silence has undermined their reputation in the State of PA and nearby municipalities. It is the catalyst that has created mistrust of paid and elected officials among the people who live and work in this   community.  We deserve answers to why conditions continue to decline in Pottstown.  

A new community page has been established on Facebook called “Crime in Pottstown.” Homeowners on the S. side created the space to share information when crimes occur, as they occur, so people in all neighborhoods can take precautions to stay safe and keep their families safe.

In the absence of communication from officials…

It’s a place to talk about solutions and hopefully, it is a place where people will connect to take back their power and…

DEMAND that the borough make better choices for the safety and quality of life of the citizens.

DEMAND that they initiate a partnership with the people in this community to communicate with us and work together toward a better future for Pottstown.  

There’s some new Watchdogs in town.

Sometime over the past week, or so, a Facebook Page cropped up called:  

CRIME IN POTTSTOWN.  

Contributions and comments are coming in from everywhere from everyday people who live in Pottstown.  Citizens report gun shots, metal things being stolen from their property, (anything that’s not hooked up or chained up), and even some things that are – like a central a/c compressor someone tried to disconnect and steal – REALLY. 

With lightening speed, Crime in Pottstown has received 230 + “Likes”…   

Yesterday, Crime in Pottstown added a link to a blog post that appeared on SavePottstown in April 2013,  “Crack That Whip”.  

It seems that SavePottstown is taking another hiatus from blogging, (probably a blood pressure related kind of thing)…  

We get it and we advocate taking things nice and easy when it comes to your health – hell – management and council don’t lose a minute of a good nights sleep over crime and debauchery in Pottstown.  

Management doesn’t live here – a hard days work, 8am – 3pm M-F and it’s off to the safe, tidy little enclave before the drug dealers and most of the creeps even wake up to start their “days work”.  Management sleeps well and has no problem with spikes in blood pressure. 

Council, how do they rest?  

Well,  for lack of a better explanation for their insolence…

they must have found a group deal on surgically implanted ear plugs.  Pirate eye patches were “buy one get one free” so, 

they each got two and…

the ginormous gob stoppers that plug their pie holes have lasted almost 4 years!!!  Even longer, in some cases – that’s a real bang for their buck.

Thankfully, there is still PLENTY of useful information on SP’s site to refer back to, as needed, because it never becomes obsolete – different year, same struggles.  In April, they shared this link to a website called:

Crimemapping.com.  

That was a smooth move, SP!!!  Speaking of “smooth moves” I am reminded of this quote from Sharon Valentine, former mayor and current mayor wannabe – again:

“Real leadership,” Valentine-Thomas said, “is being truthful to the masses and truthful to the party leaders. Truth is the new negative in a culture of compromise and adult bullies. Truth is unpopular but much needed – like good vegetables and enemas.”  

At the very least, SP serves up their enemas and veggies with a healthy side of humor, (something that is sorely lacking in local government).  Maybe Sharon was right…a good, group enema could release a lot of pent up B.S. and maybe everyone up there would feel better.   Maybe council can find a  ”group rate” coupon for Fleets all around? 

I’ll hand this much to Sharon though, she got that right about “a culture of compromise and adult bullies…”

There’s nothing like seeing crime stats in black and white to tell the story of the failure of local leaders, (that includes some who like to bully people by way of camouflaging their own reprehensible behaviors) – the following crime states prompted this blog post, one in a long line of posts on this, and other blogs, about crime in the borough:  

Crime in Pottstown put this post up this morning:

“Just for grins we did a search for crime, within 2 miles of borough hall, 100 E. High St. Pottstown. TWENTY TWO CRIMES for the week of 7/16 – 7/22. Assault, theft, multiple public drunkeness/drugs, retail theft – a small snapshot of the daily activity in Pottstown.  

We applied the same parameters to a random sampling of  surrounding communities: 

Boyertown: THREE CRIMES

Royersford:  ZERO

Limerick:  ZERO

Birdsboro: FOUR

Pottstown:  TWENTY TWO

DO YOU THINK WE HAVE A CRIME PROBLEM IN POTTSTOWN?  THE PEOPLE THAT RUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT DON’T ACT LIKE THEY THINK WE DO.

Sources on Facebook also suggest that there are “crime problems in borough hall.” 

Here’s just a smattering of recent conversations sparked by discussions about the state of the borough, sources close to the action have this to say:  

“Slumlords are getting away with murder and the codes department is completely ignored by Flanders. Flanders is a joke. Flanders comes in at 8 leaves by 3.”   hmmm bankers hours and vacations out the wazoo on a salary of $120,000?  We deserve better.  WE DESERVE A FUNCTIONAL, SHARP CODES DEPARTMENT – that’s fo’ sure, and… 

We need a resident borough manager, someone who can feel our pain and will work hard to apply the salve to heal the wounds…

“It Is a management issue in the Police Department too.  The patrolmen are advised from Chief Drumheler and Mark Flanders to be a “paperwork” dept.  not a safety and crime patrol.  It’s deplorable.  And the drug task force is eating up that $3 mil budget in overtime.  The task force, aka: (golden boys) only work 9-5 M-F then do drug sweeps on the weekends for the overtime pay.”  So, essentially only a few cops get the opportunity to collect overtime?  All this overtime yet Drug Dealers STILL RULE the land – so where’s our bang for the buck??   

“And they need to not all take off when its someone’s wedding, backyard BBQ, or weekend vacation cabin party.  Then its left to the patrolmen that are already scrutinized when they do drug stuff.”  Says another commenter… 

What??  That sounds like a Country Club, not a police department!

Why aren’t “all hands on deck” at night when the dealers and druggies and prostitutes haunt the streets and alleys? Why don’t…THE COPS WORK HAND IN HAND WITH THE CODES DEPARTMENT??  So, leaders ENABLE the slumlord criminals and the regular ol’ criminals.  Why would they do that?  It makes no sense. 

There’s much more being said on Facebook, people inside and outside of borough hall sound like they’ve HAD IT up to their eyeballs with stupid pet tricks and bad behavior from local government.  Some are even pushing for an all out investigation…

The dismissive, greedy actions of borough leaders are written on the pages of Pottstown’s distant and immediate history.  It’s written in the crime stats on multiple websites, it’s written in the worn out, run down shabbiness of our community.  One look around speaks volumes. 

  Does Pottstown have a crime problem from the top down?

Tell us what you think…

Every single one of these core values are just words floating in a paper universe – like a far off, distant planet:

The Revised “Core Values” for the Borough of Pottstown – in case you forgot:

“The former Rosenberry’s Supermarket and former McCabe’s Auto Supply, will be knocked down and replaced with a new building to house a Family Dollar store according to information revealed at Wednesday night’s, (Aug. 7th), borough council meeting.”  Reported Evan Brandt on his Digital Notebook Blog Friday, August 9th.  

Evan reports that support for this project by the planning commission and borough council is a foregone conclusion.  I wonder how much time our local leaders have spent looking around, asking questions, researching the dollar store phenom and associated problems that they bring to many communities?  My guess?  Not much time…

And that’s why I am bringing this information to you, taxpayers, business people, residents.  Please evaluate for yourselves.  I ask this question:  

Has any one of the local leaders outreached to the community?  Specifically, Steve Toroney councilman in that neighborhood, to ask what the residents think about this proposal?  

Well, no…no they haven’t, according to neighbors in the 4th Ward.    

The time I’ve spent in the 4th ward left me with the impression of a fairly quiet, low-key neighborhood.  I don’t know the ratio of renters to homeowners but the area still feels safe and clean – as compared to the 1st Ward downtown.   

The idea of another discount store in Pottstown, especially one located in a mostly residential area, sent me on a mission to learn about the dollar store impact on neighborhoods and small communities.

I’ve shopped at Family Dollars while traveling across the nation.  Some were cleaner and better run than others while some were frighteningly filthy with loiterers hanging in the parking areas and in front of the shops inviting would-be shoppers to stay in their cars for their own safety.

Right off the bat I discovered, in my research, that Family Dollar has set a new goal to target stressed out, low-income, African American communities. Their 2012 plans  included 450 – 500 new stores.

In 2012 the executives of Family Dollar decided to start selling tobacco products to it’s customers, in some locations, taking advantage of the angst that people in poorer communities feel about their budgets while capitalizing on the $90 Billion dollar tobacco business that “drives frequent trips <to the store>,” according to Family Dollar CCO Michael Bloom in this 2012 Huffington Post article:

Family  Dollar Hopes to Hook Low-Income Families with Cigarettes

In the Atlantic Cities online publication, data is presented that tracks the geography of dollar-stores providing information on the number of chain dollar-stores across the continental United States and tracking their density on a per population basis.  Via various correlations “the geography of the dollar store economy provides a powerful lens into the fault lines of income, class and race.”

Among the findings that are the most disturbing is this:

“Dollar store states are also positively associated with property crime, especially burglary, and violent crime, especially murder and manslaughter.  The geography of dollar stores also reflects overall living standards and levels of happiness or subjective well-being. Not surprisingly, states with more dollar-stores have lower levels of each (with a correlation for living standards and happiness).”

This report also states that there is a correlation between Dollar Stores and Poverty.  We CAN do better than this.

To see more info and graphs, click here:

What Dollar Store Locations Reveal About America

Also, in a bold, pro-active move Chicago officials, last July, announced a plan to shut down stores, including dollar stores, that allowed loitering and contributed to drug and gang activity.  Snatching business licenses, collecting fines for uncorrected codes violations, city hall planned to publicize the owner’s names, alleged violations and complaints.

Chicago Goes After Businesses That Officials Say Breed Crime

In Pottstown, officials looked the other way while the Achi Store opened a second “crime breeding” location, on Charlotte St., after the owner and an employee were arrested for selling K-2, whereby spreading the seediness to a whole new neighborhood where people loiter, making their drug connections.

Now, council wants to throw out the Welcome Mat to a potentially bigger player in the seedy crime breeding arena….A DOLLAR STORE!!

On a very local level here are my personal observations:

Family Dollar, in another decision to increase their bottom line, is now luring impoverished families with discount ramen noodles, frozen casseroles and other packaged food.  While health advocates say cheap food comes at a high cost and some communities are battling to keep the stores out of their neighborhoods.

The core neighborhoods in Pottstown remain “food deserts”, defined by Wikipedia as:

“A food desert is a district with little or no access to foods needed to maintain a healthy diet but often served by plenty of fast food.”

Here’s a quick and dirty list of shops, within Pottstown’s borders, that sell the usual pre-packaged food, candy, pop, chips, cigarettes.  Some sell small household items, cleaning supplies while others have deli’s serving sandwiches, (this is not a complete list).

PLEASE SHOW ME THE NEED for a Family Dollar:

Dollar Tree at Pottstown Center, The Expanded Walmart at Pottstown Center

Dollar General on 1600 blk. High St

Shops Downtown & Near Downtown:

Redners, Rite-Aid, Turkey Hill, Cumberland’s, Cole’s, Brunish’s, Daisy’s, Dino’s x 2, Achi Store x2 and The Funny Little Dollar Store in the 200 block of High St

Are Pottstown officials REALLY that out-of-touch with their community…AND…do they actually THINK a Family Dollar is a GREAT way to lead revitalization?? 

There is a movement afoot, a very important movement that has to do with healthy choices and it includes locally grown organic foods, teaching and learning about their benefits.  The School District has made a dedicated effort toward healthy foods and exercise while Mosaic CLT continues to add community gardens.  Olivet Boys and Girls are learning about where their food comes from with the assistance of Art Fusion & the CLT. The Health and Wellness Foundation is supporting many efforts to increase healthy lifestyles throughout the community, including a recent workshop for teachers held at the Hill School.

Not to mention there is a huge “buy local” effort across the nation because it benefits the environment by limiting shipping of foods and goods and it benefits local producers. Pottstown sits at the epicenter of small organic farms and farm fed meats, eggs and dairy products all within reach, so why not encourage a local farm market at 381 Farmington or a co-op grocery?

I encourage borough officials to learn about what’s going on in their community and choose to support those efforts.  This burgeoning health and wellness movement is much more closely aligned with the dozen, or so, studies and plans developed over the past 35 years for Pottstown and stands to put Pottstown on the map.

If it’s a quick fix they seek there are a plethora of chain markets like Fresh Market, Whole Foods among others, (maybe even Kimberton *wink*),  that focus on healthy choices, and local foods – this is also a fast growing market trend in smart communities. BUT, it requires our leaders to actively guide economic growth and connect with the companies that can bring about positive change.

How did Family Dollar show up on the scene?   Did THEY target Pottstown?

Currently, there are only two locations within walking distance of the downtown neighborhoods that consistently sell a selection of fresh produce:  The Farmers Market and Daniel’s.  Neither store offers a broad selection of dried legumes, whole grains or other bulk items that are very healthy and cost effective – there is a big gap that can be filled with a little creativity. 

HERE’S AN IMPORTANT EXCERPT FROM 2012 – Huffington Post:

Packaged foods are not unhealthy if part of a well-rounded diet. Yet many recent dollar store openings have been in areas devoid of full-service markets — so called “food deserts,” according to Mari Gallagher, a health policy researcher, consultant, and adjunct professor at Northeastern’s Institute on Urban Health Research.

In food deserts, which are almost always low-income neighborhoods, fast-food and convenience stores abound. In Chicago, Detroit and Birmingham, Ala., among other places, Gallagher’s research linked diet-related deaths with the proximity to non-traditional or “fringe” food sources that include fast-food outlets, dollar stores and convenience stores.

In Hamilton County, Ohio, for example, Gallagher and her team found that people who live near dollar stores had an increased chance of diet-related illnesses like cancer and diabetes, after controlling for race, gender, income and age.

“As of now, [the correlation between dollar stores and death] is statistically significant, but just barely there,” Gallagher said. “But considering that dollar stores are just entering the market in great force, we’re concerned that relationship is going to worsen.”

COMMUNITIES RESIST

Some communities, concerned about health risks as well as economic factors, have begun to fight the spread of dollar stores. The (ironically-named) Mt. Healthy, Ohio, Joshua Tree, Calif.,Quailwood, Ariz., Waterbury, Vt., and Taos, N.M., were among the places where residents and community groups opposed new dollar stores in 2011.

In Philadelphia’s historic Germantown section, for example, a zoning law was passed as early as 2008 prohibiting new dollar store openings in a historic district already overrun by the retailers. Last spring, controversy erupted over a proposed Dollar Tree, which developers described as a “grocery store” on the zoning application to comply with the ordinance.

When the community found out, “people were outraged,” said Bill Thomas, a Germantown resident and chief of staff for state Rep. Rosita Youngblood, a Democrat who opposed the development.

“People picketed the location of the development from April to December,” Thomas said. “It was another instance of a developer assuming a community isn’t worthy or doesn’t want anything more in-depth than unhealthy, prepackaged, sodium-infused food.

Dollar Store Earnings Fatten On Food Sales, But Neighbors Say ‘Stay Out!’

I oppose the Dollar Store in our community and many communities are opposing dollar stores.  However, if you are among the residents who welcome the new jobs it will create  please know that Family Dollar doesn’t have a great track record of treating employees fairly:

Supreme Court Rules Against Family Dollar in a $36 M Fair Labor Lawsuit

 Against all good judgement if officials are determined to have a Family Dollar then why not locate them in one of the vacant retail spaces at the old Giant shopping Center?  

NOT in the heart of Pottstown.

What you can do.  If you agree that we don’t need another discount store downtown, or need one at all, please drop me a quick email: ptownadvocates@hotmail.com or contact me on Facebook.  Attend the Planning Meeting at Borough Hall, 3rd Floor 7PM Thursday, August 22nd and share your thoughts with members of the committee.  Share quotes from the links I’ve provided here.   We can work on a petition and appeal to our County and State leaders as well.  

Send an email or call council and planning members with your thoughts:  (no contact info listed for planning members)!!!

Planning Members:

• Dan Weand, Chairman

• Stephen Toroney, Vice Chairman

• Jim Derr

• Andrew Kefer

• Deborah Penrod

Follow this link to contact your Council People:

http://www.pottstown.org/index.aspx?nid=208

An idea whose time has come:  SMART GROWTH FOR POTTSTOWN!!

Residents in the 4th Ward have helped create a Change. org petition and HERE’s the link:

STOP the planned Family Dollar Store for 381 Farmington Ave. in Pottstown, PA

Share the petition and ask all of your Pottstown neighbors to sign TODAY….

- Pottstown has over 15 shops and convenience stores scattered throughout neighborhoods and a newly expanded Walmart within it’s borders that is easily accessible by bus.  We do not need a Family Dollar.

- Neighbors in the 4th Ward fear for the safety of school children crossing an already difficult and dangerous intersection.  They DO NOT want Family Dollar on Farmington Ave. 

- 4th Ward residents DO NOT want added crime, littering and loitering in their neighborhood. 

See previous post for details:   A Family Dollar Store

MOST, if not all, of the existing convenience retailers that sell food and tobacco products downtown accept food stamps/access cards – some of them are infamous for abusing tax payers money, stealing cash from access cards –  All in a days work. They remain in business unabated by law, values or conscience.    

In their finite judgement and abundant originality, Pottstown council is said to favor the addition of a Family Dollar thrown into the downtown neighborhoods mix.  Fam D is kind of like a small, downtown bodega on steroids.  Fam D used to be found nestled in little strip malls among other retail and service business, until the economy when south and they made the corporate decision to capitalize on American’s stress and worry about the economy – to position themselves as “neighborhood stores” with a goal of 400-500 new stores in 2012.

In their glossy profile for investors, throughout their spiel on their website – dotted with photo’s of happy shoppers with pasted on smiles – they refer to their average customers as “mom” and “grandmom”, most of the time.   At first, I started to get the impression that Fam D’s corporation is a tad sexist = what?  Dad’s don’t shop too?

Ok, further down the pages, they feature a token male, or two. My first hunch was way off track…

It isn’t sexism that drives their marketing to investors, as I scrolled down the pages of their profile, THE LIGHT BULB MOMENT, they aren’t choosing Pottstown because it’s a quaint little borough with marvelous potential that they can help foster, NO…

They are vetting locations where WELFARE, SECTION 8, SINGLE MOMS and their moms are found, (generational welfare). Those are the demographics they’re banking on, as I see it, in this excerpt from their CEO, Howard Levine:

“Our store of the Future initiative, which is planned to grow by 1,500 stores this year, will enable Family Dollar to accept Electronic Benefit Transfer payments, including food stamps, giving customers even more options at the checkout line.”

FAM D WANTS THEIR FAIR SHARE OF WELFARE TOO AND DAMMIT, THEY’LL STOP AT NOTHING.  

In North and South Carolina Family Dollar’s founder, Leon Levine, (father of Howie), heads his own philanthropic foundation.  As reported by the Huffington Post:  Fam D’s customers may pick up sodium laced, preservative packed foods and cigarettes but Leon’s $20 million donation to the Levine Cancer Institute will assure that when their customers are made ill by the products they sell, the benevolent Levine foundation will make them whole again.  Family Dollar will ride the taxpayer “gravy train” from cradle to grave.

I caution homeowners in the 4th Ward…vacant homes may soon become Section 8 rentals as the borough facilitates the wealth building modus operandi of Family Dollar’s goal to be accessible to people who don’t have cars, and the borough continues to facilitate extractive investors who profit from neglect of their Section 8 rental properties.  

Click here for Fam D’s Corp Profile

In the midst of the debate about Fam D, on Facebook, a friend in Norristown posted this message:

“Super Gigante Farmers Market, an International Food Market, recently opened on the west side of Norristown <in West Norriton>.  This may be a better alternative for Pottstown,” suggested my friend.

WEST NORRITON???

Does West Norriton ring any bells P.town Peeps?

West Norriton hired our most recent former Borough Manager, Jason Bobst, as their Borough Manager.  Since late last summer, Jason has been working with a council that appears to have their priorities screwed on straight!  They might even have a PLAN, (we know they have a leader).

That has to be gratifying for Jason, (who I believe must have been completely stifled by the single official brain cell that’s been split 8 ways between council people and the mayor in Pottstown).  But wait a minute…MAYBE Pottstown Council is actually EXCITED about the Family Dollar store.  GROAN…Heaven help us!!!

Here’s the link to Super Gigante website and their values statement too:

Welcome to Super Gigante!  Our quality standards are higher than any other supermarkets around. The quality of the product is always important to us.  We are a family oriented company and would only provide products in the store which would be fed to our own family.  (I’d like to know if CEO Howard Levine can make the same claim)? You think his wife shops for food for D Family at Fam D?

Great quality product with even greater quality price. That’s Super Gigante’s value held by everyone here.

 Pottstown council seems to not notice that there are Dr’s, Lawyers, other professional and working people from all walks of life that live in Pottstown and, even retirees that pay their taxes, do their duties to support the borough but, they don’t shop at bodegas or convenience stores and, in fact, don’t even shop locally for food, for the most part.

There is no selection of wholesome, healthy foods at a good price in a one-stop, convenient shopping experience in Pottstown proper.

FOR THE TIME BEING, WE ARE STILL A DIVERSE COMMUNITY although, when propositions like Fam D come up before council and they all get on board without so much as a single expression of critical thought process, in lieu of a plan, (much like the hiring of the borough manager), you have to wonder for how long Ptown will remain diverse.  How long can the income earners hold out for some consideration of what it takes to keep them here.

Until and unless there is an effort by this local gov’t to PLAN and LEAD, to remember, there are other families in this community that count too –  I, like many of my friends and neighbors, in Pottstown will continue to do the bulk of our food shopping in other communities that offer options and don’t just cater to the very poor, (for whom healthy options could make a big impact in their lives too). Healthy doesn’t necessarily equate to higher prices.

We’re going to enjoy taking a trip to West Norriton to check out the new SUPER GIGANTE  Word is:  the prices are great and the shopping is sublime!!

STOP Family Dollar – Sign the Petition Today:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-planned-family-dollar-store-for-381-farmington-ave-in-pottstown-pa

But when I see or hear something good:

I WANT TO SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOF TOP!

Here I Go…. 

When Bob Thomas was appointed to become the NEW Pottstown Police Captain the clouds parted and the angels sang.   FALALALALALA

The first time I encountered Bob I knew it.

 Sources who know him well tell me that our new Police Captain, Bob Thomas, is a top notch leader and a good man. He cares about his officers and this community.

When you see him out on the streets, stop and let him know you appreciate him – AND – you will see him out – on the job – because he doesn’t hide behind a desk.

He’s got the Community Policing Spirit and the talent to change things for the better. 

THANK YOU Captain THOMAS, That’s the Spirit and you HAVE OUR CONFIDENCE.

Pottstown is so much more than a warehouse for the poor and disenfranchised.

Council seems not to notice that we are a diverse community. While they pre-occupy themselves with additional services to the poor, more rental housing, corporate enterprise that capitalizes on the poor, we remain unquestionably marginalized – the working class who are homeowners, businesses and taxpayers, responsible investors are shamefully underserved.

The Mayor’s election year proclamation to see only the “good” in Pottstown and never utter a word about crime, vagrancy, entire neighborhoods gobbled up by greed and abandonment, is as though Mayor Bonnie Heath believes she can brainwash you…

‘Look into my eyes, I can convince you to deny your own reality’ – a reality you shall never ever speak of…

Lesher Alley 500 blk. King St. Montgomery County owned property.

As local leaders enable Montgomery County and other slumlord investors to treat Pottstown with disdain…

Council is poised to make a decision to invite a discount, small box, chain store that will not move us forward, will not attract better businesses with better values, people with better values or housing and jobs that will elevate opportunities for everyone.

Progress, in their limited capabilities, or self-serving objectives, is a Family Dollar store on Farmington Ave.  

This is Montgomery County owned Property in the 500 blk of King St.

What does another discount or dollar store say about us, about our leadership, about their vision?  Successful leaders know how to achieve balance and how to solicit community participation in projects that impact them.

How do you rate the job council and the administration have done so far in working toward a safe, reasonably attractive borough that serves the needs of everyone?

Do you trust their desire or ability to make good decisions?

Here’s what people in Rogers Park, Illinois have to say about their local Family Dollar in 2013:

Family Dollar, Rogers Park, IL

“This Fam $ sits where the neighborhood Jewel Food Store used to sit back in the day. The vibe is very tense. — like everyone is waiting for something bad to happen.  The store is filthy and has a spoiled odor.  The environment is depressing and oppressively sad.  This is not fair to the shoppers, staff or community…”

“This place scares me. The staff all look depressed and are very rude, slow, pathetic looking people. The store is a disgusting mess. Nothing is ever stocked. Just piles in the middle of the store…” 

“We call this place the Ghetto Dollar, which – is that offensive to someone? It might be, sorry. I didn’t make it up. In any case, this store is messy and dirty and extremely slow, but it’s very consistently so. It doesn’t make failed attempts to get better or anything- it just stays nice and terrible…”

Have you been into the newly expanded and remodeled Pottstown Walmart recently?  I decided to wait until hubbub of the newness wore off and things were settled before going in to check it out.

I travel a lot.  Walmart’s, throughout the nation, have sprung up just off major interstates making it easy to stop and pickup a can of bug spray or the shampoo that didn’t get packed. You can count on getting everything you need and getting back on the road without missing a beat.

I’ve been to Walmart’s in California, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, S. & N. Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, as well as many more states that don’t come to mind just now.

Individual Walmart’s don’t stand out from one another.  Once in the door, you could be anywhere USA.  They are reliably predictable or, so I thought….

After a good 15 min. sprint through the new Pottstown mega store I realized something didn’t seem right, it didn’t “feel” right.  As I looked more closely, I saw shelf after shelf in disarray, stuff just heaped on top of stuff.  Gum and goo stuck to the floors, trash in the corners and beneath shelving.

Then, I noticed the shoppers shuffling around in all varieties of house slippers and pajama bottoms, carts piled high and kids running the gambit from climbing shelves to picking up merchandise and dropping it to the floor while they reached for the next item that caught their eye. Adults, who should have been in charge, were preoccupied with loudly shouting on cell phones or at each other, didn’t seem to notice the mayhem.

The vacant look in the faces of employees said they’d given up, the filth and disregard were out of their control.

By the time I reached the produce section, (with little hope of redemption), I was heart sick.  The sections where fresh spinach or lettuce would be were baron, save for an unsavory, limp, “bottom of the barrel” bunches that gave off the rancid odor of produce that is too old to consume.  It was appalling that a new store, less than 6 months old, could look as worn as the new Walmart did.

On my way out I thought about the Broken Windows Theory and how our Walmart exemplified the ills that plaque Pottstown. 

According to the theory, small acts of deviance — littering, graffiti, broken windows — will, if ignored, escalate into more serious crime.  

I thought about how Pottstown has become the poster child for the Broken Windows Theory and how it has impacted the way we shop, where we shop, how we live here and how those of us, who were taught respect, manners and who retain working class sensibilities and values have had to adapt – not accept – the cards we’ve been dealt.  

The local Walmart is a tragic microcosm of what Pottstown has become.  I won’t step foot in there again because I can see it all from the front steps of my home. 

Putting a Family Dollar into this dysfunctional mix will only enable our officials to continue to marginalize and underserve the needs of the remaining working class homeowners, renters and local businesses.  There is no reason to expect that the management and employees of Family Dollar will have a better clue about how to keep a lid on the destructive behaviors of their customers, or the crime and filth that will inevitably result.  

Local government still hasn’t got a clue and yet, they are responsible for setting the standards and working with residents to enforce them.   Until the standards are raised and clearly imparted to all concerned, it’s a bad idea to invite businesses like Family Dollar into Pottstown neighborhoods.     

Contact:  ptownadvocates@hotmail for more information

If you’re diligent enough about being a bad neighbor and a negligent income property owner – you can count on having your dog day too…IN COURT.

Yesterday I attended a civil hearing.  The plaintiff:  a homeowner who bought a lovely home in downtown Pottstown six years ago. The nice, big, fenced in yard was a calling card – as she shares her home with her boyfriend and their three lively, beloved, canine family members.

For the military veteran who works as an RN in breast cancer research, the excitement of her first home quickly turned to concern when it became apparent that the home is located right next door to income property that has been poorly managed, deteriorating and has become the “blight” on an otherwise nice little block.  As the years ticked by her concern turned to despair…

Time after time she endeavored to speak with the owner and the tenant, to ask them for consideration of her family’s right to peaceful enjoyment of their home and property.  Time after time her requests were ignored – systematically ignored by local authorities and Montgomery County Voucher Housing too.  Eventually, the homeowner became proactive and installed surveillance cameras around her property capturing events that would set off the sensibilities of any law abiding, respectful citizen.

The property was owned and mismanaged by Gustave Meyer the III (a raging deadbeat slumlord).  Finally, it was run through the Sheriff’s sale gambit for back taxes and municipal liens to the tune of some odd $30,000 on this one property alone.  It remains a mystery WHY the borough/county can’t move any faster to shut these creeps down before they can accrue five figure arrearages.  In fact, MontCo Property records indicate that Gustave STILL owns a property at 361 New St. that has an annual tax obligation of $3,777 with a TAX LIEN.

Another mystery is WHY Montgomery County Voucher Housing would continue to send Gustave a monthly check for his Section 8 renter while he neglected his taxes and maintenance responsibilities, while codes violations were brought to court and the police reports alone tell a story of the bad behaviors of the renter and her entourage of dubious characters.

The property sold to another income investor for $14,500.00 last December.  The investors hale from Blue Bell, Pa and their last name is  ”Zhu”, (pronounced Zoo).  They buy their properties under a corporation called:  QAC, Inc., (pronounced “quack”).   No doubt, any self-respecting, absentee, future, deadbeat slumlord in Pottstown would break out in a sweat, salivating over a property at that price with the added bonus of a long-term, Section 8 renter who has lived on the property for 14 years, according to her testimony.

In no time flat, once the Zhu’s received a letter from the homeowner’s attorney requesting that they contact him to work out the details of the problems they had just bought and paid for, the property was listed for sale.  With a current asking price of $69,000, a BODACIOUS profit TO THE ZHU’S, (if it sells), for a 8.5-9 month investment.

In the MLS listing, which you can view HERE, the Zhu’s tout the income from Section 8, suggesting that the tenant wishes to stay and they have requested a rent increase, bringing the monthly rent to $1,342.00.  *Talk about “outing” the Section 8 tenant when MontCo claims that information is private, of course the tenant announces it all the time – she’s proud of it.

It’s also interesting that although they bought the property in December last year, they didn’t visit it or the tenant until April or May, when they received a letter from the homeowner’s attorney requesting they respond to him to address the problems with the property and the renter.  Mr. Zhu admitted they had driven by the property before the Sheriff’s sale but apparently didn’t notice or care about the exterior conditions.

OPPS the Zhu’s also never bothered to contact the borough for a U & O inspection or to register the rental, acknowledging in court that they have bought property here before and had knowledge of the requirements, the law.  But, for reasons that are completely inexplicable, those things fly under the radar quite often in Pottstown.  Revenue goes uncollected and income property owners are never fined for their indignant refusal to comply with the law.

The long-term Section 8 renter has, by any estimation, also flown beneath the radar of every single authority that has the power and ability to reign in the disruptive, destructive and un-neighborly activities she ignores or condones on her rental property.  From the guests who visit or live in her rental, including her own children and a “best friend” who spends the nights (against HUD rules) there have been incidents of trespassing on neighbors properties, teasing their dogs, shooting pellets at windows, property damage to vehicles, people consuming illegal drugs on the porch steps, kids checking out stolen laptop computers on the front steps of the rental, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Early on, in the homeowner’s six year odyssey, the 3 y.o. child of the renter was found wandering alone on the streets.  Police returned the child to his home, only to find mom passed out on the couch oblivious to her child’s misadventures but she loudly maintained her claim, in court, that she’s a good mother.

There are far too many instances to chronicle here but, if you live in certain parts of Pottstown, you get the picture all too well.

The hearing was attended by several homeowners and interested residents.  In separate, back-to-back hearings, the tenant  represented herself.  The Zhu’s hired an attorney and the Plaintiff, of course, had legal representation as well.

The tenant gave off an air of self-righteous indignation and she was clearly agitated by the fact of her neighbors surveillance cameras.  She repeatedly stated in loud and dramatic tones:  ”I have been harassed and stalked by the homeowner.”  Going so far as to say that she had to call a *stalkers hotline* due to her distress from being forced to duck into her side door hidden beneath an umbrella to avoid the cameras.  Well, ya know, if you’re not doing anything wrong, why hide?

The Section 8 tenants tirade was, however, quickly halted by objection of the plaintiff’s attorney, and upheld by the judge, as she continued to assert that she, her children nor her guests had ever done anything wrong and that she, from her own pocket, has poured thousands of dollars into fixing up her rental house…REALLY?  Isn’t the objective of Section 8 rental assistance to provide shelter to people in need?  Where’d the thousands of dollars come from?  Hmmmm, under the circumstances sounds like she could be paying her own rent instead of fixing up the slumlord’s property – wouldn’t you think?

In the second hearing, Mr. Zhu took the witness stand and his wife, Mrs. Zhu, sat impatiently beside their attorney, at times, unable to control her outbursts at her diminutive husband/business partner.  The Zhu’s first language is not English, as you might have guessed by the surname and, as the questions were carefully phrased by the plaintiff’s attorney and often re-phrased two or three times, until Mr. Zhu could comprehend. It was a tad bit tedious.

Nevertheless, Mr. Zhu owned up to the fact that he’d not followed the law in Pottstown and he had not taken responsibility to get his new property into compliance or vet the tenant until after he understood he may be required to defend these decisions in court. Their attorney maintained that the Zhu’s have no responsibility for the tenant that lives on their property or the harm done to the homeowner next door…

A decidedly lame defense.

The very best part of Mr. Zhu’s testimony was when he turned red in the face and leaned forward toward the homeowner’s attorney, in response to the attorney’s question, Mr. Zhu shouted in the biggest voice he could muster…

“YOU STOOPIT” 

Well, I disagree, the judge appeared to disagree as did everyone who was there to support the homeowner.  There was nothing stoopit about the plaintiff’s attorney, he hit the nails on the head, one right after the other!!

  STOOPIT is the local and county government agencies and departments that allow these situations to reach the point that a homeowner has to file lawsuits to defend the sanctity of her own property….

THAT’S AS STOOPIT AS IT GETS IN POTTSTOWN.  

The homeower called to let me know     

that the next door renter/defendant was captured on video surveillance, returning home from the hearing to…

  sprinkle salt all around the perimeter of her

rental property, between the two houses.  

A modern Wicca ritual, ostensibly, sprinkling salt will keep the evil spirits away.  Sorry to say but the poor, misguided tenant is about 14 years too late. 

Two years ago the Golden Cockroach was born, with a dogged determination to expose the underbelly of the shady real estate deals, slumlords and nasty Section 8 tenants.  Two years later… all roads lead to the door of Borough Hall and local officials who cling to power despite the evidence of their failure. 

Yesterday, a nearby neighbor frantically approached me to say that there is a dead dog in the dumpster behind Boalton Plumbing in the 400 block of Lesher Alley.  If you don’t routinely drive down that alley or walk through that alley, have a look, see for yourselves.  The smell of decaying flesh is overwhelming and it has driven the nearby neighbors into their homes, unable to sit in their yards and enjoy the crisp fall air and sunshine.  

Today, I have learned that pit bulls are being killed and thrown into dumpsters all over

Pottstown.

This example of the heartless neglect by the elected officials in Pottstown who are EMPOWERED to lead this borough, well….

if this isn’t enough to move YOU to do everything you can to save this community –  to vote the incumbents in Wards 1, 3, 7 and the Mayor out of office in November – then what will you do or say when it’s too late?   Are you going to tuck your tail between your legs and crawl out of Pottsotwn in defeat and shame?  

Take a loss on your home, your business, the lives you’ve built here?  

  Stand up and make your voices heard.  

Blight and neglect is spreading, like a cancer and NOBODY that lives or works in Pottstown is immune.  NOT EVEN COUNCIL PEOPLE…

What can be more powerful, more persuasive then the crumbling of the town THEY govern and live in?  Are they going to walk away from everything they have destroyed when all is said and done?  Why do they sit on council saying nothing about these conditions?  What motivates them?  

We have no elected LEADERS to hear our pleas, to champion our causes.  They remain unconcerned and uninvolved in Pottstown’s strife – they do nothing to STOP the greedy investors whose numbers increase DAILY as they buy cheap properties and rent them to animals who kill their dogs and dump them.   The rude, filthy, mean and cruel people are better protected than the rest of us simply because of what council REFUSES to see.

A community that will sit by and with their silence allow cruelty to animals is a community that should feel shame.  

What’s next?  What will we find in our trash if these conditions continue to be facilitated by local government’s insolence toward YOU, the taxpayers of this borough???  

Think about it.  

If you won’t challenge yourselves to stand up with your neighbors and speak out against the ruination of lives, discarded like so much trash, then I ask you:   is this different than what is happening to the investments YOU, the backbones of the community – homeowners and businesses – have made in Pottstown?  Are we being thrown in the dumpster too?  

If you’re afraid to speak out NOW – be afraid of the consequences – the result of their ignorance and impudence is far more scary than YOU speaking the truth.  

TO HELL WITH THE POLITICAL PARTIES IN THIS TOWN THAT FIGHT AMONG THEMSELVES, TALK BEHIND EACH OTHER’S BACKS, THEY CONTRIBUTE NOTHING BUT ILL REPUTE TO POTTSTOWN.  

TO HELL WITH THE PEOPLE IN THIS COMMUNITY WHO WOULD MAKE POTTSTOWN POLITICS ALL ABOUT RACE.  

THIS IS ABOUT YOU, ME, OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, BLACK, WHITE, BROWN, YELLOW REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT OR UNAFFILIATED… WHO ARE LOSING THEIR HOMES, THEIR PEACE, THEIR REASONS FOR HANGING ON TO A DYING TOWN.     

If this is “Progress Made, More to Come”  

NO, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH 

VOTE OUT INCUMBENTS:

*Bonnie Heath Mayor

 *JOE KIRKLAND 7TH WARD

*JEFF CHOMNUCK 3RD WARD AND,

*VOTE FOR RYAN PROCSAL, RUNNING UNOPPOSED IN THE 1ST WARD

Michelle Borzick Fry

In February 2013, Michelle Borzick Fry was FIRED from her job as the zoning work leader in the Pottstown codes department – FIRED for good reason and it was a vote of confidence in the new borough manager, Mark Flanders, because it was the RIGHT thing to do.  In 2009 Michelle felt entitled to accept a $5,000 check from income investor/developer, Frank McLaughlin, (a man who’s had his own run ins with the law/a checkered past that was a fit with Michelle’s desire to help herself to his money and help him with his projects).  That’s called Bribery.  

In return for his generous “gift” Michelle went above the call of duty as she personally serviced McLaughlin when he made application for licenses and permits.  They were neatly filled out for him, awaiting only his signature.   Questions of past criminal charges as well as other pertinent information required of the applicant were checked in the “negative” columns by Michelle, regardless the policy of requiring applicants to fill out their own information.  During McLaughlin’s Plum St. Townhouse development, it was business as usual between Frank and Michelle yet…

Michelle has never been charged with a crime.

“Bribery is a form of corruption…   

Forms of corruption pertaining to money like bribery, extortion, embezzlement, and graft are found in local government systems. Other forms of political corruption are nepotism and patronage systems”. source: wikipedia

During her tenure as a public servant to Pottstown, Michelle’s employment survived an affair with the BCO of the codes department, they had sex on the taxpayer dime, on the clock…on the desk and probably the office chairs too, (at least they put a cover over the window on the door to the office). Preoccupation with steamy emails and lurid conversations between the two helped to pass the long hours at work, when not personally engaged with one another.  And, there were friends weddings to help plan while on the job too, lots of personal business took place in the halls.

The BCO lost his job…FIRED…over his role in the indiscretion, as it should be, when local government has concern for their relationship with taxpayers and the quality of work they are entrusted to do for them.

Teflon Michelle dodged a bullet then and -again-last year as she flew under the radar of the D.A.’s grand jury investigation of the codes department that was initiated after Frank McL. Was arrested for stealing water service at his rental properties.  

Sources say Michelle was about as comfortable as a fly on a hot griddle while this investigation was underway, snappish and unpleasant with people in her work environment, (a slightly perceptible difference from her everyday Pottstown people skills).  

Besides Michelle and Frank, the few others who knew about the check were never subpoenaed to testify.  During an internal investigation, Michelle denied that she’d received money from Frank – denied it to everyone including the borough manager and the police, it finally caught up to her when faced with the knowledge that there was irrefutable evidence. 

Michelle was escorted out of borough hall.  Mercury reporter, Evan Brandt, righteously asked the borough manager for a comment regarding Michelle’s dismissal: 

Mark Flanders replied: “We don’t comment on personnel matters.”  

As a matter of policy or situational convenience?  If its policy why, (at around the same time as Michelle was fired), was the name of a police officer that was being disciplined openly announced at a public council meeting?

And, why not comment?  Why give anyone in this community any more reasons to mistrust the intentions of the people we PAY handsomely to work for us?  It’s not just about the money either, it’s about the arrogance that leads elected and paid officials of this community to believe that THEY OWE US NO EXPLANATION…

WRONG.  THEY DO OWE US AN EXPLANATION.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The upshot of all of this is that Michelle Borzik Fry isn’t content to acknowledge her failings or count her blessings that she was never charged with a crime and, just move on.  

NO.  Michelle wants her job back.  

On September 30th a hearing will be held at Borough Hall.  Michelle will be represented by AFSCME 2784 union representative /union president (and best friend of Michelle’s for over 30 years), Kathie Minotto is a borough employee of over 34 years. They are bringing in the BIG GUNS from AFSCME to defend Michelle and the “talk” around the hall is she will be getting her job back.  It is anticipated that several employees will be testifying as to Michelle’s GOOD CHARACTER AND WORK ETHICS.

There are also employees, past and present, who can evidence that Michelle DID NOT approach her job with good character and work ethics.  The $5,000 check and office sex should be enough to stand on its own merit but…

There are also borough documents that Michelle “secreted” out of the work place, she assumed BCO duties that were not part of the zoning work leaders job description  - like making zoning determinations.  She took work time to don scanty exercise clothing in the women’s room before leaving the office on many evenings, “endured” back-rubs by male co-workers at her desk when the stress of it all came crashing down on her, often left work early to live up to her parental duties, came into work – whenever it suited her, and  much more that can be told and substantiated. 

Yet, in the midst of all of this angst and turmoil that Michelle has contributed, Pottstown Borough has AGREED to co-sponsor the FUNKY SANTA 5k Race-again – with Michelle and her current beau, who operate a sporting goods business.

Michelle’s been bopping in and out of borough hall in gleeful preparation for the event with nary a hint of shame or embarrassment as to her failure to serve Pottstown with honesty and integrity.  

This development AGAIN calls into question the motives of the people that work for local and county governments that declined to file charges against her, paid her, enabled her to collect unemployment and now stand to re-instate her as a public employee while engaging in this sanctimonious “parternship” with her in the Funky Santa 5k Race????

MICHELLE HAS BEEN GIVEN NO REASON TO FEEL ASHAMED, an emotion that clearly doesn’t come natural to her.  It’s been said elsewhere on this blog and everything we know today about the nature of her service to the taxpayers supports the assertion that Michelle Brozick Fry has BIG BRASS CA-HONES. 

Last year, the Funky Santa event grossed in the neighborhood of $7000.  The distribution of proceeds was never made clear but as co-sponsors wouldn’t you think we, the Pottstown taxpayers, would benefit in some small way?  

Compensation for the time Michelle spent at work marketing and planning for the previous events? 

The initial ad in the Merucry last year stated that a portion of the proceeds would be donated to the Parks and Recreation Foundation – but were they?

All we can say for sure is that Michelle and Butch took a nice ski trip to Aspen Colorado when all was said and done.

Should the testimony of these people who know and can evidence the truth about Michelle continue to be squelched?

No, we believe officials need to put their petty differences aside to call everyone who can testify because it is the RIGHT THING TO DO.

We think the borough has an unprecedented opportunity to respond as if it is the beginning of a concerted effort to establish a “circle of trust” between themselves and their benefactors, the Pottstown Taxpayer, (who see marginal returns at best), from their elected and paid officials. 

The public’s trust has been violated time and again… 

For the leaders of this community to do anything but fight this re-instatement with every tool available to them will only serve as affirmation of the depth of corruption this local government will tolerate, as citizens contemplate:

“what information does Michelle posses that has everyone up there pandering to her?” 

Pottstown taxpayers have every right to EXPECT leadership.